Friday 31 January 2014

The Open Thread About Open Threads

We've had an awesome array of posts in just the short time this blog has been open. To keep the discussion moving forward, and allow it to expand into some areas that might be hard for a single author to write about, I'm going to be adding some open threads to encourage discussion. This way we can get fans, prospective/new writers, and established writers discussing ideas (hopefully).

In each thread I'll start with a short introduction about an AIF related issue and then leave it open to comments. I'll also likely post the first comment if it is an issue about which I have something to say. If things go well, multiple people will chime in with their thoughts and we can work on/with each others ideas. After the post has been up for awhile, I might summarize the various ideas presented into a post of their own.

While I already have quite a few open thread ideas jotted down, I might limit myself to doing it as a monthly occurrence. I'd rather let the issues sit and be discussed instead of rushing through topics.

Other than just communicating this idea, I'm throwing the floor open to general discussion. Are there any improvements you think can be made to the blog? Are there any type of topics you want to see discussed? Just want to talk about how awesome AIF is? The floor is yours if you want it.

30 comments:

  1. I am supportive of open threads, I just don't know what without a "topic".

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  2. We should work out the name for the blog. Also, can a fixed front-page link be setup with a quick faq? Oh, and a few more links to the key game and community sites might also be good if this is kind of a central place.

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    1. To go along with the new name, I think a fresh banner would be a nice touch. Maybe one with some imagery that pays homage to AIF's history.

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    2. What kind of FAQ? I have a general AIF FAQ that I wrote for my own blog which I've been meaning to add here (since it's a more central location)

      A banner would be welcome as well.

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    3. Let me know if there are any links (or link categories) you'd like me to add.

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    4. Assuming it's fixed soon, AIFGames.com should probably be listed as well.

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  3. A decent idea for an open thread might be a group brainstorm of new name ideas.

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    1. I have a few:

      AIF Blog - The Reckoning
      AIF Blog - The Gathering
      AIF Blog - Redemption
      AIF Blog - Requiem

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    2. Just spitballin' here:

      AIF Underground
      Club AIF
      Descendants of Erin
      AIF: The Next Generation

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    3. Club AIF isn't bad.

      A few more vague suggestions:
      The AIF Exchange
      The AIF Hub
      AIF Central
      (The last sounds like it would be themed like a big underground railway station - although that would actually be cool.)

      I don't personally much like the word "blog", so whatever the name is I'd prefer that not be in it.

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    4. AIF Central is a definite contender. Like you said, something that lends itself to easy theming would be good. More ideas ...

      AIF Vault
      AIF Sanctum
      AIF Arena
      AIF Kingdom

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    5. Of the suggestions mentioned so far, AIF Central is probably my favourite as well. Is there any AIF set on trains? There should be.

      Or maybe we could just have a picture of a train going into a tunnel...

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    6. "Or maybe we could just have a picture of a train going into a tunnel..."

      LOL. This must be done.

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  4. Also, the default pale blue background must go. Yuck. Something greyish would look nice.

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    1. Better, although your FAQ needs a font colour change now.

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    2. Much, much better. Feels sleek, spare, and professional. Not sure how I feel about the orange text, but I might grow to like it. However, the light-on-dark might hurt some people's eyes.

      The one thing I think we can all agree that we have to avoid is "pornifying" the site.

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    3. All the colours are customisable. I've just been sticking with the defaults so far.

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  5. What dimensions does a header image need to be for this place? Because a picture like this might work: http://www.wallpaperup.com/46831/Subway_Train_BW_Underground_Train_Station_Motion_Blur.html

    (With a bit of editing for scale/size, I expect.)

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    1. 760x200 I think.

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    2. Something like this, maybe?

      http://i58.tinypic.com/25tkz79.jpg

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    3. Looks like something went wrong with the quality of the image. I think you have to click the image on TinyPic, then select View Raw Image. It looks a little blurry as is.

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    4. Looking at it again, I notice you enlarged the image. Did Blogspot do that automatically?

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    5. Does that look any better? If the image has changed size, that's Blogspot's doing.

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    6. Yes. Better now. The issue may have been with the browser I was using to view the page.

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  6. I see three things about the blog that could potentially be improved, being unfamiliar with blogger I'm just not sure how to go about it or whether changes would create their own problems.

    The first is perhaps limiting the amount of text displayed on the "main page". Put the first paragraph or so and then a 'read more' link. I understand the idea of blogs is not to act as an archive, but for more of 'here's what's going on now' space. So far though, we've been putting up some really long threads and it is a minor problem to scan through the past few days looking for comment discussions and potentially overwhelming to new visitors (as I said though, minor problem).

    The second, which plays off the first, and isn't so much a problem with the blog but what to do moving forward, is whether there should be a website that stores the articles that get written here for easier reference/future writers. Again, more of an idea, not sure how it would be implement or whether it is needed in the long run.

    The third, and this is one that might fix itself over time, is we'll need a standardized link of tabs for the major topics. Game design, writing support, game reviews, game releases, etc. Another minor issue, but could help people searching for particular information in the future.

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  7. "The first is perhaps limiting the amount of text displayed on the 'main page'."

    I've done some investigating and there are two things that can control how much text there is on the front page. In the blog settings you can set how many posts will appear. However, if you want a 'read more' link, then authors will have to insert jump breaks in their posts.

    "The third, and this is one that might fix itself over time, is we'll need a standardized link of tabs for the major topics."

    I think this is a result of having multiple authors, with different attitudes to labels. Some use a lot of labels, some use just a few, and some don't use any.

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    1. Right now it looks like only one post is showing on the front page - I don't think that's a good feature. Was that something from the settings? I'd prefer to show a lot of different articles on the home page, even if they have to be full length.

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    2. There's a setting that determines how many posts (or days) are displayed on the main page, which was at ten posts. I've tried increasing the number of posts, and changing it to days, with no effect. Perhaps you should try inserting a jump break in your post.

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