User blog:Lost Labyrinth/Updated forums design; a change in the way Community discussions are done

 Updated forums design; a change in the way Community discussions are done Hey!

As I'm sure some of you have noticed, our forums went through a revamp which saw the layout of the forums prettied up and the actual names of the forums changed in order to be more to the point and less confusing to understand. From a peek around, I can see that so far the revamp is having an impact, which is nice to see given that the forums seem to be one of the aspects of the wiki that have been neglected until now.

What are the specific forums for? Here I will outline what each forum is and what it's for.


 * Aa_club_debate.pngCommunity discussions - As the title suggests, this forum is where discussions related to the wiki take place between members of the community and is used to bring up things you think the community should discuss, such as whether to add things, change things etc. This forum replaces and works in the same manner as the Community Portal talk page, which I'll come to in the next section.
 * Buy_a_Video_Game.pngGame discussions (formerly Central Park) - This forum is used to discuss The Sims series and virtually anything about it, such as upcoming/already released expansions, ideas for future expansions, mods etc.
 * Moodlet_no_frame_over_worked_work.pngHelp desk - This is where users can come to if they require help related to the wiki (such as editing) or the game itself.
 * Write_a_Novel_want.pngFanon discussions (formerly Wright Reading Room) - Here you can come to discuss fanon in general, ask about our fanon namespace etc.
 * Can't_Believe_My_Eyes_smiley.pngOff-topic discussions (formerly Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner) - This is where you can discuss virtually anything and even create a new forum game for the purpose of entertainment, like that one everybody plays.

Community discussions To get down to business, you may have wondered why the Community discussions forum exists yet this page exists. The reason that community discussions are being moved to the forums is down to the fact that the majority of wikis use the forums for community discussions and they provide a lot more flexibility in how discussions are handled.

For example, with the forums one topic can utilise an entire page without the need to worry about size limits. On the Community Portal talk, things have to be limited to accommodate multiple topics on one page that's continuously archived. This can make community discussions seem unappealing to the community and less open, whereas a forum can potentially solve all those problems, including that problem we always have of discussions drying up as they move up the page. I'll note that this was proposed but the same problem of lack of participation struck again.

With all this, the Community discussions forum is the new home of community discussions on The Sims Wiki and we're optimistic about the long-term effects and we hope everyone makes use of it. Remember: noone gets any special treatment and everyone's input is appreciated. If you have an idea, don't hesitate to bring it up, even if you're not too sure of it yourself as others may love it.

And that concludes this blog We hope you all enjoy using the forums and if you have any questions or thoughts about them, please feel free to leave them in the form of a blog comment.

Enjoy!

12:05, November 4, 2012 (UTC)