1. Well if you are adding more chart data that sounds great, I'm not sure how you are going to utilize them but with the current drop down boxes on the home/index page I had some difficulty finding hardware as apposed to software data and it took some trial and error to navigate the site. Organizing the menus once things are changed would be nice, and including drop down menus for forums so people can jump straight to my topics/hot topics/sub-forums.

2. Keep a few sub forums. Jay520 makes a great point. Eliminating them entirely will only remove this feature from those that use it. I agree that a tag search feature would drastically improve navigating threads, but no reason to remove sub forums. Though my topics/VGChartz Buddy is a great way to maintain current interests, the additional ability to favorite/unfavorite a thread might be useful.

3. Jay520 said that including an invisible like button on posts would be acceptable. I agree. Invisible likes could serve as a testing scale for users and the likes could add to their point totals serving as a form of generating "respect"; though that might not be the perceived effect of points, it is easier than implementing an additional system to showcase "respect". Having the typical like/dislike buttons completely open will be abused as they are on almost every site that utilizes them, even if it is only a like button.

4. Adding colors to the sales data according to platform might be nice, as long as it is readable. And for that matter the current font/style of the software/hardware sales data is not very readable. I suggest experimenting with fonts/colors until something works. I mean, what is that Italics?

5. Recent badges and currently playing under profile pics are not that necessary and I've seen currently playing used as fuel for attacking credibility.

6. Wall content. I do not frequent walls, but if content is bothering users in the form of pictures and videos I would look into fixing that. We wouldn't want walls to turn into MySpace. Signatures can get a little out of hand too with size, and I'm detecting Malware from the content certain users have on their signatures.

Yes, it's from ioi's thread and no, I don't know if the plans have changed.

It would be most beneficial, to me anyway, to have Expandable/Collapsible buttons on the main page with at least 5 trending topics within the respective specific forums, with at least 5 stickies above.

Expandable/Collapsible is so that a member can have an option to not view a topic this wish not see; on that note, have such feature savable.

Also, I too agree that NSFW should not appear on the front page.

In addition, many, with I included, would like to reduce clutter and prevent multiple same topics, I would then suggest to statically keep the headline/topic located in the top section in a thread.

I'm the guy who spurgeonryan's whole "Don't listen to the veterans!" thing is about, because I stand against everything he stands for

The idea is that the rules of the forum, as much as the mechanics of it, will greatly shape the kind of discussion had therein.

A few ideas:

1. Much harder cracking down on trolls. One would not, for instance, go into a Valkyria Chronicles topic and go "Man VC just ain't that great, geez." That's trolling, even if subtle by this site's standards. It's another thing entirely if one is in a Fire Emblem topic and goes "Man Fire Emblem is way better than VC, geez." That's at elast context-appropriate, and isn't in the middle of a crowd that is going to want to fight you for saying that. Same concept applies to trolling hardware or companies. Away you go!

2. Crack down on spammers. Make them hurt. Is that by banning spammers? No. You just take away the venues by which they spam, which means No More Spam-Ass Forum Games. The Person Above You and Elimination Threads, specifically, would need to be destroyed. Keep the Mafia games, or other games which are actually constructive games that promote discussion, but they need to be cordoned off from the main topic forums. There would be no exceptions to this.

3. One game, one thread. We do not need multiple topics about, for example, TANK! TANK! TANK!. They could all fit in one thread. Same with ME3, or Zelda, or Fire Emblem. The same could be used to talk about larger collections - M.U.G.E.N.'s Vita thread is the perfect example of this at work. Long thread, perfectly civil, has all the information one could want, plenty of good discussion, and people are glad to share news with someone instead of makign them search for a specific post. Have a Vita thread. Have a Resistance thread. Do not have more than one of each. Duplicate threads would be locked. Repeated offenders would be banned.

4. Enhanced moderator accountability. The moderators need to be policed by the administrators in the same way regular users are policed by the mods. Now, admins are there primarily to support the mods, but they're also there to review complaints and make sure that no mod is overstepping their bounds. If they are, they get their shit kicked out. Moderators would not be elevated to that status because they are friends of current moderators, they would get the job because they seem like the best pick, and they have the right combination of friendliness and ambivalence. This enhanced accountability would be necessary, because:

5. Enhanced moderator discretion. "Trolling" is fuzzy as a concept and no hard-and-fast definition will catch all of it, except for maybe "Being as big an asshole as possible without technically breaking the rules". It's up to the mods to decide what trollign is, and it's up to the mods to ban the Hell out of trolls.

6. A definite, concrete limit on sig sizes. For instance, one would be allowed no more than one image totalling less than 150 pixels in height and 600 in width - or probably smaller. One would not have a block of text larger than such an image. Users who break this rule get their sigs turned off. ALSO NO GIFS ABOVE A CERTAIN KB SIZE.

There are other changes I might make, but those are the primary tenets right there

Appealing specifically to existent userbases leads in more specialized content over time, which is fine for the people it's meant for but also inevitably leads to a contraction of the population as the problem is more exacerbated.

It has already happened here, and it will continue to happen so long as this forum does anything besides trying to encourage the best discussions that it is possibel to encourage. It's not about bringing old members back, spurge, it is about bringing in new members who enjoy good conversations and will contribute to discussions in a constructive way.

Your method will lead to further degeneration and contraction, in that order.

I agree with Kyliedog on the spoiler tags and multiquote feature. I want a convenient way to tag spoilers; not having to type out the whole HTML code to tag a few words here and there.

Also, less sub-forums.

Where? I don't see it.

We can edit thread titles for just this reason, mon frer