[Roleplaying Games] A "how to post" sticky?

[Oracle_Hunter]

I spend a lot of time on the "Roleplaying Games" segment of this forum and I've noticed that threads really bog down when the OP fails to specify the game and/or edition when asking for advice. Additionally, it'd be helpful if the practice of placing that information in brackets in the title of the thread (e.g. [4E], [SR3]) became more common. IMHO, if these two practices became standard, there'd be a lot fewer unhelpful responses in threads and people who come looking for advice might be able to get what they're looking for.

I'm not suggesting anything big - just a stickied post at the top of the "Roleplaying Games" forum with two simple pieces of information:
- When you are asking for advice with a game, please specify the system and edition you are using in the opening post of the thread. This will increase the likelihood that you will get useful responses to your question.

- When beginning a thread to discus details of a particular system, please include the name and edition of the system in the title of your post. For ease of reading, use an abbreviation of the system name (such as "3.X" for the Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons). This will help to attract people knowledgeable about the system in question to your thread.
It could be titled "Advice for New Posters" or somesuch.

Just a thought :smallsmile:

[Totally Guy]

Lets face it, if you're not into D&D on these boards you're a leper.

But not talking about system people might not know that I'm a leper and actually talk to me.

I am so lonely.

[Neftren]

Well, we had a thread like that. What happened to Gorby's thread?


Well, for the time being, I can add the questions onto the GM/DM registry.


Well, consider that done (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5280775#post5280775). I added a copyable template too.

If nobody objects, I'd be willing to put up a new thread with some of the old info on it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Well, we had a thread like that. What happened to Gorby's thread?
It wouldn't be a thread, really - just a sticky post at the top of the "Roleplaying Game" section. The last I saw of something like this was to add it to the Forum Rules which is really a bit much; this isn't an attempt to force people into posting within a certain format, but to suggest some base guidelines to reduce chaos in threads.

Kind of like a "Posting Etiquette" pamphlet.

[Neftren]

It wouldn't be a thread, really - just a sticky post at the top of the "Roleplaying Game" section. The last I saw of something like this was to add it to the Forum Rules which is really a bit much; this isn't an attempt to force people into posting within a certain format, but to suggest some base guidelines to reduce chaos in threads.

Kind of like a "Posting Etiquette" pamphlet.

That's what I was referring to. There was an entire thread (first two posts were the meaty ones) that explained all the rules and suggestions for running and playing play by post games on the forums. I say thread and not post, because it was open to comments, and many of the suggestions came about from user input.

[Oracle_Hunter]

That's what I was referring to. There was an entire thread (first two posts were the meaty ones) that explained all the rules and suggestions for running and playing play by post games on the forums. I say thread and not post, because it was open to comments, and many of the suggestions came about from user input.
No I wouldn't like a thread for various reasons:

(1) It would be too long
No one would bother to read something of the size you linked to before posting a simple "HELP!" thread. A two-point post from an authority figure is much more likely to be read and may even be followed.

(2) It would not be clear
This isn't meant to be a style guide like, say, The Chicago Manual of Style. It's a communication tool; something to help people communicate their desires clearly by establishing a standard for posting. It'd be more like the Concerning Vs. Threads (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70661) sticky over in "Media Discussions."

An extended discussion of how to properly do a thing is unlikely to be helpful in this regard. I mean, look at any given "What Alignment Is X?" thread for the case in point.

[Zherog]

No I wouldn't like a thread for various reasons:

maybe it's a semantics thing. But what you're asking for is a thread. That thread could be locked so that nobody else could post to it, but it would still be a thread.

Also, I get the distinct feeling you and Neftren are talking about two different areas. I got the impression from your initial post that you're talking about the RPG Discussion forum, and I get the impression from Nef that he's talking about the play-by-post forum.

[Oracle_Hunter]

maybe it's a semantics thing. But what you're asking for is a thread. That thread could be locked so that nobody else could post to it, but it would still be a thread.

Also, I get the distinct feeling you and Neftren are talking about two different areas. I got the impression from your initial post that you're talking about the RPG Discussion forum, and I get the impression from Nef that he's talking about the play-by-post forum.
I'll agree with you about Neftren :smalltongue:

And yes, while it would be a "thread" it really wouldn't be more than a single post that got locked & stickied after creation. I, for one, don't presume to be the one authoring this post - it was a suggestion that one of the Powers That Be do so in order to make it seem all official-like.

Likewise, this is why I didn't just drop a post into the "Roleplaying Game" section with the suggestion in my OP.

[Neftren]

maybe it's a semantics thing. But what you're asking for is a thread. That thread could be locked so that nobody else could post to it, but it would still be a thread.

Also, I get the distinct feeling you and Neftren are talking about two different areas. I got the impression from your initial post that you're talking about the RPG Discussion forum, and I get the impression from Nef that he's talking about the play-by-post forum.

Ah, now I see. And yes, semantics.


As for the RPG Discussion forum, is it really necessary to have explanatory rules sticky in every area? I'm not sure placing the system tag in front of a thread will really change much. Thread title has to be interesting enough to read before anyone actually clicks on it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

As for the RPG Discussion forum, is it really necessary to have explanatory rules sticky in every area? I'm not sure placing the system tag in front of a thread will really change much. Thread title has to be interesting enough to read before anyone actually clicks on it.
The point is not to make the thread seem more interesting but to attract people who know about the issues relevant to the thread.

EXAMPLES
People frequently post threads with titles like "Need help creating a character." Adding a tag to say whether you need help making a third edition Shadowrun character ("[SR3]") or a Pathfinder character ("[PF]") will help to ensure that people don't just drop in with either generic advice or advice for the wrong system.

This problem becomes worse with threads whose titles read "A class based on critical hits" and whose OP reads as follows:

So in brief my question is, are there any classes focused on scoring critical hits?
This came up for me because i was playing my fire emblem game and enjoying the swordsmaster a class based on getting critical hits with swords.
so are there any good classes that get extra critical hits?
All we know about the needs of the OP is that he's playing a game with Classes. At this point there are 24 posts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180601) which offer a mixture of D&D3.5 and D&D4 advice. If the OP here was actually looking for advice on a Pathfinder character he would be out of luck. Plus, lacking focus, the thread will continue to wander further afield of relevant topics.
Obviously this isn't a crash-priority issue but, darn it, it's a simple efficiency that can allow me to produce more with my wasted time :smalltongue:

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: We're not really interested in adding more stickies to the top of the forums nor are we interested in "suggesting" with whatever level of formality you want to discuss that people note the game in the thread title. Would marking threads in this manner be helpful? Sure. Would people do it without some enforcement just because we said to do it in a sticky? Of course, not. Would people even read the sticky? Probably not. Would these "guidelines" become the fodder for increased vigilante modding? I'm pretty sure it would.

Trust me, I appreciate the interest in improving the forums, but on balance, this won't help and runs counter to a present minimal sticky preference.