Open Discussion Post *YOUR* Ideas for Forum Re-Design & Upgrade Here

CFC

CFC

Bluelight Crew
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[td="bgcolor: #F4F1E8"]As some of you may have read, the forum is slowly gearing up for some exciting new changes to bring it up to date :D

Among those changes may include a switch to new software (probably Xenforo), which should help solve the interminable trouble we've been having for years with our mobile browser experience, and give us a more modern UI.

However, we may also be redesigning the forum layout.

It's self evident that, now that the site is quieter than in years gone by, the need for us to have over 50 forums on the front page has long past and for new members it can be very confusing. And people just don't feel like engaging and getting involved when subforums look quiet and thread turnover is low. Which very quickly leads to a catch-22 situation.

So some of you may have already noticed that the two former music forums were recently merged into one, and that Education and Careers (which was basically dead) was folded into the LAVA forum.

By merging more forums and rationalising the somewhat illogical layout/positioning of them on the front page, hopefully we can improve the experience for both new and old BLers, increase posting activity, and so reengaging the Bluelight community.

With that in mind, if ANY OF YOU have ANY IDEAS AT ALL as to what you would do to improve the forum design/layout and user experience, please feel free to share them here :)

Naturally, it doesn't necessarily mean our ideas will be used - that's ultimately a decision for the owners and senior staff. But it could certainly be helpful to have this discussion and for both regular members and staff to work together to mould this home into an even better and more inviting place.

Cheers![/td]
 
Since this is the first most people will be hearing about XenForo, I should probably quickly chime in. Our current software was a version of vBulletin developed between 2004-2008, and released in 2008. So you can imagine how limited some of the features are, especially with regard to mobile and tablet support, which boomed in unprecedented ways. vBulletin was later bought out by a cooperation who didn't give a shit about quality development, so the lead developers left and created their own software to replace/continue vBulletin: XenForo. It is designed for vBulletin users and uses the same kind of database, so you just import the database and you have the same users/posts/forums. It's not really any different to when we upgraded vBulletin version in the past, other than this is made with quality in mind.

The majority of things will therefore stay the same, we will just see a lot of improvements and a better UI; mobile support out the box, user tagging, multiple participant pm conversations, an end to the problems with unicode and incorrect question marks and pound signs, and an end to the mobile bugs (vanishing edited posts etc). Most of the bugs and issues that people complain about will be absolved, and, everything will be backed up in case of error (but it will be fine).

It's slick as fuck and a pleasure to use; I can't wait.
 
I know we have many views in BDD and OD, but wouldn't it makes sense to merge the two? Like what really is the difference?

Also, healthy living and sober living merge possibly?

It might also be cool to have the categories of subforums, (Bluelight feedback, Bluelight basics, Pillsreport, Focus Forums, Drug Discussion, MAPS forums, Recovery support, Community, Arts and Entertainment, Regional Drug Discussion, Bluelight history), as tabs on the top of the page where it says "Bluelight is pruning database". This would give new users easier access to the subforums as opposed to scrolling through the 50+ subforums.
 
Some nice ideas there madness! Thanks for sharing :)

Sober living & healthy living - none of us thought of that combo and that could actually be a really good idea :)

My other option was to combine healthy living with PED, since bodybuilders are majorly into health/diet and anything related, and could handle most of the material currently running in there.

But see this is why it pays to open these discussions up to the HIVE MIND ;)

As for OD and BDD, yup, I think it might be worth considering merging as well. They've both become fairly quiet, and most moderators moderate both forums now and end up having to move threads from one to the other. However we also get some discussions about opening up (yet another) subforum for opiates. I can see the logic, as we have subs for cannabis, psychedelics etc, and opiates are probably 2/3 of OD already, and more popular as a topic than many of those focus forums.

Anyway, keep 'em all coming, it's really helpful :)
 
madness00 said:
I know we have many views in BDD and OD, but wouldn't it makes sense to merge the two? Like what really is the difference?

Also, healthy living and sober living merge possibly?

It might also be cool to have the categories of subforums, (Bluelight feedback, Bluelight basics, Pillsreport, Focus Forums, Drug Discussion, MAPS forums, Recovery support, Community, Arts and Entertainment, Regional Drug Discussion, Bluelight history), as tabs on the top of the page where it says "Bluelight is pruning database". This would give new users easier access to the subforums as opposed to scrolling through the 50+ subforums.
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Nice ideas, I definitely like the idea of merging healthy & sober living. I'd been thinking healthy living could maybe merge with LAVA, but hadn't though of sober living.

On XenForo there is a handy little 'quick navigation' button which brings up a menu like this, so I guess we would just have to see what we have available when we switch. I'm all for increased navigation though. This is a dark XenForo skin, btw - we would presumably have a blue & white one.

wzFujNS.png


Cheers for the thread btw CFC, maybe you're NOT evil.
 
CFC said:
Some nice ideas there madness! Thanks for sharing :)

Sober living & healthy living - none of us thought of that combo and that could actually be a really good idea :)

My other option was to combine healthy living with PED, since bodybuilders are majorly into health/diet and anything related, and could handle most of the material currently running in there.

But see this is why it pays to open these discussions up to the HIVE MIND ;)

As for OD and BDD, yup, I think it might be worth considering merging as well. They've both become fairly quiet, and most moderators moderate both forums now and end up having to move threads from one to the other. However we also get some discussions about opening up (yet another) subforum for opiates. I can see the logic, as we have subs for cannabis, psychedelics etc, and opiates are probably 2/3 of OD already, and more popular as a topic than many of those focus forums.

Anyway, keep 'em all coming, it's really helpful :)
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I do think it makes sense to have a separate forum for opiates - perhaps benzos & opiates together? That would mean having a separate stimulants forum. We could technically have stimulants & empathogens, but they tend to be two very different crowds. This would mean opening up more forums, but I guess we could maybe afford to do so if we get rid of some of the other forums, and amalgamate BDD. Either way, I agree that BDD should merge with other drugs.
 
Yeah was gunna say opiates and benzos would work well together. As I know this is minor and ultimately not up to me but blue and white might be a bit less depressing than the black. I know it sounds trivial and unlikely but depression can really sprout from such subtleties.

Edit - or at least the option to change.

Edit Edit - I see you said presumably blue and white. Rock on!
 
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Tranced said:
stimulants & empathogens, but they tend to be two very different crowds
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The fact they have different crowds is a good thing IMO, since it leads to more cross-pollination and cross-posting, rather than lots of little niches.

In some ways, there would probably be more drug discussion if it was all confined to a single forum, as that would be much busier.

But I think in terms of the user experience, that's probably less useful and more confusing. Particularly as most are now familiar with going to their own little corner of Reddit for each drug class rather than (say) the near-dead r/drugs catch-all type subs.

In terms of drugs subs, there would be no net change, as we're losing BDD>>OD and gaining Opiates & Benzos, while stims shifts into MDMA.
 
Regarding the REGIONAL DRUG DISCUSSION, this may be an unpopular idea with EADDers, but I would recommend merging all of them into a single Regional Drug Discussion.

I can't think of any reason that we can't have all the usual EADD threads bumping up against the odd American or Australian thread as well, it all seems logically coherent. It could actually be a nice way to reinvigorate them?
 
CFC said:
Regarding the REGIONAL DRUG DISCUSSION, this may be an unpopular idea with EADDers, but I would recommend merging all of them into a single Regional Drug Discussion.

I can't think of any reason that we can't have all the usual EADD threads bumping up against the odd American or Australian thread as well, it all seems logically coherent. It could actually be a nice way to reinvigorate them?
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Definitely disagree. If you do that, everybody in EADD will stop posting... it's just too rich in history for that to be able to happen. I've never been a massive eadd poster considering my time on bluelight and location, but I could never agree with that one, personally. Although I understand your reasoning, its just not practical.

Here is a thought Ive had recently. Philosophy and spirituality and science and technology into lava, kind of creating a serious discussion forum.
 
^ahh yes, I was meant to include that. I rarely get stoned but I proposed this in the smod forum last week, stoned, and started adding extra bits on (such as slr), and then started adding other stuff. In the end I came up with a sort of serious social forum and couldn't stop thinking about how much it would work. That way you could have the lounge as a more light hearted version, and maybe even relax the rules slightly. Much like eadd though, I don't want to stir the pot too much, but I'll throw it out there.
 
Tranced said:
Here is a thought Ive had recently. Philosophy and spirituality and science and technology into lava, kind of creating a serious discussion forum.
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Yeah I thought about that a bit after you first mentioned it. I still don't think it works tbh, and that without their subforum 'envelopes' to define them P&S conversation (especially) will just vanish for anyone not already a regular BLer.

As a compromise we could having a Serious Discussion forum within which those subs are nested. Similarly for Arts & Entertainment, with subforums nested. It would simplify and declutter the Forum page, but maintain the diversity.
 
madness00 said:
Throw relationships/sex into Life Advice?
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The trouble with Life Advice is it's actually moreso arts and photography, so a poor match for SLR (confusing I know, but that forum's always been an awkward fit for its name :) )

I had suggested a catch-all creative subforum in the past for arts, photography and words, but that was nixxed because I think others felt Words was too distinctive to be merged. I personally still think they're fully coherent merged together (Photography, Arts & Literature/Words) or something like that.
 
CFC said:
As a compromise we could having a Serious Discussion forum within which those subs are nested. Similarly for Arts & Entertainment, with subforums nested. It would simplify and declutter the Forum page, but maintain the diversity.
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I was thinking the same thing about the feedback/support forums, and forums like pill reports. We could separate them into more of a header forum, with sub's.

I've just realised that this is very much clutching at straws, with this method. Maybe we should be looking at this more from the point of what we intrinsically need to keep. If we want a minor redesign/merge, fair enough... debate away. If we want a major redesign/merge, then we need to quite simply decide what a forum like this needs.
 
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Tranced said:
I was thinking the same thing about the feedback/support forums, and forums like pill reports. We could separate them into more of a header forum, with sub's.
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Yeah I like that idea.

I'd also like it if the page onto which the subforums are nested had the ability to show maybe the most recent 3-5 threads from each sub in a box on the same window (a kind of cross-pollination). So everyone notices and is exposed to the most recent posts from each, and thus might feel more like getting involved.

I wonder if Xenforo has any plugins that could do that?
 
Tranced said:
I've just realised that this is very much clutching at straws, with this method. Maybe we should be looking at this more from the point of what we intrinsically need to keep. If we want a minor redesign/merge, fair enough... debate away. If we want a major redesign/merge, then we need to quite simply decide what a forum like this needs.
Click to expand...

It needs community and social/entertainment subforums. Put simply, people will often come for/via the drugs forums first, but they'll stick around for the social environment in the long run. So even for less-used subs, we probably need to bear in mind that their value may outweigh their apparent popularity (or lack thereof).

Haaaving said that, the social threads in most drugs forums do serve some of that social purpose. And the Lounge and then all the other Social/Discussion subs could arguably be described as having overlapping purposes.
 
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CFC said:
It needs community and social/entertainment subforums. Put simply, people will often come for/via the drugs forums first, but they'll stick around for the social environment in the long run. So even for less-used subs, we probably need to bear in mind that their value may outweigh their apparent popularity (or lack thereof).

Haaaving said that, the social threads in most drugs forums do serve some of that social purpose. And the Lounge and then all the other Social/Discussion subs could arguably be described as having overlapping purposes.
Click to expand...

Would you care to propose your (old) idea for amalgamating all of the social forums at this point?
 
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