Huh?

[UberNinja]

to be frank the only part I had trouble with at first was the word "Queue" it should have its name changed because if people are just scanning forum titles, they might miss the bold words in the description that say "join games here, lolol"

[UberNinja]

Okay. That's one opinion. But if asking where to join games is a recurring problem, maybe renaming it to "Join Games Here" wouldn't be such a bad idea.

[UberNinja]

Join a Game or Game Signups look just fine.

[UberNinja]

Being newbies does not make them stupid. If they are here, they know to operate a mouse, how to click links, and how to read.

Step 1:


Step 2:


Step 3:


Step 4:


It's easy to navigate, and there are dozens of newbies who successfully navigate it every month, proving that yes, it is

easy

to do so. Stop acting like there is some crusade to be won here. The site is plenty user-friendly, and newbies who arrive here have enough literacy to understand how it works; in the

very rare

instances they happen to miss our organization system, they ask, get prompt responses and move on. There is no need for change.

You're a hero. I've actually grown kind of fond of your brand of helpful snark.

[UberNinja]

Just sayin, we should do something like this:

http://i.imgur.com/H8j7LXO.png

[UberNinja]

you're both right, to an extent. the site should be made as accessible as possible to newbies, but to what extent? as tierce has already shown, the information is there, after a fashion. What is left to be divined at this point is whether or not the information is presented in as clear as possible of a fashion to each user upon their first visit to the site. and we should all agree that there is room for improvement in that department. just because something can never be made 100 percent perfect does not mean that it cannot be made better. we, as a team, should be able to identify these areas where improvement is possible, and make constructive suggestions and come to a reasonable consensus amongst ourselves about which solutions are the most agreeable.

[UberNinja]

This what happened when I got to the site:

Queue: This forum contains signup threads for Mafia Games...

Ok, click that.

Get overwhelmed by the number of different threads.

Oh, Upcoming Games. That seems like the right place to be.

Don't see any obvious place to sign up for any of the games...

Well that's not it, I'll go back.

I scroll down past the "game lists" (I don't want to see a list of games, I want to join one!) and see all these games in signups. All are either full or have really strict limits like "Must have played for a year or more". Can't join any of those.

Welp, guess I'm not playing then.

...

I eventually find the wiki through the link in the subtitle or one of the list forums or something, but it's not too hard to miss it for a new player.

I think a new player PM would help a lot, even if it just linked to the relevant section in the wiki.



edit sample PM:
"Welcome to MafiaScum!
We're glad you share our enjoyment of the game Mafia and are happy to have you join us for a game or few dozen!

If you're completely new to playing mafia in a forum setting, we suggest you take a look at the New Player Guide on our wiki, and sign up for a Newbie game. Our Newbie games consist of new players, but with a few well seasoned veterans there to help show you the ropes.

(more information here)

If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the Help forum, or send a message to mods X Y, or Z.

Good luck and have fun!
- The MafiaScum Community"

Same here, more or less.

Sometimes the simplest solution is not always the most obvious, especially if they haven't been here before.

Thanks for chiming in Axxle.

[UberNinja]

I don't know how important you think this is, but do we want to make an announcement with this change?

It primarily only effects new users, when is the last time you visited the front site?

I actually don't have MS bookmarked at work, and due to a browser swap and setting change hitting 'M' in the address bar brings up mafiascum.net, not the forum page.

So about...30+ times a day

For me, mafiascum.net is blocked at work.

Fortunately, forum.mafiascum.net and wiki.mafiascum.net aren't

[UberNinja]

Thanks <3

[UberNinja]

http://www.mafiascum.net/

Primarily a stop-gap measure. May still be tweaked.

Nice stop-gap, but the link text is confusing. If I were new here, I'd think it would take me to a place to ACTUALLY sign up, not an instructional infographic.

Yeah I am working on a page which will include all we need, including Quil's infographic(s).

Also your infographic seems to be missing Micros? If you want to send me the source layers I can play with the layout a bit...

That's just a reskin of the one Quil made before NFA/MC existed, I believe.

[UberNinja]

This has been rolled into a more grandiose plan for the homepage. Feel free to work on the stopgap in the meantime, Flay