Considering how flashy the rest of the site is I was shocked to see how archaic and (IMO) ugly these forums are!

Will there be updates adding the text editing functions like bold, underline, hyperlink, insert picture etc?

There is potential to be had at these forums but right now it's far from meeting them.

" It's about the least functional forum I've ever seen"

"All the functions you've listed are already available."

Also, I think the forum looks sleek. There is a thread somewhere around here listing the code for all those functions you discussed. Maybe someone else will be nice enough to find a link since I'm too lazy and about to head out of town.

Oh so it's a case of using code eg. <b> Bold text </b> then? Fair enough thats' better than nothing I guess, still would be nice to have some of the easier functions like V-bulletein etc have.

I don't like the forums, I mean yes it looks clean which is a plus and the lack of pictures in signatures is quite frankly something I love but the grey background blue text (black inside threads) colour scheme while perhaps befitting for a Wii forum ends up looking very dull and devoid of life.

thanks for the reply.

These forums are my favourite forums EVER thank you very much. And if you want to know all about the formatting, look no further than here:http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/help/helpful_tips_for_form...

You're welcome! I assume they're the only forums you've ever visited then.

Thanks for the link.
One thing stood out from your gudie:

To make text italic
(underscore)Text(underscore)
Note: The following symbol is an underscore _
Text

Seriously? they used underscore _ for italics? How bizarre.

I can't believe a forum on a relatively big site, in 2009 would require user self-formatting with codes, it's so archaic!
Formatting buttons may be 'lazy' but they're the norm now, and it's nice not having to spend extra time typing in different codes for html functions in your text.

While it's not a common feature among forums, this forum sure would benefit from a chatbox!

I find things like _ and * easier than normal html, but if you really want to, the old [i] and [b] works as well.
And no, these aren't the only forums I've ever visited, but the clean, simple design works really well for me.

We use Bulletin Board Code here (BBCode). Things like the asterisks and underscores are shortcuts that are used by many other applications and sites (try the underscore thing in Word or Google Talk, for instance). The general consensus amongst us here is that forums can become too laden with emoticons and smileys, and the whole community experience is devaluated by having to filter through other user's eyesores that are posts.

However, we've always made it clear from the outset that we listen to what the users want. Ant is the techy genius here (he wrote the forums himself... along with the rest of the site) and he's always working to improve the site. I can't really speak for what is going to be included in the future, but I'm pretty sure that changes are going to be made to include features that people really want.

As for chat, watch this space (and maybe poke Ant with a stick)

I noticed that I can do the same thing in Google Talk as well, and I find the BBCode quite handy there, as well.

pokes Ant with stick
One feature I'd like would be to disable BBCode. Yesterday I was trying to make the little smiley with the hyphens for eyes, but the forum read that as strike-through, so I ended up with an underscore and a line above it instead. It's also be nice for when goofing around and saying something like... oh, I don't know, say... "pokes Ant with a stick" since asterisking phrases is a common way to distinguish actions from speech, though bold can handle that fine... Doesn't really matter. Just if you get bored one day, it would be a nice option.

@Adam: or, he could just change what is required for that particular smiley.