TWW Layout vs. "Other"wargaming fora

[DM]

I do like coming to TWO to read and post, but despite the histrionics and other oddness encountered on another wargaming forum I have to admit I do find it far more active than here and thus alas a more satisfying experience. It struck me that one reason, maybe THE reason is that the listing of active discussion threads is quite long, whereas here one only ever sees the last ten threads that have been posted to. I wonder if the ability to see a greater number of threads might promote more discussion?

[DM]

Drat, that of course should be TWW not TWO 

[Angel Barracks]

If you mean TMP, then it has been going for over 20 years and has a much much bigger membership, over ten times as many at my last count than compared to here.

Also when TWW was first launched the mention of it was banned outright on TMP and links from there to here were stripped from the site automatically, so TMP actively tried to stifle TWW.

Plus there have been other factors that have been stacked against TWW, well against me really, to prevent the growth of TWW.

However, all that aside, TWW has bags more functionality, better turnaround time on e-mails and customer service and a more enlightened moderation style. (I hope)

To make TWW busier I feel, just requires people to use it more.
It is a catch 22 and many people say they would use it but it is too quiet for them, when I reply that if they use it, it will by default become busier, they go quiet.
TMP has no list of recent replies, once a topic (sorry, thread) drops off the front page it is not visible.
Here on TWW, active topics can be seen on the front page so can give people a heads up on what is hot at the moment.

TWW also has the facility to subscribe to both topics and forums.
TMP has neither of these.

Some days TWW is busy, other days less so.

With my Angel Barracks hat on I no longer use any forum at all for AB related stuff, I post it all on here and will sometimes share to social media, linking back to TWW to encourage people to come here.

You may be right about that but I am not convinced, what do others think?

 

 

[Angel Barracks]

I reckon if you turn off Ultra-Modern, TMP Talk, Utter Drivel etc then TMP would be a lot quieter, then if you remove the posts that are not to do with gaming it would be even quieter still.

You get out what you put in I reckon.
Like muscles, the more you use it, the bigger it gets..

 

[Steve Johnson]

I visit TWW several times a day, along with the Pendraken, Blitzkreig Commander, Dux Rampant and Honours of War fora (forums?). All of these are pretty specific so I find the TWW ‘Wargaming news’ front page very useful to pick up info on stuff that I wouldn’t normally find via the aforementioned forums.

What TWW lacks (IMHO) is an ‘Unread posts’ button that all of the others have. As Michael has mentioned before, I could subscribe to the various boards and topics to receive updates via e-mail, but personally I hate my mail box being ‘bombarded’ in this manner. This is why I get daily digests from my Yahoo Groups to minimise this.

Possibly an ‘Unread Posts’ button would improve traffic, members, posts etc? Maybe it might be worth giving this a try to see if it makes any difference at all.

Just my two penneth for what it’s worth.

[Mike]

Steve Johnson wrote:

Possibly an ‘Unread Posts’ button would improve traffic, members, posts etc? Maybe it might be worth giving this a try to see if it makes any difference at all.

It would help for sure, alas I am no coder so have to rely on what is already available or pay to get some bespoke coding done.

Currently to the best of my knowledge there is no ‘view unread topic’ plug-in.

[Mike]

So I am playing, for now you should see when you go to the forums a blue bar on the left, this indicates a forum with an unread topic in it.
Then when you click on the forum, you will see a blue bar next to the actual unread topic…

[Angel Barracks]

read this, test.

[Paul]

Mike, I agree with your statement on the specific boards on TMP that have a lot of activity, and most of what is posted on those boards is of limited utility. Also, there is one specific poster who spams the boards there with rubbish only tangentially related to wargames, and this often fills the front page with what (in my opinion) is crap.
For these reasons (and others relating to the moderation and seeming political leanings that are encouraged), I have all but given up on TMP. I have publicly disagreed with you in the past (about Lagartija Mike and an offensive word), but you do give people a fair chance, and everyone here seems to be considered equal, so I appreciate your moderation.
I really should post here more but, sigh, real life…

Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

[Not Connard Sage]

Some valid comments about usability ^, but I have no major gripes (steady!) about TWW’s functionality.

 

Angel Barracks wrote:

If you mean TMP, then it has been going for over 20 years and has a much much bigger membership, over ten times as many at my last count than compared to here. 

 

It has a membership list 10 times bigger than TWW. I reckon it’s active members are far less than that though.

And a membership list that contains at least thirty of my aliases, burners, and secret squirrels is not to be trusted as an indicator 😉

 

And as Paul alludes, quantity is no measure of quality.

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[kyoteblue]

This is my grown up gaming forum.

[DM]

FWIW I wasn’t just thinking about TMP, more along the libes of some of the more specialised wargaming  fora.  I guess they are busy because they cater for a fair number of like minded people and have a ready made sense of community through their common interest (etc. Good the Wings of Glory Aerodrome)

[Angel Barracks]

In an ideal world I could have used something like phpBB to power the forum, but then it would not have integrated with all the pages of the site and you would have had to have more than one account and it was all sorts of messy.

Anyway, how is the blue unread thing working for you all?

 

[Angel Barracks]

DM wrote:

I guess they are busy because they cater for a fair number of like minded people and have a ready made sense of community through their common interest

 

Interestingly (or not) I saw this on Facebook, a lot of specialist groups.
I was in plenty of 6mm centric FB groups, but therein was the problem.
I would post in one group, and the Angel Barracks page, then in one of the other 6mm groups, then in one of the others, then in some of the Post Apocalyptic groups, then in…

I was posting in about 10 different places.
I gave up and just post here now and share links externally to topics in TWW, to get the people that like my waffle to come here to read it.

[MartinR]

The only way I am comfortable navigating most Wargames fora, be they TMP, LAF, Frothers or whatever is via front page post listings. TMP has it be default, the other two by the standard “unread posts” functionality in phpbb. Dipping in and out of endless sub boards is just a pain.

So for TWW I only really look  at the two very short lists of posts on the front page, and once a topic drops off there, it is gone for good. Thread following and notifications just add to the daily email bombardment.

Sorry, but there it is.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Not Connard Sage]

MartinR wrote:

The only way I am comfortable navigating most Wargames fora, be they TMP, LAF, Frothers or whatever is via front page post listings. TMP has it be default, the other two by the standard “unread posts” functionality in phpbb. Dipping in and out of endless sub boards is just a pain. So for TWW I only really look at the two very short lists of posts on the front page, and once a topic drops off there, it is gone for good. Thread following and notifications just add to the daily email bombardment. Sorry, but there it is.

 

^^^There’s another argument for few(er) boards.

 

I suppose I’m fortunate in that my range of wargaming interests is rather narrow. A quick trip around some of the General Boards, a visit to the Horse and Musket Boards, and then a glance to see if there’s anything to pique my interest on the other boards if I can be bothered. I poke my head into Sponsoring Members if I see a new post, but as it’s fairly dormant that doesn’t happen very often.

 

I like TWW, it’s cosy 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Steve Johnson]

“So I am playing, for now you should see when you go to the forums a blue bar on the left, this indicates a forum with an unread topic in it.
Then when you click on the forum, you will see a blue bar next to the actual unread topic…”

Well I can’t see anything like this I’m afraid….. 🙁

[Not Connard Sage]

Steve Johnson wrote:

“So I am playing, for now you should see when you go to the forums a blue bar on the left, this indicates a forum with an unread topic in it. Then when you click on the forum, you will see a blue bar next to the actual unread topic…” Well I can’t see anything like this I’m afraid….. 

 

 

The red oblate spheroid is my work

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Paul]

Mike: will unread topics stay blue forever until you read them?

Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

[Mike]

There is a mark all as read at the top right of each forum to save you reading them. There is a slight bug that the developers are working on do to with child forums. Hopefully they will sort it out soon.

[Mike]

Right, looks like the blue unread plug-in does not work if the forum has child forums, which TWW does.
So I have removed it, as it does not work as well as claimed.
I will investigate further when my broadband is working.

I am trying though!

🙂

[Mike]

quick new version test 1.

[Angel Barracks]

test reply to make green

[Mike]

Read.un green?

[Angel Barracks]

ungreen, seems to work.

 

ace.

 

 

[Not Connard Sage]

The exclamation marks.

 

It’s weird, and intrusive. I don’t LIKE IT!!!

 

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Angel Barracks]

Is this another one of your bugs that aren’t bugs remarks?

😉

 

 

[Not Connard Sage]

Nah. It just looks funny 🙂

 

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[irishserb]

I quite like the layout and atmosphere here.  The recent posts list is probably the most important element of the interface.  I also find that I am now using the news section here more than any other hobby news site.

The only thing that would make it better would be free chicken with every visit.

[Angel Barracks]

irishserb wrote:

The only thing that would make it better would be free chicken with every visit.

 

I am sure I don’t know what you mean…

 

😉

[Mike]

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Nah. It just looks funny

 

I can change it if enough people want a change, and more importantly, can agree on what to change it too.

 

😉

 

[Not Connard Sage]

Mike wrote:

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Nah. It just looks funny

I can change it if enough people want a change, and more importantly, can agree on what to change it too. 

 

Perhaps a poll?

 

Otherwise, just ignore me. I’m having Saturday afternoon drinkies and being a dick 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Fredd Bloggs]

I am trying to raise my profile here, as you might have noticed.

Actually the other place was great all week, no Tango so just Wargames chat.

What I would ask is that terrain is added to the sidebar of forums, rather than being hidden in General, as a lot of posts and adverts are fro buildings and terrain.

[Mike]

Fredd Bloggs wrote:

What I would ask is that terrain is added to the sidebar of forums, rather than being hidden in General, as a lot of posts and adverts are fro buildings and terrain.

 

Ta-da.

[Fredd Bloggs]

Thank you.

[craig cartmell]

I am of the opinion that TWW is growing in popularity and I, for one, shall work to promote it in the other places I visit.

I find the tone here to be lighter and not so ‘anal’ as some of the other more established fora. For example:

• TMP – I do use this to communicate with people who post there about my games, but if I had a choice I’d never use it because of the moderation style and the fact it has not changed in years.
• Lead Adventure – one of my games has its own sub-board there due to its popularity, so I am in there every day communicating with the players. However, since that game became so popular on LA the moderators have been watching me very carefully and corral me every time I make even the slightest ‘commercial’ post about that or other games. It is a bit heavy handed on indie producers, especially when you see the traffic through the large game producers boards.
• Beasts of War – I have been a member here for years and have tried to set off discussions about smaller games and indie games companies (i.e. not just my own work). However, the majority of its members seem to only be interested in the big company games that BoW is being paid to promote. If you look at the forum directory they each have their own boards which are very active and well-supported by the mods.
• Facebook – we are using this extensively to give players direct access to us both for each of our games and it has proven very useful. However, I find the more general wargames pages to be full of unmoderated discussion that can turn real ugly, real fast.

I think that it is important that any general wargames forum gives equal opportunity for new games, indie games and the larger ones. It should also encourage discussion on all the supporting aspects of the hobby such as terrain building, figure painting and battle reports.

Being new, and having an open-minded owner, I think we have an opportunity here to build up a diverse and interesting forum. But it is up to us to contribute and encourage a fun and gentlemanly tone to the place.

[Angel Barracks]

Cheers, my initial reason for wanting to start TWW was to offer games companies a better level of service.
Then the whole other thing happened which gave me added incentive, maybe it helps that I am both a gamer and company with physical product to sell so understand the needs of a wargames company?

Anyway, glad you like it here and thanks for the support!

[Steve Johnson]

“Being new, and having an open-minded owner, I think we have an opportunity here to build up a diverse and interesting forum. But it is up to us to contribute and encourage a fun and gentlemanly tone to the place.”

Well said old chap:)

[DM]

Is.there a way to go to the end of a thread rather than entering at the start and having to scroll down to the latest post?

[Mike]

Yes. Each topic at the top will say last updated by…. and the the time. Simply click on the time.

[Author]

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