Regarding Subforums

Alright, so it has become apparent that there are a growing number of subforums for Roleplays.

Honestly, from the time we implemented the subforums into 'Active Roleplays' near the beginning of ZEJ, I'd wondered what exactly warrants a subforum. For the most part, users have simply come to us (the administration, aka mainly me) and asked about adding their RP to Active Roleplays, but lately, we have started to become overcrowded with Roleplays that either don't get off the ground, or could just as easily be handled in a single thread.

Now, I'm completely fine with dealing with these requests because it takes me under five minutes to add someone as a moderator to that section specifically, etc etc... But the subforum side of things is starting to get cluttered again. We're at a total of 8-9 subforums at a time, and very few of these actually end up being used for that long.

I'm going to start imposing some strict regulations starting now on what gets a subforum, based on general user activity, and how many threads the roleplay is honestly going to need.

Looking at something like Streets of Melsborough, for instance, the thing could honestly have been handled in a single thread based on what we've seen on Old ZEJ and now again here. There is little activity going on, which makes me wonder whether or not I should have given it a subforum. The setting changes can be handled in-topic, as opposed to jumping between multiple threads to get a gist of the plot (it's also inconvenient for those who are browsing via mobile).

tl;dr? The time of free subforums has now passed. There are going to be restrictions starting now, and I will use my better judgment in the future when approving/denying subforum requests.

 

I don't really see how subforuming the RP would be a viable solution to the matter. For instance, look at the view counts of the threads in Rise of the Keys against the majority of those in the Roleplay Out of Character section. I find that the subforums only work if there are a lot of interest, which is why that is becoming a factor in my decision.

I have no issue with necroposting so long as it is relevant to reviving a thread with meaningful content. If that means you're interested in revitalizing an old concept, more power to you. Necroposting is not an issue I have ever had, because I find that it's a stupid concept to begin with when so many threads go stagnant.

Even if I did, a bump is fine with me. People can be equally as lazy and not click around to find their way into the subforum; it's just a matter of how recent a thread is. With such a small community at the moment, it shouldn't reach the point where it hits the second page.

As for reorganizing, I really don't see why further subforuming would help that out. I find it tedious enough with one set of subforums, and I know it may be a hassle for you to browse via mobile, Nate, I think that it isn't a big enough issue that I need to address. Perhaps adding collapsible subforums would help out...?

 

Coming back to revisit this subject one final time.

I'm here right now to let you guys know that, after a bunch of thought, I think it is time to get rid of the subforum section of ZEJ. It had been put in place originally to house Ultimate Tournament 2, since it was handling individual battles in a thread-by-thread basis. I think from there, we had grown a little carried away with getting everyone involved with the subforums, and giving them out like candy on Halloween. But at this point, it just makes no sense to continue operating some RPs in subforums when very plainly, everyone who is in present 'ownership' of a subforum can handle their own RPs in a single topic.

For instance, in the RPs that we have now set in subforums (excluding ASB, which is an entirely special case and will be given its own section accordingly, most likely separate from the main RPing sections):

ARKNET Reborn: ARKNET was given a subforum back in the days when ZEJ was still young, and perhaps a little foolish. Dark and friends are very clearly adamant on separating their RPs into different threads by scene, which is something I frankly think can be avoided now just by simple labels. We had been doing that with the statistical reboot of ARKNET (which I miss, but that is a different can of worms), so I'm not sure why a subforum is OVERLY needed in this case. Hopefully things can return to being handled in a thread for in-character interaction.

Crossover Task Force: While I know Brawly has been adhering to our old system since he is not one to vouch for a drastic change in the times, I believe that separating things into separate threads for missions is a decent idea for this sort of thing, so as to play episodically, but this can also be handled with a table of contents in your out of character threads. The statplays do that, which leads me to have to suggest that this need be handled in a single thread, as well.

Organization Aurora: Arc-based RPing is not, perhaps, something that ZEJ has been all that great at handling, as seen here. As the RP is still in its fledgling stages after almost a year (where does the time go?), I think it would make an easier transfer into a single thread RP... Organization Aurora, as I've already discussed with Shadow, can and will be made into a single thread.

Rise of the Keys: Splitting the RP into different threads by area and having users switch between them seems like a plausible idea, but in all actuality I think it's a bit more confusing than it's worth. I think that Daen can handle RotK in a single RPing thread to keep everyone on track and organized, so that there is a little less confusion when it comes to moving from area to area. Instead of switching threads by area, you could simply label posts "<x Area, x World>." Maybe this sort of format could reboot the RP.

Streets of Melsborough: As with Rise of the Keys, it makes a little less sense to have people thread-hopping on command, despite how much it seems like it makes things simpler. It's like going on a scavenger hunt just to follow the posts if you are not entirely up to date on things, and plus, it makes things trickier if you are posting from a mobile phone or something like that. I recommend that this be transformed into a single-thread RP.

NOW, before you guys contest this and say that I'm being hasty and perhaps irrational, I will leave this open for discussion until this Saturday (July 14, 2012), and that will be when I start cracking down and removing the subforums, merging threads as I see necessary to try and remove forum clutter, and promote the RPs that are not given subforums.

Getting rid of the subforums sort of brings about the unity that I am hoping for with ZEJ in these coming days, and I think that the subforuming of various RPs is bringing some segregation in terms of the userbase. Many cool things are left relatively unnoticed in the Freeform Out of Character section, so I encourage you also to check out such things as The Mystics by Rose Swan, or Euthora-Roul: Friitai Vol by Kudamon.