A few gripes about the new forums...

Curious if these things will change at some point:

1. No listing of what forum a thread is located in on the main forums page - If a game is in a specific game forum, for example, it used to have that game and the specific forum listing underneath the thread title on the main forums page. That is gone, and it's kind of annoying. I'm seeing generic thread titles that are in specific game forums, but I have no clue what game they are linked to...if they are linked to a game at all.

2. When creating a new forum thread, there is no header at the top or footer at the bottom - Not having easy navigation access in order to...say, pull up a new tab and find a wiki entry link to add to a forum post...or many other things like if I decide I don't want to make this forum post at all and instead want to head back to the main forums page, I have to click on this Giant Bomb logo in the top right. I cannot see any of the main site's header or footer, and that seems like generally poor navigational design. I'm curious why those are not present when creating a forum topic anymore.

3. Thread title font seems much smaller than they previously were on main forum page - This is a minor gripe, but it just seems like the font for thread titles shrank in the new transition, and given how much space is taken up on the page with options for surfing the forums and customizing what threads you see, the advertisement, and smaller portion of screen space dedicated to all the forum titles, it just seems like poor balance all around.

Beyond that, everything seems pretty neat.

I imagine that's to keep you focused on what you're doing or something along those lines? I'm not a web design type of guy, but that's what it seems to be.

yeah it's really weird not being able to see what forum each thread is in D:

Point 1 is a real problem. Most people name their threads with the expectation that others will know what game they're talking about. So, yeah.

The other two I can't comment as being huge deals for me personally, but that first one is a personal gripe here.

Otherwise, site's awesome.

yeah first one is the only big problem I see.

I'd add that the time stamp on forum posts could be an issue, especially if it stays on PST and it doesn't adapt to wherever you are. Personally, I prefer the old "posted x minutes ago".

Yep, this is a heeee-yuge problem for a forum system as diverse as Giant Bomb's. It makes the new forums even more bewildering than expected after a long session of staring intently at DiRT 2.

I'm sure it'll be fixed in time. Hopefully.

Precisely. The new site looks sick though! Im glad to be back on GB.

+1 for 1.

as someone that wants to post plenty of specific things, yea that first one is really a problem.

Strange that #1 is an issue. I remember that not being an issue in the beta. Must have gotten lost somewhere in the transition. I'm sure it'll be fixed soon.

First one is a big problem for me as well. I go down the list: Look at Title, Look at Game.

@snide A little thing, but I severely don't like that when scrolling through topics on a phone (as I often do), you can't tell who posted a forum (which is important, especially when it comes to blogs), or who posted last.

I've also supposedly got 5 unread messages, according to the number by the envelope icon, but those messages are nowhere to be found. Also, yes, I think that #1 is a big deal, too.

I also kinda miss 'topic started by' and 'last post by' at the top of threads. I've found that useful and convenient on a number of occasions.

I also don't like the fact that forum threads are no longer featured on the homepage. Have they given any explanation as to why they removed it?

Yeah, number one is a real problem.

And to add a few minor complaints of my own, i don't like how user names are so far away from avatars. I don't know if its just me, but i have a harder time associating the user name with there avatar now, and seeing who posted what at a glance. And the size of the medals compared to the icon do not help with that either. Maybe just have a gold or silver frame around the icon rather then cover them up.

Number one is a pretty big problem that absolutely must be addressed in the near future.

Let's get working on that first one there, Dave. Your job isn't done yet, duder.

Am I crazy or was there the option to reply and quote on the tablet/phone version of the site a few hours ago and it's now gone? If so, PLEASE BRING THAT BACK @snide!

UGH. The worst.

You browse that main forum section (which is what I exclusively do), and you walk away not knowing what vague thread titles are even talking about.

"So should I play this?"

If I open that topic to find a game that I have no opinion on, I've just wasted precious seconds of my life (not like spouting my opinion on the internet about vidya games is making the most of things... but still).

*Edit: this issue has been remedied. I am quite pleased. :)

#1 is the main issue for me at the moment.

The mobile site forums also don't display usernames or avatars so you can't tell who created a thread.

#1 is the first thing I noticed as well, I like the layout otherwise, especially in black. Not knowing the specific forum for each thread though is a functionality issue that could do with a fix. Great work otherwise @snide and the team, if this is the biggest day one change people are calling for, that's a ringing endorsement.

I agree with everything that has been mentioned.

I also found it much easier to browse forum threads when it just said 'Today' instead of the date when it was a new new thread on that day. Does anyone else agree?

I don't even understand what your first point means. It must not be that big a deal for me.

It used to be there during the beta and it's gone; definitely a bug that will be fixed asap.

It's been said by others but just to throw in my two pennies, I think that first one is especially bad. It means users have to be more specific in thread titles, some old thread titles now don't make it clear what the thread is about as they appear entirely out of context, and it makes it much harder for the mod team to tell when a topic has been posted on the wrong board and needs to be moved.

Maybe I just need to get used to it but I find the "Forums" list on the right side a little unnecessarily intrusive, and it's a shame that unless there's a feature I haven't found yet, the timestamps on the posts are always San Francisco time. Of course this isn't to say I don't appreciate the genuinely good work that the staff have put into creating these forums.

Where's the setting for swatch internet time?

Yeah, #1 has been messing with me.

I'm gonna echo what everyone else is saying.

#1 is a huge bummer.

The forum for Antichamber, and all of it's threads seem to be gone. In my own post history, I see none of the posts I've made there in the last few days, but other game sub-thread posts...and attempting to get to anything Antichamber thread related results in 500 errors. Is this part of a bigger issue, or an isolated incident.

BTW, otherwise, I'm loving the site redesign so far...

Edit: Oh wait, they're back again, gone again, then back again. I assume this is some kind of intermittent thing. I'll just hang in there.

I can now see the specific forums underneath the thread titles. = D

I'm curious about the other stuff, though. Any particular reason why there is no header or footer when creating new threads?

This is definitely my biggest problem. There doesn't even seem to be a way to view the forums from the front page.

Apparently, Dave is aware of your request and has been thinking about it

Someone got GiantBomb's top men on that one real fast, much better, thanks guys!

My "posted X minutes ago" prayers have been answered. Life is beautiful .

I have a different complaint, albeit a minor one.

Your can't tell who is online by looking at a member's avatar with a glance."Online" used to appear beneath the avatar in the forums, but now you can only see it if you mouse over the image.

@pseg said:

Yep, but I'm pretty sure they are working on it as we speak.

It is also on the right side of the users post.

I just found another problem, I can't quote in an edit so it's causing me to make this a new post.

You don't have to mouse over to see the "Online" thing.

I really do not like that I can not see where the thread is.

I really hate the sidebar with the links to other boards and the top posters. It's all stuff that's already in the header and it wastes literally a third of the entire page because everything below it is now empty. It looks pretty ridiculous to be scrolling down a page and have this constant huge vacant gap on one side.

Are you talking about how the "ENDING SUCK" thread on the recent topics page doesn't show it in the mass effect 3 forums? that should be fixed, at least it is for me.

Forums not on front page

There's also no "first/last" buttons in threads to take you to the start or end. Also (on Chrome, at least), CTRL+CLICK on a page number in a thread just opens that page in the current view-port, instead of opening it in a new window or tab, as expected.

Ideally, the front page should be configurable per-user. Think of Slashdot, back in the day. Want to add Forums? Get rid of "upcoming games"? Go for it. Even better would be additional configurable options like "compact version" so that you can make the most of the available space (a ton of space is used up just showing three videos/reviews at the top of the site -- and once you've already watched those, it's even more of a waste of space).

Or maybe a separate page that's fully configurable. A sort of "dashboard" that you can setup however you want, including your most interesting forums, top headlines, videos (maybe you just want it to show you quicklooks, but not trailers). Would be really unique and useful.

I don't like how 40% of the page is used for listing forum sections when that could be used to not have the entire forum page aligned to the left. This is the same issue YouTube has, and I didn't like it there either.

I stopped using CTRL+CLICK when I realised middle mouse click was one less button.

I dislike how posts are aligned to the left and are way smaller now. Makes them harder and more uncomfortable to read. I also miss the "Followed Users" thing at the top, where I could see if my stalker victims where online.