Big changes a'coming! Merging the D&D forums

[Klaus]

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:

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.

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.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDHYZtwjFTs]We're All in This Together - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Morrus]

For those who want to see how the clickable thread prefixes work, check out the news forum where I've just enabled them. You'll see it's very easy to filter threads with a single click.

 

[Alzrius]

I for one am very glad for this - I see it not as a change, but as a return to normalcy. I remember when the forums weren't segregated by edition, and there were clickable prefixes, and I think that EN World was better for it back then.

Hopefully this will lead to less ideological entrenchment regarding editions, and more discussions about the game as a whole.

 

[joethelawyer]

I for one am very glad for this - I see it not as a change, but as a return to normalcy. I remember when the forums weren't segregated by edition, and there were clickable prefixes, and I think that EN World was better for it back then.

Hopefully this will lead to less ideological entrenchment regarding editions, and more discussions about the game as a whole.

I totally agree. Well done. I think this will go a long way towards bringing ENW back to the place it used to be. If we all see how much we have in common, no matter the edition, it will go a long way towards lessening the edition wars and factionalism.

 

[adamc]

It will be interesting to see what the result is. My suspicion is that any change to a forum structure -- collapsing or splitting -- is likely to reduce usage in the short-run, because it confuses existing users, and it doesn't take much frustration to make a forum user look elsewhere.

I don't have much reaction to the proposal itself -- I don't know how I'll feel about it after I see it. I did kind of like having separate forums, but it might turn out that something good comes from cross-pollination. As a 4e player, I seldom read about Pathfinder -- maybe now I will, and good things will come of that.

I do worry that the 5e posts will overwhelm other conversations, but hey -- your house, your rules. We'll see how it goes. I can always use other forums.

 

[TerraDave]

Your rebuilding the old "general".

This is a good thing.

 

[Umbran]

Will there still be support for non-D&D RPGs? Is tabletop non-D&D RPGs, boardgames and tabletop strategy games (like Warhammer)?

Yes, and yes.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I think Next should have its own forum but otherwise agree with the change.

 

[freyar]

Will this include the Creature Catalog forums?

Hopefully the Creature Catalog will stay under the "hosted sites" and forums down here with Meta...

 

[Morrus]

Hopefully the Creature Catalog will stay under the "hosted sites" and forums down here with Meta...

I don't run or make decisions about hosted sites. That forum isn't mine to merge with anything!