Nah keep the forums, they're getting better. I love white text on black starry blackgrounds. I get sick to death of forums with the standard black text on white backgrounds.

I check the forum about every day, and have gotten a lot of good ideas. We probably get as annoyed with a "bad" post as you folks at Stardock do. Most of the time, we just ignore 'em and click on to a worthwhile post. I think you have a decent sense of community built up through this forum that is pleasant for us and, I hope, will prove gratifying to you (in both a personal and a business sense). And for the record, I have had no problems with the way the forum functions.

Thanks for your efforts to have this forum, and I hope you decide it is worthy continuing. Either way, GalCiv 2 is a great game, and thank you for it.

TBH, if negative feedback is your concern, you should definitely keep the forums here. People might complain about the issues (I've posted once mentioning the forum's dislike for Firefox...), but here you can not only allay fears but you're showing people that you do care about the game and your customers. By kicking the forums out, you'll make the few (though loud) complainers here happier, but those of us who contently browse and post and revel in the fact that you, the Dev team, actually pay attention to us will probably start flaming in the new boards (though, we don't all have the experience needed to effectively flame... there is an art behind it which seems to require a lack of common sense most of the time). Please keep the forums... nothing's perfect, but this imperfect forum shows us that your nearly perfect team is attempting to get your almost perfect game to an infinitely close to perfect status, something we should all be proud to be witnessing.

Without the forums, you would find it harder to do market research and to sdvertise new products and updates.

I don't own a copy of Galciv yet and have never played, but I find these forums interesting. Rickety computer and lack of time is why I have not got around to getting the game. I'm hooked reading the forum, though. When I get the time to do a computer rebuild, it will probably be one of the 1st things I purchase to run on it. Having this forum here will be very handy when I do get started and it is great to see what those who made the game have to say about things relating to the game. The "small town" feel this imparts is welcoming.

BTW, I had problems posting with an old firefox browser, but use IE here without any problem, so it was no big deal. I mentioned these problems on another thread, but not to bitch, just as "bug reports" in case the info might have been useful to a sysop here.

I may only have a few posts here, but I like knowing that there is always a source for strategies and place to put bug reports that will actually get to the development team; it is why I am not hesitant to download the public betas if I will have the time to test them.

It is important to remember that a few angry people will make a lot of noise, but the many happy people will remain quite. This is the principle of the silent majority, and the more people understand it, the better. This is why I do not post often: I am happy with the game, and I'm not a good enough player to contribute any real strategies.

There may be a few bugs (especially with Firefox), but this is one of the few sites I actually trust enough to view in Internet Explorer, and the other bugs can be worked around until you can fix them.

While I don't read the forums daily like I used to, I do feel like it gives me an avenue to speak directly to the developers and decision makers at StarDock by using these forums. My primary observation is that there doesn't appear to be a FAQ that covers the issues I see over and over again. For example, I want to submit an enhancement idea or possible bug but don't want to read many threads from the last 3 months to make sure that the issue hasn't been covered. The one FAQ that I found quickly was mostly relevant before the game came out. The other thing that I think makes these forums useful is that it demonstrates interaction between the game developers and the users. I'll admit that I don't play many other games, I don't visit many web-sites, and I don't spend a lot of time interacting too much on-line (between a family and a job, I'm generally too busy.) As a result, I don't have much basis for comparison as to the quality of these forums. Mainly I come here because it's the official, site and, as such, I assume it's the most practical location to come to get news "straight from the horse's mouth." If you were to take the forums away, I would like to see it replaced with something that would also feel like I'm speaking directly to the folks at StarDock (and have a reasonable chance of getting a response.)

While I'm not a regular poster, I chime in on a daily basis to get the latest blurb on the game and to stay up to date with other's mods, ops, strategies and the like.
It's good to have it all in one place, switching over to apolyton wouldn't do for me.

The vocal minority is always a problem with forums. But with effective moderating it has been beaten in all forums I currently visit.

Sure GC2 forums have their technical hiccups but I find this place very enjoyable none the less. Atleast here if I report a bug or write about the game, I get a feeling that there is a chance some of the SD team notices it.

Well I see I am definitely not by myself on this, please keep the forums. I check them almost evryday to read what you and others have posted. so there are some people who just cant be pleased, dont sweat it, they always get put in thier place by myself and athers who see such ungratfulness as rude and inconsiderate. Also the heart of this site is the forums if you where to remove them the site would dry up. so please dont close the forums unless it is absolutely neccessary.

If you did do this you should have a very prominent galcin2.com link to the new forums and have a trolling lurking presence there with Stardockies.

It would also be nice to have a archive copy and link to the old forums where someone could link back to the old thread or at least refence it or something.

Your openness of an officially santioned forum is a great asset.

Any waste of your employee time will naturally mitigate as time goes on, just think of the feedback you will receive on the next release or expansion. responses here will naturally attrit over time, faster for the complainers.

And for the recent comments and complaints about the boards, those have been mostly ended since the latest update and the corrections to the character line break methods. I think most complaints were people trying to help.

The forums and your website in general are contributing to your success. Don't change to many things for your devoted dans or you could accidently screw that delicate balance up.

You have a great competitive balance because of you fan dupport and loyalty and perceived level of support. This forum and the easy links to info on progress contributes to that.

As a company I would think that a personal link to your customers and what they think would be invaluable. The ultimate question is, does the cost of "extras" pay for themsleves in the long run? Word of mouth goes a long way and to just yank these forums for a quick fix in stopping the "negative PR" as it was put is a bit drastic. How much do you think that letter by a fan in this months issue of CGW is worth in advertising dollars? How much do you think it will cost if the next one that appears is a complaint that SD yanked their forums because they were affraid of a little bit of criticism by their fans only wanting to see things improve? As a consumer we "complain" to help get the most out of our purchase. It doesn't mean we hate the game or think we should expect things. As mentioned, the "negative PR" has come from a lack of acknowledgement from anyone at SD after they had spoiled us by being here when we needed them.

Its your site, your forums. Figure out if it will cost you more in PR than it does in dollars to make your decision. Those of us who stop by daily will survive with them gone as there are plenty of game fourms out there that will eventually grab our attention.

Man, go away for work training one day and I miss all the fun. Personally, I don't see what the problem is. I read about the first 20 posts here, and still have no idea why these forums are 'bad'. So what if some whiney moron wants to complain? I have no trouble identifying the total lack of merit in his rant, iqnoring it, and quickly going on to another post that may be of real interest and value. I have found alot here that qualifies for that second type of post too, though maybe not as much as I would like. But that is not the forums' fault, just that of us, the players.

Consider too that if you kill this, you lose most if not all control of what is or is not posted on the 'official' forum, and cannot moderate, remove posts, or banninate the extreme trollers.