I think KU is great, but unfortunately it isn't as active as TDC.
Actually, I think TDC is by far the most active, especially against Klik Me, that has a new forum post about every month.
KU has nice people and nice staff and all, but I don't like nuked sites. The front page is a list of forum posts. The poll is a forum post. News comments are forum posts. Downloads are forum posts. You get the idea. Custom coded sites are much nicer to use, but unfortunately require a lot of time and expertese to get running. For example on TDC, a custom coded site, when submitting a download you can type things like the file size, genre, utilise a neat screenshots script, give ratings, view reviews of this download etc. etc. So you can do stuff like go to the downloads section, sort by genre, and look for the best rated file. A forum based site gives you none of that. I've never nuked a site, but all the ones I've used have a samey feel about them in that you can't tailor each section to have features useful and specific to the area. Example: Articles should be able to be split in to seperate pages so you don't get inundated with text for long articles. Downloads should be sortable by genre. Can you do that in a nuke? Maybe there's an extension for it, but nukes must have nightmarisly complicated code behind them because they're so abstract, and it would be no easy task.
Anyway, this doesn't mean TDC is perfect either. If you custom code a site, you get a lot of scope to be creative. "The Daily Click" - it sounds like a newspaper. Any newspaperish features or looks? Not really, the news is a normal list for example.
Things I would suggest myself:
- Consistency: Same rating system for all sections. (5 stars is best IMHO)
- Go the full way with all features: I can't edit my comments. The search system is very basic. User admin looks hacked, it's quite badly laid out because it automatically lists all my submissions which happens to be quite a lot. Many of the forums offer minimum functionality, such as the modify profile form, which doesnt tell you what was wrong with your submission if it's invalid, and they have basic designs (modify profile is all spread out horizontally because of one long line, and it might look better centered).
- Use features which make sense: e.g. in this reply box here, I can see the forum thread I'm replying to. iframes aren't the best things in the world though, it's quite a small view window. Most forums have the reply box at the bottom of the view thread page, and there's a reason: it's handy and easy to use. Plus this reply review doesn't use the same theme as the rest of the site
Other features which 'make sense' are pages for articles (as mentioned), force valid screenshots for previews, and let me just type in the damn name of the user I want to PM, instead of downloading a bloody 2mb list of every inactive user who ever signed up, ever, then having to sift through it carefully. Plus having a rating cutoff so you don't have to wade through piles of rubbish in the downloads screen. Screenshots are done very well by TDC but the only improvement could be to auto thumbnail the images so I don't have to download 5mb of PNGs.
- Dedicated admin team. OK, controversial. But seriously, an annual poll isn't much good. A week without news posts is suicide for most news sites, new users would stop coming. Admins who disappear without trace and then leave moderators unable to deal with problem users isn't great either. Useless previews going straight on to the site without checking. Moderators who check the content is worthwhile, not "check the links are valid" then approve. A new moderation system is needed really: problem users could be awarded a black mark or something for being troublesome once. If you get to three, you get tempbanned. Four and perm banned. This way people get warnings and a chance to stop being idiots, but if they get banned they certainly had it coming.
Anyways, as you can see I have outlined a pretty ambitious site, or a pretty ambitious upgrade to TDC. If clubsoft doesn't have the time, that is totally understandable, people have lives and other things to do. But seeing as the smallest change would make such a difference, since there are so many users, it would make sense to have it a community development with many developers all contributing. Semi-open-source like. Upgrades when we need them and stuff.
Quite a lot to think about there... long post!
KU is pretty decent but its like my homeplace of Klikforever. its really just a bunch of mates making games and chatting. which is something i like, but probably most people dont. but KF is pretty active for the most time even with its 30 or so members.
my only gripe with KU is the fact is it wasnt home made. same goes for CI, a place i really like but dont visit anymore.
I was annoyed because I expected TDC to be like a newspaper. That's why I'd love a community site that looked like that ;P
(Also a community site with consistency, because consistency is a step towards communism - perfect now I have no stocks! HAR HAR HAR!)
They had a sort of "klik news" site, if anyone remembers it. It got shut down or something
"Say you're hanging from a huge cliff at the top of mt. everest and a guy comes along and says he'll save you, and proceeds to throw religious pamphlets at you while simultaniously giving a sermon." - Dustin G
Actually, maybe some people forgot, but me and club have been working on dc3 for a while now, clubsoft has been busy but last time i talked to him he was still working on the new design and all the new code, have a bit more patient, i saw a preview and its going to rock
Be sure to follow us on the twitters for the latest and greatest: @dailyclick
I think homebrew sites are always better than your prepackaged ones that everyone uses, otherwise it looks all too generic and boring when you see 50 sites with the exact same color scheme(for that matter, one that doesn't even fit the theme of the site) It doesn't even require that much knowledge to create your own portal that has custom features you want. But I think it should look shiny, like OS X
As a boy, I wanted to be a train. I didn’t realize this was unusual—that other kids played with trains, not as them.
I think there were two versions of Klik News. The latest one was ran by PeterG, Jimbob, Ruffles, and me. It shut down because Jimbob and I decided to go to Klik-Me instead (I'm surprsied nobody brought it up yet), PeterG quit the community, and Ruffles just left.
Also, Klik News is still up, it's just not supported/updated anymore.
And I definitely agree with Tigerworks' points.
Yeah, it looks 'aged'. Same thing around for years. I've always wanted to see more on teamwork in the community rather than competitiveness... it'll do everyone a world of good. Seems like I've been trying for years, but every time it gets even close... every time someone does a site for it.. it ends up being lost and forgotten somewhere. Just plain boring, run by admins with almost no motivation.
Everyone has their own ideas on how it's supposed to be run, but it seems that unless you've got something really special, it just stays that way. So far, you've got 3 community styles:
TDC - Plenty of old 'veterans' who just like to sit together and ramble about crap
Klik Me - The other group of 'non-conformist veterans'
Click Academy - The newbies and oldbies who like to share and learn knowledge
Now all you need is a site for people who actually make games to join. Good luck with that.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
f$$k yaŽll, Total Klik is still the best ever click site ever. God, remember how pathetic this place was when it started? A new click site would be GRAND! GRAND! GRAND I SAY THEE!
TK sucks. Old one - best klik site ever. New one - filled with non-comformist retards who just happen to know the true geniuses.
Edited by the Author.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
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