Forum Software Addon

[Joe Siegler]

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=241268

This was just released. I'm wondering how much trouble this would cause if I implemented it here. :)

[Scream]

How much trouble it will cause will depend on whether or not you feel you need to police it. If you need to police it the way the forums are policed (controlling content by locking threads, deleting posts, reprimanding or banning users etc) then it would cause you nothing but headaches.

If you don't need to do that and can just deal with the technical issues and leave the users to put whatever they want in their blogs, it would be a cool feature that probably wouldn't add that much overhead for you.

[Dave-ros]

I can imagine that everyone will want to make their own and no-one will want to read anyone else's :p

Might be a useful feature for 3DR staff themselves to use, and let us read, so we can see how projects are going... unless they're top secret, i.e. DNF ;)

[sawn_off]

Wait, so, would you have to moderate people's blogs? That sounds like a heavy task to take on....

I guess it would eliminate the need for MySpace links in signatures, maybe even create a new vent for post thread-ish stuff....

[Joe Siegler]

If it is on this server, expect it to be "policed". You're insane if you think it wouldn't be. :)

My sarcastic first post was made under the full knowledge that it would be. There's no way I could allow for total anarchy. That would put the company at such a legal disadvantage, you'd have no idea.

[Phait]

I don't think it's worth it. If we're talking standard blogs without much focus esp. on games, I don't think there would be much interest. I myself rarely read blogs.

There's blogger.com for all that.

[Mr.Fibbles]

There are other various blog sites out there and those who wish to blog have made use of them.
Facebook, MySpace, Journal, Blogspot, blogger.com (which I only just now heard of, thanks Phait). . . the list goes on.

It wouldn't be worth it as far as I can see. However, what Dave-ros mentioned, that sounds interesting; a place for 3DR staff to blog on the forum.

[Damien_Azreal]

Who knows, the majority of the people here are rather mature and level headed. Able to act accordingly and any rules set forth.

But then again there are always those that seem to enjoy stirring things up.

I don't know, I'd say it's a 50/50 chance either way... it could be great, but it could also be a total clusterf**k.

[alexgk]

This was just released. I'm wondering how much trouble this would cause if I implemented it here. :)
Oh no.... No..... Noooo!
I can't imagine how many blogs talking about DNF speculation would pop-up.

[Scream]

If it is on this server, expect it to be "policed". You're insane if you think it wouldn't be. :)

My sarcastic first post was made under the full knowledge that it would be. There's no way I could allow for total anarchy. That would put the company at such a legal disadvantage, you'd have no idea.

Well, you did experiment with a "separate" General Messages at one point not too long ago, and my understanding (perhaps incorrectly, as I never signed up) was that it was a free for all that you didn't monitor.

Anyway, I think you'd be nuts to implement blogs for members here. There are plenty of places where people can blog for free, and they can link to them in their sigs. I don't see any real upside for anyone (especially you) in offering this service.

[Phait]

I was just thinking about this more, if we get blogs then I'll start either a gaming review one (though it would require me to start reviewing again - which I'm getting lazier with), or some kind of racing journal - at least it would be semiworth it then.

[Damien_Azreal]

It would give users a more open area to talk about games they've recently tried out, new demos... whatever.

But who knows, how many people would regularly use it? As a way of venting I've tried a few blogs in the past... but always fail to return to them.

[Sang]

It seems useless.

[RedSplat]

Posting shit in a moderated forum environment or a moderated blog, i see no difference.

But developer diary entries would be cool. :)

[ADM]

Yeah definitely have them for 3DR staff and maybe one for forum updates and site dev as well.

[Dave-ros]

I dread to think what Joe would put in his blog... "Last night I dreamed I was strangling Ivan -- best night's sleep I had in ages" :D

[Dead Chief]

What's the point of it if it's going to be controlled? nonsense.

[Scream]

What's the point of it if it's going to be controlled? nonsense.

There is no point. I think that was Joe's point. He won't be implementing this as he can't have uncontrolled content posted on the company website.

This thread was simply a "imagine the mess this would make" thread. :)

[peoplessi]

I think there are more important issues to be dealt with first, as the firewall issue.

[ADM]

What's the point of it if it's going to be controlled? nonsense.
By controlled it means that they would fall under the normal forum rules. These forums are controlled as well.

Which it's pretty stupid to think we wouldn't moderate them as well.

[hell-angel]

I don't know. If the 3DR staff want to blog they can put it in the forums or on the front page. Not really worth it IMO.

[Hudson]

Forget the blogs, I want that "iSpy" thing that was on the short lived TLI forums.

[ShadeEX]

Yeah definitely have them for 3DR staff and maybe one for forum updates and site dev as well.

I like the blog idea..

But only for the things ADM listed in the above quote..

I don't think user blogs would turn out so good..

[Little Conqueror]

Back in my day, we had something called ".plan files." We don't need blogs of any sort.

[ADM]

Forget the blogs, I want that "iSpy" thing that was on the short lived TLI forums.
Yeah that was very useful but server intensive :)

[Waiter]

"advanced administration features allow forum owners and moderators to keep control"

For some reason that made me laugh.

I don't know which sounds more impossible - the thought of unmoderated member blogs or the thought of Joe actually wanting to moderate them. Not gonna happen.

Staff blogs could be cool though, but diaries ... I can see the DNF-speculations being taken to a whole new dimension... http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/images/icons/smirk.gif

[Sang]

Well... technically speaking blog posts don't really count under "media blackout", right? ;) Or do they?

[Waiter]

Of course not. I'm sure the staff would leak all sorts of info, but of course only to us forum members.

[Hudson]

Back in my day, we had something called ".plan files." We don't need blogs of any sort.

Ah yes, we used to have them on Totalconversions.com before that site went to all hell.

Yeah that was very useful but server intensive :)

I think their servers can handle it ;)

[ADM]

I think their servers can handle it ;)

Not the point. My server could handle it as well but multiply traffic by 100x and you've got a major bottleneck, something that Joe wants to avoid.

I can guarentee you won't see it here because of that.

[alexgk]

Thinking about it again... it would not be a bad idea.

[Joe Siegler]

Back in my day, we had something called ".plan files." We don't need blogs of any sort.

Yeah, the last .plan file guy gave that ghost up some time ago (John Carmack). You should too. That was something whose time has passed. It's been replaced by blogs and rss feeds.

There is no point. I think that was Joe's point. He won't be implementing this as he can't have uncontrolled content posted on the company website.

This thread was simply a "imagine the mess this would make" thread. :)

Thank you. :)

[peoplessi]

But, a staff blog would be awesome. That could be done after DNF is released so you can write something in there too.

[Phait]

:haha:

[NetNessie]

It's be suicide, we all know it :D

[Kalki]

Yeah, the last .plan file guy gave that ghost up some time ago (John Carmack). You should too. That was something whose time has passed. It's been replaced by blogs and rss feeds.

.plans, blogs - I can't tell the difference.

[avatar_58]

.plans, blogs - I can't tell the difference.

It's all the same shit in the end. If someone makes a large post about how his day went, makes a blog about his cat or creates a .plan about the next Doom....whats the difference? It's just a guy trying to communicate with the internet.

This idea right here sounds like a nightmare though, especially for monitoring. I don't think your accounting department would appreciate paying for the amount of Aspirin you'd need Joe ;)

[Little Conqueror]

.plans, blogs - I can't tell the difference.

Exactly how I feel. I don't think blogs are so cutting edge as everyone says - maybe there's some technical or conceptual difference between .plan files and blogs, but to the reader, there isn't much of a functional difference, at least as far as I can tell. (RSS feeds? While I don't make much use of them, I know that's a different story entirely.)

I'm not saying the 3DR staff shouldn't have blogs. I'm just saying (as Joe already knows, I'm sure) that we don't need forum software for the 3DR devs to have blogs, and there's no reason for us to have blogs. I have a LiveJournal. If I want to share my thoughts, I can direct people to that. They're free and they don't waste space on this forum.

[Joe Siegler]

^ - So you're saying your posts are wasting space on the forum. Gotcha. ;)

I'd already discussed developer blogs, but with the tight lip we keep on information (snicker), I doubt they'd be that useful, to tell you the truth.

[Kristian Joensen]

Until of course the time comes when that lip isn't so tight :D. But anyway some of the developers already have blogs of their own, could it not be an idea to have them all under one umbrella so to speak ?

Doesn't really have to be an official 3D Realms endorsed opinion kind of thing.

But simply an option for the employees, an extra employee benefit if you want.

I know I try to follow all the 3DR employee blogs I can, would be nice if they where all centrally located in one place.

Of course the guys that have blogs would have to agree to do that.

Maybe this just a bad idea ?

Edit:

To put what I am saying in to other words, blogs by 3DR employees don't have to be about DNF or 3DR. The ones that already exist aren't (except maybe Game Matters (http://www.gamematters.com/) and rarely Screen Play (http://particleghost.blogspot.com/)).

[Little Conqueror]

^ - So you're saying your posts are wasting space on the forum. Gotcha. ;)

:tinyted:

I'd already discussed developer blogs, but with the tight lip we keep on information (snicker), I doubt they'd be that useful, to tell you the truth.

Probably. If anything, they'd serve as a "this is the life of a game developer" type thing more than an insight into the products that 3DR is currently working on. That being said, as someone who hopes to, one day, be involved in the game development business, I enjoy reading about minutiae that other people might yawn whilst reading. But that's not related to the forum at all.

I mean, we already have a "Homepage" field in our profiles, and we have signatures in which to put links to our own blogs and such. So I agree with you 100%.

[NetNessie]

I'd already discussed developer blogs, but with the tight lip we keep on information (snicker), I doubt they'd be that useful

You can always been really obscure and have the blogs as 190px wide GIFs :p

[bobthefish]

^ - So you're saying your posts are wasting space on the forum. Gotcha. ;)

I'd already discussed developer blogs, but with the tight lip we keep on information (snicker), I doubt they'd be that useful, to tell you the truth.

doesnt have to be useful stuff.
it could be funny stuff taht happened

[Phait]

I'm sure stuff like that is few and far between - and trying to elicit interesting enough posts from the daily life of a developer would be more effort than it's worth.

[Dave-ros]

Wasn't there once a long post from someone working on DNF (George?) describing their average day, which seemed to consist of things like downloading Britney Spears songs and moving a light around in UnrealEd to make it look like he was working? :p

[peoplessi]

^ - So you're saying your posts are wasting space on the forum. Gotcha. ;)

I'd already discussed developer blogs, but with the tight lip we keep on information (snicker), I doubt they'd be that useful, to tell you the truth.

You are saying that it will be always as so? I wouldn't mind if you had blog, which would include some stuff on your duties, that shouldn't reveal too much. As 3D Realms has had those photos of certain events available, maybe when such event comes you could do photos+little story of the events.

[Dave-ros]

A blog would make that more convenient, but as the webmaster, he could just create a page anyway ;)

[Mr.Fibbles]

but a blog is a page created once and then the source is not touched. Once the blog software is installed, you don't have to mess with it (normally). If it is used frequently, it is useful. But only if it is used frequently is is useful.

[NetNessie]

which seemed to consist of things like downloading Britney Spears songs and moving a light around in UnrealEd to make it look like he was working? :p

Hey yeah, I remember reading something like that a long time ago.