Design the forum in favor of making it easier to use.

[Icey!]

This is general forum etiquette. Forum threads are supposed to belong to the community, and aren't specifically owned by one person, save for a few exceptions. Not saying you can't feel bad about this, it does suck when you make a personal thread and it doesn't pan out.

This is pretty much what I was thinking. I keep taking the criticism as a reflection on myself because I thought I was the "owner" of my mistakes, in a bad way. But it's seemingly impossible to not think it like that. I don't know why I can't fix it but I wish I could. I always keep going into self-hate and out whenever stuff like this happens thinking I'm the problem.

[Gans]

Who writes a critique has to be able to recieve a critique.

Your points are valid and should be looked at. Although it will be difficult to satisfy everyone on the topic of user interfaces...

Because the topic of user interfaces is almost pre-destined for heated arguments.

It's not like math: 1+2=3. It's an unhealthy mix of taste mixed with academic research being done in universities to improve usability of whatever devices. So facts (This is a 100%-optimised UI and it's the best, use it!) vs personal preferences (but my Win95 drop-down list menus were fine!)? So on that topic, you have to expect some headwind.

[Icey!]

Who writes a critique has to be able to recieve a critique.

Your points are valid and should be looked at. Although it will be difficult to satisfy everyone on the topic of user interfaces...

Because the topic of user interfaces is almost pre-destined for heated arguments.

It's not like math: 1+2=3. It's an unhealthy mix of taste mixed with academic research being done in universities to improve usability of whatever devices. So facts (This is a 100%-optimised UI and it's the best, use it!) vs personal preferences (but my Win95 drop-down list menus were fine!)? So on that topic, you have to expect some headwind.

You make a point, UI is controversial. But if I am not good at being able to handle a critique would that make me a bad designer making my critique irrelevant? Are you saying that it would be better to just go safe and stop making topics like this and forget trying to bring up my thoughts?

It's not like I am intentionally trying to be like this because if I where I would be doing a very bad decision. This is more like a bad habit.

Just to turn it into a good thing: I will try my best to be as brave as possible when doing these topics again, but I can't guarantee if I can keep it like that. This doesn't mean I would turn into a toxic user ignoring all advice, but rather not try to hate myself and get to the point.

[Melooon]

This doesn't mean I would turn into a toxic user ignoring all advice, but rather not try to hate myself and get to the point.[/b]

I always keep going into self-hate and out whenever stuff like this happens thinking I'm the problem.

These posts are not really ok. You made a topic about the forums design; people responded with what seems to be feedback (both positive and negative but all fair) about your design ideas and also the way you presented them. That’s the beginning and the end of the story.

Your mental health is not part of the discussion and at this point it’s really not appropriate for this forum. That’s something you need to figure out in your offline life 

This thread can continue as a discussion of forum design (and it was a great forum design discussion) but I have to ask this emotional angle to stop please.

[Icey!]

These posts are not really ok. You made a topic about the forums design; people responded with what seems to be feedback (both positive and negative but all fair) about your design ideas and also the way you presented them. That’s the beginning and the end of the story.

Your mental health is not part of the discussion and at this point it’s really not appropriate for this forum. That’s something you need to figure out in your offline life 

This thread can continue as a discussion of forum design (and it was a great forum design discussion) but I have to ask this emotional angle to stop please.

I get that this was a very weird place to talk about this, however please don't delete or edit anything here as this simple "mishap" actually helped get my act together. Note that this is a controversial topic and I am practically the focus of the discussion. It's important to remain calm when doing these topics. This won't happen again!

[Ninaiso]

The overall layout changes are probably beyond the amount of time I'm willing to put into the forum; but there are a bunch of specific take aways here that I think should be done in the coming months:

• Improve the list of past replies when making a new post!
• Remove clutter from the folder site map (the one you like is actually one I made, the folder stack is default)
• Make the send and print buttons smaller and make the reply button clearer
• Move the topic management buttons to the top
• Add a sticky "jump to quick reply" button on the side
• Add a "quick search" field somewhere at the top
• Notify to Subscribe seems like a good idea
• Better explain the purpose of the pop-out sticky button above the top button
• Make the profile button movie its eyes so its even more uncanny
• Rethink the entrance button
• Add a button that quick switches to newspaper theme on the fly, even for guests
• See if ts possible to put an add poll button on the topic editor
• Test a continuous scroll option for thread pages

How does that sound as a start?

These seem reasonable! All I want to contribute is I absolutely adore the look of melonland forums and how "forum" it is and do not want it to lose any of it's awesome personality. So, if any big modern redesigns happen to the UI, I'd simply like to request they be a theme choice for those that want it so we're able to stick with and use this familiar classic forum style we love.