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View Poll Results: Should OGL subjects that affect D&D/4e be left in the General/4e forums
Should OGL subjects be allowed in General/4e sections
A lot of people have noticed that the OGL forum seems to get less traffic or interest, and posts discussing the new GSL and OGL have been put in these forums.
I'm posting a poll to take a vote and see if these subjects should be seperated into their own forums or if we should keep them in the General or 4e forums, especially if they deal with the subject of how these licenses affect D&D.
I think the separation of OGL subjects into their own forum is hurting rather than helping the forum. The OGL forum seems to be getting very little traffic, and I think people interested in certain threads are not aware that such subjects are being discussed.
The strange thing, is that some GSL threads get immediately sequestered away in the OGL forum but some don't; there is one on the main 4E section right now whereas one of mine got shunted straight away.
Discussion of the OGL, the GSL and its effects on the hobby should preferably be allowed in the General forums, since they impact a significant portion of the site's users. The OGF-L forums were initially for technical questions, but right now, we have wider questions to discuss.
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I think the OGL forum should be left only as a legacy of the OGL mailing list of old. If someone wants to post to the "mailing list", he can post there. Posts about the OGL should, in general, be relegated to the General forum, not the OGL forum. This is because the traffic involved is so small. There is interest in the licesne now, and there would be perhaps a bit more witht he GSL at the moment it goes public, but generally the volume of traffic is very low. Look at how much threads the OGL forum got on it from its opening, even WITH the late interest! There is just not enough traffic to justify a seperate forum; General can handle it.
Regardless, the OGL-list is intended largely for technical discussion of the OGL. It is not the proper forum to discuss the relevance of the OGL to the gaming community. Such threads belong in General. Just like a thread discussing the place of House Rules in your game doesn't belong in the House Rules forum.
So I'm voting to put the posts in General, with the understanding that I'm not opposed to division by topics in general so technical questions about the license might be better placed in the OGL forum if it's decided it is more than just a legacy.
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If something is purely about OGL licensing or whatnot it could go to the OGL forum, but anything about whether 4e specifically will be open licensed shouldn't be buried there. It's not the historical use of the forum.
Legalese type discussions should go to the OGL forum. Discussions that the OGL/GSL has on open gaming should be in the main forum. The discussion that spawned this thread should be seen by everyone. I'm glad its not on the home page of the site, but it should defintelty not be tucked away in a corner. I myself never visit the OGL forum. I just happen to see a post by Clark on the forum overview page and I went there.
__________________ Jeffrey J. Visgaitis
Creative Director The Inner Circle
I feel that since the thread isn't about anything specific regarding the OGL or GSL (which isn't even out yet) but, instead, about the ramifications upon 4E and the gaming community that it shouldn't be tucked away in the OGL forums which are there to discuss specifics of the license itself.
I understand that being a mod is difficult and don't fault anyone for moving the thread there. I would only hope that, upon reflection, it would be moved back to the more general forum where it belongs. Indeed, there is already another thread that has the OGL in its subject line, but is still in the 4E forums because it isn't specific. I think this thread deserves the same.
I think the OGL forum should be left only as a legacy of the OGL mailing list of old. If someone wants to post to the "mailing list", he can post there. Posts about the OGL should, in general, be relegated to the General forum, not the OGL forum. This is because the traffic involved is so small. There is interest in the licesne now, and there would be perhaps a bit more witht he GSL at the moment it goes public, but generally the volume of traffic is very low. Look at how much threads the OGL forum got on it from its opening, even WITH the late interest! There is just not enough traffic to justify a seperate forum; General can handle it.
Regardless, the OGL-list is intended largely for technical discussion of the OGL. It is not the proper forum to discuss the relevance of the OGL to the gaming community. Such threads belong in General. Just like a thread discussing the place of House Rules in your game doesn't belong in the House Rules forum.
So I'm voting to put the posts in General, with the understanding that I'm not opposed to division by topics in general so technical questions about the license might be better placed in the OGL forum if it's decided it is more than just a legacy.
Full agreement. Paradoxically, this poll might get little exposure since it's only linked form the OGL forum... it's not like meta sees much more traffic. :\
ENWorld's mod policy has been to move any GSL-related discussions to the OGF-L forum.
I think this is a mistake: The OGF-L is just the relocated discussion center of the old Open Gaming Foundation list -- related to the OGL. Wizards has gone (is going) to great lengths to separate any licensing of 4th Edition from the OGL -- it is it's own thing now, the GSL.
Issues surrounding the GSL are tied tightly to the launch of 4th Edition, and as such should be discussed here. Threads which started here had vibrant, active community discussion occuring -- folks with interest in 4th Edition had opinions that they wished to share on the topic of the GSL. In every case, the thread has been moved to OGF-L, where, out of sight and out of mind, the discussion has dwindled to only those familiar with that forum.
Please, keep GSL stuff here in 4E. That's where it belongs.
Well, paradoxically, people shouldn't have such narrow viewpoints and only go in General or 4e. I do sympathize with the mods on this point. You have to have some kind of traffic management, and I think posts about the forums should stay in meta, for obvious reasons.
By that logic, if we are solely rating things on traffic, we should just have a general and 4e forum and no others.
The only reason I argued against it being in the OGL forum is the topics are dealing mostly with how 4e is being licensed and what it's effects are on the community,
We practically know nothing about GSL licensing apart from that it will be more limited than the OGL or perhaps not even existent. At this point some people may be liking this, some people don't and some don't care. Ok, what else is there to discuss of about it?
There may not be much traffic here, but I made the rare trip over here because I wanted to vote yes once I heard about the poll.
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Legalese type discussions should go to the OGL forum. Discussions that the OGL/GSL has on open gaming should be in the main forum. The discussion that spawned this thread should be seen by everyone.
I agree with this method of deciding what goes where.
As I have noted before, this is ENWorld. ENWorld got its start as a 3E scoop page. We all came here to get info on the soon to be released new 3rd edition. It also was the core message boards for the burgeoning third party publishers. Heck, this site gives out awards to d20/OGL publishers! It has its own d20/OGL publishing company that publishes stuff for 3E D&D! This site, more than any other, is bound to the idea of open gaming and D&D. Does it allow for more content? Yes. Does it have a bigger tent than just 3E and the OGL? Of course it does. But there is no other site tied more strongly to open gaming and D&D than ENWorld.
So I think questions about open gaming that dont discuss the nuts and bolts of open gaming (which is probably better in the OGL forum), but instead discusses how open gaming or lack of open gaming for 4E affects the community as a whole should be front page news.
Surely, had the OGL been revoked or had WotC changed course on Ryan's OGL plan back in the early days, that would have been front page stuff at ENWorld then. It probably would have been a main page pinned thread pinned up at the top. I think those types of issues should also be in the 4E forum.
I think not only does it impact the community, it has general relevance, it also fits the historical focus of ENWorld.
I've said my bit. I'll leave it in the mods' capable hands to decide and I will live with your judgment, and I'll encourage others to do the same.
Clark
__________________ Clark Peterson
Necromancer Games
www.necromancergames.com
Bearing in mind that when 4E launches, the forums will have some major rearranging anyway (so anything done now is only a short term thing while we decide how we want things set up for 4E), a compromise I might suggest is that the OGF-L forum could be moved up into a sub-forum of the 4E forum.
This site, more than any other, is bound to the idea of open gaming and D&D. Does it allow for more content? Yes. Does it have a bigger tent than just 3E and the OGL? Of course it does. But there is no other site tied more strongly to open gaming and D&D than ENWorld. 
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