Are the EIS forums useless? (Not quite, but almost. And Vulcan, this is no reflection on all the hard work you and Earth have put into these forums)

You would think that the EIS forums are for EIS customers. A place for people to go to get information and help on and for the software they purchased from EIS. In present form that is hardly true. There are few threads unmarred by posts that are unhelpful if not completely adversarial to the customers that posted them.

The forums are moderated by people with no real connection to EIS and only an imagined connection with EIS customers.

How would we go about fixing this den of snakes? Well if it were me, I would split it into 2 parts with 2 user groups. Group 1 - EIS Customers. (if you bought a twgs, this is you), Group 2 - the public. (if you have never paid for a twgs, this is you). Then choose the moderators from the EIS Customers (ie group #1). That takes care of the user groups...

Now for forums. There needs to be 3 areas set up in the forums, the EIS section, the News and Announcement section and the Public section. The current year's awards can go in the Public section and be deleted after the winners are announced for that year.

EIS - TWGS, TW2002, and TW Gold Support - EIS Customers Only
Technical discussions concerning TWGS, classic TW2002, and the Gold extensions

    TWGS Sysop / GameOp Forum
    Private forum for registered owners of TWGS and Trade Wars 2002.
    Bug Reports, Future      Developments, Current and Planned Fixes and
    General Discussion of Sysop related subjects. Currently open access.
    
    EIS Web Site Technical Support
    Use this forum for any questions, comments, suggestions or problem
    reports about Epic Interactive Strategy's Web Site

    EIS Trade Wars v4.x Development
    TW v4.x Development Discussion

    TWGS Beta Team Forum
    TWGS/TW2002 Beta Test Team Forum. Private area for the beta team
    members to discuss progress of testing on the current TWGS release.

    Sysops Only
    This is for the Sysops to post anything of concern to any sysop concerning sysops

    Old Support Posts

    Here are all the old support posts, archived and searchable



News / Announcements - Posting by EIS Customers Only - Read by everyone
    
     Forum Announcements
     Find out about all the latest and upcoming forum feature additions and updates

     EIS News
     The latest from Epic Interactive Strategy

     Game Rebangs
     Area for all SysOps / GameOps to post their Servers and Rebangs


EIS Forums Help - Post and Read by everyone
    
     EIS Forum Technical Support
     Use this forum for any questions, comments, suggestions or problem reports
     about The Official Trade Wars 2002 Forums

     EIS Forum Grievances Area
     This area is for users to post Grievances


EIS Public Forums - Post and Read by everyone

     Trade Wars Open Discussions
     An area with slightly more relaxed rules in terms of OT posts and debate.

     Trade Wars Helpers & Scripts
     All you ever wanted to know about helper programs and scripts

     Trade Wars 2002 Manual
     Forum for discussion of the new community written Trade Wars 2002 Manual.

     Trade Wars 2002 School
     This forum is for all players of the game to come and get instruction, tips,
     hints and strategy from experienced players. Use it wisely, what you don't
     know can kill you!


Player Corporation Area - Post and Read by Everyone - Specific Corp Forums Private

     Corporate Classifieds
     This area of the forum is for posting help wanted or looking for work ads,
     which is intended to bring together Corporations looking for members, players
     looking to join an established corporation.

     Corporation - Noble House
     Private area for the Perma - Corp Noble House

     Corporation - The Outfit
     Private forum for the member of the Non-Corporation "The Outfit"
 
And that is that. And yes it is true... No Smack forum, if you want to talk smack to each other then go to one of the many private forums that will offer an area for you to abuse one another because Smack has no place in a set of forums for which the primary goal is customer support.

What everyone seems to forget is that these forums are about supporting EIS customers, no more and certainly no less.  Lay out a set of rules that cover posting off-topic, thread hijacking and personal attacks. 3, 7 and 30 day warnings for violating those 3 rules. Get three warnings and your account is banned for thirty days, do it again and your account (and your post-count) are deleted.

Cerne

Why don't you set up a forum then?
Or you can go to the other ones I mod at too hehe.

Thanks for the suggestions!!!
I'm sure they will be taken under advisement.