Why do we have two guides sections?

[Scarlet Shocker]

I was looking for a different sub forum and I came across Fort Trident.

 

Being unfamiliar with it, I checked to see what its purpose was and was surprised to see it is guides. It does seem to be primarily for TFs/SFs and end game content but then if you were looking for a guide as a forum novice, why would you look there? There's already a guides section.

 

This to me seems confusing, unnecessary and superfluous - and Fort Trident as a title tells you nothing of its purpose per se.

 

I might understand if there was a ton of guides being posted regularly but no. A couple per month in each forum tops.

 

There are already far too many sub-forums to navigate easily (don't get me started on finding your way around here) so why make things even more complex than it should be?

[High_Beam]

Totally.

[caradoc1979]

I also found it very confusing when I came back here after a few years' hiatus

[GM Crumpet]

Guides is for anything that helps a player with something, so how to use X, where to find Y, best ways to level up a Z etc. Fort Trident is for TF/SF and end game discussion only. I think it's to differentiate the help and guides to make things easier to find. 

[Scarlet Shocker]

5 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

Guides is for anything that helps a player with something, so how to use X, where to find Y, best ways to level up a Z etc. Fort Trident is for TF/SF and end game discussion only. I think it's to differentiate the help and guides to make things easier to find. 

 

Ok well quite clearly  it doesn't make anything easier to find.

 

Guides has absolutely no description. It literally just says "Guides"

 

Fort Trident has a pretty week description and also has a sub forum "Guides" that has sweet FA in it. It is blank, empty, void, filled with nothingness, so clearly about as much use as a rubber duck in the Sahara desert.

 

I could possibly get my head around a discrete section to discuss TFs/SFs, Trials and ITrials but the descriptor is feeble and I don't think it really adds much to the overall forum experience frankly.

[Luminara]

Maybe the problem is that people keep putting things where they don't belong.  For example, posting feedback about the forums in General Discussion, instead of in Website Suggestions & Feedback.

 

Hm...

[Scarlet Shocker]

2 hours ago, Luminara said:

Maybe the problem is that people keep putting things where they don't belong.  For example, posting feedback about the forums in General Discussion, instead of in Website Suggestions & Feedback.

 

Hm...

 

I would argue there are far too many sub forums that overcomplicate this place. It's a nightmare to navigate. If it were simplified and many forums consolidated, it would likely be much simpler for people to know where to post.

 

Doubly so if the forum descriptions were improved and enhanced.

[WanderingAries]

6 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

Ok well quite clearly  it doesn't make anything easier to find.

 

Guides has absolutely no description. It literally just says "Guides"

 

Fort Trident has a pretty week description and also has a sub forum "Guides" that has sweet FA in it. It is blank, empty, void, filled with nothingness, so clearly about as much use as a rubber duck in the Sahara desert.

 

I could possibly get my head around a discrete section to discuss TFs/SFs, Trials and ITrials but the descriptor is feeble and I don't think it really adds much to the overall forum experience frankly.

 

Not having navigated to said sections, I would agree that I'd be initially confused as to what "Fort Trident" was for. Perhaps a (sub-title) to be added.

[Luminara]

17 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

It's a nightmare to navigate.

 

It's a bog standard forum design, identical in layout to millions of other forums.  One main page with all of the forums listed, nested links for related sub-forums, all neatly categorized and indexed.  It's no harder to navigate than any other web page.  You scroll up, you scroll down, you click things.  If that's a nightmare, the entire Internet is, because that's the whole damn thing in a nutshell.

[Luminara]

22 minutes ago, WanderingAries said:

Perhaps a (sub-title) to be added.

[Scarlet Shocker]

4 minutes ago, Luminara said:

 

It's a bog standard forum design, identical in layout to millions of other forums.  One main page with all of the forums listed, nested links for related sub-forums, all neatly categorized and indexed.  It's no harder to navigate than any other web page.  You scroll up, you scroll down, you click things.  If that's a nightmare, the entire Internet is, because that's the whole damn thing in a nutshell.

 

You have a very interesting notion of what constituted "bog standard" my friend.

 

I've known much more technical forums laid out better than here. The fact that City of Heroes itself is a sub-forum of home strikes me as a bit weird and the sub-forums aren't well labelled. You and I are not the people who need the guidance. We've been here a long long time and we a) know our way around already and b) know it's ok to ask the question if we can't find something.

 

BUT... and this is the most important thing - if we want newcomers to feel welcome here, navigating the place is very important. Any new community can be intimidating, and game forums especially so, given how some treat newbies. To create a deliberate obstacle with clunky layouts and sub-par descriptors isn't a good look and could easily put people off.

 

You may disagree, which is your right to do so and I wouldn't be offended or surprised but as somebody who's spent most of my working life in sales and marketing I'm very aware of how the smallest obstacle can sour a deal in the early stages and that's not good for the game or the community.

 

We're a little off track here, compared to my original question but I still don't see the necessity for two guides forums. Especially when one is empty! If a veteran has to ask why its there you can bet it's gonna confuse someone unfamiliar with the place and who uses guides the most?

[WanderingAries]

23 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

Fair enough