Noob's View Of Trap17. The greatest flaw.

[RJM 0]

Trap17 is full of people creating GUIs and I can't believe this isn't more of a contention.There are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY to many topics. More is NOT better. It's a huge turn-off and I'm not sure it's worth the MyCents to hang around and give myself a headache trying to figure out what topics my interests fit in. If I was lord Trap, this is what I'd see under my main forum page:-Xisto Faqs, info, and requests.-General Discussion-Tech-Science-Political-Humor-Life-Everything and NothingUnder each of those categories, I'd have a general sub, then maybe 5-10 more subs. More 5s than 10s.Trap needs some sort of organization bad. It's like walking into a teenager's room and looking for a clean sock. I'm THIS| |CLOSE to just buying a new bag of clean fresh knee-highs and giving up.

[Nabb 0]

Xisto is full of people creating GUIs and I can't believe this isn't more of a contention.

What? You do know that GUI means Graphical User Interface, right?

[Quatrux 4]

It's a big forum, what would you want, I like that everything is categorized so much, for people searching for information on google it's much easier to find something, if you want less categories in my opinion you could find a forum which is not so active and does not have so much members? I don't get the idea for what you're trying to say, it's the same as walking into a room, a very big room full of people, a lot of people and a lot of place for them.

[xpress 0]

Well, I got your point. But its very difficult to reorganize the entire Xisto forum now, and it creates lots of problems. It also effects the SEO of Xisto.

Personally I don't think its a problem.

 

And in my opinion if a newbie view the home page of Xisto forum he immediately thinks that its a big forum. So he/she may think it is very easy to earn myCents for his posts because he can find lot of topics that interests him. But if there are only 6 to 7 main categories in the forum home page he may think that this is very small forum and may not be that much active.

 

Thats my personal opinion when I first saw Xisto. Well, first impression is the best impression, isn't it?

 

You know, there is another associate forum to xisto called Xisto. Everything is same(myCents etc..) at that forum except the number of categories at that forum are smaller and more technical. Just try it once if you wish.

[salamangkero 0]

It's a big forum, what would you want, I like that everything is categorized so much, for people searching for information on google it's much easier to find something, if you want less categories in my opinion you could find a forum which is not so active and does not have so much members? I don't get the idea for what you're trying to say, it's the same as walking into a room, a very big room full of people, a lot of people and a lot of place for them.

I agree. I do believe the topics are not simply a bag of beans upended haphazardly, rather, it is quite well organized. Quite remotely from your image of a messy teenager's room, I believe Xisto is like a Department Store. There are so many items but they are all organized in such a way that you will know where to get a clean pair of socks.

Far be it from me to step down to derision, I do believe your proposed system of organizing forum threads would be more like a teenager's messy room. Everything and Nothing sounds pretty much like a large clothes hamper that accepts all items of clothing, a cop-out, if you will, as this is the place where chaos is tolerated so that the other threads may have order.

I do think the organization is simple enough. I mean I don't have headache fits just trying to figure out where I might find something that is of interest to me.

There is something I'd like to share, in the hopes that it might be of some help. In the left panel, there is a list of the topics most recently posted to. It is, to me, a randomizer of sorts. I can quickly scan it, click on those that I think may be of interest to me, read through those that actually interest me and post a reply where I am inclined to do so (mostly when someone needs help, when someone is, as I perceived, utterly wrong, or when I have some idea to contribute which has not yet been posted) Plus, I get the bonus of posting in a "live" topic, as I am one who hates resurrecting dried-up, dusty, decaying dead topics that haven't been posted to in months

[RJM 0]

If I have to scroll way the f to the bottom of a mile long page to find the forum I'm looking for, there's something amiss. I would rather take a quick glance, click, maybe click another sub category after that, then be reading...Yes, GUI is the graphical user interface. Did I confuse you?I don't get the impression that it's that busy. The other forums I go to get a lot more busy and have far fewer categories. A LOT of the categories can be combined with others of the same general interest. It only appeals to the type of user that doesn't mind reading through long lines of text.You guys are thinking more like programmers than designers. No decent web designer would make it's user scroll that far to get to what he or she wants. It's frustrating as hell. I've resorted to just using the "View New Posts" link 99% of the time.

Edited March 4, 2009 by RJM (see edit history)

[rayzoredge 2]

You guys are thinking more like programmers than designers. No decent web designer would make it's user scroll that far to get to what he or she wants. It's frustrating as hell. I've resorted to just using the "View New Posts" link 99% of the time.

I actually agree with you there, and I actually do the same. Every single time I log into Xisto, I head over to View New Posts to see what's up. If there are any threads I want to read or participate in, I open them in new tabs in FF to peruse later. This approach is good for me, personally, in a number of ways:

 

I don't revive a long-dead/solved thread

I don't spam (as much)

I'm up and current on recent issues as opposed to replying to someone's problem from 3 years ago

I don't waste hours sitting online at Xisto trying to post on every single thread, offering better contributions to what I can instead of what I can't

Those include my pet peeves, which of course I have no control over (people who first join and immediately think to post a ton of one-liners in random threads to earn MyCents).

 

The Open Discussion default page is something I can agree with you on. No one should have to scroll down a mile of TEXT to try to find what topic they're wanting to post in. (It's a web-design eyesore.) It seems to be a working template though that others copy or use, because of the fact that if you do a bit more than your usual surfing, you'll most likely find other forums in the same style as Xisto.

 

However, in defense, I'm sure it IS a pain in the sack to try to reorganize what Xisto already has for posts into categories that actually fit. To redesign the default opening page wouldn't be much of a problem so that all the categories would be available to you on first glance (with drops to sub-categories), IMO, but to organize, let's say, General Discussion... I don't really want to be the guy stuck with that job (unless I get paid for it). Also, remember that most members and staff are on a voluntary basis. Not to mention the fact that I still think that Xisto is based on a bought template, but if Opaque had exclusive access to the code to modify, then it would be child's play for a good handful of our more tech-savvy staff to make Xisto a more user-friendly interface.

[Tramposch 1]

You guys are thinking more like programmers than designers. No decent web designer would make it's user scroll that far to get to what he or she wants. It's frustrating as hell. I've resorted to just using the "View New Posts" link 99% of the time.

The thing is, we are not going to change something for ONE member. I like graphics, I have to scroll to the bottom, but more users like the forums at the top than the bottom.
It is fine, just stop complaining and you will get use to it if you don't like it.

[rayzoredge 2]

The thing is, we are not going to change something for ONE member. I like graphics, I have to scroll to the bottom, but more users like the forums at the top than the bottom.It is fine, just stop complaining and you will get use to it if you don't like it.

You would make an excellent customer service representative.

I LOL'd.

'Tis too is true, what Tramposch pointed out. But then again, if you have to get used to something, that means continuous usage, which means that if it already pisses off OP to use it, most likely he won't be hanging around enough to get used to it. It's a whole ease-of-usage gig factor, but I think one retaining factor of Xisto would have to be the MyCents system and [basically] being paid free hosting credits.

Still, I think OP has a point.

[Spyda 0]

Xisto is full of people creating GUIs and I can't believe this isn't more of a contention.
There are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY to many topics. More is NOT better. It's a huge turn-off and I'm not sure it's worth the MyCents to hang around and give myself a headache trying to figure out what topics my interests fit in. If I was lord Trap, this is what I'd see under my main forum page:

-Xisto Faqs, info, and requests.
-General Discussion
-Tech
-Science
-Political
-Humor
-Life
-Everything and Nothing

Under each of those categories, I'd have a general sub, then maybe 5-10 more subs. More 5s than 10s.

Trap needs some sort of organization bad. It's like walking into a teenager's room and looking for a clean sock. I'm THIS| |CLOSE to just buying a new bag of clean fresh knee-highs and giving up.

Having a lot of topics isn't a turnoff, it actually makes it easy to find a suitable topic for one to post their thoughts in. If Xisto would delete all of these pots, not only would it make it harder for us users to find something to post in, but it would also hurt Xisto SEO because many topics that were linked to trap would be missing.

Also, there has been numerous topics on this issue, and each has been addresses by a moderator. Next time, please do search for similar threads instead of posting a duplicate

[Nabb 0]

Well you can actually minimize the sections (click the [-] on the far right of the category names), but it does start to glitch if you minimize too much (by size) - this should probably be rectified.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

Xisto is full of people creating GUIs and I can't believe this isn't more of a contention.
There are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY to many topics. More is NOT better. It's a huge turn-off and I'm not sure it's worth the MyCents to hang around and give myself a headache trying to figure out what topics my interests fit in. If I was lord Trap, this is what I'd see under my main forum page:

-Xisto Faqs, info, and requests.
-General Discussion
-Tech
-Science
-Political
-Humor
-Life
-Everything and Nothing

Under each of those categories, I'd have a general sub, then maybe 5-10 more subs. More 5s than 10s.

Trap needs some sort of organization bad. It's like walking into a teenager's room and looking for a clean sock. I'm THIS| |CLOSE to just buying a new bag of clean fresh knee-highs and giving up.

RJM, All I can say to you is this. This is what makes Xisto the way that it is. People here post these topis and or have requested these forums or subs. That is what makes Xisto work and get's its members to post. I do agree it is a little busy but I understand why it is.

[RJM 0]

This is what makes Xisto the way that it is.

I know.

I see way more activity in other sites with way less topics. I'm used to posting on one topic, looking at another, returning 5 minutes later and reading three or four responses.

I know for a fact that there must be plenty of users out there that take one look and never return. I'm 50/50 on staying. I'll test it for the free hosting, but will probably pay another hosting place eventually.

[antares19 0]

I like the layout. A lot of topics mean that I can post a lot of things :DSo the more topics, the more cents :DAlthough it is a bit confused...

[Saint_Michael 3]

I know.
I see way more activity in other sites with way less topics. I'm used to posting on one topic, looking at another, returning 5 minutes later and reading three or four responses.

I know for a fact that there must be plenty of users out there that take one look and never return. I'm 50/50 on staying. I'll test it for the free hosting, but will probably pay another hosting place eventually.

Now my question is odds are the forums are very specific and thus the categories are specific as well, however, this is a web hosting community meaning that people who post in these forums have very specific reasons and thus the reason for all the categories. Each category is specific in its own way and because of that it keep the organization a lot less crazier if we just had one forum that covers everything within the forum and thus it would be 100% chaos with 100% confusion as well. Due to the fact it will be hard to post in topics that have a few hundred replies in each one and then going on to beat a dead house by replying to question topics that have already been answered once.

For me though I would think it is time to begin archiving topics because we have thousands of topics which haven't been touch in almost 5 years and its time to bring some freshness in the forums. By archiving very old topics, it cuts down on the spam and preventing members from bringing up these old topics that are really out of date. Granted, ther are some forums such as tutorials that should be archived, but topics in the general forum or even in the introduction forum should be archived.

Of course house cleaning a forum that is near the half million mark in posts isn't a easy task either but still if we archive the old stuff then members will have a sense to start posting fresh topics instead of just posting in older topics and or replying to ones they already replied to.