We fear change - post your thoughts/bug reports/praise here.

[Tabasco Man]

just registered =] ...I've been reading the Escapist for several months now, and while I've never written in to say how much I like it, I have recommended it to online friends.. so yea, you've got a good thing going here. when I stopped by today to check out the new issue, it took me a minute to take in all the changes, but I must say, I like them, especially the forums. let's just hope that the discussions remain somewhat intelligent and civilized for a decent amount of time before the inevitable decline in intellect that occurs to anything that becomes significantly popular on the intarweb.

as for avatars and sigs, I wouldn't mind the allowing of a small, non-animated avatar (75 x 75 or smaller), but I would prefer that sigs NOT be allowed at this forum.. just my $.02

 

[Bongo Bill]

I would think a good selection of forum skins would be helpful (I like the present one but options &c.). Likewise, if there's gonna be profiles, put in options to show or hide others' avatars and signatures, so everybody - including Tabasco Man - will be happy.

In addition - and this is just random speculation - it seems to me that a lot of The Escapist readers might be, themselves, involved with the game industry. Maybe put in a little flag in the profiles to account for this? Like, say, a little checkbox that says whether the person is employed in the industry, or whether you have more than a passing interest in breaking into it, or you just play them, or you're a games journalist, or whatever you can think of plus an Other option? Make it private, probably (public information of that nature is what the "Occupation" field is there fore), but keep the data to yourselves for recordkeeping. I'm sure, if nothing else, your advertisers might like to know that.


Also: polls on the front page would be pretty hardcore.

 

[dhaelis]

I actually have a suggestion: I accidentally cliked on the 'Report' button by mistake while I was Alt+Tabbing to from another screen, therefore sending an erroneous report. Maybe putting something along the lines of 'Are you sure you want to report this post' might be a good idea and would save klutzes like me from doing such a booboo (and yes, that's the technical term).

On a side note, sorry Virgil!

 

[Phillip Scuderi]

I find that I don't care for the two-tiered structure of The Lounge and The News Room. What I mean is, I wish that from the News Room front page ( http://www.escapistmagazine.com/newsroom/ ), I didn't need to click each individual story in order to get the full goods. That's a lot of clicking! It'd also be cool if I could see the number of comments attached to each story without actually having to click through to the comments page itself. Finally, it would be helpful if the comments pages (such as this one: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.449 ) displayed the news item in its entirety, rather than a truncated version. It's hard to respond to a synopsis.

All of these comments apply equally to The Lounge.

I realize, of course, that these elements are more "features" than bugs.

 

[wiper]

The dark blue on grey and black hurts my eyes. And change of any kind upsets me - I particularly missed the old 'blog' button under articles.

Otherwise though, nowt really wrong with it. The 'zines still essentially the same, and that's what really matters. And forums just give me another opportunity to try and massage my ego, so more power to them!

 

[Russ Pitts]

I find that I don't care for the two-tiered structure of The Lounge and The News Room.

We're looking at the way these pages are structured, and may make some changes, but the layout of the Lounge is essentially the same as it was before, with a portion of the story displayed on the index page, followed by a "read more" link to the rest. The News Room simply adopted the same format.

 

[Phillip Scuderi]

I find that I don't care for the two-tiered structure of The Lounge and The News Room.

We're looking at the way these pages are structured, and may make some changes, but the layout of the Lounge is essentially the same as it was before, with a portion of the story displayed on the index page, followed by a "read more" link to the rest. The News Room simply adopted the same format.

That's true. I think it's a bigger issue in the News Room than in the Lounge, at least for now, since there are more daily stories in the News Room than in the Lounge. The old Lounge seemed to average about one story per day, and at that rate, it's really no trouble to click through to the full article. But when I want to read three or four stories in a sitting, I prefer a more straightforward "blog" style, so long as those stories aren't terribly lengthy. In other words, I'd rather simply scroll down than have to click through, go back, click through, go back, etc.

That's admittedly a minor concern, though, and I can certainly see how others might prefer the present system.

Edit: Then again, I just glanced at the Lounge and noted how many stories have appeared there, too, since the transition. You folks are busy bees!

 

[Echolocating]

To be honest, at first I was a bit confused when I first hit the new site, but now I'm getting a feel for what's really going on here... and I'm liking it. It's a more complete package now, and I'm sure it will continue to grow in many more interesting directions.

However, I have to say that I don't like the new design. Maybe the point of this first iteration is to create a functionally sound application before worrying about esthetic appeal, but currently, the site has lost its visual professionalism, in my opinion. The previous Lounge design was very pleasing to the eye... and I feel this new site is a step back in that regard.

A very similar site, in design, is... http://www.metacritic.com/ ...and I feel their design is a bit more visually savvy for the feel of what I think you're going for, but I personally prefer the previous sophistication of The Lounge design over what Metacritic currently offers.

Anyway, my intention is not to ruffle any feathers, but to simply offer my thoughts on the design. I'm a huge fan of this website and any issues I have with the design won't stop me from coming back or recommending this site to my friends.

 

[Virgil]

On a side note, sorry Virgil!

That's OK, I haven't even taught them to use the mod queue yet.

 

[Joe]

On a side note, sorry Virgil!

That's OK, I haven't even taught them to use the mod queue yet.

Oh, we're devious. I SEE ALL.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I got this one in an email, but I'm posting it here in case anybody else ran into this issue.

I read The Escapist weekly. However, I read it in text format by opening each article and printing it. I enjoyed that until this week the text versions printed very cleanly and therefore read very easily. The new version is not only jarring to the eyes but prints horribly.

We've since fixed the issue. The text version now prints nothing but clean text. As for the jarring thing ... well, there's no accounting for taste. Cheers.

 

[SirBruce]

So when do the rest of us get cool vanity titles like the yellow names?

Bruce

 

[DrunkenSleipnir [deprecated]]

I would like to speak up in favor of the current and simplistic forum format. Avatars and sigs are nice and all, but I've always felt that it tends towards excess, and that will only detract from a more focused discussion.

 

[Russ Pitts]

So when do the rest of us get cool vanity titles like the yellow names?

Rank hath its privileges.

The yellow indicates that we work here and that our opinions and words carry much more weight than those of petty earthlings such as yourself. In fact, you should probably give us all of your gold now, and go ahead and erect temples in our honor. I want my statue made of onyx please. Thank you.

Those of us with "themed" titles are moderators. There are four of us. (Collect all 4!). As to the subject of custom titles for everyone else, that is something we're currently discussing. Any ideas you may have would be welcome.

 

[SirBruce]

Hehehehe, you said 'erect'.

I'm not a fan of titles tied to post count numbers, but I'm open to almost anything else... user-defined titles, contests with titles as rewards, random title giveaways, etc. As for avatars, I'd rather not have them at all unless they're a full system where people can upload their own limited graphics. And I stopped using .sigs yeas ago.

Bruce

 

[Chimaera]

I would like to speak up in favor of the current and simplistic forum format. Avatars and sigs are nice and all, but I've always felt that it tends towards excess, and that will only detract from a more focused discussion.

I'm inclined to agree with the assessment here, especially as it relates to avatars. A nice 2 line text-only sig might not be too unbearable - room enough for a witty quote, or something.

 

[dhaelis]

It looks like there might be an issue with the PDF this week, since when I try to access it, I only get a blank page and I can't download it at all. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

 

[Araman]

It looks like there might be an issue with the PDF this week, since when I try to access it, I only get a blank page and I can't download it at all. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Yes, having the same issue as well. The problem looks to be that there is no pdf there to download (hint: 404)

 

[Russ Pitts]

It looks like there might be an issue with the PDF this week, since when I try to access it, I only get a blank page and I can't download it at all. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

It's working now. Not sure what the issue was. I blame aliens.

 

[Virgil]

Yes, having the same issue as well. The problem looks to be that there is no pdf there to download (hint: 404)

My fault. Fixed!