forum design proposal's and discussion's

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

Well ,we finaly got our sub forum's (thank you TF ) ,and i already started with moving a number of thread's to their respected forum's.To give a bit of explenation ,this is where the subforum's are for:

gouverment:
obviously ,this forum is where the leader's post their thread's related to their function ,and post their decission's.By default this forum is for leader's only and no citizin's should post in it ,although i fear that this rule won't stand long.Anyway ,i will not allow for normal citizin's to open new thread in that forum ,so they would be closed at the spot.
This forum is also used for cabinet vote's and discussion's among leader's.

Citizin's:
Again ,obviously this is the forum where the citizin's will hold their discussion's ,where citizin poll's will be held ,etc...

General information:
this is the forum where we will concentrate all the information one can need.This is the forum where we will keep foir ex the turn chat thread ,the constitution and game rule's ,screenshot's and information about our nation ,etc.


Now we are only just starting with using sub forum's ,so in the beginning thing's may be a bit complicated and such.

If you have any question's ,comment's or proposition's please post them here.
The more feedback i get the better i can work trough this transition.

 

[eyrei]

It's good to have you back, Duck. Hope everything is well. To be honest, the new format confused the hell out of me. I'll get used to it though, and I think it will lend more organization to the demo game. The government forum should be very useful in this respect, particularly to the president before the turn chat.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

It has added more order to the threads, at least. No need to scroll down thru so many stickies.

 

[disorganizer]

now we should start to organize the forums...
do we really like it as it is?

from the chat-session today, i bring one proposal for the usage:

demogame-forum:
important information (sticky): this will be for example the newspaper, link to constitution, explanation of the game, registry, etc.
polls: sticky=active, unsticky=inactive


sub-forum general-info (to be renamed, for example "turns"):
1 thread for each turn with the savegame, the chatlog and the map(s) as posts in it.

sub-forum government and citizens:
as they are now...


and one point:
we wont get more than 3 sub-forums. so we have to live with it!

NOW START THE DISCUSSION IN HERE! or be quite forever ;-)

 

[Cyc]

I still think we should separate one of the subforums out as a "next turn" sub-forum. As the game progresses, our constant searching for posts that contain that vital piece of info will become progressively longer and harder to accomplish. I realize its asking alot to use one subforum just for this, but the President really does need his Administrative Assistant, and a sub-forum can't be bought or tricked. By having just the Leaders and Governors post their requests and demands before hand, everyone will be able to find them easily. If they are not posted in the AA sub-forum...they don't exist. Presidents prerogative on any issue that's not posted. No more wasting countless minutes trying to find a lost thread or remembering what was said or what the ruling on the poll was. At least this will help.

 

[disorganizer]

we could add this to the "turns" thread of my proposal. so there will be all turn-related info (logs, saves, maps) of the old turns and your info, for the upcoming turn and archived in there.

 

[Cyc]

I think that's a great idea. The general info forum is rarely used....

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

Yes the general info sub is rarely used.The thing i am worried about with making a "turn" sub is that a lot of decission's will be made in the other sub's anyway ,in seperate thread's or in gouvermental thread's.We mod's could move all those decission's that are made in seperate to the turn sub (wich would be unpracticle though ,both for us and for te citizin's) ,but we can't move decission's that are made in gouverment thread's. (and these thread's belong in the gouverment forum)

 

[Cyc]

Exactly Duck. That would be asking for way too much work from you and Duke. You would have to be constantly moving threads. That's why its the responsibilty of the Leaders to post.

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

Exactly Duck. That would be asking for way too much work from you and Duke. You would have to be constantly moving threads. That's why its the responsibilty of the Leaders to post.

Yep ,but then again that's what the Goverment forum is actually for.The instruction's that the president needs are ment to be posted there.

 

[Cyc]

That's my point Duck. Why isn't it being done? Why does the Prez (or whoever) have to search the first half hour of each chat to find the info. This concept you have for the Govt. forum works fine for the Govt. stuff, but "next turn" stuff is always lost. That's what needs to be addressed. Keep the Govt. forum as is. Set up a new "next turn" system.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Maybe it's a matter of preparation, or everyone just getting use to the layout of the threads.

If the layout of the threads that are within the forums, needs to be changed, we can do that. Maybe where people post stuff is just not the 'best' forum.

This may also touch on the what the duties of the VP should be. Instead of simply being a 'back-up' in case the president doesn't make it to a chat, they should be the one who organizes all the turn info for the next chat.

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

This may also touch on the what the duties of the VP should be. Instead of simply being a 'back-up' in case the president doesn't make it to a chat, they should be the one who organizes all the turn info for the next chat.

There we go ,that's what we need.Nice proposition Duke.
And now i thought of this ,to organize it smoothly i would propose the following system.

One thread named "Turn Decission's".The vice president open's it ,and gather's all info from the vote's in it for every turn.Then ,the other official's post a summery of their decission's in that thread for every turn.That way we can keep the Department thread's for in goverment discussion's.
The vice president always posts the first reply of every turn ,and the other official's come next in a random order.The vice will give the turn nuber (in large sized font) and information at front of his reply every turn ,so that the president can easely find wich posts are for wich turn.(that is ,all the reply's under the vice's reply)
The president will post a reply on the end of the turn with the ending date (in large sized font) ,the thing's that have happend and decissions been made in the turn ,the save game will be uploaded on that reply also.

And that thread will come under the main forum ,so will all the thread's from the information forum be moved to the main forum ,as the information forum will be banned unless a good alternative can be found for it.

Any comment's ,question's ,proposition's ,please post ,feedback needed.

Sincerely ,youre overlord.

 

[Cyc]

Let me start off by saying thank you to both Duke and Duck for responding to my posts. It's greatly appreciated. I truly enjoy participating in this forum and Demo game to the fullest extent. The concept of the game was a flash of brilliance, it hit the ground running and hasn't stopped once. I am proud to have become a part of it. That's why I feel I must respond with comments and proposals. I feel I must contribute some feedback to test the envelope, so to speak.

Duck, it appears that I have made you mad. This was not my intent. I merely saw a problem in the game and a way to fix it. The only way to communicate here is to type these messages in these little boxes. You can't hear my tone of voice or any mannerisms of speech, so how could I expect you to pick up the true intent of anything I say. I become angry myself sometimes, especially when I can't express myself well enough for others to understand. But this is what everyone must deal with here. No big revelation. I'm sorry if I've angered you.

I do have a lot more to say but this is probably not the box to type it in.

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

Duck, it appears that I have made you mad. This was not my intent. I merely saw a problem in the game and a way to fix it. The only way to communicate here is to type these messages in these little boxes. You can't hear my tone of voice or any mannerisms of speech, so how could I expect you to pick up the true intent of anything I say. I become angry myself sometimes, especially when I can't express myself well enough for others to understand. But this is what everyone must deal with here. No big revelation. I'm sorry if I've angered you.

Huh.

What are you talking about Cyc? I am not mad at you at al.I am only trying to organize the forum in a way that it's good for both the reguler and new citizin's and te goverment itself.

I am glad you contributed youre idea's here ,although i didn't i didn't incoorperate them ,but that was more a "professional" decission than a personal decission.

So don't worry ,you didn't make me mad at all.

 

[disorganizer]

but what about having the maps/logs/saves in one thread?
maybe i have another proposal:
we make a thread for every turn chat, title is the starting date. the first post will be when the chat takes place and beneath all the decisions, brought there by the vice (as you proposed, duck). so the pres finds all he needs in one thread. after the chat, the pres (or dedicated player) will also put the save, the logs and the updated maps in this thread, so the citizens and departments find everything they need for understanding the turn in one thread.
i think it doesnt matter whether we use a own subforum for those threads (would keep main forum clean) or put them in the main forum. but the last-turn thread and the upcoming-turn thread should be sticky.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

That's basically how we have it in the Civ 2 Democ Game. We have a new thread for each turn and the old turn thread is closed. That way everyone can find the current information at the same spot each time. The turn thread has our 'log', saved game, and screen shots.

That is also why I wanted the Term 2 department heads to make new threads for their departments. It would get very confusing and almost impossible to find the relivant information if we tried to keep the same thread open the entire game.

 

[disorganizer]

ok. so why dont we do it like this here?

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Originally posted by disorganizer
ok. so why dont we do it like this here?

It can be. It just so happens that's how we decided to do it in the Civ 2 game. It's up to you guys to decide how you want it here.

 

[Cyc]

This plan is fine by me. Any plan that stops the constant searching at the beginning of a chat is fine with me. This plan differs from what I would do, in that I would:

combine the ideas for the "turn" forum as stated above, *EDIT* - I guess we wouldn't be able to combine as stated above.* but have 6 sticky threads started by each leader of a Department (the at large council members do not have Departmental responsibilities, but i wouldn't object to one sticky for the both of them) After each turn chat each Leader must post instructions in their thread. If the Prez want to know about Domestic instructions, he goes to that thread. Foreign Affairs, he goes to that thread. Each time he goes to a thread he goes to the last post. If the last post isn't dated after the last chat, he is free to do as he pleases in this case. I feel the reason for having a thread (sticky) for each leader is multi-faceted as not only will the Prez be able to go to the Dept. in question to find his answer, but the citizens will be able to follow the Leaders proposals and requests (as they pertain to chat instructions, not political mumbo jumbo!) in an organized manner instead of combing through countless threads. The Leaders will also find this structure easy to use as they will not have wait for a thread to be posted for them to use, they can just go to their sticky and post whenever. The additional threads for the "general Info" forum could also be included here as we already have threads for "chat logs" "saved game" "maps" etc. Why change this? IMHO this proposal would make it easier on everyone. Which brings up the Vice-President issue. Eyrei does the work of 3 men already. Please don't throw the other Leaders responsibility on his shoulders. If the Leaders don't want to post in the "next turn" thread, fine. They probably won't get elected next term, and this way will make it easy to follow. It is a simple way of solving the problem and an easy way of keeping the Leaders accountable in their responsibilities.