Feedback Guild Forum Removal

[jmtiago]

you have killed the soul of the game and now your riping the heart out.
it is like someone burning all your family photo albums....all the memory's ....history gone.
@ jmtiago

ADVICE GIVEN
" To prevent losing important topics, it's recommended that you move everything you can from your Guild Forum to the Guild Tab in the Message Center "
Oh dont forget to tick important! or it will be deleted after 60 days.......
big note also DONT forget you are only allowed 5 important messages....
i think the advice was not fully thought through? or have i missed some secret update

what i wanted to know are the usual messages that i moved from the social tab to the guild tab, if they are active will they disappear anyway?

 

[an inhabitant of carcosa]

big note also DONT forget you are only allowed 5 important messages....

Okay, totally honest.
What in the world could be so important that it does not fit into FIVE threads?

Also, do you really expect new guildmates to read thread after thread after thread about most probably stuff they already knew?
Come on.

 

[Macha]

Okay, totally honest.
What in the world could be so important that it does not fit into FIVE threads?

Also, do you really expect new guildmates to read thread after thread after thread about most probably stuff they already knew?
Come on.

7-8 years of a guilds history & memories does not fit in 5 threads

 

[an inhabitant of carcosa]

7-8 years of a guilds history & memories does not fit in 5 threads

And you are telling me that you and your folks are constantly reading that stuff again and again?

Even after 6 years of playing I don't care for the guild forums, to be honest.
But I can see your point.

 

[shareshark]

what i wanted to know are the usual messages that i moved from the social tab to the guild tab, if they are active will they disappear anyway?

they stay active if you tick important....but you can only have 5 important ones

 

[Seconddream]

Some of the stories on the forum are quite long.
The characters within the message center are limited.
With the disappearance of the forum, it would be nice if the limit of characters within the message center also disappeared

 

[Julian24]

Some of the stories on the forum are quite long.
The characters within the message center are limited.
With the disappearance of the forum, it would be nice if the limit of characters within the message center also disappeared

If the post is too long, just post it as 2 separate messages in the thread. You can still post INFINITE messages in one post. And if you mark the message as important it will not be deleted.

 

[Atokirina]

We have certain information in the Forum only for guild leaders (diplomacy e.g.).
What would be absolutely necessary: let us mark also messages in social as important, otherwise we have a real problem and would need an external forum to keep this confidential information!

Our guild is using Discord. We decided to use an external communication platform since we started because the forum isn't available for the app players. The message center got a very nice update, but it still can't replace the forum. We will probably stay with Discord for a while, if not forever.

I hope they will keep improving the message center so it will feel more like a forum. Tbh, the forum that they are removing isn't very ideal in my opinion. I'm used to the forums like the ones in Grepolis and Tribalwars, there you have even more formatting options and bb-codes to choose from. I was one of the people who liked to make the forum as neat and attractive as possible. When starting to play Forge of Empires, the forum was a huge disappointment for me. But removing the forum and using the message center as a replacement isn't the best solution in my opinion. But I believe they will make many good improvements to the message center in the future.

 

[Artubar]

... If you have members on the App, how do you workaround the forums already? ...

We have only few [pure] app players - to some we have to send specific information by the message system, and the technically more advanced users log in on their their mobile browser (desktop version) and use the forums directly via https://<worldsubdomain>.forgeofempires.com/game/forum

... What in the world could be so important that it does not fit into FIVE threads?
Also, do you really expect new guildmates to read thread after thread after thread about most probably stuff they already knew?
Come on.

If you see it that way, EVERYTHING would fit into a single thread. Happy searching.
Some of us like the idea of more than one dimension, it's more convenient to have one thread per topic instead of one big mash-up thread that's awkward to search through.
Anyways, why do you address people wanting to keep their forums in such a aggressive way now? I can't remember you actively demanding to thrash the forums over the last few years. Seems they didn't hurt you.

And no, new members don't read everything, because some forums are hidden
But yes, they do read at least the rule threads (mentioned above), and newbies love our "library" covering the early game from BA to ~CE.

If the post is too long, just post it as 2 separate messages in the thread. You can still post INFINITE messages in one post. And if you mark the message as important it will not be deleted.

Repetition of the arguments given in this thread:

• Split posts are ugly, and not logical. Why did you make only one post in here? You have posted three sentences, they could be splitted in three posts. They belong together, but hey, let's rip them apart for fun
• Infinite messages are possible indeed, but try to find information about some hundred posts in the past... nearly impossible with the infamous "load more" button and a missing search function (Ctrl-F is possible in the guild forums...)
• + You can mark only 5 messages as important, which is too few for some more structured guilds with a long history
  + the majority can't write in important threads anymore, which is not always desired, but
  + when you remove the important status for reorganization or additions, you lose your thread if you don't reset the important flag

_____

All in all I could go with a 4th tab in the message overview for really really, under all circumstances permanent* threads with simple rights management for writing/ deleting /editing threads; and yes - editing includes posts as well, to fix that mistpselled word or add §3.1.
* (of course the threads vanish when the guild disbands)

Rising the char / newline limit would be great in all message tabs, I'll swear that I don't share base64 encoded mp3 files via ingame messages.
If that's not convincing enough - how about (explicitly) joining two successive messages from the same author?

And hyperlinks would be hypercool. In a browser, it's annoying but doable to hit Ctrl-C, Ctrl-T, Ctrl-V, Enter -- but in the app, it's a pain in the a**
There could be some precautions like:
- Links from guild members can be clicked directly
- Links from friends can be clicked too, but a popup asks if you want to follow it
- Links from others appear as text only and must be copied as it is right now (minus the scrambling into unusability)

 

[sirblu]

Seriously!!! We can only have 5 topics marked as important?? So what happens to all the other important topics we have in our Guild forums! You have got to be kidding! You need to do something so we do not lose all that valuable info we provide for our Guilds!!!!

 

[Dan 77]

???

To prevent losing important topics, it's recommended that you move everything you can from your Guild Forum to the Guild Tab in the Message Center.

To anybody in the guild immediately delete it?? You should restrict who can create/change/delete guild conversation firstly, lol.

To achieve this, we implemented the necessary conditions on the Message Center. We are aware that not all features are available yet, but we will continue to make improvements

Firstly make huge improvements, until then maybe remove guild forum - this would make much more sense, doesn't it? Otherwise you will add many work for players with later additional editing of "saved" forum posts, which originally would have some formatting which couldn't be saved...

we want to provide players and alliances a simpler and more accessible way to organize your own Guild topics, by aligning mobile and browser versions.

- "Simpler" in which meaning? So simple that it will be more counterproductive?
- How could I organize it in a message center?? How could I edit or update info dedicated in message history of important & locked threat? But threats will be still sorted by date of the last message in it, not by its importance?
- What would be simpler than to add guild forum into the mobile app?? I think you simply don't want to do that for players.

With the launch of the new Message Center, we decided to disable the current Guild Forum on September 23rd, 2020. With this removal, this means that all topics contained in your Guild's Forum will be deleted from the game.

It really can't fully recompense the loss of in-game guild forum.

Non-existing forum in the mobile app: AS I CAN KNOW, MANY GUILDS ALREADY HAD TO CREATE AN EXTERNAL WEB OR ONLINE GOOGLE DOC TO SPREAD A LINK TO IT SO THAT MOBILE PLAYERS COULD FINALLY ACCESS ITS CONTENT! (Of course without number of characters limitation, but with hyperlinks, colors etc.)
Why? Because developpers didn't make for us handy guild forum in the mobile app easily accessible directly in the game... sad...
Especially @Artubar wrote it very nicely and precisely here:

Spoiler

Yeah, remove another good feature instead of making it available to app players as well...

Benefits of the guild forum which the message system can't provide:

• genuine clickable hyperlinks
• font formatting (color, bold, italic, ..)
• edit posts (correcting, completing)
• delete single posts (eg spam or outdated vacancies)
• post long texts without having to split them up into multiple messages
• create multiple, individual subforums with individual access permissions (in the message system we have in fact only one "forum" Guild which is automatically accessible to all guild members)
• explicitly subscribe to some topics or forums - and only for new posts in those the notifier is flashing
• persistence! There are a lot of threads like guild rules, trade guidelines, LB support instructions, tool and info link collections - should we mark all of them as important just to have them at hand in 61 days? or should we recreate them every 59 days? Huh, new position in guilds - the thread saver!

-

I think many players don't even know there's a guild forum.

Maybe because it has never been in the mobile app??

Like any infrastructure, the guild forums consume resources to be maintained. If too few people are using this feature, its cost is no longer justified. Of course, it's an inconvenience for the users but how many are they?

So, an another solution would be to add it into the mobile app - and more players will use it, right?
Ok, some server is needed to maintain guild forums. But how great infratructure will be needed for guild messaging when there will be many important messages marked as important without automatic delete? Servers sometimes didn't catch up already, so messages haven't been displayed for several minutes......

Btw, SO...
when I'll mark ANY guild conversation as important (or simply keep our conversation "GBG" still marked), "any" means anyhow overloaded/busy conversation, NONE message from this conversation will be deleted then?
... Come on developpers!!!

I have passed this feedback on, important messages will not disappear in the usual way that messages do after 60 days (the thread remains but the older messages disappear)

(...) Guild Conversations marked as important will never have messages deleted.

 

[sirblu]

But this can actually work out quite well, as long as there is a separate tab along with guild, social and official. That tab can be called something like Guild Info and all threads created under it don't dissappear after 60 days without a need to mark them as important and replies are locked by default. Guild leaders can use it to post guild rules, various explanations for example how to use 1,9 (or swaps for new guilds) etc. Basically everything which they want new players to be able to read at any point. Surely this new message system already allows us to do it but now they all go under guild tab which is not practical.

I totally agree with this and it's a great solution - fine move the forum to the message center under a new tab labeled forum or something like that.,but give us all the benefit of the forum like unlimited lines and the ability to do sub-topics and no limit on what is important. And no limit on how long the topics stay there. We have history in the Guild Forum and to delete all is insane. It just will not fit in the message center.

 

[Dan 77]

But this can actually work out quite well, as long as there is a separate tab along with guild, social and official. That tab can be called something like Guild Info and all threads created under it don't dissappear after 60 days without a need to mark them as important and replies are locked by default. Guild leaders can use it to post guild rules, various explanations for example how to use 1,9 (or swaps for new guilds) etc. Basically everything which they want new players to be able to read at any point. Surely this new message system already allows us to do it but now they all go under guild tab which is not practical.

I can't agree with you. You still couldn't edit existing posts, nor delete very certain post, nor add BBcodes (formatting, hyperlinks etc.).

 

[sirblu]

what i wanted to know are the usual messages that i moved from the social tab to the guild tab, if they are active will they disappear anyway?

I don't think so as I have messages in the center that every 2 weeks I just add a few dots to bring them forward and they have not been deleted.

 

[sirblu]

I don't think they can add the forum to the mobile app since the forum is in the very old DOS editor style that we used to use when programming in the early days of DOS. However, while thay cannot make the forum more updated to today;s mobile standards they certainly can make the Message center more accessible to take on the Forum's content. Instead of putting it all in the Guild Tab, how about a new tab called Guild Forum which does not go away and can handle sub topics. Also, we can choose who in the guild can post to it, like the forum.
Also, they need to stabilize the message center as they just got it fixed after it being broken for a week and wrecking havoc in the guild threads
I totally understand how INNO wants to update features to the present but give us something to take it's place rather than deleting it totally without anything useful for us to use

 

[ThomaxDerVollschlanke]

You ask for feedback? Well, this planned change will be a real PITA (pls read definition #1).

Why?
The in-game communication lacks almost everything the guild forum is used for:
a) Document strategies for new players: Long text, colored, highlighted, changed every time something important is changed in the game
b) Provide external Links
c) Document information that shall be available only to some guild leaders
d) Documentaon of things that are valid for a certain time only (e.g. vacation)

What would be needed in the message center befor switching the Forum off? [referencing the points above]
zz(for all topics)): Edit existing messages, remove character/line break limit, keep messages forever
a) Needs editor for some kind of markup: Color coding, bold/italic/underline, ...
b) Add support for clickable links & remove that freaking "feature" that removes almost all hyperlinks if you past the protocol handler (https://)
c) Keep messages in "Social" tab forever, b/c not everyone in the Guild should be able to read everything
d) Allow deletion of any message in a conversation where you have Admin permission

How do we deal with the non-existing forum in the App?
All guild leaders, fight coordinators, ... check the forum multiple times a week - the switch from app to PC for this (if not playing in the browser anyway).
New players that need information are asked to do this as well; and most people do. If that's not possible, we copy/paste them the current article into an message (which is a PITA - length limitiation, URL remover, ...)

 

[Claus20]

Please, Inno, changes your mind about this modification. In this way, you will erase the history of the guilds and the players who have contributed over time to the development of the guild rules.
On the other hand, messages cannot be transferred due to the limitation of the number of lines and characters allowed in the new message center, and after 60 days all messages will be deleted.
How can we manage this?
prntscr.com/ue7vd4
It is a very bad idea, so you should give up this update.
My suggestion: You better focus on improving the new GBG which has become a business between guilds and not a competition, as well as the old GVG, which can become accessible from the mobile app, and on GVG you can make new maps corresponding to the new eras.

 

[Achaeus]

While I agree that this is not the best move and like others here my Guilds in live have lots of information in the Guild Forum that would seriously clutter the Guild tab. We do need another option than the Guild Tab! Perhaps a Guild Forum Tab that does not have limits, and does have the ability to let only Guild Leaders see the information. I would really do not want to have to start using a 3rd party application to share information that only the Guild leaders should see! Message length limits are going to be an issue as well, so that is another consideration that needs to be addressed. While I understand and appreciate that Inno is trying to mesh Mobile and Browser, you also need to ensure the features the guild relies on are not lost.

 

[Calamity Jane]

PLEASE don't remove the Guild Forums!!! those of us who understand them have :
- placed a lot of precious information for newer players so they can get a great start to the game and refer our newer members there,
- kept a historical record of founders and leaders, aiders, GE results, GbG results, treasury donations and other stats
- made sure that the guild requirements in full and rules, expectations and policies are spelled out completely
- use this storage area for grabbing any tidbit of info that any player on phones need to see (including new players noted above)
- kept diplomatic, sensitive (in hidden areas) and other information regarding relationships with other guilds
- use the hidden area to discuss on permanent record the pros and cons of any decision before implementing
- have used the polls to receive feedback from members for proposed important guild changes
- the list is longer but these are samples of how useful the Guild Forum still is, and will remain should u choose to allow it to stay

 

[Seconddream]

If the post is too long, just post it as 2 separate messages in the thread. You can still post INFINITE messages in one post. And if you mark the message as important it will not be deleted.

The intention is therefore to remove that limit.
Then you do not have to post extra messages, but everything is possible in 1 message.
The reason for this is the disappearance of the forum.