Discussion Forum Improvements

[nice2haveu]

I reported it as a text issue on button label in the en forum, since it looks like code syntax. They deleted it with reason like only in-game matters are to be discussed. So I didn't plan to address anymore regarding wiki there.

But here, forum improvements are in line of discussion. Hence shared my opinion towards wiki content also to get a deep run from community members and managers. Also, I am not complaining about why they delete my request. They did as per their description of specific purpose of the thread. Shared my comment just for the example. That's it.

Beta updates doesn't reflect on wiki. It's always referring to live server updates only if am not wrong.

If your concern is to make wiki content clean and good, still "forum improvements" might not be a correct place as per my guess.

Really no clue, who are all has control over wiki page from FoE/INNO team.
Anyhow you brought a different concern in the forum, which can be answered perfectly by community manager since they are responsible for any content creation.

 

[SlytherinAttack]

@Juber, Is it possible to add an option (button) to open all (spoiler) images on a post/comment in one go?
Note: Suggesting as a improvement and really no idea how those options are handled in the forum.

 

[Velvet Thunder]

You don't necessarily need a dislike button, but previously on the forums you could access other "like" emojis like a smiley face, the , etc. It would be nice for those to come back. (to get to them, you used to be able to open the like button link in a new tab, and then change the url id to be id=2 or something)

I have seen that elsewhere, and I'll bring it up with Juber if it is something we can explore at some point.

Really no clue, who are all has control over wiki page from FoE/INNO team.

I think there is a separate team which handles that, at least it does not come under our job description.

@Juber, Is it possible to add an option (button) to open all (spoiler) images on a post/comment in one go?
Note: Suggesting as a improvement and really no idea how those options are handled in the forum.

Well now that is actually something that can be done, but you'll need to bring it up with the spoiler guys. They could probably make one large spoiler and put all the images inside that, I guess.

Actually I don't even know why they put extra spoiler buttons inside threads which are already in the spoiler section.

 

[NoVa]

We can play with the spoiler formatting, that's not a problem, however me, and most likely others too, prefer it the way it is so you're not overwhelmed with information at once and have a look at what you want to see. Nevertheless, I've just compressed Titan thread into that format as an example, have a look and see if it is any better.

 

[CrashBoom]

it doesn't make sense to put all in one big spoiler
the spoiler-subforum itself is already for spoiler

so players opening it know that they get spoiled

 

[DEADP00L]

I have seen that elsewhere, and I'll bring it up with Juber if it is something we can explore at some point.

It is more than possible because it exists on other forums than the beta one.
It's just in the settings that the beta forum admin chose.
Like the dark theme which has been in study for 1 month...
I myself am an admin of a Xenforo forum, and it only took me 2 minutes to switch my theme to dark mode.

The strangest thing is that some CMs say that they must keep the same architecture between all the FOE forums but if you consult them regularly you can only see that this is false.
So poor understanding of Innogames guidelines or refusal to question ???

 

[nice2haveu]

We can play with the spoiler formatting, that's not a problem, however me, and most likely others too, prefer it the way it is so you're not overwhelmed with information at once and have a look at what you want to see. Nevertheless, I've just compressed Titan thread into that format as an example, have a look and see if it is any better.

Actually, just assume for a case, if announcement given like that, images are kept under a button click to read the details on top of it. How you feel about it. It will be annoying. I am already feeling that annoying things on stats page from the announcement. I completely agree to include everything in single set. One go seeing everything is time saving and less annoyed.

 

[CrashBoom]

I completely agree to include everything in single set.

but why a single set ?

it is in the spoiler section already
so --> no set at all

just assume for a case, if announcement given like that, images are kept under a button click to read the details on top of it

just assume the whole announcement would be in one big spoiler

 

[DEADP00L]

Personally I like this change, for larger features may be all assets are not released at one go. Some one may post something initially, then there may be a lot of discussion then finally a new picture pops up and so on. In that case it is pretty annoying to sift through the speculation for some concrete spoilers

Certainly, but when an author edits his spoiler instead of adding the discussion below, the subject does not appear as new and we can miss information.

 

[ArklurBeta]

Actually I don't even know why they put extra spoiler buttons inside threads which are already in the spoiler section.

I think those are just used for the purpose of grouping together the resources, so one can look around, navigate in the thread more easily, not used in the sense as spoilers, like spoilers for a movie, "only click if you don't mind knowing stuff".
It's really the same how Juber creates the announcement, the stats for buildings are behind a spoiler button.

 

[SlytherinAttack]

People who doesn't want all in one for the spoilers images, expect the game to show all rewards in one popup by reducing the clicks. Very strange. Crowd support matters the most.

My intention is, came to read the content posted in spoiler or anywhere, why user interaction needed to open and see each content. It's like I presented something to everyone until unless they open it, they won't know what I presented. Is that really brilliant approach? Please do something to avoid many clicks. Period!!

 

[ArklurBeta]

People who doesn't want all in one for the spoilers images, expect the game to show all rewards in one popup by reducing the clicks. Very strange

That comparison makes no sense.

At best I look at the spoiler section daily, with the intention of looking at the stuff. I also have to scroll anyway to see the stuff, the whole content won't fit on the screen anyway, it's not like each piece of resource is behind a spoiler button.

The ingame reward popups serves little-to-no purpose, a simple floating icon about the reward will do just fine (better!), especially after the 34985734th time.

 

[SlytherinAttack]

it's not like each piece of resource is behind a spoiler button.

Then why it kept under that button. What they are trying to prevent by posting in the forum.

If you are giving the exaggerated feel for rewards popup and I am feeling the same feel for spoiler section here (since I don't find any trouble in GbG rewards pop-ups and if they chahe or doesn't change, I don't have any issue). But concern is same, I don't want to do many clicks, since I am not a manager to do some performance review on someone thread/comment/post. I will read the post and move on. Just for keeping many images in post, making members clicking everytime is not appropriate. We are not kinder garden kids to do click each time to see what is kept behind. Anyways, I asked as a improvement, if only few people are okay with my suggestion, then making us getting annoyed is very much acceptable.

 

[Velvet Thunder]

Okay, let's see where everyone stands. I added a poll to this thread.

 

[Juber]

Hello Juber.
Do you have any news about this proposal?

I have now. Sadly, this is not possible. We use a custom theme, that is adjusted after every update to the forum software. This means offering a second theme would create development effort. Even if I would do it, I would have to have close contact to the devs to keep up with quality standards with the style.
If you want, you can play around with external extensions, like Stylish. There you can create your own themes. If wanted, I could also try creating a theme using it and offer it, however it is not an official one and only something I offer as a player.

 

[Velvet Thunder]

There are various extensions available which offer an automatic dark mode for websites. I use Dark Reader and it looks pretty good on the forum.

 

[nice2haveu]

There are various extensions available which offer an automatic dark mode for websites. I use Dark Reader and it looks pretty good on the forum.

Then it may be specific to browsers, not officially on the forum layout.

 

[MooingCat]

Then why it kept under that button. What they are trying to prevent by posting in the forum.

If you are giving the exaggerated feel for rewards popup and I am feeling the same feel for spoiler section here (since I don't find any trouble in GbG rewards pop-ups and if they chahe or doesn't change, I don't have any issue). But concern is same, I don't want to do many clicks, since I am not a manager to do some performance review on someone thread/comment/post. I will read the post and move on. Just for keeping many images in post, making members clicking everytime is not appropriate. We are not kinder garden kids to do click each time to see what is kept behind. Anyways, I asked as a improvement, if only few people are okay with my suggestion, then making us getting annoyed is very much acceptable.

The reason we group things behind spoilers is to make it easier to find specific pieces of information someone might be interested in. If I want to see the new buildings or the new avatars, I don't have to scroll through everything else until I find them, I can jump right to the spoilers for that and open those sections. As others have mentioned, it's the same reason Juber adds building stats within spoilers, that way instead of scrolling through all the tables until you get to the buildings you're interested in, you can expand the ones you're interested in.

If you want to see everything it adds a few clicks, but I don't think it's worth losing the convenience of finding specific pieces of information to save those few clicks every now and then.

If you want a workaround, on browser you can open the dev tools (ctrl+shift+i/cmd+shift+i), go to the console tab, paste in the piece of code below, and hit enter. It will open all the spoilers on that page, do it again to close the spoilers.

jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery('.bbCodeSpoiler-button').click();
});

 

[SlytherinAttack]

The reason we group things behind spoilers is to make it easier to find specific pieces of information someone might be interested in. If I want to see the new buildings or the new avatars, I don't have to scroll through everything else until I find them, I can jump right to the spoilers for that and open those sections. As others have mentioned, it's the same reason Juber adds building stats within spoilers, that way instead of scrolling through all the tables until you get to the buildings you're interested in, you can expand the ones you're interested in.

If you want to see everything it adds a few clicks, but I don't think it's worth losing the convenience of finding specific pieces of information to save those few clicks every now and then.

If you want a workaround, on browser you can open the dev tools (ctrl+shift+i/cmd+shift+i), go to the console tab, paste in the piece of code below, and hit enter. It will open all the spoilers on that page, do it again to close the spoilers.

jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery('.bbCodeSpoiler-button').click();
});

Actually for stats to keep spoiler also not great, if you need to collect and compare overall benefits of the building, you need to open them separately atleast once for every buildings added.

Using mobile to read the contents from the forum, and need to click each button to find the specific piece of information. By having touch and scroll, it makes the screen stop wherever you want and by placing the heading with bold is more than enough to differentiate the each content.

Check the main announcement of wildlife event for example. Juber added bold heading for each different content. How that will become hard to find the piece of information. Normal text search is more than enough where everything is visible. Even for stats post if given like main announcement, I could have easily touch and scroll every content very easily. Same will be for PC users if they use mouse or touch pad. After few days, if you want to recollect your memory on few things, by reading building name in the spoiler button without opening cannot give you desired benefit. If you want to read the specific content of the building, please click and open the spoiler button first, then search for piece of information which you thought to clarify, how this should be accepted as a convenient approach just in case of few clicks.

For example, without opening the stats post each spoiler buttons, please tell me which buildings gives forgepoints and which gives happiness or units only, by viewing the stats suggested in the post. (Don't answer from your memory, you are good at it. But not all people can do like you)

 

[MooingCat]

Actually for stats to keep spoiler also not great, if you need to collect and compare overall benefits of the building, you need to open them separately atleast once for every buildings added.

Strongly disagree with that. If I want to compare Panda Shrine to Himalayan Fields, or Royal to Scholar Tower of Conjunction, it's much simpler to open those two individual spoilers than to scroll back and forth between other building you're not interested in comparing. Search is not a great substitution, it's clunky on mobile, and there are other instances of the building names other places in the announcements. If you want to compare all, then yeah you have to click a few more times, but I don't see why that's such a big problem.

As someone with RSI, I just don't understand why those few additional clicks/presses are an issue. This is not a repetitive task you do a lot, it's something you do every now and then to get some information. Losing all the convenience of the spoilers in the name of reducing clicks just doesn't make sense to me. When everything is expanded there's practically no difference between with or without spoilers, so why lose out on this convenience?

By having touch and scroll, it makes the screen stop wherever you want and by placing the heading with bold is more than enough to differentiate the each content.

Yes, but you now have to read through the text as you're scrolling to figure out where to stop. If everything is available at a glance, you can open the sections you are interested in without need for much scrolling. Again, if you want to see all then yeah you have to click a few more times, but I just don't understand why that's such a big issue. Personally I find scrolling back and forth much more annoying that clicking a few buttons.

Check the main announcement of wildlife event for example. Juber added bold heading for each different content.

Announcements and spoiler section are two completely different things. Announcements are meant to inform and guide you through the feature, in the spoiler section we simply dump all the information we find, possibly throwing in a bit of speculation here and there (though that's mainly done in the spoiler discussion threads). As a result there are a lot more images in the spoiler section, and usually images that are not that interesting to everyone, especially not each time you want to check the thread.

I think the ideal solution is an "open all" feature, but as far as I can see there are no available XenForo plugins that do this. I don't think it would be hard for someone familiar with XenForo to develop that though, so perhaps that's something worth looking into @Juber?