[Site] Move most recent forum posts to the home page.

[koontz1973]

Concise description:
Move most recent forum posts to the home page.

Click image to enlarge.

Specifics:
On the home page, have a list of all the most recent forum postings for all to see, with the thread count & time of last post. Then if anyone has an idea, they can click the link to go straight into the thread. With a link to the full board index at the top or bottom.

Remove the twitter or facebook blocks as they say the same and we have all of the logos everywhere, this would give more then enough space.

In case I have not described it to well here is the link to bluray.com so you can see what I mean.
http://uk.blu-ray.com/

This will improve the following aspects of the site:
It will get more people actively involved with the site.
List of threads to be included. All others to be excluded from this for reasons like C&A reports are no ones business apart from ours.

• SoC Training Grounds
• Map Foundry
• Suggestions
• Strategy
• GD
• Callouts
• Announcements
• Tournaments
• Q&A
• Whose Forum Is It Anyway

It can only make the whole experience of coming into CC more enjoyable. People come to play a game but do not know how much more the site offers as when you log in you go straight to your games.

[rdsrds2120]

I seen something else on another site that was neat. They had a separate tab for threads that you had either subscribed to or chose to 'follow'. It was pretty neat, kind of similar to this.

In any event, this isn't a bad idea per say, but I don't know where it would fit on the home screen.

-rd

[koontz1973]

If you look under the maps we have 2 blocks of text for facebook and twitter. Both have the same posts in so it becomes redundant. Why not scrap one or shrink them to half size.

Anywhere n the home page near the top would be the most ideal as long as when we sign in we get directed there and not straight to our games unless we check a box to say go straight there.

[Metsfanmax]

This is fine but if you put the off topic threads there it will drive people away.

[tkr4lf]

This is fine but if you put the off topic threads there it will drive people away.

lol That's probably true.

Interesting suggestion though. It could get more people involved with the forums.

[koontz1973]

This is fine but if you put the off topic threads there it will drive people away.

lol That's probably true.

Interesting suggestion though. It could get more people involved with the forums.

Considering this thread is now 11 hours old and it has only had 3 responses then it could only make it better.

As for off topic, do not put it in. Have all forums that are CC related only.

The ones to have in would be..
Announcements
Strategy
Questions & Answers
SoC Training Grounds
Map Foundry
Tournaments
Callouts
Mafia Games
Suggestions
Cheating & Abuse Reports
Bug Reports.
Some would get far more hits than others but I can only see this being for the benefit for the site. If one of the reasons people come is to play the games, people stay because of the others on the site.

[tkr4lf]

This is fine but if you put the off topic threads there it will drive people away.

lol That's probably true.

Interesting suggestion though. It could get more people involved with the forums.

Considering this thread is now 11 hours old and it has only had 3 responses then it could only make it better.

As for off topic, do not put it in. Have all forums that are CC related only.

The ones to have in would be..
Announcements
Strategy
Questions & Answers
SoC Training Grounds
Map Foundry
Tournaments
Callouts
Mafia Games
Suggestions
Cheating & Abuse Reports
Bug Reports.
Some would get far more hits than others but I can only see this being for the benefit for the site. If one of the reasons people come is to play the games, people stay because of the others on the site.

I think we could do without the Mafia Games, as that's not really CC related. Could also not link to the C&A or Bug Reports. Come to think of it, if we just linked to a few, well, that gets people into the forums, and then they see all the other subforums we've got here. Honestly I would think Strategy, Q&A, Callouts and maybe Suggestions would be good. Tournaments can already be found easily. Announcements are normally made on the main page anyway.

[AndyDufresne]

I think this would be a pretty fun feature to have. I'll have to do some investigating and see if there are any existing features/tools/widget sort of things out there that we could use.


--Andy

[koontz1973]

I think this would be a pretty fun feature to have. I'll have to do some investigating and see if there are any existing features/tools/widget sort of things out there that we could use.


--Andy

Thanks Andy.

[AndyDufresne]

It doesn't look like any widget or tool currently exists, we'd have to build our own, using a tutorial like this one:
http://wiki.phpbb.com/Practical.Display ... rnal_pages


--Andy

[QoH]

http://www.playdiplomacy.com/ has this feature on its homepage. Or at least it does when you log in I think...

[koontz1973]

It does not have what I was thinking. If you look in the first post, I linked to http://uk.blu-ray.com/. It has the feature I was thinking of. But Diplomacyhttp://www.playdiplomacy.com/ has other features that would be great to have on the home page.

Top ten users and last 5 finished games. This will show who is around and allow newbies to see some finished games to see how it is played.

AndyDufresne, http://wiki.phpbb.com/Practical.Display%20...%20rnal_pages that seems quite straight forward to do. How about one of the tech guys looking at it and seeing if it can be done.

[koontz1973]

I know this has been forgotten but I would like to raise it again as both the old and new community managers supported it to an extent. I know that problems can arise from this like where to place it on the home screen or what forums to include in it but things like that can be talked about and figured out along the way.

[chapcrap]

MOVED out of Archives.

[koontz1973]

MOVED out of Archives.

Thanks chapcrap. Just so everyone is on the same page, here is a quick mock up of what it could look like if the twitter was moved to below facebook.

Click image to enlarge.

[blakebowling]

I wouldn't be opposed to this, however I wouldn't use it myself.

I'm definitely interested in getting the community opinion on this.

[nicestash]

Be sure to make sure the Latest Forum Posts are hyperlinks to their threads. I'm sure that was part of your plan, but I'm just making sure

[koontz1973]

Be sure to make sure the Latest Forum Posts are hyperlinks to their threads. I'm sure that was part of your plan, but I'm just making sure

It was.

When ever I poke around the forums, I see the same old faces in there. With 15000 players, only a fraction go into the forums. This should give them a bump in popularity. As I said in the OP, we all came for the game we love, but the site offers so much more and a lot of us stay for that. It should also give a bump in forum posts for a lot of the smaller forums like suggestions and foundry. Someone with a question in Q&A should get an answer quicker.

I wouldn't be opposed to this, however I wouldn't use it myself.

I'm definitely interested in getting the community opinion on this.

You may not use it, but it is something a lot of people would, and I can guarantee, a lot of people would probably end up scanning the thread titles when logging in including yourself. You may not use it but if a title is interesting to you, you probably would.

[agentcom]

Koontz, I think that picture looks pretty, and I can see the benefit. I also agree with your last that pretty much everyone would at least briefly scan the post titles as they logged in. And maybe some of those folks click through, even the ones who don't think they would.

I think I would get a lot more use out of seeing the forum titles than I do out of seeing the facebook/twitter posts.

[koontz1973]

I think I would get a lot more use out of seeing the forum titles than I do out of seeing the facebook/twitter posts.

This always bugged me about the twitter/facebook sections. Not only are they rarely used so the same thing can be up for a long time. Right now and on the screen shot I took, it shows the 6th Feb middle of the week posting for facebook. Both show the same thing 90% of the time anyway so why have both. We have more than enough room to put facebook and twitter on top of each other and have the threads run down the side.

When you look at the home page, what is it really, just a big advertisement for the site. Right now, when people log on, they see something that is not being utilised. Headline from the 7th of Feb. Facebook from the 6th of Feb. Twitter is a little better now but even that is 3 or 4 days old now. But it could and should be showing a thriving community, constantly changing. We are a diverse community and proud of it.

Lastly, I know this is not a sexy medal or gameplay option suggestion, but we have loads of them already.

[IcePack]

I wouldn't be opposed to this, however I wouldn't use it myself.

+1

[rishaed]

I would like it there are quite a few sections of the forums to enjoy and respond to!
I had been off this site for awhile, b/c of crappy internet whatnot, and found that I could enjoy more of the forums, even when I didn't play as many games, 1/2 instead of a full 4. It helps draw people in and that's something good for people as well.

[isaiah40]

*Bump* I think this is a really great idea!!!

[greenoaks]

Kickass Torrents have this feature on the right side of every page and i have spotted threads i've found interesting and clicked for a read.

a similar feature here on the homepage would add more to the site than a twitter feed.

[koontz1973]

I would like it there are quite a few sections of the forums to enjoy and respond to!

And others you may not, but this would at least open your eyes to some threads. And places you may not go to normanly, could end up being a second home.

*Bump* I think this is a really great idea!!!

Thanks for the bump.

Kickass Torrents have this feature on the right side of every page and i have spotted threads i've found interesting and clicked for a read.

a similar feature here on the homepage would add more to the site than a twitter feed.

My point exactly.

As I said before, this is not the sexiest idea in the world, but it is one that I believe (and others to) would benefit the sites forums greatly, thus ensuring the site offers more than just regular games. A knock on effect would be player retention (IMHO) as freeium players waiting to play a game will may hang out in the forums instead of going to another site.