It drives me nuts that the DS forums are ranked so low on the list of boards, and i think this needs to change. We need to give this board extra attention in order to bring more people to it. So lets create more topics and reply to more threads, in order to make the DS forums a viable conversation area. PORTABLE PRIDE!

Doubt that it will happen, most people make thread about DS game in the specific game forums.

Not many people post about the DS games... =/ I <3 them though.

Well maybe if Nintendo made a hamburger combined with a DS, the DS forum would be higher up...

I don't own a DS so I couldn't help that much. But Id like to see both the DS and PSP up there on the Popular Boards section. They deserve it.

First order of business: bring the DS board above Grand Theft Auto IV. Sound like a difficult task? It is.

Let's not. Let's keep the forums that people use high up on the popular boards list, and the ones that people don't use off the list. That makes sense, since that's the whole point of the popular boards list. Spamming topics to get a board higher up is both pointless and disruptive.

I agree that most of the topics related to the DS are mainnly game specific.  That makes it appear that the DS isn't popular, which of course, we know it is.

No, the Hamburger forum still reigns supreme. It is one of the greatest boards in the history of mankind.

That's more of a site issue that maybe you should try to bring to the attention of the staff.

"MattyFTM said:

"Let's not. Let's keep the forums that people use high up on the popular boards list, and the ones that people don't use off the list. That makes sense, since that's the whole point of the popular boards list. Spamming topics to get a board higher up is both pointless and disruptive."

My point is that more people would use it if it were on the popular boards list. Go ahead and try searching for the DS on the Search bar. you won't find it. I'm aware that you can go to the browse button and find it, but i'd wager that a lot of people don't know about that. Really now, Does GTA IV need to be on the popular boards still? Its been out for over a year.The only reason its still there is because its on the popular boards list. More people would use the DS boards if it was available as part of the Popular Boards menu, which would mean more topics, more posts, and a higher spot on the menu. Each of the consoles should have an easy link."

"oldschool said:

"LordAndrew said:

"That's more of a site issue that maybe you should try to bring to the attention of the staff."

It is true though - but it is also true of everything.

I agree in that there probably should a console board as well as the popular board.  It would make navigation easier, but as you say, that is a site issue.

"

Perhaps this is a better idea. "

I think that you are taking the idea to an illogical extreme. The consoles are probably the most important boards on any gaming website, as evidenced by the 360,PS3, Wii, and PC being at the top here. Console forum links should be a high priority, perhaps followed by any popular games. 

Fuck that.  Hamburger is the best Giant Bomb forum. >:(

"I think that you are taking the idea to an illogical extreme. The consoles are probably the most important boards on any gaming website, as evidenced by the 360,PS3, Wii, and PC being at the top here. Console forum links should be a high priority, perhaps followed by any popular games. 

Your second idea is a good one though. There should be an extended popular boards list.

"

I think you'd be suprised at how many different things would be on console forums. For example, I would have put my top 20 Gamecube list on the Gamecube forums if it still had visitors. Any time people are comparing two games, they wouldn't want to put it on a single forum because it'd be heavily biased (however, if you could put a single topic on two threads and had them share replies, that would be awesome and functional). It's also a great place to discuss rumors and games that don't exist yet but should.

Hamburgers > DS

Yeah, they still have their place, and maybe I'm underestimating their usage a bit, but I still don't think there is any need for them to be featured as prominently as they are on most websites.

It's also not intuitive to have to find the particular board, so I can't say that idea for the "different" forums was great. Especially when you want to discuss something that's not so insanely popular that it doesn't appear in the popular boards list. A popular boards list should help you navigate, not make it tougher by being the only prominent option. For example, you'd have the platform boards, and then after clicking to go inside them, you'd be presented with a list of the top sub-boards, ie the platform's games, if you wanted to discuss something more particular.

Maybe it's good on paper, but people clearly use the forums in conventional ways, despite the fact they have an unconvetional setup, which is why nobody really posts in those places even though platforms like the DS are insanely popular, more than any single game on any one platform.

Do you think the staff are reading this?

Not even the DSi can bring the DS beyond hamburger; it's best to stop trying.

To make navigation to what should be one of the most used forum pages 10 times easier?

I got bored of my DS like i got bored of my PSP

Good for you. Some people prefer Handhelds over consoles. I would fall in that category.(Maybe its because there arent so many first person perspective games on portables.)

360 forum: 912 topics
Hamburger forum: 419 topics
GTA4 forum: 184 topics
DS forum: 67 topics

So as you can see, the DS isn't gonna reach the top 11 any time soon, let alone overtake the Hamburger. I personally would've preferred a more dynamic algorithm instead of just going by the amount of topics posted -- it prevents old jokes like the Hamburger from staying up there for months (if not years) while having little activity and leaving new users scratching their heads. The same goes for games, of course. A certain game may have been very popular at some point, but that popularity is gonna die down eventually and new games that never reach the same level of popularity but still have merit to be in the top 11 may never reach it. However, for games there is always the "Popular games' forums" drop down box which works on page views instead, so I guess that isn't much of a problem.

If you really wanna see the DS forum up there, I guess you could bring it up to one of the devs since it's very easy to do; however, it's been 8 months since site launch and the forum still has less than 70 topics, so is there really any reason for it to be up there? I don't think it'll increase activity by much. The Wii managed to overtake the Hamburger eventually, and I'd personally argue that the DS is much more of a gamers' system than the Wii, so maybe that just tells us the GB userbase isn't much into portable gaming (I mean, the PSP has even less topics than the DS).

Im sure you already realize this, but the reasons that the DS isnt on the popular forums are because its hard to find the DS by using the search bar, which is what most people use when looking things up, and because it isn't already on the popular boards list, which are essentially the only ones that get any real attention. I am convinced that if the DS forum was placed on the bottom of the popular forums list, it would be rubbing shoulders with the wii within a month. You are absolutely right when you say the algorithm is off, because really, GTA is long gone, and the only reason anyone still posts things on it is because it is on the Popular forums list.

If you want to post on the DS board and make it a bit more active, go ahead. Just don't expect it to ever get on the popular boards list unless they change the way the list is generated.

I wouldn't have a problem with something like that.

Yeah, they need to do something. Finding this forum is a pain in the ass.