# We're considering eliminating the publisher/press release forum



## Morrus (Dec 16, 2011)

.... and having those threads in the specific forum they're related to.  

Thoughts?


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Dec 16, 2011)

Morrus said:


> .... and having those threads in the specific forum they're related to.
> 
> Thoughts?



You know I'm in favor of fewer boards and readers more easily able to see all the threads of interest.


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## Morrus (Dec 16, 2011)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> You know I'm in favor of fewer boards and readers more easily able to see all the threads of interest.




You'll like our newly implemented thread merging trial - which came out of your thread.  Check out the WotC layoffs threads! (Hint - you can't; there's only one!)


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## Ahnehnois (Dec 16, 2011)

I wouldn't miss the publisher forum.

The best way to organize message boards is by the way people read them. I bet there are more Pathfinder fans eager to hear about the next release who check the PF section then there are general rpg fans who check the publisher forum to see what the news is.


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## Morrus (Dec 16, 2011)

Ahnehnois said:


> I wouldn't miss the publisher forum.
> 
> The best way to organize message boards is by the way people read them. I bet there are more Pathfinder fans eager to hear about the next release who check the PF section then there are general rpg fans who check the publisher forum to see what the news is.




That's pretty much my reasoning, too.  I'm just looking to see if there are any objections.


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## Deset Gled (Dec 16, 2011)

I personally liked it best when the Press Release forum was the Industry Discussion forum (or whatever the name was, I'm probably getting it slightly wrong), and it was the home of both press releases and discussion about the business side of RPGs.  I liked the separation between game-play in General and game-business in a different place.  I think it also kept the traffic in the Press Release / Industry forum higher.

The biggest thing I like about the Press Release forum, though, is that it keeps the other forums free of advertisements.  I know that publishers posting about upcoming releases or sales isn't exactly the same ads, but there's a very fine line between posting a promotion and spam.  Keeping those type of posts corralled into one location draws a clear line in the sand about where its acceptable and where it isn't.


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## IronWolf (Dec 16, 2011)

I think it is certainly worth trying. 

I recently posted something in the publisher forum to help promote a recent Open Design project. That seemed the most appropriate forum, but it would have had a lot more traffic if it had been posted in the Pathfinder forum.


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## Mark CMG (Dec 17, 2011)

You might want to have some sort of tag that makes it easy to move them again if it doesn't work out but I think it sounds like a good plan.


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## Morrus (Dec 17, 2011)

Mark CMG said:


> You might want to have some sort of tag that makes it easy to move them again if it doesn't work out but I think it sounds like a good plan.




They should be easy enough to find - the first page of the forum went back a month.


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## Darrin Drader (Dec 17, 2011)

Which forum would be appropriate for novel pimpage? General?


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## Morrus (Dec 17, 2011)

Darrin Drader said:


> Which forum would be appropriate for novel pimpage? General?




Media Lounge covers books etc.


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## S'mon (Dec 17, 2011)

It's at least worth a trial.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Dec 18, 2011)

Morrus said:


> You'll like our newly implemented thread merging trial - which came out of your thread.  Check out the WotC layoffs threads! (Hint - you can't; there's only one!)



I saw that! It was amusing to me to see some people apparently posting near-identical things twice in a row before the merger.


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## beverson (Dec 20, 2011)

Personally, I'd rather you kept it separate.  I liked the one stop shopping aspect, so I could quickly see what was going on from different publishers in one place.


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## jaerdaph (Dec 27, 2011)

beverson said:


> Personally, I'd rather you kept it separate.  I liked the one stop shopping aspect, so I could quickly see what was going on from different publishers in one place.




I agree with beverson, even though site traffic to that forum might not agree with my preferences. Still, I like knowing where to look and looking in one place. 
I still haven't seen any messages about new products and announcements from publishers yet elsewhere since the experiment started - it's like they've all but disappeared. Like when we put the industry and business side of RPG discussion in the publisher/press release forum....


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## freyar (Dec 28, 2011)

jaerdaph said:


> I agree with beverson, even though site traffic to that forum might not agree with my preferences. Still, I like knowing where to look and looking in one place.
> I still haven't seen any messages about new products and announcements from publishers yet elsewhere since the experiment started - it's like they've all but disappeared. Like when we put the industry and business side of RPG discussion in the publisher/press release forum....



I've just seen a couple in the Pathfinder forum, I believe.


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## Dice4Hire (Dec 28, 2011)

I would vote to keep the forum separate.


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## Mark CMG (Dec 28, 2011)

jaerdaph said:


> I still haven't seen any messages about new products and announcements from publishers yet elsewhere since the experiment started - it's like they've all but disappeared. Like when we put the industry and business side of RPG discussion in the publisher/press release forum....





The holidays might be to blame for the slow down in announcements.


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## mach1.9pants (Dec 28, 2011)

I prefer them in the games forum, mainly as I never go to the announcements sub forum


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## Relique du Madde (Dec 30, 2011)

I rarely visit those forums... so I wouldn't notice the difference.


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## Bedrockgames (Jan 3, 2012)

Mark CMG said:


> The holidays might be to blame for the slow down in announcements.




I can't figure out where to announce our products (and I don't seem to be able to do it on the News forum). We had a product released on Jan 1st.


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## IronWolf (Jan 3, 2012)

Bedrockgames said:


> I can't figure out where to announce our products (and I don't seem to be able to do it on the News forum). We had a product released on Jan 1st.




You can announce it in the appropriate forum, so if it is something Pathfinder related you can post an announcement there and so on. It is part of the experiment in closing the Press Release forum.


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## Mark CMG (Jan 3, 2012)

Bedrockgames said:


> I can't figure out where to announce our products (and I don't seem to be able to do it on the News forum). We had a product released on Jan 1st.







IronWolf said:


> You can announce it in the appropriate forum, so if it is something Pathfinder related you can post an announcement there and so on. It is part of the experiment in closing the Press Release forum.





Yup.  Looks like non-gaming or boardgame/cardgame type stuff in Off-Topic, RPG stuff in the General RPG Forum unless it is 4E or PF which go in their dedicated forum.  I don't know if they expect 1E/2E/3.XE stuff to go in the Legacy Forum, but I doubt it, though maybe crossposting there and in General makes sense.  That might become difficult drawing a line between retroe/clones that are essentially Legacy games and other d20 offshoots that are also Legacy games but also are standalone games.  I think the 1E/2E traffic to the Legacy Forum is probably negligible (it's really a 3.XE rules forum, when it comes down to it).  I think the point is that there are not so many announcements that it would disrupt forums and require a separate PR forum, so post where it is most appropriate, where the most people who would be its audience would see it.  Anyway, that's my take on what they are trying to do.  Someone will likely step up to verify or correct if I have misunderstood the intent.


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## Lwaxy (Jan 6, 2012)

Small issue with this - it is not always clear what is a publisher post. Maybe a symbol or text saying "publisher" in the title would be a good idea. Maybe I am the only one who prefers to read publisher posts before/after looking for other things of interest... the way it is now it is somewhat confusing to me.


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