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[flaming_foxtail]

I find it frustratingly difficult to navigate this forum for information I'm after, unless it's in a sticky or a hot topic.

I've found search & advanced search to be less than useless, often using google will get me closer to the right thread than the forum's own search facility.

Without some grouping of threads there exists one massive long list of threads which is impossible to scroll through given that the 10+/-3 sticky threads are repeated at the top of each new page.

It's no wonder people regularly start new threads when an existing one would suffice. Mostly this is down to the poor layout, not user error.

TL I really wish you'd spend more time making what you have work instead of coming up with new ways to tempt people to part with their cash.

Oh, and off topic (cos I failed to find the existing thread to post it in), your overuse of pop up adds is likely to create desensitisation. That's people who click ignore without even reading the latest dragon/competition entry etc because they have become habitualised in their daily ignoring of all the other pop ups they don't want to see.
Psychology of marketing.

[salinho]

Agreed. At the very least, stickies should stay on the first page ONLY.



Oh, and off topic (cos I failed to find the existing thread to post it in), your overuse of pop up adds is likely to create desensitisation. That's people who click ignore without even reading the latest dragon/competition entry etc because they have become habitualised in their daily ignoring of all the other pop ups they don't want to see.
Psychology of marketing.

Yup! Guilty. I can't even bother to see if there are new pop-ups, I just tap away to close them.

[hamadrys]

Same here. There are 6 pop ups on my game now : Gold sale, Elf leaving, Fireworks leaving, New mask dragon, new color dragon and Rate DS. Absolutely ridiculeous.
Navigation is really bad too. Yesterday I typed "Chocolate Dragon" in the search window and the actual thread was like 4 pages away ! The threads that came first didn't have any of these words oin the title.

[doop01]

I agree with the forum issues. Sollia suggested something similar on the current poll suggestions thread not that long ago. All the info is here, but can be very difficult to find amongst so many threads. Also true about the pop ups. I know that often I just blindly hit X, X, X. Then think, hang on, was that something new??? and have to check for it. :)

[flaming_foxtail]

Thanks guys,
I do love DS, but these things wind me up, & I find it hard to understand how they aren't learning from the Internet market lessons.
It's there in black & white...
If you want to make cash for a short period then tricks to get people to part with their cash will work. If you want a web based product to grow as a business & be taken seriously you HAVE to address the viability of your product, make it quality, make your customers respect & want to be loyal to you.

We can & do forgive a lot, but all this continuous development of the "pretty" side, new dragons, shiny competitions, without addressing the underlying issues of transparency, parity & reliability will make those who have & are willing to part with their cash, get annoyed & move on.

[doop01]

thanks guys,
i do love ds, but these things wind me up, & i find it hard to understand how they aren't learning from the internet market lessons.
It's there in black & white...
If you want to make cash for a short period then tricks to get people to part with their cash will work. If you want a web based product to grow as a business & be taken seriously you have to address the viability of your product, make it quality, make your customers respect & want to be loyal to you.

We can & do forgive a lot, but all this continuous development of the "pretty" side, new dragons, shiny competitions, without addressing the underlying issues of transparency, parity & reliability will make those who have & are willing to part with their cash, get annoyed & move on.

exactly!!!

[maguar]

When you're using the advance search functionality are you limiting the forums to just the two DS ones so you don't get random threads from other forums?

I often change it so that the results returned are done as posts rather than threads. That way I can jump right to the info instead of having to work my way through 20 odd pages. I also change it to display results by most recent post not by title

These are some of the search tips that I've picked up over time:

Word 1 AND word 2 - returns posts that have both those words

"Word 1 word 2" - returns posts at have both those words

Word 1/word 2 - returns posts that have either word

Word 1 OR word 2 - returns posts that have either word

Word 1 NOT word 2 - returns posts with first word and not second word

When you're in the forum (but not in a thread) just above the list of threads is an option "search forum". This limits your search to just that forum.

I thought if share these. You may already be doing these but just in case you're not they might help. If anyone else has any tips I'd love to hear them.

[flaming_foxtail]

Even limiting it to just DS discussion, the number of posts is stupendous & most of my searches come back "too common" with the search terms. If I knew date range or user I doubt I'd need to use the search option.
I've bookmarked a couple of your previous & very useful posts Maguar.
But if I have a new query, or want to say something about, say pop ups, I really struggle to find the old thread & then run the risk of upsetting mods by starting another new thread.

Thumbs up, thumbs down for useful posts would help, & mods able to put threads in further folders instead of DS discussion being one giant folder with basically everything in it.

[fitfunsparkle]

Oh, and off topic (cos I failed to find the existing thread to post it in), your overuse of pop up adds is likely to create desensitisation. That's people who click ignore without even reading the latest dragon/competition entry etc because they have become habitualised in their daily ignoring of all the other pop ups they don't want to see.
Psychology of marketing.

Yep, that is exactly what i do. I don't look anymore, just tap to get them out of my way.