Forum:Proposal to implement the new forums

This is a proposal I've held back on proposing for a long time, but I feel like a culmination of events has forced me to reconsider this idea, and to that end I am proposing it now. I would like for The Sims Wiki to replace its current forum structure with the "new" Wikia forum feature.

I feel that this change will aid in community discussions on the wiki. Right now, we have a difficulty with new and inexperienced users posting on the forums. A large part of this may be due to the unique way that wiki-style forums are handled. The Wikia forum feature, however, handles most of the post threading and organization, meaning users need to be less familiar with the process in order to post or contribute their opinions. Activating the Wikia forums will also allow us to sticky and promote important discussion topics, so that users who don't often check community discussions will be more likely to see them.

If we were to implement this change, all threads that are currently open on the forums would be closed. If we choose to make this change, we should come up with some way to smooth the transition, but I believe it can be done. Some of our forum games may be affected but the result should not be severe.

Thoughts? -  LostInRiverview talk • blog  •  contribs 16:13, July 16, 2015 (UTC)


 * It is something I have proposed on a number of other wikis as well (although to no avail, probably because of again the DPL forum extension). I personally dislike the new forum and message wall extensions because they lack proper archival features, and the fact that they are very poor for handling lengthy discussions. Unlike more civilized and developed forums, which divide up long threads into pages, Wikia apparently doesn't do this and keeps everything on one page, and unlike traditional discussions where they can be archived or collapsed, the only way to do this on the new Wikia discussion extensions is to close the old thread and force everyone to go to the new one. This, I hope, is something Wikia will address (although it has been over a year since I sent that question to Special:Contact and they still haven't come up with a viable solution).


 * The only reason why I would likely support this feature is to encourage more users to come into the wiki. While these extensions are legendarily hated by more experienced editors, you really cannot doubt the fact that new editors are always needed to replace the older editors, just like children in society are eventually going to have to replace those in the workforce. My concern is that an influx of new editors may cause the quality of the wiki to decline if there aren't any experienced editors that adapt to the new trend and counsel and assist the new editors, so this would require a part on the more experienced editors to accept the new trend and the new extensions, if it means the survival of the wiki and the continued renewal of the community. --I am  k6ka  Talk to me!   See what I have done  16:32, July 16, 2015 (UTC)


 * I oppose the proposal to implement the new forums. I am not a big fan of the forums. They get confusing to use and like K6ka said, no archiving. The plus side would be you could highlight certain issues you would like others to know about, such as policy changes, but I think they are more of a hassle than they are worth. That is just my thoughts though. S*pphir3 St*rdust (talk) 19:27, July 18, 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm not very fond of this idea. Our current forums already work quite well, and our forum portal pages already serve the purpose of the new forum main page. We have the new forums over of IH, and I find it ugly, clumsy, and just not good to use in general. So I oppose this proposal. — The  Tim   Man  (IH • GC • TSW • AH • Contribs ) 22:29, July 18, 2015 (UTC)


 * If this idea took place on a wiki which was not very well established, and had little or no forum pages, then I wouldn't have a problem with supporting it. But since this is a wiki that is already very well established, with very well established forums in the old style, then I unfortunately have no other choice than to oppose this proposal. ―  C.Syde  ( talk &#124;  contribs ) 07:10, July 19, 2015 (UTC)


 * I'd actually support this. Like K6ka said, you have to remember that there are new editors who don't know what's where and what things do. Is it possible to have two forums, one like now and one in the new style?


 * ^^ Previous post by me, thatKitten come and chat! 08:27, July 19, 2015 (UTC)


 * @ Thatkitten - No I'm afraid it isn't. ―  C.Syde  ( talk &#124;  contribs ) 09:09, July 19, 2015 (UTC)
 * It sort of would be, back in the day we used the Community Portal talk page instead of forums. That is an option but that wouldn't do anything at all, and I would prefer if all discussion was kept in one place. As for using the new forums, I'm not big on the idea. We've used this format of forums for quite some time and I believe its user friendly enough, and I personally have no problems with fixing formatting errors or timestamps or whatever that newer users may do. The real issue with the forums is that I feel that newer users don't really care, or are scared to (for lack of a better word), to give their opinion. The new forums would sort of fix the first iirc, I've never used them but I believe they have some sort of notification thing, but the second one which I see of as equal importance probably wouldnt change. I'd prefer to keep the current system and look for a solution to getting people involved through other means, i.e. community corner/maybe using the old notification bots.
 * I want to jump in and say that I agree with all the points that have been made here, in opposition to the change. To be honest, I'm not wild about the idea myself (as people who frequent the IRC channel can probably verify). However, the reason I proposed it was in the hopes that a new forum interface would encourage users who might be dissuaded from being active in discussions. If we agree that we don't want the new forums (and that appears to be a pretty strong consensus at this point), then the question becomes, how do we encourage these users to participate on the forums that we have? -  LostInRiverview talk • blog  •  contribs 03:08, July 23, 2015 (UTC)

Maybe we need to advertise it more strongly on the main page. Currently, the only mention of the forums on the main page is a tiny section squashed on the right sidebar (and a plain link surrounded by eight other, possibly rarely clicked as well, links). The new Wikia forums enables thread highlighting. Maybe we could somehow incorporate that with our existing infrastructure. --I am  k6ka  Talk to me!   See what I have done  02:45, July 25, 2015 (UTC)
 * In all honesty, I think the new forums are more modern and structured pretty well. I use them quite a lot on another wiki I contribute to, but I feel that they wouldn't go well with the way we run things around here. It just wouldn't suit our balance. But, perhaps we could take a risk once in a while? Perhaps we can have a trial run of the new forums, implementing them for a week, and then get feedback from community members to see their thoughts on all this. I really don't think this should get archived and stowed away just yet. ~ Beds  (talk - blog ) 16:35, July 28, 2015 (UTC)
 * From a technical standpoint, what you're proposing is possible. If a wiki enables the Wikia Forums, all pages under the 'Forum:' namespace are archived and a link is provided to the new forums feature. If, however, that wiki later disables Wikia Forums, the archive on the 'Forum:' namespace items is lifted and they can be edited just as before.
 * However, going to a new system would be disruptive enough, and then switching back to the old system if the community is dissatisfied may cause even more headaches. For instance, I'm not sure what happens to the threads created under the new Forum system if that system is later shut off; are they archived, are they deleted, or are they simply kept in an orphaned state somewhere? Not to mention, making the switch twice will disrupt ongoing threads twice, instead of just once if we were to make a transition. All that being said, I would support a trial run of the forums, provided we give it at least a month before reversing course. --  LostInRiverview talk • blog  •  contribs 01:35, August 14, 2015 (UTC)

Resolution
Given that there has been no activity in this thread in a month, it appears that current consensus is against the implementation of the new forums. --  LostInRiverview talk • blog  •  contribs 03:18, September 22, 2015 (UTC)