Frontsite News Survey

[Tavrobel]

Okay, let's give this thing a swift kick to the nuts before anyone says anything else that's stupid. Or God forbid, someone say something else that's even stupider than what they previously had to say. In any case, your feedback is appreciated. Further feedback from other members is also welcome, even if those points are to be addressed. If you are a member with a post that was responded to, I would ask that you clarify, expand on, or rationalize/logic-i-fy your reasoning.

No. I don't come here for final fantasy information and haven't for a while.

Is that because the information here is deficient, or simply because you don't follow FF like you used to? Although, as I'm typing out this question, it seems fairly obvious, but I should still care to ask.

I did post my opinion before and you snipped at me. :rolleyes2

Front site is boring. The news articles don't pop. They give me no reason to stay and read them, instead I just skip and head to the forums.

I suggested pictures earlier but I think you need more than just that. Something worth attention. You can make a news article but that doesn't mean people are going to read it. You need to give them a reason to read it.

Do something that would make us forum goers look at the front site. Something to connect the two. Those people who are coming through aren't going to really pay attention to it either. It just seems like the information in the front of a book. You never read who produced it and what copyright it has you just skip to the good stuff.

Maybe at least change the layout so the news articles seem more eye catching.

Because it was a painful suggestion, caused me great grief, and I have every right to yell at you for suggesting it.

Rearranging the news layout would fundamentally cause an entire reorganizing of the frontsite. Despite what can actually be seen, site-wide restructuring features not only the need for visual rearrangement, but also to comb through copious amounts of code, figuring out what can be thrown out, and what can be reused. Though this is a viable option, the other coders of the EoFF SS would be extremely unhappy with it, and ultimately, our effort would be wasted without more concrete ideas.

In the meantime, is there anything that you could suggest, representing the average reader, that would personally attract you to reading the news or utilizing the information that we have about the games?

I'm just not that into news about Final Fantasy anymore, especially not now that they seem to spend ages between each numbered installment, which would be the only FF's I'd be interested in learning more about anyway. Right now I get my FF fix covered by other gaming sites that also cover many other genres.

Basically, I don't think there's a problem with the news on the front site, I just think there's less demand these days for a site that only focuses on one series, especially with GameFAQs hogging all the people who are stuck, and major gaming news sites hogging everyone who wants to see the latest news & trailers.

So, what you're saying is, is that to you, we are outclassed?

I always go straight to the forums, so to answer your question I don't read the front page news.

I agree with Lekana that the front page needs to be connected with the forums - maybe with some sort of link at the forum index or something.

Noted. We do have links from the forum to the frontsite, as shown by Christmas, but that each of the frontsite pages has links to both the most recent posts in the public forums, along with forums that are relevant to each game from the frontsite. For example, FFI's page leads to FFI's forum. However, if you are asking for an additional link besides that which is currently in the header bar, that is something to asked of the Forum Staff. In any case, do you have any suggestions as to what you, personally, would be attracted to, if featured in the news or frontsite?

I only read the articles for the comments the news team make. The news doesn't always interest me, but reading what you guys have to say about the news is entertaining!

You mean what I have to say about it. Thanks. JKTrix doesn't commentate.

I personally do not read it due to that extremely unsightly ad that smacks right at the top of the news section. The news doesnt catch my eye as it is pushed down the page by the ad and unless i actively scroll down to look for news im not going to see any eye catching attempts you make.

Not in my control. The ad is put there by the owners. However, it should be noted that even in 800x600 resolution, it is possible to see most of the latest article, even with the banner. So, what you're really telling me is that you don't want to scroll down, even if something may or may not interest you.

How about moving the ad that is blocking the banner somewhere and move the title to the center so that it will be easier to be seen at first sight?

Again, not in our control. We've attempted to remove the ads before, but the owners put them back. The last time that we tried deleting it, it popped back up automatically without any input.

I stopped giving a toss about FF news after XII was released. In fact, those screenshots are probably the first I've seen of the frontsite in around a year :chef: Leona Lewis? What the hell?

Is that because FFXII sucked, and you lost faith in the series, or because you stopped caring about FF exclusively?

If it is the former, then I completely understand, simply because it is true. If it is the latter, I still understand, only this time, it is a matter of preference rather than a fact.

I mean some links in the forum index somewhere with the latest news topics from the front page. Similar to what's on the front page with the latest threads made in the forum.

That link would be the jurisdiction of the Forum Staff, and therefore, will not be implemented.

However, if you are familiar with the setup that was featured at OMGMG, we had an exclusive news forum. However, in order to implement that here, it would cause some rather nasty forum hacks that would die at the next vB upgrade. The last time we considered an update to the news module, it was during that really weird period where vB had a patch every week. It has since then, died down in frequency, and could be a good idea to bring back up again. Thank you.

Well I was meaning something like possibly events being announced on the frontsite for the forums. And things on the forums being announced on the front site. That way we have to check them

Really I think the layout just needs to be pumped up.

I have been announcing Eyes on Plays (or rather, I would be if FFX were going on as scheduled, and I did post VIII and IX). However, I am not going to post some random game thread from Wonder Square, simply because those threads have no impact on the frontsite whatsoever, and are ultimately, meaningless and trivial.

Again, any suggestions that aren't impossible?

OMG, yes that is exactly what needs to be done, so we can also discuss the news on the forums and have certain forum events announced on the front site. As of now, there is no way we can comment about the news. It would be great if we could do that.

We tried pushing for a news-only subforum, but that was met with large claims of redundancy, a claim to with which I do not disagree. However, in order to obtain a more OMGMG style of news, in which comments are allowed, one would have to remake a thread in every single relevant forum manually, and then hope that people comment in it. Otherwise, the only option would be to implement a new news module, an operation which has met with stagnation and indifference, and the fact that it requires a vB hack, unless the latest version of vB accommodates that as well.

So far I just think it's not eye-pleasing enough.

Is there anything that you think would catch your attention if we added it? Something other than Disney?

I think I read one once a few years ago.

But not anything since then? What made you read that one random one when you did read it?

Oh yeah, also went there for the chat thing rubah put up.

That was Baloki's idea. And his setup. So, yeah, you completely miscredited the chat.

Yeah I haven't looked at the fronsite in a long time. For one the skin here is really drab and the lay out. I also agree with putting some of the articles here in these forums, but I feel a lot like some members here who have lost interest in FF news after XII. XIII has just been on hold for too long to be looking up info for it anymore.

Even though there are three games planned for it? Last I checked, the main had the fastest localization time of all of the FFs.

In response to the drabness, is there a scheme that you think would be more pleasing? Though it may be drab, dark blue is possibly the least offensive of color options. Did you prefer the brown of the previous (2.0 Aeris boobshot) style, or did you have something else in mind?

I think Levian really hit the nail on the head: FF is just not big, constant news anymore. There's many years between major releases and it seems like most of the hardcore RPG types that kept FF sites at a peak between FF6-FF9 (maybe X) just kind of stopped caring as much. I'm probably going to buy FFXIII, but I don't really care about every piece of news for it, especially since every major piece of information I could find in the FFXIII forum anyway. I have trouble mustering up any interest in a site solely dedicated to FF news anymore. I've probably visited the frontsite a handful of times in the last few years.

What possessed you to read the frontsite after you lost interest?

I don't think anybody wants news anymore. It's too dry and nobody cares about FFXIII (and associated spin offs) as they do the older games in the series. What do them no good kids want these days? Here's some ideas for the front page.

...

There's some ideas. Some of them don't appeal to me as a person, but I know they'd appeal to the internet in general.

So, what you're advocating is more user-generated and user-submitted content?

No, I don't read the frontsite.

I'm willing to agree with Psy here. Maybe not lolcats and stuff, but I don't think people will go to a website just for news anymore, at least not on such narrow topics. If they want news, they'll go to a site that covers a full area of interest (e.g. gaming, finances, design or what have you). Subject-specific sites such as this one are expected to have more in-depth info, more trivia, more entertainment. We have in-depth info, but the only thing updated fairly regularly is the news.

Do people still post art in the fanart section? We could have the latest pieces from there displayed somewhere on the frontsite. Customisation things like Psy's idea about Sims custom FF content, Final Fantasy wallpapers, avatars (we already have these on the forums; why not give them a page on the frontsite as well, and maybe we could crank out some 100x100 ones as well). I have a pretty large collection of little FF gifs ... which I have no idea if it's legal to host just like that but yeah. Stuff like that.

So, you are also advocating more user-based content. However, you bring up a point that a site that is specialized toward a series should have even more to offer about the primary subject in question than general information sites. Do you believe that there may be an idea in which we are lacking in which we should not be, other than user-based content?

As for the Fanart section, I can't accurately comment on that at this time.

As long as you credit where you get them then you're ok

That is not necessarily true. Not every image on the internet is intended for use in the public domain, even if said images are "well, it's on the internet lol." I would ask that you not attempt to answer these types of questions on behalf of EoFF as a whole. There's more legal loopholes that we (I) have to worry about than one would like to imagine; if one has to think twice about it, it's probably in one's best interest not to explore the option, for fear of legal ramifications. If this site were still owned by the original user, that would not be a problem if we were to receive a "cease and desist."

It should be noted, that this is no longer the case.

So let me get this straight so that everyone is on the same page:

• The frontsite is all-in-all, aesthetically unpleasing or insufficient in information
• Increased user-interactivity is desired
• The original userbase lacks a primary interest in FF
• The forums are bookmarked over the frontsite, because there is not enough of anything on the frontsite to justify the extra click
• Ability to comment on the news, other than waiting for the thread to pop up on its own in the respective forum
• FFXIII is primed for failure, because of SE's handling of the game and its production time