So the forums have vanished from the main page...

[Cowabungaa]

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but a few days ago the forum 'window' showing recent threads from the main sub-forums disappeared from the main page. I used to check this to see what's up. My portal into the forums, so to speak so I'm kind of miffed that it's gone.

It also worries me a little, as if the forums are slowly being phased out. I usually don't buy into the whole "The Escapist is dying!" talk you sometimes hear, but this did put a little frown on my face and made me go "Hmm."

So did anyone else use this forum portal frequently? Are you miffed about it? Does anyone feel like their forum usage is affected (mine definitely is) by this? What do you think is the reason? Etc etc, more questions like that.

 

[tippy2k2]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.941484-Did-they-remove-Popular-forum-posts-from-front-page

The prevailing theory is that the Staff has been unable to remove The Wild West from the "Recent Post" list and therefore they just removed the entire thing. I don't think that's ever been officially recognized but that's the theory.

 

[Cowabungaa]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.941484-Did-they-remove-Popular-forum-posts-from-front-page

The prevailing theory is that the Staff has been unable to remove The Wild West from the "Recent Post" list and therefore they just removed the entire thing. I don't think that's ever been officially recognized but that's the theory.

So there was something about it. Go figure y'know, I'd normally have spotted it through the portal but as I never use the actual forum pages I miss that shit now. Oh well, time to close this topic then.

 

[happyninja42]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.941484-Did-they-remove-Popular-forum-posts-from-front-page

The prevailing theory is that the Staff has been unable to remove The Wild West from the "Recent Post" list and therefore they just removed the entire thing. I don't think that's ever been officially recognized but that's the theory.

Considering it's happened to me multiple times over the years, I'm not sure that's the specific reason? I mean, unless they are just habitually incapable of regulating their own forum system or something, and thus regularly have to drop it from the main page or something. Which, I guess is possible. *shrugs*

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Eh? I feel like it was an over-reaction. I mean the Wild West is only for premium members, and as someone who isn't bothering with that malarkey, I never saw Wild West on my Popular Forums bar. Wasn't even aware there was a secret hidden shit-post subforum until someone brought it up last week.

I mean people pay to use those forums, so why does it bother them when they see those forums on the forum list? Likewise, never bothered me because I don't have access to them, so they never showed up.

 

[shrekfan246]

I mean people pay to use those forums, so why does it bother them when they see those forums on the forum list? Likewise, never bothered me because I don't have access to them, so they never showed up.

Tech Team gave a load of users free PubClub access when they left.

Considering it's happened to me multiple times over the years, I'm not sure that's the specific reason? I mean, unless they are just habitually incapable of regulating their own forum system or something, and thus regularly have to drop it from the main page or something. Which, I guess is possible. *shrugs*

It has occasionally bugged out over the years, but never in my memory has it ever just been straight up removed and left gone for weeks. Now, though, they don't have a Tech Team anymore, so...

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

I know. I wasn't one of those people, I guess because I'm too handsome and awesome and its just not fair to let me post wherever I want.
But my point still stands. No one who doesn't have premium account ever saw any of the WW threads on the Totally Popular list.

 

[shrekfan246]

SNIP

But my point still stands. No one who doesn't have premium account ever saw any of the WW threads on the Totally Popular list.

Your point was also that those of us with premium access shouldn't care "because we paid for it". We didn't, or at least not all of us.

EDIT: Also, spending money on something is the worst excuse for why somebody shouldn't be allowed to complain about it, anyway.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

*shrug*

Haven't used it in years. Just check the forum index directly these days.

[sub][sub]I still miss Kross.[/sub][/sub]

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Okay so now people who either payed for a service complained(which I doubt because PM have been around for years and we never heard a peep from them about the Popular List) or people who got PM accounts for free complained about a basic site feature, a feature that doesn't effect non-PM users and got a blanket deletion of a feature, for all users.

Doesn't that seem a little silly?

 

[shrekfan246]

SNIP

Okay so now people who either payed for a service complained(which I doubt because PM have been around for years and we never heard a peep from them about the Popular List) or people who got PM accounts for free complained about a basic site feature, a feature that doesn't effect non-PM users and got a blanket deletion of a feature, for all users.

Doesn't that seem a little silly?

1. Wild West has only been around for a few weeks. Given that it didn't previously exist, there was no reason to complain about it being present in the Popular Forum Posts box.

2. The Popular Forum Posts box wasn't the problem, and as far as I'm aware there was no widespread complaining in the first place.

Either way, the Wild West being present in the Popular Forum Posts box was the problem, because it was a completely unmoderated subforum that was suddenly showing up on the front page of this website. That's kind of something the staff need to actually care about, given the relatively strict standards of moderation the rest of this website has historically had. It being a PubClub exclusive forum doesn't really make much of a difference.

Apparently the staff's answer to this problem was essentially just to nuke everything, which as somebody who wasn't particularly happy to see the Wild West in PFP let me assure you has annoyed me as well.

Addendum: You still appear to be operating under the assumption that people who pay for something shouldn't be allowed to complain about it. Unless you have never complained about any video game, movie, book, food, piece of clothing, internet, heating, electricity, water temperature, bug problem, etc. that you've ever had, you should already be well aware that that isn't how the world works. People who buy things are generally entitled to voice their displeasure when said thing is unsatisfactory to them. That's why practically every business has return/exchange policies and money-back guarantees. It's basic good customer service to, you know, actually listen to paying customers. Now, that doesn't mean they actually need to change anything, especially because sometimes the customer might be a terrible customer whose money they don't actually care about keeping, but, you know. Not really the point.

 

[IceForce]

Eh? I feel like it was an over-reaction.

Agreed.
To go to the extent where bits of site functionality are being chopped out entirely, that definitely seems rather OTT.

Why didn't they just block Wild West threads from appearing in it if that was the problem?, instead of removing the box altogether? (this is indeed the question on everyone's lips).

I mean people pay to use those forums, so why does it bother them when they see those forums on the forum list?

Nah, very few people actually paid. (I myself am a freeloader, for instance.)

 

[BeerTent]

That little box was how I mostly browsed the forum, you know! Now I have to step into the forum proper like a peasant!

Ugh!

( [sub]Seriously tho, I miss it. T.T[/sub] )

Edit: on the Publisher Club thing, I'm guessing that only 5% of the people who are in the Pub-Club, which includes Me, @SilentPony AND @ShrekFan246 actually paid for it. If I'm not mistaken, Everybody who was around before the site imploded is now a Pub-Club Member.

 

[Barbas]

That little box was how I mostly browsed the forum, you know! Now I have to step into the forum proper like a peasant!

Ugh!

( [sub]Seriously tho, I miss it. T.T[/sub] )

Edit: on the Publisher Club thing, I'm guessing that only 5% of the people who are in the Pub-Club, which includes Me, @SilentPony AND @ShrekFan246 actually paid for it. If I'm not mistaken, Everybody who was around before the site imploded is now a Pub-Club Member.

Everyone who was at or below a certain warning level at the time got it for free.

OT: Yes, it was a muck-up, but I've been told by a staff member that they're working on a fix to return the Popular Posts box without the Wild West forum posts.

 

[IceForce]

The prevailing theory is that the Staff has been unable to remove The Wild West from the "Recent Post" list and therefore they just removed the entire thing. I don't think that's ever been officially recognized but that's the theory.

Well, the theory has been confirmed now. See Barbas's post, above.

EDIT: Actually, Barbas seems to be the only person giving us any info these days. It would be awesome if a staff member themselves popped in here to shed some light on things. I know they're likely busy and all, but still...

 

[loa]

I guess they didn't find the feature of finding out that someone said something new on one of their articles all that important.
Good thing I don't find their site all that important.

 

[Fluxlunanos]

I did notice this a few days ago. And as a result it really does feel like the forums have slowed down as of late. But on the bright side reading this tread made me actually log in and discover that I had free Pub club so that's snazzy.

As for the forums box gone? I could learn to live with it. (Now that Ive stopped being a lurker.)

 

[Cycloptomese]

That little box was how I mostly browsed the forum, you know! Now I have to step into the forum proper like a peasant!

Ugh!

( [sub]Seriously tho, I miss it. T.T[/sub] )

Edit: on the Publisher Club thing, I'm guessing that only 5% of the people who are in the Pub-Club, which includes Me, @SilentPony AND @ShrekFan246 actually paid for it. If I'm not mistaken, Everybody who was around before the site imploded is now a Pub-Club Member.

Everyone who was at or below a certain warning level at the time got it for free.

OT: Yes, it was a muck-up, but I've been told by a staff member that they're working on a fix to return the Popular Posts box without the Wild West forum posts.

Excellent! I've been wondering. I'm mostly a lurker, as you can clearly see by my post count, and that was how I was navigating the forum. It's just inconvenient for me to have to navigate all the way into forums and sub forums to find something interesting being discussed. I appreciate you letting us know, Barbas.

 

[Barbas]

I did notice this a few days ago. And as a result it really does feel like the forums have slowed down as of late. But on the bright side reading this tread made me actually log in and discover that I had free Pub club so that's snazzy.

As for the forums box gone? I could learn to live with it. (Now that Ive stopped being a lurker.)

You have free PubClub forever; the Tech Team decided to give it to everyone below a certain warning level before they departed.

Excellent! I've been wondering. I'm mostly a lurker, as you can clearly see by my post count, and that was how I was navigating the forum. It's just inconvenient for me to have to navigate all the way into forums and sub forums to find something interesting being discussed. I appreciate you letting us know, Barbas.

Pleasure. There are a couple of new forums that have recently been added, which aren't on the drop-down menu yet, so you have to click on the Forums button to display them (one is for PubClub, others are for all posters).

 

[omega 616]

Tech Team gave a load of users free PubClub access when they left.

Did they give any reason? A final fuck you or a gift to long standing members?

They gave it to me but I'm not sure why ... I would like to change my "tagline" thing under my name back to what it was before, but for the life of me the only one I can remember is Gone Gonzo but I think I went above that.