Quick Suggestion (Really for Brix)

Started by Barzalene, February 20, 2003, 02:05:17 PM

There has been some recent discussion on lengthy, irrelevant posts, and posts for the sake of numbers. Perhaps post count could be removed, or hidden. Is that possible?

The following is an opinion, it reflects only my own feelings. There should never be an issue with how much any individual posts. If they have something to say, they should always be able to voice their thoughts. On the other hand thoughtless posts we could all do without.
Varak:You tell the mangy, pointy-eared gortok, in sirihish: "What, girl? You say the sorceror-king has fallen down the well?"
Ghardoan:A pitiful voice rises from the well below, "I've fallen and I can't get up..."

Sanvean and I have talked abou this and I had planned on removing it at some point in the future. Sanvean has posted a poll for it here:http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2108&highlight=.

I personally would like to see post counts removed, though I do think they serve some purpose. From an admin standpoint, the database is becoming unwieldy due to size because of the number of posts. There are other solutions for this though, a few of which I may implement. These include things like archiving, just deleting, or getting rid of fluff forums that generate posts not dealing with the game. I do think Sanvean has done an excellent job of building a stronger comunity with this board, so I doubt we'll remove forums. Right now, removing post counts to (hopefully) lessen the urge to post for the sake of posting and archiving look like the best bet and I'll be working with some code in the next few weeks to allow staff members to mark certain topics for archiving which will allow us more freedom in cleaning up the database with no-archive worthy posts. Depending on the feeling about post counts, I may see about removing them this imday.

Sorry for the ramble.
Brix.

What about getting rid of the idle OOC chatter forum? If there is any need for OOC communication it could be done on IRC, wherever that is.

Quote from: "Plazgoth"What about getting rid of the idle OOC chatter forum? If there is any need for OOC communication it could be done on IRC, wherever that is.

I'm definitely against this idea as not everyone has access to IRC or the will to go in there.

I've actually grown to appreciate the OOC discourse in that forum, and think it serves as an appropriate bit bucket for those who want to goof off who will instead turn to goofing off in a somewhat serious topic.

Please.  Don't nuke the OOC forum.  Where else will I debate with people about Iraq, the point of organized sports, taxes and ooey gooey sex?

I like the OOC as (Brix mentioned) it has allowed us to become more of a goofy community instead of RP comi's. :P

I also avoid the IRC like the black plague. If the IRC was monitored for IC knowledge by Imms then I'd go there. But it just isn't possible, so I avoid it.

While I am not a massive fan of the OOC forum myself, I do like how it keeps the majority of the goof off stuff in their.  If I am in a rush it is generally nice to know that if I skip the OOC forum I am not going to miss out on much.  That said, the OOC forum occasionally has its gems hidden away.

Killing the OOC forum might cut down on the total number of posts, but I think it would also lead to a lot more clutter and silly posts in the other forums.  So, I think the OOC forum should be kept if for no other reason then to keep the other forums clean.  It is also nice to have a place to go ask if the new Dune book is any good, or if that Master of Orion 3 is worth the money, or what type of computer is good for whatever.

If it really is an issue for the database, a 'keep it reasonable' rule might not hurt.  In other words, just ask people to avoid things like the 'make a story one letter at a time!' type topics.

I don't believe the OOC forum should be taken out... But I do beleive that it wouldn't be too much a problem if any topic dead for a month or so in the OOC forum is removed. Most of the stuff in the OOC forum isn't going to be DRAMATICALLY useful in the future, except if someone wants to reread that debate about war that happened five years ago(Exagerated) and such. Perhaps if a storage for old posts like the Archives would make it easier on the server, then that'd probably be a useful thing, specially since it worked in the past. No since loading EVERYTHING every time someone goes to the GDB.


Creeper who thinks things might need to be flushed every now and again(Toilets should be flushed more often).
21sters Unite!

I wouldn't mind seeing Helpful Hints go. It's basically an underused board. If something really useful is found, maybe it could be stickied in the main forum or something like that.

I would, however, like to see an archive forum. Someplace where important or very useful threads go, or that sort of works like a FAQ forum. Maybe stick directions into the IRC chat, and one of the discussions on kick. That d-elf misconceptions thread. Important issues that come up every now and then, and just important information. Make it impossible to post to, so only threads could be moved there.
Carnage
"We pay for and maintain the GDB for players of ArmageddonMUD, seeing as
how you no longer play we would prefer it if you not post anymore.

Regards,
-the Shade of Nessalin"

I'M ONLY TAKING A BREAK NESSALIN, I SWEAR!

Quote from: "Carnage"I wouldn't mind seeing Helpful Hints go. It's basically an underused board. If something really useful is found, maybe it could be stickied in the main forum or something like that.

I think the Helpful Hints and Newbie Help forums could be smooshed into one forum, although I doubt that would do much to help with potential database trouble.  When someone asks a question in the Newbie help forum, the answer is often a Helpful Hint.  Helpful hints are questions the newbies haven't asked yet.   :wink:

AC
Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with."     Henry S. Haskins

IMO it helps to split everything up. But I'm very organised (my bookmarks have several sub-folders).

I have a question.

Does it hurt to have an underused section? It doesn't create a lot of spam and it's easy to navigate. I know when pressed for time I don't go to the Newbie Forum, but if someone posts in Helpful Hints I ALWAYS go there, cause I know it's important.

*shrug* World Discussion/Roleplay Discussion share many overlaps as well.  As I think John implied, it's volume of useless opinion, not forums, if we're talking about exhausting space.

(err, glances above)
quote="CRW"]i very nearly crapped my pants today very far from my house in someone else's vehicle, what a day[/quote]

In order to further help the database size (It's not a huge issue, but if we keep going at this pace for a few years it will be, heh) I'm instituted an auto-prune on OOC Chatter. This means that any topics (Polls and announcements excluded) not posted in for 14 days get deleted. We should be setting up a archive topic soon-ish where staff members can move and lock topics that they think are important. After that happens we may see about cleaning out some of the other forums. As always, your input on this process is appreciated.

Thanks,
Brix.

Waaay off topic...

Can we get some more emoticons? I was thinking maybe like a Gith emotican and Halfling emoticon and Half-giant... You see where I'm going... What's everyone else think about this?

Are you offering to design them? If someone wants to come up with some, we could take a look. I'd like a Baobab the Kank one, myself.

Votrik whispers in sirihish:
psst, Sanvean, I think you mean BaoBob

But no, I don tthink I could design them, im no good at that stuff... but if someone were to do this, thatd be awsome

emote takes a gander at the new archive board.  :shock:
Quote from: tapas on December 04, 2017, 01:47:50 AM
I think we might need to change World Discussion to Armchair Zalanthan Anthropology.