Moderation issue - open discussion

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Way ahead of you, Marco - but the fun part of trying to set that up was that people all agree with you (and me, and Clinton) and then no one wants to do it. Compounding this - only compounding, not defining it - is the tendency that the people who do want to do it might not always be well suited for it.

You might want to rethink how you're choosing people, then. People who seem to have a problem with authority can do surprisingly well when that authority is given to them.

Maybe not. There is no real way to know. You best bet is to find a person willing to do the job and who is at least on the same page for what does and does not constitute viable discussion here on the Forge and just work within some sort of moderation policy, which you'll have to cobble up, I suppose.

[M. J. Young]

What's missing? Seriously, what actual category of discussion is lacking here?

Ah, that is the question, isn't it?

I wrote to Ron privately, as at that time what I had to say didn't really add much to the discussion here; but it does seem to apply to this question. I'll answer the question with a question: why wasn't the writer's block issue on topic for a Forge forum? Obviously it wasn't that it was in the wrong forum--had that been the case, Ron would simply have moved it to the right forum. He shut it down, because he did not see it as appropriate for Forge discussion.

Yet writer's block is an issue for game design discussion. As evidence:[list=1][*]Several people replied to the topic when it was posted before it was shut down, and all of them attempted to make constructive suggestions.[*]There are posts in this thread that suggest writer's block is an issue they consider part of the problems in RPG Design.[*]Writer's block was a topic raised in game design discussion on Gaming Outpost several years ago, and led to some very valuable insights from several contributors, including Jack and me as I recall.[*]Seth's Dreaming Out Loud game design column over at GO included an article on dealing with writer's block as part of the game design process.[/list:o]So there's plenty of reason to think that this is a game design issue, not merely a writer's issue--that is, writer's block and its solutions might not be the same thing in RPG design as it is in other media (it might, but do we know it to be so?). That Ron is convinced it doesn't belong on any of the existing forums proves pretty solidly that there's no place for it here at The Forge; that so many others are convinced that it is a real issue in game design demonstrates that there's a forum missing, a place where the subject would be appropriate.

Peripheral Matters, Related Issues, Adjunct Topics, Relevant Concerns, there are plenty of things you could call it that would keep it subject-oriented without closing out stuff that belongs. Andy's right--the Indie Game Awards don't belong on any existing forum, either. Paganini mentions a Greg Costikyan something that I know I missed because no one mentioned it here. There clearly are things that are game-relevant that don't fit. You don't have a place for questions and discussions that members feel are important to the Forge agenda that don't fit the pigeonholes.

That's all anyone is saying.

--M. J. Young

[Ron Edwards]

Hi everyone,

I think I have a good understanding of the issues at hand, and that they don't need to be clarified further. We've hit the repetition point in this thread, which is a sign of trouble.

Since the topic of this thread is neither"Help Ron see what he did wrong," nor, "Why is writer's block off-topic," I'm inclined to say Thanks to everyone and be ready to close it.

As a rule, I don't justify myself on-line. The goal of the thread is for me to get a better idea of how people think things should be moderated, and that's been met. Final comments are still welcome, but please realize that all points made so far have been understood by me, so don't post to "help me understand" anything that's been said already.

Best,
Ron

[Jack Spencer Jr]

The idea of a social forum keeps coming up in my mind. One idea is for a specific social forum which is hosted elsewhere using different forum software that presents a flat view of the threads and every once in a while, Poof. The forum is cleared and you can start over. Postings on such a forum should not be preserved for posterity, the way posts on the other forums are meant to be. Having them clear like an Etch-a-Sketch would be a worthwhile feature.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I really don't think any such thing is going to happen at the Forge or associated with it officially.

However! If someone else wants to do this at their own website or via some other website, hosting it and so forth, organizing it, whatever, please feel free.

Best,
Ron