Suggestion: C&M reviews sub-forum

[Pendraflare]

This is something that i've had thoughts about for the past few days, but haven't bothered to post. The Video Games forum has a Let's Plays, Guides and Reviews section, so i'm thinking, hey, why can't the Culture and Media forum have something for people to share their personal opinions on specific works? Since we have quite a few music listeners here, and some movie watchers and readers, there might be people who will want to post in-detailed reviews of what they feel like doing so with music. And not just music reviews, but also those for movies, TV shows and literature at that. Unlike with video games, there are several areas in Culture and Media that one could focus on.

But at the same time, I can understand why this may not be a very good idea. Namely, the same one with a previous idea I proposed, an art requests forum, in that it may end up not being a very active forum. It doesn't help that the sub-forum in Video Games doesn't have very much activity, either. But I still think it's at least a decent idea, even if it doesn't get pitched.

What do you guys think? Could this be a nice idea or a waste of resources and time? Discuss.

 

[Sydian]

I love the idea of more reviews being posted in C&M (I actually have one in mind I'd like to post), but I don't know if enough people would really care to use it. Like you said, VG does have that subforum, but reviews don't get posted very often in there and the subforum as a whole is pretty inactive. I don't know if a C&M review subforum would generate enough activity to really warrant it. However, we could always add a [Review] prefix and see how well that works out and if enough reviews end up being posted in the section, we could branch it off into a subforum.

Another thing about reviews is that I just don't think people are really all too interested. Like I said, I have one in mind I'd like to post just to get my thoughts out, but I know that no one would really be that interested in me talking about that particular album. No one really cared for my review of Ariana Grande's "Yours Truly" last year either. I didn't get much feedback on my review of Mother 3 when I posted it when the LP/Review subforum when it was created. I think those of us on PC that write and read reviews are a niche group, sadly.

But like I said, I'd be willing to try a review prefix and see where it goes from there. If it ends up being a popular thing and gets a subforum, then that's great and PC has proved my assumptions wrong. If it doesn't, then that's okay too because we'll have a nifty prefix and those of us that like it will make use of it.

 

[derozio]

An alternative, imo, could be something like this: https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/335865
yeah sorry lmao my own thread came to mind first

A stickied thread that's dedicated entirely to this purpose - people can write reviews as well as post comments on the said reviews. Solves the purpose and also would serve as a test for whether or not the idea gets people's attention - if it garners a lot of attention, thinking of a subforum may become viable.

Just my two cents. :)

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

To give a little bit of insight in behind the scenes matters, the Lets Play section is getting a revamping in the following month or two in which we'll be getting rid of the "Review" aspect of it mainly because of the lack of activity as you stated prior. That being said, that shouldn't discourage you in pulling for this - I think that a lot more people would be willing to write up a review for an album/movie then a video game as it will ultimately take less time to do so.

Being perfectly honest, I think the right course of action to take would be just to create normal threads centered around CDs or movies in the main forum. C&M needs that boost in activity and like we learned with Video Games/Lets Play, Reviews, and Guides, you'll lose activity/traffick to these kinds of threads if you hide them from the main forum page. If you want to make a review in that way I think that would work pretty well just posting it on the main page, as it can ultimately just create an informal discussion of the album/movie in the end.

 

[Nick]

When I was running that forum way back when, my perfect vision for it was pretty much the entire forum was predominantly review-based, with casual discussion stemming from a critique of an album, a movie, a book, etc. all designated to a single thread. One thread to discuss and review Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, one thread to discuss and review Taylor Swift - 1989, one thread to discuss and review J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive, etc. Users would post their reviews, and if someone said something that sparked someone else to want to reply, a discussion would come from that.

Unfortunately, our memberbase doesn't have enough interest in that forum to make something like that happen, and gaining new regulars would be a lot more difficult if the forum were to be run like that. And truthfully, the people who make the forum successful are really the regulars of it. New members don't join in on walls of text, which are what most reviews are. Really unfortunate, since you would think that that forum would be one of the most popular non-Pokémon forums we have, given we all watch TV, go to the movies, watch/play sports, read books, and/or listen to music.

Really bothers me to the point of resenting the community as a whole for not doing so. Has ever since 2008 and that isn't going to change.

 

[Her]

either a review prefix like sydian said or a stickied thread like derozio said
a stickied thread is probably the best way to go in terms of clutter but i suppose a revamp of the forum to accommodate it could work if a prefix were introduced

an entire subforum dedicated to reviews in a section that isn't exactly active in the first place is just not feasible

 

[Abnegation]

A review prefix is the way to go. It's hard to comment on review threads, that's what makes them pretty unpopular. That said, people should be more than welcome to post their reviews in C&M. Furthermore, the reviews should be indexed in a sticky within C&M somewhere, that way people would have immediate access to them as resources. Want to watch a movie, but not sure if you'll like it? Well your fellow PC members may have written a review on it!

To make them more popular, I suggest A) adding any links to reviews to a sticky within the section after a user has posted it B) adding emblems for reviews that pass X requirements (long enough/high enough quality etc.), and more emblems for multiple reviews C) bring back Write a Review (WAR) competitions. They were actually somewhat popular back in the day.

The important thing is that reviews should be accommodated, if not encouraged.

 

[antemortem]

Presently, there's a fine line between what people post as and consider reviews and what people post as and consider discussion threads. A thread posted with the purpose to discuss or speculate on the newest/upcoming movie - for instance, a Mockingjay thread was initially made months before the movie came out - is different than a thread created focusing on someone's review of the movie with means of just getting one's thoughts on paper and sparking more ideas about plot, theories, etc. However, where the current issue arises is when someone wants to review something that already has an existing "discussion" thread and posting a review would skew the thread's direction.

It's a frustrating reality when you want discussion and opinions/thoughts to coexist, but the way things currently work don't allow for this to happen. Audy is right in that subforums are really a step in the wrong direction. They attempt to organize and mitigate activity and topical content, but inevitably disrupt activity. There's always a divide created in the memberbase that primarily uses the subforum and one that primarily uses the parent forum.

Unfortunately, I'm not too sure how to go about mediating the problem that arises when people want to post reviews and when people just want to discuss. I'll preface this part by saying that I despise prefixes. I don't see them as anything more than an eyesore, and while they don't necessarily have many cons as opposed to pros, threads in a forum with middling activity are not hard to navigate, especially if they have straightforward titles. People have suggested many times I add them before, but I'm still vehemently against it. That said, if there are alternatives to all of our conventional methods of thinking as far as organizing and promoting different types of discussions and opinion-sharing, then I'd love to hear it. I personally have always PREFERRED, for example, creating a thread (see: the 1989 release thread) and allowing people to discuss their favorite songs, and in the process, reviewing them with their replies. Does that make sense? Posting a full-blown review of the album is a questionable move, but I really do enjoy seeing people type out in-depth responses to "what is your favorite song" with their opinions on why "x song is good compared to y song" and "why z song shouldn't be on the album" -> "does anyone agree? why do you agree?" I really like everything coming together in one thread without the need for prefixes, subforums, directories, etc.

Some might call my line of thinking old-fashioned, but I think it's more open-minded than what others might call "resourceful" methods, such as the ways I just listed.

 

[Her]

it certainly does seem old fashioned and unwilling to explore a new way of action because one member has an issue with it

i highly doubt anyone on this forum is going to write a movie review worthy of roger ebert or an article about taylor swift that would be featured in rolling stone but i digress
i dont see the point in not trying at least one of the aforementioned methods
it should be tried and judged on its success or failure, it should be given a chance
if whatever method is chosen doesn't do anything for the forum then you can claim victory and return things to how they were
if it does, then we'll see how things progress from there

 

[antemortem]

it certainly does seem old fashioned and unwilling to explore a new way of action because one member has an issue with it

i highly doubt anyone on this forum is going to write a movie review worthy of roger ebert or an article about taylor swift that would be featured in rolling stone but i digress
i dont see the point in not trying at least one of the aforementioned methods
it should be tried and judged on its success or failure, it should be given a chance
if whatever method is chosen doesn't do anything for the forum then you can claim victory and return things to how they were
if it does, then we'll see how things progress from there

I never rejected the idea outright, but we have before divided forums into subforums before in an effort to bring activity to one aspect of that section and, by and large, it's been unsuccessful. however I've never been one to judiciously rule something impossible or not worth my or anyone else's time, so I think that this is an idea (rather, it's an abstract concept at best) worth thoroughly developing. if that's done, then maybe we can figure alternatives to a subforum or ways to manipulate the subforum so that this is carried out in a fashion that equates to success, etc.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

it certainly does seem old fashioned and unwilling to explore a new way of action because one member has an issue with it

i highly doubt anyone on this forum is going to write a movie review worthy of roger ebert or an article about taylor swift that would be featured in rolling stone but i digress
i dont see the point in not trying at least one of the aforementioned methods
it should be tried and judged on its success or failure, it should be given a chance
if whatever method is chosen doesn't do anything for the forum then you can claim victory and return things to how they were
if it does, then we'll see how things progress from there

Video Game's Review section is - in my opinion - reason enough in how a subforum dedicated to that medium won't be very successful. Also, I'm with Antemortem when it comes to prefixes: they are generally just an eyesore. We used to have "Megathread" prefixes in Video Games and when we polled our regulars as to some feedback in their opinions on them they evidently just wanted them downright removed because of the clunkiness it made in navigation.

Why try to fix something that's not broken? Formal reviews can coexist in informal discussion about a medium. We don't need to create a subforum that is ultimately just taking away needed activity from the main forum that needs it, nor do we need prefixes for something that can already exist in something currently ongoing.

 

[Her]

oh lord i think the subforum idea is idiotic i'm not arguing for that
but i don't see any point in not trying out either a prefix or a stickied thread

 

[antemortem]

Okay, so I've thought about it a little bit, but I still want to know what people think will come of a Review prefix. What would be posted in the thread besides the review? Comments like... "wow nice review"? That kind of thing is more appropriate for blogs, or just in short form in the movie or album or song or artist's individual discussion thread. It'd make more sense if I allowed reviews to be hosted in a thread so they can be accessed in a composite form, plus at least there wouldn't be multiple threads with few responses.

 

[acatfrommars]

I don't think that a prefix is needed, maybe just sticky a thread like A&M has. I like how that is set up because people talk about multiple animes and I can look at it form time to time to see what others are interested in on the forum. Furthermore C&M covers more than A&M does so on the first post maybe you could have a header for movies, albums, and tv shows, the have post linkbacks in spoiler tags under the headers.


Idk maybe it's a dumb idea. lol

 

[curiousnathan]

Okay, so I've thought about it a little bit, but I still want to know what people think will come of a Review prefix. What would be posted in the thread besides the review? Comments like... "wow nice review"?

People could discuss a multitude of things within someone's review thread: if they agree/disagree with someone's review and why, further critique of the film/music/whatever...and the discussion would snowball from there. Of course, that is in an ideal world.

 

[Her]

try a stickied review thread and see where that goes
if it dies then no harm done

 

[antemortem]

try a stickied review thread and see where that goes
if it dies then no harm done

this is the idea I've been playing with in my head (and preparing C&M for by removing some other useless stickies) and I'll probably carry through with it soon

 

[Pendraflare]

Yeah, I think a pinned review thread would be a feasible idea. If what was mentioned earlier in this thread (that the game reviews forum might be getting taken down soon) is true, then making a sub-forum for media reviews likely won't be necessary. That wouldn't be unfeasible to see where it goes.