Sean Mirrsen

I can understand disliking the visuals. They are very bright. And of course there could be other problems that may be distracting. But could you elaborate somewhat on the functional changes? And I don't think it's being used as an excuse to do that, rather that was a byproduct which was difficult to avoid.

It's still mostly the same community. Well, saying things about things aren't going to change them. It's past the point of no return. It might be best to lay down your arms sometime real soon.

I never did do the roleplay stuff, but it does seem like it could result in a moderation nightmare. A separate forum could be used, if you're desperate.

Anyhow, it's functional, and that's fine by me, at least.

Plus, rep is a bit easier to get, since the like button is more obvious than the rep button was. That's a tiny plus...

The problem with the visuals is not that they are bright. It's the color choice and the whole aesthetic, that is reminiscent of Windows 10, Facebook, the horrible new Skype interface, all at once. It's the same rake in the grass all over again, trying to make something that works equally well for mobile users and desktop users, and inevitably failing because the two are just too different for the same interface to be equally comfortable for both.

The functional changes are a legion, although I find it hard to make a list given that I mostly avoid using any of them. The only parts of the forum I am in close contact with are the forum view and the post editor, but even there I keep snagging on things like I'm wading my way through a bramble patch. If you can't see what's wrong with the post editor, then you are one of the 'new wave' people who don't see the point in having access to raw BBCode, and there's nothing I can help with by explaining.
I never used the "threads I follow" section of the forums, because even the old forum never had anything like the simple and useful "Updated Topics" list like the Bay 12 Forums (running SMF) does, but I took one look into what's there now and it was enough to drive me away from using that for any foreseeable future. Highly customizable, sure. Potentially powerful, maybe. Useful and usable? Not so much.

"Was not being used as an excuse, but was difficult to avoid"... uh. Pray tell, how? It's literally the same bunch of marked-up formatted text as the rest of the forum. There are any number of things you could do with a forum section other than completely nuking it from existence. For violations of a rule, I might add, that was introduced solely to shut down that particular section. And the rule itself is ridiculous, on top of that. Moderation nightmare? The Bay 12 Forum is moderated by all of two people. It has a dedicated roleplaying forum section. It has sections within that section that players requested to add and the moderators, who are also the makers of the most complex roguelike in existence and live on sustained donations by the fanbase, obliged them with provisos that they moderate their own sections. Then there's the Giant in the Playground forums, where roleplaying is so rampant as to have whole sub-board directories dedicated to it, and there is no moderation issues there either. Roleplaying is not, in itself, a problem. The attitude towards is is what is. Apparently in choosing between punishing bad roleplayers (via infractions) and punishing ALL roleplayers, Squad decided to choose the latter, and I am strictly opposed to that sort of thinking.

And what is the point of laying down arms? Will anything improve if I do? Not a chance. Will anything improve if I don't? Arguably less of a "not a chance", and I get to go down swinging. The only reason dictatorships can come to power is because real people are rightfully in fear for the real lives and real livelihoods to actually stand up and complain. Me, I'm a made-up character on the Internet. Can't die, can't starve, can't be denied pension. What have I to lose besides a slot in a place I am so vocal against?

Feel free to keep using likes though. Likes are cheap. You can give one and barely spare a thought as to why, or whether the recipient actually deserves it.

Color choice is an opinion. To me it's perfectly fine.

I did have to use BBCode, and some features I just could not figure out. I could've looked up a guide, but they often didn't help me much, either.

Sometimes there are errors that can cause major problems. With software, incompatibilities and other problems can be damning. And it's entirely possible that it had more to with keeping the forums tidy than just nuking areas. It can be a moderation nightmare because it can be difficult to know if you were posting in character. A good role-player would use [INCHAR] tags. But most probably don't. Ummm... that's not indicative of anything. That's not the norm. Far from it. Just because they only need 2 guys (which might be full time moderating, btw) doesn't mean it's any less of a nightmare for them. And we suffer from something that's really bad for forums. People don't read earlier posts. That's a big problem. It's one of the reasons the facepalm thread was closed (RIP).

No, roleplaying isn't the problem. It's the roleplayers. Better rules for roleplaying would probably be more suited, but more roleplaying means more data storage, too. Cutting data storage use can help save money, especially if it's needed. And maybe they wanted to make room for the future data.

You can forget about the forum. Then it will be out of your mind. But that's not necessary. Take the good with the bad. And yes, if you look hard enough, there is good. Loads of it. But blinding yourself won't get you anywhere, either. Idk what you can lose, but it's certainly wasting storage space. And your time. You can leave the forum, if you want to. Saying things about it won't change anything. And saying nothing would have the same effect. Therefore you lose time.

Rep was cheap, too. It wasn't used as often because most people couldn't find the button! Honestly, though, no comment was even necessary to rep someone, and the button was hard to find. I often clicked the one right near it. And btw, your reasoning here is somewhat(albeit only somewhat) of a fallacy, since the opposite is equally true. You can give out a like after spending half an hour thinking about it, and if the recipient deserves it or not.