Dead may be an over statement. However, I believe we can all see that there is far less actual discussion going on, on these forums. In the pre-b.next days, it would not be uncommon to have a consistent number of 3-5 100+ post threads in the off-topic (formerly flood) with a ranging level of discussion, however they did have a discussion with people constantly quoting eachother and making arguments for and against different points. We saw nonstop debate about anything from Games to Pets to Consoles to Politics (when a blind-eye was turned), often culminating in massive threads and heated debate about a particular point. Sure, much discussion was of low quality; however it was at least there, it provided us with somewhere to easily post what we wanted and get responses/discussion/feedback/awareness on/about it.
It's clear there has been a conscious decision to change away from the traditionalist forum-style discussion method towards a more social, less content heavy type of discussion forum. One good example of this is the removal of the post Timers/Limits, these often would force you to type a proper sentence/paragraph rather than typing a 3 word meme answer that contributed little, another example would be the introduction of 'likes' that essentially upvote a post to the main 'popular' page. I believe this has been done in order to increase the usage of Bungie.net from the 'new' generation of gamers, one focussed on quick social status updates, fast responses and one liner memes. However, doing this has simply killed the vast majority of decent quality discussion as people simply don't want to reply to one-another as their comment will be hidden from view to most of the public and has led to reponses being almost entirely directed at the OP; essentially killing any opportunity for development inside of a thread from the original point; a key feature of any decent non-sticky thread.
The lack of any form of discussion is driving older community members away from posting on this website. I cannot be the only one who thinks this.
Maybe I'm just a jaded fool ranting instead of working, however to me the effects of .next are clear.
How about you? Spending less time here? Contributing less to threads? What can be done?
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Edited by Baby Wrinkles: 3/18/2013 4:13:39 PMI'm spending [i]more[/i] time here, but only because I didn't really spend any time here before (and am now thoroughly regretting it). I have a hard time with the new layout. Reverse chronological posting has been an option on most boards I frequent, but never the default - and it's confusing. I can see the value in giving new comments a voice, rather than "Oh, I didn't get to post in the first page before this thread became popular, might as well not post at all." However, that lends itself best to the short-attention-span demographic that's 'up and coming.' [EDIT: I should note here; Bungie is a business. In the long run, catering to this demographic insures it's ongoing success. Doesn't mean I like it, but them's dollar bills.] Mind you: that's only one element of the many things you touched on, but I think it's one of the bigger ones. I hope Bungie recognizes the need for some tweaking, and can bring these forums to a 'happy medium.' As those of us (yourself included I'm sure) who have been around technology for a while know, things are always changing, and clinging to the old is a great way to become obsolete. This new layout just seems to have gone thermonuclear on the old, ignoring that it ever existed, rather than adding newer elements (some of the tagging, following, like/dislike buttons for instance) to a more 'traditional' forum layout. Give the new kids something to play with that suits their "SQUIRREL!" mentality while letting those of us who care for more deep discussion continue to have it in a more familiar format.