The discussion revolves around feedback for the newly launched BlackIron community forum, initiated by @darkpixlz and others. Users offer suggestions on design and functionality, such as adding a banner for new visitors, improving badge organization, and simplifying category colors. The forum’s custom features, like badges and user flairs, are highlighted, with some discussion on bot badges and their purpose. Despite initial enthusiasm and community input, the forum was eventually shut down due to server issues and lack of sustained use. The creator, @darkpixlz, thanks contributors and shares that they will continue maintaining other projects. darkpixlz led the effort, while others like manuell, not-ethan, and KhoiUSA provided detailed feedback. ANormalUser noted the site’s downtime, and twofoursixeight reflected on the experience. The community expressed appreciation for the effort, and @darkpixlz confirmed ongoing involvement in other projects.
Hey!
Me, @crcoli7307, @GamersInternational, @Laventino, and a few other people have been working to finish our forum for the past few days, and we think it’s ready for some community input now.
Here it is: https://community.blackiron.dev/
Any feedback on it is appreciated. Thanks!
Hi @darkpixlz. 
I moved this to Community Building, and removed some replies, so we can have a fresh start for receiving feedback for your new community.
I’d find a banner, at least for anon visitors, helpful: just giving a short intro what the community is about and a few ctas what to do. Sth simliiar to the one here on meta.
I like it. I like how you are using a lot more features of badges, unlike the dev forum. One thing I would change is the bug reporting badges is just for reporting and it not needing to be solved. And why do you need a group and a badge for Forum Managers? I think you only need 1.
The badge is automatic I think for when you join the group, it’s just so they can be identified by their user card.
Yeah more custom badges are fun and a good fit! You could arrange the order of the badge-groupings, so your custom badges show up on top of the badges page. Could also theme the trust levels badges with custom names and icons.
Another idea: You could use less colors on categories, a huge mix doesn’t really help for more intuitive navigation. Similar to badges that stand out, you could style some tags to highlight topics. I sometimes do that by forking my component to define unique styles: Colored Tag Styles
I use the forum manager flair 
I did the new user wizard, if any of you want to try it out
It’s hot off the press! Man headbashed his keyboard for like 5 hours trying to figure it out.
I have updated the link, sorry!
There are 2 search banners. I think keep the banner above is clean and tidy. 
The search banner in the body is only there for logged out users
I really like this @darkpixlz, the creativity and work you have put into this community really is next level. I can see how you customized it and added more features to make the base Discourse image even better. Way to go!
I have no idea what the community is about or for…
The large search banner a good idea and basically works as a CTA. As mentioned though you have two and probably should remove one. Just keep one and have it for logged in and logged out.
I might remove the search header as I like the topbar one more, and its for a game Im mking with a studio, thanks fof the feedback!
I updated the link for anybody who wants to give new feedback.
What kind of SQL query did you apply for this badge https://community.blackiron.dev/badges/111/bot? I’ve created one too, which should assign the badge to the 2 bots on my forum, but nothing happens. The preview of the badge assign does show these 2 accounts. Did you manually assign them? More general question, are bots excluded from getting most badges? Even if they do should get it?
I just grant it manually lol
