i know this site is mostly for steam but having diferent discussions for other platforms could be nice
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What ? That's some North Korean level of strictness.
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Yeah, but like you said, that depends very much on our workplace :)
And I think for most people it's absolutely fine to check out game discussions during their breaks :3
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Here ;D
Piracy, pornography, and other material that may be inappropriate to a general audience should not be posted to the site. If you're posting anything that may be considered NSFW (not safe for work), please prefix any links or images with a NSFW tag to warn others.
Having category for content that should not be posted on the site feels at least counterproductive.
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If you're posting anything that may be considered NSFW (not safe for work), please prefix any links or images with a NSFW tag to warn others.
From this, NSFW content is completely legit, and putting it under its own category would allow filtering it, and would be a good replacement to a NSFW tag.
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It would mean that users posting NSFW outside of category would need to get immediate ban. As there is a category that allows posting of content that is otherwise not welcomed.
Also this rule is site-wide. Even in new proposed guidelines. So it would need to be changed. You can't have general rule that does not apply everywhere.
Edit:
Right now in proposed guidelines NSFW is under The below is a list of content that is not allowed in our community.. It would need to be moved up under General point, and changed accordingly to something like:
Inappropriate content. Do not post pornography, or explicit content, such as real life images depicting severe injury, gore, or death. If you are posting content that may be considered NSFW (not safe for work), do it in NSFW category of the forum discussions.
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It would mean that users posting NSFW outside of category would need to get immediate ban.
Why not shot in the head? :) Seriously, for the first transgression I don't think that anything should be done except to point out the rule and the category. (And move that topic to the category.)
Frankly, I think that an NSFW tag, if filterable, is better than a category, because NSFW is just a descriptor of a certain aspect of the content, not the topic itself. One could create a puzzle that's NSFW, or discuss a game or comic or TV show which are NSFW and in that discussion include NSFW content, and that topic would still fit better on the puzzle / games / comics (or whatever) category.
However, if cg is implementing categories and not tags, a NSFW category is IMO a better solution that a NSFW text tag that can't be used to filter.
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Yeah, I kind of get what you mean :D
It would mean that users posting NSFW outside of category would need to get immediate ban. As there is a category that allows posting of content that is otherwise not welcomed.
I like the current way NSFW is handled (altough I would prefer to have a checkbox to tag a topic/reply as NSFW instead of writing it).
And I would keep it that way even with a NSFW category, because sometimes a reply is NSFW (and I don't won't to start with "In reply to your post I made post in the NSFW-section, please check out my comment there" :D). And I think for example that a good deal on a porn game still belongs to the Deal-section instead of the NSFW-section, just tag it with NSFW :)
The way I see it, NSFW would basically be an alternative category for Offtopic threads. Just to separate them a bit, because somebody may want to check out Offtopic threads at work without scrolling past topics like "Post sexy pictures of your favorite waifu" :D
That said, I also mostly agree with the current rule about piracy and pornography. SG is not 4chan :D
Hardcore stuff still shouldn't be allowed, so it would more be like a NSFW-Light :3
But lewd topics like "Recommend me sexy anime figurines" with pictures like the one I add below should be absolutely fine in my opinion :3
[NSFW]
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My ideas. Note that I didn't think them through.
Newbie will allow patient users help with newbies questions and won't annoy impatient ones. It obviously needs a better name.
Friends for people who look for friends.
FAQ so it wouldn't be hidden anymore.
Events – self explanatory.
Key drops – se.
Calm Haven for people who seek for company in rough times.
Complaints for people who want to issue a complaint or rant. We'll have them in one place at least.
Unique upcoming games where people will post their findings (judging by popularity of the thread of the same name, people would like it).
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FAQ so it wouldn't be hidden anymore.
We don't discuss FAQ or guidelines, so it should not be inside discussions. Alternatively we could have FAQ / guidelines / comment formatting exposed in other part of the site, though for me "Help" button is clear enough to users.
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Newbie will allow patient users help with newbies questions and won't annoy impatient ones. It obviously needs a better name.
I think "Tech Support" would be a better name.
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I think it should be more straightforward like Questions about the site or something.
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Internet Culture. A place for drama, news, and events to go.
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Yes, to everything. I like the idea, even the NSFW proposed by Garandro.
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( 'Θ`)ooO(Add-ons / Tools)
NSFW? category? Necessary.(For the general human race.)
However, it is not necessary for me because it can cause “word hunting” and “expression hunting”.┐(´Θ`)┌
For example, suppose you need help with “word hunting”.It will interfere with other high priority work of support.
In any case, “Modest number addition of categories” is preferred, as it does not make the support work too busy.
Support should always be busy with “hunting the villains”.
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Movies/TV, Consoles, Technology, Food, Travel all sound good. If there are no subcategories or a fewer number of categories is seen as being better, these could all be categorized under 'Real life'
The square brackets / parentheses that are used in a lot of posts at the moment could be used as inspiration or made into official categories / subcategories. Example - within Deals [DailyIndieGame] [Humblebundle] [GOG] [GMG] [Groupees] [Free] etc.
Once the new categories are decided, maybe we can start the categorizing game again?
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Assuming current categories stay the same, here are some additions to consider in no particular order or importance:
- Tools
- Dev Showcase
- Products?
- Giveaways (instead of general)
- Gaming News
- Food
- Pets
- Travel
- Kickstarters
- News
- NSFW
- Anime / Manga
- TV/Movies
- Charity
- Music
- Memes
- Events
- Currently playing
- Gaming Hardware
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Usually most sites I browse just call the game development section 'Game Development' or 'Gamedev'
No real need to prefix it with 'Steam', for most bigger titles it's assumed and you'll also miss out on people's smaller unpublished games they want to show around
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the 3 suggested boards in the main thread would absolutely be a great addition to the forums and will create much more user activity. I didn't consider the title choices though
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Be careful, do not create too many categories otherwise I feel that it will quickly become a big mess, and especially it could fragment the community that uses the discussion space and that would be a pity. In addition, for moderators, this may become a puzzle to determine if a thread is in the right category or not.
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Based on other users' ideas edited my own.
Subthemes can keep the discussion section clean. Users still can subscribe or unsubscribe anything they want or don't want to see.
Deals (dividing "Deals" into subthemes is a must-have in my opinion.)
- Sales
- Bundles
- Free (EGS giveaways, facebook, imgur etc.)
- Promotion (as a blackhole, for the forbidden section)(crazyfreeweekend, chronogg, lootboy, gleam, gamivo etc.)
- Deals offtopic (revokes, problems...)
Help
- Ask SG ("How to level up?" "Why do I get blacklisted?")
- Ask support (direct questions to staff)
- Suggestions
- Report a bug
- Tools
Giveaways:
- Puzzles
- Events
- ?
General:
- News
- Movies/TV, Memes, Music, ...
- Hardware
- Software
Group
- Group recruitment (whitelist/steam group)
- Steam Curator / Youtube channel / Twitch
Games
- Devs
- New releases
- Let's play together
- Let's talk about...
+Subscribed/Bookmarked: (specific threads you want to see but not the whole category. Like you want to see EGS giveaways but you dont care about the rest of the free section)
+Invite only discussions for puzzles (Hidden category)
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First of all, I like it that you're trying to enliven the forum.
Of the ideas presented in other comments here, I like the idea of a game development forum, because even if it wouldn't be very active, moving from game players to game developers is something that some users want to do, and I think it's a nice thing to happen in general.
As for the developers category, I don't like the name "Steam developers" because I feel that for devs in early stages, who aren't on Steam and might want to discuss their game it might not feel fitting.
I feel though that too many categories will make things more confusing rather than better. I think that the guideline should be to add something if we want it discussed, or something that people have a good reason to filter out (such as NSFW), rather than general subjects (such as Anime or Memes).
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- Steam / SG add-ons - SGtools, ESGST, themes, did you even play bro etc scripts
- New games on Steam - for both users that want to show release of game they want to play and developers. It would not allow to promote games that are already on Steam
- Steam Curators - would end problem of people using Group recruitment to gather audience for curators
- Users projects - for all real-life projects. Yt channel, etsy blog, wood crafting, space cat wool figures. Don't know if we should allow here links to shops where users could buy already completed projects
- Music / Movies / TV shows / Anime / Manga / Comics / Books / Board games / Consoles / Hardware / Software - as unsubscribed categories are removed from the main list, then it would not add clutter
- Events - community trains, advent calendars etc
- Ask support - I like this idea, it could lower number of questions that repeat over and over again. But this category should be limited to serious questions, all troll attempts should be closed without answering
Dividing "Deals" into three separate categories would make it easier to navigate deals:
- Game promotions - for general promotions for individual games
- Game bundles - for bundles
- Free games - to inform about free games
But with more categories we should have note on top of each category page that explains for what type of content each category is. Now it's not a problem, as majority of topics end in general or off-topic. But taking effort to create new categories, and then having everything mixed up anyway feels like futile effort, as users would keep seeing content they unsubscribed from.
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I like all your suggested categories and a brief description for each, but I hesitate to make them so specific for hobbies (for lack of a better term):
Music / Movies / TV shows / Anime / Manga / Comics / Books / Board games / Consoles / Hardware / Software - as unsubscribed categories are removed from the main list, then it would not add clutter
I do support separate categories for Consoles, Hardware, and Software. Perhaps "Music / Movies / TV shows / Anime / Manga / Comics / Books" could become one big category like Popular & Gaming Culture, or 2-3 categories.
If we do have so many specific categories, I'd encourage consideration of how often people would post new discussions (not just comments), keeping in mind that currently some things like music and movies are pretty much isolated two two specific (mega)threads. If so, then great, but if not then I'm not sure so many really specific categories are going to be utilized.
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I agree, and for similar reasons. We don't need separate categories for topics that might get 1-2 threads every couple of months, or give people excuses to spam a new thread for every song/album/movie. I think one category titled "Pop Culture" would cover all the bases.
For the same reason, though to a much lesser extent, I don't believe we need separate sub-categories for "Deals." A deal is a deal.
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Sure, all those can be put under "Pop culture" or similar. I do know that some topics - like music or movies - have 1 - 2 topics, so separate categories would be mostly empty.
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i'd love a website feature that enables you to mark discussions you've red already(or even better, whenever you enter a thread it automatically marks it as one you've read already), i'm using addons that enable it, but a website feature could enhance the experience much more.
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Great ideas.
I'm not sure about the "open questions" category, as it seems very similar to what we have as off-topic at the moment.
One category which I think we're missing, as it is related to gaming (indirectly) is Hardware. It could be PC Hardware, or Hardware in general (PC, Consoles, Mobile Phones, etc.).
Another thing we might do is maybe have a TechSupport category for people to ask questions if they don't understand something in the FAQ or site rules, or don't know how to do something in SG.
And maybe have a separate discussion for Steam games and non-Steam games. But I'm not sure here. Maybe better to keep them together. So maybe "Upcoming games" or "Gameplay" discussions (as opposed to discussions about gifting games and game CV valued, etc.)
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Non English section would be nice. Sometimes it's a hassle to write down your thoughts in foreign language for a non-native speaker.
Upvote-downvote function would also be nice for the same reason.
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Language support according to the national language category will be difficult.
That's why the FAQ is only available in English and Russian.
There will probably be people who post annoying things in other languages.
It may be annoying.
UP / Down voting has regional characteristics for each country.
And if bring the rules of a certain region to this place, it will probably produce "disaster" .
So I do not recommend it.
Instigation work. Self-promotion. Such a vote is unsightly and annoying.
Because there are countries in the world where there is no democracy poisoned by such pathology. it can not be helped.
Serious talk is difficult. I'm not good at it.XD
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Visit twitch.tv where many streamers play the same game in different language. Most of them limit their chat room to their own language.
It's not that hard to live with people of different background.We're just neighbors.
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It's one thing when you have yt or twitch and make streams in your language there.
It's another thing when we'd have part of the forum where users can talk in 20 languages, and support would need to use inaccurate google translator on every single message that looks suspicious to check it. Site is in english, and we use nearly only english to make communication easier.
If you'd write post in Chinese, then you have no way of telling if user that replied to you in chinese provided you with right information, as other users have no way to quickly look on their response and confirm it's proper one / say it's inaccurate.
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Thank you for clarification. SG aims for more closed community than diverse multi-national platform.
I'm surprised to hear that you check the quality of comment in each thread. It'll keep the community comfortable and trustworthy, but requires lots of dedication from your team, so it can't expand beyond certain limit.
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LOL a single person mentioned a category devoted to the site's initial purpose - giveaways.
I find that strangely amusing.
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Gotta stay true to our roots, and also secure somewhere for the 5-10% of invite only giveaways to be shared with the sub community that is SG's Discussions ;)
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Giveaways are often created as part of the puzzle or added to more general topics. I would not want to see users that report threads with few giveaways and description "it should be in the giveaways".
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With the recent update giving users the ability to hide discussion categories, I think it's a good opportunity for us to expand the number of categories to hopefully encourage a greater variety of discussion and to allow more flexibility for certain types of user advertising within posts. Before that happens, I wanted to run a few thoughts and questions by everyone to get some feedback.
Suggested Discussion Categories
What other categories would you like to see? Should we setup a category where users can ask open-ended questions? This would be similar to AskReddit, and it could be a good way to learn more about the users in our community. Should we have a category for sharing images, memes, GIFs? Should we branch into off-topic areas, and include categories for Movies/TV, Consoles, Technology, Food, Travel? I feel like we should, because if any given category doesn't interest someone, then they always have the option to unsubscribe while allowing others to enjoy it. What does everyone else think?
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