Changes to forum structure

[Smurfy7483]

As someone who has had a computer at his fingertips for the majority of his life & an internet connection for about half of it, all i can say to every single person who has complained is this, the internet isn't always going to let you navigate to a page & have it load quickly for you, there are numerous things that all determine how fast a page will load. STOP your complaining & actually use that time to support everyone who works to keep the nexus available for us to use. Those very people could simply decide that it's not worth the effort any more & either just let the site die or sell it to someone else who wouldn't care as much about the site & users as much as the current people do.

 

Now with my little b&@*$ out of the way, I want to extend my thanks & gratitude to the people here at nexus, although there have been the occasional page delays I haven't experienced any other problems with this site, however i have experienced more issues with NMM, like sign in issues & failed downloads but i get that in other places to. All in all this site is the best performing site i visit & while i may not understand absolutely everything that goes on I certainly do appreciate all the work & effort that goes into maintaining this great site! Again THANKYOU!!!

Edited June 26, 2015 by Smurfy7483

[AaronOfMpls]

In response to post #26362194. #26382179, #26396329, #26407854 are all replies on the same post.

MistakenMystic wrote:

While I can see the need for the change, I am a little disheartened that it had to take place, using the 'Content I Follow' section of the forum was by far the easiest way to manage content on disparate mod pages for content related to my area of attention.

 

Can I assume then that the forum UI will likewise drop the links in the drop down menu beside each username? I initially load the Nexus forum with the 'My Content' page loaded and I was amazed to find it blank, save for a couple of obscure and old listings, but the actually page still showing the number of 'Topics & posts' I follow and the pages that it takes up in 'My Content'. This same blank set with remnants of totals applies to the 'posts' & 'topics' selections.

 

At any rate I thank you for your continued attention to the condition of the Nexus and not sitting back on your laurels.

With the onset of great new games in the near future let's hope Nexus continues to stand its ground.

billko wrote: RIP "Content You Follow."

I used this feature to easily keep track of which mods I followed had new posts. I had several pages of "Content I Followed" and some of them had new stuff only maybe once a week or maybe a few times a month - but they still important because it was invariably someone who had recently discovered the mod and had a few questions that I could answer easily for them.

It is very inconvenient that now I have to go to each mod page to see if there are new posts instead of having a bot do it for me. (I had three pages of stuff I was following.)

This seemed to blindside a lot of users. One thing I learned as a developer was that if you were going to take a feature out, you would ask around because invariably users are going to be using your product in unexpected ways. In a classic case of 20/20 hindsight, it might have been helpful to ask around before making the changes. Granted, the changes would probably still have be made, but it would've made for a smoother transition for the users instead of having to shift without a clutch.

lmstearn wrote: It's beyond all comprehension how "Content I Follow" the way it was could impact adversely on forum performance, not there was anything wrong with it in the first place.
Please bring it back.

billko wrote: I would even settle for an email notification. EVERY forum that I know of has at least that capability.

Even an RSS feed...

I feel much the same way, MistakenMystic. I've been using "Content You Follow" and "<username>'s Content" to keep track of responses to my mod and image comments, and of support questions on mods I use. Image comments, I can still follow in the Notifications tracker somewhat (at least if someone replies to me directly), but I'm not sure how I'll keep track of comments on other people's mods now.

The biggest problem: file and image comment threads aren't showing up in search results at all. A forum search for manly monday (a frequent weekly image subject), for example, brings up only a few old threads that have nothing to do with images. And searching within these comment threads doesn't work either. Among other things, this means:
- There's no on-site way to search images any more (since the Image Share doesn't have a search function).
- There's no on-site way for mod users to search mod comments to see if their question has been answered already.
- Knowledgable mod users will have a harder time knowing when support questions are asked.

This feels a little like a pet had to be put down or have a leg amputated: something unpleasant had to be done to avoid something worse. Still, the Nexus remains the best mod and image site for some of my favorite games, and I'm grateful for all you guys do to keep it going. I think I'll be renewing my Premium membership again in the near future.

And yeah, I noticed that similar oddness with missing results. In "<username>'s Content" at least, these non-results are still being counted in some fashion, as the page breaks still proceed as if they were included. It's had the odd result of blank or nearly blank pages of search results, and other pages having only a few things on them. :)

[drithius]

In response to post #26431284. #26433489, #26433729, #26439784 are all replies on the same post.

Dark0ne wrote: I resent the fact people seem to be lamenting the loss of functionality that was BREAKING the forums and talking as though I wanted to remove the functionality for any reason other than the fact we HAD to remove it. As in, if it had continued, you'd have been looking at progressively worse load times (last weekend it was between 8 seconds - 30 seconds to load a page), that would have continued to get worse until the script timeout kicked in around about 45 seconds, at which point the forums would have been completely unbrowseable and there'd have been no more forums TO browse.

I'd appreciate a little less aggro in that regard.

As it is, among the complaints only one person from what I've seen has provided a very good, constructive piece of advice, notably:

An alternative solution would be to add a "Last commented" filter to the Browse files section.

Yes, that should be possible.

lmstearn wrote: All of a sudden the Traffic Snarls, Software is running to Limits and there are DDOS Issues, but WTGR for me there never was a problem. Let's all Honk our Horns for a Solution around the Corner to run us back up to Easy Street. :P

Sergio1992 wrote: One suggestion would be to start closing and archiving all the threads that belongs to old and deprecated(the version, not the mod itself) mods.

It can't be true that there are forum threads open for mods that are 5 years old. Now, one example that came to my mind is Martigen's mod.
Why are people still able to post and download old versions of it in the nexus, and still make a comment? According to me makes no sense.

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/14442/? --> OLD
http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/17784/? --> OLD

But it isn't only Martigen, it is a lot of mods.

billko wrote: I hope you didn't have my posts in mind when you entered this response. I stated my observations and at least offered some alternatives as I thought about them. Granted I had no idea whether or not they would work, but I hate complaining about something without having some sort of solution in mind.

You gutted the forum functionality. Of course people are going to be upset.

By simultaneously eliminating searchable comments and new posts in Uploaded Files, you've made the forum section useless for the majority of visitors - mod author and end user alike.

[MotoSxorpio]

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

 

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

[ebkidd]

Thanks for your hard work Dark0ne. This is great site and could only be that because of the hard work you and your friends put into it.

[bethjunkie]

In response to post #26464079.

MotoSxorpio wrote:

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

 

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

Well for one thing, it appears to be no longer possible to search a file thread. Say I download "Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod" which happens to be full of notes and hidden triggers. Moto failed to give a detailed walkthrough anywhere in the download and now I'm stuck on a ledge in a dark cave with a locked gate shut behind me and no way to get down. Surely there must be a switch hidden in a rock or something but I can't find it to save my life.

Normally I would go to the forum page for Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod and search keywords such as cave and go through the results that pop up to see if someone has posted the solution to my dilemma. If they have, I find the result, go back into the game, hit the switch and go on to collect fat loot.

If I'm the first dummy to get stuck on that ledge, I go onto the mod comment page and post my troubles there hoping someone has the answer to reply to me. There are players who like helping people. Maybe they'll peek in and give me a hand.
Problem now is that Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod was a hugely popular mod six years ago and while it has 7,280 posts on the page, Moto hasn't been around in three years and the last 593 posts in the thread are all people with various issues related to incompatibilities with other mods, ctds due to missing required files and that one guy who thinks Moto's voice acting sucks and he should go do naughty things to himself. We hate that guy but I digress.

I spend the next hour and a half trudging through post after post, page after page, trying to find someone who's had the same issue. My eyes cross, words bleed together, I end up randomly clicking through pages hoping for the best. Never find what I'm looking for.

I post a help thread in Mod troubleshooting or Mod Talk but the game is eight years old and all the players are interested in the new shiny. My topic gets maybe eight views in a week. Nobody is coming, nobody cares.

Finally I decide Moto's mod sucks and I will uninstall it and never use any of his crap again! But Moto's mod doesn't suck, I had the answer to the puzzle in my inventory the whole time and a player actually posted this bit of info buried inside a thousand word essay on page 475 of the mod comments but I will never know this. Meanwhile Moto goes on to make the world's greatest mod for the next game which I never give a chance because I forever associate Moto with that stupid dark ledge of doom.

[WhiskeyRiver2]

 

In response to post #26464079.

 

 

 

MotoSxorpio wrote:

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

Well for one thing, it appears to be no longer possible to search a file thread. Say I download "Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod" which happens to be full of notes and hidden triggers. Moto failed to give a detailed walkthrough anywhere in the download and now I'm stuck on a ledge in a dark cave with a locked gate shut behind me and no way to get down. Surely there must be a switch hidden in a rock or something but I can't find it to save my life.

 

Normally I would go to the forum page for Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod and search keywords such as cave and go through the results that pop up to see if someone has posted the solution to my dilemma. If they have, I find the result, go back into the game, hit the switch and go on to collect fat loot.

 

If I'm the first dummy to get stuck on that ledge, I go onto the mod comment page and post my troubles there hoping someone has the answer to reply to me. There are players who like helping people. Maybe they'll peek in and give me a hand.

Problem now is that Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod was a hugely popular mod six years ago and while it has 7,280 posts on the page, Moto hasn't been around in three years and the last 593 posts in the thread are all people with various issues related to incompatibilities with other mods, ctds due to missing required files and that one guy who thinks Moto's voice acting sucks and he should go do naughty things to himself. We hate that guy but I digress.

 

I spend the next hour and a half trudging through post after post, page after page, trying to find someone who's had the same issue. My eyes cross, words bleed together, I end up randomly clicking through pages hoping for the best. Never find what I'm looking for.

 

I post a help thread in Mod troubleshooting or Mod Talk but the game is eight years old and all the players are interested in the new shiny. My topic gets maybe eight views in a week. Nobody is coming, nobody cares.

 

Finally I decide Moto's mod sucks and I will uninstall it and never use any of his crap again! But Moto's mod doesn't suck, I had the answer to the puzzle in my inventory the whole time and a player actually posted this bit of info buried inside a thousand word essay on page 475 of the mod comments but I will never know this. Meanwhile Moto goes on to make the world's greatest mod for the next game which I never give a chance because I forever associate Moto with that stupid dark ledge of doom.

 

This is probably the most accurate summation of why the recent changes suck for mod makers and users alike.

 

And like I said - just because we understand why you did it doesn't mean we're happy about it.

[Dark0ne]

In response to post #26464079. #26468539 is also a reply to the same post.

MotoSxorpio wrote:

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

 

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

 

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

bethjunkie wrote: Well for one thing, it appears to be no longer possible to search a file thread. Say I download "Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod" which happens to be full of notes and hidden triggers. Moto failed to give a detailed walkthrough anywhere in the download and now I'm stuck on a ledge in a dark cave with a locked gate shut behind me and no way to get down. Surely there must be a switch hidden in a rock or something but I can't find it to save my life.

Normally I would go to the forum page for Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod and search keywords such as cave and go through the results that pop up to see if someone has posted the solution to my dilemma. If they have, I find the result, go back into the game, hit the switch and go on to collect fat loot.

If I'm the first dummy to get stuck on that ledge, I go onto the mod comment page and post my troubles there hoping someone has the answer to reply to me. There are players who like helping people. Maybe they'll peek in and give me a hand.
Problem now is that Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod was a hugely popular mod six years ago and while it has 7,280 posts on the page, Moto hasn't been around in three years and the last 593 posts in the thread are all people with various issues related to incompatibilities with other mods, ctds due to missing required files and that one guy who thinks Moto's voice acting sucks and he should go do naughty things to himself. We hate that guy but I digress.

I spend the next hour and a half trudging through post after post, page after page, trying to find someone who's had the same issue. My eyes cross, words bleed together, I end up randomly clicking through pages hoping for the best. Never find what I'm looking for.

I post a help thread in Mod troubleshooting or Mod Talk but the game is eight years old and all the players are interested in the new shiny. My topic gets maybe eight views in a week. Nobody is coming, nobody cares.

Finally I decide Moto's mod sucks and I will uninstall it and never use any of his crap again! But Moto's mod doesn't suck, I had the answer to the puzzle in my inventory the whole time and a player actually posted this bit of info buried inside a thousand word essay on page 475 of the mod comments but I will never know this. Meanwhile Moto goes on to make the world's greatest mod for the next game which I never give a chance because I forever associate Moto with that stupid dark ledge of doom.

Click "view forum thread" in a file comment topic, type in what you want to search for in the top-right hand corner and press enter. Thread search runs and works.

That's actually how it always worked and the file upload forums were always hidden to the general forum search functionality unless you were in that specific thread (for example, before these changes, if you searched for a term on the forums it would never find terms in threads in the file upload forums as they were specifically hidden from the search functionality).

So in that regard, nothing has changed at all.

[Dark0ne]

In response to post #26470584.

WhiskeyRiver2 wrote:

 

In response to post #26464079.

MotoSxorpio wrote:

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

Well for one thing, it appears to be no longer possible to search a file thread. Say I download "Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod" which happens to be full of notes and hidden triggers. Moto failed to give a detailed walkthrough anywhere in the download and now I'm stuck on a ledge in a dark cave with a locked gate shut behind me and no way to get down. Surely there must be a switch hidden in a rock or something but I can't find it to save my life.

Normally I would go to the forum page for Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod and search keywords such as cave and go through the results that pop up to see if someone has posted the solution to my dilemma. If they have, I find the result, go back into the game, hit the switch and go on to collect fat loot.

If I'm the first dummy to get stuck on that ledge, I go onto the mod comment page and post my troubles there hoping someone has the answer to reply to me. There are players who like helping people. Maybe they'll peek in and give me a hand.
Problem now is that Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod was a hugely popular mod six years ago and while it has 7,280 posts on the page, Moto hasn't been around in three years and the last 593 posts in the thread are all people with various issues related to incompatibilities with other mods, ctds due to missing required files and that one guy who thinks Moto's voice acting sucks and he should go do naughty things to himself. We hate that guy but I digress.

I spend the next hour and a half trudging through post after post, page after page, trying to find someone who's had the same issue. My eyes cross, words bleed together, I end up randomly clicking through pages hoping for the best. Never find what I'm looking for.

I post a help thread in Mod troubleshooting or Mod Talk but the game is eight years old and all the players are interested in the new shiny. My topic gets maybe eight views in a week. Nobody is coming, nobody cares.

Finally I decide Moto's mod sucks and I will uninstall it and never use any of his crap again! But Moto's mod doesn't suck, I had the answer to the puzzle in my inventory the whole time and a player actually posted this bit of info buried inside a thousand word essay on page 475 of the mod comments but I will never know this. Meanwhile Moto goes on to make the world's greatest mod for the next game which I never give a chance because I forever associate Moto with that stupid dark ledge of doom.

 

This is probably the most accurate summation of why the recent changes suck for mod makers and users alike.

 

And like I said - just because we understand why you did it doesn't mean we're happy about it.

See response to original reply chain.

[bethjunkie]

In response to post #26464079. #26468539, #26472754 are all replies on the same post.

 

 

 

MotoSxorpio wrote:

Since the time I found notification widget, I've tracked any file I download until a review has been made. I then either endorse and keep tracking, or remove tracking. Most mods continue to be tracked, just in case a new version appeals to me.

This tracking will show latest comments on the Front Page under "Tracked Files" tab. This tab lists comments in "most recent updated" fashion.

-So what functionality is missing??

In the forums, 5 clicks gets me into a "troubleshooting" or "tech support" thread for a game. Each of those has "follow this topic" button at the top.

-So what functionality is missing??

The only thing missing at the time of this thread starting is convenience, unless I am missing something.

bethjunkie wrote: Well for one thing, it appears to be no longer possible to search a file thread. Say I download "Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod" which happens to be full of notes and hidden triggers. Moto failed to give a detailed walkthrough anywhere in the download and now I'm stuck on a ledge in a dark cave with a locked gate shut behind me and no way to get down. Surely there must be a switch hidden in a rock or something but I can't find it to save my life.

 

Normally I would go to the forum page for Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod and search keywords such as cave and go through the results that pop up to see if someone has posted the solution to my dilemma. If they have, I find the result, go back into the game, hit the switch and go on to collect fat loot.

 

If I'm the first dummy to get stuck on that ledge, I go onto the mod comment page and post my troubles there hoping someone has the answer to reply to me. There are players who like helping people. Maybe they'll peek in and give me a hand.

Problem now is that Moto's Big Fat Quest Mod was a hugely popular mod six years ago and while it has 7,280 posts on the page, Moto hasn't been around in three years and the last 593 posts in the thread are all people with various issues related to incompatibilities with other mods, ctds due to missing required files and that one guy who thinks Moto's voice acting sucks and he should go do naughty things to himself. We hate that guy but I digress.

 

I spend the next hour and a half trudging through post after post, page after page, trying to find someone who's had the same issue. My eyes cross, words bleed together, I end up randomly clicking through pages hoping for the best. Never find what I'm looking for.

 

I post a help thread in Mod troubleshooting or Mod Talk but the game is eight years old and all the players are interested in the new shiny. My topic gets maybe eight views in a week. Nobody is coming, nobody cares.

 

Finally I decide Moto's mod sucks and I will uninstall it and never use any of his crap again! But Moto's mod doesn't suck, I had the answer to the puzzle in my inventory the whole time and a player actually posted this bit of info buried inside a thousand word essay on page 475 of the mod comments but I will never know this. Meanwhile Moto goes on to make the world's greatest mod for the next game which I never give a chance because I forever associate Moto with that stupid dark ledge of doom.

Dark0ne wrote: Click "view forum thread" in a file comment topic, type in what you want to search for in the top-right hand corner and press enter. Thread search runs and works.

 

That's actually how it always worked and the file upload forums were always hidden to the general forum search functionality unless you were in that specific thread (for example, before these changes, if you searched for a term on the forums it would never find terms in threads in the file upload forums as they were specifically hidden from the search functionality).

 

So in that regard, nothing has changed at all.

 

The search doesn't work now. I tried on three different files before making that post and it never brings up any results. Go here to this mod and search the topic for the word "punga". Punga is clearly written in four posts on the first page alone but the search comes up with nothing

 

In the Shadow of the Swamp

 

 

Edit: Removed giant image since fixed.