Where should "5e House Rules" and 5e "Character Builds & Optimization" Posts Go?

Mistwell · Sep 18, 2015

There's been some discussion in the meta forum of where the "5e House Rules" and "5e Character Builds & Optimization" posts should go.

Right now, there is an all-edition House Rules forum, and an all-edition Character Builds & Optimization forum. In addition, those posts (temporarily - as an experiment) are appearing in the General 5e Forum (though I think it's just those marked with 5e).

Some people like it this way, others don't, and I felt it might be time to stick a finger in the wind and get a general idea of what people might want. Morrus may well completely ignore this poll, so don't hold your breath and it's not binding in any way.

I've argued that 5e topics, of any kind, shouldn't be stuck in an all-edition type forum. In the very least, I think there should be a "5e Rules Forum" for discussion of the rules as written, house rules, character builds using those rules, and optimization using those rules. Or at least something specific to 5e. I also personally think it's best to just have one big 5e forum where all 5e related posts go.

Others may want them in a sub forum, or in an all-editions forum, or somewhere else.

So, voice your opinion! And if you think my options are rotten, let me know that too, and explain what you'd like to happen.

CapnZapp · Sep 18, 2015

Sorry but I hope Morrus ignores the poll.

Why?

Let me begin by saying a vote for "keep them out" is also a vote for "make those discussions falter and starve at EN World". Without the visibility, they will happen elsewhere, and EN World has lost an opportunity to grow.

So the real solution would be to change things around so you can both have the cake and eat it too. But this is still discussed/explored over at Meta.

Conclusion: this poll is premature. I hope Morrus ignores the poll.

DEFCON 1 · Sep 18, 2015

I was fine with the previous formats of "all editions" CharOps and "all editions" House Rules forums. I do like keeping those out of the 5E General Discussion forum because I don't find them generally interesting enough to want to see those threads every time I come to EN World. If I come to the 5E EN World five times, I might only go to CharOp and House Rules once out of those five. So having to see all those threads I don't need to see as often still showing up in the new format is slightly bothersome. Not a huge deal by any stretch... but as we're just speaking personal preference, that's mine.

I also don't mind if both those boards are "all editions" because quite frankly they don't get new threads all that often enough that you usually can't scroll your way through to find where you left off the last time. *Plus* each of those threads have the Prefix dropdown menu that allows you to only show the post PreFix you want, so if all you want to see is 5E House Rules... you just select '5E' from the dropdown then hit 'Show Threads'.

A couple extra small steps, yes... but as I said, since I only go to those threads like once every five times I pop in to EN World... I can take those couple extra steps if I really need to when I do.

mellored · Sep 18, 2015

IMO: you want 2 forums per edition.
5e mechanics (rules, optimization)
5e general (+homebrew)

Rules and optimization go hand and hand, it's all about the nitty gritty and are very edition specific. That clears space for the others who don't want to be caught up in the minutia of math and semantics.

And then some cross-edition forums.
Character backgrounds and lore.
DM's advice and adventures.

Morrus · Sep 18, 2015

Where should "5e House Rules" and 5e "Character Builds & Optimization" Posts...

We're currently moving towards fewer large forums than lots of tiny forums. A forum for each possible topic is, in my opinion, an awful arrangement. The number of messageboards I've seen with 100 subforums getting 1 post a day each!

Also, this sort of thing definitely does not get decided via votes, or by what people think might happen. We're right in the middle of an experiment to see what actually happens, prompted by your last thread on the same subject, Mistwell.

Rune · Sep 18, 2015

Considering you (that is, the viewer) can filter posts by tag (in other words, by edition and system), this seems like a non-issue to me. If anything, we don't even need a division between 5e General and General RPG forums.

Morrus · Sep 18, 2015

I'd also note that since we're just beginning a period of migration, plus a period of mass-transfer of large amounts of content, what happens in the next couple of months is not useful data at all. I don't plan to make any major decisions on forum arrangement during atypical periods. After Oct 29th might be a better time to start looking at trends.

Treantmonklvl20 · Sep 18, 2015

I like being part of a community that enjoys the same game I do to discuss, share opinions and ideas. I personally don't think segregation builds a strong community. (IMO)

Umbran · Sep 18, 2015

Morrus said:
I'd also note that since we're just beginning a period of migration, plus a period of mass-transfer of large amounts of content, what happens in the next couple of months is not useful data at all. I don't plan to make any major decisions on forum arrangement during atypical periods. After Oct 29th might be a better time to start looking at trends.

I might suggest, however, that you reverse the change - make the charops and homebrew stuff show only in its own forum *for now*, during the migration.

Why? Because I suspect it will lead folks to develop better habits of tagging content appropriately, especially *as they move it*. Even if they don't tag it, if they put it in the right forum, adding the tags in bulk within that forum is a whole lot easier than hunting down stuff placed in the general forum without a tag. If they put it in the wrong forum, for now, it will be easier for us to see and add those tags, as well.

That means you will be able to start, and stop, the experiment again more easily. In addition, we may find that with the new folks, the separated forums work just fine. That's something we *won't* know if they are not really exposed to the separated setup. In general, allowing the experimental setup to stand while there's lots of other stuff going on will tend to screw up your baseline.

Just my $0.02.

Sunseeker · Sep 19, 2015

Rules creations should 100% be its own forum, it's just too overwhelming the amount of creative material that people come up with. Rules questions and answers should generally stick to the 5E general forums, as those are great places for discussion about the rules as they are or as they should be, and not about completely original rules.

CharOP, IMO either needs its own section or should go with the homebrew stuff primarily because it is just so darn overwhelming that it's going to bury all the general discussion.