A Conversation for h2g2 Feedback - Feature Suggestions

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Post 21

Smij - Formerly Jimster

Fair point smiley - smiley

We still look at Ask h2g2 as the place for that kind of thing. One place for all the different conversations. We discussed this earlier and would probably be more inclined th create a separate games area. After all, the Forum isn't the only group on site, there's the Atelier for a start...

However... that's just our initial reaction. It isn't a no, though.

Just an off-the-top-of-my-head idea that hasn't been put to anyone or sounded out in any way. At the moment the Forum is mainly used by people who could be said to be experienced h2g2 Researchers. If we were to give it a named entry it would have to be because we planned on promoting it and making it more accessible to people who might not have discovered it yet. What if The Forum was given special moderation settings, so that at certain times it could be used as The Hub was for the local elections last year. In other words, what if the Forum became the place that allows light discussion to continue on h2g2 during certain high-risk times such as elections and war? It would still have to operate within the House Rules and whichever special circumstances might be imposed on the site as a whole, but it might enable us to at least keep discussion among h2g2 Researchers on h2g2 itself...

Again, just thinking aloud here, no guarantees at all in this...


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Post 22

Whisky

Speaking personally, as someone who dabbles his feet in the waters of the forum - that's probably the best idea I've heard in ages Jimster...

If it guaranteed us a place on hootoo where we could talk about serious subjects and not be stiffled as to subject matter when talking about elections / wars / miscellaneous subjects that might be considered 'dodgy' by the beeb, then I for one wouldn't mind it being post-moderated (on the other hand, pre-mod would kill the whole forum)

One question springs to mind though - is it physically possible, given the software, to have separate forums under separate moderation regimes?


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Post 23

Mort - a middle aged Girl Interrupted

For those that don't know...

Because of the probs with Ask, Unconformity collated the games and set up A1041625 in the hope of directing gamers to a home of their own. This was a long time back.

So this is not a new thing , just a continuation of the same problem being raised again, which I think is what everyone here is saying and why The Forum has served its apprenticeship in their eyes.


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Post 24

Mort - a middle aged Girl Interrupted

I am slow posting as usual!


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Post 25

Smij - Formerly Jimster

I know it's *possible* to place DNA forums under different moderation apparently this was something developed afetr last year's local elections. Whether or not it can be applied to h2g2 yet I can't say. And I'm not sure if post moderation is possible rather than pre-moderation but I agree that would be preferable.


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Post 26

Jim Lynn

Yes, you can choose Pre, post or reactive moderation for individual forums if you want. This has been a feature ever since iCan launched.


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Post 27

anhaga

For what it's worth, I hardly ever start threads on the Forum anymore (it having been recommended that I form my own offshoot [which has a small but loyal following] because my initial posts tended to be the providing of information on a potentially debatable subject rather than the opening gambit of a debate, as near as I can remember).

Frankly, I find that Ask H2G2 is still the place I most often go to either start a discussion or look for one. I remain subscribed to the Forum, but I unsubscribe from most threads very rapidly either because I find many of them of as much interest as the 'what's the weather doing?' threads and many others far too predictable as the same voices come up to attack the same people resident in a small South Pacific island nation.

That having been said, I'm not opposed to the idea of the Forum having a named link.

smiley - erm


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Post 28

Mrs Zen

>> We discussed this earlier and would probably be more inclined th create a separate games area.

A good idea which has been suggested before. Games, requests for information, and serious debates really don't sit that neatly together... do they? smiley - huh



>> After all, the Forum isn't the only group on site, there's the Atelier for a start...

Why do you think that might be? Could it possibly be because Ask isn't fulfilling the brief? Or that the brief - "One place for all the different conversations" - is in itself faulty. This is SO-O-O-O not a new problem. There was the Open Debating Society, and there is Anhaga's page. The Forum appears to be the most successful, but they are all addressing a longstanding problem.


>> At the moment the Forum is mainly used by people who could be said to be experienced h2g2 Researchers.

Um... because they know how to find it, perhaps? Just a thought.

In the "Internetland" conversations people said time and time again that one of the things that keeps peole here is the quality of the debate. Why make it so hard to find good quality debate?


>> what if the Forum became the place that allows light discussion to continue on h2g2 during certain high-risk times such as elections and war?

Well, for a start, I'd buy your drinks at the next five meets we both attend. smiley - alesmiley - cidersmiley - stoutsmiley - bubblysmiley - redwinesmiley - stiffdrink take your pick - or all of the above! smiley - smooch


Ben


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Post 29

kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website

>>But let's see if we can do something to improve Ask h2g2 then, and if that doesn't work, get back to us. smiley - ok It might even be worth our while creating a new Games Forum rather than dilute Ask h2g2 further....
<< Jimster

As has been pointed out, this has been discussed alot in the past, and no solution was forthcoming (actually all sorts of good ideas were generated, but we had no way of implementing them and as far as I remember no consensus was reached). That is essentially why Acid set up the Forum.

I think that improving Ask in the way Jinster is suggesting, is frankly impossible. If you want to get the games happening elsewhere, what are you going to do about the all the games in the backlog of Ask when they get resurrected? Move them manually each time they appear?

Also, how do you differentiate (and who gets to differentiate) between the games threads and the silly threads? We did discuss this at length a number of times in the last few years.
I guess the Italics can't have been involved then. Certainly the feeling amongst those talking about this on the Ask threads was that it would be very difficult to change. Of course the Italics have access to technology that might make it easier.

If this is being considered seriously, I'd suggest that someone notify the Forum (with a dedicated thread there), and do the same on Ask, so that people have a chance to comment.


Re- the idea of the Forum being a place for 'light' post-moderated conversations, I'd like to understand more about how that would work, and I think the Forumites definitely need to be involved in that conversation.


There is a convo on the Forum that is partly about the direct name link issue. Ben first raises it here: F135418?thread=608209&skip=20&show=20#p6833038


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Post 30

kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website

>>Just one other concern is that while the Forum is predominantly used by long-timers, opeining it up more might lead to a repetition of the problem you've experienced with Ask h2g2.>> Jimster

This also is being discuss in the convo I just linked.


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Post 31

Mort - a middle aged Girl Interrupted

Any more thoughts on a games forum (post 11) or moving some of the ASK game threads to the games addicts page?

I know, you don't even have time to breathe at the moment smiley - winkeye but I thought I would just bump this thread anyway!


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Post 32

Smij - Formerly Jimster

We don't mind it being bumped up, so long as you can bear with us. As you can possibly imagine, the repurcussions of certain events last week combined with events so far this week have slowed us down somewhat, a matter that isn't helped by us being on reduced numbers just now.

Off the top of my head, a separate games forum does seem to make sense...


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Post 33

Ferrettbadger. The Renegade Master

Jimster this is just a duplicate of what I had to say on the "Forum House Rules" thread, but I thought I would repost it here:-

"I would say that "Ask" is unsalvagable as a place for serious debate. I agree with whomever said that "ask is to engrained on the h2g2 conciousness as the place to start general conversations" or words to that effect.

The question is "what to do?" Do we bury our neck in the sand and "hope" that ask gets better, or do we look to the solution?

I for one thing that by making the "Forum" more prominant and giving it its own named page and promoting it could be the way forward. Then something would be needed to be done to look at separating out the "Ask serious Qs" bit of ask from the "Ask Games and silly questions/convos" part.

The thing is as things stand now if you want to play a game, or start a thread about "How much dust is there on your monitor now" then you go to ask because you *know* that is where you get the most responses. Unless sometihng profound happens then there is no way that is going to change."


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Post 34

McKay The Disorganised

There are new people finding the forum - some have come over from the election forum - However, the Forumis exclusive rather than inclusive - there isn't quite a sign on he entrance saying "no dummies," but there nearly is..... to be fair though actual ridicule is minimal.

smiley - cider


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Post 35

Smij - Formerly Jimster

And of course, currently we're still weeding out the trolls.

So... that's a games room and a troll's bridge we need to build then...

smiley - run


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Post 36

Jim Lynn

Trip Trap Trip Trap


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Post 37

I'm not really here

smiley - laugh

I disagree that Ask h2g2 can't be reclaimed. At least give those of us who would like to try a chance to try other things before writing it off.


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Post 38

anhaga

I, for one, quite happily start threads in Ask concerning serious subjects. There are lots of people that respond to Ask threads who don't show up on Forum threads, for whatever reason. Just because there are game threads and threads involving discussion or debate that isn't exactly what is in the Forum (as well as a number of threads that outdo the Forum for both seriousness and decorum) is no reason to write off Ask H2G2.

I suspect that if Acid Override hadn't started the Forum, most of the Forum discussions would have occurred anyway. As it is, there is sometimes duplication.

For the record, I'm not subscribed to either the Forum or Ask: they both would clutter up my conversation list with things I find uninteresting or silly. I just dip into each now and then. If the Forum became something more official, I can't see that much of anything would change (except perhaps that more 'silly' threads would be started in the Forum).smiley - erm


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Post 39

Mort - a middle aged Girl Interrupted

Thanks guys! smiley - applause

Didn't expect it to happen that quick after the last nudge smiley - winkeye

smiley - ta


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Post 40

Mrs Zen

smiley - applause


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