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As many probably know, i regularly post DP9 new releases. I know there's been requests to other company press-release type stuff to combine posts. What's the cutoff for this? Is it OK to do a new post if the previous post is off the first page of forums, or a month old, or???

Personally, I would be annoyed if Vendor X opened a thread for each of half-dozen mini releases coming out in a short period, but on the other hand, I think 90 page threads are just as bad as well.

Of course, it's the mod's call.

Second.

I always make a point of reading your news posts(even if I'm not playing Heavy Gear: Blitz, I still await the announcement of one day a 28mm version. ) Balance, and quite frankly you seem to be doing what is "the right way" to do it.

Your threads are (as far as I've seen) never closed, because if multiple releases come out in the same month--you update that month's thread with the necessary information.

I think Cyporiean does the opposite side of the coin in the correct manner as well, as she's got a "Brushfire mega thread" going which is great since she's always updating it with relevant information.

I frequently hit the report button when I see multiple posts from companies in short order but yours have never been a problem (regardless of my feelings about HG). You post monthly or at most every fortnight with the news about multiple items in a single thread. The problem (if you can call it that... it's more of an annoyance though) is when you get companies or their proxies/fans that post related news within hours, minutes, or a day within an existing thread. It's ok to have a single "news" thread about, for instance, bags announced in the same week but they frankly don't need to have a separate thread for each.. and then another for an event they're hosting or attending posted within 24 hours. A multitude of threads from a single company about items related either thematically or temporaly just pushes off equally valid threads from the front page (which frankly is the only thing most posters check). If I were the ant overlord of the world (and therefore dakka), I'd probably say that any news about the same company's products posted within 72 hours should be consolidated into one thread unless those individual threads detail an extremely popular or controversial topic (that is likely to generate dozens of pages on its own).

I'm not a huge fan of the 70 page combined threads but they're are somewhat appropriate/beneficial for small to midsized games so that fans can congregate/subscribe in one spot and that readers percieve a greater interest in the game that otherwise wouldn't be thought of with multiple smaller infrequent threads. The problem lies in the fact that they can get so big that eventually new readers simply don't read most of it and post the same questions over and over. Maybe some sort of middle ground could be the best of both worlds where you post and update the original thread title with the newest news and page number until it runs for a few dozen pages or a couple of months (or a season at most). When either of those two hit, you start a new one (after having the old one closed) and link the old thread in the first post of the new one.

We prefer a single ongoing thread, in order to avoid cluttering up the front page with multiple threads from the same company. Even if releases are a couple of weeks apart, the new release often winds up dredging the previous thread back up, (or the previous discussion is still going) and you still wind up with the multiple thread thing going on.

That does sort of require the thread to be maintained by whoever started it though, so the title on the first post can be edited to draw attention to updates further in.

If whoever is updating the first post moves on, then obviously we need to retire that thread and let someone start a new one. But the preference is still as much as possible to keep one company's releases to a single, ongoing thread, unless there's a good reason to split off into multiples, as has happened with Privateer... They're big enough to warrant a bit more of a focus on their different types of releases, as they're now doing the whole multiple game thing.

it's a little weird... Other forums I've been involved in have had issues with extremely long threads as they were described as more databas-intensive for some reason. That's why I was trying to go for a middle road of one thread per month or so.

But, hey, it's the mod's call.

Balance wrote:it's a little weird... Other forums I've been involved in have had issues with extremely long threads as they were described as more databas-intensive for some reason.

Probably because (IIRC) some forum software loads the entire thread at once, rather than just the page you're currently viewing.

Yeah, to clarify the whole point of restricting threads at all is simply because we never want to have a 'thread war' where companies that are posting here feel like they need to figure out ways to post more and more threads to beat another company that is posting more and more threads.

Now, we do want companies to come and post information about their new releases because that is what people want to read and talk about. The primary way that this information gets to users is through a descriptive thread title. When a user sees a topic they are interested in, then they click on the thread to find out more.

So an uber-thread that just says 'latest Brushfire news' (for example) but is 50 pages long is of no use to anyone except for those users who continually follow that thread. Anyone new coming to the forum is going to be intimidated by the thread and won't want to waste the time looking through it to find out where the new content actually starts. They might (MIGHT) check the first page, but if it only contains outdated info from many moons ago, they will usually just give up and move on.

Therefore an uber-thread with a non-descriptive title is worthless and should probably be shut down. However, an uber-thread where the person who started the thread continually updates the thread's title (and adds more content to the original post) is an entirely different story. Because here when a new user comes and sees the uber-thread, now the title says something like 'Brushfire News: new models released 6/13 (pg 20)', the new user knows that they can jump to page 20 to find out about those new releases. Even better is if the OP takes the time to continue to add the main content from throughout the thread back into the first post so that those people who aren't that internet savvy that end up on the first page can see the full collection of information.

Obviously this type of thread takes time and effort to maintain, but it is probably the best format because it keeps all the discussion for a certain topic together in one place which means it has the best chance of staying on the front page of News & Rumors which means more people will continue to spot it and read/reply.

But if this level of management is not possible, or not what you prefer, then it is perfectly fine to post a separate thread for each release (or groups of releases) with the goal being that you really shouldn't have more than one thread on the first page of the N&R forum for a single company's new releases. This is kind of a nebulous guideline because obviously an exciting topic that is still being discussed will end up staying on the first page longer than one that garners no discussion, and that's precisely why a well-managed uber-thread is preferable over this method.

So if you are looking to make separate threads for different releases then you need to make the effort to group releases that occur around the same time together into a single thread or simply wait until your previous thread is well and good done being discussed and is off the first page of the N&R forum.


Hope that helps clarify things!