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[notachair]

Right, I think it's about time EDC and forums should be merging soon. Of course, I've been procrastinating, which is why it hasn't happened earlier. Anyway. Choose which option you believe is best.

If you choose option 2 or 3, the end result will be named the ENIGMA Community instead of the community forums and EDC. Also, if options 2 or 3 are chosen, there will be a secondary poll to decide whether the community will be part of the main site or separate.

Option 1
Leave everything as-is.

This means that:
* EDC will remain separate from the main site
* The forums will remain part of the main site

Option 2
Keep the forums, and merge EDC into it.

This means that:
* EDC and the forums will be one single community
* The forums may lose features that are considered bloated
* The forums will be the focus of the community

Option 3
Keep EDC, and merge the forums into it.

This means that:
* EDC and the forums will be one single community
* The forums will be emptied of all contents
* The forums will lose features that are considered bloated
* EDC will be the focus of the community

[Game_boy]

I've changed my mind. New code and unique features > Old code. I've gone to Option 3 - Forums merge into EDC.

[Josh @ Dreamland]

Well, the way I see it, this forum has a nice new skin (except when you're not logged in), but other than that, it's an SMF, and is no better than any other of the 100,000,000 GM sites out there.

The EDC was hand coded, and has only the better features. The only things I like about forums is they give people a place to answer questions in mass, and they have a PM system. Really, I like the EDC's layout better, since it is more geared towards things we'll be doing, such as game making and example posting, whereas a forum is just a message board.

Both have their perks, but I'd like the two to share databases and for the EDC to link to the forums. That way, you have your new games right up front, as well as the latest blogs; but right underneath you have a conglomeration of anyone needing help or requesting a team, or God knows what else.

It removes the need for a sillyness forum that we'd have to be real strict about. If you don't like the person, stay away from their blog; and if you do, hang out there.

Those're just my takes.

[Zekian]

From my point of view option 2 and 3 are practically the same. The difference for me is which system to use as a base, and seeing as EDC has been coded by mitch, and i have done alot of work with it so we are very familiar with it. SMF forums are very big and bulky making it hard to familiarise with, meaning implementation of anything will not be as easy.

You state that the forums will be emptied but although it could be a pain i could write a script to dump all information from the SMF to a EDC forum.

You also state that it will lose functionality, however i do not see why we would not be able to implement what we need, and best of all it could easily be expandable, as we will be more familiar with it.

So my answer is option 3, create a new forum in the EDC, relying on the EDC system and database. Then dump any information needed from the old SMF database.

Either way you will end up with the same result, for me it makes much more sense to add onto the application we are more familiar with as it would be much easier to create a new forum than to implement EDC into SMF. Please note, i am looking at this purely from which is the best way to combine these two applications, Not which should be the center of the community as you can do whatever you want afterwards.

[Rusky]

or option pi: xaraya. coming soon. I hope.

[Josh @ Dreamland]

"Account Related Settings
Forum Profile Information
Look and Layout
Preferences
Notifications and Email
Personal Message Options"

Look at those.

Account Related Settings, Forum Profile Information.
Splitting those two apart just makes it FRIKKIN DIFFICULT to find what you need.

Look and Layout, Preferences
Those two. Do they really deserve two categories?

Notifications and Email, Personal Message Options
Same thing, different divisions


I don't know how much of the rest I share with regular members, but come on.

That is so bloated...

[notachair]

Firstly, the two places should not remain separate. We shouldn't fragment a very small community or have people feel they need twice the work to distribute their games as YoYo does it.

Having the community as a focus will attract many more people, but they will be faceless and noncontributing; posting rubbish and leaving forever. Unlike YoYo where the forums are almost hidden to new visitors, the forum should be the centrepiece to encourage in-depth discussion and improvement for each game. I believe the more complex setup of a forum vs. a comments section makes a) the users feel closer to one another and therefore more civil and constructive, and b) the users feel closer to the developers, which is ENIGMA's reason for being and primary advantage over YoYo.

For option 3, there will be a visible link to the forums. However, I do slightly agree with you in that the comments system is slightly worse.

Both types of showcase are useful, however - the EDC is good for finding 'popular now' games (the forum is good for long-term and big-scale projects).

Or, we could maybe have the submissions boards' topics presented in the EDC format.

For the reasons above, I have chosen Option 2. In a seconday poll I would vote to keep the main site close to it as well, to avoid userbase fragmentation and to make ENIGMA development closer to end-users.

In the secondary poll I would still vote for the community to be separate.

From my point of view option 2 and 3 are practically the same. The difference for me is which system to use as a base, and seeing as EDC has been coded by mitch, and i have done alot of work with it so we are very familiar with it. SMF forums are very big and bulky making it hard to familiarise with, meaning implementation of anything will not be as easy.

I'm familiar with EDC too. I'm working on a private fork. And I'd still prefer SMF.

You state that the forums will be emptied but although it could be a pain i could write a script to dump all information from the SMF to a EDC forum.

I'm keeping the SMF forum. It's just that I would be changing its layout, etc.

You also state that it will lose functionality, however i do not see why we would not be able to implement what we need, and best of all it could easily be expandable, as we will be more familiar with it.

* Move topic
* Delete topic
* Avatars
* Signatures
* PMs
* Locking topics
* Pinning topics
* Reporting posts
* IP logging
* Warning system (I have written a mod for SMF 1.x which has a warning system, SMF 2, which is in beta, has a warning system already)
* Finding new posts
* Finding replies to your posts
* Easy theming

Err... I take those for granted.

So my answer is option 3, create a new forum in the EDC, relying on the EDC system and database. Then dump any information needed from the old SMF database.

...

Either way you will end up with the same result, for me it makes much more sense to add onto the application we are more familiar with as it would be much easier to create a new forum than to implement EDC into SMF. Please note, i am looking at this purely from which is the best way to combine these two applications, Not which should be the center of the community as you can do whatever you want afterwards.

What I mean by option 2 is that EDC will still be there, it's just that the forums will have a front-end to it. Same with option 3, EDC will be changed so that it shows things like newest posts, etc.


Well, it looks like I need to do some clarifying.

If you choose option 2, EDC will not be lost, it will simply mean that the forums will be tweaked so that EDC features are accessible via the forums.

If you choose option 2 or 3, SMF will not be lost, it will just be reworked in things such as layout, presentation, etc.

If you choose option 3, as I said, SMF will not be lost. It will be added onto the menu and the sidebar will have things like newest posts etc. In other words:

Both have their perks, but I'd like the two to share databases and for the EDC to link to the forums. That way, you have your new games right up front, as well as the latest blogs; but right underneath you have a conglomeration of anyone needing help or requesting a team, or God knows what else.

You can change your vote, so after reading this, if you've changed your mind, go to the top of the page and click "Remove vote".

[Josh @ Dreamland]

I can not see integrating a page of games and blogs into this huge, ugly, bloated SMF forum. I just can't. What the heck would that look like, because, I can easily imagine the forums EDC style, but not the EDC SMF style.

[RetroX]

Yeah, Option 3 is the best.  I think that being based off something you coded as opposed to something someone else coded is way better, because you know where stuff is, and you can tweak it to your desire.

Option 3.

[yaywalter]

Option 3.

[RetroX]

So, when will this be done?

[notachair]

Soon. In Valve Time.

OK, truthfully, it's going to be done when I get around to it, but I'll try to work on it when I can (and am willing to).