Space for advertising competitions

I saw this screenshot on the topgamesites.net site.
I think that we should have this so more people would enter competitions and vote for entries.
The search function is not that much used anyway.
What do you think?

 

Yes, and that should change. I vote for making the search function more prominent.

I think the random news item would be enough to attract more attention. Also, someone who has the powers should make the poll randomly change between the last ~5 created, because it's always the 'how often do you play' and the 'rate the new layout' one.

 

I think only admin can change that and he hasn't been online for a long time.

 

i think that would be a good idea. maybe put the search function somewhere else. =]

 

Maybe somewhere between ''Home | Forum Index | Unread Posts | Unread Replies | Messages | Members''

 

yeah..that would be a good place! =]

 

I think it actually was there in the first place.

 

Well, the real problem is that the search function on the main page is not necessarily linked to the search in the forums. You can't search forum threads.

Are you guys saying that the main search is useless? Does anyone use it, because I would consider making this change....

 

I always click forums before typing in the search field. So yeah, you could say that I never use the main one (it's rather useless anyway).
But don't forget that LT's suggestion is related to the forum and the community so it might not be a good idea to put that on the portal.

 

Yes, but the competitions are a major draw for the community as well. A balancing act. Plus, if the search is of no use....

It will always have to give way to advertising space in the future, however.

 

Leave the search... the area is tiny anyhow... how about a "sticky" news post kind of idea.

Like so...
[img width=500 height=300]http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7980/competitionsit5.jpg[/img]

 

That's kind of prime real estate right there... using that would be a bit sacrificial.

 

We could have like a thing on the side that could say New Competitions, or Recent. When clicked on it has a few options like Offical Competitions, or Member Competitions, and Competition Poll.

 

True... it is way bigger than it would likely need to be. Just enough for a single line of text would probably be enough. I've revised me earlier pic.

[img width=500 height=300]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6783/competitions2hn2.jpg[/img]

If it really is a big draw to the site (I doubt it is.) then it maybe worth the 30-35 pixel investment (for a small one line news item at the top). The only real reason I brought up this alternative is because it would likely be easier to implement, and allows for more space if you have multiple competitions going on.