Gandalf Parker and the SEIV Forum

[Katchoo]

Unless the Forum is reaching a peak in storage capacity, there's no real reason to cut back on OT Threads.

There's no flaming going on, which is rare rather than the norm among Forums dedicated to Gaming. In the 2 or so years I've been here, there are/were only two members who behaved improperly/ignorantly, and both were corrected (and quickly) by the Moderators. The fact that it doesn't happen much at all is refreshing.

As Rex and others have pointed out, it's up to the Space Empires community to keep this place hopping in the absence of any new content out of Aaron & Malfador. I think everyone can agree that once Space Empire V comes out, that the ratio of On-Topic Threads to Off-Topic Threads will swing dramatically back in favor of the On-Topics. Take a look at the Dominions II Forum; that place has predominantly On-Topic Threads because DII is still fresh. But if Illwinter Games doesn't release another Game or major Update for 2 or 3 Years, then that Forum will either wither down to the occasional Thread, or it'll follow the path of this Forum and thrive on the interest, ingenuity, and commitment of it's regulars to keep comming back in the absence of fresh Developer content.

I for one won't regularly return to a Forum unless there's a regular stream of new Posts appearing. There's nothing less attractive than going to a Forum and seeing one or two new Posts per week. That's why I rarely check out the Starfury or Dungeon Oddessy Forums. I'm certain I'm not the only one who reacts the same way.

The SEIV Community is one of the most mature Groups I've ever been a part of in my Online experince. If the majority of the Off-Topic Posts were crazy gibberish, then that would be one thing, but the majority are either thought provoking, such as the Iraqi War, Passion of Christ, and numerous Space related Posts; or they're polite opinion fetchers, like the various Favorite Books/Movies/TV Shows Posts; or they're open dialogs into the happenings of the daily lives, pratfalls, and happenings of the Community Members, like the death of a loved pet, the birth of a new baby, or the more personal quandries revealed by Rojero & Narf, to name a few. In any other Forum or Site, I would expect such Topics and revelations to be met with smart-*** & insensitive responses. But not here.

Hopefully nothing is going to happen, and GandalfParker's Posts are good natured ribbing. But if change is in the works, then Shrapnel better not cry or complain when the traffic to the Site & Forums dries up.

This place is special.

That's about the best way I can describe it.

[Arkcon]

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.

[primitive]

I (twenty)second the sentiments of the previous posters

The game is old. On-topic Posts alone will not keep the forum alive and an active forum is a great sales tool.

Is Tims 82nd Airborne a good game ?
Don't know, don't care. The dead forum is such a big turnoff for me I will never bother to invest precious time (or money) to find out.

[Ed Kolis]

If OT Posts are Banned, this forum will go the way of the MOO3 forums at Atari. I'd post a link, but that's pointless because you have to register to even read anything at that hellhole!

Keep the intelligent people in the SE4 forum because if you ban OT Posts, you'll only drive us away and there will be no one around to help the munchkins, meaning that they will get out of control with their "OMGWTFLOL NO1 IS HELPING ME!!!!! ", driving any more intelligent people who might dare to stop by right back out the door. I suppose that would save you money in the short run, not having to maintain a forum, but is that what you REALLY want? I sincerely hope not, because if this plan is followed through on, I for one will pester Aaron Hall to find a new publisher for SE5... much as I hate to say this after all these years, one which can be counted on to not turn its back on its loyal fans...

[Gandalf Parker]

The conversation was going really good there for awhile but now its getting panicky so lets tighten a few things. The hints to cut back on the OT Posts which are commonly considered not the best subjects for polite conversation is abit far from "banning OT Posts". Lets back up to about the post done by "General Woundwort" which painted a fairly true picture and contine from there.

By the way, things already look much better. Thanks.

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
The conversation was going really good there for awhile but now its getting panicky so lets tighten a few things. The hints to cut back on the OT Posts which are commonly considered not the best subjects for polite conversation is abit far from "banning OT Posts". Lets back up to about the post done by "General Woundwort" which painted a fairly true picture and contine from there.

By the way, things already look much better. Thanks.

So you're saying I shouldn't expect a check anytime soon.

[Fyron]

Threads do stop on their own at some point... your comments did not stop those OT threads (as evidenced by the fact that they continued for a while after your Posts in them, and did not even slow down).

[Slynky]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
The conversation was going really good there for awhile but now its getting panicky so lets tighten a few things. The hints to cut back on the OT Posts which are commonly considered not the best subjects for polite conversation is abit far from "banning OT Posts". Lets back up to about the post done by "General Woundwort" which painted a fairly true picture and contine from there.

By the way, things already look much better. Thanks.

I think you realize it's a bit difficult for a group of people who play a game such as SE to NOT want to also "chat and discuss" topics unrelated to the game. Besides, we're all a bit smarter than the average guy ( ) and we like exchange thoughts and ideas from time to time.

Not sure how many forums people participate in but I "travel" to a few others and this one is the mildest mannered (the worst being found in Renderosity, IMO). I've mentioned more than once how this forum is just about devoid of personal attacks. That's a good thing. And something the members should feel a bit proud about.

But if it's a problem with bandwidth and space, I guess that's another concern.

[Ed Kolis]

Thanks for clarifying, Gandalf. I'm glad to hear your side of the story; it makes a lot more sense now - Last night was pretty hectic and I completely missed your original Posts! It just still makes me a bit wary to have someone constantly hovering over my head ready to delete any of my Posts, but I guess I've just been spoiled by the lax moderation around here in the past.

[Fyron]

Bandwidth is extremely cheap. A few extra gigabytes a month would cost maybe a dollar or two more a month. This would easily cover any useage that OT threads generate, and I have extreme difficulty imagining that Shrapnel Games could not afford an extra 2 dollars a month. It would not cut into profits in any significant manner.

Required space to store a post is very little, though it can add up over the long term. Space would be better freed by deleting old, obselete Posts (such as 4 year old Posts that nobody cares about), rather than new ones.