The move to a Discourse forum format has upset the balance for some out there so I’ve decided to make what will hopefully be a simple and easy to read guide for those who want to know how to make the most of it. Topics covered will range from simple navigating of the forum to how to best take advantage of its features, like searching for threads or advanced editing of your topics and replies.
Note that this isn’t a discussion thread for your views about how much you like or don’t like the forum change and I will request mods to move out any such subjective ramblings. Please keep discussion centered around questions you may have ‘on how something works’ or ‘feedback on the guide’ itself.
So lets begin.
This guide is a Work-In-Progress
Forum Navigation
The old numbered page view format is gone and in its stead we have infinite scrolling and many either just don’t like it or perhaps just have difficulty grasping how to navigate it.
Regardless of that I will try to shed some light on the best ways to get to, or find, what you are looking for.
Default 'Latest' View
The root forum address will always bring you to the Latest category view, as shown below highlighted in orange:
Clicking the large Crate logo in the upper left, on any page throughout the site, will always return you to this view.
Just below the category selection area, you have a thread list showing all the latest active threads. You can click on the Replies, Views, and Activity headings to sort the list.
This applies to any other category and sub-category views that display such a thread list.
Sometimes you might see that the above sorting options have disappeared and in their place is a lighter blue banner notifying you of new or updated topics. Clicking it will refresh the list.
This applies to any other category and sub-category views.
New topics will have a small dot next to their title…
…while topics your tracking options are following that have new replies ‘you haven’t yet read’ will display a numbered indicator.
Next to your Latest category heading may also be two new category headings named New and Unread:
These two can appear and disappear from this section depending on if you’ve cleared these notifications out by either reading or dismissing them.
'Categories' View
Clicking on the Categories heading will bring you to this view:
Here we have (currently) three sections. The top is, obviously, the Grim Dawn section. In the middle, less obviously, we have the Future Projects section. And last is the Off Topic section.
Currently the Grim Dawn section is the most heavily populated and active, followed by the Off Topic section. Both of these sections contain the majority of threads/posts.
The Future Projects section will likely change, or morph, into new game sections in the future, to one day have their own forum category. We know for sure that a city builder style game is in the works and possibly due for release next year in 2020.
Clicking into one of the Main categories above will bring you into a view listing each categories ‘sub-categories’:
Going into each category and subsequent ‘sub-category’ always defaults to a ‘Latest’ view of that section. As you can see each ‘sub-category’ contains a section to the right of it listing the three latest active threads for that ‘sub-category’.
Instead of using the ‘Category’ button you can also use the ‘all categories’ drop down just to the left of it to select one of the main category headings:
It also has a ‘Search’ field within the dropdown which you can use to call up one of the sub-categories if you like:
Each category and sub-category has a ‘tracking’ options button where you can individually tailor the notification level for each section to your liking:
'Top' View
The Top category, available in every category/sub-category, lists the top topics -threads- of each section/view you happen to be in. This can be adjusted to cover a time period, as shown in the photo below. It can be further sorted by clicking the Replies, Views, and Activity list headings, also shown.
'Crate Tracker' View
Pressing the ‘Crate Tracker’ button:
…brings you to this screen:
By default it shows you the ‘Crate_Employee’ Activity group view with a focus on the latest ‘Posts’ made by anyone designated a member of the ‘Crate_Employee’ group.
You can change the focus from ‘Posts’ to ‘Topics’ to instead list the latest threads created by Crate_Employee’s.
You may also choose to change focus to ‘Mentions’ of the ‘Crate_Employee’ group, currently there are none listed as noone has mentioned the group as a whole yet.
To mention the entire group in a post -or reply-, type in: @Crate_Employee
This will notify every member of this group of the mention.
You may also send the group a ‘Message’:
You can also switch from ‘Crate_Employee’ group to the ‘Playtester’ group and the ‘Registered_Users’ group.
You can likewise mention the ‘Playtester’ group with: @Playtester
…and mention the ‘Registered_Users’ group with: @Registered_Users
Unlike the ‘Crate_Employee’ group you cannot mass-send either of these two groups PM’s (private messages).