How to make a GOOD suggestion

ThiDOD · 16-11-2011, 05:08 PM | **Post: #1**

Hi all.

As many of the forum regulars see the SUGGESTION part of the forum, they keep noticing that people suggest the same thing over and over again. So this is a guide on how to create a suggestion that is useful, easy to understand and relevant to the game.

Step one

Before you even begin to post your suggestion, start by using the SEARCH. If you find multiple suggestions (for instance the "ghillie-suit" suggestion), then this is a let down and unless you can give a more detailed suggestion, don't start the thread. It will only be an annoyance to everyone.

But there is "light" at the end of the tunnel. Look through the threads. If you can give a much more detailed suggestion, then go for it. But if you found a highly detailed one, just /sign there (also called "legal bumping").

NOTICE! Remember to read the FORUM RULES. The forum isn't democratic.

Step two

Version 1: No one suggested it

If no one suggested your idea, then think through the idea. Don't just type a fast suggestion and think that's it.

Here is a small list of questions to help you get started thinking through the suggestion.

Is it relevant for the game?
Is it useful for this game?
Is it already in game
Will I have enough time to make a detailed thread, and keep it active?

s all of the questions answered? Yes? Are you ready to start? NO!!! Use your scroll wheel to scroll down to step three to get going.

Version 2: Your idea has been suggested before

That's a HUGE drawback, which will make your thread a troll battleground. But you still have some hope, but this time it's harder to get your suggestion from your head onto the paper, without getting it closed by the moderators or getting trolled by trolls, duh, shouting "Use search!!11!".

Here is a small list of questions to help you get your idea on to the paper, without turning your suggestion into a troll battleground.

Is the suggested threads detailed enough?
Can I make my suggestion better?
Is the suggestion thread old?

Just to give you an idea of what I mean, I use myself as an example:

I suggested the Rush mode, but it had already been suggested many times before. But I got a lot of possitive feedback and a lot of signs (also, few mods signed Tongue

). How did I do it?

Lets take a look on the other Rush suggestions:

The old one: http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/foru...?tid=34439

The unpopular one: http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/foru...?tid=35906

The one with "Suggested before" attack: http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/foru...?tid=37594

and Mine: http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/foru...?tid=56373

See the difference?

Step three

The "school" part (a.k.a the writing part).

Now that you have completed the first two steps, now it's time to write your suggestion! But wait a second, a good suggestion can take up to 30 minutes to write, plus you need good enough english skills. Not perfect, just understandable.

There are 2 ways of making sure that your spelling is okay: 1st type it all in Microsoft Word (if you have it, also, don't rely on it too much).

The other one is to write in your native language, and translate it all in NICETRANSLATOR

And for the sake of translating.. don't use Google Translate. It does not translate the grammatics, but Nicetranslator does (even though it doesn't do it perfectly, it is better than Google Translate. No advertising intended).

For making your english good, first of all make it sound more or less mature. That means absolutely no 1337-speak or SMS typing. Though abbreviations are okay.

2nd of all, use the "Space"-key and the "Enter"-key to create a nicer layout, so you don't create a confusing "Wall of Text".

A really good idea, is to write your suggestion in Notepad or Microsoft Office at first, because you can save your suggestion as you go along.

Step four

Make your suggestion "juicy". That means make it prettier.

Make some text Bold (or fat), Italic (or cursive) and Underlined, and don't forget the "Enter"- and the "Space"-key (for avoding the "Wall of Text"). Already by doing simple things like this, you can make a pretty nice suggestion. But let us not stop there, use text aligning so you can give it a more interesting feel, and also to highlight some parts of the text, like quotes or headlines.

Examples:

This is alligned to the left..

While this is aligned to the middle...

This is aligned to the right, I have no idea why you would do that, but hey....

And what's called justified text

Awesome, eh? Now you can really do some nice layoutst, and almost be sure that your thread won't get closed by mods/devs. Also, this helps ensure that the user wants to read your suggestion, which means more signs (yay!).

But if you really want to ensure that people are gonna read your suggestion, you better bring in the heavy stuff:

The numbered list
This list is useful for creating an index (and Useful for dictators )
And that's it about that one

And of course, this is also a list, but instead of numbers, you get nice dots!
Used for spewing out quick facts and pointing out things.
.. even though the triangles on this list were better

With this, you can make list over what you will "speak" about in the suggestion

With this, you get a pretty good number of signs. But what makes the suggestion even more awesome? Pictures and videos, of course!

And example of a Picture [Img ] [/img]

and the Vidio [youtube ] [/youtube]

Now, that is just going to be pretty! More juice, more signs, better suggestion!

Quote:And you at last have an epic quote function, that you can somehow use.

You can also use

Code:

[color=green]LOL[/color]

So you get the green text

Code:

[hr]

so you get the long line

Code:

[size=15]Dual LOL[/size]

So you get a bigger text

Code:

[quote]*text*[/quote]

So you get a quoted text

Formatted code, email-adresses and PHP snippets can be handy, but is rarely used.

Step five

Now that you are done, you can click that little post button that you have eagerly been waiting for! But after all the hard work... your thread slowly dies.. Or does it?

If you have created the new thread, don't make it 100% complete. Update it every once in a while, to keep it from being buried in all of the other suggestions.

But bumping is counted as spam (thus your thread can get closed), but I have found a way around the rule. Just update the thread a little. Remove, add and so on. It's not illegal, since you keep improving the thread.

But when you first stop updating your thread (legal bumping), your thread dies.

Last famous words

This is just tips.

Get a link to your thread in your signature, this is legal advertisement (which also means more signs)

If your idea was suggested before, then include your reason, on why you are creating a thread about it anyway.

Don't spam the forums with "EAsy, why you don't add this?".

And in the end, some suggestions actually becomes real (for instance the XM8, it was suggested quite a few times).

Constructive criticism is welcome, also spelling/grammar fixes.

Thx to

fr4ser: Makin the guide sticky on the Suggestion page
303ConArtist: Remind me to give the example how the codes works
ZwiftSauce: For correcting my gramma (you can try to ask him, to correct your gramma)

fr4ser · 16-11-2011, 06:52 PM | **Post: #2**

You do not have to follow all the ideas and iinstructions suggested by ThiDOD, but it gives a good idea of how to create a new suggestion that will be easy to understand, be well laid out and if the community and the devs like it maybe make it into the game.

If you would like to comment on this the original post is here:

http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/foru...?tid=56988

How to make a GOOD suggestion

Switch language: