Ok. I can relate to the dilemma Shrapnel Games is having. I used to browse the OS/2 Warp forums on an old forgotten Online service called Delphi. It was a good place to find small programs, and discussion. Back in the old days before the web went everywhere. The OS/2 Warp forum was very Microsoft critical, shocking as that may be. It was also highly political, every thread came down hard any just about any US g'ovt policy. It got to the point at which I really felt like any comment I made was going to be shot down by the regulars. Eventually, Delphi changed its policies, and closed the forum, and didn't leave the Moderators much choice for a new forum.
Long story short, I can relate to how off topic conversations can make newbies feel unwelcome. And that could have a negative impact on the usefulness of this forum.
But...
1). Our off topic conversations aren't like those on Delphi. It's not some
clique spouting off some personal ideology and drop kicking anyone with a dissenting opinion. We're very diverse here. Not just different political ideas, but a wide range of countries, with their own cultural norms.
2). We don't have hard evidence that anyone feels locked out of our conversations, only a possible supposition. Some people here browse the computer games newsGroups. What I've seen posted (Admittedly, in the past, haven't checked lately) was that is someone had a question on SE4, they should come here, and the forums were friendly and useful. Not the other way around.
3). Horrifying though the concept may be, new players may come to these Boards, read the sticky topics, use the search function, and find all the answers they need, without registering and posting. It seems to many people, not just me, that SE4 seems to attract intelligent, level headed, proficient people. (Incredibly good looks is probably just a coincidence).
4).A further point. If the board is dedicated only to new players, and we have to make it newbie friendly by removing all OT discussions, how far does this have to go? Do newbies really care about new mods, the problems encounter when creating new mods, the latest shipsets, and the like. Perhaps not, are we going to lose those as well, and have the top page full of minelayer and drone discussions?
5). Now additionally, there was the recent OT discussion of the file "siae3123.exe", and I mentioned how it couldn't be found on any Google search. Now if you search Google, our Shrapnel Forum comes up on the first page. That's a little disconcerting, BBegemott is getting emails as an expert, and things like that. At first I was worried about our little group getting linked to the world. But then I realized, how many people have come here looking for that information, realized this forum is about a game, and taken an interest in SE4? More importantly, where's mine, BBegemott's, and pathfinder's share of the increased profits? Just a few percent off the top is plenty, I for one, am not greedy.
