Cryptic's Forums, Our Home.

[CinC-UFPForces-Cardassia]

I've started this thread to pose a few questions to the folks at Cryptic, and also to seek public comment on how folks might like to see these forums evolve in the near term and short term. Unquestionably, these are Cryptic's forums, and the rules they've set down for them have to be respected. But it's also important to recognize that this is likely to be the center of the STO universe for the remainder of development and for the life of the game's run. So with that in mind, what do you want out of your official forums?

The rules of the forum are clearly listed atop the forum. What's missing, however, is a detailed description of the policies of the forum vis a vis what users can expect from the management, and how forum moderation operates. I'd ask the following questions:


How many moderators are assigned to the forum? Is it expected that additional staff will be added in the near or distant future?
Are forums currently moderated during weekends? If not, are they expected to be at some point?
Is the STO forum expected the feature a polls forum or functionality in the near future? Will forum members be able to use it?
What decides whether a post, or a thread, is merged? Are threads merged with the purpose of reducing clutter and integrating like topics?
Will the number of subforums increase? For example, has a subforum for beginner questions been considered to shunt away such threads from the main forum?


I'd be interested to hear any other forum-related thoughts that have arisen in this early experience with Cryptic's system. I'd also be very much interested to hear thoughts on the appropriate direction for the forum - how it might best be organized, what services could be useful for everyone, and what proper member behavior ought to be. Where can management best direct its moderation energies, acknowledging the fact that the overarching principle will likely be towards a policy of moderating with the best interests of Cryptic in mind.

[njdss4]

I'm pretty sure that as the number of members here increases Cryptic will add a few more people to mod these forums. I'm really hoping that Cryptic starts putting polls here on the forums asking us what is most important to us for Star Trek Online and then have a bunch of options to choose from. It may help them decide where to concentrate their efforts.

[Flatfingers]

Hi, CinC -- good to see you again.

I hope the folks at Cryptic will provide some answers to your questions. Meantime, from the posting I've done I've already got a short list of minor suggestions/hopes:

1. More specific forums than just "Star Trek Online Discussion".

As is often the case, there's so much activity in that one forum that many interesting items are shunted off page 1 within minutes, after which their odds of being read go way, way down. Some level of specialization would be helpful.

2. No columnar text formatting options.

For the most part, especially in these early days of this official forum, formatting's not called for much. However, there've already been a few times when I've wished I could provide some data in two columns so that it's easier to read. Unfortunately, I can't do that because the usual tags for doing so -- blockquote, code, and pre -- are all currently disabled here.

I'd like to see at least one of these options turned on. (Actually, I'd love to see a "tables" tag, but I'm trying to stay in the realm of the possible here. :) )

3. No way to insert images.

I've of two minds on this one. On the one hand, I'd like to be able to insert images into my posts when doing so will help me communicate some information that's hard to explain in words. On the other hand, I really like being able to surf through the posts here quickly (because there aren't a hundred sig images needing to be downloaded) and calmly (because there aren't a hundred jarringly garish sig images trying to burn out my retinas).

So I can live without this one, I suppose. It would just be nice to have a way to let people insert images when useful without also enabling big, ugly sig images in every post.

...

On balance, I have no serious complaints about this forum's features, and no complaints at all about the moderation here.

Maybe everybody's just been on their best behavior so far. :)

--Flatfingers

[Dustnite]

Well, typically creating a huge amount of child boards is going to create chaos anyways. I prefer minimalist forums myself so they load quick and the discussion remains focused. Honestly if your stuff is interesting to read then it will get bumped, that's usually how it goes. As for different formatting options, these boards are generated by vBulletin which isn't too easy to make subtle formatting options like what your wanting. It can be done, but I don't think its really that necessary.

Allowing img tags is a bad idea in general for a boards that is this active. Would make it a nightmare to moderate as well as make the site chug with all the bandwith it would have to support. You can just as well link it and let people go offsite anyways.

These boards are a clone of Champions so I doubt we'll see changes.

[ddgrfn11]

Id like to see an FAQ section once there is more info on the game....and once the game is released id like to see a player help section to aid new players in getting started.

[boydyma]

id like to see (until the release) an *attack shop* or *arcade* section, it might keep things fun while we wait to spool away on space invaders or moon lander or something of the like while we wait.......
or even a star trek trivia game, highest scorer at the end of a 24 hour period gets *crptic credits* (something you can redeem for IRL stuff ie t-shirts, a months sub or something similar)

i'd also like some ST:O merch. it would at least give us something to do...



also, would be nice is a dev section, that lets us know how things are progressing for the game.... it will probably get implimented when beta comes out but ill get my two cents in first :p


other than that..... i really dont care, as long as this game gets out ASAP!

[CinC-UFPForces-Cardassia]

Well, typically creating a huge amount of child boards is going to create chaos anyways. I prefer minimalist forums myself so they load quick and the discussion remains focused. Honestly if your stuff is interesting to read then it will get bumped, that's usually how it goes.

...

These boards are a clone of Champions so I doubt we'll see changes.

I would certainly agree that a large number of subforums, or child forms, isn't the optimal solution. I think with active moderation and one, at most two, additional subforums would go a long way towards solving the problem that Flatfingers (hello!) rightly identified. A lot of good material is getting blown off the front page of the forum as a result of repeat threads, basic question threads and other type of clutter that get in the way of an ongoing discussion.

Normally I'd agree with your Darwinian theory of posting. But we can see that there are a number of threads which have received high traffic and posting rates, on significant issues, that are off the first page and killed within the span of the same day, if not hours. I know we have had some thread merging, and while that's worked effectively the volume has proven to be very strong. Partly, this is a "victim-of-your-own-success" story, but I think that would be more incentive to make clear some of the day-to-day management policies of the board. One wants to lead with their best foot forward.

However, I acknowledge the point that the forum is, and is likely to remain, a clone of the Champions Online page - although I would note that it's not technically a clone since the page offers more functionality than our own. So my hope would be to have a clarification of the moderation policies, at least, so that we might know what we can expect.

[Brenelael]

CinC........This isn't the first forum Cryptic has hosted. They know what they are doing and they do it well. Just sit back and enjoy the ride with the rest of us. You'll enjoy your time here a lot more if you do. ;)

Bren

[CinC-UFPForces-Cardassia]

CinC........This isn't the first forum Cryptic has hosted. They know what they are doing and they do it well. Just sit back and enjoy the ride with the rest of us. You'll enjoy your time here a lot more if you do. ;)

Bren

Well, I don't think there's any harm in offering suggestions and asking a few questions. There's always room for improvement. :)

[Brenelael]

Well, I don't think there's any harm in offering suggestions and asking a few questions. There's always room for improvement. :)

True, very true. :)

Bren

[treky215]

Blogs.

This site is powered by VBulletin which has a VERY easy and VERY integrated, light-weight blog system that's as simple as uploading, extracting, and following a three page GUI install.

Talk about a community, there ya go!

They even have block options to display the last updated blogs and other various configurations.

[Caiman]

^It's worth noting that this forum is powered by vB 3.6.8 rather than vB 3.7 which is the version of the software which contains the necessary changes to link to the vBulletin Blog software which in itself is actually a seperate, addon product which isn't included in the vanilla product itself.

Personally, I'm waiting until the initial novelty wears off to make judgement about this place, right now it's rather hard to keep on top of but eh that's what happens when 8000 people sign upto a forum in less than a week! It'll certainly be interesting to see the kind of moderation policy that Cryptic deploy, I suspect it will remain passive.

[Brenelael]

^It's worth noting that this forum is powered by vB 3.6.8 rather than vB 3.7 which is the version of the software which contains the necessary changes to link to the vBulletin Blog software which in itself is actually a seperate, addon product which isn't included in the vanilla product itself.

Personally, I'm waiting until the initial novelty wears off to make judgement about this place, right now it's rather hard to keep on top of but eh that's what happens when 8000 people sign upto a forum in less than a week! It'll certainly be interesting to see the kind of moderation policy that Cryptic deploy, I suspect it will remain passive.

I hope it will remain passive like all of Cryptic's other forums. They are quick however to take care of any reports they get about people not following the rules so if you have a real problem with someone use the report function. It is what it's there for. I have a feeling like others have stated that this forum will settle down after a bit. A lot of people have signed up in a short amount of time and they all have something to say just about. Give it time and it will be a nice and respectful place to discuss STO not that it isn't already. You'll see. ;)

Bren

[Finnigan]

I just hope that the moderation is fair and that Crypitc isn't afraid of criticism. I've seen "other" Trek forums where excessive moderation and censorship was the rule. All that does is create bitter users. It would be a pity if these OFFICIAL forums went that route.

I'd also like to be assured that our Private Messages will be just that, PRIVATE. I've had a bad experience in "another" forum where the Mods and Admins violated the privacy of members by reading their PMs without permission. This is a privately owned forum and the owners can set whatever rules they desire, I just hope they take the high ground and don't rule with an iron fist and violate privacy.

Disagreeing with the company or other users is not something that should result in censorship or restriction. Common decency and respect are expected, to be sure, but we don't need moderation that attempts to paint a happy face on every situation or trys to prevent everyone's feelings from being hurt. Most of us want common sense moderation. It appears this is exactly how Crypitc is going to do it.

Fin

[Jonathan_Beecher]

Good comments and questions regarding the STO Forums so far. :)

I would agree in that things will (hopefully) settle down after awhile.

Some type of sub forums or grouping posts into categories would be beneficial. I myself am having a difficult time keeping up with the latest/good posts and the really good ones that are buried as more posts are added.

I concur with Flatfingers that images would help our discussions become more efficient in our numerous posts.

Thanks CinC for bringing up a good issue. :D

[Dustnite]

Good comments and questions regarding the STO Forums so far. :)

I would agree in that things will (hopefully) settle down after awhile.

Some type of sub forums or grouping posts into categories would be beneficial. I myself am having a difficult time keeping up with the latest/good posts and the really good ones that are buried as more posts are added.

I concur with Flatfingers that images would help us discussions more efficiently in our numerous posts.

Thanks CinC for bringing up a good issue. :D

You can still link images by redirecting them to photobucket or something. You just can't embed.

[mintor426]

I'm pretty sure that as the number of members here increases Cryptic will add a few more people to mod these forums. I'm really hoping that Cryptic starts putting polls here on the forums asking us what is most important to us for Star Trek Online and then have a bunch of options to choose from. It may help them decide where to concentrate their efforts.



true . say alot more.

[Crazyfist]

Good to see u CinC.

Ofcourse theres always room for improvement, the only thing I really would like though is as said before, some polls from the devs about that we would like.

[Jaz]

I think we must take our time in passing judgement, we will have another rush of new people with simple, but repetitive questions following it's unveiling on Sunday.

What the Cryptic forum does not give is highly in-depth essay based discussion as it was on StarTrek-Online.net, that said, heavy moderation for an official forum does make for censorship of opinion and I am glad it is not the case here.

Quality standards are bound to drop when the inflow (and outflow) of users is far greater than that of a fansite, it just means you have to read more to get anything of quality rather than a whole of one sentence discussion and reply.