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Policy clarifications on official threads, new threads for new news, & title updates

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
With a tremendous holiday gaming season approaching, we'd like to take this opportunity to clarify our intentions regarding how gaming forum official threads, the new threads for new news policy, and thread title updates will be handled by the administration. Until now we've coordinated these policies internally and used informal rules, but we feel we'll benefit from some explicit guidelines considering the volumes we'll be dealing with soon.

Official Threads

As most of you know, an |OT| should be created no earlier than seven days prior to its game's release.

Game |OT|s will now be moved to the Community forum one month after their game's release. Assuming a minimum activity level, notice will be given in the thread title with a "[Moving To Community Friday]" edit so that people know where the thread's headed. Threads that die out quickly or are rarely bumped after the one month mark may or may not be moved to Community at the administration's discretion.

A sticky thread has been created in the Community forum for the purpose of better managing the assignment of |OT| duties and to coordinate optional group efforts for |OT| production.


New Threads For New News

You've spotted something new. Is this information for a game that many people will care about? If so, then significant new information for the game should receive a new thread. In particular: announcements, interviews where significant new information is revealed or insight into the game or studio is gleaned, the first video or screenshots or gameplay footage that is released, or a significant new info dump.

In cases when there is not enough interest for the new information to justify a new thread, such as for a minor indie game with a small following where the previous news thread only received a few replies, the new information can be posted in the most closely related recent existing thread.

Uncertain? You will not be punished for creating a thread that doesn't get a great deal of replies. On the other hand, if a game is getting many new threads recently, feel free to ask the community if the new information is new thread worthy (in an existing thread) so that the Gaming Forum doesn't potentially get spammed with too many separate threads for one game.

Junior members who are unable to post new threads should, in cases when there is an existing and active related thread, post a reply there with a link to the new information and a request that someone with thread creation privileges post the new thread for it, or in cases where there is no appropriate existing and active thread, send a private message to a moderator or admin that is currently online (look for the green light here on the forum leaders page) requesting that they post a new thread for it if they deem it appropriate.

Patches and DLCs that meet notability requirements should get their own news threads in the gaming forum rather than only being dropped into the existing |OT| for the game. In the case of total conversions ("Dudebro: Zombie Invasion") or DLC expansions ("Dudebro: Exodus"), a new |OT| may be appropriate. In those cases, after one month the new |OT| may or may not be merged into the main |OT|, at the administration's discretion. Create a news thread rather than an |OT| in the case of patches, costume packs, sidequest packs, etc. Again, consider notability requirements in each case.


Thread Title Updates

Thread title updates will be performed by the administration when a related development occurs or when additional similar media is released and a thread for that information already exists. For example, when an active thread about new screeenshots gets another screenshot dump, the thread title may end up being edited.

Thread titles will not be updated when new information that meets notability requirements for a new thread is posted in an existing thread. In that case, a member should post that new information as a new thread or if necessary a moderator can perform a thread split, whichever happens first. For example, a screenshots thread will not have its thread title updated when a new interview comes out a week later.


Examples

"Pixel Wars Gaiden Overdose Announced!" (13 replies); new screenshots released one month later, can be posted in existing announcement thread.

"SKYRIM TO REMOVE ALL ATTRIBUTES AND LEVELS; WILL CONTROL WITH ONE BUTTON" (30,000 replies); new interview with Todd Howard about how much he doesn't care about PC gaming released two weeks later, absolutely post a new thread.

"New Dudebro Screenshots" (200 replies); more new screens released one week later, moderator may feel it is appropriate to update thread title with "[Update: more new screens]". If a new batch of screens is released three months later, it may be more appropriate to create a new thread since time has passed and the last thread received significant interest.

"Diablo 3 at Blizzcon" (1000 replies); thread is active and information keeps trickling in over the course of a week. Thread author and/or the administration may keep the original post updated with the new information, and the thread title may be edited periodically by the administration to reflect it. Note: if, for example, during this thread's life Blizzard makes a major announcement, such as Diablo 3 being given to everyone who buys a one year WoW pass, a separate thread for that news is justified since it goes above and beyond "people who care about Diablo 3 reading up on some new tidbits" into "significant general interest news."
 

Takao

Banned
What about "LTTP" threads? Will they be in gaming, and merged, or should they not even be made, and just lumped into an OT (assuming it exists)?
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Takao said:
What about "LTTP" threads? Will they be in gaming, and merged, or should they not even be made, and just lumped into an OT (assuming it exists)?

LTTP threads can work as before.
 
Will the moderators/administrators be combing through the existing official threads in Gaming and moving them to Community, or is that something the members should inform the mods/admins about?
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Adam Blade said:
Will the moderators/administrators be combing through the existing official threads in Gaming and moving them to Community, or is that something the members should inform the mods/admins about?

Old |OT|s hanging around on page 1 of the gaming forum will be moved over without ceremony when noticed by the administration. We don't really need to have a formal campaign of moving every single one over.
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Is it possible to extend the thread cut-off in Community beyond 1 month to facilitate OT browsing (for GAFers that are unaware of the option), or is that only a global forum setting?
 

Giolon

Member
Can you speak any more to the decision to move |OT|s to the Community forum? Is it just the high traffic that can keep some bumped to the top page? Is it to make the main forum more about news?

I may have an entirely mistaken impression, but it seemed like the Community forum was previously only for facilitating online gaming tournaments and meet ups.

Edit: Where do threads like the Hi-Res PC Screenshots thread fit in? Same as before? They're kind of like a high-traffic |OT|.
 

usea

Member
It's nice to see policy spelled out exactly to clear up any confusion. Thanks. Although personally I find the thread title changes a bit confusing; often I get confused what a thread is even about with witty messages in the title and such. However, I'm sure that I'm not exactly the main demographic here as my time spent here isn't very high.

The dilemma seems to stem from the needs of the news-oriented folks who want to see new things in the thread list vs the needs of the more long-term discussion folks who want to see ongoing discussion threads in the list (and don't mind seeing the same ones over and over). Eventually there won't be room for both? I suspect that in the future as traffic and releases both increase in volume, the OT-moving stopgap may not be enough to keep a single subforum sane and effective.

Giolon said:
Can you speak any more to the decision to move |OT|s to the Community forum? Is it just the high traffic that can keep some bumped to the top page? Is it to make the main forum more about news?

I may have an entirely mistaken impression, but it seemed like the Community forum was previously only for facilitating online gaming tournaments and meet ups.
Not to answer in place of Evilore or anything, but my own assumption:
After a while, the |OT| for a game (and really, most threads in general) becomes a handful of people holding an ongoing conversation, rather than new people venturing in and sharing their thoughts. If all of those threads are kept in the gaming forum, it becomes difficult to spot new threads with the same OTs occupying increasingly precious space every day. Previously, the threads that were the worst offenders were online-focused threads where people continued to play a game for a long time after release. So the community subforum was named community and those kinds of threads went there to alleviate the issue.

However, with increasing volume the issue is sort of extending to even recent, singleplayer games.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Giolon said:
Can you speak any more to the decision to move |OT|s to the Community forum? Is it just the high traffic that can keep some bumped to the top page? Is it to make the main forum more about news?

I may have an entirely mistaken impression, but it seemed like the Community forum was previously only for facilitating online gaming tournaments and meet ups.

Edit: Where do threads like the Hi-Res PC Screenshots thread fit in? Same as before? They're kind of like a high-traffic |OT|.

The community forum has since been repurposed.

It's all to keep the gaming forum flowing as it should, to be able to read it at any given moment and get something out of it. Megathreads generally work counter to this, but they're a necessary evil when it comes to our game official threads. However, once people get their initial discussion over with and it is relegated to a small hardcore following of people who stick with the game long-term, the official thread can stay on page 1 indefinitely with just a niche segment caring about what is going on in it, and that is not healthy for the gaming forum.

Thus, the Community Forum is essentially the destination for all the subcommunities that form on NeoGAF, whether they be around a particular game or around a particular area of interest (see: PonyGAF et al). You subscribe to the thread, and then can continue checking it as normal without the Gaming Forum or Off-Topic forum being clogged up with subcommunity discussions, and without needing to remember to click on the Community Forum (since no one will remember to). Use subscriptions and you'll get the best of both worlds, megathread subcommunities for your NeoGAF buddies, and fast-paced up-to-the-minute general interest discussions on Gaming and Off-Topic.
 

Aeana

Member
Lyphen said:
Is it possible to extend the thread cut-off in Community beyond 1 month to facilitate OT browsing (for GAFers that are unaware of the option), or is that only a global forum setting?
I'm curious about this as well. Has anything been done about the visibility duration in the community forum?

EDIT: After talking with duckroll, it seems that mods can see every thread in that forum.

For normal users, the oldest thread we can see is only one month old. Everything else is invisible. The thread index for the community forum is only 2 pages long.
 

Narag

Member
There's an option for cutoff for that defaults to something low. I just turned it to every thread and see some from 2004 in there now.

User CP => Edit Options => Default Thread Age Cut Off => Show All Threads among various options.
 

Aeana

Member
Narag said:
There's an option for cutoff for that defaults to something low. I just turned it to every thread and see some from 2004 in there now.

User CP => Edit Options => Default Thread Age Cut Off => Show All Threads among various options.
Oh, I had no idea it was user-configurable. I hope the default can be changed though.
 

Seda

Member
I generally like these ideas. Hopefully the Community thread, with these new changes, starts to get a bit more attention. Sometimes I (and others) like to bump old OTs with questions about the game (small questions not deserving of another thread) and I'm wondering if anyone will even see them in Community.

Also a general irk, I wish the mega-news-threads that do exist (they're inevitable) would keep their OPs updated. Some people do a good job at this, but sometimes the title is updated but the OP is not, and I still have to search for info.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Where would threads like Steam announcements, High Res PC Screenshots, Canadian Gaming Deals and the like fit under these guidelines?
 

Aeana

Member
Seda said:
I generally like these ideas. Hopefully the Community thread, with these new changes, starts to get a bit more attention. Sometimes I (and others) like to bump old OTs with questions about the game (small questions not deserving of another thread) and I'm wondering if anyone will even see them in Community.

Also a general irk, I wish the mega-news-threads that do exist (they're inevitable) would keep their OPs updated. Some people do a good job at this, but sometimes the title is updated but the OP is not, and I still have to search for info.
Agreed. Also I don't like seeing [Update: new info in post #4324], and the OP remains unupdated. That's silly.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
TheExodu5 said:
Where would threads like Steam announcements, High Res PC Screenshots, Canadian Gaming Deals and the like fit under these guidelines?

Everything not discussed in the OP remains unchanged. Though in the case of the Steam Announcements & Updates thread, it is under observation and might end up being split into a steam gaming discussion thread + a thread just for steam release announcements, we'll see.
 

Seda

Member
Aeana said:
Agreed. Also I don't like seeing [Update: new info in post #4324], and the OP remains unupdated. That's silly.

The worst is when the title doesn't even point to a post. Something like [Update: New Stuff!], and I have to find the post with the new stuff.
 
Seda said:
The worst is when the title doesn't even point to a post. Something like [Update: New Stuff!], and I have to find the post with the new stuff.

Yeah, I agree. I don't even bother looking for the new stuff if it's not in the OP, especially if I haven't been following the thread.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
As small as it sounds, I wonder what the impact of removing the segregation of Community from the OT and Gaming on the main page would be. Its purely visual, but I wonder if it contributes to Community feeling like a nether zone.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Clarification: OTs are moved one month from the original release date, or one month from the last release date?

I'm specifically thinking of the cases where a game is released later on one platform than another (example: Arkham City) or a few weeks later in one region than another.

Will the Arkham City thread move to the OT 1 month from its console release date or from its PC release date? in cases where the game would come out on another platform (or another region) more than a month or two after the original platform or region, is it expected that new discussion should move to the OT in community or should there be a new thread when Xenoblade is released in the states as Monado.
I know it's not happening, humor me.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Htown said:
Clarification: OTs are moved one month from the original release date, or one month from the last release date?

I'm specifically thinking of the cases where a game is released later on one platform than another (example: Arkham City) or a few weeks later in one region than another.

Will the Arkham City thread move to the OT 1 month from its console release date or from its PC release date? in cases where the game would come out on another platform (or another region) more than a month or two after the original platform or region, is it expected that new discussion should move to the OT in community or should there be a new thread when Xenoblade is released in the states as Monado.
I know it's not happening, humor me.

Case by case basis probably. When release dates are a few days apart it's not really relevant. For something like Xenoblade we would likely have a new |OT| over in gaming.
 

Clipper

Member
What would be the case for the non-specific-game related official threads, such as the Club Nintendo thread?

We seem to already follow the retitling idea, using it for deadlines and minor announcements, like the current one about ambassador games, and creating short-term extra threads like the Zelda Soundtrack one when there's a major announcement. However, would slow and steady, topic-specific threads like it be moved too?

I've actually been considering making a new OT to replace the current thread, consolidating the more recent information into a better OP (the original poster has moved on, it seems), but I probably wouldn't want to do it if it meant the thread would be moved later on (especially as the post count would be slow at first, unless I timed the transition to one of the events).
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
What about OT2s and so on?

Should the OT2 be created in gaming or straight to community? Not sure of current rules on this.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
enzo_gt said:
What about OT2s and so on?

Should the OT2 be created in gaming or straight to community? Not sure of current rules on this.

OT2s are just to address the database performance limitations of large threads. No impact on the policies outlined above, same rules apply whether they are split due to size constraints or not.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
EviLore said:
OT2s are just to address the database performance limitations of large threads. No impact on the policies outlined above, same rules apply whether they are split due to size constraints or not.
So... When a thread hits 20k remake the OT2 in Community then?

EDIT: assuming it's been sent to community already, is what I'm asking.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
enzo_gt said:
So... When a thread hits 20k remake the OT2 in Community then?

EDIT: assuming it's been sent to community already, is what I'm asking.

Yes. If it's still in Gaming and hasn't hit a month yet, OT2 is in gaming until it hits the time limit. If it's already in Community, the next one is in Community.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Rad, this all makes a lot of sense. Thanks for laying it out so clearly.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I suppose I'll have to start paying attention to the Community forum, then. :p
 

confused

Banned
What about Sports communities on GAF ?

And please send the Steam thread to community instead of trying to change what we have built up. thank you please :)

Then you could have a weekly Steam update topic on the gaming side which has the weekly sales and releases in the OP just like the PSN thread.
 

Datschge

Member
Gravijah said:
which is a good thing, imo.
I'm torn. I always liked it that I essentially only needed to check one straight list to keep myself up-to-date. In the future I may well need to do that with two lists, which is twice the amount... (I guess I'll repurpose my subscriptions list for that.)
 

Momo

Banned
Can I start an EviLore fanclub in community?

Honestly I really don't like this for a few reasons
- I can't link my non GAF friends to posts in community
- The community forums are a bit of a wasteland and it seems like too much effort to try and change peoples posting habits for what is a tiny gain of not having to scroll past an OT
- I dislike the idea of segregating the community we have here

Eh, but let's hope for the best
 

Corran Horn

May the Schwartz be with you
More people joining the starcraft forum....erm community forum? cool :)



Momo said:
- I can't link my non GAF friends to posts in community
Didnt they change this? I can log out and see community threads.
 

Momo

Banned
Corran Horn said:
Didnt they change this? I can log out and see community threads.
They did? I'm never logged out so idk. Too scared to log out as I forget passwords easy D: If so one complaint less from me!
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Momo said:
They did? I'm never logged out so idk. Too scared to log out as I forget passwords easy D: If so one complaint less from me!

Yeah, Community has been open since it was converted from the Online forum. In terms of traffic, that was my major concern too, but if all OT's are going over there, it'll be a different matter.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Community isn't intended as a place where you go there and read through page 1 and see what's interesting, rather it's the place where established subcommunities can continue to thrive without making Gaming and Off-Topic non-functional for their own purposes. You get hardcore into Dark Souls and you're still doing the covenants six months in, you still chat with the other people there in the official thread since you subscribed to it and you go there from your subscriptions page, but for the people refreshing page 1 of Gaming that is complete dead weight and yet a constant presence to deal with since the small core group of vets keeps it on page 1 with their back and forths.

Same for games like Battlefield; you'll shoot the shit with your playgroup when you want to, with easy access via your subscriptions page, not visiting just because it's showing up on page 1 of the general thread list. That wouldn't be the case for some general news or discussion item that shows up on page 1 of gaming, where tons of people will click just because it's new or vaguely aligns with their interests.

You're either going to be a "member" of one of these subcommunities or you aren't, by the time these threads move to Community.
 

Jintor

Member
Laughing Banana said:
I imagine this will discourage people from making OTs for niche/small games.

Why would it? They get their 30 days of fame in the primary forum, same as everyone else. It might discourage discovery of those OT threads, but we still get a fair amount of recommendation/nostalgia/LTTP threads all the time.
 
Wouldn't this sort of punish any lurkers who are waiting to join? Sort of seeing their favorite game thread moved to the community section might make them look to other places?
 

Wallach

Member
Can we clarify a bit how expansions and DLC is supposed to work as far as OTs go? Should they have their own OTs like we've been doing? I feel like only DLC/expansions that are standalone and don't require a base game to play should have their own OT.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
SuicidalSteve said:
Wouldn't this sort of punish any lurkers who are waiting to join? Sort of seeing their favorite game thread moved to the community section might make them look to other places?

??
 

STG

Member
SuicidalSteve said:
Wouldn't this sort of punish any lurkers who are waiting to join? Sort of seeing their favorite game thread moved to the community section might make them look to other places?
I am pretty sure the community forum is open up for everyone to look at
 

Gowans

Member
After this thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=449670 yesterday this just what we were looking for.

Great job Evillore! Its great having some rules made really clear now.



The main thing for me is that the OTs/mega threads can really lead work against information getting out there. They are so big now they seen to become a one stop shop for all things related to that game and make it a nightmare to find info if people are posting there instead on in new threads where it will be exposed.

I get a little cautious around OTs while I'm playing a lot of the time to for spoilers, but it's really good this has been laid out and new threads are being encouraged. If its a bad new thread it's just gona drop away and the good ones will rise up.

Hopefully this will lead to all the information being available easily again on GAF and us finding out about it here instead of in other sources.
 
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