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Questions? - Upcoming changes to forum categories (February 2020)

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  • HestiaHestia Posts: 1,997 Member
    edited February 2020
    Hi @EA_Mai ! Thank you for responding and engaging with us on the forums. You have no idea how much this means. :) I look forward to the addition of the forum labels. I was going to suggest switching to another forum software, but it seems to be far fetched at this point.
    Hestia wrote: »
    I am very happy with these changes as the forums will be a lot easier and user-friendly to navigate. Thank you for keeping these things in mind.

    I would like to retract my statement above in regards to these forum changes after reading the updated/edited thread.
    1. I strongly believe that there are still a vast number of Sims 3 players. I believe that combining TS4 x TS3 into one subforum wouldn't be a fair or positive move for the entire community. Both games are very different in their own ways and I think it would be most wise to leave the discussion of both games in their own subforums.
    2. In regards to The Sims (1) and The Sims 2, it would be a lot more organized if those two categories were combined into one. Possibly naming it as "Classic Sims Games" - that entire category not only for TS1/TS2 but other spin-off titles such as Urbz, Sims Medieval, Bustin' Out, etc.
    3. "Artist Haven/Video Haven". I think it would be better to simply combine this under the subforum "Creative Corner" instead of "The Sims 4 Artist Haven & Video Haven". The shorter the subforum name, the more appealing.
    4. Why do we have a separate sub-section for AU/NZ players? I think it just adds more clutter. Unless you do plan on having a section for EU & Asian players too.

    Some changes if possible
    • Allow certain forum categories to be collapsible, muted or hidden. I don't care for The Sims Mobile and Alexa. I don't want to see it on my homepage.

    ⚠️ I strongly urge the entire forum team to implement labels before moving forward with any changes.
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  • EA_MaiEA_Mai Posts: 1,800 EA Staff (retired)
    edited February 2020
    Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and questions!
    I think everything will be more clear once we have applied the changes and all the pieces are in place. :)

    Another round of answers:
  • EA_MaiEA_Mai Posts: 1,800 EA Staff (retired)
    edited February 2020
    Atreya33 wrote: »
    EA_Mai wrote: »
    I've only recently bought cats & dogs and seasons. Where will I find discussions on these without having to trawl through years of posts?
    Atreya33 wrote: »
    With the strict necroposting policy around here I stopped using the search function. Whenever I come across interesting info during a search I have to double check if the post is not too old.
    @flippinmary @Atreya33
    A tip with the searching tool:
    If you want to get only recent discussions, you can use the 'Advanced search' options that allow you to filter the results. For example, 'Date within 6 months of today' would allow you to find content posted during the last 6 months only. Other options and filters are helpful as well, for example: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/search?adv=1&search=seasons&title=&author=&cat=1171&subcats=1&tags=&discussion_poll=1&discussion_d=1&within=6+months&date=today

    I just tested it by searching realm of magic within the last 6 months. If I leave comments checked, I see the same discussion 5 times in a row. If I unckeck comments , it will only search the title but I will miss any posts that are about realm of magic but have only RoM or spellcaster in the title, not the actual pack name. Or am I still missing something? What is the best way to filter out a pack when all of them are thrown together on one big pile?
    @Atreya33 In my experience for what you are trying to achieve, I'd search for discussions or polls, but not for comments. That way you would be searching for the term you chose ('realm of magic') in the titles or first post of the topics. Then I'd do the same with 'ROM'.
    As you have seen, if 'realm of magic'/'ROM' is not part of the title/first post, it won't find it - search is not that smart. This is one of the reasons I believe these questions around having pack names in topic titles came up. (As well as for the ease of identifying from the category view what discussion belongs to which pack)
  • EA_MaiEA_Mai Posts: 1,800 EA Staff (retired)
    SuzyCue72 wrote: »
    The Sims 3: •'Sims 3 Help Center Bugs & Issues' and 'Sims 3 Help Center iPhone & Mobile Discussions' are no longer used, and they will be archived.

    This, the bolded text, I don't understand, there's people posting in "Sims 3 Bugs and Issues" section almost every day, did it myself only a week ago, so it's indeed being used, but of course it's not as active as the General discussion, that's to be expected.
    @SuzyCue72 :) That was me being short. Longer version:
    We currently have 'Bugs & Issues', 'Mac Discussions', 'Technical discussions' for The Sims 3 'Help' topics. Considering the amount of activity in these categories (quite low nowadays), there is no need to have 3 different boards for 'help request' kind of threads. That's the main reason we are reducing them to 2 categories. This should also make it easier for those members who kindly visit these categories regularly checking if there's anyone asking for help, with less categories to review.
  • EA_MaiEA_Mai Posts: 1,800 EA Staff (retired)
    edited February 2020
    Hestia wrote: »
    1. I strongly believe that there are still a vast number of Sims 3 players. I believe that combining TS4 x TS3 into one subforum wouldn't be a fair or positive move for the entire community. Both games are very different in their own ways and I think it would be most wise to leave the discussion of both games in their own subforums.
    2. In regards to The Sims (1) and The Sims 2, it would be a lot more organized if those two categories were combined into one. Possibly naming it as "Classic Sims Games" - that entire category not only for TS1/TS2 but other spin-off titles such as Urbz, Sims Medieval, Bustin' Out, etc.
    3. "Artist Haven/Video Haven". I think it would be better to simply combine this under the subforum "Creative Corner" instead of "The Sims 4 Artist Haven & Video Haven". The shorter the subforum name, the more appealing.
    4. Why do we have a separate sub-section for AU/NZ players? I think it just adds more clutter. Unless you do plan on having a section for EU & Asian players too.

    Some changes if possible
    • Allow certain forum categories to be collapsible, muted or hidden. I don't care for The Sims Mobile and Alexa. I don't want to see it on my homepage.
    @Hestia sadly, the forums are never going to be absolutely perfect for anyone - what you find interesting or what you come looking for to the forums is not going to be exactly the same than everyone else. When we make any decisions we think about all of you and try to balance the different interests, what's possible to do, etc. That means it might not always be clear why we decided A instead of B because it doesn't match the way you personally use the forums.
    • Don't worry, we are not combining The Sims 4 and The Sims 3 forums! :)
    • 'The Sims 4 Artist Haven & Video Haven' will be inside 'Creative Corner'. The reason for having 'The Sims 4' in the name is mainly because having the generation clear in the category names has proven to be helpful when avoiding confusion in the past.
    • The 'Australian & New Zealand' category will remain as well - this one is long to explain, but we opened this category when we welcomed Australian and New Zealand Simmers to these forums a couple years ago (a separate forum existed in the past).
  • HestiaHestia Posts: 1,997 Member
    @EA_Mai Hi! Thanks for clarifying. I am very happy that TS4 and TS3 won’t be combined. As for the rest, I completely understand now. Thanks again for interacting! ❤️
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  • SuzyCue72SuzyCue72 Posts: 526 Member
    EA_Mai wrote: »
    @SuzyCue72 :) That was me being short. Longer version:
    We currently have 'Bugs & Issues', 'Mac Discussions', 'Technical discussions' for The Sims 3 'Help' topics. Considering the amount of activity in these categories (quite low nowadays), there is no need to have 3 different boards for 'help request' kind of threads. That's the main reason we are reducing them to 2 categories. This should also make it easier for those members who kindly visit these categories regularly checking if there's anyone asking for help, with less categories to review.

    @EA_Mai - Since "A picture is worth a thousand words" as the old saying goes, I put this together, with text about the future for every category in "The sims 3 Help Center", as I understand it. Is it correct?

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  • EA_SpectreEA_Spectre Posts: 263 EA Administrator
    @SuzyCue72 You should be able to see the changes now.
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    Love it! Thanks team. 😊
  • HestiaHestia Posts: 1,997 Member
    edited February 2020
    @EA_Mai Looks a lot better, cleaner and more organized. No complaints so far! Thanks again for paying attention to this.

    I do have one question:

    What is "The Sims Franchise"? It is a category and with only one sub-forum separated from The Sims Legacy Titles. What specifically should go there?
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  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited February 2020
    Just one question. By combining TS4 packs back together like at first, and topics moved to general are you making room for discussions about TS5? :D
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • HestiaHestia Posts: 1,997 Member
    @Cinebar Maybe that category “The Sims Franchise” is a hint to TS5 discussions.. 😈🤔🤫
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  • ParyPary Posts: 6,871 Member
    Much better :)
    As @Sk8rblaze said, there were a lot of categories implemented by the former CM that were really unnecessary and just made the forum more convoluted. I really disliked having topics moved from TS3 general to the EP or SP forum because hardly anyone ever went in there. I'm glad they're gone, and we can just post in general about our experiences.
    Thanks!
    Sims 3 Household Exchange - Share your households!
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  • ListentoToppDoggListentoToppDogg Posts: 2,103 Member
    edited February 2020
    I hate the new arrangement :/
  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    The forum is now much more streamlined and I don't have to go looking in several different topics searching for the same thing. Love it.
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    @Simburian
    That's why I never come over to the sims 4 section with sims 3 stuff.Its annoying.Some people play just 4, some play just 3, some both.
    But the sims 3 section should just be for sims 3 and sims 4 for just 4.
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    EA_Mai wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and questions!
    I think everything will be more clear once we have applied the changes and all the pieces are in place. :)

    Another round of answers:

    My main concern and I'm already seeing it, was that the fact that the expansion pack thread was indeed inactive with threads from years ago, and now all those threads got put into the general discussion and new members are bumping those threads, making it so all our active threads get pushed back and lost in the mix of old pointless threads.
  • ParyPary Posts: 6,871 Member
    @EA_Mai , just one thing, am I blind or is the Sims 2 Creative Corner gone or merged? I can't find it.
    Sims 3 Household Exchange - Share your households!
    PoppySims Archive
    InnaLisa Pose Archive
    Devolution of Sims - a once customisable open world sandbox which has become a DLC Party catalog in a shoebox
    I ♡ Pudding
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    Pary wrote: »
    @EA_Mai , just one thing, am I blind or is the Sims 2 Creative Corner gone or merged? I can't find it.

    From the original post:

    Other The Sims Games:
    'The Sims 2 General Discussion' and 'The Sims 2 Creative Corner' will now be 'The Sims
    2'.
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    @EA_Mai I know I'm a bit late to the comments/suggestions for the changes but I've noticed this because I usually look up threads through the "Recent Discussions" tab: All the TS4 boards (minus Stories and Legacies) are marked clearly with "The Sims 4" but none of the TS3 ones are.
    Is there a chance for the TS3 sub-boards to be renamed in the same fashion so they don't look like they're the default ones?
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • EA_MaiEA_Mai Posts: 1,800 EA Staff (retired)
    edited February 2020
    My main concern and I'm already seeing it, was that the fact that the expansion pack thread was indeed inactive with threads from years ago, and now all those threads got put into the general discussion and new members are bumping those threads, making it so all our active threads get pushed back and lost in the mix of old pointless threads.
    Definitely, I would also prefer necroposting wouldn't happen in any category, but it's quite inevitable. We have years old threads everywhere and not everyone is as familiar with the forums... It's a learning process, we all were new at some point :)
    @EA_Mai I know I'm a bit late to the comments/suggestions for the changes but I've noticed this because I usually look up threads through the "Recent Discussions" tab: All the TS4 boards (minus Stories and Legacies) are marked clearly with "The Sims 4" but none of the TS3 ones are.
    Is there a chance for the TS3 sub-boards to be renamed in the same fashion so they don't look like they're the default ones?
    You are right, I missed thinking of 'Recent Discussions' when we were discussing whether to add 'The Sims 3' to 'General Discussion' or not. This category is now 'The Sims 3 General Discussion'. That should cover it, the rest were already using 'The Sims 3' in the name :)
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