New Lodestone and Character Journals

[Deirdre]

Hey all!

 

As you all may have noticed there was a long post on the Lodestone this morning about the upcoming transition to ARR.The biggest thing that stood out for me would be the changes to the Lodestone itself, and the functions of blogs.

 

In the transition to ARR, SE intends to change the current Rich Text formatting in blogs to Plain Text. This will remove features us as RPers use quite often, such and striked out text, images, italics and the like.

 

Personally, I do not see them changing this back for us at all, so I propose a new more functional system, and would like the opinion of the community.

 

As many journals as we can, in one place, viewable to everyone. Possibly an external site (which is easily made), here on the RPC or perhaps on the wiki! This way, for people like me, I can read everyone's journals (while I'm supposed to be working) without going to A HUNDRED different sites. Though I'm going to miss being able to post on the Lodestone properly

 

Ideas?

[Eva]

I never liked lodestone for IC journal entries due to text limitations that were in place before. This is even worse.

 

Something as simple as a separate RPC forum for journals might be sufficient. I'm certain that it would be utilized. The formatting between this and enjin is admittedly a little different (mostly just the way text sizes are handled iirc), but I wouldn't mind pasting entries here as well. The biggest problem for me would be dumping all the previous journal entries (which I just did from Everwatch to Crystalline).

 

Another possibility would be to create a stickied post with links to those who have [public] journals across various other sites.

 

I keep meaning to add a link to my wiki (along with a bunch of other changes I keep putting off) to the journals.

[Aysun]

As many journals as we can, in one place, viewable to everyone. ... here on the RPC...

 

THIS.

 

Oh god, I'd have no idea how to code something like that though to make it like an actual blog that users can access instead of a forum thread/wiki.

 

Hmmm.

 

I guess the bottom line is I support the idea, even if I'm not quite sure how we'd do it. Easiest thing would probably be what Eva suggested, a frequently updated sticky that lists links to our journals in other places.

[Deirdre]

Kylin is basically a god I'm sure it's possible. I have to move all of my journals over from Lodestone anyways, so not like it will be any MORE of a hassle. Gives me a chance to do some kind of cleanup. I just liked the Lodestone personally for the exposure.

 

So... a resounding 'add it to the RPC?'

 

*I should add that I don't like the format of simply 'creating a thread' for a journal, which is what is currently on the RPC.

[Eva]

Well it makes sense to me if you want to see journals for people from different communities that there be a place on the RPC which makes that possible. As a hub for the RP community and the various linkshell groups and such it makes sense to me that if people wish to share their journals (whether by adding a link to a stickied post or by creating a thread here somewhere), an option be available here at the RPC to view journals across multiple forum networks or what-have-you.

 

The more I think about it the more I favor the sticky-with-links idea, but I know there are a handful of freelance/errant RPers who would need a place to post and perhaps the RPC could create a forum for that as well (and perhaps even an internal link to it on the aforementioned sticky). You're still having to forum hop a bit, but it does give some exposure to the linkshells and it does prevent people from having to copy/paste entire journals and double-up entries each time.

 

I'm also not sure I understand your last line:

*I should add that I don't like the format of simply 'creating a thread' for a journal, which is what is currently on the RPC.

As I understand it, there is no current system on the RPC for journaling. But creating a thread seems most logical to me. I mean, the lodestone blogs were essentially a forum thread in and of themselves, though I suppose their system afforded subthreads in the sense that posts could be commented on in a way that didn't exactly break the flow of progression from one entry to the next. Did you have something specific in mind? Maybe Kylin can find a way of implementing something like that or setting up a section of the RPC (similar to the wiki) tailored specifically for blogging.

[Deirdre]

Town Square (IC)

Stories, journals, and interactive RP.

 

This is what I meant Eva. This is the current place for journals that not many are using. I just think it would be neater if we had a place like a blog specifically for journals. I can work with Kylin to figure out some coding, but only if people would end up using it. It could end up being similar to the way the Wiki is laid out.

[Kylin]

There are a couple of blog addons out there for phpbb. But I'm unsure if that's what people want. The mods would essentially link to another sector of the forum (like the calendar/gallery/classifieds do). On that section would be the front page showing recent journals and so on. The journals themselves are listed exactly as the news on the RPC home page is--most recent topic first with all older ones below it. Is this what you mean? It's not exactly too different from a forum section, save for being on a different page from the forums, being in reverse order, and listing recent entries via a navigation menu.

 

Alternatively, there's also the option to install WordPress on a separate section of the server like the wiki. However, I doubt this option would be a good idea because it would require people to visit yet another "site" to check on updates. Most people like to just come straight to the forums, see what's new, and then go on their merry way. Putting something in a separate area from the forum completely may detract attention from that simple n' easy route.

 

Yet another alternative (though I think people said they don't want this even though it's essentially the same as the forum mod) is to simply add a forum category for journals and then set that particular section up so new posts show on top of each other.

[Deirdre]

I think it would be a good idea to poll and get everyone's input on what we should do!

(Sorry at work can't elaborate much further on anything right now )

[Tadir]

I would love an option for a blog on the RPC. I use the blog function of the lodestone all the time. I will probably continue to do so, but I would prefer having the blog here as something easier to connect with.

[Chloe Ardarose]

Despite the changes to the Lodestone, I think I'll be remaining steadfast in my decision to write my entries first for the Lodestone, then mirroring to my profiles on sites like the RPC. It's mainly due to perceptions of permanance - I feel that a site such as the Lodestone is less susceptible to loss than player-run sites, if that makes sense. While losing the rich text formatting options is sad, I don't consider such necessary for character entries; dead tree authors have made due without it for centuries, after all. :study: