New forum

[Paedric]

Dvk talked about it in the release tread, but i think we'd better do the thinking somewhere else.

First thing is when. As soon as we can, with the release or after? The two first options may be nearly identical.

Then, what do we put in? Do we do subforums like the one we have right now? We talked of the previews, what else that is already present?

And last that i can think of, we'll need a small text describing the mod.

[MarcusTullius]

Good idea to start a new thread.

This is my thinking:

1) Put out an announcement on the main board stating that we will be altering the forum structure to cope with the arrival of RSII- no details as of yet, just warning them

2.1) In the meantime, we liaise with the TWC heads to get a new forum up and running under the current 'Rome Surrectum' umbrella but close access to all people but the devs (can we do this? and then open up the forum once we are ready for release?)

OR

2.2) The better idea I think- use the new RSII board as the main part of the forum and move everything else that is currently on the main board into a 'Roma Surrectum I' sub-forum. We should warn our fans before doing it, and hopefully it will be done before release. Then, it will be easy to regulate the new RSII threads, without them getting mixed up in the RSI pile.

Does anyone know more about forum structure, who can comment?

[chaplain118]

Well, in my experience of running a subforum (YATS), moving things tend to panic people a bit until they know where everything went. Easiest way to do this would be to just move everything into a RSI subforum and let everything else be RSII.

The biggest hassle is to just move everything into the RSI subforum. What I recommend is this: sticky all the RSII threads from the Dev team and then assign two or three moderators to moving everything else. The maximum number of posts/threads that can be affected via moderator action at ONE TIME is 400. If you get on having someone move the last 400 and someone moving the first 400 in the main boards, you can have this done in about 3 to 4 hours (there are currently 3040 or so threads in the RS forum without the stickies).

I recommend locking the forum for that duration of time and letting the general populace know that they'll be allowed back in once we finish the move. Make an announcement about it. In fact, if you are planning on doing this, it's best to do it either tonight at around 3:00AM US eastern time or the next day at the same time as that's when forum traffic is the lowest.

[apple]

I think we should close it during central European night as I Paedric and MT (I think) lives in Europe.
I'm sure Tone, dvk and Squid could give us a hand with it too.

[chaplain118]

but isn't that daylight time in the US? Won't that lead to riots?

[apple]

Well we have to do what we have to do right. I know that I can't help out during daytime due to being at work.
I think we should do it when most of our moderators are active and thus makeing the downtime as little as possible.

[MarcusTullius]

I'm in England, but I can be up late if necessary. Do we want this done tonight?! Or do it tomorrow, with a little more planning, and to give people more warning?

Apple's idea about doing it when most moderators are active makes sense. And if the fans are a little annoyed, let them be. It just means for them that RSII is that little bit closer.

Also, are we going to split the 'Technical Help' Forum into two? or move the current one to the RSI forum, and start up a new one for RSII? Same goes for 'sub-mods' and 'AAR'

The announcement could read something like this. I'll post it as soon as we're clear when the downtime will be and we have everything in place.:

Dear All RS Fans and Forum Visitors,

To prepare for the release of RSII, we will close the forum to all visitors for a few hours in order to set it up correctly. We hope that downtime will be limited but we are moving all the RSI threads to a sub-forum to allow for new RSII threads to spring up. This will help keep the forum tidy, and give us the chance to make sure everything is completely prepared for the imminent release of RSII. The forum will be closed from _____ GMT and reopened as soon as we are ready with the new forum. When we have successfully split the forum, we ask that you continue to post in the 'new' RSI forum until we open up the RSII forum upon release.

What is currently the main board will become the RSII board, and all RSI discussion will be moved to a sub-forum similar to the 'Technical Help' and 'Sub-Mods' sections.

We apologise for the downtime, but it is necessary before we can release RSII.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Marcus on behalf of the RSII Dev Team

[apple]

What about doing it 00.00 gmt 0. that should allow us to work at least for 3 hours before needing to go to bed.

[MarcusTullius]

What about doing it 00.00 gmt 0. that should allow us to work at least for 3 hours before needing to go to bed.

Can we not just start at 22:00 gmt, and go on for as long as necessary? I mean, the fans can handle the downtime, and we will give them notice with the announcement (see my edited post above).

As long as everything is in place i.e we can create the new forum etc. then we might as well get this over and done with...

[chaplain118]

if you are carrying through with this, make sure to pm Trajan NOW.

[MarcusTullius]

if you are carrying through with this, make sure to pm Trajan NOW.

If apple is on board, and we have a few more moderators, then lets do this tonight. If not, lets wait till tomorrow and get things sorted.

What do people say?

[apple]

Yeah I'm on.

[MarcusTullius]

Ok, I'm going to get in touch with Trajan and see what he says. Will let you know as soon as I get a reply....don't go anywhere!

[apple]

Books a flight to thailand for tonight.

[chaplain118]

Good luck with that, Trajan didn't respond to my requests until a day later with YATS (and i believe he waited a whole week before responding to winter's requests as well). But it all sounds good.

[MarcusTullius]

Ok, in the meantime, we need to decide what we will keep in the RSII forum.

The preview threads? The stabby brutus pub thread- or start a new one for RSII? The current RSII main discussion thread?

[apple]

I think we should make all new threads for the stickes and a subforum for the previews and sub mods.

[MarcusTullius]

I think we should make all new threads for the stickes and a subforum for the previews and sub mods.

Ok, thats a good idea. So we have:

Total War Center Forums > Total War: Eras > Rome: Total War Hosted Modifications > Roma Surrectum


Sub-Forums : Roma Surrectum

- Developers Forum
- Dev 2
- RS Beta
- Rome Surrectum I (public)
- Technical Help
- Sub Mods
- AAR's
- RSII Previews and Trailers
- Technical Help (RSII)
- Sub Mod's (RSII)
- AAR's (RSII)

And then obviously the main board with the stickies and then normal posts.

How does that sound?


...but we can't do anything without Trajan so i'm thinking this will be tomorrow at the earliest. At least the forum goers know why the forum may be down tomm and hopefully we can sort it out soon

[chaplain118]

I see an organizational nightmare ahead for you and apple.

But it looks good

[apple]

Yeah looks good. Btw we got Paedric too.