Some more 'minor' changes.

[kup]

Yeah the logo is huge and I run my desktop at 1680x1050 and it also clashes badly with the rest of the board as an eye sore.

The new sections and rearrangements are a bit on the confusing but that could just need some getting used to.

[griffin]

Ah... along with the black background I honestly thought that the board was in mourning or something. I'd recommend losing the black as it clashes with the rest of the board's colours.

The banner is bugging me, and that was the last version I ended up with this morning before I was too tired to try some other ideas I still have. It concerns me that it is too high, but I am trying to make it long to accomodate those who use a higher resolution (people have bigger monitors these days, and turn up the Res to match). As such, a small banner can be left hanging to one side, or left with a heap of space on each side. I'll keep it centered though, no matter what size it is, and will try to narrow it a lot more (at least half its current height).
The black is easier to work with for me, especially when juggling components within the image, but I do agree that it is a too much black.
And I'd prefer to have the lettering in colour, so might just risk it.

too many new sections for my liking

Why does Lego get its own section?

Are there Hasbro orientated sections to entice them to be nice to us?

I'm trying to keep the number of sections as limited as possible, without causing too much traffic in the existing sections. The flaw of our first board, and a number of other boards, was that we had heaps of different themed sections, which sat vacant and lifeless, even as the member numbers grew.
The Non-TFs section of the board has a purpose (to be revealed later), which is why it is open to guests, so that it doesn't require non-TFs fans to register to use it. It is like a board within the board, that you guys can still use, and help it grow when the time comes to branch it off onto its own. But more on that later...

I agree with this sentiment. I think Lego could have its own sticky in the non-TF discussion section. This is meant to be a Transformers forum after all, if people really want to discuss Lego at length then why not join a Lego forum? (-_-)

Um, maybe because there isn't an AUS Lego forum (at least, none that I could find - there are probably yahoo/etc groups, but none web-based as an info resource), and there is a significant interest in Lego here to use it as one of the first trial sections of the OTCA twin website - AUS Transformers and AUS Toy Collecting in general. Transformers is probably only second behind Star Wars as Australia's most active and interactive toy collector community. And even that could be debatable if most SW fans are not avid toy collectors, instead just going to conventions and follow the story mediums. That said, we may have proven that we have the demand for a stand alone Transformers collector community, but what about all the rest of the toys being released in this country, and collected? Just because there isn't as much collector interest in them, doesn't mean there aren't people interested in following up on them and buying them. The Damntoys forum is a very expanded concept of what I eventually plan to have as a separate forum to our TFs forum, but I don't want to look like I am competing with the Damntoys forum. The priority is the info-resource website (which they don't have), but I will end up needing to eventually generate interaction forums to go with the new website, to allow people to comment on the news and content.

To prove my point, when I did several searches for Lego fan forums in Australia, I came up with 2 hits leading back to our board as the only AUS based and focused Lego fan interaction. So google searches may already be directing AUS Lego collectors here - making it an obvious starting point for the new website. If we had some other toy collecting interests shared by multiple members, I would look at adding them as well (except maybe Star Wars, as that would step on too many toes at this time).

That's revealed more than I wanted to at this time.
More to come...

[Tommy K]

looks awesome

[Kyle]

I support the creation of the new Lego section.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Griffin's creating an Empire!!!

[GoktimusPrime]

Um, maybe because there isn't an AUS Lego forum

So wouldn't it be the ownus of Australian Lego fans to form their own community? I don't see why it becomes our responsibility to cater for Australian fans of other toylines that don't already have an online community in this country. And where would you draw the line? Would you also include sections for other popular toylines which don't have an online Australian forum afaik? Examples might include:
+ Macross
+ Gundam
+ Gobots
+ TMNT
+ WWE
+ G.I. Joe (I Googled "G.I. Joe fan forums Australia" and didn't find anything).

...I just think having one "non-TF toys" section is more than enough and then maybe you could arrange the more popular threads such as Lego into stickies.

And then what about non-toy-collecting hobbies like animé, manga, comic books, scifi movies, sports et al? Are you going to make sections for all those if they become popular enough?

While it's nice of you to want to help out Lego fans on this board, I just don't think it's a good idea because:
a/ It lowers the integrity of the board as a Transformers forum by further diluting it with irrelevant sections.
b/ You're establishing a precedent that may lead to further dilution.

I personally think it was fun just to have one section for all non-TF related discussions and people can just make threads there. I started the martial arts discussion and Doctor Who discussion threads there and any time I want to discuss either of those issues I'll just go post on those threads. I don't feel the need to have dedicated sections. If I wanted to discuss them in further depth I'd go join or create specific boards on those topics.

In fact, you'll remember that's precisely what I did in 1999 when I created the first Planet Sabretron board - specifically to get away from all the unmoderated mayhem on most other boards like the BWTF boards at the time, and that board became the unofficial AusTrans (OzFormers) board for a while until you created the OzFormers forum around 2002/3? Anyway, it wasn't as if I demanded Ben Yee to create a section on his boards just for Australasian fans - I just went and made one (although I did allow some international users like FawnDoo, CheeToy etc.)... and then we made #transformers on austnet where we were mostly Australian fans but had a few foreigners there too (including Ben Yee and Rob Jung on a rare occasion). But the point I'm making is that I went and made my own forum rather than expecting someone else to do it for me.

[jacksplatt11]

Let's do a poll, we don't do enough polls on OTCA...

To be honest, I'm not fussed, I don't feel it "lowers the intergrity of the board" or anything like that, because OTCA is still the main Aussie TF board (I think it's only OTCA and TAAU? Is your forum still up Gok?) and I believe it will continue to be so for the unforeseeable future, whether we have a sub-forum, or just a thread, for Lego or not. Also, those other topics you listed don't really get discussed quite as much as Lego on here, apart from perhaps Gobots for obvious reasons, so are quite able to be contained in their own threads, but I get the point you're making, Gok, and it's quite valid. They're just my thoughts anyways

Also, Griffin does all the work and everything and maintains the board etc apart from delegating the moderation, so he can pretty much do whatever he wants haha

[Sam]

Hey Griffin, I really like the use of the Autobot logos to mark posts, it looks neat!

And whilst I consider myself a LEGO fan (I have a cupboard full of LEGO), and understand many people here also enjoy collecting LEGO, I too think that it should go under the "Toys" sub-section.

I understand that you want to make it easier for most of the fans here, and that's really very kind of you, but I think it may cause unnecessary misunderstanding in the future because some newer fans may then think that other non-TF interests/hobbies should also have their own sub-sections, therefore creating more workload for you.

But ultimately I think the issue is about maintaining the "TF-ness" (I know that's not a word) of this board. This is first and foremost a TF forum for TF fans, and so I think non-TF stuff should not have special treatment other than going into a non-TF section or "other toys" sub-section. I know none of us is against other hobbies, just that I believe they should go in their own appropriate sections.

Sorry if I seem to be making a big fuss, but I think it's important to set the distinction right at the start, so would like to respectfully request that you consider moving the LEGO thread into the other "toys" sub-section.

Thank you, cheers.

[blackie]

a/ It lowers the integrity of the board as a Transformers forum by further diluting it with irrelevant sections.
b/ You're establishing a precedent that may lead to further dilution.

you use the word dilution...... but im not sure if that's what you mean. do correct me if im wrong

People will post regardless of weather there is a lego section or not. The only thing it may 'dilute' is the post counts, slightly i might add. All its doing IMO is bringing a few threads together and placing them in an easier to access place. Considering this is primarily a transformers board, i doubt many if any people will join just to intersect in the lego section, because even though it now has its own 'section' as it were, its essentially no bigger than it was last week.

I would also like to hear how you think this would "lower the integrity" of the board. If, because we now have a lego 'section' we are lowering our integrity, then we've been 'doing' it for as long as my short stay, because there has always been 2 lego threads since i joined.

just my opinion, please if you have a problem with it, do retort

[jaydisc]

Hey Griffin, the new, smaller logo is a big improvement. Cheers.