Separate forum for specific game discussions?

General
#1

Personally, I’ve always wanted to see the specific game discussions go into a section of their own, and have the general game-related posts (not game-specific) in another section. It just seems to me like there are some pretty good discussions going on and then when turns start coming out, they are all pushed out of sight by all of the “game specific” posts.

So what I’m proposing would be to make 2 sections, so that instead of having just a “Middle Earth Play-by-Mail” section, there’d be a “General MEPBM Discussion” section and “Games in Progress” section.

I am not sure how well this sits with Clint, Sam, et al. but if there is support for something like this from the community then I’ll bounce it off of them before I do anything drastic. :wink:

#2

341 views and 53 votes. What are people afraid of?

#3

Hey, it’s a better turnout than the vote for mayor where I live. :slight_smile:

#4

Brad, I guess people come back to see how the vote is progressing?

Paul

#5

Hey I come back to check the voting

Vandal

#6

Another addition might be a separate area for GM announcements? Game GMs can post game filling updates/late turn anouncements/holidays/whatever here. QUicker to find if youre looking to join a new game or for some other information. I see you have your moderator announcement section laid out like that. What do you think?

david

#7

I am stupid!
i came up with that revelation of an idea then noticed youd already done it!!!! Maybe your are just too clever for your own good. Great idea btw. wish id thought of it…

:wink:

#8

Those of you that dont like this idea, let us know why.

#9

I am not sure it would particularly help. If we had a bigger active group on this list (and I don’t splitting things would help increase that) then it might be worth it - but otherwise I just work my way down (as a player) through the titles for items of interest to me. If anything it might stop people just glancing at “interesting” items… . :slight_smile:

Note: I don’t feel particularly strongly about this - your call Darrell.

Clint (player and GM)

#10

I’d prefer a simple forum. Instead of having to go to 2 places.

#11

I agree,
while splitting would make things a little quicker for those looking for their specific game/games it would stop a lot of people commenting on the “Article” pieces if they are off on their own board. I don’t think there is enough traffic on the board to warrant splitting it yet.

Regards Herman

#12

I would much prefer to split the forum for the reasons you outline Darrell.

Since my visits are limited in the frequency and duration, the small number of specific games I am interested in can quickly be relegated to page 2 or 3. I also like to check what interesting discussions are in progress on game play, mechanics, riddles etc. and it is common enough for these to drop from page 1 and remain inactive. Separating game specific threads into one forum would help to keep these visible on page 1 for longer.

I guess people who visit the forum several times a day would prefer to keep just one forum, while others who visit less regularly and for shorter periods may prefer the split.

Paul

#13

Another addition might be a separate area for GM announcements?

That was a good idea, but unfortunatley, it has been sabotaged. Is there anyway that the Admin area can be set up so only Administrators can post/reply there?

Brad

#14

Originally posted by Player
[b]That was a good idea, but unfortunatley, it has been sabotaged. Is there anyway that the Admin area can be set up so only Administrators can post/reply there?

Brad [/b]

My orginal idea was to allow replies in that forum, although only admins could start new threads. Perhaps it is better to only allow admins to post anything at all in that forum…so I changed the permissions. Of course, it is still viewable by anyone, and if anyone has comments, they could always start a new thread in the main forum.

#15

3 to 1 in favour… how long are you keeping this vote going?

#16

How about as long as it takes to get a change of vote?

Vandal

#17

Well, this poll helps illustrate the very issue that I was hoping to solve. This poll was posted at the end of May 2003, but fully one-third of the votes have come in the last 10 days. Once the poll made its way off of the front page, it faded into obscurity and nobody voted on it. When I added the new optional front page, which has a feature that shows the ongoing results of the most recent poll, more votes started coming in because it was more “visible.”

Also, while the “pro-split” people outnumber the “anti-split” people roughly 3-to-1, the “I-don’t-care-or-didn’t-vote” people outnumber the “pro-split” people 10-to1. I suppose the real problem is that trying to extract any kind of scientific information from a poll here is an exercise in futility. I plan to do more polls more often, but they won’t be as “serious” as this on is/was, and they certainly won’t be “scientific”, but purely for entertainment value.

I think the real question to determine whether or not the forum should be split would be: When a visitor comes to the forums, are they looking for a game-specific thread to shares taunts, jabs, and try to contact neutral nations? Or do visitors come to the forum looking for information about the game?

If most visitors come to the forum seeking a post about the games that they are involved in so they can taunt their enemies, contact neutrals, etc., then it’s clear (at least to me) that the forum should NOT be split.

If, on the other hand, most visitors to this forum are in search of information about the game in general, then it seems like a natural choice to move “games in progress” threads to their own forum to make it easier to find posts about game mechanics and strategies, etc.

Even with the results of this poll being very clear, the answers to the above questions are not clear at all, at least not yet. That’s why this poll has been around so long and I haven’t taken any action even though the votes seem to indicate quite a majority in favor of splitting the forums.

Anyway, I’ll put up another poll soon, and I’ll try to make sure it is more entertaining than this one. :smiley:

#18

Why bother with a poll if you aren’t going to go with the vote? :confused:

Not sure I understood the 10-1 analogy… most democratic processes go with if you don’t vote, you live with the consequence… or start a revolution.

Surely, for those not voting, for whatever reason, you can just as easily say they agree with the majority decision, as say they disagree.

#19

The problem with splitting the forum is that those of us who do not want it split will suffer.

For those who want it split because they can find “this” “there” and “that” “somewhere else”, well, we should all recognize how threads get taken off on tangents. Looking at the Admin forum and it’s quite obvious how entire forums will be taken off on tangents. I fear game mechanics questions on the Game Specific forum and in-game taunts on the General Non-Game Forum. When that happens, we’ll have to have 2 polls, one of each forum, asking if we want it back the way it was…

Brad

#20

Sorry but if things worked on the basis the minority would suffer if we took this course of action, nothing would ever get done.

There may be many other good reasons not to do something but this is not one of them.

Of course those who wish to follow the minority rule doctrine are free to join up and fight me in a game for the future of?

Vandal