Topic: Any plans to modernise this forum?

The old forum format is a bit dated in that a topic thread is where discussions happen and you’re on top of each other rather than each conversation breaking off into it’s on thread.

Look at comments sections in; youtube, facebook, twitter, reddit etc where following and participating in a conversation is possible.

When I see a topic on here already has more than 2-3 pages, I don't even bother interacting.

Same goes for the comments section under an article, why is it locked to chronological. This makes the site feel very dated.

@Ironcore yes, we have plans but both of them are fairly big jobs. Likely happen on the article comments first.

I like this old style. Everything is accessible in pages, fairly well archived, easy to use. There’s no modern version of this that feels much better than this to use.

@Kyloctopus there could be multiple conversations all going on at once and they could be spread over multiple pages. I find this format works up until more than one conversation is going on per thread or it spans over multiple pages.

Take a look at one of these threads which are years old with 20+ pages on them.

I kind of like the current format for the forums because it sort of forces people to interact with everything instead of ignoring most responses and you don't have to click on a zillion things to read responses to various people. The way e.g. YouTube does it doesn't feel like a community, just a bunch of tiny comment conversations ignoring each other and repetitively saying the same thing because they don't see it was already in a response to 5 other comments.

However, the comments sections on actual NL articles definitely could use a change because right now there is no way to have a conversation at all without disrupting the main comments.

Only new thing I'd like to see for these forums is a polling system. Feels like a no brainer.

I feel like the existence of the quote function solves most of what you are discussing. As for multiple pages? I suppose they could make it infinite scrolling like places like YouTube but that usually turns into a laggy mess and also makes it far harder to find where you were before; I really like having pages because you can e.g. bookmark a particular page. Infinite scrolling comments sections are possibly the worst design choice for things like this that could be made in my opinion.

Same, that would be fun. And perhaps some buttons for certain commands like spoiler so everyone doesn't have to remember the exact command syntax.

If I may...I would like for the forums to have an easier way to upload images while still allowing embedding. Kinda like what Disqus has...though that's easier said than done I'm sure.

@FishyS totally agree on both points.

I like the forum format as is. Reddit, YouTube, etc. already exist...so why homogenise everything?

I prefer the forums like they are now. Last thing we need is for this to become a social media platform like Reddit. Easier to follow conversation in ongoing threads.

@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot This is the only thing I'd like to have really. The ability to upload things without having to upload them to an image hosting website first. I guess it would be expensive though- hence why we probably don't have it right now.

@N00BiSH I would love this! I actually thought about that a few days ago, it’d be so cool to implement polls in the forums!

_

About the reply threads, I think it’s good the way it is in the forums, however I don’t think I’d mind the change for the comments on articles (similar to what @FishyS was saying)

Just no down vote, that's all I ask

@Gryffin same, I dont want this to turn into a smarmy cesspit like reddit.

I am pretty fine with how the forums are, I don’t have a lot of issues with them, but that’s probably because I haven’t used modernized ones like Reddit. I would prefer if the site forums did stay like this, I really wouldn’t want the forums to become a Reddit copy with downvotes or upvotes or anything like that or it becoming more of a social media platform, given social media platforms get out of hand a lot and how bad I have seen some people on Reddit act when their comments get downvoted, from what I saw in videos.

The only things I think would be nice to update is maybe changing the replies to comments on articles. I can agree with others here that it is difficult to have other discussions with people on there without derailing or disrupting the main discussion and topic at hand. I would also like if the site did have an easy way to post images (which I still haven’t found out yet) and some kind of way to easily insert commands and formats rather than typing them in manually. Otherwise, I think the forums are kind of fine the way they are right now.

What's need is the ability to merge threads. For example instead of having 100 separate Switch 2 thread one for the color, one for the specs one for the games etc. just have it where all these threads get merged into one Switch 2 thread.

The style that the thread creator suggested is one I wholeheartedly dislike and it’s what keeps me away from the aforementioned platforms. But thread creator also seemingly dislikes said platforms so we’re on the same page.

What Tasuki suggested is a good idea for the example provided. It’s quite cumbersome having so many threads for topics that are extremely minor and don’t have many conversation potential. I want a pink switch. There, that’s all I can possibly add. No need for a thread.

The only other thing I’d want is the ability to upvote/heart comments in a thread like I can do in an article comment section.

The Switch 2 has its own subforum now, I don't see why we can't have multiple threads about it.

@Dogorilla I was just using that as an example.