b0rsuk
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Hey

At the moment, there are 10 contest-related topics on the first page of "General" subforum.

At the same time, sticky topics blend with other topics too easily.

If you're not interested in neither contests nor reading stickies over and over, you quickly come to conclusion that General forum has degenerated. It's damn hard to find something "general" there. "General" forum is no longer a friendly place.
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My suggestions:

- separate forum for contests. Contests are already well-established part of this forum, and generate lots of topics on their own.
- remove the "sticky" icon, and make it so sticky topics have a bit different background color. It would make them stand out much better; it would also be easier to find non-sticky topics with new posts.

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[Last edited by b0rsuk at 11-10-2005 10:33 AM]

ErikH2000
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You've opened my eyes, B0rsuk. We will make a separate "Contests" board soon.

-Erik

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jamie
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Cheers, Erik, that is much clearer now.

As for 'sticky messages', a necessary 'evil' in most cases.

I'm not saying the same could be done here, but on some of my forums, messages which are validly sticky can be de-stickiefied (?) after a while.

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Oneiromancer
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jamie wrote:
I'm not saying the same could be done here, but on some of my forums, messages which are validly sticky can be de-stickiefied (?) after a while.

Um...of course. We do it all the time. Contest threads are stickied for the duration of the contest and then un-stickied. Other stickied threads are meant to stay stickied. People are free to point out threads that they think shouldn't be stickied anymore, and we can decide if they are right or not.

It's not automatic, but most of those with the ability to stick and unstick are quite active on the forum anyway.

Game on,

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jamie
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Yeah fair enough.. I wasn't saying it wasn't being done, just pointing out to b0rsuk that stickies don't have to be stickies forever.

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Krishh
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But still, a different background color would be nice to make them stand out. This was mostly a problem in General before the split, but still, you have read over the moderation sticky every time you read a thread in general, since it blends in with the rest of the forum.

eytanz
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The new backgrounds for stickies are certainly readable, but they make the forum really ugly. Maybe something that clashes less with the blue, like purple?

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AlefBet
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eytanz wrote:
The new backgrounds for stickies are certainly readable, but they make the forum really ugly. Maybe something that clashes less with the blue, like purple?

I don't find them readable at all. They show up as black for me, which means I usually can't read the subtitle in its dark blue.

(The background is gray in the DROD.net style, which is quite readable, but I agree a different shade of blue would probably be more aesthetic and stylistically consistent, and also do the job.)

Edit: Never mind. Apparently it was a cache issue. Refresh fixed it, so now it's the same gray.

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[Last edited by AlefBet at 11-11-2005 08:33 PM]

Schik
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Try a hard refresh - your CSS didn't get refreshed.

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Mattcrampy
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Good work on the sticky colour there, Schik - not too obtrusive, but they stand out nevertheless.

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Schik
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Mattcrampy wrote:
Good work on the sticky colour there, Schik - not too obtrusive, but they stand out nevertheless.

Thank Erik, not me. He's the man in charge of color. And colour.

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Doom
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Just a small note: If someone uses other skin than Caravelnet (The original is only other one at the moment), sticky posts look a little ugly.

I don't think that's a big problem, though. Many people don't propably use the old style.

jamie
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Doom
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That's the same as saying:

Person 1: "I want to use the old style, because it brings me memories, but it hurts my eyes because of the bad sticky color."
Person 2: "It's just a decoration. You're not supposed to actually use it."

Would it be a terrible idea to remove the special color for different styles or make own special colors for them?

Banjooie
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...actually, this thread has made me switch back to the original style. And I'm finding it's a lot easier on the eyes.

jamie
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Doom wrote:
That's the same as saying:

Person 1: "I want to use the old style, because it brings me memories, but it hurts my eyes because of the bad sticky color."
Person 2: "It's just a decoration. You're not supposed to actually use it."

Nooooooooooo! I wasn't saying that as a serious response, your post just reminded me of that old joke, that's all!


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Schik
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Doom wrote:
Would it be a terrible idea to remove the special color for different styles or make own special colors for them?

I don't want to go down the road of making every single thing customizable, mostly because it sounds like a lot of work, and I don't think many people would use it. But... if you want to give me a color that will work well for stickies on the old style, I'd be happy to change it. Obviously, I just took the color Erik made for the CaravelNet skin and used it on both skins.

Banjooie wrote:
...actually, this thread has made me switch back to the original style. And I'm finding it's a lot easier on the eyes.

Wow, really? I tried it just to look at the sticky color, and I was amazed at how much I didn't like it any more. I didn't really like the CaravelNet skin all that much at first, but after using it this long, I just couldn't go back to the other one...

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eytanz
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I'm with Schik - switching to the old style made me realize that while the new style has its flaws, it's certainly better.

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jamie
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Ditto. I prefer the new style too, even though I like the 'aqua' colours of the old style, they made me feel cold... Brrrr

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Doom
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Schik wrote:

Doom wrote:
Would it be a terrible idea to remove the special color for different styles or make own special colors for them?

I don't want to go down the road of making every single thing customizable, mostly because it sounds like a lot of work, and I don't think many people would use it. But... if you want to give me a color that will work well for stickies on the old style, I'd be happy to change it. Obviously, I just took the color Erik made for the CaravelNet skin and used it on both skins.

No, no, no. I wasn't talking about customizing. Just changing the gray from the old style to have it's own sticky color. I see there's now a different shade of blue. It's certainly better than grey.

I think I'm going to try the old style for a while. Just for variety, you know.

edit: Ok, that little while didn't last long... The new style looks so much better after you've gotten used to it. Although I remember how the current style looked too colorless (or something like that) in the beginning

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[Last edited by Doom at 11-14-2005 07:58 PM]