IMO, it seems like the various photo contests and games (e.g. Exponential road signs game, Guess the census block) threads are really clogging up the discussion boards. I would suggest to split all such threads into a separate board (whether a subboard of something or a completely separate board, I don't have a preference).
I support this. I like the photo games, but I agree they could be separate. They really don't serve the same purpose as regular discussion threads.
I also agree. I think it would both be better for the games themselves (more exposure in their own board, all in one place instead of several places) and the boards they inhabit (less clogged up with the games and therefore easier to search for what you want).
I support this idea. Right now, most games are in Traffic Control, which seems like an odd fit, but then you have some in other boards, too.
If it's best to use an existing board, I would suggest "Photos, Videos, and More" as a potential location for all game and challenge threads.
During the Cody era, there was a board for games. When the Jake era started, it was axed out of a desire to discourage the creation of new game threads. (It would appear that, 10 years on, it didn't help.)
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
During the Cody era, there was a board for games. When the Jake era started, it was axed out of a desire to discourage the creation of new game threads. (It would appear that, 10 years on, it didn't help.)
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
1. What if users are not allowed to start new game threads themselves on that board, but they start them elsewhere and would have to get them moved if they catch on?
2. Make the board only visible to logged in users.
I don't see how either of those would solve anything. #1 would just make more work for us (having to decide which games are "worthy of being moved", and also moving them) and #2 would still mean that logged-in users would have 25 boards to scroll through (and admins more than that).
So if we did this, which boards would you want deleted?
I think I'm for reincarnating the games board and getting all the games in there. The years-long experiment to limit games threads has failed. "Cluttering" is an appropriate term since they're everywhere on the forum now and it's annoying.
I do most of my forum-surfing through Tapatalk, so I don't scroll through the boards -- just unread posts. And having that board classification helps me skip posts I'm never going to be interested in personally.
I see this benefit with the Fictional Highways board already. Imagine if all that crap was spread across the boards. Games are cluttering up boards that really should be devoted to actual information or questions about such.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Is there any chance my suggestion of using "Photos, Videos, and More" as a location for all game threads would work instead of a whole new board?
Quote from: webny99 on May 03, 2022, 07:52:31 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Is there any chance my suggestion of using "Photos, Videos, and More" as a location for all game threads would work instead of a whole new board?
The Travel Mapping board has been obsolete for the past 6 years as well so that one could be a candidate for deletion/repurposing.
Quote from: Mr. Matté on May 03, 2022, 08:55:52 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 03, 2022, 07:52:31 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Is there any chance my suggestion of using "Photos, Videos, and More" as a location for all game threads would work instead of a whole new board?
The Travel Mapping board has been obsolete for the past 6 years as well so that one could be a candidate for deletion/repurposing.
Travel Mapping is a mere "child board" (or "sub-board") of "Off-Topic". Its deletion (which I would be OK with) would not declutter the forum, or create a new opportunity to re-clutter the forum.
I think moving around the games threads would be a waste of time. Thread titles do much of the work of helping users filter in or out games threads. For example, I always ignore any thread called "Guess the ...", no matter where it is located.
Getting rid of any thread declutters the forum. Kill the Travel Mapping thread.
Quote from: Rothman on May 03, 2022, 04:51:24 PM
Getting rid of any thread declutters the forum. Kill the Travel Mapping thread.
So if I delete this thread–?
Quote from: webny99 on May 03, 2022, 07:52:31 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Is there any chance my suggestion of using "Photos, Videos, and More" as a location for all game threads would work instead of a whole new board?
This would work for the games where users are required to post their own content (like the city name photo game), but not for the guess-the-location type games (since those often operate on non-user-created photos, i.e. Street View).
Maybe require any 'game' thread to start with the word "GAME:"? If they don't have it, nuke them?
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 03, 2022, 08:19:51 PM
Quote from: Rothman on May 03, 2022, 04:51:24 PM
Getting rid of any thread declutters the forum. Kill the Travel Mapping thread.
So if I delete this thread–?
It would declutter the forum, but cause a backlash.
Nobody cares about that TM thread.
I don't think the forum has too many boards at the moment. When you consider that half of the 24 boards (12) on here are regional boards, I think there is still room for expansion. I'm sure most users don't have time to look through all 12 regional boards, so I don't think it's fair to count them like that.
Quote from: JoePCool14 on May 04, 2022, 12:01:36 AM
I don't think the forum has too many boards at the moment. When you consider that half of the 24 boards (12) on here are regional boards, I think there is still room for expansion. I'm sure most users don't have time to look through all 12 regional boards, so I don't think it's fair to count them like that.
I agree with Joe here. You can easily skim past the regional boards without too much difficulty.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on May 04, 2022, 01:26:46 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on May 04, 2022, 12:01:36 AM
I don't think the forum has too many boards at the moment. When you consider that half of the 24 boards (12) on here are regional boards, I think there is still room for expansion. I'm sure most users don't have time to look through all 12 regional boards, so I don't think it's fair to count them like that.
I agree with Joe here. You can easily skim past the regional boards without too much difficulty.
Do note that
you can, but
I can't... (Or at least, I'm not supposed to.)
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 04, 2022, 01:29:09 AM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on May 04, 2022, 01:26:46 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on May 04, 2022, 12:01:36 AM
I don't think the forum has too many boards at the moment. When you consider that half of the 24 boards (12) on here are regional boards, I think there is still room for expansion. I'm sure most users don't have time to look through all 12 regional boards, so I don't think it's fair to count them like that.
I agree with Joe here. You can easily skim past the regional boards without too much difficulty.
Do note that you can, but I can't... (Or at least, I'm not supposed to.)
Well, you got me there.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 04, 2022, 01:29:09 AM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on May 04, 2022, 01:26:46 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on May 04, 2022, 12:01:36 AM
I don't think the forum has too many boards at the moment. When you consider that half of the 24 boards (12) on here are regional boards, I think there is still room for expansion. I'm sure most users don't have time to look through all 12 regional boards, so I don't think it's fair to count them like that.
I agree with Joe here. You can easily skim past the regional boards without too much difficulty.
Do note that you can, but I can't... (Or at least, I'm not supposed to.)
That's understandable. But the number of game threads probably wouldn't increase much. As already stated, getting rid of the board previously didn't stop them.
This isn't a critical issue though, it's merely a "would be nice" sort of thing. It's pretty common on other forums I've used over the years.
I'm okay with a split, but not bothered one way or another. I usually pull them up from the same Traffic Control sub-forum, or wait until it appears in the Show New Replies to Your Posts link.
"How things were done 10-12 years ago" shouldn't really have the same weight in the discussion, unless it's specifically against the rules.
Hmmm...time to create that 1-4-9 Exponential Route Sign Challenge thread.
Quote from: formulanone on May 04, 2022, 12:27:07 PM
1-4-9 Exponential Route Sign Challenge
That's quadratic, not exponential.
Quote from: 1 on May 04, 2022, 12:36:01 PM
Quote from: formulanone on May 04, 2022, 12:27:07 PM
1-4-9 Exponential Route Sign Challenge
That's quadratic, not exponential.
yes. I knew that. As long as there's no more follow up questions.
If we're talking math, I wonder if we could have a 3-4-5 Triangle game, to find roads that make a 3-4-5 triangle.
Quote from: Rothman on May 03, 2022, 06:57:27 AM
I think I'm for reincarnating the games board and getting all the games in there. The years-long experiment to limit games threads has failed. "Cluttering" is an appropriate term since they're everywhere on the forum now and it's annoying.
I do most of my forum-surfing through Tapatalk, so I don't scroll through the boards -- just unread posts. And having that board classification helps me skip posts I'm never going to be interested in personally.
I see this benefit with the Fictional Highways board already. Imagine if all that crap was spread across the boards. Games are cluttering up boards that really should be devoted to actual information or questions about such.
^This. 100% agree with Games (incl. "Guess the" threads) having there own area of the forum again.
Quote from: on_wisconsin on May 04, 2022, 06:35:14 PM
Quote from: Rothman on May 03, 2022, 06:57:27 AM
I think I'm for reincarnating the games board and getting all the games in there. The years-long experiment to limit games threads has failed. "Cluttering" is an appropriate term since they're everywhere on the forum now and it's annoying.
I do most of my forum-surfing through Tapatalk, so I don't scroll through the boards -- just unread posts. And having that board classification helps me skip posts I'm never going to be interested in personally.
I see this benefit with the Fictional Highways board already. Imagine if all that crap was spread across the boards. Games are cluttering up boards that really should be devoted to actual information or questions about such.
^This. 100% agree with Games (incl. "Guess the" threads) having there own area of the forum again.
I also agree. And if there is any distinction between a board and a sub-board, in my mind it should be easier to place all games as a child board of the General Highway Talk (the same way that Traffic Control and Road Related Illustrations currently are).
Quote from: JoePCool14 on May 04, 2022, 01:58:59 PM
If we're talking math, I wonder if we could have a 3-4-5 Triangle game, to find roads that make a 3-4-5 triangle.
Don't you need the Hypotenuse to do that?
.....Sorry.
I didn't think there would be so many other game threads started on top of the 1-2-3 challenge. The idea of separating them into a separate sub-board sounds favorable in my opinion as well.
As someone who likes these threads, I'd appreciate having them all in one board (I'm good with mrsman's suggestion of a General Highway Talk child board).
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 03, 2022, 08:26:05 PM
Quote from: webny99 on May 03, 2022, 07:52:31 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 30, 2022, 09:54:37 PM
I'm somewhat reluctant to endorse adding a new board, as there are already 24 of them for most logged-in users, not even counting sub-boards.
Is there any chance my suggestion of using "Photos, Videos, and More" as a location for all game threads would work instead of a whole new board?
This would work for the games where users are required to post their own content (like the city name photo game), but not for the guess-the-location type games (since those often operate on non-user-created photos, i.e. Street View).
I'd say the guess-the-location type games could still fit under the "More" part of that header..
Looks like the admins are choosing the No Build option.
Quote from: formulanone on May 20, 2022, 11:51:27 AM
Looks like the admins are choosing the No Build option.
I suppose they think it didn't have a sufficient b/c ratio.
I guess the question is... are the mods/admins anticipating that a lot more photo contests/games would appear if they got their own board? Because as someone who does at least look at what threads have new posts in every board every day, I don't see why simply having them in a different board would make more work assuming the amount of total forum content each day remained unchanged.
If it's just "we don't want to increase the total number of boards" in and of itself, Travel and Road Trips seem kinda redundant with each other. Heck, most of Travel seems to be overrun with games as it is.
Quote from: vdeane on May 20, 2022, 12:49:49 PM
I guess the question is... are the mods/admins anticipating that a lot more photo contests/games would appear if they got their own board?
As has already been pointed out, games have been a part of this forum since before I joined. It's reasonable to assume they'll continue to be a part of it. With that in mind, it makes sense to put them on their own board–preferably invisible to non-members.
Quote from: kphoger on May 20, 2022, 01:45:11 PM
Quote from: vdeane on May 20, 2022, 12:49:49 PM
I guess the question is... are the mods/admins anticipating that a lot more photo contests/games would appear if they got their own board?
As has already been pointed out, games have been a part of this forum since before I joined. It's reasonable to assume they'll continue to be a part of it. With that in mind, it makes sense to put them on their own board–preferably invisible to non-members.
Right... what I was asking was whether the mods/admins think that giving games their own board would double/triple the number of active games threads or something. Because if not, I don't really get the "more forums is more work" complaint.
EDIT: Browsing the forum today, I noticed that it's not just Travel, but also Traffic Control as well... so both boards that have games are basically majority game threads at this point (at least for threads that show up with new posts on any given day). Having the games split into two boards while both boards are theoretically about other things but in practice not really does not seem very logical.
Quote from: vdeane on May 20, 2022, 08:09:47 PM
Quote from: kphoger on May 20, 2022, 01:45:11 PM
Quote from: vdeane on May 20, 2022, 12:49:49 PM
I guess the question is... are the mods/admins anticipating that a lot more photo contests/games would appear if they got their own board?
As has already been pointed out, games have been a part of this forum since before I joined. It's reasonable to assume they'll continue to be a part of it. With that in mind, it makes sense to put them on their own board–preferably invisible to non-members.
Right... what I was asking was whether the mods/admins think that giving games their own board would double/triple the number of active games threads or something. Because if not, I don't really get the "more forums is more work" complaint.
EDIT: Browsing the forum today, I noticed that it's not just Travel, but also Traffic Control as well... so both boards that have games are basically majority game threads at this point (at least for threads that show up with new posts on any given day). Having the games split into two boards while both boards are theoretically about other things but in practice not really does not seem very logical.
There are games in each of those forums. In many ways, the games do dilute the focus of those forums and it would seem that segregating the games would allow the existing forums to go back to their normal focus.
As others mentioned, there seems to be a decent overlap between Travel and Road Trips, even though the original focus tended to divide the two subject matters as being road and non-road. Perhaps a merger of those two threads would then allow room for a new board to handle the games.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the successful games do create a lot of traffic. If you are interested in Traffic Control, but not in the games on that board, often the only new messages are from the game threads. For people who don't care for games, they would probably not want to keep checking the traffic control board if the only new posts are from games. Separating the games would allow for people to better gage when new substantive content is available.
I agree that Traffic Control is overrun with games. I sometimes don't even bother checking that board, or check the games I'm interested in and glaze over everything else.
It can be a challenge to find the non-game threads in that board - to the point where on more than one occasion, I've considered putting a new thread in Traffic Control but decided to put it in General Highway Talk instead, knowing it would remain visible for longer and have a higher chance of generating sustained discussion - which is a tremendous irony when you think about it.
I suppose the same could be said of the Travel board, but there's generally fewer games and less other discussion going on there, plus I tend to have a higher interest level in the games in that board.
The opposite is also true: sometimes I'm looking for a game thread, but I can't remember if it's in Travel or in Traffic Control.
Also... let's be honest... route shields don't "control" traffic.
Quote from: kphoger on May 25, 2022, 10:25:44 AM
The opposite is also true: sometimes I'm looking for a game thread, but I can't remember if it's in Travel or in Traffic Control.
Also... let's be honest... route shields don't "control" traffic.
But...Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices...
I don't find the boards to be cluttered with games at all. Especially not the way I read the forum -- which is to click the green arrow next to each board on the home page to read new posts since my last visit. I can scan the topics and if there's nothing that interests me, I just hit the back button on the browser and scroll down to the next board.
That being said, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other about the games, but it seems as if TPTB have decreed that there will not be a separate "Games" board, so I don't understand why the discussion is continuing.
I mean, I've just given the reasons why I don't really care for the idea. None of the other staff members have stated an opinion one way or another, here or anywhere else, so far as I know.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 25, 2022, 05:51:33 PM
I mean, I've just given the reasons why I don't really care for the idea. None of the other staff members have stated an opinion one way or another, here or anywhere else, so far as I know.
Well, the forum certainly isn't a democracy.
Quote from: Rothman on May 25, 2022, 07:39:13 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 25, 2022, 05:51:33 PM
I mean, I've just given the reasons why I don't really care for the idea. None of the other staff members have stated an opinion one way or another, here or anywhere else, so far as I know.
Well, the forum certainly isn't a democracy.
No, it's a republic!
I'm so sorry. Pretty sure half the games on here are my fault, because I started the "guess the..." trend over in Bridges. At least everyone seems to like the concept!