Are you glad that GS forums, including OT, are dying?

Nah, kinda sad to see it how it is now though

No... As someone who has been posting here regularly since 2005, it somewhat saddens me to see what these forums have become.

I'm not sad at all. I just prefer to remain delusional like the staff and a few of the users that things will get better.

Sarcasm aside, I'm pissed and if this was my site I'd fire everyone who thought this was a great idea. How fucking arrogant can the management here be to think that a major overhaul that would literally convert this site into an almost entirely new site would be welcomed by the faithful users who came and stayed here because of the old site. They should have just reskinned the original site. I thought the whole purpose of the change was to make this place run better. Morons.

between GS, YT and a few other sites, it seems forcing unwanted things on people and pretending it's for the better is like some sort of business tactic.

cognitive dissonance ftw!

I didn't even post on the old Gamestop enough to care about the layout, but after seeing the fiasco that it's turned into, I do miss it. Really, I remember on the old forums, posts would fall off the front page in around an hour so. Now an entire day can pass before that happens. If that's not an indicator of a dead forum, I don't know what is.

And yes, I am glad that it's dying. Maybe websites will learn that changing something that was functioning just fine for years for no reason except to change it is a stupid idea and may result in your userbase deserting you.

What exactly is wrong with the new forums? The only real problem that I can see is that nobody is using them. I think they work pretty well. Posting on them is certainly better, mainly because the old forums were buggy as hell.

As for Gamespot in general, the only thing is that the Home page of the site is messy, but the subsections are better IMO. Like finding specific shows is heaps easier than it used to be. It kinda needed an overhaul.

Nope. This forum was always a great time killer. Now it's just dead. :(

Glad? Good lord no. Surprised? Not in the slightest.

If GS really wanted the forums to be a proper community, they would have fixed all the issues they could within the first couple weeks. Now it's just a joke that there are still crippling problems.

I am not glad. What has happened to this site is a shame. I expected better.

Quite sad.

If I recall, OT used to be more lively than SW. Now OT doesn't even get 1/3 of the activity SW gets. Which is even worse because SW is a shell of its former self too.

Nice avi

Nah, it's a shame really. GS was a big time waster for me.

Well, life goes on. *pour out some liquor*

The lack of activity in this forum has virtually nothing to do with the bugginess of the forum software. It's really sad that you more tenured members don't see the true causes.

Why have people left?

You really don't know? Not one person in this thread has even come close to the true reasons.

I have also asked the same question. I've been using these forums for a long time now and I really don't see the issue with the new ones. I'd like to know what issue everybody else has with it.

I don't know because I rarely come here. I didn't realise things were this bad...

The diminished activity on this board has nothing to do with the new design of the forums.

The loss of AU Discussion and the other regional forums is an issue for me. As an old regular, I'm surprised this isn't for you.

Right, I got that. What is the reason?

The other problem I have is that the Australian board is gone and is now reduced to a single thread which i only just discovered. That situation is pretty shitty, what is the reason for everyone else?

GameSpot needs a Google+ takeover

Enlighten us oh great one.

Posted what I said there before I saw your post here. It is an issue for me, I just didn't mention it. The thing is everybody is upset about something, however the OT and General Discussion boards are still here. So are platform specific boards. So I don't really get what it is that people have an issue with. The only thing I could think of is the layout, which I don't have an issue with, and is apparently not the issue anyway. Though I'm sure there are other people who are pissed about losing regional boards too, would that be everyone? Why are the Off topic boards dying? Why is system wars dying?

@Iszdope I have no idea what you mean by that. But then I have never understood anything you have said, ever. Never change bro.

I'm not. I miss the activity that this site used to get. I did have the feeling this would happen with the new site though.

It really is sad to see. So many users have come and gone that I really enjoyed talking to. I don't even know why I come here anymore really.

No I'm not glad. Talking to all sorts of people here was a fun way to kill time.

Care to elaborate? Because everyone here (myself included), other than you, seems to think the real issue is the redesign.

Wasn't this board already dying even before the redesign?

Nope, I've been coming here on and off since 2008 and it just sucks what they did to OT. I still will always prefer the old site no matter what

That is because you think your experience translate to everyone or the majority of other users. IT IS THE NEW LAYOUT. It is the fact that you couldn't edit a topic title for weeks, it is the fact that I can't whether someone made a new comment by just looking for a number under the number of posts, it is the fact that I can't directly go to the last new comment. It this the fact that after years and years this piece of garbage of a site cannot get his act together and have bug free, consistently working site. The camels back broke.

Exactly.

Before the redesign i could post a topic and get 10+ replies in 5 minutes.

Now i am lucky to get past 30 posts in a day.

Not happy about it, no.

That's not entirely true. OT at least was already dying pre new design.

Not at all, it really sucks how little activity the forum is getting nowadays.

Well, it is relative. The new layout accelerated the OT downward spiral instead of stopping it or reversing course.

I just came back here to say that I've left Gamespot because of the change. :(

Or is it more likely that once a site starts to die....more and more people leave since the traffic is gone. Honestly.....I don't like some of their new ideas....hate the notification system. Much preferred the threads to be marked. I don't like the new stacks....liked the old games lists....but the site really was already in it's death throes when they launched the new site. And with little traffic.....more and more people left. Hell....I don't even spend much time here. And it's because it's dead....not redesigned.

If the community was still vibrant people would get over the redesign.

So IT IS the damn layout. The other guy keeps insisting it's not but it's obvious that it is. Unless he's just trolling me.

I'm not saying that I think my experience applies to everyone else, I never did say that. Nobody was being specific about what it is they don't like and I merely explained that I don't think the new design is a big problem. Finally you have come along and given some examples. I appreciate it.

I get your issues though. It is annoying not being able to tell what threads I've posted in straight away or see how many new posts there are. That was a great feature on the old GS that isn't on a whole lot of other websites. The fact that it's gone doesn't make sense to me either. Would it force me to not use the forums anymore? No.

I like the forums for the community and the fact that this has always been a nice central place that I can come to and discuss all sorts of crap with people that have always been generally decent. The level of activity has always been good here too. It saddens me a little that it has dropped so sharply.

Yeah some of the design decisions suck. I just don't think the new design is so bad to actually drive large numbers of people away, though apparently I'm one of only a few who feel this way.

I used to post here a lot under a different name. I liked getting in spirited debates, but the moderation policies were far too puritanical. If you expressed an opinion that the mods didn't agree with, it was "trolling".

I don't know if "glad" is the right way to put it, I've been coming here for a decade and really like some of the people who were/are here. It's satisfying to see Gamespot's arrogance blow up in their faces though. People were almost unanimously against the change when they saw what it would look like but GS just took a "deal with it" approach.

Except for the fact that I've talked to people who used to regularly come here and they flat-out said that the new design is why they don't come here anymore.

I spend more time in the other subforums than here. It doesn't seem like GS is dying to me. If it's just OT, oh well. F-it.