The future of the forum.

[mrfredman]

So MedO has very kindly restored our forum to us, and he deserves vast amounts of praise and humorous comics as payment, in addition to complete exaltation (if that isn't how you feel about him already).

Now it's my turn to take the next step and prevent this from happening in the future. We will be switching to SMF 2 and begin using multiple databases to ensure that we can handle all the posts you guys generate. I'm not sure if there will be any noticeable effect on your end, but forum packages and add-ons and stuff (such as no smites, spoilers, and other minor features) may cease to function properly. If that happens we will restore what we can, if not, life will go on.

I also figure we will take this excuse to do some remodeling around here, the easiest change will be the Larrys Mod and Right 2 Live transformation into Playable Projects. I have other ideas but they will impact the community far more so I want to discuss them with you guys first.

Idea 1, merge General Developer Discussion into General Gang Garrison Discussion. I'm not sure that's a huge deal, but I wanted to see if anyone had any complaints.

Idea 2, make it so you need 100 posts to post in the Feature Requests section.

Idea 3, get rid of Bug Reports sections and force you guys to post them at Launchpad.

Idea 4, get rid of Random Chatter, either as a temporary experiment or for good.

What do you guys think? If we get rid of random chatter it begs the question of what we should do with Random Chatter Gems, as they will quickly become vestigial.

Nothing is happening tonight, so you've got maybe 12-24 hours before the changes begin.

Get debating, are any of those ideas good? All of them? None of them?

A lack of discussion will tell me they are all good ideas and I will just implement them, so if you have complaints or disagreements, this is your time to voice them.

[MrIndieDay]

Idea 1: I like it, considering that it seems like that section's a little redundant. Feature Requests seems to do what GDD is supposed to do. So its role on the board is a little blurry.

Idea 2: Yesssssssssss.

Idea 3: While Launchpad provides the ability to track bugs and update their status, I think it inconveniences posters to use it. Having to go to a whole new site, opening a whole new tab, and having to create a new account and whatnot just to say "My character's zoom is fucked up" is a little much. I'm only slightly opposed to it for that reason.

Idea 4: Temporarily. Duh.

And yay to change. Makes the forum exciting. Like a new sexy girlfriend or something.

[walrusfan97]

Random Chatter is constant controversy.

There's no winning cutting it off at the head. I could go into endless explanation, but this is the simplest truth.

[MrIndieDay]

Random Chatter is constant controversy.

There's no winning cutting it off at the head. I could go into endless explanation, but this is the simplest truth.

You should elaborate on your idea Random. There's no better place to do it than right here.

[Chicken Soup]

I feel as RC should not be abolished, but lessened. I don't know how this could be possible, but I believe somebody had an idea that involved lessening its use slowly, until it was obsolete.

Also, I think Bug Reports should be bundled in with the Feature Requests, since the two go hand-in-hand. Although this would combine 3 boards into one, creating a moderating nightmare.

[Dr. Peace]

For what it's worth, I agree with this.

I do think we should avoid being hasty about getting rid of RC completely.

Having an unmoderated section has its benefits, to be sure.


Also, yay MedO!

  and such.

[MrIndieDay]

I feel as RC should not be abolished, but lessened. I don't know how this could be possible, but I believe somebody had an idea that involved lessening its use slowly, until it was obsolete.

Random Chatter is constant controversy.

There's no winning cutting it off at the head. I could go into endless explanation, but this is the simplest truth.

You should elaborate on your idea Random. There's no better place to do it than right here.

[walrusfan97]

I have crackpot theories on what to do with random chatter but I don't believe it'd work well as all the admins want to do here is make things immediate.

Deleting it creates a cataclysm within the entire forum. This place lives off the off topic and you don't damn well deny that nowadays.

You've shunned every off topic poster into every other section including the ones that don't care about the game any more and they're pissed off and ready to vandalize any section. It becomes a violent revolt with no settling enducing a political massacre of the admins vs the community.

At least that's how I think it'd go out. I dunno.

[Chicken Soup]

I don't remember all of what was said, but I'll post what I do.

• Taking away it's subforumness and making it an offshoot of GC.
• Closing it every once in a while, when cleaning, have this be more frequently than what it is right now.

[MrIndieDay]

I have crackpot theories on what to do with random chatter but I don't believe it'd work well as all the admins want to do here is make things immediate.

Deleting it creates a cataclysm within the entire forum. This place lives off the off topic and you don't damn well deny that nowadays.

You've shunned every off topic poster into every other section including the ones that don't care about the game any more and they're pissed off and ready to vandalize any section. It becomes a violent revolt with no settling enducing a political massacre of the admins vs the community.

At least that's how I think it'd go out. I dunno.

And that's where General Chatter comes in to pacify them. If they're unable to handle the slight moderation that would occur, then perhaps they weren't worthy of being kept anyway.

[walrusfan97]

General Chatter just becomes a muckabout with everyone and their dupe account spilling anything they can into it. It's not hard to raid a forum even if it just mindless spam.

[MrIndieDay]

General Chatter just becomes a muckabout with everyone and their dupe account spilling anything they can into it. It's not hard to raid a forum even if it just mindless spam.

It's not that hard to hit "Delete topic" either.

And if that's still worth being worried about, then an additional mod would help handle the trouble.

[<USPP> Spectatin]

Idea 1- I'm not completely sure about this, the two boards are pretty similar, but at the same time distinct enough that they don't mix well together. With a merge, people posting in GGGD usually post about the game, and not about its internal elements, causing neglect. I'm very indecisive about this, however.

Idea 2- A good idea, though there is usually that one newbie that brings plenty of good ideas to the table. I think Bass is doing a pretty good job at the moment, with the lists of standards for FR and frequent patrolling.

Idea 3- A bit of a hassle, maybe just add a link to it as a sticky and explain its importance in reporting bugs.

Idea 4- Temporary removal, perhaps a higher emphasis on more respectful behavior. Of course, that might make it General Chatter II, so I'm also indecisive about this.

To be honest, I am very unsure as to the exact reason of the forums' iffyness recently. Some blame it on the influence of RC, others about losing interest in GG2. I could be wrong about all of these suggestions.

[creamgravy]

Idea 1 and 2 make a lot of sense but Spectatin' makes a good point. They are very similar yet so different.
Idea 3 I'd have to agree with Indie on, it seems rather cumbersome, but I don't really know much about Lauchpad to really say.

Now Idea 4... I think it would be rather interest to see what would happen if you temporarily shut down RC but I don't think it would be very helpful to get rid of it all together. That would just cause loads of useless drama that, judging by all the debate about RC anyway, would be the last thing anyone wants.

I don't remember all of what was said, but I'll post what I do.

• Taking away it's subforumness and making it an offshoot of GC.
• Closing it every once in a while, when cleaning, have this be more frequently than what it is right now.

This sounds really helpful, maybe even a post limit or you can only make so many threads? Just a thought. (Sorry Soup, didn't see that one.)

[Chicken Soup]

I feel as RC should not be abolished, but lessened. I don't know how this could be possible, but I believe somebody had an idea that involved lessening its use slowly, until it was obsolete.

This, somehow "lessening" RC sounds like an amazingly helpful idea. Although I have no idea how that would happen either.

I don't remember all of what was said, but I'll post what I do.

• Taking away it's subforumness and making it an offshoot of GC.
• Closing it every once in a while, when cleaning, have this be more frequently than what it is right now.