Heads up: Incoming Forum Changes

Hello Everyone

As you are all aware, over the past year we have had several issues like this one and we are unable to fix them because the Admins do not have enough control over the forums.

In order to prevent these issues and give us a more stable home, we are planning on migrating to another host. Everything there is gonna get wiped when we move the threads so do not make accounts or post yet!.

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What will happen


1. We will attempt to transfer all your accounts and posting history. Forumotion refuses to give us access to the databases so we cannot transfer this easily, but we will try nonetheless.

2. Your account passwords will be reset over at the new forums, I will send new ones to you by email or you can PM me here to retrieve if you need a new email.

3. These forums will remain open for a while as we redirect people to the new ones.


Why the change


Features

1. New themes for each forum - without the limitations from Forumotion we can design nicer skins and can add specific banners and icons to each forum. Dark Souls I can have its own banner and icons, Dark Souls II another, whenever there's a Dark Souls III another.

2. More customization - without the limitations from Forumotion we can add specific "buttons" to each forum category, to display events, user covenants, Fightclub winners, etc.

3. New reputation - the new rep system will have be transparent and allow people to see who liked and disliked. You will also be able to give comments on your rep, and the more rep you have/time you have been of forums gives you ability to hand out more rep.

4. Thread previews - we are able to install previews for thread content so you can have a quick glance at OP and Last post.

5. More editor options - we are able to control what the editors have and as such give you more access to better editor tools to make your threads and posts look nicer.

6. Better wiki integration - the new forums will fit better with the wiki and allow us to have separate language themes so the users from our other wikis (French, Portuguese, German, etc) can have the same forums as us.

7. Unified login for Fextralife blog - you will be able to use the same account on both sites if you wish to frequent both.



Logistics (why not stay with Forumotion?)

1. Forumotion charges us by the member. This is not sustainable
2. Admins cannot backup the database in Forumotion. This is dangerous
3. Admins cannot access or control the forum's core display in Forumotion. This is very limiting and causes bugs we cannot fix and limits our skins.

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Things to consider:

1. Reputation and Souls cannot be automatically transferred, we would have to update reputation one by one, so I am considering a clean slate for the new forums
2. Google indexing is a factor of activity and content, we will start appearing on search there after threads are transferred and based on your activity
3. We are not done with design and features - if you have suggestions please let us know
4. This change is for the longevity of the community - we need your feedback and ideas to make it happen. We all want to be here when Dark Souls III comes out right?

This is something Fex and I have been discussing for a bit now and it's a part of our plan to be more sustainable and offer more to everyone. Moving to our own phpbb on our own setup gives us the flexibility to add fun and useful features as the needs present themselves and allevaiates us cringing everh time forumotion makes an update. Gone are the days of "sorry guys but we have no control". With time we will really only be limited by our imagination. We've really been able to do a lot with a little as you see so just imagine what we can do with a lot more control!

I've seen the new Forum and it looks really good, it runs really well too which is surprising for something that is still so touch-and-go. Some things still need to be taken care of but they are in very capable hands, that said it would be my preference to have some things transferred.

Maybe not like complete histories/profiles, but something that would indicate past contribution. We're getting a sequel game, why not a sequel Forum?

Already there, the new forum looks AWESOME. Thanks for makin all this possible/happen Fex.

I'm loving the changes with the new wiki! I know there's more to be added, but even now, well done!

(" ʕ·ᴥ· ʔ ") This forum is a healthy and productive habitat for bears and waffles alike.

Supported by PETA and WWF all over the world.  (" ʕ ·ᴥ·ʔ ")







But seriously, it's a nice lay out and the new changes are great

Yay!
Looks good!

So this forum is going to get dumped?

Hatsune Miku wrote:Yay!
Looks good!

So this forum is going to get dumped?

FexDS wrote:3. These forums will remain open for a while as we redirect people to the new ones.

So it sounds to me like yes, eventually, but not for a while.

How, or in what way are y'all going to redirect people to the new forums?

Getting the word out?

We will likely add a script that pops up a notice whenever anyone loads this page. We will also change the embed on the wikis, and start locking older threads with redirects.

We have already moved once, from the wiki itself to here, so we know that the community does follow links

Rave party~ (/o.o)/

The best perk: I get glowy text when dealing with delinquents (I am definitely making that a thing)

As you know all my concerns about the move have been smoothed and the new forum really does look much improved on this one. Can't wait to move into our new home!

"Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!"

Go for it, looks good.

.....how the hell did capa get 100 reputation with 100 posts?

That's an insane rate for a non-admin

Fex, you have done an outstanding job on our new home while you learned and still are learning, I suspect, new skills on how to make an awesome forum even more awesome!

The new forum...she is a beauty to behold!
Now the creative juices of you, your team (admins/mods), and all of us can really rock'n roll!

Thanks for the immense time and effort you have already put into getting our new forum and FextraLife up and running! And thanks to all those who helped Fex get this thing up and running!

My bags are packed and I'm patiently waiting to move to our classy new digs.

The new forum is looking sweet, I just wish you didn't bother with the reputation system because I can see abuse coming from it as one forum member pointed out (I can't remember who it was but they mentioned that someone kept on giving them down rep because they had a grudge).

Perhaps it could be some balance between the two like having a like button so you're not spamming "I agree" posts but anyone who disagrees can explain with a reply, anyway I thought the down rep was there to report posts.

steveswede wrote:The new forum is looking sweet, I just wish you didn't bother with the reputation system because I can see abuse coming from it as one forum member pointed out (I can't remember who it was but they mentioned that someone kept on giving them down rep because they had a grudge).

Perhaps it could be some balance between the two like having a like button so you're not spamming "I agree" posts but anyone who disagrees can explain with a reply, anyway I thought the down rep was there to report posts.

As far as ive seen rep is no longer anonymous, with the ability to add a comment for that personal touch. Not sure if its the same for negative rep but theres no reason it wouldn't be. Hopefully that mitigates the issue of grudge-downrepping.

As hart says, all reps are linked to the person who gives it and a reason is given every time. It will be impossible to be a rep troll.

I personally will expect EVERY down rep on the new forum to be explained adequately. No down repping for not liking an opinion, only for legitimate reasons such as breaking forum rules or going against the forum spirit.

Maybe down reps can only be applied with a minimum 100 character limit.  Even though you will be expecting people to explain themselves why they disagree, I personally think you won't see this all the time especially when DkS2 is released and the forums get a flood of new members.

I don't think that will be possible to put a limit on like that.

I think simply talking to people who dish out excessive and unnecessary neg reps would solve the problem though.

Besides when I neg rep I will probably only put something like "insulting other members" rather than anything lengthy. Simpler explanations are more favourable in my opinion

The rep counter will also more accurately reflect a post's value a la redditt so we should see less freak out one way or another when a comment gets only one vote in either direction. That should help to alleviate some of the hypersensitivity there is to rep in its current state.

What is unfortunate but unavoidable is that once we move some of us will see over a years worth (longer for some) of posts (count) and and hard earned (for some) rep simply disappear. It's the only hard and tangible indication of forum contribution and participation.
But there are few options. Only one, really.
Fex would have to manually add the post count and rep to each account...and that is a lot of people...6000+

'cause if she does it for some she has to (or should) do it for all. So, the logical option is to start clean.

I hate it when I objectively agree with the logic of a course of action...when I (subjectively) dislike the end result. lol

*le sigh*

I do look forward to the new rep system in our new classy forum home! Perhaps, rep will retain the intended credibility it unfortunately lost here. I hope we will see more responsible up repp'ing and far less or no use of the rep system as a weapon.

Edit in a correction: Post count will transfer.

Forum Pirate wrote:Just as with the rep system wipe, I'm not really for it. These people have given reasons, at best, based on being welcoming.

What about being right? If You ask a question as a newcomer, and you get 6 plausible answers in 30 posts, how are you to determine who is right without testing and wasting resources or points?

Answer: Rep/postcount (in that order.) If 3 people with 200+ rep and 3000 posts give the same answer, that's probably the right one. With a clean slate, there is no way to even make a reasonable guess between plausible answers unless someone knows the math and/or posts video proof. I see this alot in other forums.

That said, it's not a huge deal for me, I know my stuff, and will again for 2. $600 is a lot of money too.

It could be a problem for viewers and casual members though, and that's my concern, so this is where I'll voice it.

Quoting self again, but slightly less relevant as it was aimed at a different topic.

Also a quantifier. In DKS 2, clean slate is less of an issue, though it's still there,but dks2 will inevitability draw people to dks1, and in dks1 it is a bigger issue. There are many people here who give.............less than sound advice based on incomplete knowledge or personal bias. typically, their rep reflects that and stays low, or lowish. If/when all rep is 0, it would be easy for readers to miss the context and follow bad advice/information (like those people who talk up the meat cleaver or think the dgm can stunlock.)

There is a work around regarding the good points you made Pirate. Those who wish simply put their previous post, soul and rep counts in their new forum sigs.

A brag? Hardly. It would be simply a method to retain a tangible aspect what has already been earned. And a possible guideline for new members to base their opinions and decisions on.