General suggestions for the CA forums

[Jasonwclark]

Is there anyway to sticky/lock a redirect thread for the Tutorials and Tip section, so that it shows up in the Art sections (like the Critique, Wip and FineArts forums)? I know its a little reduntant to use multiple redirects, but there's so much good info down there in the Learning and Education area, a sticky redirect might make it a little more visable for newcommers. One to this thread might be good to have too, if the idea of redirect threads seem workable.

Just a thought

Thanks again for all the hardwork, and support. Really appreciate this website and the people who keep it running so smoothly.

[Jasonwclark]

I have a few more suggestions, so I edited the thread title. Trying to give feedback while the newcomer experience is still fresh in mind, because I know its easy to forget.

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I think the forums would be well served, by a sticky in each section that describes what the forum is for and how to use it. The FF section has a couple of these, but it would be really helpful if it could be done for each forum, with a consistent titling scheme. So for example, if it’s the SB, Critique, or WIP Section we’re talking about, then the first thread locked at the top of the forum/sub-forum might read something like this:
Welcome to the Sketchbook Section (please read before posting!)
Welcome to the Critique Section (please read before posting!)
Welcome to the WIP Section (please read before posting!)

Then contained in the thread would be all the relevant info, links and protocols for that particular forum, stated as briefly and directly as possible. The idea would be to keep the form of the thread title the same across the board, so it’s immediately clear to the first time user upon entering the forum. The taglines for forums/sub forums in the main directory, while useful in this regard, are not always clear for the new people I think. There is some overlap in the language of the descriptions, which might be contributing to the “I’m not sure if this is the right section, but…” phenomenon. An additional layer of explanation (via a sticky) might help. Most of this info is already contained in the thread that Davi started, but that thread is already lengthy. If we carved out the relevant info, the required reading time for each individual forum would be relatively short.

Also, the desire to keep the top 7 sections of CA focused primarily on Artwork (ie posting images, and specific feedback on those images, rather than general questions/discussion) is sometimes overlooked by new people on account of the number of forums separating the Artwork group from the General Forums/discussion group. One possible solution would be to split off the Art Discussion forum and include it as part of the Artwork section (that way it’s clear that we have a separate forum specifically for art related discussions and questions.) Another possibility might be to rename the General Forum section something like ‘Discussion” and then stick it right below the Artwork section (again, basically just so it’s clear that we have a specific place for that stuff.)

The description for the new Motion Graphics forum is good. Perhaps we could add something like that in more general language, as a tagline to the entire group. So for example, instead of just saying Artworks, it might read something like “Artworks: To showcase your art and receive feedback.” Just as another way to clarify the intended purpose of the section.

-Each forum in the Artwork section should have an announcement sticky about using the attachment manager rather than hot linking.

-The New Rules thread in the FF section goes back to 2002 and is 5 pages long. Perhaps archive and edit/re-sticky so its more current and brief. Then drop the ‘New’ to give it a greater air of authority and permanence.

-Photography Mob needs thumbnails.

-Display options for Forums. We should set this as universal ‘from the Beginning’ instead of the current default of 30 days. The reason being that the more archival sections like the Education and Learning group sometimes appear empty, when in fact they have a lot of posts, just not always one that has been made in the past month. Or perhaps the forum might appear to only have 1 page, when in fact its has like 25 more, simply because the default display setting is not showing pages 2, 3 etc.



Will post any more ideas if I think of them.
Thanks again for CA.

[emily g]

Hey, thanks for the ideas. I especially like the one about consistent info threads at the top of each forum.

[Jasonwclark]

No problem Emily, thanks for the response.

One other thought I had last night... It seems like the spammers are getting a little more clever lately. Instead of starting new threads, to spam they're posting their links in existing threads.

Instead of allowing users to flag or delete spam like others have suggested (which has the potential for abuse), I think we should just have a central sticky to report the spam and post links. That way it would be even easier for our our anti-spammer Justice League to squash the forces of darkness with a quickness, since all they'd have to do is check the Spam thread when they stop in to the forums to see if anyone has noticed anything. After the spam is removed, mods can edit clean the reporting thread to ensure that its always current.



I think one thread here in the Support section would probably be sufficient, but it could be something that we reduplicate in the info threads for the individual forums, with a link directing back to the main reporting thread. Here I two that I just saw, guess I'll just post them here for now:

Spammer user name virdealwow
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...72&postcount=9
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...73&postcount=4

[emily g]

Your idea is so good that we already have it!

Every time a user reports something, a post is made in the mod forum (hidden, obviously ). So the mods just have to check in there to see the new reported posts.

[Noë]

I was wondering, since the site traffic is so high, and every little change counts to get the traffic down:
isn't it a good idea to keep the gallery thumbnails (which is a rather large block of images above every page) only above the general forum index and subforums? If that block of images isn't above every thread you visit it would spare a lot of data right? And when you open a thread you're usually not going to click those thumbnails anyway, you just want to read the thread.. You saw the thumbnails already at the general forum index and the subforum, before clicking on the thread you want to open..
Just an idea, I thought it might spare some costs?

Love
Marleen.

[emily g]

Your computer only has to download the thumbnails once, then they are in your cache. That saves your browser from having to download them again every time you visit any part of the forums.

[Noë]

Ah! That proves my n00bness in this sort of thing I should probably leave it to the people who know this stuff
But I learned something from this haha , thanks Emily!

Love
Marleen.