If this is tl:dr (too long: didn't read) then it's not of importance to you so move on! lol. It is very long by the way.
Well in the end Kida of course can do whatever he wants but like I said above every site has it's draws and niche from simple like chat to more involved like character tracking to podcasts and news to database development and then a mix of all of that and some like this one has a forum.
Zantetsuken, pads, gamer, mooglebox and on and on. The biggest gripe I always see with other sites is the lack of current and updated information like what happened with ffxivpro. Again with a niche site like dol you won't have mass numbers but I still think it's much better overall than a run of the mill site that offers everything but seems like a clone of other sites.
Pads is the exception where they provide pretty much everything but they took it beyond what pro did and some others and made it and are making that much better as we speak. It is a TON of work I guarantee you that for something on that scale.
Kida had it right.. he loved fishing in 11 and he took that to 14 with all dol so keeping that as the main focus should be great once again depending on what they do with dol. Kida already is well known by FF and 14 fans so just build on that like he's doing now. Having a database is fine as it gives one more reason to keep people here and to contribute and not just view and leave but that's fine too.
When it came to databases and information in ffxi I went where I could find it the fastest with the most complete, detailed, accurate and updated info possible and easily accessible and with great navigation.
That was a mix of the ffxi wiki and ffxiah and of course kidas finalfishing. As for the forums I usually used my ls forum back then as I'm not a huge fan of reading through all the troll bs on the official and that's why I like this forum so much for 14.
If you are going to keep doing a db then make it all those things I mentioned 2 paragraphs above as best as possible otherwise I just don't think it will get used enough to warrant the time and effort on your part Kida.
Probably like most people I use 2-3 sites for a game for various reasons. I also loved db sites that had comments from members like ffxiah did for most items. Maybe integrating the db into the index page like ffxiah/pro did to some degree or a variation of that kind of like the twitter feed, recent posts, etc.
It gives an avenue to access that stuff other than just searching or using the db menu.
Last thing.. it would be nice to be able to log in w/o having to leave the page I'm on or being returned to the index page. There are so many variations of code for that stuff. Pro's login takes you to the index but that's the main focus of that site. Pads does the same as well but the chat/index is the main draw. I would argue that the forum is the main focus here but that's up to you.
If non members are going to use the db or other options that do not require a log in then this doesn't apply but I leave the index, then have to log in to post so I'm back at login, back at index.. You get the idea.
Simplistic things like that can also go a long ways.
I just get tired of going from page to page to page to finally get back to the forum logged in lol.
Oh and lastly again.. I would love the option of various themes for the forum at least. White just gets.. well you know just gets old. With color/layout themes you have to be careful and not stray away from basics or it's a mess and I'm not sure what themes you can do for this.
Thank you for all you've done Kida.
Edited by user Monday, March 11, 2013 6:12:27 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified