The Totally Unofficial; Official VGC *SOCIAL*/*MISC.* Topic!

[disgaeniac]

So, in some other topics lately, there's been some ideas & discussions concerning a "SOCIAL" component/aspect for this site.

My idea here is to implement something to fulfill that...but...in a way that keeps everything simple (yet available) to everyone here.

It's *NOT* an entirely unique or an original idea of my own -rather- it's more of an adaptation/alteration to similar things that I've seen done on various other sites & boards.

The long & the short of it...is to simply use *THIS TOPIC* (preferably & possibly) getting it 'stickied' and legitimized (read: *Made "Official")* somewhere down the line...for all things social, miscellaneous/extraneous, etc.

It could/would be a "catch-all" thread/topic for everything from Introductions, birthdays, vacations/trips, happy/sad events in real life, anniversary's (both marital & VGC-Anniversarys , "Whatcha' Playing Now", discussions for any/all topics that just don't belong in another section...

What I've found personally (from seeing *succesful* variants of this used on other sites) is that it's *GREAT* in stream-lining & keeping a lot of space & room in other threads & forums from getting 'overly-cluttered' w/ "Mini"-topics and "short/destined to die soon" topics...

Some (recent) examples would be 2 other topics that I've made recently...

(1).  The "did you know this about the pS2" topic (w/ link) and

(2).  the "Dear Gamers" 'letter' by Aisha Tyler (also w/ a link)

In the kind of social thread that I'm talking about, rather than things like these becoming their own new & individual topics...they'd likely just by topics (in the social-thread) that would (probably) end up getting, say, 5-10 responses, or so.

Another example would/could be something like Bugs' projects/programming applications/contributions to the site -

something like this could (and, IMO should) be brought-up, addressed, and discussed in this "social"/"Misc". topic as well.

Long story short, I think it would keep everyone (*especially* the "regulars" here) checking-in on & contributing to what could have been (potentially) on-going and/or *Short*-lived topics (in other words, it would eliminate random musings/posts from everywhere else on the site) and keep them all together in one topic.

It also could & would greatly cut down on the *Number* of threads for each person to need to keep-up with.

Lastly (and not insignificantly), where I've seen this done before - it's always seemed to foster a much more closely-knit community of posters as they get to know each other better in one central topic (as opposed to, maybe seeing poster "A" in topic "X", poster "B" in topic "Y", poster "C" in topic "Z", etc, etc...

[jcalder8]

Isn't most social or misc stuff off topic and would therefore go there?

If you don't have anything to say on what you are posting then I say don't post it rather than have one topic of seemingly pointless posts.

[disgaeniac]

Isn't most social or misc stuff off topic and would therefore go there?

If you don't have anything to say on what you are posting then I say don't post it rather than have one topic of seemingly pointless posts.

No...

It would be more like a topic that could have several, on-going conversations/discussions active instead of starting a new & different topic for each & every one of those conversations...

[tpugmire]

If I'm reading this correctly, I have a few thoughts.
1. How do you propose to get everyone on the same page?  Odds are, we would still wind up with several of those short lived threads anyway.

2. I think that most people aren't going to want to go through several pages of randomness, just to find whatever topic is being discussed at the moment.

3. We already have an off topic forum for this kind of stuff, that's where most of what you're proposing would go.  I think that your examples of threads you created are on topic, so they wouldn't fit.

However, all that being said, you've made the thread so I wish you luck.

[matt]

If I'm reading this correctly, I have a few thoughts.
1. How do you propose to get everyone on the same page?  Odds are, we would still wind up with several of those short lived threads anyway.

2. I think that most people aren't going to want to go through several pages of randomness, just to find whatever topic is being discussed at the moment.

3. We already have an off topic forum for this kind of stuff, that's where most of what you're proposing would go.  I think that your examples of threads you created are on topic, so they wouldn't fit.

However, all that being said, you've made the thread so I wish you luck.

I agree with all of these points but will listen to everyone's thoughts.

[disgaeniac]

Argh!

It's kinda' hard for me to explain *exactly* what it is that I'm talking about (and, I'm far from being the most verbose/articulate guy in the world)...so, I'm just gonna' link everyone to something similar to what it is that I have in mind/am trying to explain -

The 1st post is the 'condensed' version of how it started/what it is, etc ==> and then ==> the following/rest of the posts are examples of how it would work/what kinds of different things that could be brought-up & discussed, etc.

Since a picture (or in this case, an *Example*) is worth a thousand words...

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/220-rpgs-everything-else/62775737