News / NE5 Feedback

Hello New Element,
 

NE5 has been present for over a year now and everyone has had a chance to settle into it and get to grips with the change. Now we know that there are various issues with certain aspects and that everyone has an opinion on many things so today we are asking for your feedback and opinions.

 

We've acknowledged that there are things that need changing, but, and I'm sure that Gee won't mind me saying this, he no longer has the enthusiasm or motivation for the designing and coding of this site. However, he is happy to sit down for an evening and make some changes, ones that won't take a lot of time to implement, but will improve our current version of NE.

 

This isn't a chance for you all to bitch and moan, it's a chance for you to have your say and be constructive on what you want to see being changed. Currently, gee is our only coder, and NE5 was a lot of hard work for him, so please respect this when making your comments. We already have an idea on what we hope to change or would like to change based on feedback given throughout this last year in various different ways. Below are the feelings and thoughts we have gathered, but if you feel any of this is wrong or there is something else we are missing, please let us know what that is, and how you suggest to solve it.

 

We want these issues to be resolved ASAP and don't want these discussions to go on forever, so this topic will be locked after a week, your opinions will be collected, discussions taken note of, and hopefully we can resolve some of the issues raised.

 

Thankyou for your time!

 

Thoughts we have gathered:

 

Forum Issues:

 

-Forums need to be more prominent.

-Possibly bring back a forum page like we used to have.
-Reorganise the categories to a less jumbled order, an order like we used to have.
-Make sticky posts easier to see.

 

Parks:

 

-Not enough knowledge of when things are released.

-Possibly have notifications like we do for the News Posts

-Add a 'Recent Parks' section to the front page, like the accolades section.

-Bring back the banner at the top of the site to advertise new parks.

 

Site Content/Members:

 

-Remove the tag restrictions. No one can tag other people's work apart from approved taggers and no one wants to be one.

-Make Parkmakers more prominent. Perhaps put them at the bottom of the front page. Gives them more credit.

-Logo artists and map makers don't get credit. A simple 'Map made by:' and 'Logo made by:' would solve this  problem.

-Bring back post counts. A simple count under the post and perhaps a join date too.

-Bring back write-ups.

-Implement a 'like' button to show appreciation for a particular post or comment by someone.

-Facebook/Twitter interaction. Put something on the front page where our facebook posts and tweets show up. Increases social interactivity on our Facebook/Twitter pages.

 

I'd like to see the NE5 homepage take some things from NE4's design, focusing on new content rather than just screenshots (screens should be included in the new content, however)

 

This would include the newest topics, screens, parks, etc, as well as a more distinct prescence of the forums

 

Extra social media interaction for the site would do wonders as well, and probably attracting new members in thr process. Who do you have running the FB/Twitter/Instagram/Youtube pages? I'd at least consider giving it to a group of trusted people, that way they are constantly active

I agree with the points on Parks and Releases.  When I visit the site I see the screens, listed in order by the default 'popular' tab, and view the screens that are listed as new (or having new content). Occasionally I comment on or rate the screens, or view similar screens from there, and occasionally I view new content on the forums. But apart from that, I don't tend to do much else - not even view parks. I think if there was a banner on the front page showing important news, the latest three releases (regardless of quality), and any other relevant mentions like congratulations for parks/designs winning accolades, or any competitions currently in action, then it would provide an instant way to see the latest content and events. I think it would certainly result in me viewing more parks, rather than letting them be brushed aside by screens and high-scorers.

 

I don't understand the point of post counts and join dates though. If anything, it allows other members to form prejudice against others, perhaps deeming a comment insignificant because that person has only been a member for a couple of weeks, or because they've not posted much before (whereas some of the more frequent commenters might just be opinionated spammers, and the long-time members might have had a 7 year break away from the site). So yeah, I don't see what relevance they hold, but can only see how they would work against a person. I'd be against this.

On the topic of write-ups, I think accolade releases have lost its charm a lot due to the lack of write ups. I found myself always reading through them, and ususally more than once if its a big release (e.g. spotlight). Are you planning on making write-ups the same way we treat logos now, that the person has to request one? I would say against that because writing a few paragraphs isn't very much work (hell people like Ed did it for every fucking post he made on NE) in comparison to having to create a logo.

 

I don't understand the point of post counts and join dates though. If anything, it allows other members to form prejudice against others, perhaps deeming a comment insignificant because that person has only been a member for a couple of weeks, or because they've not posted much before (whereas some of the more frequent commenters might just be opinionated spammers, and the long-time members might have had a 7 year break away from the site). So yeah, I don't see what relevance they hold, but can only see how they would work against a person. I'd be against this.

 

I think everyone here is well mature enough not to shun members who are less active or newer than others, and i don't think the problem of a hierarchy happening due to post count would ever happen on NE (we're too busy feeding the old 'park quality' hierarchy if anything ). I can't visualize the harm it would do to a good community like this rather than the buckets of shit that most other places happen to be, even if it's the least significant thing louis noted on the list.

I always liked the ranking system and points of NE4. Also the banner at the top, perhaps that would help to get new releases more attention.

I think overall I liked NE4 better. The only thing stopping it from perfect in my opinion was that the search bar never worked. NE5 is certainly a solid replacement, but I might consider looking at some of the features that NE4 had.

Has it really been a year already...wow.

 

The only thing that I have a 'problem' with is the prominence of newly made parks. I certainly love the new format with how screens are posted but I think that parks should still be the main focus of the site. If something can be done to give finished parks/designs greater prominence on the front page then I will be more than happy. The return of write-ups could help this [and if you need members to do them drop me a PM].

i'd definitely put in a section on the front page for new parks. maybe give it it's own bar. 

Honestly, I'm totally fine with what's here and any more (unpaid!) work Gee puts into this is icing on the cake.

I agree that postcount/joindate is super low on the priority list, even if I do sometimes like to feel important because I miraculously matched my member page URL to my member number:
http://www.nedesigns...r/221/ntamin22/

As for writeups, I think a comfortable solution for the level of community engagement we're operating with at present is to keep writeups detached from releases as much of possible.
Think of NE as a news service that decides how much coverage to give breaking stories; really big news might get a full article and a cover photo, maybe even a second editorial article. Smaller stories might get a paragraph or two. Don't keep releases waiting on another factor.

Well ][ you could make them at-request like you already do with logos, which means that if the maker doesn't want it and doesn't want to wait to ship out his new stuff, he/she doesn't have to

I miss the banner. I have no knowledge of coding, therefore I have no idea if this can be implemented in an evening or if its be too much work. I think it was a great way to advertise new parks, and I used to see it as sort of an added price for winning an accolade; you get your park in the banner. Id really like to see that return 

 

Secondly,

this is more of a question than a request. Why did member signatures go away. I used to put Quotable Quotes down there. 

Personally, I miss the banner and write-ups too.  They were always interesting to see and read respectively. I don't think I need to explain further why they were great (as others have already).

 

Increasing NE's social media reach would be great too.  Attracting new players and giving some interesting photos/reads for current players is never a bad thing.

 

Finally, and most importantly, thank you Gee for all the hard work you put into this.  NE5, no matter what, is incredible and lives up to the reputation NE has always had.  Anything that you could do, no matter how small, would be very appreciated.

Another vote for the return of the banner. Felt like a better way to honor winning parks than just having them over on the side half-way down the page.

I don't think the forums need to be more prominent. The "New content" filter puts everything right at the top no problem. However, a page with just the forums listed could be very useful. 

 

As for Parks, bring back that banner, baby! The banner was awesome, and you always knew right away when there was a new release. 

I also think, in the event of a spotlight, this place needs to go alll out. Close down everything, Fiesta style, except the topic for that park, for a couple of days. Change the red to gold or something. Spotlights are rare, but they are the ppinnacle of RCT and should be celebrated as such. 

 

I like the tag section, but have seen several places where they are lacking. I did'nt even know there were approved taggers, I'd love to help with this. 

 

Writeups, I liked them, but I don't miss them. Could take it or leave it.

 

I'd like and use a "Like" button for comments, and I've used other forums with that style. 

 

An extra tab linking to social media links could be good, but we've got to keep up with those media accounts to. The twitter, instagram, and FB pages are'nt used all that much. There's an app called IFTT that you can use to post to all 3 sites  at once that may be useful. 

(while posting that, I noticed the twitter and FB links at the bottom)

 

Another point of my own, a lot of folks remember the dump place. I think it may be a good idea to bring that back. It was always a popular thread for unfinished and unrefined ideas, and other screens not necessarily proper for the front page. I've occasionally wanted to show things that are just concepts, but I did'nt want to post on the front page. 

 

And finally, something we all need to do is build, comment, post and rate everything more. I love NE, Gee and Lew and all the admins are a fantastic bunch and I love you all. NE5 is fantastic, a great way to share things. 

Thanks for the suggestions so far, the lack of a banner is taken on board. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement but we'll discuss it and see what we can do. I agree that it would bring more attention to the parks again. Another thing is whether it is possible to have the parks on the front page instead of the screens? People will always go hunting for screens (click the screens tab) but no one goes looking for the parks, perhaps swapping them would increase park activity, but not diminish the activity on the screens. Or is that too much of a drastic change? What do people think?

 

With regards to forum prominence, what I meant by that was that some people dislike having the forums on the front page, and would like to go back to how they were before. They are supposedly more accessible and easy to use and understand when they are on a separate page like they used to be. Is this true? Is this something people want? Do you want the forums off the front page and into their own section like before or have the regular users of the site gotten used to the new forum style?

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Who do you have running the FB/Twitter/Instagram/Youtube pages? I'd at least consider giving it to a group of trusted people, that way they are constantly active

 

Currently they are run by the admins. Only the FB page is active, and I do try to post there at least once a week, but with no interaction back, it's difficult to keep up. We do keep getting more likes every week though and have surpassed 200. We did outsource to a few people to be 'social media managers' but it has clearly failed. Trav disappeared off the face of the earth and left us hanging, and nin no longer seems to keep up with it. So we have gone back to running them as just admins. I agree with you that something needs to be done, but it's difficult when there is no interaction coming back, which is why a possible section on the front page with our latest FB status may be a good idea.

 

 

 

[ntamin22' timestamp='1417921038' post='647580']
Think of NE as a news service that decides how much coverage to give breaking stories; really big news might get a full article and a cover photo, maybe even a second editorial article. Smaller stories might get a paragraph or two. Don't keep releases waiting on another factor.

 

We wouldn't have releases kept waiting on them. They would be done much like the logos are at the moment. There is a major desire for them to come back, but whether we can implement them, is another thing.

 

 

this is more of a question than a request. Why did member signatures go away. I used to put Quotable Quotes down there. 

 

They were removed to 'clean up' the forums a bit. Now posts run seamlessly from one post to the next. Signatures were difficult to moderate too. They were just removed because they weren't really needed. No one seems to really miss them much either.

 

 

I don't think the forums need to be more prominent. The "New content" filter puts everything right at the top no problem. However, a page with just the forums listed could be very useful. 

 

I also think, in the event of a spotlight, this place needs to go alll out. Close down everything, Fiesta style, except the topic for that park, for a couple of days. Change the red to gold or something. Spotlights are rare, but they are the ppinnacle of RCT and should be celebrated as such. 

 

Another point of my own, a lot of folks remember the dump place. I think it may be a good idea to bring that back. It was always a popular thread for unfinished and unrefined ideas, and other screens not necessarily proper for the front page. I've occasionally wanted to show things that are just concepts, but I did'nt want to post on the front page. 

 

Like above, a decision on the forums needs to be sorted. Do we have a separate page, or do we keep them on the front? What do people want? There seems to be a split of opinion on this matter.

Fiestas are difficult to do now, with all the screens being on the front page, it's like a fiesta everyday, and shutting down the forums like we used to wont really make much of a difference as no one nowadays is posting there anyway. But yes, spotlights do need to be celebrated more.

The dump place is basically now the front page. You shouldn't feel ashamed to post anything on the front page, that is what it is there for.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

My main issue with the site is that I'm fed up of there being no activity in the forum. And I don't know what the problem is.

It's either a  problem with the layout of the site (which it can't be, its really not difficult to use) or it's just laziness of the members.

Perhaps we aren't making people work for the content we give them/encouraging people to communicate.

Screens used to be hidden in the forums, now they are out there on the front page and now people aren't commenting, cause they don't have to. They aren't  going into the forums cause they don't have to. They come to the site and get their screen fix and leave, most people don't even sign in anymore.

Same as we are getting new members, mainly because of reddit. But even then, most from reddit just come, look around and leave, they don't join. I don't want to lock the site away, but I do feel like we need something to encourage people to join.

^I mean, I wasn't particularly active throughout the forums even during NE3/4 forum activity; it was mostly looking at and commenting on park advertisements. I think that things like streams have kind of taken over as the 'area for interaction/feedback for parks as a whole.' I don't know personally why the non-RCT forums have become so inactive [if that's what you're referring to] but it seems to me that with screens having greater focus than projects people are more inclined to comment on screens separately rather than a park as a whole. Despite the project page, people are more inclined to take the easy route and comment on screens - whilst it has certainly encouraged people to post more finished stuff the focus of the current system takes a little away from parks as a whole. Without specific park advertisements on the forums there hasn't really been much of an incentive to be active on the RCT-related forums [to the best of my knowledge places like "Ask the Experts" have retained at least some of its activity].

Just my two cents as to why the forums are so inactive at this time.

 

EDIT: I agree with the suggestion to maybe try swapping parks and screenshots for what's on the front page. I personally find the forums really easy to access, so I similarly doubt that's the reason for inactivity.

I would echo a lot of the ideas already brought up, but that would be redundant. I have been pretty vocal about wanting some changes to NE, so i appreciate we are taking the time to do this. Its really important that if we make changes that will affect the community, the community have a prominent say in what those changes are

 

-Forums-

i would say the biggest problem causing lack of activity is accessibility and navigation. Yeah, they are on the front page, but if i click into one of those forums, the only way to get back to the main forum navigation is to go back to the home page. If i wanted to "check" the forums, it would take a lot of running around. Thus, most people just resort to the "new content" tab, which is helpful in finding new stuff, but certainly doesn't support making new topics or general contributing to the forums. 

On top of this, the screens section and parks section greatly reduce the use of the forums. The majority of activity on the forums during NE4 was people posting screens and making updates about their parks. Given the setup of NE5 though, those are all replaced by posted screens and the comments with them. 

I would say making forums a tab is the best solution. Make it as easily navigable as possible, so that people can see it as a prominent part of the community. 

 

-parks-

my biggest problem with the parks tab is that there is no separation between "top quality" and accolade-winning parks and everything. This may be preferred, as it forces the dedicated members to look at everything and vote on stuff, but it really doesn't provide any incentive for winning and accolade. There is not resulting "front page banner" or "prominent release". 

Something simple, like the banners, would help. I would say if banners are too difficult to code, just something simple like a spot where admins can post a screen and a "congrats to so and so for winning silver". 

I know we aren't getting it back, but the ranking system was a major part of why NE4 was pretty productive. Even if people don't want to admit it, the idea of getting "ranking points" really made people excited to build and release new stuff. Whatever way we can make releasing a top quality park something to be celebrated will really help with productivity.

 

-live streaming-

If the forums has lost its sense of community during NE5, then live streaming has been the saving grace. Hell, i've probably gotten to know people better in the forums then i ever did in the forums. I think this is really important for the future of NE, and integrating it where possible would be a great step. Be it, a dedicated forum to streaming, maybe making monthly "events" where we can get together as a community and the admins show some newly released stuff in stream, maybe a way for members who are streaming to more prominently announce they are or will be streaming? Not sure exactly what, but something with streaming will help capitalize on what has really worked in NE5. 

 

-next page buttons-

Very simple, could we add "next page" or "last page" options to the top of pages or topics. Right now you have to scroll to the bottom to navigate between multi-page topics. Just a simple fix

 

-write-ups-

I'm obviously in support of these, in whatever form. Making them option would be good, maybe setting word limits so they are concise, maybe even just asking someone to make an "official" writeup for a park and post it to the topic as such whenever completed. My main question would be, can we get past write-ups off of NE4? I'm not sure where we would put them, but i'd love to see those back in some form just for referencing. Maybe adding them in as the first post on park topics. IMO, those represent a ton of work by past members, and it seem a pity to just throw them away (maybe that has already happened though). I for one would be willing to spend the time restoring those, if that is something admins don't have time for...

my biggest problem with the parks tab is that there is no separation between "top quality" and accolade-winning parks and everything.

 

maybe making monthly "events" where we can get together as a community and the admins show some newly released stuff in stream

 

There is a seperate accolade page and a seperate accolade section on the front page. I agree that parks need to be made more prominent, and agree that accolades need to be made more special, but there are dedicated sections there already. but yes, they need to be done a bit better.

 

with regards to the stream, i mentioned a couple of times in my stream the other day that i will be doing a weekly stream or bi-weekly stream showcasing the releases, accolades, screenshots etc. etc. whether people choose to get together as a community and attend these streams is out of my control, i will advertise them, like i do with all my streams, but whether people attend or not is up to them.

 

I'd just like to mention that whilst we are taking everyone's opinions into consideration and asking for everyone's feedback, we may not be able to make many changes. We are relying on Gee and only Gee, and so it is down to him how much time he wishes to contribute to making any changes. So please don't expect much, it may only be the simplest of things that get sorted, and it may be that you aren't content with what gets changed and what gets ignored.

I like the idea of having the banner and news on the front page, with large buttons to go to either a screen section like we have now, the forums (like NE3), accolades, competitions, and the database (workbenches/runners-up). Since news doesn't actually occur that often, maybe bring back write-ups for parks that get a score higher than some amount (65%?) and give them a spot on the front page between the news.

i think the biggest forum adjustment id want (and maybe im the only one who wants this, idk) is a "show all unread posts" option. thats how i use every forum i visit and i pay waaay less attention to the forums now than i did when we had one

Does the "New Content" button at the top not do that? What's different between that and what you're suggesting?