Oi, long time no see 
And quite serendipitous to be here in time for this topic, since I remember that, when last visiting about 6 months ago, I thought the board needed it.
So, it is very nice of you to implement this TinCow 
Agree with the rest that the slightly longer, full exposure version is still better, even if less radical a change.
If I would have a suggestion, it would be to have the Forum categories be made more visible. That is, New Members, Total War: Shogun 2, Previous Total War games, Forum Gaming, Off Topic. These titles should be bigger, so as to be more visible as you scroll down the page.
And if you don’t mind a bit of feedback in general, then
(1) it requires renaming the themed fora (i.e. Citadel, Colosseum) to more utilitarian names to enable new members to find what they are looking for
Direly needed for what my opinion is worth.
And in view of this, perhaps make sure all names in the On Topic categories and sections are crystal clear, except for the main SP (Tea House) and MP (Hachiman Fields) forum Sub-category titles of the current game, where the flavour should be kept – the voting and talk going along with it when choosing the names has always sparked a very convivial atmosphere as far as I recall, we should hold onto that part.
Sections like Ludus Magna and the Confucian Academy should, however, be renamed as clearly and plainly as possible to something like Game Mechanics and the same name should be used all over for this type of section.
In the same vein, rather than Total War Legacy, just write Previous Total War titles – it’s clear and clean.
Please note that these mockups do not include all of the forum renaming that would be needed
On that topic. Aside from replacing the flavour text, the explanatory notes below the forum section titles should be changed as well in my opinion. The text should be shorter, or more straightforward, and a bit more inviting too. Order should be emphasized when organizing these sections. After the SP, MP sections, we should always have Guides come up first, they’ve always been most important in attracting new members, we want them very visible. Then, in order of their importance for new members again, Mods, then the Game Mechanics sections (the Ludus Magna, Confucian Academy type of sub-forums), then AARs.
I would also suggest not displaying the acronym for AARs, but rather the actual name, After Action Report. I must confess, when checking up on the .Org a year ago I had no idea what AARs meant, but, at the same time, I had towards it that sort of “I’ve no time to check what this is about” mentality we’re adopting more and more nowadays to block the stream of info flooding our brains. It took me 1 month to bother clicking on the section and finding out, I kid you not.
Same thing applies for the Forum Gaming category; drop the section flavour titles there as well and go for clear descriptions and order it the other way around, let Total War Multiplayer Campaigns come first, followed by Interactive History Games and then Forum Games – despite the popularity of the latter among old-timers, the category should first try to emphasize Total War related forum gaming perhaps. It is one of those niches the .Org fills very well and which may at any time gain a large boost depending on the TW title released and the support ensured by CA for such features.
The Off Topic category may, on the other hand, be all flavour in my opinion. It already has the Tavern, the Watchtower, the Mead Hall and the Monastery, which together lead one to imagine one of those small Italian or French medieval towns – we may as well go ahead and complete the tableau by renaming the Hard- and software and the Arena sections in the same spirit, say, and this is merely off the top of my head, the Laboratory and the Foreign Quarter respectively. And again, we should try to list them in a more appropriate order. Say, we first have the Tavern with its Frontroom and Backroom – we should then place the Monastery, since so many Backroom talks touch on the subject of history, then the Mead Hall, since the section really is all about members getting to know each other better at its most basic as well. The Watchtower, then the Laboratory (Hardware and Software) are the sections where chaps go for help, so list them one after the other; and then, ofc, we’d have the Foreign Quarter (the Arena). We may even try to align the Entrance Hall along the same concept by renaming it the Front Gate or something similar, even if it would remain at the top.
And again, everywhere, we should place the most simple, inviting and straightforward texts.
Probably a bit much to just say “change this and that”, so below you have a hurried sketch of how I think it should read:
Note: Bold & Large stands for Forum category. Bold for Sub-category. Plain text for explanatory Sub-category notes. Underline for Sections.
New Forum Structure Proposals
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