It's not a "bug," as you contend. It's how the phpbb search engine works. If a term is too generic, it won't accept it. It asks for clarity. Had you asked for input on it, instead of just griping, someone would have responded by telling you how to search better. Sometimes, a software's limitation is no greater than the person using it.
Steampunk is not futuristic. It is anything but. It is, in fact, an "alternate universe" style Victorian setting. Adding in the fantasy, horror and "old west" flavors of Malifaux, that cements it that much farther away from futuristic.
You've had a membership here a long time. If you perused the site much in 'the old days,' you may recall just how cluttered it was. In the 7 years presumable absence you had from the site, though (according to your refs), a lot changed. We streamlined and combined things. Malifaux and board games do not support enough traffic to warrant their own forums. There's just not enough traffic for it. All that does is make the site cluttered unnecessarily. Same for video games. The only games that warrant their own forums are those that get enough posts to fill a forum themselves.
The site loads more smoothly, is easier to navigate, and actually has LESS problems that it used to.
video games and board games seem like you just took whatever was left and made a misc catagory.
Close, but note quite. What we did was take two games that (a) don't fit anywhere else and (b) don't get enough ads to warrant their own forums and combined them. It's actually been working well these past few years. It's an odd pairing, to say the least, but it gets the job done.
all this, i wanted as a statement so hopefully it could be fixed.
That implies that it is broken. In the years that we've had the site arranged in this way, we've had relatively few improper cross-posts, and the most minimal amount of complaints. The most complaints, in fact, came as soon as we made the changes; people don't like change, in general. Once they got used to the set up of the site, things smoothed out remarkably and, in fact, got better.
my stance on it wont be swayed reguardless of what is said.
I'm not trying to sway your opinion. I'm just trying to explain the reasons behind the way things are the way they are. That way you can learn where you're going wrong (in the case of the searches) and why things aren't changing any time soon (in the case of the forums).
if i put it in the wrong section i am sorry, maybe you can move it to the right section or delete it but i just hope you guys who run the site actually think about it.
This is the best section for this. There's no need to move or delete it.
i have been using this site on and off for about 9 years and have never complained about anything before but this really breaks the user experience.
"Breaks the user experience." I'm amused my that statement.
The 'User Experience" here is to come and sell/buy/trade models, games and the like. If you can't do that under the current board set up, it may be less of the EXPERIENCE that's broken, and more of the USER. There are thousands of people who use the site daily that don't have problems figuring out where to look for certain models/items.
Instead of complaining about things being the way they are, your best first step is to try to figure out WHY they are the way they are. Once you figure out why things are laid out in the manner they are, and understand the general philosophy that site Administration utilizes in making changes to the st up, you'll be far better positioned to offer advice 9rather than empty and unhelpful complaints) on how to fix it.
On your trade site you may have forums for each individual system, but we have too many users for that to be a valid set up here. There just aren't enough posts to support it. We've tried it. It didn't work.
Eric