Reformating Change List

[Atlas]

Your mod team here again.

As part of the new look, we've restructured the site to a more streamlined format. There will be a little confusion at the start but you should get used to it very quickly. We did lose some data in the process but it's not a big deal.

For now I'm just leaving a list of the changes and I'll add context to them when I'm less tired.

The changes:

Welcome to the Lair Archives removed
Help Needed removed
Mod apps attached to The XL Times
Hello my name is renamed to Introductions
Entryway archives removed
Relationships archives removed
Characters and relationships merged
Characters archives removed
General discussion archives removed
Arcade moved from digital sea to discussion board
Polling station and feedback merged
Fan clubs removed
Digital general talk archives
Digital general talk and general discussion merged
Digital sea section removed
A penny for your thoughts moved to subset of XL Times
Your ideas/bug reports merged into a penny for your thoughts
A penny for your thoughts renamed to feedback
Free earth removed
Arena index and mission archives removed
Shop archives removed
Characters archive removed -> put back in characters
Research logs removed
Lore archives removed
Shop renamed to armory
Roleplaying archives added
Project room removed
Mod trial HQ renamed Trial HQ
Coral Lounge name shortened
XL mock elections added as subset to XL Times
Testing attached to admin discussion
The lab moved to above the discussion board
Great arena renamed grand arena

All descriptions edited to accuracy

[Atlas]

Right so here's the context to the changes and why I put them in.

The Welcome area was simplified and doesn't include the Moderator Applications section. It now only has the Entryway, which is essentially the rules and 'tutorial' for the main site and Introductions for introducing yourself.

From there the actual order of the subforums in the site matches the order that a newer user would probably progress, from the intro to the site news to the general area the Discussion Board.

The Lab is one of the more important areas of the site since it contains a lot of news and feedback areas and is also the hub for all moderator and administration forum areas on the site. We wanted users to see the site news easily so its just under the Welcome section.

Due to feedback we've put back in two general discussion areas. One for CL and one for General Talk. The polling station was merged with the Feedback station from both the Arena and in the Digital Sea into one Feedback section in the XL Times and the Arcade was moved to just under the two discussion areas in the Discussion Board. As such, The Digital Sea as a section was removed and most of its contents was moved to the Discussion Board. Characters and Relationships were merged into one as they talk about a very similar subject.

The writing section, the Library, is next. There have been minimal changes to the section as a whole.

Then the art section which again has had minimal changes.

Now the rp section, which starts with the renamed Grand Arena. It's had a bit of rearranging with the exact same progression idea and now no longer has any archives. The Lore section will now fill that role instead.

The Grounds rp section has had minimal changes as it was already well optimized.

The SCs section has had minimal changes as it was already well optimized.

As a general change some of the archives have been cleaned and we understand this will have some effect on post counts but we don't expect any serious repercussions from this. If there is a problem let us know.

We're still working on descriptions though as some are not accurate still.

Regards,
Mod Team

[aelitaxwilliam]

Definitely feel free to PM any of us if you have feedback!

[Soul Jelly]

I would like to apologise for the changes to General Chat. This was done without any of the mods' knowledge. We're now trying to re-implement the previous layout to make the forum less confusing to navigate.

I also apologise for post counts and things lost in the archives; again, this was never cleared with the mods, and I understand that post counts are an important landmark when you're dedicated and active in a forum, and the archives have memories that would preferably have been backed up.

Changes still happening whilst we try and fix the forum so bear with us.

[Coto524]

Has 'Free Earth' been merged with the current Earth section or removed entirely?

[Atlas]

Has 'Free Earth' been merged with the current Earth section or removed entirely?

The Free Earth and Canon Earth has indeed been merged. The Arena will just have one supervised rp. However, any tangent rps you want to do based off of the Arena can be perfectly done in the Grounds however you see fit.

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

I would like to apologise for the changes to General Chat. This was done without any of the mods' knowledge. We're now trying to re-implement the previous layout to make the forum less confusing to navigate.

I also apologise for post counts and things lost in the archives; again, this was never cleared with the mods, and I understand that post counts are an important landmark when you're dedicated and active in a forum, and the archives have memories that would preferably have been backed up.

Changes still happening whilst we try and fix the forum so bear with us.

Thank you, Soul. The format I can live with, I may miss the archives. While I don't quite understand why there wasn't a group discussion or why these repercussions were either not thought about or not cared about, I can accept what is done is done.

[RenaYumi]

lol why do you even have staff if you don't ask them about anything?

[Coto524]

I get the feeling that some people here aren't very happy with Atlas at the moment. I wonder why.

[Atlas]

I get the feeling that some people here aren't very happy with Atlas at the moment. I wonder why.

Because mistakes have been made and being fair besides some archives getting deleted they aren't on my end.

Which brings me to:

UPDATE: What feedback I've received has been fairly positive minus the archives mistake so I'd like to wrap this change up. If you have anything to say about the format changes speak now or this issue goes back to the burner and mod attention is turned elsewhere.

Regards,
Atlas

[Guest]

If you have anything to say about the format changes speak now or this issue goes back to the burner and mod attention is turned elsewhere.

Copied from the "Suggestions Box":

Suggestion: "Feedback" section should be a sub-forum under "Laboratory"
and not inside XL times. Way too hidden for something that should be
used frequently.

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