Byond.com front-page looks like a scam

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Dec 17 2010, 7:18 pm
In response to Zagreus
Zagreus wrote:
I was thinking more about this, and specifically <dm> blocks on forum posts, and what sort of effect the widescreen filler might have on the forum layout. We would really have to wait till it is done to see if the new forum width is appropriate or not, but is there any way to have something similar to the image viewer, which can create a sort of "popup" (although not really, I'm not sure what you call those) that will present a code box that utilizes the full width of the browser window when viewing a <dm> block? Or would that look bad?

Well, I think for most people it won't make much difference because our width is 980px which is pretty big. When the code exceeds that, I think it'll just add a horz scrollbar.
Dec 17 2010, 7:20 pm
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Date sorting should be based on the last time the game was publicly hosted

That's an interesting idea, but I think it's showing different info. The date-sort is intended to recognize new games; the most popular & frequently hosted games were often written many years ago.

Go with white and blue then? I think its mainly the orange around here that's a bit ridiculous, and animetastic.

I'd be fine with using blue for our top-bar, but I don't think that's the main complaint. People generally like either dark or light backgrounds for their content, and we can't do both.
Dec 17 2010, 7:25 pm
In response to Tom
Good point. I forgot to take into account that the advertisement/featured game part was moved to horizontally to the top, so even though you now have a filler, it's still a whole lot of width. :-)
Dec 17 2010, 7:28 pm
In response to Tom
Tom wrote:
The date-sort is intended to recognize new games;

lol have you actually tried that sort method? Does it show anything other than rips?

the most popular & frequently hosted games were often written many years ago.

That's kind of the point. Could add an "Activity" sort then. Which sorts based on active hosting, discuss tab posts, hub changes, and maybe other criteria.

People generally like either dark or light backgrounds for their content, and we can't do both.

White and dark blue? =P
Dec 17 2010, 7:34 pm
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Could add an "Activity" sort then. Which sorts based on active hosting, discuss tab posts, hub changes, and maybe other criteria.

What if that sorted games based on hub page hits over the last 24 hours?
Dec 17 2010, 7:39 pm
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Tom wrote:
The date-sort is intended to recognize new games;

lol have you actually tried that sort method? Does it show anything other than rips?

Well, the new system only accepts games from members and we have to approve them, so that should take care of the rip problem. When a member submits a game, we can reject it (scheduling for suppression), mark it incomplete (hiding from listings), approve it, or feature it. Featured games get listed first within each sort mode (so if you sort by date, it pulls the latest 20 and shows the featured games in that grouping first).

the most popular & frequently hosted games were often written many years ago.

Could add an "Activity" sort then. Which sorts based on active hosting, discuss tab posts, hub changes, and maybe other criteria.

Yeah, it's an interesting idea. Although I'm not sure people would use it over the #player sort, since they're probably just looking for active games. I do like the idea of showing when a hub is generally active, though (sort of like how some forums show a "hot" status).
Dec 17 2010, 7:55 pm
In response to Tom
Tom wrote:
Well, the new system only accepts games from members and we have to approve them, so that should take care of the rip problem. When a member submits a game, we can reject it (scheduling for suppression), mark it incomplete (hiding from listings), approve it, or feature it. Featured games get listed first within each sort mode (so if you sort by date, it pulls the latest 20 and shows the featured games in that grouping first).

If that's the case how about having date changes tied to game updates? Rather than showing "date created" you just show "last updated." Since there aren't many games (which would make it through approval) being made, sorting by date would most likely display the same exact listing for weeks on end. I think it would be better to shift gears a little and focus on games in active development.

If a game is being updated often it aught to be at the top of the list in order to draw in more traffic. Even older games like Incursion could benefit from this method. Right now it would probably be at the bottom of the list, but if Lummox were to say, update the interface, it would jump right to the front.
Dec 17 2010, 7:57 pm
In response to SuperAntx
SuperAntx wrote:
If that's the case how about having date changes tied to game updates?

Yeah, that makes sense. The only concern again is "bump" abuse, but I think a simple threat against that should be enough.
Dec 19 2010, 8:13 am
In response to Tom
The new site layout reminds me of blogs and social networks. I think it's mainly the tag cloud, but this really does not work (in my opinion) for anything other than the Community site. Really, the listings look like blog posts. This style works with almost everything EXCEPT game listings and resource listings.
Dec 19 2010, 9:05 am
In response to Tom
I stumbled across the example screen shots. The one thing that stood out as needing improvement was the download button. It's not polished and so it doesn't emit copious amounts of trust.

Did a release date ever get posted for these change?

ts


Dec 19 2010, 10:32 am
In response to Tom
It's all so clumped up and messy. Still so many standard blue links instead of some neat but functional graphics.

If anything I majorly approve of what BYOND is currently using. And I approve of the blue + brown combination.
Dec 19 2010, 11:46 am
In response to SuperAntx
Antx what you are suggesting is a very valued idea to many people, but then Byond staff would have to tie in a implement to show the when the game was updated, as is this would be an annoying but quick thing to implement, but however that would create a problem with 2 bases of people, the first base of people who release an update once a month to make sure there are no bugs in the system, then those who would abuse it and update every few minutes, or update every hour when eally they are not putting anything in, or are just putting the two little charcters "//" in. Even if tthey restricted this, or put a new string in to stop an annoyance like this the abusers, which happens to be a lot, would start massively complaining, where as the staff and the honest people would get annoyed by the constant additions and all the complaints. If I am wrong with any of this please feel free to tell me otherwise.
Dec 19 2010, 11:56 am
In response to Thelavaking
That's pretty much what Tom was getting at when he mentioned "bump abuse." If you step back and think about it for a minute the kind of person who would do that probably wouldn't have his game make it through approval in the first place.

Even if the game made it through the constant pager alerts about updates would annoy his player base to no end, most likely causing them to uninstall the game. It would be something very easy to spot and deal with.
Dec 19 2010, 12:12 pm
In response to SuperAntx
Good point, but even in those cases there are a massive amount of Trolls in byond who would continue doing something like that despite the fact that they got shut out, which would eventually lead to people getting fed up and the staff would have to start handing out bans which would further progress the situation, because then they would alert their friends about an unfair ban, then that would begin a cycle that I have seen completely cripple big websites before, although Byond might survive something like it, it would cause troubles. I would say to use the player base, it is still easy to trick but less annoying than the bump abuse. Plus think about it, its a 10 to 16 year old community, a lot of people at those ages are easy to trick.

This is all hyperthetical, and probably would not happen easily please do not mistake that I am saying this is the conclusion seeing as I have already gotten a troll to attack me on my YIM...
Dec 19 2010, 2:24 pm
In response to SuperAntx
You can blame me for the stars. I wanted featured games to pop out in a way that's easy to understand. With the bright background, making featured content brighter as a universally understood spotlight wasn't an option. I probably would have gone with a slightly different style and offset based on the wider margins of an old mockup, but I figured I had pestered Tom about it enough and was happy for the functionality.

That said, I'm not sure why you find the stars to be an issue now. Outside of BYOND Strategy, they've been the only way to identify featured games in lists for years.
Dec 19 2010, 2:30 pm
In response to Tom
Whether or not it's searched, I'd love the displayed dates to be related to updates just so games that are continually polished won't look old and dusty.
Dec 19 2010, 2:41 pm
In response to ACWraith
ACWraith wrote:
You can blame me for the stars. I wanted featured games to pop out in a way that's easy to understand.

I'm not too sure about that. For the longest time I wasn't even really sure what the stars were supposed to mean until I asked about it. There's no obvious way to decipher what they're for unless you've been on BYOND for a long time or just happen to ask someone like I did.

With the bright background, making featured content brighter as a universally understood spotlight wasn't an option. I probably would have gone with a slightly different style and offset based on the wider margins of an old mockup, but I figured I had pestered Tom about it enough and was happy for the functionality.

There are more subtle yet effective ways of informing users about featured games. Take this post for example, it probably has a yellow border around it. You know it's a new post yet there's no star or intrusive messages saying so.
Dec 19 2010, 3:12 pm
In response to SuperAntx
SuperAntx wrote:

There are more subtle yet effective ways of informing users about featured games. Take this post for example, it probably has a yellow border around it. You know it's a new post yet there's no star or intrusive messages saying so.

I've never noticed that until now and I've been on the forums for over 6 years.

I think it's one of those things you'll never notice it but once you do you'll never miss it again.

So maybe a little more subtle but slightly noticeable. Though I'm sure a yellow box around a game would be different than around a post
Dec 19 2010, 4:13 pm
Hmm i guess i agree
Dec 19 2010, 4:16 pm
In response to SuperAntx
You know, I have not been able to figure out what the yellow border meant, I have been debating with myself on it, dont call me newbish for it though, and I took that stars where either new games or featured games.. So.. Yeah.. And theres an easier way, split it into sections, featured, popular, new, most players, ect. Those are what should help seperate them, that would help a little in addition to the categories we already split them into.
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