Some Changes

[TheZebraShakes™]

We have been discussing possible changes to the site. Nothing minor, just little things which will help to decrease the clutter and improve accessability.

First off, I moved this Community board to the top since it seemed to be getting lost amidst all of the other General boards.

Some other changes discussed

-Getting rid of the Out of Game discussion board and just adding an out of game discussion thread or board to each individual game.

-Getting rid of or overhauling the Getting Started board. I moved some of the info, but most of it was out of date and could benefit from being updated or just removed altogether.
An idea was just to create a Getting Started thread with just some necessary info like the helpful links and maybe some game info like point buy and character sheet formatting. Maybe some dos and don'ts of play by post.

This is what TheUdjat and I have thought of so far, but rather than do it all on our own and leave everyone out of the loop, I'm curious to hear any ideas, concerns, or critiques of the site's current construction.

All imput will be helpful.

Maybe some of the newcomers can chime in, offer up some thoughts based on their initial interactions with the site.

So post anything here which you think could help in making KMan's a more user-friendly environment. 1.9.0.8

[Rojito]

Nothing Minor? You mean Major? lol.

I like the removal of the OoG board, per game is more sensible.

Updateing the Getting Started thread wouldn't be bad, but i didn't notice that it really needed anythign when first came here and made my first (ever) character...

I also think finding some way to make the homepage a little more friendly than just expandable boards would be kewl, if it is possible... like maybe pictures or something for some eye candy...

[TheZebraShakes™]

I don't think that the Getting Started board was even around when you first got here, so that's probably why you didn't notice anything wrong.
I think it was all in the Out of Game board before.

I'm not really sure how pictures would help decrease the clutter, or how they could be incorporated, but I'm willing to listen if there are any solid ideas on such a thing.

[Rojito]

Well whatever it was called at the time i do remember looking through the help things for Character Creation, and for the longest time i refered back to the point-buy chart whenever i made a character

[TheZebraShakes™]

Yeah, I mentioned that above. Not really keeping the board per se, just keeping the helpful items like point buy.

I'm just curious to know what would actually "help" people and what would end up being a waste of space and only creating needless clutter and confusion.

What sort of information would people like to see?
What information would get read and used?

[VemuKhaham]

If you're going to remove the OOG board (which is a good thing), then don't put an extra OOG board in every game to replace it, but simply change each Maps&Handouts section into something more general such as: Maps, Handouts and General Information, or somesuch. I think in many games the Maps&Handouts boards are a bit empty anyway, so they could use an extra function. It's how I use it in my game: in fact, one thread for any OOG discussion in each M&H board could cover this.

As for the getting started board, keep it, but it could indeed use some updating, though I don't think a total remake is necessary. Much of the old stuff still goes.

You can remove the Maps&Handouts thread though. I think the growth in variety on these boards has made this obsolete. Each DM has his own ways of handling maps etc and will inform players.

As for the character creation thread, keep it, but change it to reflect, when necessary, that each DM has his or her own way of handling things.

And perhaps add a general thread that says welcome, you can go here and there to introduce yourself, this is how the forum works, these are the people you can ask questions to, etc.

And finally: I remember that when I first got here, I received a very simple but inviting PM, giving a general idea of what was going on at that moment on the boards and what I could do, what games were open to me and such. If that tradition has ceased, then revive it. It works greatly I think with people who register, look around, then dissapear after being overwhelmed or losing interest.

As for images, I've designed a proboards forum once, I know pictures can be nice but also hell. You could try replacing the black background with a nice picture/pattern, but that could get very crowded very quickly. I don't recall any other ways of putting in images at places, you'd need another kind of site for that, I guess.

[Badasterysk]

I would say the point-buy scale most definitely as well as the character wealth/level chart. Also, everything listed here here should be pretty helpful.

I know you’re going for less clutter, but maybe offer a separate section for GMs could be helpful (including things like how to import maps and/or create links- I learned to do these basically through trial and error, though some may be turned away by such a tedious, time consuming prospect). Included here could be suggestions for character sheet formatting as well.

The Campaign status board could use some house cleaning too. It is difficult to tell if a game is open or not. Perhaps a listing (and link) to games as well as their status (closed, full/ open, recruiting, ect.) so that newcomers can readily see what’s available (or not).

I agree that Out of Game Discussions could (should?) be found on a thread within the individual game. Out of town issues could also be handled the same, it would just mean posting notices for each game being played (in the respective Out of Game Discussions threads).

My two cents. (Note: I was writing/posting this while Vemu was doing the same. Sorry if I’m restating anything he offered.)

[Rojito]

See i was thinkin an image for each game, instead of some background image. Just a little something extra for the games. The frontpage is so boring... but hey i am just crazy lol

[Japic]

A couple of thoughts.

One, the plain background (and colors chosen) were intended to soothe the eyes and not having a graphics heavy site helps with the loading time; so please consider these when looking at changes.

The OOC boards would probably not be missed. Though it does help the flow of games to not have menial OOC threads and conversations mixed in with the game posts. These issues could just as easily be intermingled with the Community thread, the title calling attention to the game/group in question.

For sake of calling attention to the getting started thread, may I suggest changing the text colors from the usual scheme to something eye catching as compared to the rest.

Another good way to keep folks in the loop about new things is to change up the news fader at the top of the categories. We often leave it be for months at a time, but if someone were so inclined thse messages could change weekly to include information about open games, important topics or anything else worthy of note.

Thats my two bits.

[TheZebraShakes™]

I wouldn't change the color scheme. It is easy on the eyes and that's really the main reason that I initially stuck around when you take into consideration the amount of things we have to read here.

I think the games being of diferent colors is a good way to distinguish them. Pictures wouldn't really add much and Japic's right, it would slow us down (not that the site really allows for them in the first place.)

And I was thinking about the news fader, maybe putting up some of the links to games that are accepting players, or once the How to get Started board is touched up draw more attention there.

It's gonna take a little time with everyone's schedules, but we'll be working on it little by little until it gets done and needs to be changed again.

[TheUdjat]

Add me to the chorus of 'plain black background, no crazy images'. That's definitely one of our strengths--let's play to it.

As far as the Out of Game board... I've been looking at those posts, and most of them look like they could easily be jettisoned off to a specific game's Maps & Handouts board or stuck on the Community board, depending on subject. Not all of them are even 'Out of Game Discussions' as such. But you already knew I was for eliminating it, Shakes.

I wouldn't want to add a whole new board for each game to do Out of Game stuff. I feel that's a function for Maps and Handouts, which as has been mentioned, could stand to be used more. Some GMs are already using these boards for out of game discussions (I'm think of Shakes and Vemu mainly). It might be worth expanding on the description of these boards, though, as 'Maps and Handouts' doesn't really seem to cover it.

Keeping the News Header is also a good idea. Links to new games opening, maybe the Highlights/News thing if we get that rolling again, and of course an updated 'Read This First' sort of thread. I haven't poked around that end of the boards much (perhaps ever), so I don't know whether the content is suitable or not, though I do know I've perused the wealth chart a time or two.

I like the Out of Town board where it is, though. Let's not screw with that. Though maybe one of us Moderators should go back to tending the calendar so outings can be easily tracked, unless that seems like too much work for too little reward. Anyway, better to have that kind of thing at the top of the boards than making people make repetitive postings in each board they're in, in my opinion, potentially cluttering handouts/out of game info and such.

I think that's all I've got for now. Baby steps.

[VemuKhaham]

So no welcome pm's? Let me annoyingly reiterate the idea.

I think it is a good idea and will require very little work for potentially very good pay-off. In fact, Udjat wrote such an overview for Tork in the other thread, giving an overview of what can be done. Edit it a bit and your done. As this has to be updated only rarely, it could just be a standard pm. Just send it to every new registered player, et voila!

[TheUdjat]

Apr 16, 2009 8:55:51 GMT -5 VemuKhaham said:

So no welcome pm's? Let me annoyingly reiterate the idea.

I think it is a good idea and will require very little work for potentially very good pay-off. In fact, Udjat wrote such an overview for Tork in the other thread, giving an overview of what can be done. Edit it a bit and your done. As this has to be updated only rarely, it could just be a standard pm. Just send it to every new registered player, et voila!

Sorry, forgot about this suggestion. I do like it, but are we sending these to newcomers after they make an initial post, or after they're approved? I seem to recall their being a screening process for new people. Would the 'KMan' login be able to catch these, and thus know who our new members are?

Welcoming PMs are a good idea, and you're right, fairly little effort if one comes up with a standardized approach.

EDIT: I also meant to address Bad*'s idea of a GM's board. This has merit. I'm not sure if this could be something another board like 'How to Get Started' takes care of (i.e. 'how to get started running a game' or something), or whether this is actually some desire for a DMs-only board, where people running games can converse about different ways to address game situations, mechanics, dilemmas, etc., as something regular posters can't view. Not sure if that's a direction we want to go or not, though I can see a desire to keep internal workings of a game hidden from players in that game.

Thoughts?

[Badasterysk]

I agree, rolling 'Out of Game' posting into the 'Maps and Handouts' section for the individual game is probably easiest and most feasible. I, too, like the idea of a welcome pm. Perhaps we could draw more lurkers into active posting through such means.

As for a GM board, I like the idea of a GM-only area for the purposes Udjat suggested. However, as this is a small community and we generally play in the games others are running (and vice-versa), there could be some issue (GMs not wanting to give out too much information, give away plots, etc.- as Udjat noted).

I was thinking of a GM area more for assistance in troubleshooting technical aspects as well as offering best practices (or at least what’s worked well- or not- for others in the past) for GMing PbP games. This could go in the ‘Getting Started’ board, with perhaps a GM-only sub-board within.

[Japic]

bad* said my part about the GM board; we have too many GMs to too few players, making such a board accessible by the majority.

Lets look at one example, BOYD. If Udjat decided to ask for tips or assistance for plots in the GM board Myself, Vemu, Shakes and Fangor would all have access to these posts. Thats four player/DMs in one game.

General tips for running games are certainly useful, but could be located in the getting started board.

A welcome PM would be good; but only if there's an easy way to keep track of newbies. In my experience more than half of our "members" are people who have zero posts. Whether they decide that they don't know where to start, or that this is not the kind of site they want to be involved in, is a distinction I cannot make.

Thats it for now. Keep up teh good work guys and gals.

[TheZebraShakes™]

The "Out of Game Discussion" Board is now the Game Rules and Mechanics Q&A. A place where you can go to get community help and advice on rules and other features of D&D and the other RP systems that we use here. You can get help on character creation, spells, feats, etc. . .

It's a good place for new players to learn the ropes and seek out some useful suggestions and aid.

You can also use the board to ask about the various features of the site and implementing HTML tags into your DM and player posts for now, but hopefully we can rearrange the Getting Started board so that site issues can be handled there.

Any feedback is appreciated.

[TheZebraShakes™]

Also, disregard the most recent post feature beside the individual boards which may link you to posts from years ago. Those are just turning up as a result of various threads and boards being moved around.