I don't really miss the polls and all that "CoD is best RPG" spam that went with them.
BSN vs Bioware Network
Débuté par
Kaiser Arian XVII
, avril 15 2014 06:14
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#27
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 12:50
NekkidNones
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I am indifferent now that the new forums have a dark theme.(saving a small fortune now that I'm not popping advils like they were Tictac's)
I wasn't particularly active on the old forums, so there wasn't a lot of functionality from it that I was aware of, in order to miss now.
About the only thing I miss now is lurking on coldwetn0se's blog page to read up on perpetually drunk shepard's latest woes.
I wasn't particularly active on the old forums, so there wasn't a lot of functionality from it that I was aware of, in order to miss now.
About the only thing I miss now is lurking on coldwetn0se's blog page to read up on perpetually drunk shepard's latest woes.
#28
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 12:58
Orian Tabris
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I don't really miss the polls and all that "CoD is best RPG" spam that went with them.
Yeah, um, what about the ME3 multiplayer polls? Like 40% of every poll was a ME3 MP poll.
#29
Guest_Dobbysaurus_*
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:04
Guest_Dobbysaurus_*
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I like this new forum but I prefer the BSN. I miss my comments wall with all it's cute fuzzy animal pictures I had there and I miss the recent activity feed.
#30
Guest_Puddi III_*
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:05
Guest_Puddi III_*
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Yeah, um, what about the ME3 multiplayer polls? Like 40% of every poll was a ME3 MP poll.
I like how I can mute the Mass Effect section entirely now. 
#31
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:11
CrimsonN7
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I don't really miss the polls and all that "CoD is best RPG" spam that went with them.
Polls were never something I bothered with, wouldn't care if they were removed entirely.
#32
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:51
Dominus
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Ideally, the visual aesthetic(and some new features) of the new boards with some of the features via BSN. Some of the removed features i.e. Polls/Albums had very justifiable reasons for getting the boot(The Majority of them getting spambotted), but I don't see the purpose of flatout removing the profile feed for posts. Why not implement a Toggle On/Off instead for individual users? The words are likely in vain, though - I don't expect to see it again. The notification system works better(and no longer causes phantom updates).
So as mentioned above, a mish-mash of both. I'm fine with the boards as is, but I'm spending much less time here due to said removal(s).
#33
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:59
Lunch Box1912
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I just wish the dark theme to be a setting in settings so I wouldn't have to scroll down to the bottom of the forum to turn it on everytime I open the BSN.
#34
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 02:26
Volus Warlord
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The new forum is a bit more direct and robust than the old..
But I do really miss some of the old features.
#35
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 02:56
Kaiser Arian XVII
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*cheers* thanks for your comment.
It seems it's a busy time of the year and only my old friends are a bit upset by those featured eradicated.
#36
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 02:59
felipejiraya
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The new forums, I've never really used any of the old features from BSN that were disabled.
#37
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 03:01
Kaiser Arian XVII
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The new forums, I've never really used any of the old features from BSN that were disabled.
Son, you must be new son. I've been here since 2010 son.
#38
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 03:34
Jadebaby
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Just curious, I really do...
This new layout is so bright and it really reminds me of the HTL forums...
#39
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 03:36
Just My Moniker
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You can change the bright background now. Theres a button in the lower left part of the page marked 'Change Theme' and just choose the dark background.
#40
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 08:52
A Crusty Knight Of Colour
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The feed is a missed feature. I know it's possible to get a working activity feed on V-Bulletin boards, but BioWare would have to buy the module (a whole $69.95 USD), ensure that it is compatible with their version of V-Bulletin and implement it on the forums.
#41
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 09:59
Kaiser Arian XVII
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The feed is a missed feature. I know it's possible to get a working activity feed on V-Bulletin boards, but BioWare would have to buy the module (a whole $69.95 USD), ensure that it is compatible with their version of V-Bulletin and implement it on the forums.
Wow... that's as expensive as ME3 with all DLCs, right?!
#42
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 10:33
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
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What the website needs is a dynamic feed. That would work wonders however, there are already dynamic updates on the forums. When someone replies a notification is displayed without refreshing the page. The dynamic feed would be cool however, it would bring in significantly more traffic(I would put a feed as second most visited places on this platform). That would be a lot of requests and processing to the server. I do not know if they are ready to support such an infrastructure.
- Kaiser Arian XVII aime ceci
#43
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 10:41
A Crusty Knight Of Colour
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Wow... that's as expensive as ME3 with all DLCs, right?!
BioWare would pay $70. Users are fine.
What the website needs is a dynamic feed. That would work wonders however, there are already dynamic updates on the forums. When someone replies a notification is displayed without refreshing the page. The dynamic feed would be cool however, it would bring in significantly more traffic(I would put a feed as second most visited places on this platform). That would be a lot of requests and processing to the server. I do not know if they are ready to support such an infrastructure.
They probably could seeing as they've supported it for years and years. However, whether they'd want to is a different matter.
I have been consistent with the idea that BioWare wants to kill a large amount of traffic on their forums and direct the remaining members into avenues relating to games discussion in a non-controversial manner. The way in which negative feedback has spread across the forums and other mediums like wildfire since 2011 has undoubtedly upset BioWare and in no small way fuelled by the Social nature of the site. By it's name (and features), it has promoted discussion and allowed opinions to be shared in a way that is difficult for BioWare to clamp down on.
By reducing traffic and taking out features that encourage interaction (even group discussions are moderated now), combined with a focus on tighter and less lenient moderation, BioWare hopes to change the concept of their forums being a social network and more of a controlled discussion area.
It makes all sorts of sense from BioWare's point of view, as it would require less resources to maintain and helps to keep dissent to a minimum. But for the average user who is used to treating the place as a social network, it can really suck at times.
- Dominus aime ceci
#44
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 10:57
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
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They probably could seeing as they've supported it for years and years. However, whether they'd want to is a different matter.
I have been consistent with the idea that BioWare wants to kill a large amount of traffic on their forums and direct the remaining members into avenues relating to games discussion in a non-controversial manner. The way in which negative feedback has spread across the forums and other mediums like wildfire since 2011 has undoubtedly upset BioWare and in no small way fuelled by the Social nature of the site. By it's name (and features), it has promoted discussion and allowed opinions to be shared in a way that is difficult for BioWare to clamp down on.
By reducing traffic and taking out features that encourage interaction (even group discussions are moderated now), combined with a focus on tighter and less lenient moderation, BioWare hopes to change the concept of their forums being a social network and more of a controlled discussion area.
It makes all sorts of sense from BioWare's point of view, as it would require less resources to maintain and helps to keep dissent to a minimum. But for the average user who is used to treating the place as a social network, it can really suck at times.
The feeds were not dynamic though. To get a new update on your feed you had to refresh your page which was understandable cause from a feed standpoint it reduces the traffic drastically. Instead of polling at intervals the software only updates when the user feels like it.
One of the other issues is that, bioware probably does not make money off this platform. No advertisements but on the other hand it is still a good place to advertise their news. From outside looking in and If I was in the same position I probably wouldn't go all out on my resources. I mean the product is not giving me any monetary gain I mean in retrospect I am gaining nothing off it but it is still a great tool for news and discussion. They have the capability to do so but at what cost? Is the forum really that essential to them relative to supporting an ME3 MP leaderboard? The leaderboard would probably be first on the list for them in terms of what to spend on.
Reducing traffic is definitely a concern. They did manage to cut out most of the features found in the old forums(pictures,polls have returned,blogs). By removing all of those services they managed to drastically reduce their traffic and it goes back to my point of the forum is probably only gaining standard economic support from the company. If I had a hunch I would even go as far as saying the keep will be much more social and dynamic than the forums. Given that most of EA's game web services have followed a very similar model.
#45
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 11:11
A Crusty Knight Of Colour
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Oh man, I didn't read dynamic. Nah no way. Having a dynamic feed would be terrible. I mean, amazing for users but it would use up so much resources on BioWare's end.
In the end, it's not necessary. Things like AJAX-enhanced feeds so that they're dynamic is nice, but it comes down to function. And the function of the feed (dynamic or not) was the ability to view the activities of your friends and comment on them at will. It provided it's own discussion platform and allowed people to socialise. Doesn't really matter anyway. Seeing as this is no longer a social network, there's no need for it.
As for the Keep, I have not caught up on that since I am not planning to get Inquisition. Way too many good Kickstarter and Indie games out there to scratch my RPG itch. Not to mention discovering old classics that I've missed.
I'm glad BioWare does not use advertisements. But I wouldn't expect them to either. It's a bad look for an official website under the umbrella of a AAA publisher.
#46
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 01:02
Kaiser Arian XVII
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In the end, it's not necessary. Things like AJAX-enhanced feeds so that they're dynamic is nice, but it comes down to function. And the function of the feed (dynamic or not) was the ability to view the activities of your friends and comment on them at will. It provided it's own discussion platform and allowed people to socialise. Doesn't really matter anyway. Seeing as this is no longer a social network, there's no need for it.
But where the hell 80% of the old members have gone since 2012? Facebook, Steam Forums, Bethesda forums or others? Maybe they have other hobbies.
I'm not convinced that they are all so busy with their lives and therefore they've left the Internet for good.
#47
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 02:12
Guest_JujuSamedi_*
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In the end, it's not necessary. Things like AJAX-enhanced feeds so that they're dynamic is nice, but it comes down to function. And the function of the feed (dynamic or not) was the ability to view the activities of your friends and comment on them at will. It provided it's own discussion platform and allowed people to socialise. Doesn't really matter anyway. Seeing as this is no longer a social network, there's no need for it.
The infrastructure would be the only thing pulling them back and back to my point of how I doubt if much of their resources are allocated to this project. In terms of user experience(which is one of the things that Jessica Merizan is a proponent of), dynamic web pages would enhance the experience by a mile. The idea of social networking is organizing users like a network or a graph if you prefer. A friend list or follow is allocated into a structure that makes it easy for the system to traverse through.
With each change in the graph, there is a higher possibility of social interaction. The faster that the graph updates the faster that this aspect of social interaction could be achieved. Static social feeds are limited to the number of times that a user can update their feed. Dynamic on the other hand are automated which increases the rate of the possibility of a social interaction happening. If 10 people in a social network update their feeds 10 times in 2 minutes compared to 10 people that have their feeds updated 30 times in 2 minutes the latter group would have a better chance at social interaction.
However, due to the infrastructure i really doubt that such a thing could be implemented at this point. I mean they would have heavily customized this piece of software if it was high to them in terms of priority.
#48
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 02:37
A Crusty Knight Of Colour
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Lol user experience. She stopped responding to my thread in the help section after blithely making suggestions that would be highly detrimental to the user experience with regards to my issue even though I had offered a well reasoned response.
I'd argue that it's a nice feature to have, but that BioWare doesn't have the traffic that would justify the need for that. While the user experience is important, what's paramount is that everything BioWare does here hinges on a balance between cost and benefit. The heavier the traffic, the more BioWare can attempt to monetise the audience or utilise it for the sake of promotion and as such, improving the user experience and encouraging social interaction is a desirable outcome.
However, that traffic doesn't exist and by removing the feed we once had with no intention to return it, BioWare is saying that they cannot justify having a feed with the traffic the site has; and with the direction the company wishes to take with this site. A tightly run organisation would trim the fat, especially when going through a transition like this, so I'm not surprised. Especially since I think BioWare wants to turf the notion that this place is a social network (my thoughts on that are above).
Not like I can crunch the math, but that if a feed at all can't be justified according to BioWare's logic, what chance does a dynamic feed have?
Personally, I would like a feed. A dynamic feed would be nicer, but it's topping. It's not a desired feature in and of itself, it's an upgrade on a desired feature. But if we're arguing for the inclusion of a feature, it's easier to argue for the feature which satisfies the original need. Just IMO.
Honestly, I think we're coming from two different angles here, but it's all good. We're still butt buddies.
(I hope.)
#49
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 04:36
Mr.House
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While the new features are nice, I miss the feed.
#50
Posté 16 avril 2014 - 04:54
Garrus Vakarian45
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What? The polls are finally back!!! How can this be?
