[Feedback] Board Organization and Other Things

[Nero]

Are there any specific categories or sub-boards you'd like to see? Do you feel that additional subforums are necessary?

 

For example, we could split the discussion board into the following categories.

 

Classes & Jobs

Factions & Regions

Historical Events and Individuals

 

Possibly a board for speculation and/or headcanons?

 

Let me know via post or poll.

[LiadansWhisper]

A board for speculation and headcanons would be kind of cool.

[Heidrek]

A board for speculation and one for Job discussion could be good additions.

[Kilieit]

Personally, I think having more boards makes it difficult for each individual user to consistently spot new threads across all of them, and - unless implemented with thought - can lead to having multiple borderline-inactive boards as opposed to one active one. I think it's important to monitor the activity on a new board before making a decision on whether it needs sub-boards.

 

Like, the purpose of a lore questions board is to allow people to ask their lore questions and receive answers from the community, right? So you have to make it easy for both people to ask a question, and people to find questions to answer. I'm worried that splitting it would make it hard - for both people who need help, to know where to ask; and people who are offering help, to find threads they can weigh in on.

 

I used to ask myself before splitting a board, three questions:

1. is the board actually active enough to warrant this (i.e. it's receiving so many new posts that new threads are buried too quickly to receive any replies);
   
2. will all of the proposed sub-boards be receiving at least one new post, each, per day (so, say, splitting into two slightly broader categories might be more pertinent than splitting into multiple extremely narrow ones);
   
3. are the divisions clearly defined (i.e. most users will, most of the time, mostly make their threads in the correct forum without a moderator having to intervene; and is there a minimum chance of one topic fitting into multiple boards)?
   

 

Obviously #3 is an easy question to answer when it's two topics being forced to share a board together and constantly butting each other's elbows (example from my past: art vs stories, where both parties constantly felt the other was bumping their topics off the first page before they got attention), but when you're dividing based on more nebulous topics then you have to consider if there'll be overlap where users will end up confused about where their threads belong. #1 and #2 just require monitoring of the forum's activity over time.

 

And if the desire for sub-boards is about categorising threads for archiving purposes rather than activity ones... maybe a masterpost of quality threads on various topics would be better? Probably ultimately easier on the moderator team, too, since it'd just require updating every now and again (say, regular sweep of the board for new threads worthy of addition every 2-3 weeks) rather than constantly monitoring threads for whether they need to be moved or not.

 

But that's just me and my experience with message boards in the past. I openly admit I haven't been here for long, and I'm basically a random stranger hehe, so it's entirely possible my experiences won't apply here.

[Kage]

Perhaps just a tag like the Server ones that can be attached by a lore mod if we so get them? Or perhaps even a "common" list of what types information we do have and do not. Say myself or another user provides quotes from xivdb, Gamerescape or previously quoted information that can be verified. Or, we know that it's just speculation as to 'what nefarious methods there are to White Magic'.

[Sounsyy]

As someone who's likely to be frequenting these lore forums a lot, my opinion is this: There should be a Lore SubForum, an area strictly for lore discussion with lore citations, quotes, questions, answers, etc. Then there should be a Theorycraft/Headcanon SubForum, an area in which people can post their theories, headcanons, or questions that likely cannot be answered with existing lore.

 

I do not think any additional subdivisions are necessary, as Kilieit said additional forums for topics may complicate quickly finding pertinent information and may result in additional repeat threads. (I know I've been slacking working on this Nero! ; ; ) But Sticky-ing helpful or full compilation threads to the Lore Forum could be one way to organize or prioritize the most helpful/general FAQs, such as having a Class/Job lore directory or Index. If we're really putting up a lore forum I'll start trying to work on these types of compilation posts/indexes in earnest, I promise! Alternatively, we could put a sticky thread at the top of the lore forums that's strictly an FAQ lore index for previously posted threads like we talked about before.

 

If it turns out we get a ton of threads suddenly asking about all the jobs or we get a ton of threads asking about the city states or something of that nature, then maybe in the future we can see if adding additional subdivisions is necessary to cut down on clutter, but until we get to that point, I think they shouldn't be necessary. As it stands now, most lore requests are either spread out across several vague non-descript areas and so far most questions pertaining to big questions such as jobs or city-states (aka Ishgard) have been more or less easily answered with a link or two to a compilation.

 

 

But again, I think we do need to make a clear distinction on these forums between what is lore (stuff that can be cited) and what is theorycraft/headcanon (stuff that cannot) lest we confuse people.

[Valence]

Likewise... 

 

I think what that forum lacked was a true lore dedicated section and discussions, and the only thing I would love is a subforum where one can quickly go as a sort of huge database of citations and facts. No need for anything else. The rest, being discussions on lore stuff (speculation, headcannon, interpretations, etc) can go in the general section.

[Nero]

Worth noting that Unnamed Mercenary, a member of our tech staff, has been working on a Lore wiki. He's currently on vacation right now but when he returns he'll be able to weigh in on that subject and its implementation, and then we can discuss that as an option.

[Virella]

While I don't mind extra boards, I always found lore and character workshop a bit... I don't know sometimes I run into things who are technically very much both, and I end up scratching my head where to exactly post it.

 

But that may just be me.

 

Quick edit: Something beyond just events. My old community had so many posts on their forums with like "Interest checks for x events" to get people to see if certain events were something others were interested in, or if other individuals would liked to help. Some board like that might be great? I've really missed that on here so far.

[Kage]

While I don't mind extra boards, I always found lore and character workshop a bit... I don't know sometimes I run into things who are technically very much both, and I end up scratching my head where to exactly post it.

I always believed this to be an issue that came from not having a completely dedicated area to lore specifically (even though it was stated to be in FFXIV discussion). Or perhaps a focus on 'me'. Instead of questions of, "Can my character do this?" more questions of "What are the differences between all of the magic roles in combat?" "What can a Summoner do over an Arcanist in battle?" "What roles do Arcanists have in battle and in the life of Eorzea other than... customs?"

 

"Can my lalafell character throw that highlander over 5 feet?" or "What are examples of feats of lalafell strength?" "What is the physical strength like in general?

 

To be honest I find a lot more of the workshopping to be headcanon/speculation more theorycrafting than clear cut lore. I feel like it's a bit of a waste that some topics for lore are more in the workshops areas than in an area more general to those who are interested in those lore bits. They also get much harder to find unless someone categorically remembers where each bit they quoted or linked was mentioned in what forum.

[FreelanceWizard]

So, there's a Lore wiki already on the site. It's in the Lore namespace, is linked off the left side, and has a review system and set of templates for citing different sources, noting when new citations or cleanup are needed, and approving changes to the pages. I understand there's some desire to make some changes to the initial setup, but it was put in a while back; the problem was a lack of interest in people using it.

[Kage]

So, there's a Lore wiki already on the site. It's in the Lore namespace, is linked off the left side, and has a review system and set of templates for citing different sources, noting when new citations or cleanup are needed, and approving changes to the pages. I understand there's some desire to make some changes to the initial setup, but it was put in a while back; the problem was a lack of interest in people using it.

I remember when it came up and feelers for those interested in it were put out.

 

A large contribution from its lack of use is the amount of effort that needs to be put in for a considerable amount of 'data' that needs to be put in and can be quite a seemingly overwhelming task. If it was easy, I'm fairly sure that Anonymoose/Anwyll would have thoroughly started one. Nevermind the fact that some of the wikis that are already out there have had incorrect information for awhile (Locations. I had to argue with someone who used a wiki to point out incorrect area for some place a few months ago).

 

It may almost be easier to categorize what there is and go from there. Or wait for the lore book.

 

 

On that note, if anyone ever wanted a bestiary codex made from Moose Notes that I haven't seen posted around.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L1efysP4lUIaAgly68UGfgystUnquNaHre-c-Ugm88U/edit#gid=2055243359