Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Pyro on November 19, 2001, 05:38:00 PM
-
We've been pretty busy lately and small things like the occasional nudge to keep the forums in order have been slipping and it shows. It's not practical for us to spend too much time in this pursuit, and things just got a bit messed up here as we tried to move some stuff today. This brings up a few issues that we need to address.
The first is that we've never cleaned out this board of old posts. We've wanted to keep things around, but it really is getting cumbersome and we should do some major pruning. If you're interested in archiving some old posts, please do so soon.
The second is that I think the board needs some reorganizing to better fill its purpose. I think the purpose of this board is twofold, one is the dissemination and discussion of game-related ideas and information, and the second is social interaction/general chatting. If the board is not well structured or that structure is not adhered to by participants, it becomes difficult to cut through the traffic to find what it is you've come here for.
So I'm looking for suggestions on what topics we should and shouldn't have. Should there even be a general discussion forum? Should there be more than 1 off-topic forum? That kind of stuff. This board is getting a lot of traffic and that's just going to continue to grow. We just don't want it to grow into an unuseable state. So put forth your ideas here on how we can make this board better and more useable.
-
Originally posted by Pyro:
I think the purpose of this board is twofold, one is the dissemination and discussion of game-related ideas and information, and the second is social interaction/general chatting.
i think maybe elminating things like "general discussion" may help with organization. When you interperet "general" that leads to many many things. I can socially chat or i can post about AH, both in a non specific topic. in other words, it could lead to garbage. But, when you have things like Hardware or Screen shots as topics, there really is not much room to stray from what should be posted under that forum. It seems to me that general has become more of a social discussion about AH, meantime the "off topic" has been the social area of life in general.
basically what i'm saying is, if the topics/ forums are more defined then there might be less parting from the topic at hand.
of course, there are always those who defy.
-
In the O'club, funked posted a list of new forums. I think the one that should be adopted immediately is:
"World Forum: Boroda vs. Rednecks"
-
I think the board is fine Pyro. If you guys absolutely have to clear out some old material for technical reasons on your end or whatever reasons you see fit thats OK by me. I for one would just let it be as is. Only the anal UBB police types really care whatever is in each forum and if something truly is off topic or innapropriate it gets worked out quickly and is moved.
You know how the saying goes, if it aint broke dont fix it.
My feeling is that you guys should focus your valuable time on the Sim and adding new planes and features and not on some massive revamp of the BBS. Its not neccesary.
PS. Natedog in particular should focus on fixing the 109 oil coolers. :D
-
Is there anyway to archive the existing UBB on a personal CDrom.. or two? I was fortunate to save a lot of the AW nntp boards from 1997 but they were nntp and it's simply a matter of all downloading all the different boards messages with a news reader and saving the resultant file.
I would only recommend possibly bringing gameplay and aircraft under the general topic forumn? But definately drag the Special Events Forumn up so that it's listing is at least close to the top half of the main UBB page.
Westy
[ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: O'Westy ]
-
Originally posted by GRUNHERZ:
....Only the anal UBB police types really....
PS. Natedog in particular should focus on fixing the 109 oil coolers. :D
Well, looks like Grun would know about anal types. :)
But to the topic at hand...
The board has actually worked pretty well the way it is right now. Lately there's been a lot of way off topic stuff in the General Discussion. Otherwise, the rest of the forums have worked well and stayed reasonably on topic.
So if something is to be done, I'd say it's General that needs the work.
The easiest way is simply for the USERS to follow the guidelines. Perhaps a slightly more specific characterization for what should be in General would help. As most posters are reasonably adult here, this shouldn't be a real big problem. It's just common sense and common courtesy.
With posters that deliberately flaunt the common standards and take pride in that... well, no matter how you structure the board you'll still have that problem. It's a people problem, not a format problem.
As for archiving, how much data are you thinking about pruning? Would it help if I sent you guys a spare Hard Drive? ;)
There's a LOT of good stuff in some of those old threads. I'd hate to see them disappear.
[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: Toad ]
-
I read this and thought, "Perhaps a 'Piss and Moan' forum" as a joke... and you know, the more I think about it, maybe there should be a dedicated place. Call it the "Vent Forum" and have it as a place where people can go and get it off their chests. You'd know the minute you went in there what you were gonna read, and it might clean up the general quite a bit.
Another forum idea is the "Dueling Forum"- no, not a place where you set up aerial duels, but a place where people verbally spar.
"Immense Sig Line and Graphic Forum" is another idea. You could even hold contests to see who can invent the most outlandish title for themselves,and create sig graphics that can bring "phat pipes" to their knees. You could list every accomplishment you ever had starting with your first steps.
A "Play it MY Way!" forum would be very popular. There users could expound mindlessly why their variety of play is more manly than others.
How can we live without a "Rush or Geraldo?" forum?
Of course there could be some blurring of the lines here and there, but it would be interesting to see how things shook out... ;)
-
excellent idea keiren! Dont forget teh conservative forum, liberal forum, makes noe sense at all forum (but folks wont know when to post there :)
Seriously, the general forum is just a catch all and it recieves the majority of the traffic because of that.
BTW Pyro, how much server space does this monster take up in its present form?
-
I like the idea of the General Discussion forum. It's just... i dunno, hard to explain. It's how I get my fix. It's like walking into an open bar that has a little bit of everything compared to one that only serves that 'lite' stuff.
Trim the old stuff down, but leave this general forum!
Maybe posts that obviously belong in another forum could be moved more. You could use volunteer moderators to do that, so all the offtopic or plane posts get to where they're supposed to be?
-
Well, since it is all about opinions and everyone has one (just like a certain part fo the human anatomy :)). Use the KISS principle.
hitechcreations.general
hitechcreations.techsupport
hitechcreations.bugreports
hitechcreations.events
hitechcreations.announcements
hitechcreations.<insertsquadnamehere>
Anything else is micromanaging ;).
-
Just dump everything once a week, it is usually repeated by then.
-
there should be an open FDB forum, to complement the private one. only difference would be the lack of porn.
oh, and there should be a PICK ON THE-WOBBLE FORUM that should be a good one.
hehe.
nah, but seriously, i think the BBS is good as it is now.
-
Well probably 90% of any thing interesting, and 100% of the crappy stuff all comes out of the general discussion forum.
Would seem you can't have the good without the bad.
48 hours on a gen. disc. post, and poof, gone for good. Make the community resposible for answering and saving posts if we want them.
Sax
13th Tas
-
If you want to change something.
Make it so that the top level link to aces high bb is available in all the areas below it. If you select general forums it disapears right now.
And put in a spell checker.
And let me filter out all the squad forums so I can get to mine faster.
Give us a work mode..
Add an Agenda field to user profiles. Make it mandatory.
Have some kind of view of the MA map available on the page.
Let me spy on those 1400 topics on the FDBs forum.
But I like it the way it is too...
-
Pyro:
So I'm looking for suggestions on what topics we should and shouldn't have.
Keep ALL the current forums, only add the following Suggestions:
1- Should there even be a general discussion forum?
YES, just change the Title of "AH General Discussion" to this:
General Discussion ABOUT Aces High
2- Should there be more than 1 off-topic forum?
YES.
Suggested New Forums:
- Other Sims or Other Games where the LOTS of new players coming from another games can chat about the "good old days", find each other, reagroup old squads, etc. Eventually this will turn into a general discussion about other games. Comments about other existing or futures games may attract potential customers to THIS game.
- Vent Forum or Verbal Duelling Forum for Psychological Internet Therapy (you may charge to post here in the future:-)
- Jokes or Funny Forum for those non agressive but Off-Topic posts.
3- Main Arena Forum for specific gameplay issues in the MA. (there is a CT forum and should be a Forum for Every Arena)
4- Training Arena ForumTo help and encourage beginners and stop the disruptive players to ruin that place. (many newcomers are driven out of the game in their 2 free weeks because the lack of Admins or Sysop control in there) I think this will be the forum for the "Junior" or teenagers players. Youth is the base of all communities, not ever we forget to take care of them. (they grow up and will have their own credit card too:-)
5- Events and Announcements will be better placed in the same section at top.
-
Originally posted by Pongo:
Let me spy on those 1400 topics on the FDBs forum.
Heh...you wish. No ASSassINs allowed!!
-
General discussion forum:
I agree that it is like the local pub.
We need it, but HTC may want to make the stipulation in the description that "HTC does not check this forum for problems or issues pertaining to it's software or game play." & "HTC discards messages that are more that are in active for more than X# months."
Then, you might Stretch the other topics by using sub topics.
Game Play for example. Sub topics might be needed since the future AH will have a multiple aspect POV in game play.
Aircraft, Ground Vehicles, Naval Vessels/weapons, First Person Shooter, Terrain issues...etc.
Do the same with bugs.
Art, Crashes, Sound, Terrains, etc.
Then hire a moderator that can spend 2-3 hours a day moving topics to their correct location. Give this moderator a private email, pager, and phone numbers so he/she can contact the proper HTC personell with critical point problems. Hell, you could even set up a Bug Database for this person to push posted info to.
This will help group the issues into smaller piles for you to review from an HTC perspective and give you a front line support system. Then you can still offer a personal touch by coming to rescue without having to spend hours each day picking through the rubble that is the current BBS.
Viper
-
To play Devil's advocate....
I've never much liked the topic police state. A conversation is like a river. Some times it meanders and winds its way through various topics in the course of its run. It doesn't always fit nicely into a box.
How about just one topic. Just general AH All you need is a good search capability.
Advantages:
1. One place for people to look. (I hardly ever think to check those other topics. And I'm not alone I suspect.)
2. Less adminstrative hassle for you guys. No need to have to play topic police.
3. Less forums to have to maintain.
4. With a strong search feature, theres now reason it wouldn't be any harder to find topics of interest. Maybe easier.
5. I think for tech support stuff it would actually be better. They only people who go to the tech sections are the people having trouble. Nine times out of ten, the people with the answers are hanging out in the general section and may never go into tech because they are not having any problems.
6. Its the natural way people want to post. They naturally tend to want to put everything into general because they know thats the only one they are sure everyone reads. You can spend all you time and energy trying to fight human nature, or you can find a way to harness it and turn it to your own purposes.
This will prolly get slammed. But I thought you should have a different perspective to consider.
Regards,
Wab
-
Originally posted by AKWabbit:
To play Devil's advocate....
I've never much liked the topic police state. A conversation is like a river. Some times it meanders and winds its way through various topics in the course of its run. It doesn't always fit nicely into a box.
How about just one topic. Just general AH All you need is a good search capability.
OH boy...that would be one Awesome Search capability!
How can you possibly search for anything when so many people here have broken and mixed language or spelling skills?
What if someone posts an icon problem but spells it ikon, or mis-types and calls it ocon. A search for icon will not find it.
How about a search for Hellcat posts? F-6F/F6/F6-F/F6F Helcat/Hellcat/Hellkat/Kitty/Cat/ etc. Then you have to pick through the hundreds of results to see if there is anything useful or important?
And 1 huge topic is going to be easier how? By piling everything into a stack and hoping you don't miss the critical element that could break the camel's back?
Do you keep all your clothes in a heap and just look for the blue shirt sticking out of the pile in the morning? I hope not. :)
Organization has always been a key to success.
Viper
BTW, I'm not saying that everything should fit a box, we all know that is not possible.
Just organize things so that "Boxables" go in the box, and generals can stay in a smaller "Pile" or "River" in your terms.
Policing would not be a disruption of the flow, but rather a method to catch the fish that are hiding in the fast flowing river. :)
[ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: Sky Viper ]
[ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: Sky Viper ]
-
More boobies.
-
>OH boy...that would be one Awesome Search
>capability!
I peruse a news group "rec.aviation.soaring".
The topic is generally about soaring and all related topics. Its a pretty high level delineation. There is no "rec.aviation.soaring.landing_ gear" , no "rec.aviation.soaring.How-to-find-lift" no "rec.aviation.soaring.landing-techniques", no "rec.aviation.soaring.photos". The high level grouping by the topic of soaring is sufficient. If I'm looking for something in particular, I goto dejanews and search that group for specific key words. I've never had trouble finding what I want if its in there somewhere. Theres one group about soaring I can watch. I read the topics that have titles I'm interested in and skip the rest and search for anything in particular.
It works out fine.
And has for five years.
But thanks for keeping an open mind.
Wab
-
I like the idea of condensing the forums down to almost one general area. I would keep separate News, Events,pics and club/squad private forums. Everything else I would just group into one topic. I'm not sure, but is there a way to add 'topic' designator in it? I.E. Maybe an icon for general B.S., one for a 'vehicle/aircraft' discussion, one for terrains, such that anyone who starts a topic could just place the icon/keyword which represents the thread and then people could just search based on the topic icons. That way you can just browse based on topic or 'sort' based on icon/keyword. I would also add a 'Polls' forum, which would be time limited. That is where I would have posted this thread. That way people know where to look when you guys (HTC) are looking for active feedback.
-
Originally posted by Kieran:
Call it the "Vent Forum" and have it as a place where people can go and get it off their chests.
What's needed is a "Furball" Forum... :)
-
Pyro I think it's structured pretty well now, it's just that people don't pay any attention to the structure.
-
Originally posted by Pyro:
[QB]
So I'm looking for suggestions on what topics we should and shouldn't havethis QB]
Other than the fact they are UBB rather than the preferred <by some> NNTP I have only one suggestion.
Back in AW <stifle yer groans a second> we had a place called Furball for the word warriors and flamers to play. I propose such a venue here. I would also propose it be called "the Alfred E. Packer Memorial Inn".
-
Originally posted by Pyro:
So put forth your ideas here on how we can make this board better and more useable.
i like the content, but could you pretty please consider also offering them on a real news-server, yeah right, NNTP ... (the guy at grc.com has his groups in web and nntp format, Yahoogroups also)
it's much 'friendlier' for the non-US users, lots of whom have modem-connections and pay per minute (even for local calls) ; because you can retrieve the stuff that interests you and read it off-line !
you can save whatever you want for later use (right Westy ? ;) ).
you can mark threads that interest you, so new posts are automagically downloaded.
etc. etc.
just take a look at Free Agent or Gravity (both free)
and because UBB sucks purple monkey balls of course :D
Goner
-
Originally posted by sling322:
Heh...you wish. No ASSassINs allowed!!
How about me? May I view the FDB porn Forum? I thought I was made an Honorary FDB.
But then again if it's just more pics of Fatty's Mom nevermind my request! :eek:
-
Either dump the G.D. forum,
or make most forums into one big G.D.
Keep the various help topics either way.
eskimo
-
I dont think you should drop the General Discussion. At least for me it is the one I read most often. I never read the O'Club
-
I like to see a BFM/ACM-Forum.
-
Buzzard wrote:
we had a place called Furball for the word warriors and flamers to play. I propose such a venue here. I would also propose it >be called "the Alfred E. Packer Memorial >Inn".
Yes a furball type area is needed. I vote for the Alfred E Packer Memorial. As a Coloradian, I know who Alfred Packer is. hint: he ate ?? to survive while stranded/snowed in the mountains of CO
ATC
-
I think Kieren's got a great idea. All joking aside, it'd be a great place for people to squeak, and no one could squeak about their squeaking!
Originally posted by Pongo:
Make it so that the top level link to aces high bb is available in all the areas below it.
Let me spy on those 1400 topics on the FDBs forum.
Click on the Aces High logo at the top of the screen. It's the link back to the top level of the BB.
You'd be sorely disappointed in the FDB BBS. It's mostly just chats about what the best laundry detergent is, who thinks Dr. Kent from Days of our Lives is going to get yellow fever, little contests involving finding the best prices on grocery items (Gordo is currently in first place with his find of Strawberry Fields Massengill for $0.59/bottle), etc. Really, move along, nothing to see here.
The best idea so far belongs to Fatty. Good job, sir!
SOB
[ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: SOB ]
-
How about making a "ladys forum". For all the lady flight simmers out there. So they can discuss things like shoes, fingernails and nose art? Just a suggestion.
I wouldn't mind a "bird" forum. Birds and planes have a lot in common. They both fly!!! Wouldn't it be good if we could post pics and discuss chickens!!
Those are just two of my many ideas. Tell me if you want me to post the rest, cos I have tons. :D
-
Originally posted by FlyingDuckSittingSwan:
How about making a "ladys forum". For all the lady flight simmers out there. So they can discuss things like shoes, fingernails and nose art?
You must be joking! LOL! I don't mind discussing aircraft nose art, but I draw the line at shoes and fingernails! No thanks, no ladies forum... :)