The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
This week from Monday 29th to Sunday 4th we had an incredible 1* new threads and that was spam that didn't get deleted. Compare this to a year or two ago when we would get at least 10 new threads every single day.
What's up with that? This is terrible Garin. Should we just close general chat and move the active threads (WLT, bargain, etc) to the games forum instead?
* - I didn't want to wait till midnight to post this, so exclude this post
What's up with that? This is terrible Garin. Should we just close general chat and move the active threads (WLT, bargain, etc) to the games forum instead?
* - I didn't want to wait till midnight to post this, so exclude this post
Page:
Now that Grix mentions it, the banner at the top is quite large. As well as the .info giveaway advert. If this was reduced slightly (even squashed a little) and the big white gaps were reduced between them, I'm pretty certain that will resolve some of the issue. But in all fairness, as I am settled here, I don't tend to think about the site design and the General Chat forum is favourited, so navigation isn't a problem. It is what you get used to.
In fact that was some of the feedback left about my own site, so had to adjust it to give myself more space.
I have no problem with lots of advertising - as I believe this chat community is a way of getting you to buy freeola products (it worked, I've been converted to an InstantPro user and many people here user or are considering using freeola broadband). The more advertising, the more likely a user will find something that will suit their needs and proceed to become a customer.
Failing that - a very unpopular decision I'm sure, but have two levels of membership - free - which enables you to use the site as it is, or premium, where a small annual fee is charged and that way you can have access to the pages without adverts - along with a few other perks. Freeola would be win win as if you are a premium member, you are paying for a service. This is unlikely to happen as it is more than certain to fail (especially with the community we have here at the moment.
In fact that was some of the feedback left about my own site, so had to adjust it to give myself more space.
I have no problem with lots of advertising - as I believe this chat community is a way of getting you to buy freeola products (it worked, I've been converted to an InstantPro user and many people here user or are considering using freeola broadband). The more advertising, the more likely a user will find something that will suit their needs and proceed to become a customer.
Failing that - a very unpopular decision I'm sure, but have two levels of membership - free - which enables you to use the site as it is, or premium, where a small annual fee is charged and that way you can have access to the pages without adverts - along with a few other perks. Freeola would be win win as if you are a premium member, you are paying for a service. This is unlikely to happen as it is more than certain to fail (especially with the community we have here at the moment.
You can submit them all week long, but it will be a Thursday they are in with a chance of winning.
Game cheats are normally achievements these days and they are popular things for people to look into. So it is all relevant, along with walkthrough's.
It would be very hard to jusge say 200 cheats against a good review, so splitting it into two makes sense in my books!
Game cheats are normally achievements these days and they are popular things for people to look into. So it is all relevant, along with walkthrough's.
It would be very hard to jusge say 200 cheats against a good review, so splitting it into two makes sense in my books!
So now you have to submit them on specific days? Awful, no wonder people aren't spontaneously writing reviews then.
I suppose they could save them up for the specific day but still... awful.
Edit: Or are you saying that the winner out of the previous weeks entries are announced on that specific day? Even so, more GADS + less effort = more people visiting and attempting.
I suppose they could save them up for the specific day but still... awful.
Edit: Or are you saying that the winner out of the previous weeks entries are announced on that specific day? Even so, more GADS + less effort = more people visiting and attempting.
Hedfix wrote:
Personally I'm not going to submit a review these days because
> the likelyhood is it'll lose to 'game cheats' even though I
> realise that is probably still the biggest growth area for hits
> to Freeola's site. :P
Only it wouldn't because Cheats and Walthroughs are Tuesdays and Reviews and Tech posts are Thursdays.
Personally I'm not going to submit a review these days because
> the likelyhood is it'll lose to 'game cheats' even though I
> realise that is probably still the biggest growth area for hits
> to Freeola's site. :P
Only it wouldn't because Cheats and Walthroughs are Tuesdays and Reviews and Tech posts are Thursdays.
I think I had a hand in killing the forums. Way back when it was busy I just became the various things that people liked to claim I was as a kind of experiment and see them go 'look I was right!', when deep down I knew they were very wrong.
Mind you I did keep making it pretty obvious what I was doing, but meh
Oh yeah and bring back GAD to 6/7 prizes a week, that'll help. Personally I'm not going to submit a review these days because the likelyhood is it'll lose to 'game cheats' even though I realise that is probably still the biggest growth area for hits to Freeola's site. :P
Mind you I did keep making it pretty obvious what I was doing, but meh
Oh yeah and bring back GAD to 6/7 prizes a week, that'll help. Personally I'm not going to submit a review these days because the likelyhood is it'll lose to 'game cheats' even though I realise that is probably still the biggest growth area for hits to Freeola's site. :P
As long as they're adverts for Dragon Doom World and Farming Addiction and Big Breasted Valkyrie and Ugly Face to Generic Cartoon maker, yes, I agree
Oh Grix, everybody knows the more adverts you can cram into a page the more successful you are.
I still think the design of this site is bloody awful. I get that they've gotta link it in with the rest of the site etc, but because of that, the whole design of the forums feels so cramped and unappealing.
It's the little things as well that just make it so Goddamned awkward to use. Signing in takes you to a "you have signed in" page. Well, cheers! What's the point in that? Why not straight back to where you were wanting to be in the first place?
Secondly, Timmargh's mentioned this before, when you press tab to select the Post Reply >> button, it doesn't go to it. It goes to the Freeola link at the bottom. Again, irritating.
Scrolling down the page irritates me, always. (I'm 1366 x 768, not common I know, but the width is longer than standard 1024 and the length is the same. I have a google toolbar to the right that takes the width down, but not that close to 1024)
Placeholders, adverts, and unnecessary information take higher priority in being the first thing I see when I come to the site. There's advert to the right that I have to scroll right to see the whole of. Why is that there? In a 1024 resolution it's completely off the screen, and you get a horizontal scroll bar on the page always. It's bloody hideous, and the three adverts are all for domain names (not including the tab for get dotted domains), which would appeal to a single audience, not three different ones.
There are three tabs at the top which I can understand since it's an integral thing for the whole site. There's an advert in the banner too, which I think is fine, works well into it. The Tabs in the banner specifically for the games/forums aren't central. Not a huge problem but again just adds to the mess.
Huge black/gold banner that I would LOVE to just delete from there. Please please get rid of it, this is a chat forum, the whole idea is to encourage people to keep chatting consistently, and it's a bit difficult to when it's something you have to go past every single time.
The details box to the right is bloated. Why do I need to know what my last three posts were, or search through my older chat posts? Having my nickname/avatar/email/account link/log out is all that's needed there. Plus, and here's the main problem, along with the rest of that right banner, it's removing space for the post entry.
And the worst thing about that is I can't click on the Post Reply button unless I SCROLL DOWN. How on earth is that meant to encourage chat? And as mentioned, I can't just tab to it to post, because it starts firing all over the place.
The box above the text entry box is unnecessary too. Currently reads: "You are posting a reply to the Should we close General Chat?" etc etc and a long sentence after it. Why not put the title of the thread in the "Posting: Reply" bit after it? That'd make much more sense to me, and save on even more height.
Search the forums, great, but too big. The list of Freeola tweets is really just more advertising and again, doesn't need to be there no matter how in touch you want to seem. Then it's just more internal adverts down the page.
If you took all that right side out, merged what was necessary with the left side and underneath the chat, you could have a lot wider text entry box. There's even a massive border around this entry box that probably doesn't need to be there. Work adverts into the left side, even on the first not-scrolled page if necessary, but man, sort out the position of the reply box. It's the most awkward damn thing and it makes replying on here frustrating, when I think we've all learnt to use the net sufficiently enough now to expect better.
(And of course, nothing personal, it's the design I can't stand, not the staff)
EDIT: Another point, on the main General Chat page, I have to scroll down a 768 resolution to see if there are any new topics or replies to them. The only ones I get on first glance are stickies. You honestly think that's ok?
It's the little things as well that just make it so Goddamned awkward to use. Signing in takes you to a "you have signed in" page. Well, cheers! What's the point in that? Why not straight back to where you were wanting to be in the first place?
Secondly, Timmargh's mentioned this before, when you press tab to select the Post Reply >> button, it doesn't go to it. It goes to the Freeola link at the bottom. Again, irritating.
Scrolling down the page irritates me, always. (I'm 1366 x 768, not common I know, but the width is longer than standard 1024 and the length is the same. I have a google toolbar to the right that takes the width down, but not that close to 1024)
Placeholders, adverts, and unnecessary information take higher priority in being the first thing I see when I come to the site. There's advert to the right that I have to scroll right to see the whole of. Why is that there? In a 1024 resolution it's completely off the screen, and you get a horizontal scroll bar on the page always. It's bloody hideous, and the three adverts are all for domain names (not including the tab for get dotted domains), which would appeal to a single audience, not three different ones.
There are three tabs at the top which I can understand since it's an integral thing for the whole site. There's an advert in the banner too, which I think is fine, works well into it. The Tabs in the banner specifically for the games/forums aren't central. Not a huge problem but again just adds to the mess.
Huge black/gold banner that I would LOVE to just delete from there. Please please get rid of it, this is a chat forum, the whole idea is to encourage people to keep chatting consistently, and it's a bit difficult to when it's something you have to go past every single time.
The details box to the right is bloated. Why do I need to know what my last three posts were, or search through my older chat posts? Having my nickname/avatar/email/account link/log out is all that's needed there. Plus, and here's the main problem, along with the rest of that right banner, it's removing space for the post entry.
And the worst thing about that is I can't click on the Post Reply button unless I SCROLL DOWN. How on earth is that meant to encourage chat? And as mentioned, I can't just tab to it to post, because it starts firing all over the place.
The box above the text entry box is unnecessary too. Currently reads: "You are posting a reply to the Should we close General Chat?" etc etc and a long sentence after it. Why not put the title of the thread in the "Posting: Reply" bit after it? That'd make much more sense to me, and save on even more height.
Search the forums, great, but too big. The list of Freeola tweets is really just more advertising and again, doesn't need to be there no matter how in touch you want to seem. Then it's just more internal adverts down the page.
If you took all that right side out, merged what was necessary with the left side and underneath the chat, you could have a lot wider text entry box. There's even a massive border around this entry box that probably doesn't need to be there. Work adverts into the left side, even on the first not-scrolled page if necessary, but man, sort out the position of the reply box. It's the most awkward damn thing and it makes replying on here frustrating, when I think we've all learnt to use the net sufficiently enough now to expect better.
(And of course, nothing personal, it's the design I can't stand, not the staff)
EDIT: Another point, on the main General Chat page, I have to scroll down a 768 resolution to see if there are any new topics or replies to them. The only ones I get on first glance are stickies. You honestly think that's ok?
You are right Garin, but we do need a way of trying to combat that.
I'd tend to avoid the idea of a referral link - more the idea of "did any member refer you" on the sign up page. That way we can't get overly blamed for spamming other forums.
@WH, I will get around to emailing you the idea. I don't seem to have the time to do anything whilst at home anymore, but will prioritise it on my "to do" list!
I'd tend to avoid the idea of a referral link - more the idea of "did any member refer you" on the sign up page. That way we can't get overly blamed for spamming other forums.
@WH, I will get around to emailing you the idea. I don't seem to have the time to do anything whilst at home anymore, but will prioritise it on my "to do" list!
HM wrote:
> And the idea of a six month referral competition - each user has
> a chance to win a GAD every 3/6/12 months (delete as applicable)
> if they refer the most new users. These new users MUST post over
> 50 non-spam posts (or just be known to be active users/or
> Internet based customers after referral). This way you get the
> word of mouth advertising you need and it will be generally
> really good quality advertising as the people giving it will be
> after a quality new referral to get the prize.
Will we each get a referral link we can go around spamming across other forums too? :P
> And the idea of a six month referral competition - each user has
> a chance to win a GAD every 3/6/12 months (delete as applicable)
> if they refer the most new users. These new users MUST post over
> 50 non-spam posts (or just be known to be active users/or
> Internet based customers after referral). This way you get the
> word of mouth advertising you need and it will be generally
> really good quality advertising as the people giving it will be
> after a quality new referral to get the prize.
Will we each get a referral link we can go around spamming across other forums too? :P
Page: