[Rant]Anyone else annoyed to hell with Wizards "no novel discussion in our boards"

[Darklone]

as far as i remember it went further than that.

more like "I know where you live and when I come to town I'm gonna... for doing that to my favorite character."

Well, RPG dudes are indeed hard to please.

 

[BobROE]

Incidentally, Discussion of Forgotten Realms novels unofficially moved to (I believe) the Candlekeep forums.

And if you go there you can get the Authors perspective on it.

 

[Numion]

as far as i remember it went further than that.

more like "I know where you live and when I come to town I'm gonna... for doing that to my favorite character."

It would be better if those individuals were banned, rather than the whole discussion supressed. Every crowd has it's problem members, and it's better to remove the problem members than to terminate the whole crowd.

 

[Akrasia]

...
This is interesting because it raises a question about where "boundaries" are drawn...

It seems that FR novels are heavily connected to FR campaign materials (I do not KNOW this for certain, as I do not run a FR campaign, but this is my impression).

So how do the Wizboard people draw the line between "novel discussions" and "campaign discussions"

If I post something about Drizzt doing X -- and someone else posts something about why Drizzt would NEVER do X because of novel Y -- how does WotC draw the boundary between "novel" discussions and "game" discussions? It seem ridiculous.

Far easier for WotC would have been the following strategy: the authors WILL NOT read or reply to these boards. (Of course the authors might under pseudonyms, but then they are just wasting their own time, and not doing something that WotC must deal with.)

 

[Numion]

...
So how do the Wizboard people draw the line between "novel discussions" and "campaign discussions"

If I post something about Drizzt doing X -- and someone else posts something about why Drizzt would NEVER do X because of novel Y -- how does WotC draw the boundary between "novel" discussions and "game" discussions? It seem ridiculous.

They some very precise and nitpicky rules on this. I couldn't bother to read them all, but they included clauses that you could discuss Drizzt as an FR NPC, but not as a novel character, etc .. pedantism like that will suck the life straight out of you :\

.. ah well I went and quoted it:

* Don’t make a novel or series of novels the centre or focus of your thread or post. Don't use a novel or group of novels in your thread title.
* Don't make comments about how a novel is published and presented e.g. timing of release, price, cover, illustrations, format and availability or where to buy it
* Don’t make comments on how good the writing in a novel is e.g. don't compare it to other novels; don’t make suggestions on how to improve the writing.
* Don’t make comments on how good the plot of a novel is e.g. don't compare it to other novels, don’t make suggestions on how to improve the plot, and don’t make suggestions about future plots
* Don’t make comments on how good a character is as described in a novel, how good the character is as a bit of literary writing e.g. don't make complaints about what the character does, don’t make suggestions on how to improve the character, and don’t make suggestions about future develpment of the character. Don't make comments or complaints about what the character says and thinks in a novel, or how his/her personality is portrayed.
* DON'T talk about the characters as part of a literary book or series, ou can only talk about them as NPCs. DON'T talk about the way the characters are used and treated by the novels authors.
* Don’t make comments on how good an author is e.g. don’t compare him or her to other authors.
* It is o.k. to mention contradictions between novels, or between a novel and a supplement but don’t criticize anyone for it.
* Just because a comment is “good” or a compliment doesn’t mean you can break these rules. The decision wasn’t to remove bad stuff said about novels, it was to stop ALL discussion on novels as books.
*IF IN DOUBT ... LEAVE IT OUT!

Thats a whole lotta "don't"s

 

[EricNoah]

Rules!! I hate stinkin' rules! Let anarchy reign!! (On alternate Tuesday mornings from 8-8:15 am, excluding holidays.)

Seriously, this is a no-win scenario. There's got to be a better solution...

 

[Desdichado]

I think I have to Numion and Wingsandsword here (though the "bunch of sissies" remark from Numion might be out of line).

No, I pretty much completely agree with Numion there.

 

[Mystery Man]

If it's specifically Forgotten Realms novel discussion you want then the party has moved to candlekeep.com, the authors post there often. Flames and trolls don't last long over there. At least that's been my experience.

 

[diaglo]

If it's specifically Forgotten Realms novel discussion you want then the party has moved to candlekeep.com, the authors post there often. Flames and trolls don't last long over there. At least that's been my experience.

mine, too.

 

[Styracosaurus]

Seriously, this is a no-win scenario. There's got to be a better solution...

"

Why not let the novels be discussed at other websites and leave it at that?

As I recall, the WotC boards were dominated by "these writers suck...". If I were WotC, I'd never had opened such a board because of the nature of the internet. It depresses the work atmosphere and would pressure your talent to seek employment elsewhere.

WotC doesn't try to stop ENworld or Dragonsfoot from badmouthing DnD products. So it seems to me that if you insist on using a WotC board to complain, then you are seeking a fight or at least the opportunity to ruin someone's day.