I see a lot of hate, I see attempts to defend, and I see a lot of general chaos right now. In what is sure to be only a small attempt of many which will likely be ignored, I shall attempt to critique this new layout honestly and with an open mind. Firstly, let's start out positive. What I like: 1. Images/videos/links in posts 2. Ability to change name 3. The hashtags 4. The linking of multiple systems 5. The ability for a group to have public posts 6. Ability to reply directly (Only as an option. Should not replace quoting entirely) 7. [b]Making the use of bold, italics, underline, and the rest of the formatting a bit easier. Plus the addition of a spoiler system.[/b] 8. The new editing system 9. The new following system. What I do not like: 1. The aesthetic of a white box of forum on a black background. It has a feeling of being half-assed and would feel like there's an error were it not for the rounded corners. 2. The lack of separation by forum. Just because I can follow hashtags does not mean that Halo: Reach discussion and Halo 3 discussion should not have their own place. 3. The sorting system (At the moment). This I feel is on the right track, but needs some improvement. The sorting should be an option later, but defaulted to the old layout's format of the latest discussion being first with the sorting being less time oriented. I sometimes like to just browse backward in time linearly without having to specify just how far back I'm going. This just needs some fine-tuning, and it'll be good with some work. 4. The lack of stickied/pinned threads. I know that these were in a bad place in the old layout, but that doesn't justify doing away with them entirely. Many of those were convenient for users to have on the right side of the page. I know I may seem biased because of my Flood Funny Sayings thread, but I honestly don't care about that thread. I'll get PM's about that from certain regular members and replies there whether it's popular or not. However, new members may not find as easily some of those threads, including the PC guide. Maybe sticky those + forum rules at the bottom of the page instead and combine them with specific forums. 5. The movement toward Reddit/Tumblr/Twitter/What have you. This forum system of hashtags and the like is far more organized toward discussing specific things and excluding discussion about others. Sure, it's got a lot of possibility for power, but it lacks structure. The hashtags are a good thing. The lack of individual forums is not. Reducing discussion to only tags limits discussion. Yes, you could make the argument that following the Offtopic tag is as good as having a Flood forum, but from a user perspective, it feels a lot better having that separate forum, knowing that I'm talking specifically to THAT community. Yes, the forum system divides the community slightly, but at the same time, it's a bit for the better. Maybe there were a few too many forums, but that's nothing that figurative pruning shears can't fix. Either way, this layout is more focused on content and creating new threads. The older system was more focused on discussion. 6. The color aesthetic. Bungie was blue, then turned black. Now it's black and blue, but now suddenly white. I liked the black and blue. It fit far more with Bungie's themes and darker sense of humor. 7. The lack of user standout. Each post in The Flood was a POST. It carried weight with its existence. Now each post just sort of blends together into a mishmash of constant text down the page with a couple of pictures on the left. Users don't stand out as much. It changes the KIND of feel for discussion. Sure, this might promote more reading, but less responding. While I had an urge to respond to most posts back in the old format, this format just feels like just another brick in the walk. A bit more division between posts would be appreciated. This posting system has more of a feel of a "status update" *cringe* than a topic for discussion. The general aesthetic feels like I should be just throwing an approval/disproval. 8. The need mouseover to see who made the last reply, the hashtags, etc. Some people don't like using their mouse as much. People on laptops are gonna have a bad time. 9. How fast things disappear. This ties in very strongly with the lack of forums. A post on The Flood disappeared too rapidly during primetime already. Now things have no chance at all of surviving if they do not become popular instantly. This is a problem Reddit faces due to its sheer size even though it's split into subcategories. Bungie.net as a whole has too many users for this system to not have things disappear instantly. 10. Needing to expand replies to read them. Bungie, copy Reddit's style of having the primary comments visible, and only children of those comments needing to be expanded. This promotes further discussion. The quotes only system had issues, and this just introduces far more. 11. The new PM system. I liked PM's. For me specifically, it allowed me to deal with them as I pleased and manage which ones I have read vs. which ones I haven't read yet. Now it lacks that feel. PM's should remain entirely individual messages, not a conversation system. Until Bungie implements a chat, conversations should be nonexistent. They should just be PM's. 12. The notification system as it is. It's not bad, it just needs work. Namely, have clicking on a notification simply acknowledge it so that it doesn't appear flagged anymore. Have the actual LINK to it separate from clicking on it. Have following the notification take you to the entire thread instead of just that one post. Sure, have it scroll down to that post and have the replies open automatically, but please have it go to the entire thread. What I think needs more testing before being harped on: 1. Liking. This COULD potentially be a good system. Reddit has proven that a karma system greatly promotes good content, even if it is a wee bit of a closed community at times. 2. The hashtags. With a bit of work, these could be a great tool for discussion. IF they get a bit of fine-tuning. Namely bringing back specific forums. Hashtags are good for trimming already organized discussion, not organizing discussion itself. 3. Direct replies. This is a potential system for good, but should not replace the quoting system entirely. As long as Bungie keeps the quoting system, and only uses this as an ADDITION, I have no complaints. 4. The focus on notifying users. This has potential for some people, is useless for others, and is a nuisance for others. This needs to pan out before giving the thumbs up/down. A few suggestions for improvement: 1. If Bungie truly wants to be more like Reddit, have subforums under an overarching frontpage forum. Then this system of hashtags can stay if Bungie really wants it, but there's still The Flood, Halo: Reach, Classifieds, etc. as their own forums with official discussion. 2. Make post options (reply, start related, hide, etc.) into buttons again. They feel better like that. 3. Allow notifications for replies to specific threads. Sometimes I'm following one of my own threads fairly closely, and would like the notification system to work for my own benefit in this way. Other times I'm following another thread. A "Follow this thread" as opposed to an automatic follow of only your own threads button would be nice. This is still evolving, and my opinion may evolve a bit with it. I will continue to browse and try to figure out this new layout for the sake of science. At the end of all this, I like the additions, do not like the style change. I feel like Bungie could do a lot more to improve on this system if this is truly what they want.