Is there any chance we could get a moderated collaboration forum?
The current forum is full of posts without enough detail, with stolen assets, with (fearsome) trolls, etc.
When the kids go back to school it will calm down a bit, but we do need a Pro collab forum.
I mean what does it take 5 minutes to add a new Forum?
It is getting to the point were it’s not even worth checking for a gig there.
/imho
Yes, it takes 5 minutes to create a new “Pro Collaboration” section, but it would also take a lot of moderation as well as having to kindly explain to members why their thread got sent down to the “Collaboration Ghetto” on a daily basis.
The only way to split them objectively would be into paid and unpaid Collaboration sections. But even that would have to be closely moderated as people might consider “we all split the profits once we finish my uber-awesome MMO idea and sell it to EA” as a paid project.
I agree that the current section is messy, but there are only two of us that actively, and regularly, moderate the forum right now so having to read every single collaboration thread to make sure it’s in its proper place would take more time then we have at the moment.
@aNTeNNa trEE
You make some very valid points as always 
What about a Collab forum for Unity Pro Users
there is no distinction by the board software between pro users and non pro.
aside of the nice problems it would directly cause
→ Unity pro but iphone non pro, iphone project → where?
Well it wouldnt be hard. Unity Pro Forum (for users with pro license). Unity IPhone (for iphone license), Unity IPhone Pro (for iphone pro license) etc.
Or we could just have a radio check box with:
Paid
Volunteer
or Royalty’s.
and then in the view mode, you can filter out the stuff you don’t want.
I don’t see us ever splitting the forum into free/pro users as it seems to go against what Unity is all about. But I’d like to hear examples of other software that uses a two tiered forum system like this (that actually works). I doubt it ever does and most likely just alienates a certain percent of the users.
We are currently working on a new forum and filtering will be a part of it. What you’ll be able to filter I’m not entirely sure yet.
Okay the C4 Engine has a “Licensed User Area” which is only visible to owners of the engine.
http://www.terathon.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=11
I don’t think splitting up the support forum is a good idea, but for a collaboration section its good to at least know the person has committed themselves enough to buy unity pro.
I mean have you been to that section recently? The serious inquires and offers are definitely the minority.
Current collaboration forum might not be the best place to make a serious team from thin air, instead it’s a great place for unexperienced users to try their crazy ideas with others.
By the time someone is ready to lead a game project, he or she will have gained a reputation based on personal work. Someone serious and above anything capable of leading a game project, it will probably have enough contacts and will communicate with them using instant messenger, collaboration forum is unnecessary in this case.
It’s not a bad idea to have highly moderated collaboration forum. Maybe one of us can create and moderate a forum of this type, call it unity freelance forum. A good place for portfolios and job offers.
All posts could be revised by a moderator, so non-profit job offers, jokes or ridiculous unrealistic projects can get filtered out.
If there’s a real need for a forum like this, then it will be a success.
In some months its time for Unity Jobs, the job market
http://www.unity-jobs.com
Tolerate it still some days and then you can use Unity Jobs 
Undoubtedly there would be some moderation required if you were to use a pure forum based approach. But even some basic rules could make a big difference.
For example:
- The provided template must be fully filled out.
- Poster has more than x amount of forum posts.
- Work is either:
-
- Paid.
-
- Posted by a person/team with previous (released) titles.
-
- Has website/demo with significant proof of progress.
New topics only appear after being approved, all replies happen outside of forum posts (i.e. PM, email, teams website).
With criteria like this and a clear expectation that being accepted is at the discretion of the moderators, you could probably limit the amount of work.
You could also have well known/respected community members as moderators of this forum if Unity staff do not have time.
I’d like to bring the Collab forum problem to a wider scope :
In the last 4 monthes, I can’t help but find Unity forums far less interesting, because of it being overcrowded with beginners who keep asking questions and how-to. I got no problem with these people at all, as we all need to learn at some point.
But it really has reached a point where confirmed Unity users can hardly find any confirmed Unity using topic. Just write a constructive topic proposing a serious debate, an advanced Unity hint sharing, or a polished work in progress, and it will be drowned in hours into stuff like “how do I code ?”, “what is Unity ?”, or “here is my first Unity project showing a cube lit by a spotlight”.
Once again I got no problem with these topics, but unfortunately they became far too numerous compared to less “casual” ones.
I used to love discovering some highly technical, collaborative topics running 6 pages one year ago, popping just like that. This is practically how I learned Unity.
I also loved to browse the Showcase section, because people only felt the need to show their work if it was at least a bit polished.
I’m not gonna make friends by saying that, but nowadays it’s more like a “look, I can handle Unity now !” competition. Not very motivating …
Happily, there are still some serious guys over here who are outdoing themselves to provide awesome works.
Long story short, the Unity forums kind of don’t feel like a professional nest anymore. It became a gamemaking beginner’s area.
Until some time ago, in other sections, there was also some kind of “stop being lazy with your beginner question, just hit the search button” spirit from all the members, which prevented such crowding how-to topics.
So, in the end, I agree that giving Unity Pro members the ability to filter some stuff is not very politically correct, but to this point, it kind of feels necessary 
How about public forums as they are currently, maybe ‘remove’ some sections and only have couple of forums thats public. And rest of the forums require you to apply for them.
Applying could be just a simple process of filling an application (you know, name, experience, interests, bio, etc) and once approved you would gain access to the “private forums”. Considering unity’s friendly approach, maybe everyone could read those forums, but posting requires applying for.
Of course the application itself doesn’t have any high requirements for people. Its not like you need 5 years of experience with quantum physics, but ability to fill the application and actually CARE to fill it might filter out a lil bit of trash
And the ‘l33t kiddies / ad0lts’ could spew their own test in the public forums as they currently do.
Maybe something as easy as a rating system for threads will help people finding the interesting posts. It works well in other forums and I think it could work here aswell.
Often threads with lots of posts would indicate that there is something of value in the thread but nowadays it seems that more often the long threads consists of posts telling the thread starter why he made a crappy thread or why a poster posts to much nonsense (which is itself quite ironic 
)
Arguing have become more interesting than discussing game programming! :o
how about topic prefixes?
or forum ranks?
Omg I just discovered how the Collab forum has turned out to be…
(Didn’t go there for ages)
This overall lack of seriousness is upsetting ! :x
P.S : Poor Antenna Tree 