Should there be a Reviews forum?

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I hardly ever search anything on forums. Like ever. And when I do I don't get what I'm looking for anyway.
 
Could reviews be some sort of resource in a separate space with its own index, but transcluded into threads in the discussion forums?
 
Could reviews be some sort of resource in a separate space with its own index, but transcluded into threads in the discussion forums?

I looked into an add-on similar to resources. There is no such thing that is well-supported.
 
Is this really a hill to die on? Try it (single review posts and separate discussion thread) for a month and then try it the other way.
See what works.
This. Debate has been had. Now try one or the other and see how it goes. If it doesn't seem to work try the other thing.
 
We’ve been doing it one way for four years and I don’t see any problems.
 
And their review section is largely ignored by their users. :p
Maybe we should address that issue. Their system seems solid, they apparently keep churning out reviews, so why isn't anybody interested? What mistake to avoid here?
 
Maybe we should address that issue. Their system seems solid, they apparently keep churning out reviews, so why isn't anybody interested? What mistake to avoid here?

Originally, the entire RPGNet forums grew out of and revolved around the reviews.

The reason things changed are complicated and not really something we can discuss here at The Pub, for the exact same reason were not susceptible to the same pitfalls.
 
One other thing to consider is how/whether you specifically want to grow the Pub in that manner. Right now it grows pretty organically, and it seems to mostly attract people with similar senses of humour or approaches to online discussion (no politics, don’t take it too seriously, hate geese, etc.).

If you increase and highlight reviews, the Pub will start showing up in online searches more often, which means the profile of the Pub will likely increase, which could mean a lot more work for the Mods as there will inevitably be a higher number of new members who don’t necessarily value the culture that has developed here.

I’m not saying that is a good or bad thing. Just worth thinking about for those in charge as to whether you want to have to deal with those potential changes or not, and if they fit into your view of the future of the site.
 
I can't seriously see a Reviews forum as a threat to The Pub (especially as WE ALREADY HAD ONE). It would just have been a nice useful resource that maybe encouraged more participation in a different way from members and provided some good conversation topics.
 
I am not sure if this is what others have proposed but maybe everyone would be happy if—somehow, either through automated tags or manual intervention—an index of all review threads were created. That would increase visibility/accessibility, although not the danger of interruption and drift.
 
I am not sure if this is what others have proposed but maybe everyone would be happy if—somehow, either through automated tags or manual intervention—an index of all review threads were created. That would increase visibility/accessibility, although not the danger of interruption and drift.

Honestly that would take about the same amount of work as my suggestion:

if this is really about people being too lazy to start two threads, then I'd go back to my suggestion that people post reviews in the main forum as normal, but at some point the mods (or just me, if it's really that much of a bother) can create a thread in the reviews forum that just contains the review as a longterm resource.

...and I don't really see anyone else besides myself putting in the effort to do that, so...(shrug)
 
As a former music and film writer I detest rating systems, I don't mind if others used one but I'd definitely opt out myself.

As a former RPG reviewer, I agree. It encourages people to not actually consume the review and pick up the details that will help them determine if they agree or disagree with the reviewer, instead taking the very subjective ratings as a thumbs up/thumbs down.
 
As a former RPG reviewer, I agree. It encourages people to not actually consume the review and pick up the details that will help them determine if they agree or disagree with the reviewer, instead taking the very subjective ratings as a thumbs up/thumbs down.
I agree. I think the world’s had just a few too many tl;dr shortcuts.
 
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