Re-ordering Forums?

[Jane Starborn]

There's an Imperial discussion going on, so I figured we (everyone change hats now, ok, ready? Okay.) should have one too. This forum will probably get squished into the SW Discussion forum (or archived and closed? I'm not sure what has been talked about for existing threads in the group OOC forums).

Some discussion points:
Do we still need/want our private forum? Or should we axe that too? (I'm in favor of axing it.)
We have two location forums, Mon Cal/Dac and Bothwauii. I think one 'location' forum should suffice, with a name indicating it's Alliance owned worlds, and then maybe topic tags indicating planet? If anyone still wants to differentiate. These would be for Alliance threads (other interactions on those planets by non alliance members would be very rare and if it's a fleet battle that would be in Roleplaying anyway, right?)
Imps are thinking about a "training" forum of some kind, do we need one too?
Some people talked about integrating the Jedi forums with the Rebel forums. How would that look, in a way that minimizes clicks (no sub forums in other words). I'll link to this thread from Avalon so they come see this too.A sample layout that I am coming up with as I'm typing so don't think I'm married to this or something. :mneh :::


The Rebel Alliance
- Alliance of Free Planets (I think that's actually something else in SW but insert a better name here)
- The Wheel (wheel forum from Enclave)
--Holocron Library (archives can be a sub forum, no one clicks there but we don't want to get rid of them)
--Avalon (archive?)
- Fleet Training and Informational Forum (for threads about the Wheel and the Alliance, like roster and ships and layouts and etc. Of course the information part could also be a single thread with links to the Wiki, if all the information needed was in the wiki, but we already have existing threads like this in both the Enclave and the ALliance so just moving them here would probably work and be helpful to any new people)
--Rebel Archives (if threads need to be archived from previous OOC forums or wherever?)
- Administration (private for group mods only)


I would be sad to have Avalon go by the wayside, tbh. But leaving it as a private archive forum might work, maybe up there with the Holocron. In fact let me put it there.





Okay. Your turn. :)

[Droo]

The Jedi are now pretty much completely tangled up with the Rebellion as it is, albeit in a secretive capacity, so yeah, it makes sense for the forums to be merged/streamlined/fewer-clicks-ified. I don't see the point in seperate forums for training, and certainly not for fleet rosters and/or ship specs, that is just bio content for inanimate objects. Anything like that can go to the wiki, with links, as suggested in your post, to the relevant pages in a single thread. Training can just happen in the normal IC forum, all we'd need is a topic tag.

[Kyran O'Hurn]

I agree with Droo. The only forum that I could see is someplace where new people can find information and post about joining.

In reality, R&D could be combined between Alliance and Imperial so long as there are tags to show which is which.

Everything else I think can be done in the main RP forum (or in the Outer Rim forum if that get's created where the Black Sun forum is now).

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Jedi are now pretty much completely tangled up with the Rebellion as it is, albeit in a secretive capacity, so yeah, it makes sense for the forums to be merged/streamlined/fewer-clicks-ified. I don't see the point in seperate forums for training, and certainly not for fleet rosters and/or ship specs, that is just bio content for inanimate objects. Anything like that can go to the wiki, with links, as suggested in your post, to the relevant pages in a single thread. Training can just happen in the normal IC forum, all we'd need is a topic tag.

Droo said pretty much everything I would have to say about this! In terms of the forums we needed, I'd say something like...

* Alliance Space (open IC)
* The Wheel (open IC)

Other than that I'm not sure what's necessary! An archive I guess?

Alliance Space can have different topic tags for different planets or fleet/political stuff if necessary, rather than having seperate forums for different planets. Anything which is purely informational should be on the wiki, with maybe a couple of sticky threads to point people in the right direction.


I agree with Droo. The only forum that I could see is someplace where new people can find information and post about joining.

Would this be OOC or an IC recruitment forum?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The Jedi are now pretty much completely tangled up with the Rebellion as it is, albeit in a secretive capacity, so yeah, it makes sense for the forums to be merged/streamlined/fewer-clicks-ified. I don't see the point in seperate forums for training, and certainly not for fleet rosters and/or ship specs, that is just bio content for inanimate objects. Anything like that can go to the wiki, with links, as suggested in your post, to the relevant pages in a single thread. Training can just happen in the normal IC forum, all we'd need is a topic tag.
no, you're right about training, but since Resh mentioned it in the Imp discussion i thought I'd mention it here.

A place for new people to post about joining (ic or ooc) might be worthwhile just so it doesn't get lost in the new jumbo OOC forum?

[Droo]

A place for new people to post about joining (ic or ooc) might be worthwhile just so it doesn't get lost in the new jumbo OOC forum?

Again, I don't think that's necessary. We're not that active that a potential new member's request to join a faction will be lost in OOC, and there's certainly no need for an IC recruitment forum for the same reason, it'd just be wasted space. I'd suggest each faction stickies their own faction-specific FAQ and guidelines at the top of their IC forum, and a separate thread with links to each of these faction FAQ's can be stickied in the main OOC discussion, or even simpler, just have each factions FAQ's and whatnot feature in individual posts in that single OOC thread. That way, all the info is in one place for potential newcomers.

[Serena Laran]

I like that idea. A single stickied thread if organized correctly can contain all the information needed, including people to PM if one has questions.

Adding more stickied threads to the OOC forum would be total overkill, I already think we have too many, lol! :mneh

[Captain Untouchable]

My big reservation applies to both the Rebels and the Empire, so I'll write it in a quote block thingy (because I'm lazy).


Deleting forums is really easy. As part of the process on most forums, you can choose to move everything from the forum you're deleting into a new destination, which you pick from a drop-down box. (I assume Fans has something similar).

Unfortunately, forums don't come with an undo button. If in six months time we discover that we're seeing a lot more activity at the deleted roleplay setting, the only way to restore it is to manually move all of those threads back, one at a time. That represents a lot of work, and perhaps isn't something we should rush into.

Maybe instead we could place forums "under review"? Over the next three/six/etc months we could keep an eye on the activity level of a forum we're thinking about deleting. If the activity over those months is low, then delete away. However, if we suddenly get a surge of activity within that window, we've dodged a bullet on a lot of hard work.

We've been discussing a lot of political type stuff lately. We talked about how the government works. We've have a couple of story arcs on the horizon - Onderon/Hapes, the Dan Crisis, possible relations with the Cizerack, etc - which could see some political posting happen. Reshmar, myself, and some others have been talking about some of the more military leadership as well. All that added together could potentially spark a lot of activity in one of the forums we're talking about deleting. Maybe it won't... but if we have them "under review", at least we've erred on the side of caution.

The same mentality could apply to new stuff. For example, Task Force 42 (a lot of our fleeters), General Dan, and one of Christin's Generals: they're all based at Sullust. Sullust was just attacked, so there's scope for a fair bit of political fallout from that, which Charley, Dee, and myself are planning to roleplay. After Vansen leaves the Wheel, he'll be setting up shop at Sullust. We could potentially create a Sullust forum and have it under review. If it's active enough under the first few months, awesome; if not, merging it back in somewhere else is (relatively) easy. The same could apply to a thread for the Corellian resistance idea, etc.

Just a thought, anyway. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Anyone any more thoughts on what our new layout could be? Which forums do you think are essential/non-essential?

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

How about this:



Territories of the Alliance
Born from oppression, the Rebel Alliance has sworn to liberate the galaxy from the yoke of the Empire.

The Wheel
Under the protection of the Alliance, the once decimated Jedi Order has found a home in the ragtag fleet now known as the Wheel. Here they are able to pass on their knowledge to the Jedi of the next generation while keeping one step ahead of the Empire.

The Hall of Heroes
Alliance Archives

Holocron Library
Jedi Archives


As far as the jedi archives, I say put Avolon in there as well as the biographies and helpdesk. We don't need them in light of the changes we wish to make.

In light of these changes, I made some tags for use specifically in the alliance forums.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I still think having an administration forum is a good idea. And I made the Open and Fleet topic tags in the Jedi icon set that are rebel themed, if people like the look of those I can make a Closed to match, or whatever. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Forum order/structure looks great to me there, s'Il. Likewise for the topic tags.

[Captain Untouchable]

I don't really like us smushing all the territories together.

There are plans for a lot of fleeting type activity to start happening based out of Sullust in the not too distant future: it's lined up to be hub of sorts, eventually. It's also where Dan is, so it's likely to see more activity in the immediate future too.

We're also talking about increasing the amount of politics roleplaying we do. AND we have the potential for a lot of resistance activity in the Duros/Corellia area.

I really don't think all that stuff should be piled on top of each other. It will get messy.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I think that if/when it becomes an issue that there are just too many threads in those different roleplay arcs that they need their own forum, we can make them their own forum... but until all that activity transpires, I think we could get away with all Rebel-based stuff taking place in the one forum.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Are you talking about a forum each for all that stuff?

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I think that if/when it becomes an issue that there are just too many threads in those different roleplay arcs that they need their own forum, we can make them their own forum... but until all that activity transpires, I think we could get away with all Rebel-based stuff taking place in the one forum.

That's how I feel on it too. I just can't see us having the volume of threads that would clutter things up that much. If we do later, that's a good problem to have. If not, it's just another mouse click in my way

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Here's a Sullust tag, since I forgot about it.

[Captain Untouchable]

Could we at least be a little bit organised with it... maybe something a la the "Core" / "Rim" split suggested in the Imperial forums?

The Calamari and Bothan Sectors are controlled in full by the Alliance, and are where most of the fleet command, SpecForce command, Intel, and politics stuff will happen.

Chandrila, Sullust, Clak'dor, Sluis Van, Mustafar, etc are all frontier type places, and there's likely to be a lot of skirmish activity in the surrounding area from fleeters. Vansen and Rogue Squadron are moving to Sullust to hang with Task Force 42 at the end of the Dan Crisis; and any stuff in the Atravis Sector would fall under this amorphous geographical blob too. It's also somewhere to do the 'rebuilding Sullust' stuff that Charley, Dee and I have already started on... that feels more like something worthy of private boards than being in "Star Wars Roleplaying".

At least then it's a little bit organised, rather than being completely haphazard.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Could do an 'Alliance Homeworlds' or just simply 'The Homeworlds' for Dac and Bothawui, and 'Alliance Frontier' for the others?

[Captain Untouchable]

Alliance Homeworlds and Alliance Frontier is the sort of thing I was thinking, aye.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I'd be willing to go along with that

[Dasquian Belargic]

I can go with that as a probationary set up, on the basis that we would look at reviewing it somewhere down the line, to make sure that we definitely need all of those forums.

[Reshmar]

Can we get the Fleet Icon from the Jedi forum to the others. That would make resh happy.

[Reshmar]

isn't every world a Home World? When you say "Home world what do you mean? Dac, Bothawui, Sullust, Sluis Van,??? I just dont know if Home Worlds is the best way to word it.

[Captain Untouchable]

It would refer just to the Bothan and Calamari Sectors, I would imagine: they're where the capitals and safe worlds are at, while everything else is on the frontier with the Empire.

They're homeworlds in that they're the "home" of the Alliance. Would "Alliance Heartlands" be better/clearer?

Alliance Heartlands
Safely nestled in independent regions of the Rim, the free Bothan and Calamari Sectors are the seat of Alliance's military and politics, a safe haven for refugees from across the galaxy, and the heart of the Rebellion.

Alliance Frontier
Located on the frontier with Imperial space, the defiant Free Planets of the Rebel Alliance face a constant struggle to maintain their independence from the Empire's opression.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I'm cool with either Heartlands or Homeworlds, so whatever other folks decide is a-ok.

There was mention of fleet tags being brought over, and I had made an Alliance specific fleet tag to match the style I've been doing so far. I also made a neutral style fleet tag (and a new RandD tag to match it), so that they can be shared between the Alliance and the Empire should that be the route we decide to take.

Whether it's decided to use an existing tag style or not, I'm just gonna go ahead and put these up.

[Reshmar]

If it has to be one or the other I vote Homeworlds. Heartlands is too midwestern ride a horse to work sounding to me.

[Dasquian Belargic]

*waves wand over forums*

:angel