For the record, I was around whilst you were moving stuff around and once I got used to it actually did look a million times better than before.

People around here are far too nostalgic for their own good methinks.

Well, I'll admit that nostalgia is part of it.  The forums haven't changed very much since I first showed up in 2001.  But if this had been presented to everyone as an idea first, and everyone had at least a say or a vote for it, then I could have lived with some changes.

The problem is that Acrio did this without telling ANYONE about it beforehand, just like what was done with the advertising for the $5 Domain Hosting, and just like what was nearly done with the Flashchat being made the only option for the Mobius Forum as far as chats go.  And Acrio even stated as he was doing it that he was making it fit his browser better (whether that's true or just yanking chains, it's pretty selfish either way).

It's just poor planning to mess around with a format everyone is familiar with and not tell anyone or explain what went where.  And it's bad PR for changes that otherwise might be good.  I bet that if Acrio and Lighthead had been communicating more openly with the staff and the forum, things would have turned out a whole lot different.

From a purely financial point of view wouldn't having these forums grouped together reduce the amount of page views, therefore making ad-free forum donations last longer?

I suspect the consensus here should you actually ask about it is:

Not asking people before you change things when it's not actually your website = bad form

Changing the site to have a cleaner and arguably less immature look = good move

On a more selfish note, the MoFo is half-dead as it is in terms of active membership so much of this is inconsequential; seeing a proper revival would be nice but to be blunt I'm not sure the staff here have either the will or capacity to do it.

Little details like this have been bugging me for a while but there's never been an appropriate time to mention it nor any indication that people even still cared. :/

You forgot the part where Acrio acted like he owned the MoFo completely and didn't need anyone's permission to do anything.

how about the part where everyone acted like they were entangled in a dramatic tale of betrayal and intrigue just because someone was silly on a sonic the hedgehog message board

Deck, just because you don't think it's a big deal doesn't make it suddenly okay for anyone to mess with the board.  People like it here or they wouldn't come, and when someone threatens what a group likes, it's only natural for people to get upset.

how about the part where people didn't use strawmen to make a point

EDIT: I was beaten to the punch and this ceased to be funny.

wut everyone said BUT

Now that it's been brought up, a discussion on giving the forum (and site?) a healthy renovation would be appreciated. As Terg mentioned, it's been in this state more or less since 2001, and in Internet Time that's Ancient Egypt by now.

Indeed. The site could use a nice sprucing up, but it needs to be done in a clean, orderly, and official fashion. No plays for power or selfish bigotry. Although, I do have to agree with Deck on the point of this being a bit on the dramatic side, but to each their own. I would volunteer my services in that if I could remember how to do it. Unfortunately, it's been years since I've worked on a website in such a way. Although, we could still drum up ideas for a new layout. Any suggestions? Anyone?

Let's reel ourselves in; I reorganized the forum listing for more readability and less scrolling and was banned for exactly that.

Just for the record -- I banned you not because you
reorganized the forum, but because I seriously thought that you were either
hacking or using some sort of loophole Yuku-wise to gain privileges/powers that
you shouldn't have had at that point (and considering the FlashChat hack and
the fact that you have used loopholes before, I don't think that this was (or
at least really hope that this wasn't) an unreasonable assumption/reaction on my part).  [Late Edit:  Sorry about this -- I don't normally delete stuff from my posts like this, but I really didn't like how this was coming across x.x -- based on what I can tell, there was some strangeness involved, but there were also unknown (and possibly/hopefully situational) factors as well@anyone who read my post prior to this edit.  Whatever the case, hopefully the outcome of all of this means there won't (or at least shouldn't) ever be a repeat of what happened last Saturday).]

Anyway, I'm a bit late to this thread, but just wanted to
clear that up.

----------------------------------------------------

As for the topic at hand...hmm...don't really have any ideas
in particular atm, though I personally like the fact that the forums don't just
have generic names (any place could have a forum named "Help,"
"Video Games," or "General," for example, whereas here
they're named "Emerald Visitor Center," "The Gaming Academy",
and "MF Central").  Ignoring
the "nostalgia" part of it, I like that it gives this place a bit of
a unique/"personal" flavor (and even if the names themselves might be
a tiny bit unclear about what the forum is for, that's what the forum descriptions
are for, right?).  Anyway, that's just my
current thoughts on that.

I don't necessarily mean changing names, but a new background for the main page couldn't hurt. A new skin for the site is all that I am suggesting. After all, I've stared blankly at that picture for, what... maybe ten years? More perhaps? How long HAS it been since the MoFo's background was changed?