Incline SubForums: No, Tag System: Yes

[Excommunicator]

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:

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?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

tl;dr

 

[agentorange]

dude what. just look at hte fucking thread title and decide if u wanna read it for ffs. these attempts to simplify shit is just making the forums a pain in the ass to navigate

 

[Johannes]

As long as it's not the current system, it's ok

 

[DarkUnderlord]

1. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/new-posts

2. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?find-new/posts

 

[Excommunicator]

1. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/new-posts
2. [URL]http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?find-new/posts[/URL]

It still relies on the crappy forum system to filter things out. e.g. I like reading about Morrowind, Daggerfall. I don't like reading about Oblivion (or Skyrim). That's a pattern we see repeated with most of those companies on that list. It just doesn't work.

Yeah it will be a bit of work but you actually like the idea don't you.

 

[Jasede]

You know, we use this on furry porn image boards so you can quickly find what you like.

For example, let's say you want animated, interactive pornography that's strictly straight, involves huge characters, has sound, but does not show any penis or semen. You could filter the board like so:
+straight +macro +female +flash +sound -penis -cum

Or as another example, let's say you want docking porn involving the creatures eating one another, but involving only dogs, and absolutely no females, and no underage creatures then you could sort like so:
+dog +vore +docking +male -female -cub -underage

So what I am saying is that maybe we shouldn't do this.

 

[Helton]

More innovashun on the 'dex man its blowing my mind how we keep improvemating everything all the time.

 

[Don Peste]

1. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/new-posts

YES, thanks!

Anyway, would tags help searching for topics? Many times it's difficult to find topics of a certain game, because people like to write weird topic names, so you can't find them by title.

 

[Infinitron]

1. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/new-posts

YES, thanks!

Anyway, would tags help searching for topics? Many times it's difficult to find topics of a certain game, because people like to write weird topic names, so you can't find them by title.

You should report such threads and ask the mods to rename them. They do that a lot.

 

[made]

1. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/new-posts

2. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?find-new/posts

It's like with a list inventory in RPGs. You can add filters to make it more manageable, but it's still gonna be a fucking list inventory.

 

[mondblut]

Fucken newfags, they need a quest compass to tell one thread from another. Pls keep those colored boxed eyesores out of the newsfeed.

Still voted yes, anything is better than having a fucking bioware subforum on the RPG Fucking Codex.

 

[Xor]

I like the idea, but it would probably be a bitch to code so I doubt we'll see it implemented.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Fuck your quest compass.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, is it really that hard to just open multiple tabs?

 

[Wizfall]

Complexity is only simplicity multiplied.

 

[Excidium]

Don't like any of this shit, fuck you too for giving ideas.

 

[Darth Roxor]

how about fuck you instead

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I like the idea, but it would probably be a bitch to code so I doubt we'll see it implemented.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/xenmods-multi-prefix.2379/

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I'm just here for GD. I don't give a fuck about that RPG shit.

 

[Coyote]

It's a good idea at its base, but I think you're sabotaging yourself by overcomplicating it a bit. For now, it would be a massive improvement if we had just one RPG forum and the ability to mark threads with useful, unambiguous categories such as, say, "MMO", "PC-exclusive", "cross-platform", and/or "console-exclusive". It would have all of the benefits of the existing forum sections without the drawbacks of actually keeping the threads in separate forums, let alone the ridiculous company subforum system we've got right now. Add the ability to filter out threads tagged with categories you're not interested in (for example, "MMO" and "console-exclusive" if you don't play MMOs and don't own a console) and you've got a vastly improved system over the current one.

Going through some of your other ideas:

-Subgenre tags could be useful for similar reasons, but where one subgenre ends and the next begins can be a bit subjective and games don't always fall neatly into one subgenre or another, so I'd place them at a lower priority.

-Company tags would be marginally useful, but I'd rather have more immediately-useful tags like the ones I mentioned to begin with since they tell me right away that whether I should pay attention to/pass by a thread, while even shitty companies can occasionally produce a game worth playing (and frequently produce threads worth reading).

-Mandatory tagging isn't always desirable, particularly since we have a number of threads that aren't about a specific game or series where it wouldn't make sense to attach the sort of tag you've described (for example, threads about gameplay mechanics). I'd say, let people select from the tags when they post a new thread about a game, but don't require them to. As you say, the mods can always go and add in a tag later.

-Multiple tags per thread usually ends up in an inconsistent clusterfuck, and given the current setup of the RPG section I get the sense that someone on the staff (Jaesun) places a high priority on having a neatly organized, self-consistent system of categorization. I could see it maybe working if you required someone to select a tag for each of a couple of fields (company, perspective, subgenre, etc.), and it would be nice to be able to link it to the news database in some fashion, but at that point it's really more trouble than it's worth - to set up, to use, and to maintain. Plus, there would still be the issue of games where you don't have much information yet or which don't neatly fall into categories.

-Don't really see a point to vote-based tagging.

So basically, I'd focus first and foremost on selling people on the stuff I mentioned in the first paragraph - basic stuff that improves the way visitors can navigate the forums

 

[kazgar]

So looks like we've gone to a tag system for rpg discussion, the experiment begins continues!

 

[Excommunicator]

It's a good idea at its base, but I think you're sabotaging yourself by overcomplicating it a bit. For now, it would be a massive improvement if we had just one RPG forum and the ability to mark threads with useful, unambiguous categories such as, say, "MMO", "PC-exclusive", "cross-platform", and/or "console-exclusive". It would have all of the benefits of the existing forum sections without the drawbacks of actually keeping the threads in separate forums, let alone the ridiculous company subforum system we've got right now. Add the ability to filter out threads tagged with categories you're not interested in (for example, "MMO" and "console-exclusive" if you don't play MMOs and don't own a console) and you've got a vastly improved system over the current one.

This is just a cruder form of what is suggested in the OP.

Going through some of your other ideas:

-Subgenre tags could be useful for similar reasons, but where one subgenre ends and the next begins can be a bit subjective and games don't always fall neatly into one subgenre or another, so I'd place them at a lower priority.

-Company tags would be marginally useful, but I'd rather have more immediately-useful tags like the ones I mentioned to begin with since they tell me right away that whether I should pay attention to/pass by a thread, while even shitty companies can occasionally produce a game worth playing (and frequently produce threads worth reading).

In the best case scenario you would have groupings for tags so that you could hide/ignore certain types if desired (although this probably wouldn't be necessary if we could save tag searches). I wouldn't use company tags so I'd prefer to not have the company names showing up at all so they don't clutter the tag list. They would still be useful for some people and good for the general categorisation of games though.

-Mandatory tagging isn't always desirable, particularly since we have a number of threads that aren't about a specific game or series where it wouldn't make sense to attach the sort of tag you've described (for example, threads about gameplay mechanics). I'd say, let people select from the tags when they post a new thread about a game, but don't require them to. As you say, the mods can always go and add in a tag later.

Mandatory tags with a tickable "quick list" to select from would probably have better results than optional tags without a quick list. If the mods wanted to spend their time adding them in then it doesn't really matter for everyone else. If you wanted to get fancy you could have the forum look over the OP and suggest tags based on what the topic starter has written. If it was new topics only it wouldn't have a huge effect on performance I'd think. Just an idea.

-Multiple tags per thread usually ends up in an inconsistent clusterfuck, and given the current setup of the RPG section I get the sense that someone on the staff (Jaesun) places a high priority on having a neatly organized, self-consistent system of categorization. I could see it maybe working if you required someone to select a tag for each of a couple of fields (company, perspective, subgenre, etc.), and it would be nice to be able to link it to the news database in some fashion, but at that point it's really more trouble than it's worth - to set up, to use, and to maintain. Plus, there would still be the issue of games where you don't have much information yet or which don't neatly fall into categories.

Without multiple tags per thread it would be completely and utterly pointless. It would be like a random game of "guess which single tag from a list of 100 this thread has attached to it"

-Don't really see a point to vote-based tagging.

As a voluntary labour service with some small degree of anti-troll measure. Someone is going to have to tag all the old threads after all. The easier it is, the more people will do so.



Additional developments in the OP:

I don't think the tags should be put in front of the thread title. When you have multiple selected it's going to make the thread titles hard to read.
The places I would consider:
1. On a new line below the name, date page listing for each thread. Might make things less navigable if all threads take up 3 lines instead of 2. You could try tags visible only on rollover
2. In the large empty space between the title and views column. It is unused after all.

I also don't think they should be colour coded either. When you have so many tags it's going to look like a rainbow. Just a common greyish colour slightly brighter than the background would work. No need for them to be invasive.

I also certainly hope we can save our "default" tag selection and be able to call upon it again after doing a temporary search for other tags