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Old 04-11-2010, 04:16 AM   #2
kq76
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 10,698
So after moving several hundred modification threads (search and mass select help tremendously) I've come to the realization that this place needs serious re-organization, more than I previously thought. Although there are probably many more, a few observations of the current system that make very little or no sense are:

-too many different kinds of graphics mixed together
-ballpark and player photos mixed with rosters and quickstarts
-databases are included with database utilities
-html mixed with graphics
-there are several fairly common types of mods that have no board, many of which probably warrant a dedicated board

Below you will find my first draft of the reorganization I'd recommend to Andreas. I'm sure I don't know this section nearly as well as some of you however. So, before I go to Andreas with a recommendation, I'd like to get your input on how things should be organized here. If your recommendation is at all complicated, please do try to do your best to make it as simple as possible to understand.

Since Padresfan has probably thought about the organization of mods as much as anyone I figured I'd take a look at his site for some tips. Overall, it seems like he's followed a similar system. In particular, he breaks up graphics more like I think we should go with. His misc section is more encompassing, but I figure it's probably best to break that stuff up a fair bit as well.

A question I have is should all these links to sub-boards be thrown together in one big list (like we have now, but more) or should they be separated into a "graphics" section and an "other" section? I favour the latter since I believe it would look like the mods board does from the index page: a bunch of sub-boards just listed underneath that board's title and description. Only thing is I don't know if vbulletin supports grandchild boards (sub-boards within sub-boards). Going with the former (just listing a dozen or so sub-boards here, like what we have now, but more) would waste a lot of space and necessitate scrolling further down to get to the general mod threads.

Here's the first draft:

Mods Board:
Links to Sub-Boards:
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Graphics
|--logos (requests, templates, and general)
|--uniforms/jerseys/caps (requests, templates, and general)
|--ballparks/stadiums (images and factors)
|--facegen/player photos
|--cards
|--misc (skins, tie images, background images, etc)
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Misc
|--rosters
|--databases
|--quickstarts
|--world_templates
|--schedules
|--database utilities (e.g. Getch and Statslab)
|--audio/sound
|--report_templates
|--text and PbP
|--names, nations and ethnicities
|--misc
|-----------------------------------------------------------
General Mod Threads:
...

Hopefully that makes sense. If not, the "General Mod Threads" part is just a listing of general mod threads like any other regular board, but above that would be two boxes and inside those boxes would be links to several different grandchild boards. Like on the index page, those links would be separated by commas, however, not on separate lines as in my illustration above.

Does all that sufficiently cover all the different types of mods? For the mod types that are rarely posted about they can go into the appropriate misc section, but is there a mod type in your opinion that isn't so rare, that should have its own board that I haven't listed?

I just quickly listed them as they came to me, but is there a particular order you'd prefer them: most common to least common, alphabetical, or something else? Either of the first two makes enough sense to me.

One last thing: don't anticipate this to happen right away. I do think a reorganization is badly needed here so I will ask for it, repeatedly if need be, but I'm sure patch items will be much higher on their priority list so it might be awhile before they decide to look at this.

Last edited by kq76; 04-11-2010 at 04:57 AM.
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