List of New / Remaining Threads (A Preliminary New List)
A lot of this looks good to me. Although I think it would be easier to really see that with a list of the new / remaining categorized threads rather than just the threads & categories to be deleted.
Thread Prefix Idea
Also, I'm not a fan of the prefix idea, as was shown in BatVink's example link to the 'Programming Talk' thread. That thread looks a bit cluttered to me. But the idea of being able to select filters such as "C++", etc, would effectively clear that up. Because as a C++ programmer myself, I wouldn't wanna have to wade through all the PHP and BASIC and C# and all the other languages there.
However the prefix idea did seem to work well, I think, in the "Code Snippets" board... which is one I hope is kept. Still, I think the idea of being able to easily filter such prefixes so we don't have to wade through all the others would be a good idea.
But over-using prefixed names in the forum would be one more hassle clutter of its own, just to get to the target.
Overall, I'd say keep everything simple, concise, and straightforward.
On Merging DarkGDK w/ DarkGDK.NET
Since both boards are not that active anymore, it's perhaps not a big deal. But I use DarkGDK, and I've never used DarkGDK.NET. So I'm not too keen on the merger of these two. They are different products, and so I feel should have their own boards. At the very least though, an easily-filterable prefix to specify which one is being referenced in the threads...
Old-Products Category
To help keep these two (DarkGDK products) and other individual products separate, perhaps you could add an 'Old Products' category for products that are old and not actively supported anymore by TGC. Then at least they won't be in the middle of everything else.
Game-Making Category
Also, I'm not sure how you could really remove the Game-Making category. Although I've never looked much there myself, but having a category like that in a game-making forum is kinda foundational. I've noticed since I've joined this forum a couple years ago that many of the games that people have been working on have all been variations of a simple theme - not really much originality or creativity, except in a handful of cases.
Free Game-Making Tutorial or eBook
Having a game-making category, or better yet, perhaps a free ebook or tutorial on creative game-making that covers the main story, to the details that adds realism to the technical bits and pieces of putting something like that together - I think would be a great idea and help people to really get great use out of the game-making tools offered by TGC, not to mention perhaps several more worthy publications of new games.
Game-Making (conclusion)
So my idea here is to create a new eBook for free (perhaps w/ purchase or download of any game-making software), that thoroughly tutors a newbie who has enjoyed playing games to create high-caliber games that are original, creative, and likely to be published (which would free-advertise TGC and their products).
And secondly, creating a new Game-Making category in the forums to be a discussion area, an exchange of ideas and Q & A for people, based on the eBook.
Judging what we see is the greatest blinder and self-limiter in the universe.
What we perceive is never reality. It is only a story we tell ourselves based on our current perspective, which has far more to do with our beliefs about ourselves than with anything else.
