Dont get me wrong. I really think the developers do a great job on the community section. (Everything else also ;)). I feel really part of the “creation” of stonehearth. I know creation is not the right word but i hope you get what i mean.
But its just that i prefer the SHK system above a Discourse system.
Discourse has definitely grown on me. While it has its quirks and limitations, I like the running list of topics on the front page so I can immediately see new discussions. I might wish that interesting discussions didn’t get buried so easily, but the “Categories” tab fixes a lot of that.
One feature that I think has been sadly underutilized in this forum is the “Reply as a linked topic” function. We are starting to get duplicate threads and newcomers don’t have any idea that what is in one thread might not be the only information on the subject. I’m not sure what magical powers moderators have, but linking different threads together would be nice.
There’s a ‘show all threads with unread posts’ button right at the top of the screen. There’s no mark as read functionality, I admit. But I really don’t see that as a major issue currently.
-Will
… just a minute ago I saw a “unread” link on top of the Forum ;-).
At the end of the day I think this is a question of taste. Personally I do not like anymore this large forum, which for sure do offer a lot of functionality… but for what? I have started to like easy / light forums these days. Not only Discourse, but also bbpress and others. For me this is much closer to a discussion and the “Twitter-Like” overview of the discussions makes it easier to follow what is going on (compared to “most recent 10 posts”-kind of plugins for a board).
The beauty lies in the eye of the beholder I guess :-).
@Gazz I can actually resolve the “Show all threads with unread posts” issue! Not that I view it as an issue, as I think there is a reason for it being the way it is.
Go to your profile and then preferences, at the bottom change “Automatically track topics I enter” to “always” then every topic you enter it will always update for you when there are unread posts.
You can also change each thread at the bottom of the respective thread where it has the dropdown box for “watching” “Tracking” “regular” “muted”
I think it’s that way so you’re not inundated with a mass of unread posts, and you can pick and choose which topics to be updated on.
Edit: Topics have to be set to either ‘tracking’ or ‘watching’ for you to be made aware of whether there are unread posts in them (I think anyway).
I really dislike Discourse. Maybe it’s because I’m used to the traditional forum layout, but I can’t stand how disorganised it is. Minimalism is great, but I think Discourse goes a bit too far.
I think that the general consensus is that despite Discourse’s occasional bugginess, it would be a huge pain to move EVERYTHING over to Kingdom, and Discourse is generally well-liked.
P.S. The Long-Term Forum Solution thread has exactly 69 posts… Just thought that was worth mentioning… 
I also dislike discourse, as I have never used a “forum” such as this, if you can call it that!
Discourse is not bad, by any means, it’s just not what I prefer, so I would vote yes to this pention, move over to SHK 
I like the simple organic flow of Discourse and I have come to associate it with Stonehearth.
I’d have to agree that Discourse feels extremely unorganized, but if this is what we have to deal with to keep the forum on the company’s site, I’m entirely ok with dealing with it.
We’re trying to spend 99% of our time coding, so our 3-person powow on this topic was brief. 
But we all agree that different forums serve different purposes, and that everyone should hang out in the space that works best for them. A healthy community accommodates lots of different preferences.
We’re going to keep the discourse, but we certainly visit other places where interesting Stonehearth-related stuff is going on. So hang out where you like, and we’ll probably see you there!
It’s the best motivation I’ve had so far! In the meantime, Google Translate FTW.
… google makes people lazy ;-).
Why do you think that Stonehearth Kingdom wouldn’t be under the developer’s control after it was officialized? Warstoriez already said he would gladly give moderation/administration powers to the developers if Stonehearth Kingdom was officialized.
Nice! Hope to see you on Stonehearth kingdom http://stonehearthkindom.com too is you have some time for it ;3. Its nice that you are so active on the forum @sdee !
Because moderator is far from under the developer’s control. Also, it means another URL I’d have to remember which is inconvenient when I can easily now just go to the stonehearth website and click forums. Plus, they have the finances to support the forum as it grows without (hopefully) the need to bring ads to the site/having the site move host to something like Curse.
I’ve personally got nothing against Stonehearth Kingdom as I do enjoy fan sites and seeing the content that goes up on them, but when I hear “official”, I think that it should be hosted and administered by the actual developers. Then they have less to worry about in situations like the administration of the fan site getting upset for one reason or another and then deciding to delete the site after all the work that had been put into it.
That’s just my opinion on the matter, though.
I have been avoidng posting in here for a while, but like I said before, I would NOT give Curse control over Stonehearth Kingdom. While if the devs ever come on they wouldn’t need to control anything since all they would be doing is posting, yet they will have powers to move threads, delete, edit, etc. Now, Stonehearth Kingdom has tons of room to grow, I don’t mean to brag (sorry Radiant :P, but Stonehearth Kingdom’s Specs More than Quadruple the Discourse in terms of RAM, Storage, CPU Power, and Bandwidth, so no worries. Also, whether you choose to use only Discourse, or only Kingdom is fine with me, people go to what they like better that is no big deal, and once again, the main goal of Kingdom was not for it to become the official forums (although I would if the devs wanted it to be), the main goal was for it to be a place where users can upload and download their Maps, Mods, Qubicle Templates/Replica’s and whatever else Radiant throws our way, whereas the Kingdom Forums were more of a secondary thing for people who choose the traditional layout/like Kingdom better, now, don’t worry, the Devs will eventually be browsing both sites, but like @sdee said up there, they are focusing on coding the game for now so it is no big deal :). I will eventually bring ads on the site but they will be in a unobtrusive spot as they are not really needed to support the website so far (if I even plan on having ads, we will see). My goal for the Kingdom is to make it the best user file sharing (Stonehearth things) experience possible. Soon there will be a user gallery implemented (not sure how soon) where users can upload Qubicle creations into albums (much like deviantArt, but with bulk uploading) and like, and comment on them. If you choose to use Kingdom, Discourse, or both (like most do) that choice is up to you! Anyways, I hope to see you all on the Kingdom one day, uploading your Templates, and soon Mods and Maps. Cheers!
-Warstoriez, www.StonehearthKingdom.com
If Stonehearth Kingdom was official, it would have to listen to the developers, and if it didn’t, the developers would make it unofficial, so saying it wouldn’t be under developer control is untrue.
Stonehearth Kingdom has links to the Wiki and the Dev Blog. You still only need one URL.
Warstoriez is charitable. End of argument.
exactly my feeling as well… i have just grown very accustomed to the format, and it “feels” like SH to me… 