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Hi!
Lately there seems to be increasing trend in creating a topic about a battle reports without any battle reports in it. Just, "I will write it some time in the future". I am honestly beginning to be kinda irritated by this and wonder if somebody feels the same way or am I the only one..? It may be the lack of sleep and really crappy weather here but the question still stands.
This is really strange to me. It's like starting a topic in YMDC about a question I want to ask, but I won't do it now.

Why do you Dakkanauts do it, honestly? Is it the poll? Gathering attention? Why start battle report thread without battle report?

I know this is not a battle report either, but I wanted opinion from people who actually read this part of forum. If it's still not good enough please move this to general discussion.

It depends, some reports ( such as Jy2) are so good that it would take alot of time to put it up. Doing it little be little is easier for the poster, and it does build the suspense for the reader.

In addition to it being easier for the poster, it allows more time for each individual part thus earning a better battle rep.

Attention whoring.

DarknessEternal wrote:Attention whoring.

Like posting two-word, flame-bait posts? Congratulation; you've got my attention.

Thread is moving to Discussions, as it's not even the promise of a battle report.

I can see how it may be somewhat annoying, but like mentioned, some people put a lot of work into making the reports so it's easier for them to post a little bit at a time. Plus yes, since they put so much time into it, maybe they would like to gather some attention while they work on it instead of posting it straight up and having it flop to page 5 with little to no responses. The attention can provide motivation to make it, make it good, and continue to make it better.

Some people like the suspense of it too, I'm sure. I don't.

I actually like it when they do a good pre game write up with each army, their projections and the option to vote. Of course if it takes too long for the update it gets annoying.

Battle report should be only that. Pre-game details, or polls, should be in 40k discussion.

It is just annoying to open a post up, see nothing, and then kinda have to figure out when it is finally done. Just like the showcase forum, it should only contain actual BR.

gorium wrote:Battle report should be only that. Pre-game details, or polls, should be in 40k discussion.

It is just annoying to open a post up, see nothing, and then kinda have to figure out when it is finally done. Just like the showcase forum, it should only contain actual BR.

Yea it is getting to be really annoying to see the pregame details. I want to see a battle report and nothing else.

Macok wrote:Hi!
Lately there seems to be increasing trend in creating a topic about a battle reports without any battle reports in it. Just, "I will write it some time in the future". I am honestly beginning to be kinda irritated by this and wonder if somebody feels the same way or am I the only one..? It may be the lack of sleep and really crappy weather here but the question still stands.
This is really strange to me. It's like starting a topic in YMDC about a question I want to ask, but I won't do it now.

Why do you Dakkanauts do it, honestly? Is it the poll? Gathering attention? Why start battle report thread without battle report?

I know this is not a battle report either, but I wanted opinion from people who actually read this part of forum. If it's still not good enough please move this to general discussion.

Adam LongWalker wrote:

gorium wrote:Battle report should be only that. Pre-game details, or polls, should be in 40k discussion.

It is just annoying to open a post up, see nothing, and then kinda have to figure out when it is finally done. Just like the showcase forum, it should only contain actual BR.

Yea it is getting to be really annoying to see the pregame details. I want to see a battle report and nothing else.

Agreed. I hate the pre-game "build-up". Just post the battle report. If you want pre-game analysis, that's fine - post it before the actual report. If you're trying to achieve some sort of "build up" to the report, you're turning the people that want to read the actual report off because you've sort of "tricked them" into coming into the post and reading down to. . .nothing. I have now started scrolling down to make sure the report is there before I start reading.

I scroll through every one of jy2's reports before I start reading.

jacetms87 wrote:and it does build the suspense for the reader.

This is entirely untrue. If I open up a battle report or a painting thread and they say "X will go up when I take pictures/finish!" then I back out of the thread and will probably never click on it again. A good thread is all about first impressions. This is hardly new, and is not restricted to battle reports unfortunately.

And while we're on the subject, I don't care for Vassal Batreps either.

TBH, it's stupid. Just post your damned BatRep and be done with it!

Brother SRM wrote:

jacetms87 wrote:and it does build the suspense for the reader.

This is entirely untrue. If I open up a battle report or a painting thread and they say "X will go up when I take pictures/finish!" then I back out of the thread and will probably never click on it again. A good thread is all about first impressions. This is hardly new, and is not restricted to battle reports unfortunately.

Agreed. I'd say the majority of what is being built is anger and annoyance. No one is going to call up a bookie and place a bet on the outcome of your "teaser" battle report or even give it a second thought until they see it again when they swing by the subforum. Do everyone a favor and just post the entire thing. That being said, I don't have a problem with someone actively working on a battlereport and putting it up in parts as they write it to avoid a browser crash and losing everything (that happened to me). Some browsers save what you type in a field but IE doesn't so be mindful of that.

I actually like Jy2's style, it allows me to see what he was thinking when he saw his opponents list and army and the board. I always make sure to check back after 2 or 3 days to see if anything's happened with updates and it gives me something to look forward to reading.

Iranna.

While I'm not a fan of the "battle report to come" style of posting, I'm even more annoyed at the "here's a link to my batrep" posts. Whether on Youtube or an offsite blog, they're annoying, and don't make me interested in looking offsite.

For those who post battle reports in stages, unless it's a really good battle report or there's a good tactical conversation going on, most people are only going to read your thread once. If it's "battle report to follow" then don't expect a lot of comments.

What annoys me even more than the "this might become a battle report later this week" threads are the "here's a link to a battle report on a blog that you can't view at work" threads.

I find it's best not to look at a rep until they at least have 4 or 5 comments each, that way you know you're at least looking at something that is worth discussing.

I'd be curious to look through the histories of some of the people posting so strongly about their preferences in this thread, and see how many battle reports they have posted.

Personally, I like any battle report that is well-written. Everything after that is gravy; these things can take more time to generate than the game took to play, and if someone is taking the time to share their experiences, I'm not going to complain about the manner in which they eventually get the information online. (Admittedly, I don't watch YouTube reports, as those are incompatible with my usual Dakka browsing habits.)