Bad forums structure

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Originally Posted by MilkieTea

There is a function like that - thread subscriptions. You can see all the threads you're subscribed to and I *believe* it does notify you.

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Ho shit really? My bad, then. I guess I never noticed on this forum since I didn't see a dedicated button for it.

The forum software used by SE for the official FFXIV and FFXI Forums incidentally is not even SE's design anyway, it's off-the-shelf forum software called VBulletin which is, a fairly common forum package many companies use. Unfortunately because it is propriatery software, it limits what SE can and cannot do with it's design, and the forum's functions are limited to what the software included.

Having used VBulletin on other independent forums, including serving as a moderator on one, I know how fiddly the administrative functions and backend of this software can be, so the GMs and admin staff are probably facing similar headaches behind the scenes that we simply do not know about.

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Originally Posted by Ammokkx

Ho shit really? My bad, then. I guess I never noticed on this forum since I didn't see a dedicated button for it.

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Yeah, It's under "Thread tools". Kind of out of the way and easy to miss, but at least it exists!

The Settings button in the top bar takes you to a list of your subscribed threads.

You are automatically subscribed to every thread you post to, though the thread tools button lets you sort it into a folder.

(I don't understand how to sort generic subscribed threads into folders so I have to unsub and resub if I want to file it.)

Mostly I just browse via the New Posts button though, so I see things across all the subforums.

Threads with new posts are in bold.

I go through the list of threads, make a response to the ones I want, use the browser's back feature, refresh the listing page.

It's simple and I love it.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

The forum software used by SE for the official FFXIV and FFXI Forums incidentally is not even SE's design anyway, it's off-the-shelf forum software called VBulletin which is, a fairly common forum package many companies use. Unfortunately because it is propriatery software, it limits what SE can and cannot do with it's design, and the forum's functions are limited to what the software included.

Having used VBulletin on other independent forums, including serving as a moderator on one, I know how fiddly the administrative functions and backend of this software can be, so the GMs and admin staff are probably facing similar headaches behind the scenes that we simply do not know about.

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Really?

To this day, my best forum experience (just in terms of using the website) was with a forum using a custom vbulletin software.

EDIT: I just check and that particular forum is still using version 3.8.11 of vbulletin, and I think it's because of their customization. And, wow, it still looks the same and still looks great. It's been years.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

You are automatically subscribed to every thread you post to, though the thread tools button lets you sort it into a folder.

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I wish you can disable that feature. I have to preview every post so I can uncheck the box to subscribe to the thread.

I don't need a subscription with the way I browse this forum.