Suggestion: Separate Guides and Reviews from LP section

[machomuu]

In the Video Game section of the forum there's a child forum called "Guides, Reviews, and Let's Plays". Here, people can make the aforementioned...but the problem is, guides and reviews are rarely posted, and when they are, they're quickly sent to the depths of the forum after being overtaken by the waves of Let's Plays.

As such, I propose that Guides and Reviews be moved out and the child forum become exclusively for Let's Plays. The former two just don't seem to fit and they don't have a crowd there. What's more, some of the VG section doesn't even venture into said child forum so they'll just never be seen, except maybe passively by someone looking to watch some LPs. Really, due to their sparse nature, I can see Guides and Reviews being right at home in the main Video Games forum.

 

[Sydian]

So just take out the "guides and reviews" from the name of the subforum? Makes sense to me.

 

[machomuu]

So just take out the "guides and reviews" from the name of the subforum? Makes sense to me.

Yeah, basically. I was going to propose having the "Review" and "Guide" thread tags added to the main VG forum, as well, but apparently it doesn't allow for user tags anymore.

Similarly, I was going to say that it might be a good idea to move existing reviews and guides there, but that might be too much work, I'd imagine.

 

[Sydian]

I think the existing guides and reviews are like...pretty old so there wouldn't be much reason for it. I didn't see any recent ones when I looked through earlier. You'll get better feedback when Azazel and Klippy get to this thread tbh, since they mod that area. :)

 

[Hikamaru]

I know I don't look around there a lot but guides and reviews in my opinion could get buried among all the other active topics in the main Video Games section anyway. I'd say it'd be best to leave the section as it is for now, because activity is quite dead as far as I'm aware and taking away from it could do more harm than good.

 

[machomuu]

I know I don't look around there a lot but guides and reviews in my opinion could get buried among all the other active topics in the main Video Games section anyway. I'd say it'd be best to leave the section as it is for now, because activity is quite dead as far as I'm aware and taking away from it could do more harm than good.

I don't really think that'd be an issue, though. People don't really expect reviews and guides so they don't go into the child forum looking for them, and the VG Forum crowds and the LP forum crowds are generally different people.

The problem here is that those that roam the LP go there looking for LPs, and as a result, reviews and Guides get ignored. What's more, at the rate that LPs are created and cycled, reviews and guides get crushed at a pretty unfavorable rate, and because people don't comment, they just get left behind. In the VG forum, though, people don't really go there looking for a specific thing. And, contrasting with the LP forum, the VG threads are posted less often as they're for discussion, and because of this reviews and guides stand a fighting chance since they, too, aren't posted on excess. It's a nice balance, I'd say.

 

[Klippy]

I've been of the mind to completely get rid of the entire subforum. It's not very active and I made a few attempts to rectify it (though my own efforts could be considered bare), hence why Necrum was modded there as he can give it a bit more TLC than I could these days or ever probably. I've given him free reigns of the subforum and any changes/moves he wants to make in the area (aside from things that need h-staff approval) are open for him to try. I'd love to see him get the area active, so I'll defer to his thoughts on this one.

As to the real topic, reviews and guides have no place in the main board. They're also not posted nearly enough to matter in LPGR, so I'd be cool with just dropping them completely from the section. Once again though, deferring to Necrum's thoughts as he runs the area.

 

[Necrum]

I actually think that dropping guides and reviews might improve the forum's chances of gaining activity. The inclusion of these in the title of the forum adds the implication that it's a place to post and leave, rather than a place where people can discuss. This idea has been mentioned in the past, but until now I wasn't really sure what would be best. I think based on the one review I think I've seen since taking over, that stripping reviews and guides is the best course of action. Though I can't say I think that they will have much more of a life span in the VG section. I think people just don't look to forums for guides any more. Reviews might work well there, though.

 

[machomuu]

I actually think that dropping guides and reviews might improve the forum's chances of gaining activity. The inclusion of these in the title of the forum adds the implication that it's a place to post and leave, rather than a place where people can discuss. This idea has been mentioned in the past, but until now I wasn't really sure what would be best. I think based on the one review I think I've seen since taking over, that stripping reviews and guides is the best course of action. Though I can't say I think that they will have much more of a life span in the VG section. I think people just don't look to forums for guides any more. Reviews might work well there, though.

I've been of the mind to completely get rid of the entire subforum. It's not very active and I made a few attempts to rectify it (though my own efforts could be considered bare), hence why Necrum was modded there as he can give it a bit more TLC than I could these days or ever probably. I've given him free reigns of the subforum and any changes/moves he wants to make in the area (aside from things that need h-staff approval) are open for him to try. I'd love to see him get the area active, so I'll defer to his thoughts on this one.

As to the real topic, reviews and guides have no place in the main board. They're also not posted nearly enough to matter in LPGR, so I'd be cool with just dropping them completely from the section. Once again though, deferring to Necrum's thoughts as he runs the area.

Yeah, I agree. Guides generally aren't posted often except for in the cases of specialty sites. They're rarely posted (I think last year there was only one) and they don't really do much for the section. The only real reason I see reviews being viable for the main forum is because having them available for creation without advertising that the forum is indeed where they need to go is pretty harmless, and they can breed conversation. At the same time, I can understand why they'd be stripped altogether since they're still incredibly sparse and far between. There are some quality reviews in the archives, but even they never really got that much attention.

After all...theoretically, if you guys were to get rid of the "Review" and Guide" tags and stripped them from the LP forum, due to their rarity, would there be any repercussion for someone deciding to right a review and post it in the main forum? If only because, if they weren't advertised, it would lower their chances of being acted on, and the same goes for there being no tag. In that case, there really wouldn't be any need to keep them around as a tag or an advertised part of the forum, and if one did happen to pop up...well, it's not going to flood the forum, I imagine it'd be safe for discussion's sake.

 

[Hikamaru]

I think Necrum has a good point, of all the times I've lurked in the section I've mainly seen Let's Plays and barely any guides or reviews at all, so removing the guides and reviews and making the section just called "Let's Plays" might be the best thing to do to keep activity good enough.

And as Klippy said, guides and reviews would be hard to fit in the main board since they'll likely get buried underneath other active threads plus many don't even bother to read them, which makes them pretty dead.

 

[machomuu]

Yeah. I'm not exactly sure if it came off that way, but I do think just having it be a Let's Play forum would be good for activity.

The only reason I keep making a case for them in the main forum...well, I'm not, really. Honestly, after some thought, I'm perfectly fine with them being done away with, since I feel like I'd probably be the only one on the forum who would actually care anyway (which is a pretty big statement, but that's why I know it wouldn't be much of a detriment). Though the idea that someone could post a review casually and people see it and post always seemed nice to me, if only because those that go into the LP section and those in the VG section generally aren't the same people.

...Buuuut, on that same note, looking at a given page of threads in the VG forum pretty much proves that they wouldn't be given the time of day. They wouldn't sink into the other pages nearly as quickly, but that doesn't really mean that they'll be looked at or commented on, either.

 

[Dragon]

Well, I don't really agree with removing the 'guides and reviews' aspect entirely... I had the same conversation about this with other people before and, the consensus that boiled down to was that it was worth it letting people have the option of being able to write reviews and guides rather than just removing them. Saying no one really cares is.. kind of a stretch - I myself love to write fire emblem guides along with LPs and plan to when the new game comes out, but yeah, I'd say unless the entire subboard is going to be taken out, maybe just let it be there.. for now.

 

[machomuu]

Well, I don't really agree with removing the 'guides and reviews' aspect entirely... I had the same conversation about this with other people before and, the consensus that boiled down to was that it was worth it letting people have the option of being able to write reviews and guides rather than just removing them. Saying no one really cares is.. kind of a stretch - I myself love to write fire emblem guides along with LPs and plan to when the new game comes out, but yeah, I'd say unless the entire subboard is going to be taken out, maybe just let it be there.. for now.

I was actually pretty careless in saying that, because you were certainly the driving force in pushing reviews and guides. It was only in small bursts, but when you did events people would participate, and it really was enjoyable seeing people get into that sort of creative writing in the VG forum- it didn't happen often.

And honestly, I really wish there were a way to go the opposite direction and instead increase exposure for reviews and guides, but attempts to do so in the past happened, again, in short bursts, and considering LPs in that section now are more prevalent than they ever were before on the forum, it's like watching them sadly get lost in the waves and drift into the ocean of obscurity...so to speak. And having written a number of reviews in that section, myself, it's painful seeing hard work just fall away like that, unnoticed.

 

[Klippy]

Yep. We've tried several review/guide revivals to little avail. Guides tend to be easier found on big gaming sites, reviews as well. I guess PCers aren't too keen on the opinions of others. ;) Or they tend to see what people post in the main VG board (i.e. "This game sucks"/"rocks") and that's about all they'd want to read for that.

But Necrum and I are discussing the area now and we'll see what happens! :)