do we really need so many subcategories of forums? like, let's be honest, this community is 12+ years old, not that many people post here and the forum is seemingly even less active when people have to be picky and divide the forum into like 20,000 little places. i checked the misc stuff forum the other day and was baffled. there are like six recent posts in it!! How about this, let's have.

JJ2 Related
Non-JJ2 Related (misc. stuff)
Technical Stuff

and that's it! because the JCF doesn't get nearly enough posts. Like honestly, I don't even get on the jcf anymore because it's a big hassle to have to check every single forum and its posts. There doesn't have to be a separate forum for funny posts (comedy cafe), or for pop culture posts, discussion is discussion and this whole organization thing is killing the forums.

i just wanna get on, click JJ2 to talk about Jazz, and then click non-jj2 to read about the other stuff. which, nine times out of ten, is video games, ninja talking about sex and drugs, and ethical / political / intellectual conversations. but that's the jcf for you.

please agree with me.

EDIT:

Another thing! What's with moving people's posts? okay, so say I post something that should've gone in pop culture in the miscellaneous forum. First of all, grow up. Why do you have to move it? But second of all after you move it, it just says "MOVED" in big letters in the forum it was originally in, so it ends up being even MORE noticable, and looking more like spam when you move it. So what's the point? Not trying to be a jerk or anything but this is constructive criticism, like I think people don't post here anymore because they're sick of all this stuff. face it, it's 2010 and nobody sits and posts on forums all day, especially not when half the (-)(-)(-)(-) they post gets tampered with by administrators.

Originally Posted by Lark

when half the (-)(-)(-)(-) they post gets tampered with by administrators.

I disagree, we need some organization in the community. It's not inactive to the point of being able to close it up. And I hate hip hop and such, so I tend to skip over pop culture forum and read in the Jazz Related stuff. However, if it was compacted into a misc section, I wouldn't have a choice and it would get rather annoying, clicking on it to find one new post that's culture-related. I like the forum the way they are, organized. When you need a good laugh, ninja in the misc thread (was) the way to get it. When you needed some help, you click on technical, when you have rants like this *ahem* want to give feedback, this is the place. It all fits in. People just don't know how and where to post these days, that's what the real problem is. However, the above quote is 100% agreeable IMO

Originally Posted by Lark

when half the (-)(-)(-)(-) they post gets tampered with by administrators.

I'm fascinated by how this is apparently still how people see the forum, while that is really something of a few years ago. Very few posts are edited or deleted these days.

Originally Posted by Lark

Like honestly, I don't even get on the jcf anymore because it's a big hassle to have to check every single forum and its posts.

Suggestion: subscribe with an RSS reader.

You can also click "new posts" on top of the page.

Hunter, those you pose a great idea, as you said:

Originally Posted by Hunter

Now what is strange is that many players just avoid visiting the forums and posting here. There is a lot of active people who either never come here or only lurk.

You're correct on that. Most lurkers, I feel, come here to see the latest news, because that's what's important. However, if the administrators were to link J2O to JCF, I think a lot of players would be disagreeing to that. "Oh, another forum I have to join. This isn't real like I thought it would be. I don't have time for this." *leaves*

If you get what I'm saying, I'm saying that J2O has a way larger fanbase than JCF. A lot of people don't want to register for the forum, or would never keep up with it, but they love J2O. Why force them? It would just cause more problems for the community if you ask me.

Originally Posted by Hunter

enable "About me" pages that show up on user profiles. Right now, one can customize [strike]her or her[/strike]one's page, only selecting the colours and fonts. Why not make their (=for each user?) own page there? Of course, it's still possible for one to create an ERE page about oneself but then again, we're talking about making the boards more interesting.

sry I was "board"

The JCF uses vBulletin, a forum system created by a third party. It's very versatile, but it does have its limits with regards to user profiles and such. Unfortunately we don't really have the time or resources to implement such functionality by ourselves.

The JCF and J2O's accounts can't be linked either for various reasons. It's two separate login systems that are pretty much impossible to integrate, and there's lots of people with a J2O account but no JCF account, or vice versa. It's not possible to automatically link those that have an account on both, and doing it all by hand is too time-consuming.

Clan might make sense, and J2O username too. I think signatures are a better place for "currently working on" though. It's what they've been used for for ages.

Premature burial would be the best option.

Are we still allowed to talk to its ghost on the Internet?

i dont know, it's all just too much effort. i wanna log onto a forum, see the new posts and exit. it's annoying to have to be an all day thing but i guess the forum can't be changed to make one dude happy.

because apparently i'm the only one who feels this way :P
but then again i've never been very organized and 9/10 people in this community are.

Originally Posted by Lark

i dont know, it's all just too much effort. i wanna log onto a forum, see the new posts and exit. it's annoying to have to be an all day thing but i guess the forum can't be changed to make one dude happy.

Problem is, I don't see how this isn't covered by the "New Posts" page.

I don't think the JCF is over-organized or anything. If the JCF is heading for 'certain death' (I'm not saying it is, mind you) it's because the game is kinda old. =b
Oh, and the 'currently working on' thing sounds cool.

Originally Posted by Stijn

I'm fascinated by how this is apparently still how people see the forum, while that is really something of a few years ago. Very few posts are edited or deleted these days.

It would have been hilarious if you had just closed the thread instead of posting this

FUN FACT: The JCF is not dying. Quite the opposite. (Stijn? Come here! Where's Stijn's php graph thing when you need it?)

Originally Posted by Grytolle

It would have been hilarious if you had just closed the thread instead of posting this

I would have done that

Originally Posted by KRSplat

Are we still allowed to talk to its ghost on the Internet?

I guess we could set up an online Ouija board...

Originally Posted by cooba

FUN FACT: The JCF is not dying. Quite the opposite. (Stijn? Come here! Where's Stijn's php graph thing when you need it?)

I kind of lost the script to generate the image, but the amount of new posts per day has been stable for about a year and is even increasing slightly.

The forum is fine how it is, I honestly don't see how you find it annoying to find new posts, only takes me a minute to find new posts. In fact this is one of the most easy forums to "drive through" as such.
The only thing I would love to see go is that blasted comedy cafe !

Originally Posted by Speeza

The only thing I would love to see go is that blasted comedy cafe !

I agree. There are no funny topics in this forum.

Originally Posted by Stijn

I kind of lost the script to generate the image, but the amount of new posts per day has been stable for about a year and is even increasing slightly.

Originally Posted by Speeza

only takes me a minute to find new posts

impressive speed

Actually, I agree with Lark here. There are too many subforums. Personally, I'd merge Online Play and War Tavern with General Jazz Talk, and merge all four non-Jazz-related forums into one (but keep the forum games separated).
Having this many subforums was fine and probably even good five years ago when the community was all nice and lovely and active (and half the (-)(-)(-)(-) they posted got tampered with by administrators), but now it just slows me down.

Of course it's not a big deal or anything.

No admin has the guts to temper with the War Tavern.

The War Tavern goes back a looooong way. Anything that was so part of the community as to be in JJ3 one has to think twice before tampering with.

Well, I've always been one of those people who defies tradition in various, possibly offensive, ways.

Originally Posted by minmay

Actually, I agree with Lark here. There are too many subforums. Personally, I'd merge Online Play and War Tavern with General Jazz Talk, and merge all four non-Jazz-related forums into one (but keep the forum games separated).

I don't want War Tavern polluting the only two really interesting forums ;/

I merged Technical Help with General JJ2.

No, it was in the category "Jazz Jackrabbit Forums".

Originally Posted by Stijn

I merged Technical Help with General JJ2.

I'm not sure that merging the two makes sense, as Technical Help got used for asking non-JJ2-related tech questions as well as JJ2-related ones.

Then those were posted in the wrong forum.

What the heck is "Jazz Jackforum for philosophical discourses"?

EDIT: WTF

Originally Posted by Stijn

Then those were posted in the wrong forum.

From Yahoo's cache, the Technical Help forum description (emphasis not mine): "Problem that needs fixing? Post it here and we'll try to help! For Jazz Jackrabbit related and other sorts of technical help."

I don't think this is quite the thing to make a poll about. It's been discussed within the staff before, and also within various earlier (public) topics about a new forum layout. I obviously kept the results of those discussions in mind when merging.

Lark is right in that the JCF does not get a very large amount of new posts per day. Very few of those were in the Technical Help forum. Almost all topics made in the past 6 months were about JJ2-related questions. Additionally several were about topics that also had threads about them in General JJ2 Talk, such as JJ2+. Given those facts there's simply not enough activity regarding Technical Help to warrant a separate forum, and it's better off in General Jazz2 Talk.

It is of course reversible, I made a backup before doing it, but unless you have new compelling arguments to do so I think it'll stay like this.

Originally Posted by cooba

What the heck is "Jazz Jackforum for philosophical discourses"?

EDIT: WTF

Side effect of a word filter, never noticed. Fixed now.

Originally Posted by Stijn

I merged Technical Help with General JJ2.

That was sudden.

Originally Posted by Stijn

Side effect of a word filter, never noticed. Fixed now.

Are you serious? I thought it was on purpose.

Merge all forums and subforums, then merge all topics that start with the same letter.

I have very mixed feelings about moving the War Tavern. It's definitely not active any more, but it's a piece of JJ2 history and I think it should be left alone for the most part. If nothing else I'd keep it as an archive.

Why archive it? It's not implausible that someone may wish to share something any time in the future.

ok so I went to search for that threaded started by Troglo in Technical Help... and it wasn't there.. Jerks. Seriously, this is making it way harder. Can you PLEASE revert it?

Originally Posted by Dermo

ok so I went to search for that threaded started by Troglo in Technical Help... and it wasn't there.. Jerks. Seriously, this is making it way harder. Can you PLEASE revert it?

Agreed, It was a very helpful sub-forum. It needed be active to serve its purpose. Honestly this forum isn't broke and isn't hard to navigate through.
The forum doesn't look cluttered with it either, so why on earth some people wanted it merged is beyond me.