Community Forums

Does anyone have any ideas on how we can promote the community forums?

There is such a wealth of information and great discussion that so many members are missing.

We have it in the drop down box if your looking there and the monthly newsletter if you subscribe but there must be something more we can do to increase awareness and participation.

I love reading and posting here and so do all the regulars but I just wish we could expand on it.

I was thinking a button on the home page. Anyone else have any ideas ?

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I totally agree with you. It needs better promotion because many players are not even aware it exists. Personally I always try to mention it in the chat but I don’t think it’s enough to get people involved. It has to be promoted on a site level.

It’s already on the dashboard page but it’s on the bottom right corner so you have to scroll down to actually see it. Maybe have it placed higher, somewhere between the ring games and the tourneys. And maybe update the topics more often to show the variety of things being discussed. “what do you do when you’re not playing poker” and “it’s the link it’s the link” have been there for almost a month now. If I wasn’t coming to the forums I would think these were the only subjects being discussed!

Another idea is to get some competitions in the community forums, and give away chips, tickets or prizes. This always attracts people more than anything. Just like they advertise for RP’s Facebook page by saying “like us and get 5000 chips”, they can start similar promotions to get people to visit the forums.

I’ll post more suggestions if I think of any. What do you think about these ones Craig?

Thanks
Maya

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I think all the suggestions are great. Anything to bring it to the forefront is great. I don’t believe in deleting threads unless they went way of topic and even at that just deleted the nonsense posts that have nothing to do with the topic.

I personally would like to see on the homepage a bar across the top with site selections there instead of a drop down box under your picture that many don’t know exists . Almost like a favorites bar with buttons labeled with the content it provides.

Something for ownership and staff to think about.

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I agree … most players don’t known the forum page exists. There is a lot of useful information here and also a good way to meet players. I never would have become friends with you (Craig) we have never played a game together, or someother friends if it wasn’t for the forums

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Yes I agree

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Took me awhile to find it…if you only had to hit one button to get here it would probably help…but nobody is buying any chips down here…

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I love that you all are thinking about this! We definitely have some forum initiatives in mind for the future, including things you’ve discussed.

I’d like to run some similar trivia questions here as I do on Facebook, though the strategy levels and thinking tend to run a bit deeper here. They’re primarily used for education over on Facebook since a lot of folks get confused about why one hand won over the other, so we might need to run different types of trivia/contests here.

Having a more prominent button has been discussed, but we don’t have a ton of screen real estate to work with. We were also trying to figure out how to make our Help Center a bit more obvious since it answers a lot of common questions people have. It’s a balance to be sure!

If you all think of anything else, don’t hesitate to post! I’d love to hear your suggestions. :smile:

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Like I said a favorites type bar would work nicely and that thin bar wouldn’t eat up that much real estate at all but at the top of the page of course where the buttons would be seen. I measured it out and everything in the drop down box would fit nicely and look aesthetically pleasing :blush:

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Add a “Forums” button next to the “Promotions” button on the dashboard / header. It wouldn’t take up much space and would get more people to come check out the forums.

replay poker forum

-Marc

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Good idea Marc… clearly visible and easy access to the forums.

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Depends on people’s screens … :confused:

image

We probably won’t be adding an additional button anytime soon, but it’s something we’ll keep in mind, as we’re always considering the best design to have for our site.

Trivia, promotions, etc. are things I can implement sooner. :slight_smile:

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Oh didn’t realize that. On my browser Google Chrome there’s a space between promotions and the search bar.

-Marc

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I still like my idea . Most websites have it for users navigation to their favorite places on the site.

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So Fizzy,
It takes staff less than 15 minutes , to add 1 button and link it to the forum…
Even if its only for sheets/giggles , you’d see the direct impact if any over 30-60 days… after that if its not helping, then just delete the button. I keep hearing " we are doing this big project, and all of out team’s time is spoken for "… really 15 minutes ???

You have players doing your job basically, getting out infront of a problem “we see on a daily basis”. I know for a fact in another thread I described a re-do of the Dashboard page to address this and other issues, and got the stock reply " we are considering many suggestions like this for our new upgrade/update, but will not be making any changes ahead of that "…

In general, yes I get it 10 different 15 minute thingies… is 2.5 hours… god forbid meaningfull changes , in such a short period, would occur… when the “new update” is months and months in the making… What better way to see whats good for the new update, than minor tweaks that could all be done in a couple hrs, let alone just 1 day… I could see Shakeraise telling Fizzy or another person… “Take 1 day off, clear your mind of this update rollout… here’s a list of 15 min fixes, can you take care of these for me.” …
A teacher once told me, as far as multiple screen menus go… keep each page smaller than the screensize… for easy and speed of use…

When I gave Replay a suggestion for the dashboard, it was based on what prolly the ave screensize still in use, but alot of ppl never scroll, therefore prolly never see the thingy on the forums… I stay off the dashboard page as much as possible due to it lags me out, as it does many other players. Another topic was about MTTs canceling, and I went to the Dashboard to see what MTTs were currently being advertized… that 1 MTT that had 2 minutes to get 2 more ppl so it didn’t cancel, was NOT advertized on the dashboard as 1 of the 3 shown… go figure… So what is the use of the dashboard page in the 1st place ?? … If I’m not on a “dead page” due to playing, 90% of the time I’m on 1 of the 3 lobby pages, and other than logg’n in, I’m never on the dashboard page. The only usefull yet poorly implemented button, is if you get dumped from Replay, log back in, and need to get back to your table fast… then those buttons for that on the dashboard page are helpfull…

( @ Craig, the dropdown on the rightside gives great navigation, but is a dropdown, not a nav bar so not visible 100% of the time… is that what you mean so ppl have to see it all the time?? )

Yes I agree, but the difference between a button 200x100 pixels, and one 160x80… means that on any given row or column, you save space elsewhere for necessary things… Marc is right , I have a 1/3rd of the page between “promotions” and the search thingy, but here again… it could be as simple as “font size” from say 18 to 16, something that doesn’t diminish from the overall look but makes things much more functional… that right there gives you space for the word “Forum”…

Come back in 2 hrs, I’ll have a great pic for everyone on this issue.

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Yes correct that’s exactly what I meant . If you don’t see I you don’t know it’s there.

I’ll be checking in 2 hours to see what you came up with.

Think Like a favorites bar with navigation buttons to different site functions just like the drop down but sideways so they are right in your face and no need to ask where something is.

Real Estate you do have and could use is the Current Events area where you promote things like the current RSOP Series and Leagues and Back2Back Bonus, etc… Putting the Forums in that rotation would be a easy way to raise awareness, I think.

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Also a good idea.

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Another outstanding idea :+1:t2: It’s been on my mind for a while now. Time to streamline the navigation and concentrate on the game we love instead of looking for where we need to look to find what we are looking for.

Did I say that right? Lol

I remember when I first arrived here. I needed a manual to find things :joy:

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As Promised : ( less than 2 hrs )

This is what I see currently :

What if I saw this :

Now I have a oldschool 19" monitor ( not widescreen ) @ 1280x1024

Notice I did not convert Craig’s Idea to a Navbar, I did add Marc’s button… but its not necessary if you could see the topics thingy, cause that prolly itself will be clickable as a button, or a button next to that could be add’d to take ppl directly to the forum… just like ring/MTT have buttons straight to the lobbies…

This is not a complete refit of the Dashboard page, its just a freak’n example ( what I did it in 1 hr )… I cut everything down to 75% as page layout items, rearranged them, and voi-la … they all fit now… ( yes, activity needs to be completely redone… for more than just ring games ). I also even had room for the bottom thingies … like mods/players online/ect ect ect… which is truly the bottom of the page… but it eliminates any need for me to scroll and puts everything in my eyesight.

Both pics are exact same pixel size… highth/width

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Nice job Sarah. 2 hours and it’s doable with a navigation bar with same size font with plenty of space remaining .

Nice example in minimal time :+1:t2:

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