Pathfinder 1E Why do you discuss Pathfinder on ENWorld instead of Paizo.com?

[malkav666]

Okay, lemme ask you this: what specific things would you like to see on the Paizo boards to improve them? For a long time, we've only had Gary doing programming stuff, but now we have Ross as well, and that should mean we can make some long-awaited improvements to our boards. So... what can we do better?

Look at some forum packages Sean. there are some really good ones out there that are not so bad to work with and/or do not cost a crap ton of dollars. I am partial to Vbulletin and Dragonfly CMS. Some basic features that need addressing are:

1. Navigation: You should make it show a little less in the default display. For example: Instead of having general on the main page and then the top 20 topics displayed and then class discussion and the top 20 in that forum displayed, make a clean option where you can just see the forum name (general, class discussion, product discussion, etc,) and the most recently posted in topic. As it stands your forums main page is 10 miles long, and I never make it down to the lower sections after scrolling through copious amounts of topics to get there.

The traditional way to handle this is with categories and forums and sub forums within them. I believe your forums are set up the way they are to make them easy to view on phones. Well you can have your cake and eat it too on that as most modern packages support both types of browsing.

2. Subscription/Newsfeed support. Need to have a way for the user to catch up without scrolling through your 200foot main forum page. While we are on the topic of updated threads. You could also change the color of the font on threads that have received new posts while a users session is still current.

3. PM functions would be hot.

but those are just my own ideas.

love,

malkav

 

[Siberys]

I only go there occasionally - usually to tempt myself with purchasing various game aids and the Golarion setting. Even the PDF is so expensive, though...

Even when I was subscribed to Dungeon and Dragon through Paizo, I rarely visited the boards. As others have noted, it's not exactly a user-friendly forum, interface-wise.

For the longest time, it was also hostile to 4e, which is my primary game system (probably due to completely understandable bitterness over the cancelation of dungeon/dragon). No doubt it's died down considerably in the intervening year, but I don't play Pathfinder, so I spend most of my internet time here on ENworld.

I'm going to have to go over there to get a feel for Golarion. I'm addicted to setting books. Why must I have limited disposable income?

 

[Karui_Kage]

I would, personally, love for a 'signature' option at Paizo. I do so get tired of typing "Your God of Knowledge, Nethys". Having a signature would cut my work load in half!

 

[joela]

Nope, it's free for everybody.

It is? Huh. My settings are configured to send me notifications when there are new posts on EN World but I haven't received anything in at least a year. Thought it was associated with the computer problem, then it became part of paid membership.

Is my account configured wrong? I have to check the EN Worlds like Paizo to check for updates

 

[sjmiller]

Okay, lemme ask you this: what specific things would you like to see on the Paizo boards to improve them?

I think the first thing you could do is, to put it bluntly, to actually have a forum. Right now it is just an over abused blog commenting system. It is extremely hard to find anything, and all the subboards makes it hard to find anything. So, make searching easier, alter the organization to make things easier to find, and change to an actual forum system.

To be honest, I only go to the Paizo messageboards when I have no other choice. The problems I mentioned above are too much of a burden to make the boards useful.

 

[questing gm]

Because there's only one Pathfinder board in ENWorld.....

 

[SSquirrel]

1) I was a member of ENWorld before Pathfinder was a twinkling in Paizo's collective eye.
2) I much prefer vbulliten to... whatever that is that Paizo uses.

Yeah I started posting here, possibly on a slightly different handle, back when it was still Eric's site in the year prior to 3E coming out. I paid money to help out around here. It's overall a pretty nice place and I enjoy the conversation, even tho there are some people that make me want to /headdesk endlessly

Sean>I think the previous posters are doing a good job of being constructive and have covered most of the bases. It's all done with love!

 

[alleynbard]

I post at both, though I am not a marathon poster at either site. Things are bit heated in some of the Paizo forums so I haven't been around as much as I normally am.

I do seem to get more feedback here than I have at Paizo. There is definitely a perceived hierarchy of importance when it comes to certain posters. Occasionally I feel like I am intruding on conversations. This isn't expressly negative, just something I feel a few people have noticed. I think posting in the Off-Topic Forums there is a sort of rite of passage. Unfortunately, I really have nothing of value to offer any of those threads. They either involve inside jokes I don't get or subjects I am not interested in debating (most notably, religion and politics).

I do find the interface hard to navigate at times. And I have learned to copy and paste all replies before hitting submit. That way, if I do have something go wrong, I have a copy to re-paste.

Edit: I keep trying to re-phrase "perceived hierarchy of importance" because it sounds more negative than I what I am aiming at. I have never felt unwelcome. Sometimes I just feel like I am on the outside looking in. Does that make sense?

 

[Sammael]

Edit: I keep trying to re-phrase "perceived hierarchy of importance" because it sounds more negative than I what I am aiming at. I have never felt unwelcome. Sometimes I just feel like I am on the outside looking in. Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense; however, ENWorld is exactly the same, as is every single forum I've ever observed.

 

[ruemere]

Okay, lemme ask you this: what specific things would you like to see on the Paizo boards to improve them? For a long time, we've only had Gary doing programming stuff, but now we have Ross as well, and that should mean we can make some long-awaited improvements to our boards. So... what can we do better?

1. Whole overview of boards should fit on a single page without scrolling. This is (given current monitor standards and current resolution standards and current font standards) between 40 and 60 lines of text.

2. Two level board hierarchy without recent messages or single level board hierarchy with indents for subforums. For example:

2.1 Example:
Category #1, Description #1
- Forum #1.1 -
- Forum #1.2 -
Category #2, Description #2
- Forum #2.1 -
- Forum #2.2 -

2.1 Example:
Category #1, Description #1
- Forum #1.1 - Forum #1.2 -
Category #2, Description #2
- Forum #2.1 - Forum #2.2 -

3. Post content organized in columns, instead cramped into one column:

3.1 Current setup:
[Poster ID] Text. Text. Text.
Text. Text. Text. Text. Text.

3.2 Clear setup:
[Poster ID] Text. Text. Text.
............... Text. Text. Text.

4. Personalized thread subscription. No need to mail notifications on thread updates, merely remember N subscribed threads to be listed separately for user's convenience.

5. New threads (daily basis) should be listed at the top of the forum with a format allowing for quick identification of such threads.

6. Personalized new threads. As 5. but takes into account all threads which appeared more than 24 hours ago or since last visit (last visit must have occurred more than 8 hours ago to be considered valid for the purpose of thread filtering).

Regards,
Ruemere