It was edgy and new, like a fauxhawk and a pierced lip!
I didn’t think Dex was being snotty. I did think Oakminster’s remarks were par-for-the-course-internet-aggressive.
Lazlo - there are a few issues with your suggestion. One was that the other board runs on different software. The SDMB has fairly substantial archives and translating them into a new language would be a challenge. The board has always been a tiny part of a much larger organization and has strived not to incur large expenditures.
Secondly, the austere look here is thought to enable and reflect a serious approach to fighting ignorance. Unsurprisingly that has been a matter of controversy: hilariously, we’ve just come down from a 14 page discussion of whether avatars are a good idea. (I say no, a large minority says yes.)
More generally, text-speech is intrinsically harsher than vocal conversation, something that even longtime posters here don’t always remember. So members have to roll with the punches here, while avoiding direct insults outside of the pit. It’s a peculiar tradition, but there are both harsher and gentler boards elsewhere.
I don’t think the OP was saying that linked board IN PARTICULAR, just suggesting a change of colours, format etc. But as Measure for Measure thoughtfully explained, it’s not practical for a variety of reasons.
I’ve been critical of the look and feel of the SDMB in the past, but Rant Central Forums looks far more dated IMHO. That site has an early 2000s “Web 1.5” look to my eyes. A very wide and probably mobile- and tablet-unfriendly fixed width template with a massive header image … yeah, 2001 or 2002.
It’s difficult to get a clean Web 2.0 look with vBulletin 3 or 4, but I think the foks behind the SDMB has done a decent job with what they’ve got. Invision Power Board probably has the most contemporary default template of all the major message board systems out there, but considering the SDMB uses a four year old version of vBulletin, I don’t think they’re going to switch to IPB or XenForo anytime soon.
I agree. The current setup allows the user to focus on the content, not the decor. I like it.
Is this still you being nice?
I agree. I’ve posted to other forums that use that format, and I like ours better. The linked site’s banner is too large. The Latest Threads column is distracting. The layout is too ‘vertical’; lots of empty space on the sides. The category headers are not needed, and are distracting.
To make the other site better I’d make the header smaller. I’d get rid of the left-hand column and replace it with a New Posts option on the navigation menu. I’d stretch the Forums list to fill the screen. I’d get rid of the categories and have all of the forums under ‘Main’.
Oh, wait… That would make that site look like SDMB. 
I broke no rules, yet he decided to scold me. I get testy when people do that.
Trueness. I’ve no love for the SDMB design, but it’s better than the linked site. It would be nice if SDMB offered a choice of color schemes, because the present “primary colors, but almost entirely blue” look is strident, and the design (“rhapsody in thick blue and gray bars”) is not attractive.
The SD logo is a relic --not a charming one-- and the Fighting Ignorance tagline is crowded and should probably be flush with the logo.
So, I’ve got some sympathy for the OP. And Mr. Oakminster needs to recalibrate his antagonism meter. The OP was not insulting anyone, let alone rearranging their furniture.
That was my first thought as well.
Geez what a comments. I don’t really care one way or the other, but of all the vbulletin boards I go to, this one is easily the least appealing (visually; regardless of other options etc.). It looks like it was set up in the nineties and hasn’t been updated since.
Noticing this, doesn’t mean I think substance is less important or that ‘everything’ needs to be changed. It is just an observation.
From the fury of the Norsemen, things that go bump in the night, and forums that look like that in the OP, may the good Lord deliver us.
You don’t have to break a rule to deserve a scolding.
The OP merely made a suggestion. but your post indicates that it was a completely invalid thing to do.
Who made you internet police?
I, for one, completely support Oakminster’s position on this and thought he was rather easy on the OP.
Consider this a nitpick, because I wouldn’t want to change SDMB. But changing the decor doesn’t necessarily require a change of software, and that other board runs on MyBB, a clone of vBulletin anyway, so that might not be much of a technical change.
So to be clear, you support the position that this message board is “our house,” and that when a member who joined the board in April (and thus has essentially been a resident of “our house” for four months) posts a polite suggestion about the message board in a forum called “About This Message Board,” it is equivalent to a complete stranger breaking into your home and moving your possessions from room to room? And you don’t just agree with this analogy, but feel it should’ve been phrased even more aggressively?
I can’t see much difference between what Oak said and what Siam Sam said- and I don’t think either of them deserves censure.
Here’s the thing: This board really doesn’t look modern. And there’s a reason for that. When you try very hard to make something look “modern”, you succeed… For about six months, tops. But once that time is past, you go very quickly from “modern” to “horribly dated”. If instead your design goal is “simple” and “classic”, then you’ll continue to look simple and classic for decades on end. Looking at this board, it could have been designed in the early 90s. Or it could have been designed in around 2000. Or it could have been designed just this past week. And thus, it does not and will not look dated.
No.
Siam Sam posted one line of snark. It had some validity in that the the OP’s idea of better design was very, very questionable. The OPs newbie status had nothing to do with the validity of his suggestion, but Siam’s snark was brief and moderately cute, so not very offensive.
Oakminister took the invalid part of Siam Sam’s post and ran with it. He castigated the OP for daring to offer suggestions.