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Post by Fryguy64 on Jun 9, 2005 8:27:04 GMT -5
For a short while about a couple of months ago, me and the webmaster over at Gamehiker (Masamune, also a board member here) discussed merging websites to cover even wider ground. The plans fell foul thanks to us disagreeing on a number of issues: mainly hosting, but also a few other things. We considered some alternatives, and one was to merge the forums so we would all migrate to Gamehiker's. We both liked the sound of this, as we both agree on how a forum should be run, and has the added benefit of more game character and story content... and fan-made stuff... things we don't have over here. In short, it would mean more boards, more people, and closer links between these two sites. I'm in favour, but I'm throwing this out to you. Nothing is confirmed - in fact me and Masa haven't discussed it for a while - but I wanted to find out what you thought. I have provided a poll of responses above, and would love it if you posted your input below. I would like to affirm that unlike many other possible board mergers, Gamehiker's is run in very much the same way as this one - intelligent discussion on games and their content, on Nintendo news, on site suggestions, and on extreme violence against troublemakers. And you lazy gits who wouldn't want to move because you can't be bothered to register to a different board? Shame on you. |
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Post by Hiker of Games on Jun 9, 2005 9:32:40 GMT -5
Just as a forewarning, a lot of Gamehiker members are disgruntled ex-VGFers like Fryguy and I. So you can sort of draw a conclusion as to what expect. Kinda. Not really.
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jun 9, 2005 10:37:56 GMT -5
Basically I like his site, especially those theories, and for an almost pure Nintendo site I couldn't resist to visit it. It seems that I would like the merger. However, I have to disagree with the idea.
Firstly, after merging what will the new thing called? Whatever the new name is, what I'm sure is that NinDB's message board will no longer be NinDB's message board, but a general forum.
Secondly, more members means harder management and less space for newcomers. Imagine, a forum filled with expert-level gamers - will it be newbie-friendly? Probably not. I've seen sites that tried to attract newcomers, but at last failed due to all people there are talking about advanced things, making the newbies not to ask basic stuff.
Thirdly, I hate merger. When two organisations merge, even if only one single part of both parties, they'll most likely ended up one of them leading another one. That's fine for the leader themselves, but what will outsiders think? They may think one of them is a sub-organizaition of another.
Lastly, I think different styles won't match. No doubt Masamune's site is great, but the contents and style are different from NinDB. Gamehiker contains series-specific stuff and fan-made things, but NinDB has facts of all Nintendo's stuff, instead of being series-specific, taking up to almost 100% of the entire site. Their graphical style is different too, though considering only the forums they look alike.
So that's why.... a big NO!!
I vote for the 3rd option.
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Post by Hiker of Games on Jun 9, 2005 10:49:49 GMT -5
Well, as far as a site merger, we sort of decided on not doing that (for different reasons). So that there is not an issue to be overly concerned about. And even if we did merge forums, it wouldn't make a huge forum. Our forums are roughly the same in membership, so it would be otherwise doubled in active membership. And I don't think you're going to have a big problem with 'big expert stuff' going on. This forum and my own have its share of 'newbies' not yet advanced in the ways of the Force. But I can definitely understand where you're coming from.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jun 9, 2005 10:53:41 GMT -5
To clarify: The new forum would be called something like the "Gamehiker / NinDB Message Board"... or even the "NinDB / Gamehiker Message Board". It will still be NinDB's message board - it will just also be Gamehiker's. We'll probably fight over things like which name comes first and what the colour scheme should be... but leave that up to us. It won't mean harder management at all. I already explained that me and Masa have a similar interest in running message boards that are interesting to read. This forum is newbie friendly, so long as the newbie doesn't act like a monkey with a keyboard. I don't want that to change, and it won't following a merge. This isn't a merger of sites or anything, just a merger of messageboards. Merging the members and boards from one to another. No-one is running anyone else. Me and Masa go back a long way, and we're both FAR too egotistical to let one get the upper hand of the other  Styles will match. The only reason NinDB doesn't cover series-specific information is because I don't have the time. The only reason Masa doesn't cover releases is because I would kick him in the nuts for nicking my idea. Simple! This approach would simply allow Nintendo fans to write about both areas of Nintendo in one place. If we didn't merge, I'd only create new boards to let you talk about series-specific stuff anyway. |
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Post by Xeno82 on Jun 9, 2005 13:25:45 GMT -5
I'm always skeptical about such things, but this sounds pretty interesting. I think it could work. There's only one way to find out.
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Post by TrustTheFungus on Jun 9, 2005 15:15:43 GMT -5
Hmmm....I'll have to check them out before I vote.
One thing I don't like is my post count will go down to zero if we move over there. Then there will be all these people with 800 posts and I'll have 3.
I've already registered, I'm going to go over there and maybe post a bit. See if I like it.
Edit:
Ok, I went there now. The biggest problem is no board specifically for Nintendo game discussion, just a video game discussion. But I imagine you would fix that, right? Of course it might start to have to many different forums.
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Post by Hiker of Games on Jun 9, 2005 16:25:59 GMT -5
To those concerned, I could alter your post counts to accomodate that, but your actual posts would actually be gone.
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Post by stevet on Jun 9, 2005 17:36:28 GMT -5
As a member of Gamehiker, I can vouch that the Gaming Discussion is at least 80% Nintendo discussion. You'd only have a few Square fans poisoning the waters. Plus, there's whole forums for Mario and Zelda.
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icymatt
Pikpik Carrot
Biggus Squidus
Posts: 148
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Post by icymatt on Jun 9, 2005 17:50:07 GMT -5
I gots no problems with this. Besides, I am on a few other boards as well, so I'm used to arnery posters.
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Post by TrustTheFungus on Jun 9, 2005 17:51:59 GMT -5
As a member of Gamehiker, I can vouch that the Gaming Discussion is at least 80% Nintendo discussion. You'd only have a few Square fans poisoning the waters. Plus, there's whole forums for Mario and Zelda. 20% seems like way to much to me. Does that make me a fanboy? |
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Post by Hiker of Games on Jun 9, 2005 18:10:23 GMT -5
Well, it's because of this. We used to have Gaming Discussion and Nintendo. But nobody posted in Gaming Discussion except for a very small number of people, so I just fused the two.
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Post by Andronicus on Jun 9, 2005 18:42:39 GMT -5
Well, I'm honestly not that keen on the idea.
I've always liked this forum over others due to it's sort of smaller community feel.
There's the regulars, who post and generate discussion, and then there's the newcomers who add their own opinions.
It works well, and the forum directly reflects the feel I get from the actual NinDB site itself (my favourite Nintendo only website).
So, that's just my opinion.
I think it's downright decent of Masamune to offer to keep post counts up for everybody, butr the idea of losing all of my posts is a big downer.
On an Australian games website I frequent (and DIU can vouch for this), the server went down not that long ago and the past 50 or so days of posts vansihed forever.
All my discussions gone.
It was a bit annoying.
That all said, this is not my site - I am merely a member who posts here regularly.
Fryguy, you do what you think is best for the forums.
I've checked out the forums over at Gamehiker, Masamune, and they seem quite good, and CIVILISED (so hard to find that quality on video game forums - the NoA forums, which I have gazed through in the past were simply awful).
So, I'll end on that note.
End!
;D
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Post by kirbychu on Jun 9, 2005 18:56:10 GMT -5
To clarify: This forum is newbie friendly, so long as the newbie doesn't act like a monkey with a keyboard. And here I thought you LIKED monkeys... I'm not sure about the whole thing myself, so I guess I'll just go along with whatever happens. I wouldn't be too fussed about losing posts... but it's not like I'm a very regular poster, anyway.  |
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Jun 10, 2005 1:59:41 GMT -5
I really don't care.
Yeah, helpful, hey?
I browsed over a few of the posts, and while I kinda agree on some points, it really would not bother me either way. Do whatever has to be done.
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