GBAtemp Forum Structure Overhaul

If you visited the Board Index recently, you might have noticed massive changes in the forum category structure as we have moved forums around, merged forums and even deleted some of them. This is the result of suggestions from both staff and active members. While we are aware that this won't please everyone and that it will require some getting used to, we are confident that you will understand our reasons as explained below.

Deleted Sections
Let's start by the most brutal of changes: disappearance. While we've deleted a few forums, rest assured that all the topics were kept safe and simply moved to other sections. We have deleted the following forums:
- GBAtemp Contests and Polls: most polls can be posted in their appropriate section. If you want to post a poll about an NDS game, post in the NDS Games section. If none of the section fit the general subject of your poll, simply post in the Off-Topic area or even if the EOF.
- gOnline discussions: an unused forum for discussing the gOnline release list. All topics have been moved to the Site Discussions & Suggestions forum.
- DS-Xtreme, eWin, G6, N-card, FlashMe forums: due to lack of new topics in those areas, and since those aren't used much any longer, we've deleted those forums and moved all their threads to the Other Flashing Hardware & Software section.
- Forum Bugs: threads have been moved to Site Discussions & Suggestions. If you have a bug to report, you may post in there, which is what most people already did anyway.
- Dingoo A320 & A330 forum was deleted and its threads moved to a new forum containing discussions about handheld devices, as you will find out at the end of this post.

Merged Sections
You won't be finding some of the old forums because they have been merged together with others. Here are the merged forums:
- For the DS and Wii categories, we've merged Wi-Fi General Chat and Wi-Fi Technical Help and Support together into just one section: Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.
- For the GBA, DS and Wii categories, we've merged Game Discussions and Game Help, Hints and Tips together into Console and Game Discussions. Those essentially contain the same kind of topics.
- For the DS and Wii categories, we've merged Emulation and Homebrew Applications and Games into Emulation and Homebrew since we believe that emulators are a form of homebrew and it removes all form of confusion as to where you should post when you want to discuss homebrew emulators.
- We have merged the NDS Hardware Devices and Utilities together with the NDS Flashing hardware and software, the new resulting forum is now called DS Flashcarts and Accessories which better reflects the content of the contained topics.

Moved Sections
We've improved the forum organization by moving some categories and forums around, either because it made more sense or just because some categories or forums weren't being used much anymore.
- the GBA Discussions category has been moved into the Other Systems Discussions category, due to lack of activity.
- the 3DS Discussions category has been temporarily moved into the Other Systems Discussions category as well, until it becomes a full-fledged category. That should be the case as we near the release of the console.
- the Flashkit Guides & FAQs section was pretty much abandoned so we temporarily moved it to GBAtemp Magazine Reviews which was then renamed to GBAtemp Reviews and Guides.
- the PSP forum has been moved to the Other Handhelds category which makes more sense than having it as a standalone section.

Renamed/Expanded Sections
Many forums have been renamed, and sometimes in the process of renaming we have expanded the coverage of those sections.
- the GBAtemp Magazine Reviews forum has been renamed to GBAtemp Reviews and Guides as stated previously. Until now it was only meant for reviews, but now feel free to post guides or FAQs!
- the Nintendo 3DS forum has been turned into a category with 3 subforums in prevision of the increase in discussions. When the 3DS gets released we will be seeing an increasing amount of threads and we will eventually have a full fledged category with 5 or 6 forums like the NDS or the Wii.
- the Graphics & Art forum has been renamed to GBAtemp Art Studio and now encourages you to post more than just graphics: post your tunes, your videos, your photographs or any kind of artistic creation!

New Sections
That's the best part, we've also added some new sections to allow discussions and debates about the subjects.
- As stated before we expanded the 3DS forum into a category and created 3 subforums: 3DS - Games & Content for discussing games and content available on the platform, 3DS - Hardware to discuss hardware specifications and accessories, and 3DS - Hacking even if this is somewhat premature to discuss possibilities of hacking the console (speculations at this point).
- a FileTrip Discussions forum for topics related to our new download center. Users finally have a place to talk! Additionally FileTrip moderators will have access to a special FileTrip staff forum for internal discussions.
- in the newly created Other Handhelds category (located inside the Other Systems Discussions) we have finally decided to create a forum dedicated to Apple devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod... anything that starts with i really.
- To complete the Other Handhelds category we've also added a Mobile Phones and Media Players forum in which you can discuss mobile phones and media players... at least the ones that aren't made by Apple.

We understand that those changes might be a bit brutal but we are convinced that it's in the best interest of the community. New visitors and members won't be confused by the huge amount of forums that there was previously. Forums have been renamed and finding where to post should now be a lot clearer now that we have removed ambiguous forum names.
The staff

Costello	Post #1 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:10 AM
Headmaster Group: Administrators Posts: 10,005 Member No.: 255 Joined: 24-October 02 Location: Shanghai	If you visited the Board Index recently, you might have noticed massive changes in the forum category structure as we have moved forums around, merged forums and even deleted some of them. This is the result of suggestions from both staff and active members. While we are aware that this won't please everyone and that it will require some getting used to, we are confident that you will understand our reasons as explained below. Deleted Sections Let's start by the most brutal of changes: disappearance. While we've deleted a few forums, rest assured that all the topics were kept safe and simply moved to other sections. We have deleted the following forums: - GBAtemp Contests and Polls: most polls can be posted in their appropriate section. If you want to post a poll about an NDS game, post in the NDS Games section. If none of the section fit the general subject of your poll, simply post in the Off-Topic area or even if the EOF. - gOnline discussions: an unused forum for discussing the gOnline release list. All topics have been moved to the Site Discussions & Suggestions forum. - DS-Xtreme, eWin, G6, N-card, FlashMe forums: due to lack of new topics in those areas, and since those aren't used much any longer, we've deleted those forums and moved all their threads to the Other Flashing Hardware & Software section. - Forum Bugs: threads have been moved to Site Discussions & Suggestions. If you have a bug to report, you may post in there, which is what most people already did anyway. - Dingoo A320 & A330 forum was deleted and its threads moved to a new forum containing discussions about handheld devices, as you will find out at the end of this post. Merged Sections You won't be finding some of the old forums because they have been merged together with others. Here are the merged forums: - For the DS and Wii categories, we've merged Wi-Fi General Chat and Wi-Fi Technical Help and Support together into just one section: Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. - For the GBA, DS and Wii categories, we've merged Game Discussions and Game Help, Hints and Tips together into Console and Game Discussions. Those essentially contain the same kind of topics. - For the DS and Wii categories, we've merged Emulation and Homebrew Applications and Games into Emulation and Homebrew since we believe that emulators are a form of homebrew and it removes all form of confusion as to where you should post when you want to discuss homebrew emulators. - We have merged the NDS Hardware Devices and Utilities together with the NDS Flashing hardware and software, the new resulting forum is now called DS Flashcarts and Accessories which better reflects the content of the contained topics. Moved Sections We've improved the forum organization by moving some categories and forums around, either because it made more sense or just because some categories or forums weren't being used much anymore. - the GBA Discussions category has been moved into the Other Systems Discussions category, due to lack of activity. - the 3DS Discussions category has been temporarily moved into the Other Systems Discussions category as well, until it becomes a full-fledged category. That should be the case as we near the release of the console. - the Flashkit Guides & FAQs section was pretty much abandoned so we temporarily moved it to GBAtemp Magazine Reviews which was then renamed to GBAtemp Reviews and Guides. - the PSP forum has been moved to the Other Handhelds category which makes more sense than having it as a standalone section. Renamed/Expanded Sections Many forums have been renamed, and sometimes in the process of renaming we have expanded the coverage of those sections. - the GBAtemp Magazine Reviews forum has been renamed to GBAtemp Reviews and Guides as stated previously. Until now it was only meant for reviews, but now feel free to post guides or FAQs! - the Nintendo 3DS forum has been turned into a category with 3 subforums in prevision of the increase in discussions. When the 3DS gets released we will be seeing an increasing amount of threads and we will eventually have a full fledged category with 5 or 6 forums like the NDS or the Wii. - the Graphics & Art forum has been renamed to GBAtemp Art Studio and now encourages you to post more than just graphics: post your tunes, your videos, your photographs or any kind of artistic creation! New Sections That's the best part, we've also added some new sections to allow discussions and debates about the subjects. - As stated before we expanded the 3DS forum into a category and created 3 subforums: 3DS - Games & Content for discussing games and content available on the platform, 3DS - Hardware to discuss hardware specifications and accessories, and 3DS - Hacking even if this is somewhat premature to discuss possibilities of hacking the console (speculations at this point). - a FileTrip Discussions forum for topics related to our new download center. Users finally have a place to talk! Additionally FileTrip moderators will have access to a special FileTrip staff forum for internal discussions. - in the newly created Other Handhelds category (located inside the Other Systems Discussions) we have finally decided to create a forum dedicated to Apple devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod... anything that starts with i really. - To complete the Other Handhelds category we've also added a Mobile Phones and Media Players forum in which you can discuss mobile phones and media players... at least the ones that aren't made by Apple. We understand that those changes might be a bit brutal but we are convinced that it's in the best interest of the community. New visitors and members won't be confused by the huge amount of forums that there was previously. Forums have been renamed and finding where to post should now be a lot clearer now that we have removed ambiguous forum names. The staff
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Urza	Post #2 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:12 AM
Group: Members Posts: 6,433 Member No.: 90,032 Joined: 18-July 07	Good work.
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Costello	Post #3 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:19 AM
Headmaster Group: Administrators Posts: 10,005 Member No.: 255 Joined: 24-October 02 Location: Shanghai	thanks for your suggestions Urza happy urza makes costello happy. To anyone that needs access to the Filetrip staff forum, please PM me.
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Burton	Post #4 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:21 AM
GBAtemp Advance Fan Group: Members Posts: 808 Member No.: 37,343 Joined: 07-March 06	What suggestions?
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Costello	Post #5 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:23 AM
Headmaster Group: Administrators Posts: 10,005 Member No.: 255 Joined: 24-October 02 Location: Shanghai	QUOTE(Burton @ Aug 15 2010, 12:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What suggestions? most of the changes were triggered by suggestions that he pm'ed me those were then discussed in the staff forum as well as others
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Burton	Post #6 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:24 AM
GBAtemp Advance Fan Group: Members Posts: 808 Member No.: 37,343 Joined: 07-March 06	Oh I see. Thanks Urza!
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haflore	Post #7 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:27 AM
christmas dæmon will not take off the hat! Group: Members Posts: 1,201 Member No.: 232,823 Joined: 04-December 09	Wow, the new structure is great! Thank you Urza, Costello, and everyone else involved!! Edited by haflore, 15 August 2010 - 05:29 AM.
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Nimbus	Post #8 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:55 AM
sudo /usr/bin make-me-a-coffee --nosugar --cream=1 Group: Members Posts: 889 Member No.: 226,159 Joined: 01-November 09 Location: A land where the clouds gather	Lovin it, absolutely lovin it.
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KingVamp	Post #9 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:59 AM
Disgaea, top dog of NIS America! Group: Members Posts: 5,710 Member No.: 207,165 Joined: 13-September 09	I seen it change once and I was just like meh... then I came back and was like Guess I got to get used to it :/
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Hakoda	Post #10 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:59 AM
GBAtemp Addict Group: Members Posts: 2,127 Member No.: 117,216 Joined: 02-February 08 Location: San Jose, CA	Cool overhaul
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geoflcl	Post #11 Posted 15 August 2010 - 05:59 AM
Permanent GBAtemp Newbie Group: Members Posts: 1,242 Member No.: 153,921 Joined: 18-January 09	Wonderful! These changes make a lot of sense. Way to keep GBAtemp tidy!
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Goli	Post #12 Posted 15 August 2010 - 06:06 AM
RPG Group: Members Posts: 2,571 Member No.: 130,858 Joined: 16-July 08	I find them useful save for the change to the PSP section but oh well, I can live with that.
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Scott-105	Post #13 Posted 15 August 2010 - 06:13 AM
Bow to me. Please? Group: Members Posts: 2,525 Member No.: 194,698 Joined: 23-August 09 Location: Ontario, Canada	I like the new layout a lot!
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Infinite Zero	Post #14 Posted 15 August 2010 - 06:13 AM
Almost! Group: Members Posts: 2,917 Member No.: 252,141 Joined: 25-April 10 Location: California	This took a lot of thinking. Great work Costello.
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YayMii	Post #15 Posted 15 August 2010 - 06:23 AM
It returns... Group: Members Posts: 3,889 Member No.: 184,720 Joined: 24-June 09 Location: :)	The Contests and Polls section is gone now? Where can I put my off-topic random polls then without getting sarcastic answers?
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GBAtemp Forum Structure Overhaul

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