24-05-2003 01:20									#1
	Topped Threads Tired of ads?

I know that alot of people have been complaining/noticing that there are too many topped threads. Here they are:

FA: Correspondence
Apolyton ISDG InfoCenter
Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles
Ministry of War
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of the Interior
Science Plans
Signals Intelligence
Apolytonian Intelligence (A.I.) Analysis
A.I. Center

The first three should, IMHO should be topped.

The three ministries + the science plans should be incorporated into one thread, entitled possibly "Ministries". Either that, or they should have their own, untopped thread and be linked inside "Ministries".

Signals Intelligence should be detopped; and there should only be one AI topped thread. Possibly, Signals intelligence should be linked to in the AI topped thread.

	24-05-2003 01:25									#2
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Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Correspondence threads need to be topped as they contain important reference materials, and need to be available for quick reference.

--Togas

	24-05-2003 01:39									#3
	Suffering from ads?

I would propose that each ministry be entitled to one topped thread, and also the Infocenter. Threads that get very frequent use like the Correspondence thread will still stay on page one. It's not that hard to "Favorite place" a thread you want to refer back to anyhow- I still have the embassy screenshot "Placed." Science plans should probably be put under Interior, but that could be debated.

Frequent threads WILL stay near the top, and fav. places are good.

	24-05-2003 02:13									#4
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I was thinking about this (tell me if you like the idea, it is a bit radical):

There would be only TWO topped threads - the "InfoCenter" and the "Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles". There would be a special post added to the InfoCenter, called "Directory", which would have a clickable list of links to all other threads which are currently topped plus maybe more threads which we need to refer to from time to time (like the City Placement thread, e.g., the embassy screenshot, e.g.).

You would put a link to this "Directory" post into your Favourite Places and be just two clicks from any valuable thread you may be looking for...

What do you think?

	24-05-2003 02:23									#5
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We don't need to bury all of the topped threads in directories. We really don't have THAT many active threads going at once, I don't see why people are so quick to want to get rid of the topped threads, anyhow.

Poly very often grinds to a slow crawl, especially during peak hours for our European players. I often find myself clicking on a link and then going to some other window while I wait a minute for the page to load up ... and I'm using a T-1 at work, so I know it's not me.

Having to click .... wait ... search for a link in a directory ... wait ... why? So that we can have less topped threads? Why? Why do we NEED less topped threads?

I need the FAM thread and Correspondence thread topped because I often have to answer questions during chat and I find the answers in those threads. Furthermore, I have never seen an active thread drop to page 2 in this forum once. Ever.

All of this "detopping" noise is really a bit mess about nothing. Sure, if threads aren't being used or aren't vitual for reference we should detop them. But if they're important, what's the big deal? Who cares if we have 2 topped threads or 6?

--Togas

	24-05-2003 02:33									#6
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Well since the whole point in having topped threads is to keep easy, important information at hand, I think it would suffice just to remove the following threads:

AI Center
Apolyton Intelligence Analysis
Science Plans
Signals Intelligence

Then just link these threads in the directory. The information contained in these threads is fairly old and outdated, so there is no need for them to continue to be topped.

It would free up some space while still keeping the important threads topped.

	24-05-2003 03:47									#7
	Suffering from ads?

I agree each ministry should have a topped thread. I agree that there are too many intelligence threads. I think WhiteBandit has it nailed.

	24-05-2003 11:20									#8
	Tired of ads?

I agree with WB too. Though I think the "Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles" Thread coulld be de-topped and alink to it in the "Apolyton ISDG InfoCenter" Thread.

What we really need to do is just look at which of the topped threads do not get updated frequently. If a thread gets updated frequently it will remain on the first page, more than likely.

We can do a couple of things to prevent this. Take the "Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles" Thread. If one of the consuls were to make several post placeholder's for the turns ahead of time, it would keep the Thread off the font page but still easily accessable through a link in the "Apolyton ISDG InfoCenter" Thread.

We can do other Thread in the same manner; at least ones that don't get updates at least every other day or when a Turn arrives.

Here's another novel idea: Can we have sub-forums for the ISDG? One for each Ministry perhaps. The sub-forums act a directory themselves. The Minister's would be given Mod powers for these sub-forums.

Those are my ideas on the subject anyhow.

	24-05-2003 13:09									#9
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by BigFree I agree with WB too. Though I think the "Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles" Thread coulld be de-topped and alink to it in the "Apolyton ISDG InfoCenter" Thread. What we really need to do is just look at which of the topped threads do not get updated frequently. If a thread gets updated frequently it will remain on the first page, more than likely. We can do a couple of things to prevent this. Take the "Turn Reports, Summaries, and Savegame Zipfiles" Thread. If one of the consuls were to make several post placeholder's for the turns ahead of time, it would keep the Thread off the font page but still easily accessable through a link in the "Apolyton ISDG InfoCenter" Thread. We can do other Thread in the same manner; at least ones that don't get updates at least every other day or when a Turn arrives. Here's another novel idea: Can we have sub-forums for the ISDG? One for each Ministry perhaps. The sub-forums act a directory themselves. The Minister's would be given Mod powers for these sub-forums. Those are my ideas on the subject anyhow.

I'm willing to bet there would be an ixnay on your forum idea by MarkG. We tried to do the same thing for the single player demogame to organize threads and he wouldn't grant them to us. :-/

	24-05-2003 13:18									#10
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quote: Originally posted by WhiteBandit Science Plans Then just link these threads in the directory. The information contained in these threads is fairly old and outdated, so there is no need for them to continue to be topped.

Hey, watch it, buddy... . I try to keep that information up-to-date.
However, I agree that it may not need its own thread.

Togas has a valid point: we don't have that much information to justify that important info that is more than one click away.

We can do with a few topped threads less, just to clean up the Forum and make sure that ALL topped threads are relevant and up-to-date.

Other threads can be organized in such a way, that important info is always close by. For instance, the MoI thread could have Science, City Placement, Jungle Clearing Plans, etc. all on one page (in different updatable posts).
This is all semi-long-term information.

Information that only lasts one turn (Minister orders) should go in the Turn threads.