The Pub: Five Years On and What I’m Thinking…

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Thank you for the support, Stumpydave Stumpydave. I know how expensive a teenage daughter can be, let alone two! My wife and I just got the payment schedule for our daughter’s college loan…
Yep, always a blast. Put four through university. I'll be in debt until the day I die most likely. lol. If I recall it's all toll around $450,000 in debt.
 
Having just had a possible post "evaluated" by the mods, I could see this as a service I'd pay for, to avoid putting my foot in my mouth.

I would need a little more feedback, maybe... How to shift a post from no-go to workable. But identifying an issue when I can't see it clearly is helpful. We all need editors.

I mean, I just got a bunch of people to read my post dispassionately, which is what I was after. So devious.:hehe:
 
5 years, wow. Time marches on, but I still love the Pub - I'm not a prolific poster, but I do read a lot of what is posted. I'm all for reviews and articles. I'm happy to contribute.
 
I'm only making it to 4 years this April, and I have no ideas on how to expand it:shade:.
 
Never mind the politics haters (no offense @CRKrueger ). I agree that with additional exposure, and especially with more news coverage, that a certain amount of exposure to the dreaded P word is inevitable, but it can also be pretty safely contained to the actual coverage in question and need not contaminate the entire site. That said, I think the no-politics agenda has been very good for the overall feel of this wonderful place, and I wouldn't change that substantially unless at dire need. Is there a way to grow and stay classy here? IDK.

For what it's worth as a literally brand-new member of the forum, the reputation for no politics and no drama and no politics-related drama is what attracted me here.

I understand the desire to grow what's been built here over the last five years and how industry coverage (though it may, by its very nature, get caught in larger dragnets of political BS) may be a way to take that next step.

I just hope that the forum rules would prohibit dragging any of the politics that result from news coverage (or what is not covered) over into the threads here.
 
So what I think I would like to do is see who might be interested in forming up what we might call the Article Group. This is something that people who are interested in writing or editing articles (news/reviews/stories) would be interested in. Serious inquiries only. I will probably end up setting up a private forum for the group.
 

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So what I think I would like to do is see who might be interested in forming up what we might call the Article Group. This is something that people who are interested in writing or editing articles (news/reviews/stories) would be interested in. Serious inquiries only. I will probably end up setting up a private forum for the group.
What's the score with stuff that was already going up on the forum? Crossposted?

(I'm mostly wondering if it's worth holding onto my future skirmish wargame reviews to give some material for launch).
 
What's the score with stuff that was already going up on the forum? Crossposted?

(I'm mostly wondering if it's worth holding onto my future skirmish wargame reviews to give some material for launch).
If it’s already on the forum, it’ll stay there unless it’s being rewritten. If you have stuff in the can, you might want to save it.
 
The reviews sound like an interesting idea. But as for paying money to post. I hate the idea. Even if its a small amount like five dollars, I don't like it. Just my thoughts.
 
I'm a little cynical of how long reviews of games with significant setting material could go on before the pressure against the "no politics" rule got, shall we say, strong, but if others claim parallel things have gone on here without blowing up, I'm too peripheral a user to want to argue with them.
 
Well, we’ve never succumbed to any pressure to allow political discussion here so I don’t think articles and reviews are going to somehow flip the switch. I’m just looking for ways to get the content in front of more eyes.
 
I'm a little cynical of how long reviews of games with significant setting material could go on before the pressure against the "no politics" rule got, shall we say, strong, but if others claim parallel things have gone on here without blowing up, I'm too peripheral a user to want to argue with them.
I don't understand your objection. It sounds like you are you saying that, over a long enough timeline, the temptation to inject political opinions in reviews will be too great to resist. Is this correct? I am not trying to start an argument but would like clarification on what you're trying to say.
 
Articles are not going to be a way for folks to sneak in their political manifestos. Any articles or reviews or anything will be vouched for being Pub-friendly before it’s posted. Merely mentioning that a product contains political content does not in itself necessarily break the no-politics rule, it’s just stating a fact. But like I said, this needs to be discussed further and is always on a case by case basis.
 
The reviews sound like an interesting idea. But as for paying money to post. I hate the idea. Even if its a small amount like five dollars, I don't like it. Just my thoughts.

The suggestion wasn't to have anyone pay for regular posting, it was a joke that we'd fine anyone who wanted to talk about politics
 
I would also commit to one article a month by way of gauging what effort would be involved. I don't know exactly what that would look like or how in-depth they would be, but I would be willing to attempt a game review, a series of small articles about freelancing, or some kind of mini-series each one introducing monsters, plots, and locations. Not sure I would be of any use at actual gaming news as I rarely stray outside the Pub.
 
Not sure about regular articles but I have some things in the field of sci-fi and adjacent gaming that I'd like to pontificate on, and maybe a few articles about science and technology related to sci-fi gaming.
 
Not sure about regular articles but I have some things in the field of sci-fi and adjacent gaming that I'd like to pontificate on, and maybe a few articles about science and technology related to sci-fi gaming.
I could see a whole subsection aimed at programming and software related aids, product reviews, etc that would be helpful. Some of the dedicated sites to individual products have their own tribalism issues so being on neutral ground isn't a bad palace for people to start asking questions.
 
I can commit to two reviews or articles a month. (I'd rather steer clear of news).

If it's helpful, I can also do a bluffer's guide to SEO friendly writing. Nothing complex or skeevy; just stuff like how to write an effective title more likely to turn up in Google searches.
 
I can commit to two reviews or articles a month. (I'd rather steer clear of news).

If it's helpful, I can also do a bluffer's guide to SEO friendly writing. Nothing complex or skeevy; just stuff like how to write an effective title more likely to turn up in Google searches.

Google admins hate this one trick you can do to optimise your pagerank!
 
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I think a small article would be around 500 words. A review could be a of a similar length to a music review on AllMusic (can’t read it any more because it sucks now).
 
I don't understand your objection. It sounds like you are you saying that, over a long enough timeline, the temptation to inject political opinions in reviews will be too great to resist. Is this correct? I am not trying to start an argument but would like clarification on what you're trying to say.

Specifically, I'm not sure its possible to properly review a game with heavy setting elements without tipping your hand about your politics unless you're very, very careful about how you do so, and almost nobody is that careful indefinitely.
 
Well, we’ve never succumbed to any pressure to allow political discussion here so I don’t think articles and reviews are going to somehow flip the switch. I’m just looking for ways to get the content in front of more eyes.

To be clear, I don't think it'll be political discussion so much as as some reviews will be, from lack of a better term, politicalized by their nature, simply in how someone assesses the setting presented in a game.

This is obviously less of an issue with games that have minimal or no setting material.
 
To be clear, I don't think it'll be political discussion so much as as some reviews will be, from lack of a better term, politicalized by their nature, simply in how someone assesses the setting presented in a game.

This is obviously less of an issue with games that have minimal or no setting material.
Are you mostly talking about modern settings and things like urban fantasy? If so, I think I can see what you're getting at, although I'm less pessimistic about it than you.

If not, I'm more confused by how politics would creep into something like a review of Maelstrom Rome. (Ok, yeah, ancient politics, but one suspects that's not the kind of contentious politics we need to avoid. Very few people are going to have strong opinions on the struggle between the Populares and the Optimates!)
 
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