Excommunicator
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2010
- Messages
- 3,524
The new Company Forum idea is crap. Enough said.
What we do need is a decent tag system instead (for the RPG forum only that is). The idea is to allow people to opt in or out of forum organisation as much or as little as they like, allow them to make MEANINGFUL decisions about they content they want to view and only subject people to your nanny-mod crap unless they specifically ask for it.
You basically tried for it already with your semi-pointless "Kickstarter" "Prosper" "Decline" things you have now, but you need something better.
The function: When people create topics (not individual posts) in the RPG section, make them add at least 1 tag from the predefined list (games, companies, descriptors like FPP, ARPG, Roguelike etc). If the topic is a troll or the subject matter in the thread changes/expands, mods can just add tags as necessary to reflect it (see you won't be out of a job with this idea, you can still play OCD internet warrior)
Here are the important points:
1. Don't allow people to write their own tags. That's asking for trouble, both trolling and slowdowns
2. Tags on topics only, not individual posts
3. Draw upon a list or database that can be viewed somewhere else on the site. Don't we have lists of games, companies etc. on this very website that are basically going unused at this point in time? That would be a perfect start.
4. Allow multiple tags per topic and allow tags to be linked. This will greatly increase its effectiveness as illustrated by hirato:
You can even do monocle/popamole RPG tags if you really want but at least this way people can ignore it if they want (which is what I would do)
5. Limit it to the RPG forum only. I believe you had a tag system before and it was a clunky mess. If it was in the RPG forum only you would cut that effect down dramatically. If it works out well you could expand it to the news, strategy and general gaming areas but there's no reason to have it in the rest of the forum
Optional Bonus (only if the system isn't too slow already):
6. Track how each tag is used* and list the top used tags in a box at the bottom of creating a new topic so people can just tick them quickly instead of manually entering text. This will encourage people to use the tag system and that's better for everybody. It might also give some interesting info about what sort of games the Codex is into
Very Optional (good to have, but would be very slow):
7. A vote-based tagging system to allow all members to tag topics as they wish but only have the forum attach those tags that receive a certain total number of such taggings.
*number of searches done with a particular tag & number of topics with a given tag
To get imaginations going:
Bethesda, Bioware, Obsidian, Larian, Isometric, third person, first person, sandbox, roguelike, action-rpg, 80's, 90's, 00's, goldbox, fantasy, postapoc, etc
I realise this will require a lot of work and DU will probably want to reject it outright on that basis but I think we can both solve a major forum debate once and for all, and amazingly make everything easier for people to find/use.
OR: Think of it is as an ignore system for shit games. Now who wouldn't want that?
What we do need is a decent tag system instead (for the RPG forum only that is). The idea is to allow people to opt in or out of forum organisation as much or as little as they like, allow them to make MEANINGFUL decisions about they content they want to view and only subject people to your nanny-mod crap unless they specifically ask for it.
You basically tried for it already with your semi-pointless "Kickstarter" "Prosper" "Decline" things you have now, but you need something better.
The function: When people create topics (not individual posts) in the RPG section, make them add at least 1 tag from the predefined list (games, companies, descriptors like FPP, ARPG, Roguelike etc). If the topic is a troll or the subject matter in the thread changes/expands, mods can just add tags as necessary to reflect it (see you won't be out of a job with this idea, you can still play OCD internet warrior)
Here are the important points:
1. Don't allow people to write their own tags. That's asking for trouble, both trolling and slowdowns
2. Tags on topics only, not individual posts
3. Draw upon a list or database that can be viewed somewhere else on the site. Don't we have lists of games, companies etc. on this very website that are basically going unused at this point in time? That would be a perfect start.
4. Allow multiple tags per topic and allow tags to be linked. This will greatly increase its effectiveness as illustrated by hirato:
Shoutbox said:Hirato: danbooru boards let you set up some pretty neat rules for tags
Hirato: you can have certain tags just forward you to other tags, or include/imply the presence of other tags
Hirato: ie, you can set it up so M&M direct you to Might and Magic, and Heroes of Might and Magic automatically tags the entry Might and Magic as well you can have certain tags just forward you to other tags, or include/imply the presence of other tags
You can even do monocle/popamole RPG tags if you really want but at least this way people can ignore it if they want (which is what I would do)
5. Limit it to the RPG forum only. I believe you had a tag system before and it was a clunky mess. If it was in the RPG forum only you would cut that effect down dramatically. If it works out well you could expand it to the news, strategy and general gaming areas but there's no reason to have it in the rest of the forum
Optional Bonus (only if the system isn't too slow already):
6. Track how each tag is used* and list the top used tags in a box at the bottom of creating a new topic so people can just tick them quickly instead of manually entering text. This will encourage people to use the tag system and that's better for everybody. It might also give some interesting info about what sort of games the Codex is into
Very Optional (good to have, but would be very slow):
7. A vote-based tagging system to allow all members to tag topics as they wish but only have the forum attach those tags that receive a certain total number of such taggings.
*number of searches done with a particular tag & number of topics with a given tag
To get imaginations going:
Bethesda, Bioware, Obsidian, Larian, Isometric, third person, first person, sandbox, roguelike, action-rpg, 80's, 90's, 00's, goldbox, fantasy, postapoc, etc
I realise this will require a lot of work and DU will probably want to reject it outright on that basis but I think we can both solve a major forum debate once and for all, and amazingly make everything easier for people to find/use.
OR: Think of it is as an ignore system for shit games. Now who wouldn't want that?
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