I am now used to phBB and similar advanced forum-suites and the Foundry-forums is ...err... a little disappointing. Perhaps a better one could be found and implemented.

Or even better: a really cool one could be coded, probably including AI funtionality.

If only I had the time...

Konrad.

What, in particular, disappoints you about this forum system ?

Lets review the main purposes of a forum:
- publish information ("news")
- let others reply to it ("collaboration")

Both points are done here, i think.
Of course there are a whole bunch of 'full fledged function overloaded' forums with nice whistles and bells (and not to forget: graphical smilies/emoticons ) out there...
But is there really a advantage compared to this system?

BTW: i have nothing to do with the development of this system ;-)

However, lets use this thread to make some suggestions. Maybe someone is willing to implement them...

Well said Edison,

I see nothing wrong with the boards as they are, and although I'm sure any suggestions for improvements/enhancements would be welcomed by Alex, there is definitely a right and a wrong way to asking for them!

PhpBB has a few nice features, and it looks good despite being overloaded, but you won't find one here in the future. The custom software has many advantages, including the ability to integrate it into the entire site, and improve it on demand (yes, there are some changes to be made). There are already a few very interesting features in the pipeline, some AI capable...

So instead of just making negative comments without anything particular in mind, you may want to make positive suggestions and contributions. Besides, the forum is not holding back the foundry in any way.

-Angry Alex

Hi again,

I really didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings here. For me this is a plain technical issue and I wanted to hear some comments on this topic before going into detail. So if you really want some ideas I consider worth implementing, here you go:

- direct access to my previous posts
- direct access to someone else's previous posts
- powerful search features

As you can see I am not after the "fancy" stuff but instead want to get deeper access to the information stored in the forums.

And to just get this straight: Yes, I was disappointed by the forum, but only because the rest of the site is so great.

I am sorry if I was too direct, but believe me, my intentions are honourable.

Bye,

Konrad

BTW: The spell check is great, I didn't see that one on other forums before.

When you try, you can be a really useful positive person ;) Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Accessing other people's posts is something that completely slipped my mind. I'll implement that very soon, it's very simple and shouldn't take long at all.

As for the search, the global site search (button at the top) does in fact include the forums too... is that ok, or should I make it for the forums only? In that case, should I put a link further down the page too? I'm trying not to clutter the page too much, but if that's a useful feature, then I'll accommodate it.

And yes, other sites don't seem to worry about spelling ;)

Cheers again,
Alex

I was just about to reply saying I think this minimalistic forum is actually not that bad, when I realized.. WHERES THE REPLY BUTTON!

Whats the deal? Hitting reply on any of the names to the right of the messages, replies to that specific message?

Anyway, original point remains - most forums are too bloated and just make me load un-needed "avatars", image-based buttons etc..

Thanks for a great forum and what is already promising to be a great site :)