Suggestion: News.

[Nick]

Posting this here because I want the community's feedback on this suggestion before I even consider posting it in HQ.

I don't really visit that many sites. In fact, out of the sites that I do visit, the only one that's Pokémon related is PC. I know I'm not the only one who falls into this category, but I am also aware that I'm most likely part of the minority. Even with the new Pokémon games coming out, the only time I even think of going to Serebii for any kind of information or news is when someone says "OMG The new Pokémon look amazing!" or "Check Serebii!!!"

I'd really like it if we had a Pokémon news forum. A forum that relates to all aspects of the fandom and that's updated by someone with reliable information that's up to date in the anime, in the games, and so on and so forth. The reason I'm suggesting a forum is because, I think, it's best to have all the news in one place. We can have prefixes that help people know what each thread relates to.

I'm not looking to become a news site or anything like that, but I think it makes a lot of sense and would work out well. If a thread is made in the forum that the news corresponds to, the news thread can be updated with a "Discuss this topic here" link.

 

[bobandbill]

Firstly, as long as it doesn't involve a newsbot. =p

One of my concerns is that people will probably try to discuss said news in the news forum itself, unless we closed it off for posting beyond a few people updating the news. Which might be a bit messier than the current set up of 'if there's XY info that's new someone'll make a thread about it in X/Y already, anime news in the anime section', etc.

Is there much of an advantage of having the news in one section, especially as we're not a news site? And any potential disadvantages/bad effects of that (say diminished activity in the sections related to the news)?

I'll mull it a bit more I suppose.

 

[donavannj]

It might encourage cross section activity because some news for some other part of the franchise that they aren't normally interested in may pique someone's interest, something that they may not have seen if the news stuff wasn't in its own separate forum.

 

[Sydian]

I find that someone almost always posts the new stuff immediately after it's released, so I kind of don't see the need in having a news forum, gamewise anyway. Maybe for other things like TCG (Plasma Blast next month guys!) or the anime, but then again, both the mods for those forums (they're just examples, though) are pretty keen on getting in on new topics like that. So idk. I'll have to think about this more. I like the concept, but I don't really think it's necessary.

 

[Kano Shuuya]

I find that someone almost always posts the new stuff immediately after it's released, so I kind of don't see the need in having a news forum, gamewise anyway.

That, as far as gaming news goes.

Actually, my go-to place for new Pokemon information is PC, because this place is always on top of things. If it's been stated on Serebii, or PE2K, etc, it's probably here. Usually, there are also threads related to the franchise and anime news too, so I don't know what an entire News area would accomplish, considering how fast the forums move on any normal basis.

I guess, the only downside is that you kind of have to look around for it, if you dunno what you're looking for beforehand. In that way it might be easier to check an entire area that was clearly called "News", but it's still on top of things, either way.

 

[bobandbill]

Hmm... what might be neat is if a mod could select a thread and have a separate part of the forum display information about that thread and the news. That sort of function could extend beyond news and into stuff like promoting contests/events in a section in a central part of the forum.

 

[Legobricks]

TPC does actually seem to be the majority of its members' only regularly visited Pokemon site, but I don't have a large frame of reference in saying that. I don't think the original idea would be very functional in practice unless one could get some particularly dedicated folks to maintain it (which will not, realistically, happen).

 

[moon]

I'm definitely part of that minority, if it is a minority. I do just like Patchisou does.

To test news out without making a whole forum on it immediately, put a sticky in Pokémon General, create a new usergroup called "Reporter" or something (to give these people an extra incentive for doing the job), scout out some fitting members and have them update that thread regularly with items from all possible media. Discussion of the news can then be done in the Pokémon General Daily Chit-Chat thread.

If that works well, think about creating a section under "Official Forums" where these "Reporters" could either become mods of that section, or remain non-staff with their usergroup just being the only ones except h-staff with posting access to that section. And another job of Reporters could be to look for discussion threads on particular news and link to them from news posts if they appear.

Maybe.

 

[Treecko]

I do agree that alot of members of the forum get their news from PC, but I don't see a purpose for a news forum. Most of the time news gets posted almost immediately after it's posted somewhere else such as Serebii or Bulbagarden so it's likely here almost immediately. What I think we can do is have the mods of certain sections (X and Y, Pokemon Gaming Central, Pokemon General, Pokemon Anime, Pokemon TCG )to have a sticky for news on whatever aspect of Pokemon their section covers. So for example Anna or whoever would mod Pokemon Anime atm would have a sticky for anime news, the X and Y mods already have that sticky for X and Y news, and the Pokemon TCG mod would have a sticky thread for news on the Trading Card game. Then the moderator cause posts links relating to said new such as discussions or allow users to discussion it in that thread. To me that sounds like it work better than a whole section for news cause then users could get involved with news discussion and it wouldn't crossover with other sections as much.

 

[moon]

I do agree that alot of members of the forum get their news from PC, but I don't see a purpose for a news forum. Most of the time news gets posted almost immediately after it's posted somewhere else such as Serebii or Bulbagarden so it's likely here almost immediately. What I think we can do is have the mods of certain sections (X and Y, Pokemon Gaming Central, Pokemon General, Pokemon Anime, Pokemon TCG )to have a sticky for news on whatever aspect of Pokemon their section covers. So for example Anna or whoever would mod Pokemon Anime atm would have a sticky for anime news, the X and Y mods already have that sticky for X and Y news, and the Pokemon TCG mod would have a sticky thread for news on the Trading Card game. Then the moderator cause posts links relating to said new such as discussions or allow users to discussion it in that thread. To me that sounds like it work better than a whole section for news cause then users could get involved with news discussion and it wouldn't crossover with other sections as much.

But part of what would be good with this is that you could pick up on news that maybe you didn't know you would be interested in. You could see stuff about a new anime movie without visiting the anime section, and maybe you wouldn't have heard about it at all (until much later, at least) if the news had only been seen in the respective forum.

Also, I'm not sure all mods of the specific forums would feel like adding to their job description to browse the web to search for news every day. That's why I think, if this was to be implemented in any way, there should be other users doing that. People who were actually interested in doing it, rather than forced.

 

[wolf]

Hmm... what might be neat is if a mod could select a thread and have a separate part of the forum display information about that thread and the news. That sort of function could extend beyond news and into stuff like promoting contests/events in a section in a central part of the forum.

Either that, or a type of section in each forum where moderators and other selected users can post news related to their forum content and activities. Then, there would be a main forum like Community Announcements that compiles it all in one place automatically, with prefixes that clarify which forum the news is coming from. Buuut I have no idea if this is even possible.

 

[Squirrel]

If we become well-known for keeping up with news then it could certainly attract more members, but then wouldn't we just be leeching off Serebii's thunder since all of our news will likely come from them...?

I feel like we already cover all the news there is to cover over all of the sections we have here and if we haven't covered it in one form or another then it's not worth covering, and that if we had a central news hub for these topics instead it'd take away activity from a lot of sections - what would X&Y even become here?

Perhaps something like a forum-wide [News] prefix could be of better use? Then you can browse any sections you think might have interesting news and find it easily whilst still giving the section activity when posting about it. If it's possible to have a filter option for all threads of PC rather than an individual forum (and without it murdering the server) then I think this'd work perfectly, but otherwise I don't think a whole section for this is warranted.

How often does news really come out anyway, bar when there's a new generation coming out? You have news about spinoffs (desperate for activity), anime (could use the activity), TGC (needs the activity), main-series games (half of X&Y's current activity)... this is more of a brainstorm of what'll actually be covered, but I can't see this idea working in our favour.

However, I have just thought of an alternative. (Main bit if you can't be bothered to read the rest!)

What if we had the News forum, but the threads only stayed there for a week, two weeks max, before getting moved to the forums the stories belong in? We'd either need a News moderator or a member of hstaff to keep tabs on it, but I think this is the best method to have a news center and not end up losing activity from other sections - hopefully it could even interest people about the field more so they'll want to get more involved with the section once it's moved. Realistically we don't need threads to be in the News forum for more than a couple of weeks because then they're no longer news, they're just feature/game discussions, so they'd belong in their respective forums and no one loses out on activity. (Bar the News forum, but that would be in its nature haha.)

Thoughts?

 

[bobandbill]

What if we had the News forum, but the threads only stayed there for a week, two weeks max, before getting moved to the forums the stories belong in? We'd either need a News moderator or a member of hstaff to keep tabs on it, but I think this is the best method to have a news center and not end up losing activity from other sections - hopefully it could even interest people about the field more so they'll want to get more involved with the section once it's moved. Realistically we don't need threads to be in the News forum for more than a couple of weeks because then they're no longer news, they're just feature/game discussions, so they'd belong in their respective forums and no one loses out on activity. (Bar the News forum, but that would be in its nature haha.)

Thoughts?

I think this could be neat but it has a few issues. 2 weeks can be a long time for some news (say it's just a short trailer) - chances are two weeks on a new bit of news will replace it in the interest stakes (such as with the X/Y news), and so taking our a week or two of the thread being in the section could take away a lot of activity already.

And then a lot of users (probably newer, but still) will just make a new thread in the specific section for it too if they don't see it there if they don't look for/know about the new section. It already happens without it (e.g. coro coro threads - XY has a number of duplicates of info on those reveals, and the same happened for 5th and 4th gen). I think this set up will just introduce more confusion.

 

[Pave Low]

Perhaps something like a forum-wide [News] prefix could be of better use? Then you can browse any sections you think might have interesting news and find it easily whilst still giving the section activity when posting about it. If it's possible to have a filter option for all threads of PC rather than an individual forum (and without it murdering the server) then I think this'd work perfectly, but otherwise I don't think a whole section for this is warranted.

I would see this working better than if we had a section/forum dedicated to Pokemon news solely. There is news concerning most areas of the forum at times, not only Pokemon, so I think just the prefix would do well. If this happens, I think it would be a good idea if there would be an update on the rules pages for each forum specifying what counts as "news" and such, so much so that it doesn't get spammed out because it's new, but that it also brings out more useful discussions and perhaps activity in forums.

I agree with you pretty much all the way, Ozzy.

 

[Squirrel]

I think this could be neat but it has a few issues. 2 weeks can be a long time for some news (say it's just a short trailer) - chances are two weeks on a new bit of news will replace it in the interest stakes (such as with the X/Y news), and so taking our a week or two of the thread being in the section could take away a lot of activity already.

I was more thinking it'd be down to the person in charge of the News section to see when a thread's losing interest/being over-shadowed by new news and that'd be the time to move it, but the time spans could of course be shortened. I was assuming something like a short trailer wouldn't count as news though haha. I figured small things like this would remain in things like the X&Y forum whereas the bigger bits of news (new types, new Pokémon, new games, etc) would be appropriate for the News forum.

And then a lot of users (probably newer, but still) will just make a new thread in the specific section for it too if they don't see it there if they don't look for/know about the new section. It already happens without it (e.g. coro coro threads - XY has a number of duplicates of info on those reveals, and the same happened for 5th and 4th gen). I think this set up will just introduce more confusion.

Also true. Either people make the threads and it'd be up to the mods to choose what makes it to the News forum (my favourite idea, though could be a lot of work), we could allow a thread in both sections and then merge them after, or we try to make the rules a lot clearer and treat them as any other threads posted in the wrong place.

As stated in my previous post, I'd prefer not to have the News forum in general, but I think this could be the best compromise for the people that are wanting it.

 

[Livewire]

I've seen on other forums a feature that archives old manga chapters once they're out of date. So basically, a chapter is released into the sub forum for the later chapter, then after a week, it's automatically sent to the main forum to make room for the new chapter discussions. We could use a similar system with the news - latest info goes in a sub forum, and once it's out of date we could archive it somewhere to discuss, or something. Then have the threads closed for posting so that they're just there as a resource.

Another idea would be just a singular, closed thread updated regularly with all the latest information.

 

[Jake♫]

Another idea would be just a singular, closed thread updated regularly with all the latest information.

This is pretty much what Shivi and I have been doing with the X/Y News thread. It allows us to give an overview of all the news in its own thread, but we also link to the threads where the discussion is happening. It's worked relatively well in the past (at least in my opinion), so I'm good with this.

I don't know if it's fully necessary, but maybe just have a News subforum with each subforum of PC getting it's own individual thread to update? The mod(s) of each section could just update they're own thread manually with information that's important (Akin to the X/Y thread). Of course, this is kind of harder when some stuff isn't getting much news to begin with that they'd be able to post. And only the OP would be able to edit it (Unless there were some user group that would allow them to post/edit posts).

Honestly, I don't think we need it that much. If anything, if people want news, they can just go to the appropriate subforum and find it there. It might be a little more difficult to find since they'd have to search threads, but I don't know if they would be enough going on news-wise to really warrant an entire news subforum.

 

[Treecko]

But part of what would be good with this is that you could pick up on news that maybe you didn't know you would be interested in. You could see stuff about a new anime movie without visiting the anime section, and maybe you wouldn't have heard about it at all (until much later, at least) if the news had only been seen in the respective forum.

Also, I'm not sure all mods of the specific forums would feel like adding to their job description to browse the web to search for news every day. That's why I think, if this was to be implemented in any way, there should be other users doing that. People who were actually interested in doing it, rather than forced.

Isn't that why we have special [SPOILERS] tag things in the thread titles? The mod or user who posts can add that tag before posting for users who might not want to see that news right away.

I can see where mods wouldn't want to always want to check for the latest news for their section cause that seems a bit. You could still have user do it who would have interest, but a mod could sticky it for them.

 

[Rukario]

I can easily whip out the old, dusty news bots we have sitting around. Just say where to point them...

 

[droomph]

WHELP THAT'S 5 PEOPLE THAT DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO SEREBII

and srsly news.pokecommunity.com sounds like a wonderful site name :D

I don't mind either way (though leaning towards the have!), but the thing is, if it's gonna cause more crashes then

nope