I got another brand new creative idea: ot.apolyton.net

Robert Plomp · November 21, 2002, 07:18

My idea is that if you goto http://ot.apolyton.net or http://apolyton.net/ot you get at the off topic immediately.

same with the poly forum, the civ3 forums etc. etc.

that'll take away much of the server load, because people can go straight to the forum they want to go to, without loading the main-forum page first!

If there are 1000 visitors per day, that means 1000 pageloads less!!!

is that a good idea or what!
now gimme that "Apolyton Creative Director" title

MarkG · November 21, 2002, 07:25

soemthing tells me most people have already bookmarked the OT instead of the front page or the main forums page....

Alex · November 21, 2002, 07:48

cybershy is full of creative ideas today...

Robert Plomp · November 21, 2002, 08:11

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
soemthing tells me most people have already bookmarked the OT instead of the front page or the main forums page....

Most, but not all

And I don't feel like bookmarking 20 pages..........
it's not as if I only visit the OT

Or are you using the "Never ever use any of CS's brand new cool ideas" policy again

Zopperoni · November 21, 2002, 09:06

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
soemthing tells me most people have already bookmarked the OT instead of the front page or the main forums page....

Yea, I have that at home, but I still find it a bit of a drag to be redirected to the Main Forum Index everytime I log in from outside my house.

-Jrabbit · November 21, 2002, 09:59

C'mon, Markos, a lot of us visit different forums at different times, and it wouldn't be that hard to do. Set up directories down to the individual forum level. Then publish a list of them so ppl can d/l or print it. Much like smileys and vB code, ppl would learn the ones they like pretty quickly.

With a good naming convention, we could go straight to the forums we want instead of loading the main forum page evey time we cruise through. My different destinations from the past week...

/ot = Off topic
/polycomm = apolyton community
/c2mp = Civ2 muliplayer
/c2strat = civ2 strategy
/c2genl = civ2 general/help
/c2dg = civ2 democracy game

Functions oft-used are
/mythread
/newposts

Even though I don't think it would really affect server traffic all that much, I still give CyberShy's idea =

for user convenience upgrade.

spartak · November 21, 2002, 11:29

I like the idea. especially as I mostly visit the AC forums these days before offering my thoughts in this forum.

Rasbelin · November 21, 2002, 11:43

Well, the shortcuts would be useless for me, because I still launch the main Poly page by pressing one button on my keyboard, so I wouldn't use those anyway.

Henrik · November 21, 2002, 11:57

I like the idea, especially as I can't bookmark the forums at school (ususally I just type apolyton.net/forums)

Dauphin · November 21, 2002, 12:21

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
soemthing tells me most people have already bookmarked the OT instead of the front page or the main forums page....

Bookmarked? Hell, it's my homepage!

Alex · November 21, 2002, 13:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin

Bookmarked? Hell, it's my homepage!

there's a bright and sunny world outside, you know?...

Dauphin · November 21, 2002, 17:16

Quote:

there's a bright and sunny world outside, you know?...

Being from England, more like a dark and wet world outside.

Robert Plomp · November 21, 2002, 17:27

Quote:

Bookmarked? Hell, it's my homepage!

You *could* have waited untill Markos created this new feature before you said things like this! And you *could* have supported us! Now Markos might get the wrong idea, like he's right or something.........

ixnay · November 21, 2002, 17:42

The main forum page is my homepage.

Immortal Wombat · November 21, 2002, 17:48

I don't set 'poly to my homepage.

Because if I did, and I'm only online for 5 minutes, to load google or something, then it marks all the threads read, and it's a pain. This way I only load 'poly if I have 30 minutes absolute minimum to spend here.

What would be good is an control panel link, so I could visit there first, and check only my subscribed forums.

Dauphin · November 21, 2002, 18:23

In fact Google is my hompage, but I said it for the dramatic effect that IW so loves.

Hell yes!

Provost Harrison · November 21, 2002, 18:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin

Bookmarked? Hell, it's my homepage!

Immortal Wombat · November 21, 2002, 19:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
In fact Google is my hompage, but I said it for the dramatic effect that IW so loves.

Hell yes!

Mercator · November 21, 2002, 19:32

That's just a silly idea... If anything it would only achieve to isolate the OT (or any other section) even more than it already is. You know, this still is a civilization site.

And, if you would start expanding it as Jrabbit suggested, where would it end? You'd probably start forgetting which abbreviations are for which forums, or the abbreviations are too long...

Is it really that hard to click on one or two links? If you can't make bookmarks, use some of the excellent features such as "my threads", "new posts" or the forum/thread subscription in the control panel.

Thank you[/admin]

Caesar the Great · November 21, 2002, 23:14

i've typed apolyton.net/forums each time

how many thousand visits would that be?

needless to say i've gotten rather good at typing it

Skanky Burns · November 21, 2002, 23:54

I've made that a link in my favourites menu. Easier to click than to type it in.

DanQ · November 22, 2002, 00:18

Thanks for the suggest, Cybershy, but it is not going to materialize.

As Markos said earlier, those who want to visit the "Off-Topic" forum right away have it bookmarked directly or at least the forum homepage. Besides, those who visit the homepage first are more exposed to the other sections of the site -- say, those that hold my copious volumes of news items for example...

---------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

Robert Plomp · November 22, 2002, 03:09

Quote:

DanQ: Thanks for the suggest, Cybershy, but it is not going to materialize.

just digits are fine with me as well

Quote:

say, those that hold my copious volumes of news items for example...

Never underestimate the power of the news-dropdown list!

Alex · November 22, 2002, 09:10

Poly home page is in my favorites. I always access the forums after I visit the home page. After all, my interest in this site is only related to the civ games. The forums are an addendum, nothing more.

Robert Plomp · November 22, 2002, 09:14

Quote:

I always access the forums after I visit the home page.

does the homepage offer any info that the forum-homepage doesn't offer?

Alex · November 22, 2002, 12:27

Quote:

Originally posted by CyberShy

Quote:

I always access the forums after I visit the home page.

does the homepage offer any info that the forum-homepage doesn't offer?

hm, now that you asked, I guess not...

DrSpike · November 24, 2002, 08:09

I use opera, which remembers where you are within the site anyway. I guess the idea might help for IE users though.

Robert Plomp · November 24, 2002, 09:21

Pherhaps one of the admins can tell me what info the homepage offers which is not offered by the home-forum page?

MarkG · November 24, 2002, 10:40

Quote:

Pherhaps one of the admins can tell me what info the homepage offers which is not offered by the home-forum page?

not much
- your subscribed forums
- the last three headlines of each section

also the light styles main forum page doesnt have what we call "hot icons", e.g. the images promoting the important features around the site.