Official RELEASE subforum suggestion

Started by Trooper Dan, 13 March 2012, 18:21:33

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Trooper Dan

I originally posted this suggestion in the admin forum a few weeks ago over at Duke4.net.  TX initially said he would do it, but it hasn't happened yet and at this point I doubt it will.  So I am going to repost it here to see what people think.  Now keep in mind the quoted posts below were written for Duke4.net.  It's not nearly as messy here...yet.  The comment about DNR is also out of date since the forums seem to be working again (but I am told they are going to be locked and neglected again).  But I think the basic idea is sound.  The idea is that every released project has an official thread in a subforum that contains only such threads.

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Right now, threads about releases either go in the modifications subforum or the user maps subforum.  In either place, release threads get buried by other releases and by miscellaneous threads asking questions, or vaporware project threads, etc.  For some projects, it makes sense to have a subforum in the hosted projects section.  But that is not the case for most maps and mods.

So what I'm thinking is there should be a subforum that is ONLY for released maps and mods.  At most one thread per project.  Saying that the project has to have been released doesn't mean that it cannot continue to be updated, but it has to at least be considered version 1.0 to have a thread.  Any thread started about a project that is not available for download and is not at the 1.0 stage gets deleted.  If there are multiple threads started about the same project, the extra threads get deleted. 

More guidelines:  Some people may want to start a thread that is about all of their work, rather than have a thread for each of their projects. That's fine.  In fact, we might want to discourage having one person start several threads about different projects that are small or very similar to each other.  If a thread is started by someone who was not part of the project, then a project member has the option of replacing that thread with their own.  And finally, nothing gets stickied except for a thread explaining the guidelines for starting threads.  There will still be a lot of threads, but at least there won't be any clutter and it should be fairly easy to navigate

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I see nothing wrong with copying the existing release threads from their current locations.  Also, I see nothing wrong with people creating release threads for old maps and projects that have been released over the years.  After all, those projects currently do not have any official discussion threads.  The forums at DNR are dead now (completely overrun with bots) and AMC is...well, it's AMC.  So this can be the place where everything has its own official thread.  And then people can just look through all those releases and pay their respects with a post if they feel like it.  It's partly a legacy thing.  Somebody might come around and say, "hey, I remember this map from back in '98.  It was one of my favorites.  Man, those were the days."  And of course there would be new releases, too, and presumably those threads would be posted in more so they would be closer to the front and would not be crowded out by the old stuff.

Puritan

Basically a new board called "Released maps/mods"...where only threads about releases are allowed then?
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Trooper Dan

Quote from: Puritan on  13 March 2012, 18:40:55
Basically a new board called "Released maps/mods"...where only threads about releases are allowed then?

Yes, with the rules that I explained in the quoted posts, in order to prevent people from abusing it.

Forge

#3
That's pretty much the way it is here now other than one Topic for "classic" and one for "Mods" where specific release threads are can be posted.

Not many people post about releases here, but if it gets sloppy or out of control I can move or merge as necessary

the threads not pertaining specifically to releases under those two topics can be moved under other topics if it ever comes to that

Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#4
Quote from: Puritan on  13 March 2012, 18:40:55
Basically a new board called "Released maps/mods"...where only threads about releases are allowed then?

Quote from: Trooper Dan on  13 March 2012, 18:44:21
Yes, with the rules that I explained in the quoted posts, in order to prevent people from abusing it.

That's what the "Classic Duke 3D" and "Duke 3D Modifications" topic are for.
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Trooper Dan

#5
I suppose that would be fine.  I don't feel that any project I have worked on would be welcome in a forum named "Classic Duke 3D", since all of them involve modifications.

So if I created a bunch of threads for old maps, would that be considered spamming?

Puritan

Quote from: Trooper Dan on  13 March 2012, 19:04:45
I suppose that would be fine.  I don't feel that any project I have worked on would be welcome in a forum named "Classic Duke 3D", since all of them involve modifications.


There is a board for that: "Duke 3D Modifications".
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Forge

Quote from: Trooper Dan on  13 March 2012, 19:04:45
So if I created a bunch of threads for old maps, would that be considered spamming?

That's what the "Last Map you Played" thread is for

if there are maps you would like to see hosted on this site, but are not here yet, you can either request them to be reviewed or submit your own review under the "Reviews and Submissions" thread
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Puritan

I can see Dan's point though.
If we had a dozen releases each month it would have been nice with a sub forum or a separate board.
But for now, I think it's tidy enough around here.


Having said that, either Forge or me is always around monitoring the forum.
If it's getting to messy we'll take action  ;)
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Trooper Dan

#9
Forge, you are missing my point.  The purpose of all the threads would be to have a permanent, official discussion place for each and every project.  Ideally, the official threads would be linked from their respective download pages.  For example, if someone comes HERE, in addition to links for the review and download, there would also be a link for "discuss this map in the forum". 

The "Last Map you Played" thread cannot possibly serve the purpose I just described.

EDIT:  And each thread could have a poll for rating the map, which would also take care of having a user rating system without cheating.

Puritan

Just a small piece of info: The review pages will never have any changes anymore.
It is more than 200 separate pages. It would take days to do changes... ;)


( of course I can do some editing for an individual page if necessary)
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Trooper Dan

Quote from: Puritan on  13 March 2012, 22:01:31
Just a small piece of info: The review pages will never have any changes anymore.
It is more than 200 separate pages. It would take days to do changes... ;)


( of course I can do some editing for an individual page if necessary)

Then just add links to the release threads for the most recently made pages and the ones in the future.  And as for the older reviews, links can be added later if someone feels like doing it.

Puritan

Yeah, I will add links in the future as you suggested  ;)
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Trooper Dan

Quote from: Puritan on  13 March 2012, 22:13:15
Yeah, I will add links in the future as you suggested  ;)

Thank you.  And once map authors notice that only the newer reviews have them, they may start bugging you to add them for their older releases....bwa ha ha ha ha.

Puritan

 ;D .... I can imagine.
Metropol Mayhem became the first review with a link.
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise