Forum Structure Options

I am considering changing the way the forums are structured to accommodate and support Storylines more than the other forums. What this means is that the structure would change from a flat chronological response list to a threaded format. For example:

What you see now with chronological format (each bullet being a post in the thread):

  • New Post! Hi everyone!
  • Hi Kormok!
  • What's up Kormok?
  • YOU'RE ALL BANNED! AHAHAHAH!

What you would see with the threaded format (with nested replies):

  • New Post! Hi everyone!
    • Kormok smells!
      • Yeah, well screw you!
  • What's up, Kormok?
    • Not much dude, how are you?
      • Eh, doin' alright, doin' alright.
  • Kormok, what's the ETA on you shutting the hell up?
    • Bite me, Alliance filth!

Thoughts? Comments? Tacos?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Taldrus Dawnfield on June 20, 2012 at 6:29pm

Tacos. The answer is always Tacos.

The proposed threaded format looks like a pretty good idea, plus, it'd help with keeping the actual story bits in line.

Permalink Reply by Mayune Warsinger on June 20, 2012 at 7:10pm

I'm actually a fan of Chronological, only cross a lot of people cross-reference subjects. However, I definitely see the benefit of both.

I can see the threaded being better for storylines so others can leave leave comments and feedback on chapters. Is that its intent?

Permalink Reply by Arialynn Dawnfield on June 20, 2012 at 7:18pm

Proposed structure looks good. Got a few questions.

1. Is there a limit on the amount of nested replies a post can receive?

2. As far as nest reply "levels" go, is there a new indent each time you post a nested reply, or can you choose the level you want?

Examples:

New Indent with Each Reply:

  • Original Post
    • Reply 1
      • Sub-Reply 1
        • Sub-Reply 2
          • Sub-Reply 3
    • Reply 2

New Indent with Controllable Levels:

  • Original Post
    • Reply 1
      • Sub-Reply 1
      • Sub-Reply 2
      • Sub-Reply 3
    • Reply 2

Either way, it's a welcome restructuring for Storylines. I just am a bit unsure about how it works.

Permalink Reply by Kormok Wraithverge on June 20, 2012 at 7:24pm

@ Mayune: Yes, that is the intent.

@ Arialynn:

1. I am honestly not sure. I imagine there is within reason, I just don't know what it is.

2. Yes, depending on what you reply to. You can actually see the skeleton of the structure in the current forums at this very moment. Looking just below my post here, for example, you can see "> Reply", which would reply directly to MY reply and nest it there, et cetera, ad nauseum. If you wanted to reply on the "top level" of the thread, you use the option "Reply to Discussion" which puts it at the farthest left indentation.

Permalink Reply by Kormok Wraithverge on June 23, 2012 at 9:03pm

Testing a threaded reply.

Permalink Reply by Arialynn Dawnfield on June 20, 2012 at 7:34pm

Ah! Now I have a better idea. Yes, that would be a great way to leave feedback. I say go for it.

Permalink Reply by Lily Troxler on June 20, 2012 at 9:31pm

I like the idea!  I do have a couple questions, however:

  • Would feedback posts be collapsed, or permanently expanded?  It might interrupt the flow of the narrative if there were a bunch of nested comments on a particular chapter.
  • Would adding more comments to a previous post mess up the links to posts further on in the thread? (I.e. would comments screw up the table of contents that some storylines use?)
Permalink Reply by Kormok Wraithverge on June 20, 2012 at 10:26pm

I *think* they can be collapsed, but they start in the expanded state. That said though, it's currently better than folks fearing to comment at all for fear of breaking up the narrative.
I do not know about the comments interrupting link flow. I'll check it out.

Permalink Reply by Krelle Ninefingers on June 21, 2012 at 5:13pm

I like the idea of being able to comment on storylines. Nothing fuels an author better than comments of "OMG more please!"

If we hate the new layout system with a passion we could always change it back. 

Permalink Reply by Kormok Wraithverge on June 21, 2012 at 5:21pm

Indeed. Now I just need to make sure that hitting the toggle switch won't cause the mountains to tumble into the sea and the forums to catch fire. I'm perhaps a little too careful with this unknown Ning site tech.

Permalink Reply by Kormok Wraithverge on June 22, 2012 at 9:12am

Alright, I'll be trying the switch over during the weekend. That way, I'll have time to fix it if things blow up.

Permalink Reply by Krelle Ninefingers on June 22, 2012 at 1:20pm

Kormok Wraithverge said:

Alright, I'll be trying the switch over during the weekend. That way, I'll have time to fix it if things blow up.

*sets charges*

For what it's worth, with regards to Lily's question about possibly messing up the table of content links, I'm pretty sure that it won't. If you look at how the forums name each post, they do it chronologically (post847, post 925) instead of naming them after the order that they happen in the thread (post1, post2). So adding or deleting posts probably won't change the url of the posts that are already there.

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