Forums for Basic Questions

[Uzi-99]

A Finnish board I frequent has separate forums for basic questions about how a ruleset works and for rules disputes/clarifications et al. I'm wondering if it would make a useful addition to LO as well, considering that new members can catch a lot of flak from the current Rules forums for asking bare-bones basics.

I do understand that rules fishing is illegal and should rightly remain so, but I'd think this sort of "Basics" forum would be helpful in reminding some posters to check their attitude at the door and actually try to help newcomers.

This would probably increase the workload of the moderators, and it wouldn't always be clear which questions should be in the Basics and which in the other subforums for a gamesystem... Any feedback?

[Blackhat]

nice idea, lets see what others think about it

[Rork]

I'd say that LO already has more than one hundred forums (Around 11. Any more is just going to contrive the system further and make it even more difficult for people to post in the right place.

For a start, the definition of what is considered "basic" is quite broad. Secondly, rules disputes are never settled on the internet. Never. Speaking from experience, you get the theorists vs the realists in debates with no clear answer. Such disputes need to be sorted practically amongst players in a gaming group, not on a forum.

In the rules forum, the procedure is always that players should read their rulebook first, then move on to the GW FAQs (and forum stickies) and only after that post their question if they have a problem. I find that, in general, people are willing to help just as long as you've put in some effort yourself.

[Iaphyr]

Ive been a member of a few forums, and the idea has always been on my mind too, but rork has a point as well.

My thinking is that a standard forum could be used for open ended questions, like 'what do you think of my army/painting/conversion?' like it is (generally) done at the moment.

then there could be a chat style area for closed questions 'can my army do this?' or 'what is forgeworld?' that can be answered quickly andd forgotten about. alternatively, a single topic, possibly stickied in each major section (40K, Fantasy, other) that can serve the same purpouse, as long as you can get the newest rather than oldest posts first.

yes there will be the lazy buggers who ask silly questions without using searchy, but at least this way, it won't be in the way of normal topics.

[wickywacky1]

Hi,
I have wondered about this also and would support the idea. You only have to look at the number of viewers compared to replies to realize that something else is going on here.
Perhaps some people are put off asking questions that relate to a thread because they are new to the game and a bit afraid of being stomped all over.
Or conversely afraid to contribute due to being worried about being wrong.

To me the rules forum can get very technical very quickly and it can get nasty as well.

I would love to see an area that neg reps from normal members disappear and cultivates the game from the ground up, but as you say it all needs monitoring and in a special way.

If you guys ever need a hand with anything then please give me a call as I am on this site about 7 hours a day.

Cheers.

[Blackhat]

Doesn't matter how many forums we got as long as its easy to navigate 8Y

[Caluin]

Originally Posted by wickywacky1

Perhaps some people are put off asking questions that relate to a thread because they are new to the game and a bit afraid of being stomped all over.
Or conversely afraid to contribute due to being worried about being wrong.

To me the rules forum can get very technical very quickly and it can get nasty as well.

This doesn't sound to me like an issue with how our forums are currently set up, but instead a problem with how people respond in current threads. It is true that LO has its fair share of 'rules lawyers' that love to argue over the finer points of a rule. While this isn't inherently bad, I don't see how having yet another Rules forum will help things - it'll just give another place for people to argue over rules. After so many people start arguing, I see thread will being moved to one of the more 'advanced' rules discussions sections for more complete dissection.

It's a good idea, but I don't think it's practical for us. It'd just complicate matters and make more work for our mod team.

Instead, we should probably focus more on ways to keep current threads from degenerating into long diatribes about RAW versus RAI, or what the definition of the word 'a' means, etc.

[Firaya]

Hmmm this thread is a bit old, but I hope I can contribute a bit to it.

What about a compilation of links to advanced questions instead? I foresee such lists being helpful in such that old and tired discussions between rules lawyers being cut down, and if anyone asks the question, we can throw them that thread and save up starting another long-winded debate.

Us newbies by the way don't really care when we want to post a question. Most will barely even realize they're not doing it right, especially those who are new to the concept of forums and posting. Adding another forum won't help much to those who are already bewildered by the concept of posting.

[DavidVC04]

Originally Posted by Firaya

Hmmm this thread is a bit old, but I hope I can contribute a bit to it.

What about a compilation of links to advanced questions instead? I foresee such lists being helpful in such that old and tired discussions between rules lawyers being cut down, and if anyone asks the question, we can throw them that thread and save up starting another long-winded debate.

Us newbies by the way don't really care when we want to post a question. Most will barely even realize they're not doing it right, especially those who are new to the concept of forums and posting. Adding another forum won't help much to those who are already bewildered by the concept of posting.

Links can be problematic. Whenever site upgrades / server switches take place, the URLs change, making links obselete, unless someone is willing to tend them over time. And with an online community where people come and go, that isn't terribly feasible.

We've tinkered with how rules forums were done in the past. Having one rules forum for each game seems to work best based on my time on LO.

[Nagato]

Originally Posted by Rork

I'd say that LO already has more than one hundred forums (Around 11. Any more is just going to contrive the system further and make it even more difficult for people to post in the right place.

Kill them or erase them(A nice clean up in the General & Off-Topic Discussion subforum), and anyway thats the main problem I think for LO, LO is suffocating from all those useless forums, and to be back at the topic YES nice idea Uzi-99 .