How can I organize things better?

[Thalassicus]

I noticed there's some confusion over where or how to report bugs, they tend to end up in many places:

• Beta information thread
• Combined thread
• Individual mod threads
• General beta discussion

Is the "reporting bugs" thread too wordy or confusing in some way, difficult to find, or something else? What can I do to make the process easier?

 

[Bananijoe]

Well i find it a bit confusing myself...

Maybe the Subforum "Beta Testing" should be renamed (the name really irritates since v5.3 isnt beta any longer!?), so it includes Beta-testing, Bug-Reports and Incompatibilities etc.

As long as there is a threat "Beta & Bug Reports" its easy to miss the Subforum! They should be merged...

The main-forum maybe should only contain the different parts of your MOD (like it is now) and be used for all the Strategy/Modphilosophy/Development/Idea/Wishes-discussions.

Mainforum -> public discussions, separate threads for the different part/main issues which should be sticky
Subforum "Problems & Bugs & Beta & Incompatibilities" -> all Problemsolving etc.
Subforum "Development" -> all Code-related discussions

maybe merge the Subforum "Strategy" into the Mainforum

 

[gandalf51]

Also a thread with the last version number and notes on this forum too could be useful I think.

 

[Seek]

I noticed there's some confusion over where or how to report bugs, they tend to end up in many places:

• Beta information thread
• Combined thread
• Individual mod threads
• General beta discussion

Is the "reporting bugs" thread too wordy or confusing in some way, difficult to find, or something else? What can I do to make the process easier?

Yeah, it's getting a little ridiculous; I woke up today to find the same bug reported in no less than four different threads!

However, I confess I can't tell from this post where you want bugs to be reported. If it's the current "beta and bug reports" then I suggest removing the "beta and" from the thread title. If it's that you want new threads started in the beta forum then I suggest removing the "and beta testing" from the above thread - but this method is especially confusing because we aren't in beta right now.

Perhaps the solution would be for (yet another) subforum dedicated to bug reporting.. Let me know where you want them reported, and I'll also add a "report bug" link to the top of each Wordpress page.

 

[Thalassicus]

It's not confusion about instructions in the "reporting bugs" thread... but actually finding the thread? I'm open to suggestions for how to direct more attention to that thread. I put a link to it everywhere... beta & bug reports, combined thread, download pages, website... is it just not noticeable enough? I could put it in bigger font, or maybe a different color so it stands out.

I'm unable to rename threads without asking a moderator, and changing forums requires messaging an admin. I try to avoid pestering them too much and just want to do what I can with the tools available to regular forum-goers.

 

[Iceco]

I guess most don't read the first post unless they think they need to.
I always presumed the "Beta & bug reports" thread was the bug report thread, so never bothered to actually read its first post.

A new bug report subforum would probably be the most successful solution.

 

[juckie]

A new bug report subforum would probably be the most successful solution.

Or a trouble shooting forum, with a:
Compatiblity issues
Beta stuff
Bug reporting

Similar to what Bananijoe said.

 

[Stalker0]

My biggest question is:

Are you maintaining all the seperate mods still, or are you focusing on the combined mod now?



I come in here and I don't know if I should post a policy comments in the old policies thread or in the combined thread (which is the one I'm using). There are a lot of stickied threads here, and I don't know why one to use.

In the long run I would have the following:

Current Combined Version: Comments
Current Combined Version: Bugs

Old Version: comments (threads would be closed with newer version once its established)
Old Version: Bugs (threads would be closed with newer version once its established)

 

[Thalassicus]

I guess most don't read the first post unless they think they need to.
I always presumed the "Beta & bug reports" thread was the bug report thread, so never bothered to actually read its first post.

A new bug report subforum would probably be the most successful solution.

You're probably right... though if I have the information posted and it's just overlooked, not sure what I can do.

The testing forum actually is a bug report subforum too, as described in the first post of the forum (and the Reporting Bugs thread):

Greetings!

This testing forum is for:

• Bug reporting. Please check out the Reporting Bugs thread if you encounter any problems while playing this mod.
• Miscellaneous beta discussion. I'll have a "General Discussion" thread in this testing forum for each beta cycle. I discovered the general discussion thread tends to get very long, very fast, and since the discussion from one cycle to another will often become obsolete I'll just start a new thread each month.
• For specific balance topics of conversation (like citystates, navies, etc) please check out the main Thal's Balance Mods forum.
• For strategy discussions drop by the Strategy Forum.

I called it a "beta testing" forum since most bugs are involved in beta testing. I've asked an admin to change the forum name to hopefully make this more clear.

I come in here and I don't know if I should post a policy comments in the old policies thread or in the combined thread (which is the one I'm using). There are a lot of stickied threads here, and I don't know why one to use.

From the first post of the combined thread:

If you have miscellaneous comments or questions simply post in this thread or start a new one in the main Thal's Balance Mods forum.

For feedback about a specific mod component, check out the website at civmodding.wordpress.com. The menus at the top of the site link to pages for details and feedback about each component of the mod.

In other words, miscellaneous stuff goes in the combined thread, and anything related to policies goes in the policies thread. The reason I link to the website is there's feedback links there for mod components that weren't created by me (and are not in the forum).

Having a single bugs thread got very large, very quickly, making it difficult to find anything there. It's easier to track problems if each issue has its own thread. This is why I asked an admin for the Testing forum to be created in early February, and talk about in "Reporting Bugs" how to create a new thread for each bug.

One thing I could do is just ask for the beta & bugs thread to be closed. Ever since the forum was created, the thread's only purpose has been to direct readers to the forum (with the information in the first post).

 

[rhammer640]

maybe you should create a sticky thread saying somethign like "read this before posting" and put all posting instructions in there. Ive seen it enough on other forums, and it might help put all the instructions in one place

 

[Thalassicus]

That's a good idea, I'll give it a try.