geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: iwarren on Sat, 14 March 2020, 18:19:02
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Seems like other websites are much better made and more practical for what this community does. Why hasn't there been a migration to a site like Drop? Geekhack just posts links to other sites. The only thing it has going for it is an already established community.
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We should roll back to a text based BBS
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Xcept Gekha has z Gurls.. I hurd Drop is full on sausage fest..
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What exactly is the problem here?
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If all you do is complain, why did you register here in the first place?
We use keyboards with what some people call "outdated technology". Because they work better for us.
Similarly, this style of forum is also a type of old, established technology that works very well for what this forum is for.
BTW, this site is owned by Drop.
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[attach=1][attachimg=1]
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I'm glad I wasn't on drugs when I saw that.
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I mean, not sure how much using is going on by the OP given this is seemingly their only post. If a site has developed a certain community/culture though I'd look at why those users have stayed and what things they appreciate about it in its current state (a discussion that was brought up around the time of the GH sale). Steamrolling a different design doesn't help if one loses elements that made it stick in the first place over so many years (heck, Reddit has been experiencing this with their old vs new design user split).
With the mainstreaming of the hobby I can understand how for casual browsing other UIs would benefit, though there are various other sites already providing this. That's not to say GH couldn't benefit from certain things but it'd have to 'get it' design-wise imo.
In some ways the design is its own filter tbh, not dissimilar to Y Combinator's Hacker News for example whose owner literally stated the design is intentionally non-modish for this reason (though with its mobile-friendly tweaks in the last few years has seen a rise in lower quality comments).
All that said, I use Frenir's geekhack 2.0 userstyle (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=60016.msg1380629#msg1380629) which provides some pleasant tweaks to the design. No idea if it's still live on the linked sites, I use an old local copy. I also use a userstyle that hides nested posts in quotes which greatly reduces quote spam while reading.
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Seems like other websites are much better made and more practical for what this community does. Why hasn't there been a migration to a site like Drop? Geekhack just posts links to other sites. The only thing it has going for it is an already established community.
I am guessing most of us are dial up users?
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I love the layout and simplicity of GH. It is straightforward and to the point. That is why I like this more than Keebtalk.
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Seems like other websites are much better made and more practical for what this community does. Why hasn't there been a migration to a site like Drop? Geekhack just posts links to other sites. The only thing it has going for it is an already established community.
What exactly do those sites do better?
All that newer software does is look fancy at the expense of navigation (their mods are ALWAYS fighting to keep things organized properly), and better integrate social media. Which given all the recent data sharing, is that really a good thing? Sure they look nice, but in terms of actually conversing and accomplishing something they are terrible. You will have some dedicated users but user retention is an issue because these the software caters to short attention spans. They are causal chat, not information centers like GH.
And if you want to compare to a site like Reddit, yes, it moves faster, but how much is regurgitated? The reason it gets regurgitated over and over is because of turnover. Not people, but information. You can post a meme today and again next week because it's already lost forever and half of teh readers were't there last week. Reddit and such are great for chatting, HORRIBLE at keeping data. This is why they always have to create sticky threads with links to everything, otherwise it all disappears too fast to be of any real use. Again, this caters to a short attention span and high user turnover. The only reason Reddit retains people is because it covers more topics, get a little keyboard info then head to another area.
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I much prefer forums like this to things like Reddit and Discord for the reasons Leslieann stated. It just feels simpler and better organized than other formats. I can go back and find old useful information and also not feel left behind if I'm gone for a few days; catching up is relatively easy.
Also, there's no sense of community at all on places like Reddit, especially since someone from anywhere else on the site can just jump in and say something. I see the same people on GH enough that I recognize them by name and personality, which is neat. I think it also helps people be respectful when they know they'll be seeing you around (usually).
I'm on a few Discord servers simply because there's nowhere else to find some stuff, and, in some channels, it's basically impossible to catch up if I miss something. It's easier just to skip to the latest message and hope there was nothing important.
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The most important thing about this site is that it will be able to take the load when a Clack sales happen. It might be outdated (it's not), but I don't think any other site can support those flash sales!
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...other websites are much better made and more practical for what this community does.
Hey :) please tell us:
1. what exactly the mentioned website do better?
2. what functionality/features are missing here at GH?
3. what are your expectations regarding GH (what you want to do here)?
Because I feel this is only a "first impression" experience. Most forums, which following the old and established structure behave the same, it works, and people got used to it (they know what to do). The GH looks a bit outdated (comparing to the latest design trends), but actually it's very efficient for what it does. It's text-based (it's super fast), not very heave .js, not a lot of self-hosted images, all of that means = cheaper running costs as well.
I wouldn't mind more choices of themes or even theme editor, so I could set my own styles (reduce colors, fonts, shades, weight, etc.) ;) I like forums for the simplicity and speed, but especially for the discussions (this is the true treasure).
I would make GH actually even more text-based ;) - great "message" - especially for all designers: https://mother****ingwebsite.com/ (https://mother****ingwebsite.com/)
PEACE! :thumb:
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
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I love this style of forum, what are you even talking about.
This really feels like calling something bad just because it's old, and trying to innovate for the sake of innovation. There's even a word for this – the sentiment that something is better just because it's new – but I forgot what it is.
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
What's so gud about discourse ?
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What's so gud about discourse ?
Discourse from every forum I've been a part of and have used is primarily useful for a Q&A format and in those cases it's pretty good but it really depends on what type of forum it's meant to be. Most forums running it can be easily recognized since they look virtually identical (either the stylesheets are a PITA to customize or webdevs don't feel a need to deviate much from stock).
It features automatic trophies for everything like signing up, someone quoting you the first time and adding a like*, limited functionality without JS (though at least provides a fallback) and its method of navigating topics is an infinite scroll-like loader for posts rather than definite pagination which makes longer conversations feel like nebulous chunks but has the advantage of more easily scrolling to date ranges with its sidebar widget.
* Not even liking your post but giving a like yourself :P The guy who designed Discourse also designed Stackoverflow.com and was one of the first web developers to incorporate gamification tricks to influence user engagement. For forums that aren't following a general similar format though (who have an existing sense of community and don't need artificial hooks to keep random users contributing time to answers) it comes off as pretty shallow.
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what do you mean? I'm on IRC all the time. :cool:
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the first web developers to incorporate gamification tricks
But does Discourse haz m0ar females ?
That's the only participation we're really looking for. more talking dudez, you can find that anywhere, gamified or not.
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
What's so gud about discourse ?
Basically it is built with mobile in mind, no need Tapatalk at all. Therefore, it is pretty modern and popular among mobile trotting peeps.
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
This is probably it
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**** mods
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I'd add that Discourse is not ideal for viewing images inline either, since it processes and embeds smaller inline images, requiring clicking to view them at full resolution. That said Geekhack at some point (after the sale IIRC) imposed a max width limit that overrides even any custom full size BBcode, although here it's merely a visual override and not re-processing images to a smaller inline scale (as Discouse does) so any custom stylesheet can revert it thankfully.
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I'll add one more vote to this website being awesome just the way it is. It is simple and efficient, just the way I like them. No nonsensical flashiness that just wastes time and system resources needlessly, even though it still manages to look great with its dark styling, and that keeps it easy on the eyes too.
I'm, personally, pretty annoyed with Javascript-heavy websites all but preventing quick and easy browser tricks to say, open/copy an image in its original unformatted size, or copy link URLs without actually navigating to the page. Even the heavy use of Javascript in menu navigation has meant that copying a link to send to somebody no longer means that that link will necessarily even lead directly where you would like the recipient of it to be sent to. It rubs me the wrong way, almost as much as when everyone started needlessly removing menu bars from software and throwing up literally every category of menu into arbitrary/random places hidden within a bunch of now-nonsensical/superflous categories hidden beneath a single button.
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
What's so gud about discourse ?
Basically it is built with mobile in mind, no need Tapatalk at all. Therefore, it is pretty modern and popular among mobile trotting peeps.
PC MastaRase....
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The millennials these days are all about that sexy forum, Discourse. I think that's probably what OP had in mind.
What's so gud about discourse ?
Basically it is built with mobile in mind, no need Tapatalk at all. Therefore, it is pretty modern and popular among mobile trotting peeps.
PC MastaRase....
^ Agreed.
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registered 5 days ago, no other posts, seems legit
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registered 5 days ago, no other posts, seems legit
There's been so much b0ttn' lately, whas goin' on dgneo, why u not save us.
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registered 5 days ago, no other posts, seems legit
There's been so much b0ttn' lately, whas goin' on dgneo, why u not save us.
Weren't you literally just advocating for the rise of Skynet and resulting obsolescence/end of humanity in another thread? Bots should be a good thing then. Maybe one will gain sentience.
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Message boards encourage a totally different style of conversation than most modern alternatives. Discord's sort of half way between IRC and a forum which I find an odd mix.
Drop's community feature is more of a coffee table/instagram photo dominant style designed to sell products rather than generate lots of discussion.
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Weren't you literally just advocating for the rise of Skynet and resulting obsolescence/end of humanity in another thread? Bots should be a good thing then. Maybe one will gain sentience.
There's are differences, Skynet is not selling you anything, it replaces you in every way.
Skynet is freedom from the human condition.
Adbot only feeds the malignance of humanity.
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registered 5 days ago, no other posts, seems legit
There's been so much b0ttn' lately, whas goin' on dgneo, why u not save us.
the smiths are stronger than i thought
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i don't take much issue with smf. i haven't hosted a forum before but a quick search shows that it's still a pretty relevant in 2020. i'm not a fan of discourse. if there's one gripe i have about smf it's that the text editor is pretty archaic and there's no support for more modern text features like emojis. i assume that since the site is owned by drop that any sort of overhaul would be more complicated than it used to be.
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Seems like other websites are much better made and more practical for what this community does. Why hasn't there been a migration to a site like Drop? Geekhack just posts links to other sites. The only thing it has going for it is an already established community.
according to your post count you don't use this outdated site.
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It's pretty hard to hear criticism from someone who's only been here so briefly, and seems to hold nothing but contempt for all the designs of the site. Does it really have no redeeming qualities? Like a long and impressively extensive Keyboard mod history?
Or hearken back to the older days that a lot of the keyboards we own came from?
Most of the users here are quite happy being here, and with it's design. Myself included. This is a fantastic site, and built to do what it does well enough. We don't have a lot of clamour for new stuff, otherwise it would have been demanded. If Geekhack was truly resistant to this change, people would abandon it.
But it looks like it's working out pretty well, and it gets new users all the time. I feel like it's not a half bad setup.
(I personally love old style forums like this, they are growing rarer by the day.)
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I personally have zero issues with the way Geekhack functions as a whole. Its a very proper way of doing things that is a good HQ for bigger and more wide spread GB's.
That being said, my millennial nature would really love a front end face-lift. I always feel like I'm in a 2004 Auto forum.
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I am coming up on 9 years here, and I can't think of anything to change.
That said, the default black and orange look is hideous and painful, I only use the "Austere" setting.
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Site is fine.
I specifically joined geekhack because of the medium they presented the site with.
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I love the site, as I'm so sick of the digital world unecessarily redesigning everything to be more flashy and less functional. I do wish I could login with both my laptop and phone. Whenever I try with the phone, it tells me to sign out with the other device. All the other forums don't.
My only issue. Otherwise, a perfectly functional, no b.s forum. KSS.
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As I recently dicovered the community I was thinking about that too. But I must say it brings me back and kind of home. The good old days of simple forums. I understand why most of the younger enthusiasts just can't get that.
As I'm typing this, it really brings me the nostalgic chills. <3
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SMF is a great forum software.
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As I'm typing this, it really brings me the nostalgic chills. <3
(https://i.imgur.com/SHqzeog.gif)
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As I recently dicovered the community I was thinking about that too. But I must say it brings me back and kind of home. The good old days of simple forums. I understand why most of the younger enthusiasts just can't get that.
As I'm typing this, it really brings me the nostalgic chills. <3
I feel that man, I started using Invision Power boards around 2000 and this reminds me of that alot, I remember when phpbb boards started getting big and how much more customizable they were, and this seems to be the last in that wave. I adore it for that reason.
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as others have said the forum format is better for GH. reddit / discord /etc are all about transient discussions where tomorrow the thread is gone or off the front page. i think an updated theme might go a long way but i know folks here are really protective over stuff like that (we had a wiki that was invite only) so for now I just use the nostalgia theme.
the gb/ic section of the site could use some love though - it'd be a usability improvement if we could some how filter on posts there, check for new ics, new gbs, updated ic/gb, etc. or even flag things like kb, gmk, kat, pbt, abs, etc
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I'm all for the format of GH but I would really really really like to be able to Play with my color profiles a little.
IMAGINE A NORD GEEKHACK THEME :eek:
A long time ago, One of my friends glanced at my screen and asked me if I was browsing a PornHub Forum. :blank: :blank: :blank:
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I'm all for the format of GH but I would really really really like to be able to Play with my color profiles a little.
IMAGINE A NORD GEEKHACK THEME :eek:
A long time ago, One of my friends glanced at my screen and asked me if I was browsing a PornHub Forum. :blank: :blank: :blank:
Well, I've seen a lot of models undressed here. ;)
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I'm all for the format of GH but I would really really really like to be able to Play with my color profiles a little.
IMAGINE A NORD GEEKHACK THEME :eek:
A long time ago, One of my friends glanced at my screen and asked me if I was browsing a PornHub Forum. :blank: :blank: :blank:
Well, I've seen a lot of models undressed here. ;)
That level of humor should be illegal.
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We're about the content, not the flashy lights.
Just like most of our keyboards (although, who doesn't like a little bling here and there?)