GMLscripts.com

Daniel

Member

Registered: 2011-05-04

Posts: 25

Forum Slowness.

I think this forum is slow because there is no reason to post. I'm here very often but never find a reason to post, as any idea I get either doesn't belong, or gets obliterated by the rules. This forum is great in that it only attracts mostly experienced GM users. However, this kind of user Rarely finishes a game, and rarely needs help. Coupled with the fact that bugs show up fairly infrequently and are resolved quickly, and you have no real reason to be active here. You need more topics where we can be active. My suggestions include:

GML Creations becomes GML Projects to also include WIP projects, and is moved up a few notches.
Discussion topic is added, allow you to post anything GM related and have it be discussed, not answered. Example, "best method for native d3d particles".
Topic names are simplified slightly (it's cleaner). News, Community, Creations, Help, Discussions, Submissions, Off Topic.

This way, I can always come to the "Discussions" tab and see what's being discussed and provide input, as a discussion never has a resolution. There is always more to input to a topic, unlike Help, which gets solved. Then, in help, I can post my questions for which I want an actual solution. I put the solution into my game and post it to Creations. Then I go to other Creation topics and check them out, even though they're not complete, or are very early WIP's.

Creations would, of course, include Scripts you are working on, Games you are making, and anything else related to GML, such as a GM website or host. Any good scripts in this subforum are simply plucked out and sent to GML Scripts, as well as the Alumni Forum, of course. This makes the process easier for you, and allows people to spread ideas for a GML snippet, give their go at it, and still have it refined by others.

Thoughts on these changes?

Last edited by Daniel (2011-05-12 12:46:10)

xot

Administrator

Registered: 2007-08-18

Posts: 1,239

Re: Forum Slowness.

These are great suggestions. I always want to hear about ways to make this community more useful. I'm especially up for anything that removes barriers and encourages thoughtful discussion. I somehow have never considered a place simply for open discussions. I'm not sure how that escaped me considering the time I initially spent shaping the forums. That's a suggestion you can be sure will be followed through on.

I never like to put limits on anything anyone wants to post here. My main rule when one signs up is "Don't be an ass." Nevertheless, it seems that the forum descriptions are inhibiting, and describing things as "rules" rather than "guidelines" isn't helping. I've been trying to migrate to the latter term at GMC when I can, but I never bothered to look here. There is an authoritarian air about the term "rules" that I do not like. A large community like GMC uses rigid rules to simplify moderation. This place is vastly different and has never required any moderation other than handling spam. I'll try to update the guidelines here to be more accommodating.

Recent changes in YoYo's handling of Game Maker bugs has sort of made the bugs forum superfluous. Originally, it was intended to investigate and absolutely confirm bugs for versions of Game Maker that were unlikely to get a fix in the next several months, if not years. Fortunately, this isn't a problem anymore. I'd like to keep the forum around, or at least the information within it, but it might be better in wiki form.

I'm going to spend some time in the next few days thinking about reorganization and possibly updating the forums in other ways.

Thanks for your input, Daniel. Do not hesitate to post any other ideas -- that goes for everyone else as well.

---

Abusing forum power since 1986.