UA-100768763-1 Jump to content

Long Thread Suggestion?


Recommended Posts

Can I make a suggestion to avoid another IM2 general discussion thread clutter? This is in regards to the “What will the AFX & SDCC exclusive multipacks be??” thread and I am hoping to help suggest something that will somewhat organize it better.

It just seems like that it might be the general summer con Marvel exclusive thread and there will probably be more announced. I was just thinking of modifying the original post and title to reflect updates. Maybe something like this in the subtitle: “AFX excl. announced 5/31 (or whenever), see first post” and in original post at bottom add link to first post mentioning the find. It'll at least help see what all the exclusives are in one neat place.

I don’t always check every thread since I assume news will be in a new post. Looking back into the IM2 thread to see the news history was painful with so many different discussions going on. But that’s just me and maybe that’s just my fault. I don’t mean to create new work for the mods or anything. Just want everyone to get the news when it happens. This isn't a rant or anything but just a thought seeing that thread is getting longer and longer everyday and the IM2 is currently at 60 pages...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately I second the massive mind screw the "General Discussion"-type threads have become. This didn't just start with the Iron Man 2 threads either; I mentioned a similar thing happening with the Ghostbusters thread and a similar concern had been voiced as early as the BSG-TRU comeback thread last year.

Something like this year's Toy Fair thread might be a step in the right direction, if only because despite the crazy length of the thread it at least still makes an effort to stay easy to follow. Minor things like the thread-starter keeping track enough of the discussion progress to start up a little "news index" in the first post and "updating" the subtitle can go a surprisingly long way.

But seeing as even the mods can have a lot on their plate when it comes to thread clustersmurfs like these, perhaps I can volunteer to "moderate" of sorts this year's SDCC thread like the Toy Fair one? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, you can do like me and just get your Minimates news from Minimates Headquarters. :P

Seriously, though, I agree with the overall suggestion. Multiverse fanatics used to take great pride in starting new threads whenever they found out something was released. I think the problem became too many people trying to "break" the same story with multiple posts.

Fwoosh seems to take a novel approach by pinning certain release topics, such as "Marvel Universe Wave 8". But this method rarely announces new information, it usually only results in pinning threads long after the release information has been made public in another thread. And these pinned topics are HUGE!

Hisstank has a massive army of mods who zealously cull repeat topics. New release information goes up on the front page (sort of like a hybrid MMHQ and MMMV system). Thus proving GI Joe fans are much more anal and OCD than Minimates fans.

I think part of the problem lies with the nature of the information. C2E2 exclusive Iron Man 2 Minimates? Are these the same as the AFX SDCC exclusive Iron Man 2 Minimates? What about Borders Minimates? Are any of these the same as the single pack Iron Man 2 Minimates? It is really mind wrenching.

So the options right now are 1) One massive, convoluted topic covering dozens of releases, or 2) Potentially hundreds of overlapping threads announcing new Iron Man 2 Minimates as MMMV fanatics try to "break" the news.

I feel myself missing the days of yesteryear when we had #2, but I completely understand why we have #1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think all MMMV discussion should take place in a single, massive thread. Further, the order of the posts should be randomly re-arranged twice a day so that conversations could be understood in different contexts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there's any consolation JP, I know exactly how you feel re: insanely nebulous thread systems for toy news in general.

I swear, I may not be an IT geek but the dynamics of sharing information on a Web 2.0 platform can be bloody fascinating at times. As a semi-frequent lurker on the Fwoosh I see what you mean about the counter-productive hugeness of their "pinned threads." I find it funny that their "broad strokes" system still pales in comparison to good old-fashioned human attention to detail, as your Hisstank example demonstrates.

Now not to toot my own horn, but as someone who's accomplished waaaaaaaaaaay too much comprehensive trawling of this board in such a short number of years, I've had moments when I seriously considered volunteering to moderate full-time on the Multiverse. Hey, I visit the site daily anyway, I love the hobby and I practically read damn near everything... How hard can it be?*

*Cue a horrified "Don't say that!!!" from Richard Hammond somewhere :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I agree the IM and other threads could do with a cull and a sort, but people can behave in the most extreme ways when you mess with their posts. Like you wouldn't believe. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I agree the IM and other threads could do with a cull and a sort, but people can behave in the most extreme ways when you mess with their posts. Like you wouldn't believe. :(

You just give me the names, Rad.

Then:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How hard can it be?*

I'd say it is frustrating & often thankless rather than hard, with such a large member base these days and everyone having differing opinions that they believe are "the right way to do things" then it's more about politics than technical skills.

As for the thread issue, I agree some of the newer "epic scale" threads are probably not very catchup friendly, but as mentioned above the extreme alternative is multiple threads where people cannot find what they are looking for either because it's in 5 different threads on multiple pages, obviously a middle ground is the best answer to those extremes.

I think that we've seen a swing from small multiple threads to epic threads go as far as it's going to and I hope that the swing back will be organic and less extreme, what we don't want is everyone going big threads are bad and every single member making a thread for every topic.

In this sort of forum I don't believe that it should be up to staff to edit and prune extensively to keep the place under control, sure occasionally I'll merge or move threads but it shouldn't be our job to macromanage the place as IMO that totally goes against the grain of having an open discussion forum.

Perhaps with Marvel having so many releases these days we should perhaps consider breaking down that section some and having new threads for each wave and exclusive rather than theme ( like IM2 & GB).

My final and probably most important point is that It's everyones responsibility to consider where they post, if they should make a new thread or continue posting in another, after all those threads didn't just appear, you guys kept posting everything in them until they got to be that size.

Common sense should always win the day!

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll join in with pointless banter. More often than not lately I've been going (@)_(@) at the thread lengths, and just skip some topics all together because of it. Then I go "wait, I live here" and just shake my head sadly, and drudge through 5 pages in the past 2 days. Per thread. :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm... what if MMHQ WAS made the main news databasse with a thread in the News section being strictly for announcements by MMHQ staff (no posting allowed on this thread) that directs to MMHQ? That way people can see the announcements as they come in and then go talk about them in the general discussion thread. Just a thread titled NEW MINIMATE RELEASES and a general discussion thread about the stuff appearing in that thread.

However it would need to be made VERY clear that the thread is only for staff of MMHQ to announce the all the news that is news across the nation. Any posts not by MMHQ people should be deleted.

Overall this system just seems to make it easier for people to see that there are new releases for people (like myself and some others) who don't check MMHQ every day.

I know this may seem confusing. If someoen wants me to I can try to make it seem more plain.

Edited by Trekker 42
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now not to toot my own horn, but as someone who's accomplished waaaaaaaaaaay too much comprehensive trawling of this board in such a short number of years, I've had moments when I seriously considered volunteering to moderate full-time on the Multiverse. Hey, I visit the site daily anyway, I love the hobby and I practically read damn near everything... How hard can it be?

Unfortunately we can't vote in (or out :whistling: ) our Moderators but you'd get my vote .

Shocked?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately we can't vote in (or out :whistling: ) our Moderators but you'd get my vote .

Shocked?

I'm not shocked at all, I suspect NR would make a good Mod, However there are 8 of us right now and even though some of those people are on the inactive list I don't think we are looking to increase that number.

As for your vote BHM, Don't forget we are a benevolent dictatorship not a democracy! - we dont need no stinkin votes! ;):D

Are you having issues with someone on staff Rob if so PM me to discuss, another reason we get epic threads is that things go way off topic for far too long.

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As one of the early members and someone who checks the site daily; my concern is for new members who may not read every single new post that pops up. If I were a new collector who just stumbled across this place, I would have no idea what new Minimates have been announced or what is coming out. Let’s just say someone bought the new Iron Man mates at TRU and loved them now they want to know what other Iron Man mates have been released; in order for them to figure it out, they need to go through the 60 pages of Iron Man general discussion thread to see what there has been. I believe it would be more convenient for new members to have each release have a new thread (new waves, SDCC exclusives, etc.). Like with the new SDCC exclusive set, just by the title of the thread (What will the AFX & SDCC exclusive multipacks be??) a person would never know that the X force 4 pack has been announced and pics are on page whatever it is. I know it might be difficult for the mods to keep up if there is a thread for Iron Man single packs, Iron Man regular wave, and Iron Man exclusive packs, etc., but it seems to me it would be easier for someone new or someone just wanting to look at pics and not wanting to wade through 60 pages of discussion. Of course I have no real answers to the problem, just wanted to express my thoughts on the matter. Thanks to Shane and all the mods who keep this place running, I really appreciate everything you have done to make this a great forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to Shane and all the mods who keep this place running, I really appreciate everything you have done to make this a great forum.

Amen to that! I think most members are keen to announce ,spontaneously, the info that gets 'leaked' from various sources etc. but I reckon the Iron Man 2 deluge of Minimates brought about an unusual situation rather than a continuing one. I was totally lost in that thread & I resorted to looking at 'Ivan's' on a daily basis to figure what was going on only to find that he too was perhaps shell-shocked......who wasn't ? For the most part I reckon this forum runs quite sweetly but I'll be honest I get more than a few guys using me as a 'directory' in PMs. That's fine by me,being one of the most anal & boring vociferous members here ,I rather enjoy helping people , until I have to direct them to the 'Search' button which I find ......er....generally useless. That's probably not anybody's 'fault' & maybe my Englishness is hampering me but whenever I tap in anybloodything I get everyotherbloodything & my WTF moments are manifold. It's difficult to say whether there is something wrong or not with the way some threads go off at tangents but surely that's the way conversations in real-life go ? I'm often amongst those to blame for that but I always regiment myself to get things back on track & I again reckon that if we had 'mods' directing the traffic too much we'd lose more than we'd be gaining. That's not a dig at the mods by any means .....I'm just pointing out that if we are only shepherded into 'Marvel Wave 39 ONLY THREAD' (for ridiculous example) & can only post there because 'people would know where to look' then we'd be in a hell of a state & it would be as boring as hell. In conclusion the IM2 thread was a nightmare but unusually so...a one -off perhaps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Santos and BHM both make good points and it's nice to see some sensible thoughts on how we can learn from the IM2 thread and move forwards.

I agree with what most of you guys said and think that we'll try to keep a seperate thread for every wave released, the problem with the IM thread is that we got a slow trickle of stuff and it just kept coming.

I also pondered a 'master thread' where it would list where everything is being discussed, but in the end think it's not neccesary because IF people post in the right sections to begin with then you should go to marvel minimates to look for the wave 36 thread etc.

I also understand Robs thoughts on going off topic, it's a really hard one to moderate as ( like Rob says) we dont want to kill the conversational flow of threads but at the same time the topic does need to stay focused on it's original topic. I think up til now we've managed to keep a pretty good balance and at worst after some gentle nudging things get back on track. 4-3 posts of banter is fine, going back to something off topic & trying to revive that 3 months after everyone is back on topic is not.

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, T, may I just entertain the thought of that ‘master thread’ idea? I guess it could also be called an overhaul of the “Where Are They? thread.

My idea is to make it similar to the master feedback thread. No discussions, just post release info (convention exclusive, Borders exclusive, dates, wave summary, etc). The MMV mod team or a volunteer controls the first post while the rest of the MMV community supplies the info in the following posts while keeping conversations to a minimum. When whatever news is official (AA blog, Luke’s invoice, multiple trusted member TRU sightings, etc), the first post, when convenient, would absorb that data into the master list and delete the related posts. Of course, people would still break news through a new or existing thread but this would be a reactionary thread dependant on community support, not just mods.

I understand that the master feedback thread is a pain to maintain, but news is slow enough that it won’t require too much updates to the first post. And even if they do, the community will be able to help too with updates and, in theory, wouldn’t be too long that a new member would be overwhelmed. I would think that this would be helpful in TRU sightings, convention exclusives lists, future IM2-like releases, and saving trouble looking through existing threads. The wave 37 thread is already 9 pages and I don't think we know release date or what Spidey we're getting yet. We just know the characters in the wave.

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse, T, but I mean well. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, T, may I just entertain the thought of that ‘master thread’ idea? I guess it could also be called an overhaul of the “Where Are They? thread.

My idea is to make it similar to the master feedback thread. No discussions, just post release info (convention exclusive, Borders exclusive, dates, wave summary, etc). The MMV mod team or a volunteer controls the first post while the rest of the MMV community supplies the info in the following posts while keeping conversations to a minimum. When whatever news is official (AA blog, Luke’s invoice, multiple trusted member TRU sightings, etc), the first post, when convenient, would absorb that data into the master list and delete the related posts. Of course, people would still break news through a new or existing thread but this would be a reactionary thread dependant on community support, not just mods.

I understand that the master feedback thread is a pain to maintain, but news is slow enough that it won’t require too much updates to the first post. And even if they do, the community will be able to help too with updates and, in theory, wouldn’t be too long that a new member would be overwhelmed. I would think that this would be helpful in TRU sightings, convention exclusives lists, future IM2-like releases, and saving trouble looking through existing threads. The wave 37 thread is already 9 pages and I don't think we know release date or what Spidey we're getting yet. We just know the characters in the wave.

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse, T, but I mean well. :)

The Wave 37 thread is a prime example that threads these days are just going to be bigger, we have more people chipping in and I suspect the only way to counter that is having seprerate pre and post release threads.

...

As for the master list idea I think you just made yourself into the volunteer for the job Storm1:08... you really should be more carefull what you wish for ;)

Let's trial the idea and see if it works?

You create a 'master thread' which handily gives you the power to edit the first post and we see how it works for a while? - You can PM me occasionally and ask to have other posts removed as you edit them into the first as a short term solution. If we think it's working then eventually I'm sure we can give you 'mod rights' to just that thread.

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’d be glad to start the test run. Give me a few days to work it out a little and I’ll post in the Marvel sub forum when ready.

Thanks everybody for the input! It was great hearing other member’s comments regarding this. MMV will always be evolving and we have to evolve with it to keep it a great place to visit (or call home :) ). I just thought I was in the minority and being a grumpy old member about this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, you can do like me and just get your Minimates news from Minimates Headquarters. :P

Or you could be like MMHQ and just get your news from here! :P

T.

To be fair, we have maybe 2-3 people working over at MMHQ and you have over a thousand people poking around over here. You guys are probably going to spot the news before us.

Should we just not post anything at all if we see someone has started a topic over here about it?

I didn't think we were in competition, I just thought we reported the news and you guys discussed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't think we were in competition, I just thought we reported the news and you guys discussed it.

It was a tongue in cheek side swipe at Jattapake's blatent pimping of MMHQ, If he wasn't the creator and owner of MMHQ I probably wouldn't have said anything.

I think you are being a little over sensitive, did I touch a nerve?

T.

p.s. Happy birthday Drgn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...