Message Board? No thanks.

mepbmlist
#1

People can be childish and rude.

Old fashioned internet is not as good as unlimited,
high speed, etc.

Not everyone posts messages Properly and Coherently.

I agree with all that, they are simple Facts. It is,
though, my Opinion that the message boards are more
effective methods of communication. You can read or
reply at your leisure. This system, you are either on
the mailing list or you are not. It is archaic.

The Harlequin players who use it may very well like it.
I'm sure it has worked fine. But, a couple of things:

(oh yes, I do like it myself by the way, learning new
people and some things also. It's also nice and easy
for Clint to quickly communicate with the players...)

1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
Your comfy little world will explode around you.

2 - Many people "like" something because they are just
used to it, and change, as we can see, is opposed at
all costs. It is very difficult to get people to try
something new. This inertia against change is what I
seem to be reading about on this group. This, and
pompous snobbery.

So, I can easily agree with your arguments. And, I can
like this mail group. This in no way contradicts my
position that, while this is nice and good, and yes you
do have a point, I think the message boards are easier,
more effective, reach a broader audience, and yes, can
also be described as Pretty, if you like.

I do hope I have been clear this time!

And have a Happy New Year All ME Gamers! I am looking
forward to meeting some new players in my faster
filling games in 2001!

BB

···

On Sat, 30 December 2000, "Laurence G. Tilley" wrote:

ditletang@canada.com wrote
>Actually, I do agree with many of the arguments.
I found your e-mail rather incoherent. You use the above sentence then
reject each and every one of the arguments given against the message
board.

Exactly what is it then that you agree with?

__________________________________________________________
Get your FREE personalized e-mail at http://www.canada.com

#2

ditletang@canada.com wrote:

1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
Your comfy little world will explode around you.

Is that a threat? :slight_smile:

Or are you impuning the former Deft players?

Gavin

#3

At present there are some 30 games in the UK, and 29 in NAmerica. I like
the "trash" talk that occurs more on the message board - but I found that I
was less likely to read it due to the format. However, the MEPBMlist is
less formal so messages "evolve" into something quite different as the
thread develops.

DGE board looks nicer, but costs the Non-NAmerican players money to read. I
doubt we'll make a decision about this all for the short term.

Ta

Clint

···

> 1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
> replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
> up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
> Your comfy little world will explode around you.

#4

Hi there to everyone!

I'm a long-time American ME player, I'm looking forward to
finding myself in games with European players now, and
from anywhere else.

I have had experience through my work with this kind
of list both through online browsing (as I am now doing)
and as an email digest for downloading. And of course
through ME I've been using Deft's list. So I'm quite
familiar with both formats.

(I've seen some requests here for that URI. It is:
http://talk.deftgaming.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi).

I find this list's format to be very hard to work with.
I prefer to read one "thread" at a time, all the way through.
To do that on this list, I have to visually scan all the
topics endlessly and click on each one. Then I have to
find where I started and visually scan for the next item
that is from a different thread. (Perhaps there are
"next item in thread" and "start of thread" buttons but
I can't see them.)

I really love DGE's format because it is so easy to simply
ignore an entire uninteresting thread and to read an entire
thread on a single page, and easy to see the opening mail
that spawned the thread. I admit it can get confusing to
keep track of; within a thread there can be replies to
any individual posting, so it takes on a structured format.
The initial post A could have direct replies B and C.
B could have replies X and Y and C could have reply Z,
so it looks like this:

A
  B
    X, Y
  C
    Z

If you have already read A,B,X and C, then determining
that the new material is Y and Z can get tricky in larger
threads. So far the threads rarely get so large that
it is painful. Perhaps with more traffic they would be;
but nothing as difficult as this board that I'm writing
to is. It takes forever to get through this list because
I have to click and wait for response for every single entry
in a thread that I want to read -- on top of having to
peer at the thread titles to find them.

(My own line of work as an engineer has to do with data
transformation and personalization, so I know it would
be possible to satisfy everyone here by allowing multiple
views of the same data, i.e. linear by date as this is
or structured by thread as DEFT is. Let each person get
the view they prefer; there are only 2 or 3 views to support.
But I realize that takes $$ to build and support.)

Right now, I don't think I would regularly put in the
enormous extra time it takes me to process this list.

Anyway, Happy New Year and I'll see some of you
in upcoming games.

Jeremy Richman

At present there are some 30 games in the UK, and 29 in NAmerica.

I
like

the "trash" talk that occurs more on the message board - but I

found
that I

was less likely to read it due to the format. However, the

MEPBMlist is

less formal so messages "evolve" into something quite different as

the

thread develops.

DGE board looks nicer, but costs the Non-NAmerican players money to

read. I

···

--- In mepbmlist@egroups.com, "Harlequin Games" <pbm@h...> wrote:

doubt we'll make a decision about this all for the short term.

Ta

Clint

>
> > 1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
> > replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
> > up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
> > Your comfy little world will explode around you.
>

#5

Interesting. Thanks

Clint

···

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----- Original Message -----
From: <JeremyRichman@compuserve.com>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 4:44 PM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: Message Board? No thanks.

Hi there to everyone!

I'm a long-time American ME player, I'm looking forward to
finding myself in games with European players now, and
from anywhere else.

I have had experience through my work with this kind
of list both through online browsing (as I am now doing)
and as an email digest for downloading. And of course
through ME I've been using Deft's list. So I'm quite
familiar with both formats.

(I've seen some requests here for that URI. It is:
http://talk.deftgaming.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi).

I find this list's format to be very hard to work with.
I prefer to read one "thread" at a time, all the way through.
To do that on this list, I have to visually scan all the
topics endlessly and click on each one. Then I have to
find where I started and visually scan for the next item
that is from a different thread. (Perhaps there are
"next item in thread" and "start of thread" buttons but
I can't see them.)

I really love DGE's format because it is so easy to simply
ignore an entire uninteresting thread and to read an entire
thread on a single page, and easy to see the opening mail
that spawned the thread. I admit it can get confusing to
keep track of; within a thread there can be replies to
any individual posting, so it takes on a structured format.
The initial post A could have direct replies B and C.
B could have replies X and Y and C could have reply Z,
so it looks like this:

A
  B
    X, Y
  C
    Z

If you have already read A,B,X and C, then determining
that the new material is Y and Z can get tricky in larger
threads. So far the threads rarely get so large that
it is painful. Perhaps with more traffic they would be;
but nothing as difficult as this board that I'm writing
to is. It takes forever to get through this list because
I have to click and wait for response for every single entry
in a thread that I want to read -- on top of having to
peer at the thread titles to find them.

(My own line of work as an engineer has to do with data
transformation and personalization, so I know it would
be possible to satisfy everyone here by allowing multiple
views of the same data, i.e. linear by date as this is
or structured by thread as DEFT is. Let each person get
the view they prefer; there are only 2 or 3 views to support.
But I realize that takes $$ to build and support.)

Right now, I don't think I would regularly put in the
enormous extra time it takes me to process this list.

Anyway, Happy New Year and I'll see some of you
in upcoming games.

Jeremy Richman

--- In mepbmlist@egroups.com, "Harlequin Games" <pbm@h...> wrote:
> At present there are some 30 games in the UK, and 29 in NAmerica.
I
like
> the "trash" talk that occurs more on the message board - but I
found
that I
> was less likely to read it due to the format. However, the
MEPBMlist is
> less formal so messages "evolve" into something quite different as
the
> thread develops.
>
> DGE board looks nicer, but costs the Non-NAmerican players money to
read. I
> doubt we'll make a decision about this all for the short term.
>
> Ta
>
> Clint
>
> >
> > > 1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
> > > replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
> > > up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
> > > Your comfy little world will explode around you.
> >

Middle Earth PBM List - Harlequin Games
To Unsubscribe:www.onelist.com
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/harlequin.games/list.htm

#6

I'd have to agree with Jeremy. I'm also a geek that has managed boards such
as Defts. It's easier to moderate and more convenient to the customer.
Since subscribing to this mail list, I've seen dozens of messages each day -
most could be handled best on a board so as to capture the data for others
(and form the basis for an ongoing FAQ). Also, having it in a format that
can be easily searched is helpful to the customer base.

Just my $.02 from across the pond,

Wes

···

----- Original Message -----
From: <JeremyRichman@compuserve.com>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 11:44 AM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: Message Board? No thanks.

Hi there to everyone!

I'm a long-time American ME player, I'm looking forward to
finding myself in games with European players now, and
from anywhere else.

I have had experience through my work with this kind
of list both through online browsing (as I am now doing)
and as an email digest for downloading. And of course
through ME I've been using Deft's list. So I'm quite
familiar with both formats.

(I've seen some requests here for that URI. It is:
http://talk.deftgaming.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi).

I find this list's format to be very hard to work with.
I prefer to read one "thread" at a time, all the way through.
To do that on this list, I have to visually scan all the
topics endlessly and click on each one. Then I have to
find where I started and visually scan for the next item
that is from a different thread. (Perhaps there are
"next item in thread" and "start of thread" buttons but
I can't see them.)

I really love DGE's format because it is so easy to simply
ignore an entire uninteresting thread and to read an entire
thread on a single page, and easy to see the opening mail
that spawned the thread. I admit it can get confusing to
keep track of; within a thread there can be replies to
any individual posting, so it takes on a structured format.
The initial post A could have direct replies B and C.
B could have replies X and Y and C could have reply Z,
so it looks like this:

A
  B
    X, Y
  C
    Z

If you have already read A,B,X and C, then determining
that the new material is Y and Z can get tricky in larger
threads. So far the threads rarely get so large that
it is painful. Perhaps with more traffic they would be;
but nothing as difficult as this board that I'm writing
to is. It takes forever to get through this list because
I have to click and wait for response for every single entry
in a thread that I want to read -- on top of having to
peer at the thread titles to find them.

(My own line of work as an engineer has to do with data
transformation and personalization, so I know it would
be possible to satisfy everyone here by allowing multiple
views of the same data, i.e. linear by date as this is
or structured by thread as DEFT is. Let each person get
the view they prefer; there are only 2 or 3 views to support.
But I realize that takes $$ to build and support.)

Right now, I don't think I would regularly put in the
enormous extra time it takes me to process this list.

Anyway, Happy New Year and I'll see some of you
in upcoming games.

Jeremy Richman

--- In mepbmlist@egroups.com, "Harlequin Games" <pbm@h...> wrote:
> At present there are some 30 games in the UK, and 29 in NAmerica.
I
like
> the "trash" talk that occurs more on the message board - but I
found
that I
> was less likely to read it due to the format. However, the
MEPBMlist is
> less formal so messages "evolve" into something quite different as
the
> thread develops.
>
> DGE board looks nicer, but costs the Non-NAmerican players money to
read. I
> doubt we'll make a decision about this all for the short term.
>
> Ta
>
> Clint
>
> >
> > > 1 - if the Deft boards shut down without adequate
> > > replacement, and a large number of Deft players sign
> > > up for this mail group, it will get absolutely crazy.
> > > Your comfy little world will explode around you.
> >

Middle Earth PBM List - Harlequin Games
To Unsubscribe:www.onelist.com
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/harlequin.games/list.htm