The Zone: 0 Forum is here!
Friday, 4th September 2009, 4:20pm (UTC), 1 Comment
Update: Zone: 0 officially launches its own forum!
You asked for it (well, mostly more like I asked if you wanted it, and you said yes), and I wanted it too, so here you go..

The Zone: 0 Forum!

As I write in the introductory topic (which I urge you to read), this is a forum with a mission, not just some community board bolted on to the site for the sake of it. I really want this to be a special little place where intelligent and interesting Sonic-based topics can be discussed. Where opinions are respected and arguments are minimal. Where you can make like-minded friends and just generally share in the appreciation of Sonic the Hedgehog. Ideally, that's probably every Sonic forum's mission, but I'm hoping that those of you who have already posted helpful, detailed, interesting responses around the site in the form of notes and comments will want to bring their enthusiasm and good nature to make this a great place to be a Sonic fan!

I'm going to add one or two more topics over the weekend to get the ball rolling a bit more, but don't wait for me, if you've got a burning issue to bring up, go for it! I know one or two do. For the moment though I've started us off with a nice light-hearted, nostalgic discussion about the origins of your Sonic fanaticism. I'm sure everyone has their own story, so go ahead and share! You'll need to register of course, and validate your account with an email address.

In the end, I went with a free forum package called Vanilla. It's not quite the standard forum setup that other sites use and that you may have been expecting. I thought about that, but I want this to be a bit of a smaller affair, not to mention one that's slightly more unique, because this should be a small forum, not some sort of Sonic mecca for all. A little community off the beaten track but hopefully a haven for anyone who wants some intelligent, non-cynical discussion. The standard forum appearance hasn't changed much in years anyway and I think this one's a little more contemporary and minimalistic.

There's only one board as such, and all posts are bundled together, but you can categorise them as being Sonic-related, about Zone: 0 itself, or other, and then view posts according to one of these categories. It's not particularly rich in features because I think they can be a bit of a distraction, but you should have everything you need to chat away. Vanilla is open source and has a variety of extensions that people have made, so if you really think the place could do with something in particular, let me know and I can always try and find a suitable extension if necessary. It's a good package all in all, I'd recommend it to any other developers out there looking for a more uniquely styled forum. The community behind it don't seem to have made much for it in the last couple of years, but it was easy enough to set up and customise. I edited a theme whose colour scheme was mostly black and pink and I don't think you'll run into any left over remnants of this, but if you do, that'll be why!

Keep an eye out for bugs for me, but I think it should be pretty sturdy. I really hope this can achieve its potential and be something of a big milestone for the site as a whole. So don't leave me there on my own, come on in and have fun!
Comments   1 Comment has been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Meph on Friday, 4th September 2009, 5:38pm
Here's hoping that the forum does well. ;)
Featured Posts
Sonic's latest Wii U outing turns away from the popular and well established speed dashes of recent games, in favour of a more traditional platformer approach. But does it work? Get ready for one of the most different Sonic games in every respect!
We've finally done it! The Zone: 0 guides have reached their last big update. Owner LiQuidShade has new projects on the horizon, but this site will always remain in his heart.