Im Just sayin' that the way it is, is less user friendly than the way it was before.
I could be the smug guy that gives grief, (trust me,to be fair, I AM the smug guy that gives grief) but take a moment to remember back to when y'all were 1st snorfelling around as a noob.
Forget me for a second & imagine being overwhelmed with the info we expect noobs to absorb as you were when you were a noob.
I think it's worth rethinking what's thought of as convenient.
I'm not really sure how to state my point without coming off as smooth as a lava rock
When i was just a little fin, a handful of years old, to me the internet was a form on a monitor that you'd type a question into, hit enter, and get an answer, now it's more like this:
And you know something? I'm fine with that, i understand a lot of it, enough to keep using it fairly comfortably at least.
My point is, this is how technology works, if you start near the beginning you're prob going to have to keep using it and keep learning constantly until you get to "now", if you take a long break you'll prob come back having no idea how to use it, on the other hand look at the kids these days, they use all these fancy things like they were born for it.
Are you going to be an old man sitting around complaining about your toaster having too many buttons, or are you going to stop whining and learn how to make toast again.
Signatures may not be bigger than 700x250, 1MB. ~Skorak
Let me give an example: regardless of 'net proficiency, as a new member, overwhelmed by all the stuff we expect people to learn in order to get by, is it better or worse to have more visible links to important info?
Like, is it better to have a twitter feed, or is it better to populate that area with links to the server & forum rules, visible at a glance whether on the home page, or the index, ect?
The you that's been farting around here since 2012 just may go with the twitter feed, since things like the forum & server rules aren't something you would normally click on after so much time having past, but the crux of what I'm talking about has to do with new people.
They shouldn't have to go out of their way to learn to navigate around the site to find relevant info...that shiz should be highly 'effin visible in the spirit of ease.
Has it been so long that you can't remember what it was like to be new here? What I'm requesting is the very definition of absolutely reasonable. It may have started with a "today's posts" thing, but it's exposed to me quite a few flaws we have now that I haddn't considered 'till I was forced to think beyond myself & look closer as an outsider.
Should the discovery installer also install companion, datastorm, flstats, and a desktop link to the wiki and the tutorial subforum?
"Discovery does not contain any secrets so well-hidden that you'll never be able to find them, so please search yourself, and if you search well, you'll find everything!"
That really isn't what i want my point to be though.
If a new person comes to the forums, they explore and discover, they see a button and wonder what it does, they don't just assume that features that they've never seen before have been removed, if they think of a feature that is normally on a forum website they search for it, if they don't find it they might make a thread, but they generally don't complain about it being hidden in the navbar and main page of the forums.
Signatures may not be bigger than 700x250, 1MB. ~Skorak
I don't really know you, so try not to take this the wrong way, but you miss my point like a spoon trying to spear a steak.
Given your argument, I can only conclude that you've lost touch with what it's like to be new & replaced it with what you imagine it's like to be new, colored by the the time you've spent here.
What you appear to be saying is, in essence, "Eff making efforts to try being more noob friendly, because I expect people to use the trial by fire method to learn the ins & outs of the forums in exactly the same way I expect them to learn the mod itself"
Is that the ultimate crux of your post?
If so, in terms of the Mod, I agree w/ ya 110% People should explore & discover the mod as it was intended, but as far as the forums go, I hold the opinion that you're probably talking outta your ass...as to why? I wish I could say for certain. All I can piece together based on what you've replied back to me is that you've lost touch with what it's like to be new here to the extent that you've projected what you've leaned over time onto those that haven't shared the same luxury.
If that's the case, I happen to disagree.
I'd prefer a forums that is as idiot-proof as possible so that people can spend more time learning the mod than learning the forums. One step in the right direction is to bring back the direct & clearly visible link to the server & forum rules on the sidebar as it was in the recent past.
Do you possibly find that an unreasonable request?
Then maybe you ( Marburg ) and I should sit in the bar and tell stories to the little ones about the before time. Might just scare the heck outta them.
on a more serious note, Alley: I'ma ask you directly since I gather you're the one that most likely made the change unilaterally...Is my request unreasonable in your estimation & if so, why? & I mean specifically.