D&D 4E 4e News Threads vs. 4e Discussion Threads

[Wulf Ratbane]

Is it necessary to let two threads run every time a new news item pops up?

My inclination is to jump into the "news" thread and join a discussion there, but inevitably someone starts an identical discussion about the same topic in the 4e forum.

Is it possible to lock the news posts so that only the original news item posts there?

Or to merge the discussions?

It's driving me nuts-- I have to watch two threads every time something interesting comes up.

I am also sure you guys have noticed this as well and have a snappy answer ready for me...

 

[Angel Tarragon]

My opinion is let them be. Not everyone is keen on visting the 4E forum.

 

[Morrus]

It's something that's bugged me for years. We're trying to find a technical solution around that in EN World II, whereby people can disuss news articles straight from the news page, and somehow that links in with whatever the main discussion thread in the forums is.

 

[EricNoah]

Yeah, that would be great. You post a news item, and decide at that time where the thread for that news item will appear (General, 4E, Rules, etc.). It automatically generates a thread there and folks can discuss it. And out on the news page, there would be something that would let people know that there are X number of replies and link them to the thread.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

My opinion is let them be. Not everyone is keen on visting the 4E forum.

Then they shouldn't really be commenting in the thread...?

Seriously, I don't get your point here.

What's served by allowing two threads about the same topic to run simultaneously?

In the short term, Morrus, is a thread merge possible? I'm thinking mainly about the magic items discussions-- 4 pages in the news thread and 9 pages in the forum.

Personally, I'd merge any news thread that hits page 2, if there's a similar discussion in the main forum.

 

[Deset Gled]

Then they shouldn't really be commenting in the thread...?

Seriously, I don't get your point here.

I think the point is tha some people will only visit the news page, and will comment there, but will not visit the 4e forum. Others will visit the 4e forum, but only look at the news items that are found in the "Latest 4e update" section at the top of the page, meaning discussion on the news threads dies off after a short while.

 

[Piratecat]

One option is copying the news thread to the 4e forum, placing a link in the original news thread, and then closing it. Pain in the ass, though, with 3 extra steps.

 

[Morrus]

Then they shouldn't really be commenting in the thread...?

Seriously, I don't get your point here.

What's served by allowing two threads about the same topic to run simultaneously?

In the short term, Morrus, is a thread merge possible? I'm thinking mainly about the magic items discussions-- 4 pages in the news thread and 9 pages in the forum.

Personally, I'd merge any news thread that hits page 2, if there's a similar discussion in the main forum.

Well, we could merge a discussion thread into a news thread no problem. That would move it out of the discussion forum, though.

Alternatively we could merge a news thread into a discussion thread, but then it wouldn't be in the news forum any more and would disappear from the news page.

The problem is you can't specify specific threads to appear in the news; it's "everything from forum X or nothing". So there's no way to merge the news thread into the discusision thread and have it still appear on the news page.

There isnt an easy technical solution at present. As PC says, I guess each thread could be closed and a link posted, but I wonder how many people will bother to click through; plus the extra work looking for existing threads etc. would be a major PIA.

 

[Henry]

The simplest thing, IMO, would be to lock the News Thread and just let someone create a discussion thread for each topic that arises; I mean, we know it'll happen spontaneously, and since the same types of discussions arise in each thread with equal potential for (moderated) vitriol, then those who want to discuss it will just go there. It's not the perfect solution, but it's the one that will flow the smoothest.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I'm not sure if this is possible, but can you have the 4e News forum allow replies but not new topics unless you have permission?