Diablo forum reformation

Tyrael

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Blackwing said:
To Chris and Kinkarso; RoaCH of DisCord encouraged me to give my suggestions for the Diablo forum sector. I am sending them to all three of you for sheer ease of access.

  • News
  • Diablo 1 and Hellfire
  • Diablo 2 and LoD
  • Diablo 3
  • Lore
  • Mods
  • Spam

News would bring members updates by Blizzard, or anyone else, that involves Diablo (D3 mainly). Only staff should have access to post here, but should be viewable by all.

Diablo 1 and Hellfire would be a place to talk about its namesake.

Diablo 2 and LoD would be a place to talk about its namesake (including builds, strategies, etc. but no mods or 3rd party programs)

Diablo 3 would be a place to talk about its namesake for members.

Lore would be a place to talk about the history of Sanctuary, etc.

Mods would be a place to talk about mods like Zy-el chronicles, Eastern sun, etc. Could have sub-forums in it for each mod.

Spam coul be a place for things off-topic, and would prove to be an effective way to move posts that are off-topic. Something of a trash bin, but still gives users many freedoms.

Of course, they don't have to be named this if it is not in general agreement.

Another suggestion is to create a social group for staff members.

I think also the rules should be modified. The ads on this site that promote the selling of gold is frowned upon by many, and various 3rd-party softwares and techniques like D2jsp or D3jsp can tarnish the enjoyment of others. Also, the social groups that some members have made seem to breech the rule: S5. Shock Sites and Images. Boobs is one example, and many others promote websites. Perhaps I am overstepping my responsibilities with these ideas, but to be taken seriously, forums don't allow these kinds of things.
Chris' response:
Sounds fair. But we will need to gain attention for those older games. Especially Diablo I.

I can easily can access to news about mods via D2maniacs, who have a news section about updates.
And I suggested that we could hold more contests for those older games, and even (just thought) could hand out a few free premium memberships once in a blue moon.
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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Looks like a good idea. I think we could use a change in the structure.

Question: for the forums you have listed, are you proposing those as subforums, or forums of their own on the index? For instance, right now we have

--Diablo
---subforum
---subforum

etc...

We use to have all the gaming forums on the index without subforums, until we put them into subforums for some reason. It looks nice, but I'm not sure which is more effective.

I think we could try putting them back on the index again if no one objects. I feel we sometimes concentrate too much on the general forums, when afterall..we are a gaming forum.

-edit

Oh, and for the "spam" forum, we have a "void" which should basically cover that. That is here
 

Tyrael

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Question: for the forums you have listed, are you proposing those as subforums, or forums of their own on the index? For instance, right now we have

--Diablo
---subforum
---subforum
I was thinking just sub-forums within the Diablo sector, but if we put it on the index, then all three Blizzard franchises will call for reformation. It can be a goal, but I certainly think we should start slow.

@void
Alright. I think we should have a redirect sub-forum for it in the three franchises then, because there must be many members who only spend time in one section of the forums. Doing this will better prevent crap threads in the serious forums.
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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Okay, sounds good. That was my thought too, if we put those on the index, we'd need to do the same for the others.

So yeah, I agree with this. Looks good. Just waiting on Donny's response :p..make sure we're all on the same page.
 

Tyrael

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Donny = Kinkarso right?

Also, if you ever want to add flash capabilities, I've got all new character classes (including archivist) and chat gem ready to use. Here's the codes:

[flash="width=90 height=90"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/animations/barbarian.swf[/flash]

[flash="width=90 height=90"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/animations/witchdoctor.swf[/flash]

[flash="width=90 height=90"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/animations/wizard.swf[/flash]

[flash="width=90 height=90"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/animations/archivist.swf[/flash]

[flash="width=30 height=30"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/chatgem.swf[/flash]

Edit: Okay, I'm off for the night (eastern time). I'll check back tomorrow to see what has been discussed. Goodnight!
 

kinkarso

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I am all for the changes you've listed. I think it may very well work.

I'm curious about your thoughts on activity within the diablo forums. Most of our search engine (google, yahoo, etc) traffic goes directly to the diablo forum threads, but they do not convert well into active posters / contributors.

For example, these threads get a ton of traffic every day. They may need to be updated (maybe even with some incentive of some sort):
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-3/122956-diablo-3-system-requirements.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-3/111800-diablo-3-release-official.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-2-hacking/119703-stings-maphack-diablo-ii-1-11b.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-2-strategies/127496-perfect-1-11b-pvm-hammerdin-guide.html

Thanks,
Donny
 

Tyrael

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Well, first here's Chris' reply to post #1:
I am all for the changes you've listed. I think it may very well work.

I'm curious about your thoughts on activity within the diablo forums. Most of our search engine (google, yahoo, etc) traffic goes directly to the diablo forum threads, but they do not convert well into active posters / contributors.

For example, these threads get a ton of traffic every day. They may need to be updated (maybe even with some incentive of some sort):
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-3/122956-diablo-3-system-requirements.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-3/111800-diablo-3-release-official.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-2-hacking/119703-stings-maphack-diablo-ii-1-11b.html
http://www.battleforums.com/forums/diablo-2-strategies/127496-perfect-1-11b-pvm-hammerdin-guide.html

Thanks,
Donny
I don't think the problem lies with the threads, although updating them would only help; no, I think getting the anonymous' to actually join is the problem. Maybe we could take that part of the registration out that asks to invite friends (I know some who would just stop there), and even offer more incentive like you said to join. We need to have the information they want in a clean, organized manner so they plan to come back next time to see what we have next.

I noticed we have an agreement system and an award system. I a not quite sure what they each do, but can offer that we install a reputation system. This would only invite more people to try to gain as much as possible, thus increasing the productivity of good posts.

Back at DiabloFans, there are countless users who appreciate these things; they see it as being recognized, and they like that kind of attention. This is also a good way to find future staff members.

Edit: On another note, will Bf have correspondence at Blizzcon? I know there's a fund, and don't worry, I'm not trying to go (I won't for awhile) :p. Having a live blogger (most likely staff) at Blizzcon can make people want to tell their friends.
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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Update: I'm working on restructuring these forums now. For Diablo Strategies, do you think those should be merged into the Diablo 2 forum? No need for its own forum, basically? Wasn't positive on this. Thanks!
 

Tyrael

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Yeah, I think it should be merged.

As for the posts already here, should we just do a mass move of them all?
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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Yes, that should do :). Gotta be away for about an hour, then I'll finish the revamp.
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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Alrighty, it seems I got the reformation finished for the most part. Tell me if anything isn't right.

Also..if you could give me better forum descriptions that would be great. Some of our old ones are kind of..odd, and some of them don't have any at all (like lore, for instance).

The Zy-El forum is still up at the moment, because I'm not sure if Chris wants it gone or not (it's his creation). I'll talk to him about this, and see if it's still active or not.

Now since I merged a few forums, the stickies are a mess. Sorry about that :p
 

Tyrael

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Everything looks great! When I get home today I will try to sort the posts some.

One more big thing: The Social groups and the banner ads selling gold.

If these can be revised, that would be wonderful. I will work on a fresh set of rules if no one has any objections.
 

RoaCh of DisCord

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No objections from me! As for the ads, you will need to contact donny (kinkarso) about those. He deals with those types of things. Though I think, most of the ads are automatically generated by keywords -- but I'm not sure.

-Joe
 

Tyrael

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So the misuse of the social groups will be rectified?



I also contacted Donny about the ads.
 

Tyrael

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1 - Flaming, Trolling, & Arguing
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RoaCh of DisCord

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Wow, good work! Yes, all global mods have global powers to deal out punishments. For now, I have you set as a forum leader, so you have those abilities in all of the Diablo forums (you can use the infraction system, all mod tools, etc). If there is a problem outside of your section, you can always report the post and an admin or Global mod will get to it ASAP.
 

EEX_ca_aok

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Just thought I'd throw something out there: A huge draw for members here back in the day was the D2 hacking community. I think completely eliminating all talk of "hacks" would be detrimental to activity. In fact I'm pretty sure the way I originally showed up here was searching for "d2 hacks" or something similar. Yes, there isn't much recent development on the hacking front, so perhaps it doesn't deserve a subsection, but I don't think all discussion should be banned. Just ban the useless "lol teach me 2 dupe plz" threads and you'll be fine.

My $0.02.
 
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