A number of proposals for the new forum

[Trance Blossom]

Punishment? Oh, well, I'm very sorry I tried to suggest something so horrible that would impede you from growing that precious number of yours. I didn't know that was a punishment.

But really, I was promised change, and all I got was a forum with a bad layout. I only wish for drastic change.

My goal in life isn't to grow my e-penis and get a huge post count. But if someone is an active member of the forum and contributes a lot, it should shine through via their post count.

ie:

Two members join the exact same day. One posts a lot and contributes all over the forum, while the other posts once a month. If there is no post count, to a new member they'd look exactly the same, even though one would be a bad person to ask for advice around the board, and the other would be one of the best people to ask. Post count isn't a matter of bragging rights unless you make it one, which is dumb.

Karma is dumb though, it's already proven to be easily abusable.

Also I'm getting the impression you want post count removed because you lost it from when the last forum broke down.

[Drunken Watermelon]

Actually, post count doesn't actually matter if you want to ask for advice.
In this case, this forum is about iM@S and if somebody were to ask about the game it's not something just anybody can respond to; that member will have required to have played the game to a reasonable amount or know a lot of information about it whilst having never played it.

You'd be surprised how you can get useful information from others with a lower post count than somebody with a higher one.

One theory would be that "active" member just posts a lot because they don't have the game while the "inactive" member doesn't because they do. What would you rather do? If you could play the game just fine, spend more time on the forums or the game you like so much you joined a forum on it?
While the above is a theory based on someone that heavily games, it could very well be true.

Another theory is busy lives, life schedule a bit hard to manage.

[Scotty]

Also, Scotty, please, don't act like a hero, at least, not at this moment, when people can still remember that you asked and were given a custom rank for yourself in the old forum, and right now, where you have high +points and low -points for what, coming back? May you choreographed this or not, at this moment, you had no right to say what you just did. The Karma is already is abused, let's stop it like this, bury it for later when the admins come for deletion.

In any case, this topic will turn into a troll war with people bashing each other's opinions. Relax mods and admins, I'm chill, and because I'm chill that I'm saying this: To the first mod who sees this, or when Trance catches up on this, please lock this thread for the earlier stated reason. Thanks..

If it's anybody who's trying to be a 'hero', it's you. Here you are replying to every bit of post you missed, and then you go off saying "troll this" and "troll that", but to top it all off, I always see you go "please lock this, please stop that" whenever something finally gets serious. What's wrong? I can't say what I think would be better for this place without being called a revolutionary or a hero, wherever the hell that came from. No one has bashed my opinion, like you thought would happen, so it's all right.

PS: Not once have I asked for a custom title. I was given one.

[Cien Laguoire]

The way I see it, nobody here is a hero or revolutionary, and anyone claiming that a person is is taking this way too seriously. It's a forum, for god's sake. Leave all that stuff for people who actually made life better for people somewhere in the world.

I only have a few of suggestions for this forum. One is to ditch the Karma system. I just don't believe it's necessary, and it can potentially give people a really bad reputation for no reason. I know some people on the forum will give someone else negative karma for no reason other than not liking that person, and I feel that just isn't right. On a related note, I think that "rankings" aren't necessary either. One guy would have a high rank, but not have particularly good or beneficial posts, or in the worst case, trolling and stuff that is way off topic. Yet someone else could post a little bit, but would tell us things about new games, DLC, and merchandise, or translate songs or update the Wiki. I feel having to rank these people based on their post count alone isn't really fair, either. Besides, I'm sure people here pride themselves on high karma/post count, which is just silly. Surely they would have better things to be proud of?

My second suggestion is more of an aesthetic thing. This place needs to look more like an Im@s fan forum. Pretty much all that gives away that this is such a place is the logo on the top banner. Everything else just looks like a standard, default forum. I'm sure a lot of us would like to see this place look like an Idolmaster forum, to compliment it actually being one. So, yea, a change of theme would be nice, if possible.

I guess the last thing is between General Chatter and Chit-Chat. I think having both is fine, as long as people are aware of the difference between them. General Chatter is for anything not Imas, though it does follow a subject and can be discussed. Chit-Chat doesn't necessarily follow the rules of General Chatter and may or may not be Im@s related, but it's there for people to let loose a little bit, play some games, or discuss stuff about themselves ("Me" Threads). Though of course there have been some problems coming from Chit-Chat, so people should keep an eye out for trouble.

One last thing:

In any case, this topic will turn into a troll war with people bashing each other's opinions. Relax mods and admins, I'm chill, and because I'm chill that I'm saying this: To the first mod who sees this, or when Trance catches up on this, please lock this thread for the earlier stated reason. Thanks..

I believe that quite a lot of people are smart enough not to troll each other... I thought this was a thread for suggestions to improve the forum, not some mindless bickering.
And last I checked, Trance was the creator of this thread, not you, Marx. Whether this thread should be locked or not should be at his discretion, not yours.

[Drunken Watermelon]

Skin selection would be better than a forced skin for the forums I think.

[Cien Laguoire]

Skin selection would be better than a forced skin for the forums I think.

Yea, that would be great, actually. What I had in mind was one for each of the groups in the PSP game (Perfect Sun, Missing Moon, Wandering Star, and Project Fairy), as well as one for Dearly Stars.

[Scotty]

Or maybe just a nice banner and a quick color swap of the forum, with the colors being that of the idols. Easy job is easy.

[Cien Laguoire]

Or maybe just a nice banner and a quick color swap of the forum, with the colors being that of the idols. Easy job is easy.

Yea, I suppose that works, too.
Just as long as we get something a little more than "default".

[Drunken Watermelon]

But I like the current forum design. :|

[Harrason]

I have a much simpler suggestion to make.

DS needs its own section. "Other Games" is not Other Games, its literally DS. Sooner or later PSP's going to get lesser attention and everyone's going to focus on the DS anyway(just like how the PSP was focused then and the 360 gets abandoned) since Namco Bandai's not going to stop at the Dearly Star's expansion of 2nd Vision.

As for the debate regarding the suggestions the previous people have made, personally i want karma scrapped, since it doesn't suit the community here at all, but i'll leave that to the higher-ups to decide.

Regarding Cien's aesthetic's suggestion...
You know, Cien. The first time i was here at this im@s forum, i loved the original skin(the pink one) because i think it really suits them well. Anyone else here with me?

[Mabz]

...this forum is about iM@S and if somebody were to ask about the game it's not something just anybody can respond to; that member will have required to have played the game to a reasonable amount or know a lot of information about it whilst having never played it.

I was thinking about this, except you put it very nicely in your comment.  Not everyone has had extensive relation or research on Im@s, let alone a person that just heard of Im@s might not be the most active of persons in the Anime culture.
Telling a person that "Yayoi is Genki!" to someone that is new to Im@s and anime at large won't exactly work as intended.
If the community and Admins would so choose, there could be a "New to Im@s/anime" area, to enlighten those with a positive experience in regaurds to the series and the culture it is linked to.  I am not exactly sure what would be the best of titles, but it would be helpful to those that are on the border about joining in communication with the group we have collectively made.

[Drunken Watermelon]

Regarding Cien's aesthetic's suggestion...
You know, Cien. The first time i was here at this im@s forum, i loved the original skin(the pink one) because i think it really suits them well. Anyone else here with me?

The Hello Kitty skin?

[Sam]

Also, look at Sam, for being inactive for like, 3 weeks, and during that time, he already accumulated -6 karma? If that's so, then all inactive members should be like him, but no, which just proves that it is all a troll.

and that Sam got five of his six minus points after he returned from "being inactive".

Smite Me~

:3

The way I see it, nobody here is a hero or revolutionary, and anyone claiming that a person is is taking this way too seriously. It's a forum, for god's sake. Leave all that stuff for people who actually made life better for people somewhere in the world....


...One last thing: I believe that quite a lot of people are smart enough not to troll each other... I thought this was a thread for suggestions to improve the forum, not some mindless bickering.

Thank you.
I'd back you up on this, except my opinion isn't respected XD...

Regarding Cien's aesthetic's suggestion...
You know, Cien. The first time i was here at this im@s forum, i loved the original skin(the pink one) because i think it really suits them well. Anyone else here with me?

In terms of iM@S, yeah. For me, the color helped to amplify the "mood" of iDOLM@STER that I felt.

The Hello Kitty skin?

... Minus the actual Hello Kitty Material. 8P

[Drunken Watermelon]

Why not? I thought we all liked the bling and glitter didn't we?

[Sam]

Why not? I thought we all liked the bling and glitter didn't we?

I guess I don't count... Like always.