Please STOP pushing threads into "Players helping Players" section

Dr_Con

Sometimes the question has been answered when it gets moved, making further commentary unnecessary. I've often seen someone give the answer, then the rest of the topic is spent arguing back and forth or saying "why would you do that when you can do this."

the mods are doing an alright job with moving them, but if there was a way to show that there are new posts in a section on the forum select screen i think it can up the forum participation for those specific sections.

tincanman

I don't actually mind them being moved either: it tends to keep things more rationally organised.

But then I usually depend on the 'recent' navigation option so sub-forum is mostly irrelevant to me.

mocap

Heh, i had the opposite situation. I wanted a clear "yes, no" answer, not 10 pages of flight of fancy, that's why i created a thread in the PHP section. Somehow it was moved to General.

Marcus684

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

[*] How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?

Multiple

[*] What are your most viewed sections of the forum?

General Discussions followed by the 3 PvP-related subcategories (These should be combined into 1, IMO)

[*] Do you think the forums have too many categories?

Yes. Definitely think the 3 PvP related subs should be combined into 1.

[*] Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

Not usually as they aren't there on mobile

Dr_Con

Here's an example of something being pushed to a section that could have stayed in general discussion https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/621214/missed-opportunities-with-crafting-station-antiquities-leads

Maybe it was just a bad post, but I was hoping for some general discussion to happen inside of it with peoples ideas about what sort of crafting stations they'd like to see.

It doesn't really fit the

Share your crafting expertise or learn the ropes from others here.

description for the section


If I were to make a "We need an ashlander provisioning station with Necrom release" topic, it probably wouldn't get moved to the crafting section, but a topic where I look back on all the crafting stations obtained through antiquities and tried to start a discussion about missed opportunities and what we'd like to see did get removed.

SilverBride

If there is a sub category for everything then what is the purpose of General? What belongs there?

bmnoble

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

But since the conversation was started here, we'll ask some starting questions.

• How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
• What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
• Do you think the forums have too many categories?
• Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

1 and 2, I mostly visit General discussion, followed by the PTS and bug reports section.

3, Yes far too many, I joined the forum in April 2019, it's not just a case of me rarely visiting some of the other categories most I have never even opened.

4, Nope I usually just load up General discussion and have a look, if the new chapter is on the PTS I will have a look at it too see how its going and the first few days a new chapter DLC goes live I will browse the bug reports section to make sure there is nothing too serious happening before I start the new story content.

Araneae6537

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

So the posts being moved is so that they are in the sub-section that matches the contents of the thread. This is based on the current structure of the forum. The intent is not to harm players or hinder conversation.

However with that being said, we've noticed frustration with some of the moving of conversations and have started looking at how we can better address this problem. That way, those posting get the help they need and we have conversations happening in the right places. We do intend on asking a wider audience here on the forum how they use the forum currently and how that experience can be made better from user navigation standpoint.

But since the conversation was started here, we'll ask some starting questions.

• How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
• What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
• Do you think the forums have too many categories?
• Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

I most often lurk in Recent. I feel like there are more forum categories than are useful. From this and other forums I use, I think sub-forums are most useful for threads that people may specifically look for or refer back to — in this context, official news and announcements, player guides, and for me, housing as well.

I do feel that “players helping players” doesn’t really make sense as a category and that most of those threads should be in General.

Edited to add that most of the time I am accessing the forum on my phone. I don’t find it difficult to access Recent, but I don’t know if that’s browser dependent (for me it’s on a drop-down menu at the top-left), although often after viewing a thread I’ll end up in that sub-forum and have to navigate back to Recent.

allochthons

I posted a question in Players Helping Players, waited a few days, got no answer and only a few views. Reposted same question in General, had the answer I needed with added useful advice in under 2 hours.

Ironically, after I got the answers I needed, a moderator then moved the repost into Players Helping Players, where the original post languished.

:shrug:

notyuu

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

• How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
• What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
• Do you think the forums have too many categories?
• Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

1a: via web browser
1b: Multipule

2: I view the sections of the forums in a pictular order, that order being: PTS (if it is a PTS week) > General Discussion > Combat & Mechanics > PvP Combat & Skills > Tales of Tribute, every other category I don't visit outside of a quick glance every now and then on very, very, very slow days at work

3: Yes, by a LONG shot, most of them could be condensed together rather easily, for example player guides, fiction & roleplaying and community creations could be combined into a single category

4: I fail to notice them half the time to be perfectly honest, so no, I don't, I do however get why they are important to have around.

Kitziboo

How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
I use General frequently every day. Occasionally, I look at Housing and Crafting and even more rarely, PVP.

What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
General and Housing.

Do you think the forums have too many categories?
Yes, there are some I have never looked at.

Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)
I use Categories to get to Housing and Crafting but have to admit I didn’t really notice the others and have never used them.

hrothbern

allochthons wrote: »

I posted a question in Players Helping Players, waited a few days, got no answer and only a few views. Reposted same question in General, had the answer I needed with added useful advice in under 2 hours.

Ironically, after I got the answers I needed, a moderator then moved the repost into Players Helping Players, where the original post languished.

:shrug:

You could also see some of the sub forums as locations to archive threads AFTER they got their fair share, their "budget" exposure time, in the general discussion.

Being archived in the "right" sub forum will help searching back for that thread AND will help players to browse through that particular sub forum

Daiyanae

Agree!

"But since the conversation was started here, we'll ask some starting questions."

How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
General
What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
General
Do you think the forums have too many categories?
Yes, a better search would be nice.
Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)
I use search but most times the info that comes back might be from way way back and not pertinent.

I am one that could not find an answer to a question and got moved. That was extremely frustrating because the first thought I had was that I had done something wrong. So I rarely post.

Thanks for bringing this to light.

Daiyanae

ArchMikem

If ZOS gets rid of categories like Lore, because the rest of you never use it I'll be quite unpleasant.

Varana

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?

I go to Participated, click through the threads (if I'm still interested in them), then go to General Discussion and look at the first and (depending on time and topics) seconds page of GD. If I remember, I'll use the Dev Tracker at some point. If the PTS has a new update, I'll go there sometimes - but not very often these days, and usually only to have a look at the hottest topics, not to write any comments. In my experience, esp. after the AWA disaster, participating in PTS testing is simply pointless.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

What are your most viewed sections of the forum?

General Discussion, 99%. I use other categories only (and really, only) if I'm specifically looking for something. And even then, I'll usually just use the search function (which is ... not very good, to put it mildly). So while I sometimes end up in a different forum, I visit there very rarely and not because I want to have a look at the discussions there.
There is no real reason to do so for me. I'm only very casually into housing or other activities that have semi-popular forum sections. And after reading through the General Discussion topics that interest me, I've had enough forums for the day, and my time is up. GD has enough threads with varied topics that I don't feel I'm missing out on anything.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Do you think the forums have too many categories?

Definitely. As others have said, "Players helping players" is a bit of a weird category. And a lot of the other sections look like they're Discord channels for a guild or something, and I'm not sure the forums are a good place for that. Or the strange redundancy with a "Combat" forum, and a specific "PvP combat" forum later on. Sure, at some point it may have made sense to someone, presumably. But for practical use, it's nonsense.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

I use Participated and Dev Tracker. I don't use Recent - when I come here, I'll look at General Discussion only anyway, so there's no reason to use Recent.

DreamyLu

How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
Multiple / I visit 4 sections: general, players helping players, addons and bugs.

What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
General and players helping players.

Do you think the forums have too many categories?
No. I find the concept good as is. However, it's clear that some categories will get less visits/posters than others. It can't be avoided. But as said in my first reply earlier in this thread, it's also a nice advantage because posts remain visible on first page long enough. If they would be into General, they would be pushed off in no time, probably even before anyone can see it and answer.

Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)
No.

Caligamy_ESO

Gotta tell ya, I don't look at any other forum section besides PTS, and General.. everything else I kinda see as a graveyard for dead threads I'll never read or see responses to.

BoraxFlux

• How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
  A few specific categories mainly
• What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
  General and Community Creations
• Do you think the forums have too many categories?
  Yes, it feels very fragmentated.
• Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)
  Seldom.

wilykcat

I mostly look at general discussions and bug reports. Sometimes I'll look at all the other categories including ones about dungeons. I'm fine with how the forums are already set up. I like it when things are very organized especially online. To me these forums are easier to use than many other forums I've been on and seen.

I would like it if some categories get merged with related categories. Also add in more subcategories such as game-play features. To me in my opinion general discussion is a bit chaotic and I feel like some very popular topics (such as companions and classes) need their own category. 😁

DP99

How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?

I usually just visit General Discussion, sometimes I'll check out the Community Creations and Housing, and maybe the Lore pages here and there, but that's about it. I'll got to bug reports if I ever have a problem that I need to report or check to see if someone else has reported. And, lastly I might check out the New and Main Page discussions for any updates on any upcoming events or game changes or anything like that.

What are your most viewed sections of the forum?

General Discussion and Community Creations.
Do you think the forums have too many categories?

Probably, stuff like Housing doesn't really need to be on it's own apart from the rest of the Creative stuff I don't think.

Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

Nope, didn't even know that did anything special tbh.

MasterSpatula

It doesn't really seem entirely credible that mods don't know that they're killing threads when they do this. The most positive interpretation is blind enforcement of rules for the sake of rules. But even that's not really that positive an interpretation, and there's plenty of people on this forum who are way more paranoid and conspiratorial-minded than me. Kinda surprised it hasn't been a bigger issue before now.

Northwold

A side point, but the more people use phones to read the forums, the less welcome many different categories are going to be unless the forum user interface is RADICALLY improved. It's really fiddly to get around.

TaSheen

The Vanilla interface is.... not very "maneuverable". They really need to use a better forum backend - like, y'know, phpBB3. Vanilla.... is free software (though I think they might have added a commercial "buy to use" setup since I quit messing with it). Then again, phpBB3 is also free to use (though yes, I believe they also charge for commercial usage).

Freeware works for some situations; a busy forum like this one? Not so much....

peacenote

Olauron wrote: »

peacenote wrote: »

It is an active thread created today and it doesn't even make the first page of search results. No idea what the weighting is, but the first few results are from Dec 2022, Feb 6 2023, and then... June 2015! I cannot sort by last updated or newest. There are advanced search choices but absolutely nothing that I really want to use or is easy to use.

The weighting is clearly the title. You were searching for "forums", you got search results with "forums" in the title, there is no "forums" in the title of this thread.

Maybe? Kind of? I mean I noticed the consistency with the titles, too, but when you expand the advanced search, by default "discussions" and "comments" (actually all of the boxes) are checked. I played around with typing "forums" in the "Title" field, and taking it out, and it only showed results with "forums" in the title either way. Also, the post that used the word forum twice in the title -- "No Forum for Forum Questions" -- did not show up first. So It's not going by titles with the word in it the most, or newest posts, or ones with the most responses, or the title where the word appears earliest. It may be weighting or filtering by what's in the title but that can't be the only criteria.

Whatever it's doing, I still say the results aren't nearly as intuitive or as smart with the default order as they could be to find threads that have moved - or whatever you are searching for.

Iselin

[*] How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?

General 90% of the time. patch notes and test server occasionally

[*] Do you think the forums have too many categories?

Not really but the players helping players section is redundant since general should be the place that is done with more visibility and with the potential to help those who didin't even know they wanted help.

[*] Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)

Yes I use it but almost exclusively the Dev Tracker and Participated. Participated is invaluable to keep track of topics you thought important enough to participate in without necessarily flagging them for inbox notifications by using the star.

M0ntie

I read the Recent list. If there are over 30 sub categories this is way too many. Max about 5-10 sub categories.

Aendruu

I have the 'Recent' page bookmarked, so that's always my first port of call when visiting these forums. I'll also often take a look at the 'Lore' and 'Fiction & Roleplaying' categories because they're the most creative/fun places.

To improve the forum experience I'd suggest having the 'Categories' page actually show either top/recent posts under each topic heading, and having a return to top button on each forum page for easier access to the navigation tabs.

hrothbern

The better the search capabilities of this forum for desired topics, the less need for many sub forums

The better the words used in the Thread titles, the easier searching for desired topics, the less need for many sub forums.

Adding tags to choose from when making a post and searching on tags while on this forum would also help greatly.
(whereby moderator action could start with "educating" us with pointing out the need for tags up to moderator intervention to add tags themselves)

I had in RL in my job on average per year well over 10k incoming emails directed at me, a multiple of that with me on CC and close to 10k outgoing emails.

I just stacked in one map per year AND "educated" my colleagues to use enough descriptive words in their email.
With that, and searching on key words (Outlook search adequate strong), I was almost always much faster in finding back both recent as old emails than my colleagues with ofc too many sub maps, mostly burning time going from this to that sub map.

BretonMage

ArchMikem wrote: »

If ZOS gets rid of categories like Lore, because the rest of you never use it I'll be quite unpleasant.

Hmmm, tbh I would love to see more lore discussions in General... I always forget there's a Lore subsection.

SpiritKitten

[*] How do you use the forums currently? Are you going to one specific category or do you visit multiple?
Recent/Participated/check the Stickies at the top of Recent

[*] What are your most viewed sections of the forum?
not applicable since I use Recent only

[*] Do you think the forums have too many categories?
YES

[*] Do you use the navigation tabs at the top? (Categories, Dev Tracker, Recent, Unanswered, Participated)
YES: Recent/Participated