Why did the forums move?

[vornay]

Why did the forums move to "discourse"?  I don't use that site, or that other one called "disqus". Those sites always feel like they are just tracking everything you do or say, and storing it somewhere so they can ruin your life later.  I'm not on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook either.  I wont join them. They are all evil. Sad to see the forums go to one of those sites.  Maybe this site could charge like $1 a month to join local forums. Since most people are doing business with their HTML projects, it would be a cost of business, and keep out spammers too. Maybe I'm just old.

[PunyGames]

I am not sure on Discourse policy of sharing data with 3rd party, but you can't really escape tracking. Most websites use Google Analytics.

Your best bet is probably using Firefox with disabled tracking, using throwaway email for each service, (+ KeePass so you do not have to remember) and VPN.
 

[TheBoneJarmer]

I am not sure what you mean by "forums". It sounds like you try to say as if everything and everyone from this website moved over to Discourse. The only thing I know for certain is that Rich and his team decided to setup a Discourse for Phaser to replace the existing subfora on this website with a new, official Phaser community forum. And since a lot of users here were using Phaser as their main engine, they also started moving over to there and stopped being active here.

I mean, look at the stats. Barely 200 people visit this website daily (from which like 10-20 are actual members!) while it used to be like 4000 last year. That is a serious drop imho. I also don't see Rich being active here anymore, heck, wonder if any mod or admin is active at all. I sent the guys a message last month but have yet to receive a reply. I know many users check it daily but barely anyone replies anymore. I also have seen topics here on fora where they don't belong, let alone follow the rules if they do. If you tried such a thing last year, it got closed almost right away because mods still used to login daily, but now.. They got a lot of cleanup work to do if they do, I tell you that.

That being said though, I looked at Discourse and I agree with point of view. I don't really can find it in my heart to like it either.. But than again, while there is lot to complain about Discourse, the forum software they use here is quite expensive on the other hand. I mean, look at the prices on the Invision website, bloody hell. Invision charges based on how many visitors you have daily while Discourse's pricing model is not based on your total daily visitors amount. So I completely get that Rich and his team started to look for alternatives. I mean, I respect the fact they use paid forum software without charging us anything at all, let alone pumping the website full of ads like any other company would do. You got to hand it to them, that is one damn respectful thing.

[vornay]

When I go to the Discourse site, I just see a list of messages. It doesn't look anything like this site.  I guess I will have to make a fake username, and join, if that is where everyone is going.  I can never fool these sites. Later some site will ask me "Vornay, do you know someone named <insert my real name>???", and I'm like, "No man, never heard of them."

I guess if Phaser doesn't want to run a message board, that is the real issue.  Having to moderate it probably distracts from working on Phaser. That is too bad.

Social media is pretty toxic nowadays, with everyone apparently being either a Communist or a Nazi. If you get called a Nazi, these larger platforms will simply ban you. If one bans you, the others may ban you too. Your investment in their platform gets nullified. That is why I don't use Unity, Unreal, or other non-free engines.  That is why I don't want to be dependent on the App Store or Play Store. That is why I don't work in Swift in anymore.  One person gets a wild hair up their butt, and you lose everything. You find out your castle was built on their land, and you never really had a castle. That is why I wont use those forums. They are the opposite of free.

[TheBoneJarmer]

Sadly I share the same experiences. Lots of Facebook groups active on the gamedev subject but so goddamn toxic that there is no motivation whatsoever to stay there. I like forums like this, they are organised and structured, and when properly moderated, very fun. Completely agree with your opinion on Discourse there, just one big list with very user-unfriendly way to filter it.

[Horizonicblue]

Yup this used to be a fun place  when all frameworks had their forums here, though the new forums looks shiny it doesn't feel like whole HTML5 game dev community the way how it used to be here.

[b10b]

Yes, pretty quiet here these days with most action happening in the (excellently supported) Pixi subforum.  I understand why communities like to move and refocus but what I think sometimes gets missed in such evaluations is the value of "cross-pollination"?  For example running Babylon (3D) posts alongside Phaser (2D) posts decreases the potential for tunnel-vision within both communities because more diverse eyes are exposed to the issues and challenges - even if few people from alternate arenas directly comment, the exposure effect is unavoidable, perceived walls come down, and expertise can come in from the side.  Perhaps that is the strength of moving to a totally catch-all environment like StackOverflow etc - where all topics are entwined?  Not always warm, fun and friendly though, whereas this forum has always been generous and decent.

[vornay]

17 hours ago, b10b said:

Yes, pretty quiet here these days with most action happening in the (excellently supported) Pixi subforum.  I understand why communities like to move and refocus but what I think sometimes gets missed in such evaluations is the value of "cross-pollination"?  For example running Babylon (3D) posts alongside Phaser (2D) posts increases the potential for tunnel-vision within both communities because more diverse eyes are exposed to the issues and challenges - even if few people from alternate arenas directly comment, the exposure effect is unavoidable, perceived walls come down, and expertise can come in from the side.  Perhaps that is the strength of moving to a totally catch-all environment like StackOverflow etc - where all topics are entwined?  Not always warm, fun and friendly though, whereas this forum has always been generous and decent.

Did you mean "decreases the potential for tunnel-vision" ?  

I agree having the different engines discussed in a close proximity helped everyone.

[b10b]

2 hours ago, vornay said:

Did you mean "decreases the potential for tunnel-vision" ?  

I agree having the different engines discussed in a close proximity helped everyone.

Yes of course, my rambling mistake   Corrected my original post.