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[citricsquid]

Hi!

A problem that a lot of servers have here is that when they're small and starting out it's very hard to get traction and remain on the front page without spamming/bumping.

A solution we've considered in the past and one I'm reconsidering today is to separate large and small servers and also not allow server topics to be used for whitelisting; creating a seperate section for whitelists.

I would appreciate if you can vote in the poll and leave your feedback in this topic so that we can discuss it.

Thanks!

[Crysillion]

I voted to change it. My reasoning is thus:

It simply doesn't make sense that large servers are allowed to keep their topic bumped with whitelisting while smaller servers have to struggle to not break the rules to get noticed. Far too much effort is being asked of smaller servers while large servers hardly have to do anything at all and retain first page and consistent notice all day everyday. Changing this would mean that a topic being bumped via whitelist app and approval/denial is no longer allowed. This would put smaller servers and larger servers on equal footing. This should happen.

[kane705]

I used to play on an amazing server hosted by my friend, but it isn't up anymore because nobody could see the forum topic and join. I didn't want to break forum rules and spam the thread so it could be seen for a mere 5 seconds before it got buried under all the other established servers

[Crykura]

I liked the old one where you get to support starting out servers. Also it was easyer to tell what stage the server was at.

[Yasashii]

If you want to change server organisation I think you should adress the recent problem that is pvp.

Lately, it's been getting increasingly difficult to find non-pvp servers. It might not appear to you like that if you just read the server descriptions because often, there's no information about that. Sometimes you find out that a server is pvp-enabled when you walk out of spawn and see the message: "Now leaving safe zone. pvp enabled".

However if you asked the players if they like pvp, the opinions would be most probably divided. This is why I think dividing the servers into pvp and non-pvp would be a very useful feature. And, if you don't want to do that for whatever reason, you could at least make it obligatory to add an information in the server description about the pvp. Preferably, make a special tag that could be filtered out in the searching to automatize the process of finding non-pvp servers.

I know it might seem like a selfish wishlist but I really believe that could help out many people.

[IAreKyleW00t]

Q: Should big and Small Servers have Separate Sections?

A: Yes.
This is for obvious reasons... many well established server (such as Super-Earth, Savage-PvP, etc) are constantly getting applications just because they are so well know. People constantly want to join them, and because of that new server get pushed lower and lower down the forum. Another reason is that some people don't want to join a huge server; they may want a new, small and relaxing server... but how can they find it when they're all on page 17 of the forum?

My idea to figure out a way to determine if a server is considered "large" would be based on the amount of posts they have. Once the thread reaches.... lets say, 250 replies, we can consider it a "well established" server. You guys could then proceed to moving it to the other section of the forum. Doing it this way it good, because even if they bump their server then they're just getting closer and closer to being put in the bigger sections without having a solid community yet - giving people a reason to not - or limit - how much they bump their thread.

[Aeonxan]

Finally! I miss the Starting up new sever section... It's where all the small severs go that can't compete! The big-boii-severs are dominating the small ones or non-whitelisted ones. I would be very happy to see change, and big thanks goes to the MCF-staff for actually listening to us. Thanks buddaizs.

[ForgottenRealmsCraft]

I think there are two ways to go around this:

You split each server into different forums depending on its type (PvP, RP etc)

Or

There is a forums for servers that have been out for....say a year, and the younger servers.

[Crykura]

I also think we sould have a split with Whitelisted servers and non Whitelisted

[JackBooz]

Ok so in my opinion i think there should be different sections for different types of servers like ForgottenRealmsCraft said but inside those sections however i think you should have 2 different parts of it, New/Small Servers and Big/Long Time Existing. Also i think once a post in the New/Small servers gets so big or so many views/ votes you should have it so they are moved to the other topic.

Or

You could have a system where the topic gets voted on and have 2 different sections 1 for small new servers other for big servers and once the small servers reach so many votes they get moved into the big server places

Now about the whitelisting thing, i think you should just let the people have there whitelsiting applications on the fourm post so they dont have to continuously watch 2 topics.

[__Plasma__]

A small server should have no trouble watching two different sections. It all comes down to the dedication of that server and its' staff. But, no one can really filter the dynamic Roleplay servers from the straight-forward survival ones.

On the topic of splitting topics between the topic of the server itself and the white-list for it... That can be a little tricky. Depending on what the Forum Admins have in mind, they may simply make two different forum sections for both white-list and the server post itself; or they may keep it all in one forum section and risk the troubles of all the bumping and small/big servers mixing and the stress of it all jumbled together. It'd be nice to get some feedback of what the Admins can and can't do, as well as their own ideas or feedback on those that have already been presented.

Organization can be a really good factor when it comes to this sort of thing. You don't really do much change if you just divide one thing from another thing when it comes to these forum topics. If you really want the server forums to be more structured, you'll have to have a lot of change. Such as multiple different forum sections with a multitude of different preferences of topics in that section. An important factor here, like said by the others, is splitting the established servers from the newer ones. Create two sections, for example: "Existing Servers" and "Starting-Up Servers", and perhaps use a small description of the two topics below their prior names like "For those servers who are larger and more established!" etc. Most servers will start out in the Starting-Up section where you have both PvP and Non-PvP servers that have under 150 posts. Moving along, that server gets over 150 posts and they are automatically moved into the existing servers section. In the existing server section, you will then have divided sub-topics for both PvP and Non-PvP established servers. This will help players find what kind of server they are looking for without going through a hassle of several different types of servers.

When a server is starting out, dividing them isn't really a major problem. Why not just do it when they are established?


Going back to the topic of separate white-list threads and server threads, that's another story. Personally, my upcoming Roleplay server won't have a white-listing thread because all that will be done on our forums page. But, a forum section like "White-list Topics" would be only an 'okay' change if it was enforced. You'll be cutting out a lot of lazy players though. The thread owners also would have to post a direct link to the topic, of course, wouldn't want people digging around for it blindly. I think separating white-list topics from server topics isn't going to do very much.


There isn't much else to be done other than what has already been said.

[Chapatrap]

I think we should split up TYPES of Servers. Roleplay servers their own thread, PvP their own Thread, Survival Thread, etc. etc.

[jefe]

I could get behind having a seperate section for larger and smaller server, perhaps based on thread size instead of slot count since that would be easier to verify, at least on MCF.  It would give servers starting out a chance against behemoths like Buxville, Super Earth, Killion, etc that seem to get 10-20 pages a day

[CJAyris]

is there not a way you could implement a way to filter or sort topics by pvp, faction etc by using tags or something similar. for me and im sure many others that would be a useful addition aswell, anyway to sort the servers so you can find those that appeal to you, rather than having to read multiple threads to find out the individual details.

as for the big servers and small servers, i always sort by date started already to find the new servers, and so you've already got a way for the new servers to be noticed, i dont see why this needs changing.

although having said that, with regards to whitelisting, i agree once a thread containing the info has been set up, there should be a seperate section for whitelisting  , but purely so people can ask questions on the server thread without these getting lost within whitelist requests

[jefe]

CJAyris, on 05 April 2012 - 04:49 PM, said:

is there not a way you could implement a way to filter or sort topics by pvp, faction etc by using tags or something similar. for me and im sure many others that would be a useful addition aswell, anyway to sort the servers so you can find those that appeal to you, rather than having to read multiple threads to find out the individual details.

You can already search by tags using Advanced Search, though the tagsa thread uses are up to the thread OP right now (IIRC)

[CJAyris]

jefe323, on 05 April 2012 - 04:55 PM, said:

You can already search by tags using Advanced Search, though the tagsa thread uses are up to the thread OP right now (IIRC)

yes i use that quite regularly, however there is no option of sorting by date started, just last post, maybe by adding that option you would remove the need to split the servers by size?

also you made the point of it being upto the thread op as to which tags he includes, is there no way to set it up so people have to select for eg. pvp or non-pvp when adding threads? that would make it more beneficial to the smaller servers, as most small servers dont add tags, and so are automactically ignored by those who use adv. search

[jefe]

IPB allows you to force users to use pre-defined tags, but I'm not sure if it can force a user to actually use tags at all(if that makes sense).  If you are referring to the advanced search filter options, I'm not sure IPB allows you to add filters to it

You also have to take into account the average user.  Honestly, they aren't going to be using advanced search or the filter options which is why IMO we need to improve the system

[thejohnnyg87]

What you need is someone to code a custom page for you that loads the forum normally, but with checkboxes with predefined tags (such as PvP, survival, whitelist, geographic locations even, player slots (with multiple options, eg. 1 - 10, 10 - 20 et cetera) and popular plugin names) which appear at the top of the forum. When selected, only threads with an identical tag will be shown.

I reckon that'd be good mate.

[JadElClemens]

I think tags people use in front of their topics (e.g. [TOWNY][FACTIONS][WHITELIST][24/7][NO NUBSAUCE][EPIC 1337 HAXXOR HARDCOER][NO-LAG][PvP] and everything else) should be converted to actual tags that respond better to a search, and you can search by what tag a server has. I know you can do that now with the search system, but in my experience it doesn't work too well.

[k2trf]

Yasashii, on 04 April 2012 - 10:59 PM, said:

If you want to change server organisation I think you should adress the recent problem that is pvp.

Lately, it's been getting increasingly difficult to find non-pvp servers. It might not appear to you like that if you just read the server descriptions because often, there's no information about that. Sometimes you find out that a server is pvp-enabled when you walk out of spawn and see the message: "Now leaving safe zone. pvp enabled".

However if you asked the players if they like pvp, the opinions would be most probably divided. This is why I think dividing the servers into pvp and non-pvp would be a very useful feature. And, if you don't want to do that for whatever reason, you could at least make it obligatory to add an information in the server description about the pvp. Preferably, make a special tag that could be filtered out in the searching to automatize the process of finding non-pvp servers.

I know it might seem like a selfish wishlist but I really believe that could help out many people.

I cannot express how much I agree. I think a possible solution might be for people posting about new servers to list their information in a specific format and then a simple script could go through them so that we could search and separate between pvp/non-pvp, whitelist/non-whitelist, 24/7 / not, etc.