A question to you guys about Forum Games, Off-topic and Chatterbox

[anoni]

So basically the staff team have been wondering what to do about a bunch of threads that have accumulated in off-topic, and we found that the decision could change a lot of stuff and the staff team haven't fully decided on what to do, so we're opening it up to you guys to help us decide.

Basically, in Off-topic and Forum Games, a bunch of threads of the nature "The user above you does X, how do you react?" or "Why did the user above you get Y'd?" have been popping up and we've been kinda wondering there threads really belong. For us, those threads kinda seem more like Forum Games then Off-topic posts, so they could belong in there (and there are some threads of that exact nature in Forum Games that do belong there). But at the same time they kinda blur the line a bit, and if all those threads were removed, there would be very little threads that actually do belong in off-topic (as chatterbox takes up a lot of off-topics threads as is) so the question would be whether we'd need a chatterbox after that either.

  So the question is what do you guys think? Should all these threads be moved to Forum Games and chatter box merged back with off-topic, should all these threads be moved to Forum games and chatterbox still remains, should some of these threads be moved to forum games (under some kinda criteria that you guys come up with) or should we move the threads of this nature from forum games to off-topic. Or should we just not touch anything and let both boards have threads like this.

  The poll is up so it's up to you guys to decide, alternatively if you have any other ideas just post them here.

Here is a list of the threads of concern btw:

https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=31233.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=32022.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=34674.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=37339.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=37174.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=31042.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=36068.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=25246.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=32038.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=31839.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=37124.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=31003.0
https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=30676.0

[Bricket]

I think the "what will you give X for their birthday", etc. do sound like a forumgame.
The definition of "game" sounds like this:
"an activity that one engages in for amusement"

There whereas threads as "say a random fact" does not sound like a game but as a valid off-topic topic (what's in a name).

I know, simplisticly explained but I think cleaning up the off-topics and the chatterboxes is something needed

[Brisky]

Whatever should be changed is deffinetly up for debate, but I do absolutely believe that they should be changed.

As it is right now, the forum games board, and the off-topic board are, regarding content, almost practically the same thing,and that's rather confusing.

Most of the threads in the off-topic board would clearly belong in the forum games board. Like, for example, "unfortunately fortunate", wich is clearly a forum game.

In the forum games board, however, there don't seem to be any threads that would make more sense to be in the off-topic board, so if those threads are moved from the off-topic board to the fg board there wouldn't be an awfull lot left to do in the off-topic board.

In this context, merging the off-topic board back with the chatterbox would, on paper, make most sense, if it wasn't for the fact that more than half of the threads that will be brought back into the off-topic board, by merging it, would then have to be moved to the forum games board aswell, making the forum games board overly filled...


Hence, in my opinion, it would be best to keep all three boards, but "spread the load" in a more organised matter, as follows.

(Yes, I know I made the wrong vote on the topic thing, but that happened accidently, sorry for that)


The forum games board should contain all threads that could be best considered as "forum games"

The criteria for this would be that they are original, and encourage the poster for thinking, in more of a playfully challenging nature. For example, making wordplay, silly puns or other jokes, or anwering questions in a quiz-like manner.

A couple examples for these threads would be: "Two truths, One lie", "Back to Back Songs", and "Gets more complicated".


The chatterbox should be for all the threads that "blur the lines" and are collectively found on all three boards.

These are threads that don't really challenge the poster, and are more generally used for just playing around, and chatting, and as a result, rack up lots and lots of posts in very short amount of times.

Examples for these threads would be: "Give a nickname to the person above", "Quote the Avi", and " The Hug Den".


And lastly, the off-topic board should be used for the remaining threads that don't fit in either category, and just discuss "off-topic" things.

Threads like the "AMA" threads (ask me anything), or other threads that aren't really any sort of games at all, but are more for talking about random things, without getting a lot of posts in very short amounts of time.

Examples for these threads would be: " Quote of the Year", "Embarrassing things you do", or "Out-of-Context Chat Quotes".


In this way, I think, the threads would be organised in the way wich makes most sense, whilst the load is also somewhat evenly spread over all boards, not making the one board overly crowded, while the other is almost empty...

But, again, that's just my thoughts on it!

[Timmy Fox]

This is actually something I've thought about a bit as well; The boundary between these three boards have been very loose and there's been a lot of overlap in threads. I personally feel it might be one too many as the distinction between them is too loose, causing unnecessary overlap. I would actually partially throw in General here too since the distinction between that and off-topic isn't always necessarily straightforward either.

Threads
As far as the threads in question go; I would say most, if not all, of them I would consider fitting best into the category of forum games, all having some form of predefined objective and/or activity to keep them going as opposed to being primarily for discussion. Besides those listed, I would also suggest that some of the threads in Chatter Box would probably be forum games too, most notably the counting-based ones.

Simply put, anything that contains a clear objective and/or other specified activity would probably all fall under forum games.

Things that are more oriented toward discussion and doesn't really follow a predetermined pattern as much would, of course, fit better in either General, Off-topic or Chatter Box. Worth mentioning, the various counting threads do encourage social interaction and (usually brief) chatting, though this isn't the primary objective (unlike, say, The Random Thread) and thus I'd argue them better suited for Forum Games.

Board structure
As I've kinda suggested already I feel personally that both Off-topic and Chatter Box both has gained too many threads that can very well be described as 'forum games' so I feel that perhaps it might be best to reinstate Forum Games as the primary board for just that, which it was and always has been intended for, including clarifying the guidelines for what counts as a forum game as, again, there are several threads spread across these boards that are very similar to each other.

Once that is done, I feel the best thing would be to consider clarifying the guidelines between Off-topic and Chatter Box (and probably even General to be honest) IF Chatter Box is to be kept at all. As it feels to me currently, Off-topic is a more relaxed General and Chatter Box is a more social subsection of Off-topic. This isn't a bad idea in itself but I feel that for it to work the distinction needs to be made more clear.

Why I'm adding in General is because there is little distinction, to me, as for what goes in General and what goes in Off-topic. Judging from what's in them currently, most of the stuff in General seems to be non-furry related and more generic discussing current societal topics and questions whereas Off-topic contains more forum- and fandom-specific discussion that arguably would fit general just fine.

My suggested structure
General: This is kept relatively unchanged; Primary purpose being anything not too specific that would be relevant to the forum or furries in general. The main board for general discussion.

Off-topic: Anything not fitting elsewhere. Potentially this could be home to less discussions of immediate/trending topics, at least those not as relevant to the forum or fandom. Things like AMA's and dens would probably fall in here as well if Chatter Box is done away with.

Chatter Box: If this is kept, I would probably suggest it's best kept as a more social extension for Off-topic to offload the more socially aimed threads such as AMA's, dens and random chatter (potentially The Random Thread might be moved into here as well?)

Forum Games: Quite simply, keep it as is and reinstate it as the central for all the forum game-type threads to recollect these in one location (as opposed to having multiple threads with very similar concepts spread across 3 different boards).

[anoni]

Thanks for all the input guys, this is very insightful and you're giving us some great advice. I do agree with you guys that the distinction between those four boards (General, Off-topic, Chatterbox and Forum Games) has kinda been a point of debate among even the staff members, so it's definitely something that needs to be fixed. This input is definitely being helpful for that.