Subforums for the larger mods

[Otherside]

all BA topics should go in BA thread or BA channel in lobby unless u get ur own forums

/thread

[IllvilJa]

Personally, I think it makes sense to have a subforum which in return contains a number of "subsubforums", one per mod.

Unfortunately, it seem to be a lot of prestige implied in a specific mod getting a sub forum, which I understand can complicate things. We don't want discussions of what mod "deserves" a subforum, but rather what mods our forum has a need of get their own subforum.

The change is intended to benefit the forum, primarly. That the mod might benefit is just a bonus.

A very simple way to determine which mod needs a sub forum is to see if there is some "mega thread" about the mod (like the 73 pages thread about BA or 58 pages thread about some specific release candidate of P.U.R.E). If such mega threads surface, that's an indication that it would make sense to create a sub forum (and I mean subforum in the sense that the subforum is put below the modding forum hierarchy-wise).

Even if the web space and community site software is served on a silver platter (thanks for your efforts there, Forb BTW) and creating a community site for a mod more or less is a no brainer for the mod creator, it takes it's toll participate in multiple sites. I had to register for an account here and then for an account on the Spring44 site and already that feels a bit like overhead. Then I need to participate in discussions about Spring44 in both forums. Doable, and I do it but I would not mind if all discussion about Spring44 were at one place.

As another example to illustrate my point: all discussion related to P.U.R.E that I read and is participating (to some minor extent, I admit) is exclusively on this forum. If we created a subforum here for P.U.R.E I would prefer that instead of having yet another community site (for P.U.R.E in this particular case) where I have to apply for an account and then visit to check for posts.

Sure, if Forb could offer that any mod's new community site not only is server on a silver platter, but also automatically let every account already created on this spring forum to also work at once at the particular mod's community site, then much admin overhead would removed for end users.

Ok, just my $0.02.

[Boirunner]

OK, guys, forget about each mod getting its own subforum. I see the problem of the dev team seeming to endorse certain mods.

Just make a forum that you can make multiple threads per mod, flagging them with [XTA] or [KP] or whatever.

None of the problems you mentioned apply to this.

Just create a forum called "Mod specific discussion" into the Games and Mods forum.

[Jazcash]

Or create 2 sub forums: OTA Mods and Non-OTA Mods.

[Otherside]

Or create 2 sub forums: OTA Mods and Non-OTA Mods.

dont you get the dev team do not want to be assosciated with OTA anymore ?

this forum is about the spring engine

[smoth]

http://spring.clan-sy.com/ is a website for the SPRING ENGINE

Mods, games and other projects using the engine are not the engine.

TRUTH!

swift, the reality is that all the mods use this forum as their main vehicle of communication. Look at CA's forums. Look at smoths forums. They are very very inactive, compared to this one.

yep, I don't have a lot of noobs posting random crap! I also have very specific things covered. My site isn't for all the fuckwitts of the community, it is for a controlled environment for people to have a forum if they need one. So development can be discussed without all the stupid bullshit that is on this forum. to that point and purpose it has less activity.

Posts per day: 21.33

Looks good for a private forum used to work on content. SWIW has less activity but I promise you it is more anticipated than gundam was-n't... I mean ffs, most of this place is LOL AA-BA posts.

[Jazcash]

Or create 2 sub forums: OTA Mods and Non-OTA Mods.

dont you get the dev team do not want to be assosciated with OTA anymore ?

At the moment, The Spring Engine is about OTA Mods. The majority of Spring players play OTA Mods. Getting rid of OTA is like building a house on solid foundations, and then removing those foundations after the house is built and well established.

Until we have a solid mod to fall back onto, most players will sick with OTA mods.

I myself would like to scrap OTA and go onto something new but until there's actually something that isn't buggy, plays as well as OTA mods and is a complete replacement for OTA, I'm sticking with OTA.

this forum is about the spring engine

*A Mods are running on the Spring Engine.

[Otherside]

so why would you want the engine to continue to support *A mods and give them shelter in the forums ?

the longer the support continues by the development team the more people will get lazy and the longer *A mods will linger.

Spring Engine needs to stop giving support to *A mod's and let them fend for themselves. Alot of things are showing that this is the general direction being taken

Removal of content in the installer (*A content)
Fixing hard coded OTAism's and making it a general RTS Engine
Renaming from TAspring to Spring Engine :p

im not saying *A mods should go (tho it would be nice) i just think just like all the other mods/games everyone should fend from themselves.

[Jazcash]

Atm, the majority of Spring's player base is feeding on *A Mods. Not to mention one of the main reasons people are here is so they can relive that OTA experience that they thought died long ago.

Imo, it's a one way thing. We either keep OTA around and keep supporting it and thriving upon it. Or we scrap it completely, get rid of it and never look back. I'm up for either one, just please, don't be in the middle.

If we're so set on getting rid of OTA, do it and watch what happens the the community.

[Otherside]

People can do what they want.

The Engine really isnt taking a middle ground. Its taking the same stance with *A mod as it has with every other mod/game no preferential treatment is given to anyone in particular

If people choose to keep playing *A let them do so. the devs aren't going to eradicate all *A talk from the forums and lobbies (unless legality and C&D becomes an issue) and act like it didn't exist. They will just apply the same rules and regulations as every other mod/game get.

1 forum topic for discussion

And a news release post for new releases

+ anyone who makes decent screens can have them in the spring gallery

[Boirunner]

1 forum topic for discussion

And a news release post for new releases

+ anyone who makes decent screens can have them in the spring gallery

The whole point is that this rule is retarded. It makes reasonable discussion about any mod impossible. It defies the principle of an internet forum.

Having mutliple topics in one thread reduces a forum into a chat. It takes aways all structure, and forces a user wanting to know something to read through dozens of pages.

[Otherside]

hence why every mod and game apart from most of the *A mods has there own site/forums and lobby channels

[Boirunner]

What possible disadvantage could there be to having a forum that allows multiple, tagged threads per mod that the current setup does not have?

[Otherside]

Spam

also *A mods are roughly the same in terms of units etc (i guess the prefix in thread name could help here) so it could get confusing.

+ it will make spring look like its TAspring since other mods/games discuss stuff outside these forums. And the *A mods will leech off the spring site.

I dont see why other mods can setup forums its piss easy and forb is even offering.

if BA is so popular it should have no problem filling a forum + + you wouldnt get trolls(well you would but not as many) posting in your threads win win situation and you can have all the threads you want.

And you can implement the rules/policies you want

[Boirunner]

Spam

If by spam you mean more people talking about playing spring, then that's a good thing.

also *A mods are roughly the same in terms of units etc (i guess the prefix in thread name could help here) so it could get confusing.

You answered that one yourself.

+ it will make spring look like its TAspring since other mods/games discuss stuff outside these forums. And the *A mods will leech off the spring site.

So all mods get wiki pages, lobby channels, community news posts, screenshots, background images on the website, tournaments, but are not allowed more than one thread? Where is the difference?

I dont see why other mods can setup forums its piss easy and forb is even offering.

if BA is so popular it should have no problem filling a forum + + you wouldnt get trolls(well you would but not as many) posting in your threads win win situation and you can have all the threads you want.

And you can implement the rules/policies you want

So you think KDR should make an individual forum for every mod he makes, just so we can have individual threads talking about some strategies?

[Otherside]

KDR's mods are discussed within the mods thread. The game's are so small that it is infact easier to keep track of discussion about strategies/balance etc all in one thread instead of many threads.

also about the wikipages/images/video's

welcome banners are dominated by non *A content so are the welcome images. Screenshots of good quality are usually non *A as 3do models from 1997 look like ass regardless of how much eye candy is around it (hence why i tend to avoid including 3do's in CA screenshots apart from other reasons).

The most active and viewed part of the spring site is the forum itself and if a thread is not enough for discussion of said mod/game and its so popular that it requires multiple threads. Then as ive said before they should look into getting there own forums.

Spring's Mod rules/policies are no different to what ive seen in other forums.

in Wesnoth its one topic per mod and in games which have mods each mod also usually only has one topic.

BA shouldnt have a problem at all if it has such a dedicated following...

[Boirunner]

So, in essence, you think that by allowing multiple threads per mod, the most-played mods would get talked about most, and that would be - for some reason - a bad thing?

[SpliFF]

This discussion is getting silly. There are only two important considerations:

1.) Moderator time. Will the effort of setting up the subforums and subforum moderators be offset by the benefits of having more moderators (since each mod leader/promoter would take charge of their threads)?

2.) Either way, does the benefit to Spring players of not having to register on multiple forum sites outweigh the costs of 1.?

Personally, I think there's a high probably that a player who posts for mod "A" may also play and have comments/questions for mods "B" and "C" by virtue of SpringLobby/ArchiveMover automating mod download and install. In this case will they bother registering for 3 different forums? Also will they trawl through a 80 page thread to see if their comments are posted? I think no to both. Clearly players get a win from subforums.

Mod authors get a triple win from simpler forum setup, tighter cross-promotion and more feedback than they would get elsewhere.

If point 1.) is going to be the deciding factor then perhaps a compromise could be made. Rather than get into arguments over whether a mod is worthy of a subforum consider setting some clear guidelines in advance. Something like:

1.) Mod must be at least beta quality.
2.) Mod is not a mutator, widget or other update.
3.) Mods mega-thread exceeds 500 posts (excluding one-liners).
4.) Lobby shows regular games.
5.) Subforum must be offered, not requested.
6.) Subforum may be pulled if last post is older than 6 months.
7.) Subforum may be pulled if owner goes awol, violates forum standards or routinely fails to respond to violations within the subforum.
8.) Subforum may be pulled at SwiftSpear's discretion regardless of 6 or 7.

[Otherside]

i dont think this is up for discussion anyway the devs and admins seem to have given there official stance and its far from unreasonable.

Not the devs fault *A mod developers cba making there own forums

[Boirunner]

i dont think this is up for discussion anyway the
devs and admins seem to have given there official stance

I only saw the stance against my original one-subforum-per-large-mod idea:

Mods don't get subforums there is too many to give every mod a subforum, and because I don't want to figure out who deserves a subforum and who doesn't.

The above statement does not apply to having one subforum where tagged threads about any mod are allowed.