Yeah ok, seriously guys, STOP MERGING THREADS FFS

[Darth Roxor]

My grandpa was in the wehrmacht

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Summary: Ban @Infinitron
(Not Kidding)

Fixed.

 

[Black_Willow]

My grandpa was in the wehrmacht

Insert Tusk joke here.

 

[Metro]

 

[Excommunicator]

Infinitron is by far the most prolific news poster we've had so I don't think he should be de-staffed/banned. I also believe his approach to RPG classification is much more reasonable than for example Jaesun's so by that fact alone having him there on staff hopefully helps to balance the inevitable shit that goes on behind the scenes (which normally wouldn't be an issue but it seems DU is undecided/apathetic as to how to separate/classify the RPG forums around here)

Anyway, general opinion on this topic seems to be pretty much united. I think people (including myself) assumed there was some server-related issue as to why things were being merged suddenly and that's why there wasn't more of a more public protest to it all.

 

[Alex_Steel]

I stop reading discussions when they suddenly jump forward many pages and feel disjointed. That's why I prefer reading the threads in RPG Codex news. Each thread is a single topic and not a huge blob of everything. Megathreads are for people who have nothing else to do and can just follow everything in this thread. In other words, a minority of people who don't have responsibilities and can just chill out and enjoy life, drinking their coffee, eating muffins and reading 600-page discussions. Fuck those people (because I'm jealous ). What was I saying? Oh, yes. Stop megathreads!

 

[DarkUnderlord]

(which normally wouldn't be an issue but it seems DU is undecided/apathetic as to how to separate/classify the RPG forums around here)

I was thinking:
- Classic cRPG Discussion (Old School, Indies, KickStarters and "RPGs considered Classics")
- Mainstream AAA+ RPG Discussion (IE: Everything else)

... and still letting Jaesun decide.

 

[Spectacle]

- Classic cRPG Discussion (Old School, Indies, KickStarters and "RPGs considered Classics")
- Mainstream AAA+ RPG Discussion (IE: Everything else)

In 99% of the cases this would give exactly the same result as splitting the RPGs into "computer" and "console"

 

[Infinitron]

Let me remind you all that I'm not a moderator and have no way of enforcing my way of doing things. It's just an opinion.

Infinitron's idea of "sandbox" threads is interesting, but they have to be created for that purpose, coexisting with more specific threads, not a quicksand box that draws everything into its gullet, making it hell to find old posts unless you remember the exact words and posters.

Sure, I can agree with this. And like I said in the thread, the news threads for each Kickstarter update serve the part of the "more specific threads". If you want to make more, well, I certainly can't stop you.

 

[EG]

As for the megathreads, I don't find them difficult to navigate. If I was away for a few days and need to catch up, I simply scan the pages for quotes, links, and images for new information, and follow relevant discussion if it interests me.

Then you go away for a weekend. You return to find sixty new pages in the Project Eternity mega-thread. So you give up and just start scanning the little News posts forever more.

Much more manageable, consuming on-topic chunks of 3-4 pages, rarely stretching to 10 pages or morphing into an off-topic discussion about Josh Sawyer totally being awesome at being Josh Sawyer.

Megathreads are great for dicussions where rarely anything interesting happens (waiting for an update for several months). They're terrible when they become a massive hybrid of support queries, suggestions for new features, complaints, conversations between specific members, and other unrelated shit.

All of which have to be separate if some poor bastard (such as myself) is expected to come through and try to help people. (The forum I'm moderating, not here. You people can't be helped.)

But, people don't organize themselves. They don't read the original posts, let alone the last three pages of a topic. They just throw their shit in a thread that sounds similar, because half the time they get complained at for making individual, easy to consume, topics.

What's worse: 120 topics over 6 months, each around 2-5 pages or a 700 page mega-thread containing 200 unique discussions over the same period of time?

. . . Why is it even necessary to have this fucking discussion?

 

[trustno1code]

 

[Zep Zepo]

I prefer easy to consume smaller threads, even if they are similar but slightly different. I can choose which 'similar but different' thread to read and which to ignore.

It's much easier if there are 100 topics (not all about the same thing, mind you) to scan down the thread list of topics 1-50 and hit next page of threads 51-100, then it is to try to find something in a 600 page mega thread.

Zep--

 

[CappenVarra]

Why isn't this a poll, in noble Site Feedback tradition?

I say to megathreads.

"Forum" = lots of threads, read the ones you want. "Forum" != scroll through 600 pages of chatter hoping to find something interesting. Is that really a topic that needs to be discussed?

 

[Infinitron]

It's much easier if there are 100 topics (not all about the same thing, mind you) to scan down the thread list of topics 1-50 and hit next page of threads 51-100, then it is to try to find something in a 600 page mega thread.

Like I said, these threads aren't really about "finding". They're more about "tuning in" to the current topic of discussion.

(I think that wikis to a great extent have replaced the "information archiving" function that forums once served, which may be another factor in the rise of megathreads)

 

[LundB]

This screenshot perfectly demonstrates the main reason I barely ever post in GRPG anymore. Megathreads are turning me into a GDtard, a fate worse than death.

I'm glad this thread went public though, it's been a nice help for my brofist harvesting endeavours.

 

[Taluntain]

I can't be held accountable for default features that come with the software. That's all Taluntain's fault, he suggested XenForo.

Moving to Site Feedback so the plebs can DISCUSS the rise of the Mega-Thread. Your input will be valued.

Honest.

Happy to take full responsibility for recommending XenForo. It definitely was the right decision to switch to it, the 1.2 version is going to introduce a slew of great new features and now that the lawsuit is over, development is happening at a rapid pace.

Oh and stop merging threads ffs it's just common sense.

 

[Absalom]

Like I said, these threads aren't really about "finding". They're more about "tuning in" to the current topic of discussion.

(I think that wikis to a great extent have replaced the "information archiving" function that forums once served, which may be another factor in the rise of megathreads)

Why all these buzzwords and talk about "trends"? When I look at threads in a forum I don't think I have ever though about "tuning" into something, or "factors" in the "rise" of some damn silly internet thing.

Drop the buzzwords, try being a human being again (if you're not trolling)

 

[Vault Dweller]

So, just to make this clear, if someone posts a new thread saying "Hey guys I got a question about this Wizardry game" or posts impressions of his, say, Wizardry 6 playthrough, or something like that, it shouldn't be merged with the Wizardry thread? Why? I don't really care either way, but why have tens of 1- or 2-page Wizardry threads rather than keeping all Wizardry-related discussion in one, easy-to-check-out thread?

Because it's fucking annoying. Who wants to read a 200-page thread looking for some interesting discussions? I'd rather read 5 different Wizardry or PE discussions then read that mega 'everything you ever wanted to know about PE and we do mean everything' thread.

 

[Vault Dweller]

We had a thousand threads on each game back in the day, and it was good.

We have megathreads now with 1000 pages in them, and it is shit.

This.

 

[Infinitron]

Like I said, these threads aren't really about "finding". They're more about "tuning in" to the current topic of discussion.

(I think that wikis to a great extent have replaced the "information archiving" function that forums once served, which may be another factor in the rise of megathreads)

Why all these buzzwords and talk about "trends"? When I look at threads in a forum I don't think I have ever though about "tuning" into something, or "factors" in the "rise" of some damn silly internet thing.

Drop the buzzwords, try being a human being again (if you're not trolling)

How else do you expect me to describe what is essentially a bottom-up, emergent social phenomenon?

I'm sorry if I sound too sissy intellamectual for you.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I stop reading discussions when they suddenly jump forward many pages and feel disjointed. That's why I prefer reading the threads in RPG Codex news. Each thread is a single topic and not a huge blob of everything.

Same here. I stopped reading the 'megathread' forum and moved to the news forum.

 

[Surf Solar]

Like I said, these threads aren't really about "finding". They're more about "tuning in" to the current topic of discussion.

(I think that wikis to a great extent have replaced the "information archiving" function that forums once served, which may be another factor in the rise of megathreads)

Why all these buzzwords and talk about "trends"? When I look at threads in a forum I don't think I have ever though about "tuning" into something, or "factors" in the "rise" of some damn silly internet thing.

Drop the buzzwords, try being a human being again (if you're not trolling)

How else do you expect me to describe what is essentially a bottom-up, emergent social phenomenon?

I'm sorry if I sound too sissy intellamectual for you.

Funny, I frequent lots other forums where this "social phenomenon" hasn't arrived, yet these forums exist just fine with normal threads like, you know, a normal forum usually does

 

[Vault Dweller]

I think that when posters on a forum are close to each other, and know and care what other posters are doing

If mega-threads = caring, then the Codex should be avoiding them like the plague.

In the traditional, non-megathread forum model, instead you'd have a gazillion threads:

1) So, guys, which class will you be choosing for your first playthrough of Project Eternity?
2) Ciphers vs chanters - which is better and why? Discuss!!
3) Here's why Josh Sawyer's ideas about hitting and missing are fucked up
4) Project Eternity art style - thoughts
5) Has anybody at Obsidian talked about what stats PE will have?
etc

This. This is actually better than having everything lumped in one "Project Eternity: Whatever we derped about on page 113, re-hashed because nobody remembered" thread.

Exactly. Just looking at these made-up topics makes me want to read them and see what people have to say about them.

 

[Absalom]

How else do you expect me to describe what is essentially a bottom-up, emergent social phenomenon?

I'm sorry if I sound too sissy intellamectual for you.

Social phenomenon? Lol you have to be trolling. And intellectualism should be saved for things that actually deserve it

 

[Infinitron]

And intellectualism should be saved for things that actually deserve it

I think you might be on the wrong forum, then.