The Gamer's Quarter

wankerwitson · . Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 199

What was Xenons Law again?
_________________
tim?

B coma · . Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 279

stotelheim · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 118

Every time you see post, you must reply to post.

wankerwitson · . Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 199

I must have been b& at this point?
_________________
tim?

stotelheim · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 118

Nah not really I had unbanned you and apparantely it was an old thing that they revived because of low interest in the forums and also the site.

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:35 am Post subject:

stotelheim · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 118

Man, no. Karma systems never work out. They just result in drama.

Brock · . Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 3

First off, I'm glad to see everyone hasn't exactly disseminated all over just yet, and that things are in motion to bring everyone back together.

Frankly, I felt the IC forums were an entirely different creature than IC proper. I rarely, if ever, checked the main page, and I think it might be safe to say that we got at least several of our members by word-of-mouth.

That said, though, the idea of a front page isn't entirely a bad one. We had a lot of users sitting on articles, waiting for them to be posted, and...well, it never happened. I think this would be a pretty good opportunity to at least give this a shot. While I'd definitely be find with a more insular, forums-only site, we've essentially been given carte blanche with this.

That said, I am also somewhat in favor of starting fresh. It's not an entirely fair move (there are definitely fine discussions that will be missed if not re-instated), but I do think it would breathe at least some sort of new life into the boards. IC had a good pace going, but I am definitely curious to see where things would go if we started anew.

As vehemently opposed as some are to the Axe, I think we definitely need a second go at it. Though General served as a sort of community subforum, the Axe was without a doubt a sort of life-blood community type of thing. Not to cheese it up too much, but it was sort of an e-brah hangout for me, you see Sad

Anyway, I think it would not be unreasonable to think that most everyone would like to see the Axe come back in some shape or form. Say what you will of it, the place was just fun.

I support Persona's motion for getting an oekaki board. Maybe it will thrive, maybe not, but it'd be neat to have, anyway. Might as well experiment with this while we can; it can always be cut later.

For Sawtooth's sake, I say the only emoticon icon approved for the board to be :shobon:

Also, I think Select Button is too dry and, well, uninspired. I don't have any suggestions for alternatives, though.

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:56 am Post subject:

Here is a plan:

1) acquire webspace (Toups?)

2) Install forums to forums.presselect.com, install Wordpress to the root directory (I can help)

3) archives can go in /archives/

4) priority can then be placed on setting up forums before the root Wordpress is skinned

That way we have the basic structure, news posts can still be made in the default skin, and we have forums to migrate to. Suggested forum structure:

- Real Bout 2: Mark of the Wolves (Games)
- General Chaos (General)
- Intro Sequence (Newbie introductions)
- Forum AXE 2 (Axe)
- Writer's Revenge (Front page articles and plugging)
- Thread Fighter Zero Alpha 2 (Classic threads)

New members can read all forums but only post in Intro Sequence - once they do, they're moved to the user group that lets them post in all the other forums. Possibly this could be explained via an automated PM? The advantage of this is it keeps the forum fresh enough while providing effective defenses.
_________________

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

A feature I'd like to see, (I don't know how hard it would be) is a running line of the last couple of lines from the #insertcredit channel being displayed on the front page (think Galbadia Hotel.) I consider them as much a part of the forum as anyone else. And they are about as disconnected from the main site as we were. It's just an idea however, and it would need their approval of course.

I say that we should not use any Fighting game references for our forum titles (baring the axe of course.) That was very much vincent's thing, and I think we can probably cull good ideas from say Genesis/Megadrive games. Sadly I can't think of anything clever at the moment.

All told it sounds like a fine plan, and if we can move quickly we can get out of TGQ's hair by the end of the week?

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

god just GET OUT you guys >:|

Yeah the "intro sequence" idea is a pretty decent way of cutting down spambots (both scripted and fleshy), and seems like a pretty foolproof way to preemptively block another forumwide invasion, but wouldn't they just invade the intro sequence board instead? I guess it's preferable to having the whole place trashed, but it wouldn't really prevent what happened last time. Maybe you could trick out the forum code to block images or links or something in there?

Also, it sort of worries me that it might discourage lurkers from actually registering and posting. IC was the first place I ever felt like I wanted to post at; when I was much younger I remember registered for the GameFAQs boards, and was suddenly confronted with all kinds of insane nonsense like mandatory posting ranks and required 'karma' and hell maybe I remember it worse than it was, but it's not a friendly thing to do to the sensitive, intelligent young strangers on the internet that seem to make up IC's core.
_________________

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

Simply having the introduce yourself thread there would work. I figure anyone willing to spend the time to write an introduce yourself post deserves the ability to post in forum proper.

Is this forum going to be a clean reboot of the old forum, or a fresh from scratch?

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:32 am Post subject:

Hmmmmm

GROUP: NEW MEMBERS
----
Intro Sequence (Signup)

GROUP: DiSCUSSION
-----
GAME Stormer (Gaming)
General Chaos (General)

GROUP: MIGHTY AXE
----
Forum Axe II (Axe)

GROUP: THINGS TO MAKE AND DO
----
The Development Front (Development)
The Writting Game Show (Writer's forum)

GROUP: ARCHIVES
----
Forgotten Words (Archived Threads)

Grouping them like that might look more aesthetically pleasing? All of these are based on Mega Drive games.
_________________

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Also, since we're setting up and a lot of controls and mandates and things seem to be getting thrown around, I should say what vision already said, which is that the more structure you try to impose on one of these things, the more volatile it becomes. Surely it would be better to give a few people the keys to the panic button than try and build the forum into some sort of anti-invasion fortress?
_________________

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

And if you guys are going to have a forum where posts go up on the front page as articles/essays/blogs you are going to need to leave that as an invite only forum. You can set it up so that only people of a "group" can post but everyone can reply. I recommend that if you take a route like that.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

How do I get jammed in shelf?

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:41 am Post subject:

I'd want the signups thing to have an FAQ just describing why it's there and what it's for, in general terms. Stress that we aren't a walled community.

I'm prepared to do my bit for this, as far as I can. I'm not some kind of god-like writing monster but I could maybe help keep the front page ticking over and I know a little install-fu when it comes to pre-packaged forum and news software.
_________________

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

If my knowledge is right, it's fairly easy for us to just setup two versions of the forum and then delete all the threads in mass except those that were active.
_________________

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:42 am Post subject:

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:44 am Post subject:

RE: the forums starting over fresh or old

Let's just lock all the old threads away and start new - it'll be a lot less stilted and it'll encourage people to do new things, rather than stick to the old. It won't be like losing anything, just ruling a line underneath it.
_________________

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:58 am Post subject:

If it was up to me I'd have signups be unrestricted. However, this kind of formality seems to be the least elitist route to go. I do agree with you in principle.
_________________

Mister Toups · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:01 am Post subject:

I haven't had time to read this whole thread yet (gotta go to work like 5 minutes ago), but just want to chime in on the site name.

I like projectonecoin.com a lot. The only problem is that it's an injoke. In the name of keeping the forums accessible I'd like to have a name that doesn't need to be explained. On the other hand I think projectonecoin.com stands on its own alright and is a little catchier. If enough of you prefer that name then I will change it. I hope Tim will forgive me ;___;

I will reply to emails and PM's as I get them throughout the day but I won't be able to tend to issues raised in this thread till this evening.

edit: Also I think I'd like onecoin.com better than projectonecoin.com
_________________
where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

The principle is important! Minimizing regulation and prescribed order is going to be key to keep a new forum running smoothly.

I mean, how hard would it be to instead obtain or build some better tools or protocols for repelling an invasion, and picking a bunch of regular posters (maybe in different time zones) with the authority to use them? Crippled mod accounts maybe?

tangent: toups should always refer to this new forum as his land
_________________

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

Also can we finally have winkerbaning?
_________________

thatbox · . Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 99 Location: nashville / nola

How about winkerbanging ^^
_________________

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:15 am Post subject:

Hey Toups, something else to think about:

If you import all of the old topics and posts I think you'll also be importing all of the users. Most people won't need to sign up, so you won't need to worry about accepting hundreds of users right away.

-Wes
_________________

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

You guys are trying to run before you know how to walk.

Just sayin'.
_________________

zebadayus · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Kentucky

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Zebadayus, come to the New Year's Eve Party.
_________________

beige · . Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 38

guys how about

"insert coin"

zebadayus · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Kentucky

Jeff Garneau · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 49

yeah, i'd really just as soon not have the word "project" in it. sounds stuffy and self-important, like "NeoGAF: Believe"

i feel like our front page should just be whatever forum members want to take the time to write well about. it could be kind of group-bloggish, even.

showka · . Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 70

I'm for just moving the forums over exactly as they were and keeping it like that for a month or more while all of the stragglers slowly find it. Then we can start implementing any great new ideas we have. If these new forums will really be a continuation of the old IC Forums, deciding on too much here, in this strange land, seems like leaders in Europe dividing Africa or something.

I think all of these ideas for having various "levels" of the forums or karma systems are well intended but they'd only serve to restrict the growth of the community. If we're worried about a 4chan invasion or some other bullshit destroying the community we should just be super vigilant with the back ups.

I think the best way I've seen here to deter spam bots is to make account activation reliant on someone writing an essay. I think the best part of this would be the public critique, provided we never rejected anyone. It would be a great way to introduce new members and temporarily give them the spot light without making it feel lame, like they were introducing themselves at band camp and everyone was so happy to be their new friend! The only downside is many people join up on a whim, so maybe even this should be avoided.

zebadayus · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Kentucky

dmauro · . Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn

I don't think the selectbutton name is next gen enough considering the Wii and XBOX 360 use different names for the select button. vestigialbutton.net maybe?

wankerwitson · . Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 199

So why are we not having open registration?

It worked in the days of yore.

Also guys this is my official tribute to the 'days of yore':

So long and thanks for all the pish.

Also I will field all questions about the new forum in toups absence so ask away.

And yes Forum Axe Two will be called Forum Agnes.
_________________
tim?

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Not having open registration is the 100% sure-fire way of starving a community of life.
_________________

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

yeah I retract my support of that. Open Registration is the way to go.
_________________

JamesE · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:48 am Post subject:

The essay idea is forum poison. No way would I post at a place that required it.
_________________

wankerwitson · . Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 199

That's right. Dance to my tune rud13. Soon you'll be moving to Glasgow and interacting with me in real life!
_________________
tim?

gutomatic · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 34 Location: Curitiba, Brazil

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Well for one thing, all-out invasion like we just saw is kind of unavoidable. If they can't flood the forums, and are really determined to wreck things, they will just DoS the hell out of it. That's exactly what happened after icyclam locked the forums down and what would happen if a group of people really, really wanted to wreck this new forum.

Registration processes should weed out spambots and nothing more.
_________________

dmauro · . Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn

I vote backing up the forums over closing registration.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Because Videogames.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"