Minor Doomworld suggestions (splitting up "Wads & Mods")

[roadworx]

1 minute ago, Devalaous said:

Being able to actually know who the moderators even ARE would be nice. Right now I discover a new one every week it seems.

@rd. not even knowing who's a mod and who isn't is very indicative of this lol (no fault of their own ofc). actually, i didn't even realize they were a mod until like...a few weeks ago. we gotta have at least a list or something, otherwise how're we supposed to know who to suck up to???^/s

[Diabolución]

If you mouse-hover over an avatar and the option of ignoring is missing in the hover card, most likely (s)he / they is / are a moderator. At least, a plain moderator of who knows which section(s).

[Gez]

3 hours ago, rd. said:

Also, once upon a time, the DWMC was basically the only "playthrough" thread in W&M. Now its various spinoffs, along with Ironman variants, are quite common and usually stick on the first page (there are currently four there). So a talk can also be had about those going in Doom General instead now. 

Or a Wads & Mods playthrough subforum.

[baja blast rd.]

Also one final note: while this is a good thread idea, it can go downhill if too many suggestions seem entitled or upset or demanding, so bear that in mind.

[Biodegradable]

 

42 minutes ago, Devalaous said:

Being able to actually know who the moderators even ARE would be nice. Right now I discover a new one every week it seems.

 

I think it'd be a really good idea to make the staff more clearly labeled and accessible. Firstly, Mordeth and Lut are the only staff members clearly labeled with their "Administrator" ranks. Ideally, all the staff members could have similarly-made ranks. Alternatively, Invision (the forum software DW is currently using) has the ability to clearly label the admins and mods into their respective groups. To give you an idea of what that'd look like, I used to be a second-class moderator on my old forum and we had the same software, so my profile always looked like this:

 

 

This could be easily implemented to label all the mods, admins and other assorted staff members so people know who they are properly and know who to talk to when they have an issue. Also, we could save new members from having to post useless threads asking for help on an issue they're having because they couldn't find a staff member by making the page that lists them all publicly available as well. Having a tab link somewhere at the top of the page somewhere would probably be best. 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Biodegradable

[RDETalus]

I prefer not knowing who moderators are, I can’t think of anything good it does since there is already a report function

Edited June 26, 2021 by RDETalus

[CBM]

I 100% agree with all the suggestions in Doomkids OP

[Liberation]

I think easier access to the staff page would be the better option.

 

Not every mod is going to want a sheriffs badge on their profiles, and would rather just focus on keeping this place safe and sound for other users.

Regarding the bans, it doesn't update the users custom title to "Banned" these days like it used to, there is no "shadow ban" option, although as rd pointed out, that context is incorrect. Anyway, not sure what the best option on this is tbh.   

[Wavy]

A suggestion that I'd make (though I wouldn't consider it "minor") are to add signatures

 

I dunno if this is possible with the forum service but having a custom signature at the bottom of every one of our posts would be nice and add some personalisation to the site.

 

Edit: Another thing that I'd suggest is to maybe have some more information about a user at the bottom of their avatar. Having a date for when a user first registered isn't really important IMO. I'd take this over signatures.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Wavy

[Redneckerz]

As usual when DoomKid thinks of an idea, it usually comes to fruition because its for the greater good.

On that note, i have recieved several requests as of late to add things to the Wiki - Which is a good thing! It means that the Wiki is growing in visibility and people are more and more looking there.

 

These requests mention from time to time who can help them on the Wiki or who to look for. Several users here are highly active on the Wiki. Is it possible to make it more visible who people can contact with for minor additions and the like?

 

4 hours ago, Devalaous said:

Being able to actually know who the moderators even ARE would be nice. Right now I discover a new one every week it seems.

Well there is the Staff page, but it does not list DoomKid who has moderation abilities for a forum.

 

But i agree with the more general notion that this page should be more visible.

 

[Dimon12321]

How can I rate newly uploaded WADs to idgames? I see reviews for elder WADs both on idgames and Doomworld, but all that new wads have are just comments in their threads.

Sometimes I don't feel like reading each of them because they usually not relate to the WAD itself. A score like 4.2/5 would be more convenient. 

[roadworx]

4 hours ago, Liberation said:

I think easier access to the staff page would be the better option.

 

Not every mod is going to want a sheriffs badge on their profiles, and would rather just focus on keeping this place safe and sound for other users.

that's true, yeah. btw, sorry if i came off as upset or entitled; that's not at all how i meant to come across

[Diabolución]

 

25 minutes ago, Dimon12321 said:

How can I rate newly uploaded WADs to idgames?

 

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/1829045/

Extra Fields search is useless/do not work the way it is - Feature Suggestions - Invision Community

 

 

---

 

 

Oh, this would be my third post in this thread, hence I am leaving the thread for good.

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, Dimon12321 said:

How can I rate newly uploaded WADs to idgames? I see reviews for elder WADs both on idgames and Doomworld, but all that new wads have are just comments in their threads.

Sometimes I don't feel like reading each of them because they usually not relate to the WAD itself. A score like 4.2/5 would be more convenient. 

i was gonna suggest this myself, but the thing is, i figured that if syncing up the downloads page is a gargantuan task and something that likely isn't gonna happen anytime soon, wouldn't reenabling reviews on the old idgames frontend be kind of a bad idea? i would think it'd make the problem even worse

Edited June 26, 2021 by roadworx

[Doomkid]

I assume that if it were possible to keep them synced, reviews would have remained possible on the old frontend as well. The new one is better in almost every way, the only exceptions being the lack of a ‘random file’ button, the inability to see a wad’s actual score once you’ve voted on it (always shows your given score instead) and the more obvious issue of not having any files from the last 3-4 years. The search issues are the fault of the software itself, so sadly there’s nothing anyone associated with Doomworld can do about that aspect.

 

Conceptually, the new frontend is a big improvement - I’ll be glad when it’s fully functional but I have a suspicion that it would have been fixed some time in the last 4 years if it were possible. I almost feel like the purpose of /newstuff would be eliminated once things are fully functional (which imo would probably be for the best) since the new software allows people to leave nice, detailed long-form reviews if they wish.

 

Given the apparent difficulty of this hurdle though I’d be more than content with a little more organisation with the wads & mods forum for the meantime - despite the lack of a star rating, it will make finding new content and reviews on said content much easier.

[Teo Slayer]

12 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Holy crap (Lois), this thread already got over 100 views in 45 minutes.. Wish I could always get that rate of viewership on my YT channel 😂

Same for me with my Discord Server lmao

 

Anyway, I read your ideas and I believe the 3rd idea is the best

Edited June 26, 2021 by Teo Slayer

[1Destro3456]

I agree with all of those, and some of theses could make the experience here bit better, specially the Wads & Mods one, not only the amount of post per day tat gets compared to others is way more, and of course, the amount of pins that subforum has also makes it easier to lose some interesting wads

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Almost three pages in, and nobody has requested the return of Post Hell? SHAME.

 

 

In all seriousness:

 

-Easier access to staff list.

-Easier access to the rules page.

-Discourage meme reviews - nothing is worse than trying to find a good WAD and having to sift through "5/5 lol better than wow.wad" comments.

-Split WADs & Mods

-More descriptive warnings (quote the post that the user was warned for). Instead of temporary bans, make the user smell the feet of ten random users and rank them in order of smelliness.

-Give moderator status to @Doomkid

Edited June 26, 2021 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[lokbustam257]

Bring back Post Hell

[Nine Inch Heels]

20 hours ago, Doomkid said:

3) In the same way that Doom Editing has two “sub forums”, WADs & Mods should have one subforum for wad releases. Between a hundred wad development threads, general wad discussion threads, things like the DWMC etc, if newcomers who post a wad don’t get a reply within 5 hours - the amount of time a thread spends on page 1 before getting pushed back to page 2, which no one reads - their work is Doomed to obscurity.

I feel like splitting WADs and mods into single map releases and multiple map releases would help already - at least it would make looking for things a little bit easier while the download section is still borked. So, just from the browse- and searchability POV I would like to see that happen...

 

Likewise, a split between (beta) releases and "ongoing (community) projects" could be useful... Not only for people who want to see what kinds of CPs are about to see the light of day eventually, but also for people who are looking to find a CP to contribute to, be it mapping, testing, or contributing resources... Sometimes, people happen to have limited time on their hands, and it would be pretty nice to not be too late to sign up for some CP that might have been interesting, just because you couldn't happen to see it buried among lord knows how much else... It would also prevent ongoing projects from hogging the first index page for some time when new and hot updates or such are up for discussion, or when some wave of feedback comes rolling in..

 

So even if some of these splits might seem like they're overkill, I feel like the utilitarian aspects of them might make them worthwhile to at least try....

[GarrettChan]

Personally I support the idea of a proper format about WADs and MODs.

 

People should write the thread name in the format of something like (just an example, probably there's a better format)

[map format, map quantity] mapset name (additional things you want to write)

 

Example:

[Limit-removing, 16 Maps] Bruh (RC1, coolest mapset in the world)

 

Then you can just take a glance to understand what you're looking at here, and it's cool to see unified formats in a certain subforum. To me personally, I don't like to click into something and later found out that it's not something I'm looking for. For example, I don't play any UDMF maps, so if I can see it without clicking, that would be cool, and it's easier for people to setup the proper -complevel or whatnot in order to play the maps.

[baja blast rd.]

58 minutes ago, GarrettChan said:

... To me personally, I don't like to click into something and later found out that it's not something I'm looking for. For example, I don't play any UDMF maps, so if I can see it without clicking, that would be cool ...

 

Would take too much attention and effort to coordinate and enforce relative to its little actual gain (saving some people a few minutes of clicking). For example, I would actually benefit a lot from having this, but I don't need it enough. People already have reasons to make their titles informative, and many people already include the format in the title, and that is enough. 

 

(I don't meant to single out this suggestion as impractical, since many others are too -- but that pattern in the first sentence is worth being aware of as a reason for why something won't be worth it.) 

 

[Major Arlene]

21 minutes ago, rd. said:

 

Would take too much attention and effort to coordinate and enforce relative to its little actual gain (saving some people a few minutes of clicking). For example, I would actually benefit a lot from having this, but I don't need it enough. People already have reasons to make their titles informative, and many people already include the format in the title, and that is enough. 

 

(I don't meant to single out this suggestion as impractical, since many others are too -- but that pattern in the first sentence is worth being aware of as a reason for why something won't be worth it.) 

 

To add onto this, most map threads have been great about specifying which format they're in. You can kinda just look at a title, skip, go to the next one.

[Noiser]

To be honest I would LOVE to see wads organized by format (boom, vanilla\limit-rev, udmf). I wouldn't mind sub-forums for them, or maybe stickers so it would be easier to identify them straightaway. 

It kinda sucks when you are looking for something more specific and you can't find due to the high influx of projects.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Noiser

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

What about an option to hide threads?

 

For example, I have already read all of the pinned threads in WADS & Mods. Being able to hide them, or other threads I'll never use, would be nice.

[Major Arlene]

10 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

What about an option to hide threads?

 

For example, I have already read all of the pinned threads in WADS & Mods. Being able to hide them, or other threads I'll never use, would be nice.

as nice as that would be, that'd take magical software that I'm pretty sure no forum has :p

I will say, this thread is for minor changes- adding a subforum is one thing, completely changing the way the forum operates is another. please do temper your expectations as there is only so much that can be done on static forum software.

[Tango]

these are great suggestions! to pile on another...

 

I know we now have some nicer stickied threads for these things, but I really do wish that the home page of the forums had some very obvious links at the top to "want to play classic doom? start here!" as well as "want to mod for classic doom? start here!".

 

does a new wannabe modder know to look in the right sub forum for these things if they dont even yet know what a wad is? I reckon they'll eventually discover the info they need, but I've always wished that stuff was a bit more obvious from the home page

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

17 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

as nice as that would be, that'd take magical software that I'm pretty sure no forum has :p

I will say, this thread is for minor changes- adding a subforum is one thing, completely changing the way the forum operates is another. please do temper your expectations as there is only so much that can be done on static forum software.

It was just an idea, I don't have any expectations :)

I don't have much knowledge when it comes to running a forum so I don't know how hard it would be to add certain features. I didn't mean to come across as being entitled/demanding. I'm sure just running this place demands a lot of work to begin with.

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, Noiser said:

To be honest I would LOVE to see wads organized by format (boom, vanilla\limit-rev, udmf). I wouldn't mind sub-forums for them, or maybe stickers so it would be easier to identify them straightaway. 

It kinda sucks when you are looking for something more specific and you can't find due to the high influx of projects.

agreed; back when i'd go to the minecraft forums in order to get mods back in the early 2010s, they'd always have little tags that'd indicate which version each mod was compatible with. something like that would be nice

 

32 minutes ago, Tango said:

these are great suggestions! to pile on another...

 

I know we now have some nicer stickied threads for these things, but I really do wish that the home page of the forums had some very obvious links at the top to "want to play classic doom? start here!" as well as "want to mod for classic doom? start here!".

 

does a new wannabe modder know to look in the right sub forum for these things if they dont even yet know what a wad is? I reckon they'll eventually discover the info they need, but I've always wished that stuff was a bit more obvious from the home page

you're older than dirt in terms of the doom community, so i'm sure you'll remember that there used to be all sorts of pages that were for that specific reason. it'd be nice if they were actually visible, and maybe have someone update them if possible, cuz they'd pretty much fill in that role

Edited June 27, 2021 by roadworx

[GarrettChan]

1 hour ago, rd. said:

Would take too much attention and effort to coordinate and enforce relative to its little actual gain (saving some people a few minutes of clicking). For example, I would actually benefit a lot from having this, but I don't need it enough. People already have reasons to make their titles informative, and many people already include the format in the title, and that is enough. 

To be fair, this is expected unless the forum forces somebody to input everything properly in order to post, but that's too strict for a forum, and it will offer a lot of unfriendly feeling to others. I just put that there in case somebody agrees with me, or somebody just like unified things similar to Plutonia exits, heh.