On Monday October 15th we will be making a big change to the forum structure here at EN World. It's a change which we've decided that - after looking at stats, data, trends and figures over the last decade - we believe is the correct decision in view of the future of this website and its continued existence.
We're going to merge the four D&D forums (and I include Pathfinder in that definition) into one large forum. It's our opinion that the (combined) topic does not support four separate forums, and that splitting them was, retrospectively, a mistake. Our data tells us that four quiet forums do not add up to the same as one busy forum in terms of traffic, new posts, and new threads. The total is greater than the sum of its parts; in this case quite literally. Every time we've split a forum, the resultant combined traffic has been less than the single forum had originally: and we've done that four times.
So from Monday 15th, the first category of forums will read:
In the meantime, I've created an example which shows you what such a forum will look like - you can't post in it, but it displays the combined threads of all four forums with post icons. You can see that here. That is - roughly - what it'll look like.
We will also be re-activating the "clickable prefixes" feature of the site. This means that from October 15th, you'll be able to click on a thread prefix icon (such as "Pathfinder" or "4th Edition") to filter the forum to those topics only.
We hope you'll support this decision. We understand that it's somewhat controversial, but it comes after a great deal of thought and discussion. Let's work together and make this work - we're firmly of the belief that it is in the best interests of EN World going forward.
@Whizbang Dustyboots described it very well here:
We're going to merge the four D&D forums (and I include Pathfinder in that definition) into one large forum. It's our opinion that the (combined) topic does not support four separate forums, and that splitting them was, retrospectively, a mistake. Our data tells us that four quiet forums do not add up to the same as one busy forum in terms of traffic, new posts, and new threads. The total is greater than the sum of its parts; in this case quite literally. Every time we've split a forum, the resultant combined traffic has been less than the single forum had originally: and we've done that four times.
So from Monday 15th, the first category of forums will read:
Tabletop Gaming
D&D and Pathfinder
Miscellaneous Geek Talk & Media Lounge
This will create something of a challenge in terms of 'edition wars', and we mods will be monitoring things fairly strictly.D&D and Pathfinder
Miscellaneous Geek Talk & Media Lounge
In the meantime, I've created an example which shows you what such a forum will look like - you can't post in it, but it displays the combined threads of all four forums with post icons. You can see that here. That is - roughly - what it'll look like.
We will also be re-activating the "clickable prefixes" feature of the site. This means that from October 15th, you'll be able to click on a thread prefix icon (such as "Pathfinder" or "4th Edition") to filter the forum to those topics only.
We hope you'll support this decision. We understand that it's somewhat controversial, but it comes after a great deal of thought and discussion. Let's work together and make this work - we're firmly of the belief that it is in the best interests of EN World going forward.
@Whizbang Dustyboots described it very well here:
Most of the threads in each of the D&D forums have nothing to do with the individual edition, but are edition-agnostic discussions. By seperating those out onto smaller forums, that means less input, less discussion and less cross-polination between self-selected tribes, making the quality of all the discussions worse as a result.
The prefixes are coming back (hooray!) so the rules-specific stuff will still be obvious and available. But now, when someone wants to know about structuring a campaign or dealing with a problem player or new ways to make dwarves interesting, they can discuss it with the entire D&D-playing community, not just the subgroup using their particular rulebook, despite those all being issues that span the years and editions.
The prefixes are coming back (hooray!) so the rules-specific stuff will still be obvious and available. But now, when someone wants to know about structuring a campaign or dealing with a problem player or new ways to make dwarves interesting, they can discuss it with the entire D&D-playing community, not just the subgroup using their particular rulebook, despite those all being issues that span the years and editions.
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