Resolved Auto-Biographies, or something of the sort.

[Ben]

I had a thought for your consideration;

It seems a lot of us here have many stories to share over the last 20 years. What if we have a forum geared towards encouraging people to write their own auto-biographies? Rather than piece-meal stories spattered across the forums, there'd be the option for each member (who wants to) to maintain a first post and build on it over time. It'd also give anyone wanting a refresher on where people have been over the past two decades an easy place to find that.

One side thought is they may want the titles tagged with whether the stories are going to be [NSFW], etc.

 

[Cole]

I had a thought for your consideration;

It seems a lot of us here have many stories to share over the last 20 years. What if we have a forum geared towards encouraging people to write their own auto-biographies? Rather than piece-meal stories spattered across the forums, there'd be the option for each member (who wants to) to maintain a first post and build on it over time. It'd also give anyone wanting a refresher on where people have been over the past two decades an easy place to find that.

One side thought is they may want the titles tagged with whether the stories are going to be [NSFW], etc.

I like this idea. I was happy that me finally opening up got a bunch of others to post some real life stories.

I definitely think it would be cool.

even if people didn't wanna make full posts, or like me or crystal had already posted a bunch, they could share anecdotal stories like, "lemme tell you about this one time I was working at blah blah blah" kind of irl stories.

just sharing stuff from our pasts to whatever degree were comfortable.

 

[Crystal]

I think we could make something like that happen. GWF Journals...could make that a forum or even use a blog add-on if we wanted.

 

[Ben]

I like this idea. I was happy that me finally opening up got a bunch of others to post some real life stories.

I definitely think it would be cool.

even if people didn't wanna make full posts, or like me or crystal had already posted a bunch, they could share anecdotal stories like, "lemme tell you about this one time I was working at blah blah blah" kind of irl stories.

just sharing stuff from our pasts to whatever degree were comfortable.

Certainly. Having an outlet when those memories dawn on you would probably gather a lot of tales fast.

And for anyone that had already made some posts with the meat of their story, it'd probably be easy enough to go through post history and copy that stuff into a new thread.

I suppose a slightly more committed idea would be to give anyone who wants to compile an auto-biography their own subforum within a main one, so that they could post individual threads for each story/memory as they go. That'd keep the discussion on each a little more focused and easier to revisit, as opposed to stories interspersed over time with various comments in between. Of course, there's some degree of overhead admin work to make a new sub-forum, and it could become overwhelming at a point.

 

[Crystal]

Certainly. Having an outlet when those memories dawn on you would probably gather a lot of tales fast.

And for anyone that had already made some posts with the meat of their story, it'd probably be easy enough to go through post history and copy that stuff into a new thread.

I suppose a slightly more committed idea would be to give anyone who wants to compile an auto-biography their own subforum within a main one, so that they could post individual threads for each story/memory as they go. That'd keep the discussion on each a little more focused and easier to revisit, as opposed to stories interspersed over time with various comments in between. Of course, there's some degree of overhead admin work to make a new sub-forum, and it could become overwhelming at a point.

I own an add-on that MIGHT work for this, I'll install it and start tinkering and see if we can make it something workable

Edit -- ok, no, that didn't work, lol

 

[Mark]

I own an add-on that MIGHT work for this, I'll install it and start tinkering and see if we can make it something workable

Edit -- ok, no, that didn't work, lol

Alternatively, in line with what @Cole was suggesting… we do have the option for article forums, that would grant members the ability to publish it on the forums and receive replies, and those articles can also be promoted to the editor section and viewable as it’s own independent content as well.

 

[Cole]

yeah, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of sub forums for everyone that want a them. but the news article type thing would work well

 

[Mark]

yeah, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of sub forums for everyone that want a them. but the news article type thing would work well

It wouldn’t be a sub-forum for each article, it would simply be an article-only forum where each thread has an author not much different than now, but the first post would appear slightly different.

 

[Cole]

It wouldn’t be a sub-forum for each article, it would simply be an article-only forum where each thread has an author not much different than now, but the first post would appear slightly different.

I know, I was replying to bens self admitted far more ambitious idea

 

[Ben]

Alternatively, in line with what @Cole was suggesting… we do have the option for article forums, that would grant members the ability to publish it on the forums and receive replies, and those articles can also be promoted to the editor section and viewable as it’s own independent content as well.

yeah, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of sub forums for everyone that want a them. but the news article type thing would work well

I didn't mean a sub forum for each article, but rather each person. I was thinking [main forum > sub forum for each person contributing > individual threads for each story]. But anyway, the sub-forum idea didn't really seem viable given how much work it'd take to add them no, I'm just entirely unfamiliar with XF as opposed to what vB could do.

If there's some other way to more direct replies at a certain post, like with some article system, that could work too.

Even just [forum > individual threads for each person] would work though, it'd just get a little cluttered and harder to read all at once.

 

[Mark]

I didn't mean a sub forum for each article, but rather each person. I was thinking [main forum > sub forum for each person contributing > individual threads for each story]. But anyway, the sub-forum idea didn't really seem viable given how much work it'd take to add them no, I'm just entirely unfamiliar with XF as opposed to what vB could do.

If there's some other way to more direct replies at a certain post, like with some article system, that could work too.

Even just [forum > individual threads for each person] would work though, it'd just get a little cluttered and harder to read all at once.

The architecture is strikingly similar in the admin cp, but *just* different enough to send the average washed-up vB admin into a spiral of frustration trying to reconnect the dots. Remember how you could add a mod directly from the same page you could sort the forum order, adjust forum weight, and edit the forum? Nope. Not no more. It IS in the forum sub-section, it just has its own dedicated link now. That’s just an example, but… you get the idea. It’s the equivalent of walking in a grocery store and seeing they rearranged the aisles, but not the merchandise on the racks.

 

[Cole]

yeah, I agree with Mark. when I first got into this admin forum I thought "this feels so different than I remember", but that's because I had forgotten GW was XenForo for a while when I was admin and I had already fallen off.

but it's still very similar to VB once you dig into it.

the same things are possible (more here tbh) especially when you factor in the add-ons.

 

[Mark]

yeah, I agree with Mark. when I first got into this admin forum I thought "this feels so different than I remember", but that's because I had forgotten GW was XenForo for a while when I was admin and I had already fallen off.

but it's still very similar to VB once you dig into it.

the same things are possible (more here tbh) especially when you factor in the add-ons.

Especially when it pertains to the forum structure themselves. Back in the vB2.5/3.0-3.5 era… the admin cp remained mostly unchanged. There was a major aesthetic jump going from 2-3, but overall… the configuration remained mostly the same for my entire tenure through GW, GA, GWo, FTG, RS, and whatever ones I’ve forgotten along the way.

I first started introducing @Ben to the ACP probably around the 2.x era, because I want to remember him being a part of the BIG upgrade to vB3… which we were sure was gonna put us over GW since Al absolutely HATED taking the forums offline for upgrades back then. By the time he was fully capable, because we worked in stages if I recall correctly, basically learning and perfecting a chunk of functions at a time, we were in the vB3 Beta Gold era. For comparison… when you and I did RS, I *think* we were in the vB3.5.x era. That’s a pretty good way to convey the lack of progression between versions back then.

That’s a looong span of time without any major fundamental changes, and a little time with XenForo for those of you that used it, so it’s really no wonder that “muscle memory” thing wants to make things seem so off at times.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I think we could make something like that happen. GWF Journals...could make that a forum or even use a blog add-on if we wanted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we have something like that in old GW?

 

[Cole]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we have something like that in old GW?

not exactly. there was a creative writing sub. but we didn't have one for self stories necessarily.

 

[Mark]

not exactly. there was a creative writing sub. but we didn't have one for self stories necessarily.

Nah, he’s right… there was a legit blog forum for a minute there. It kinda died out when I was still an admin, so it may have been gone or reduced to what you saw in CW by the time you were one.

 

[Ben]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we have something like that in old GW?

There definitely was a blog/journal forum.

I suppose that's viable too, though my thought was the retrospective stories and not so much current events. Not that it couldn't facilitate both.

 

[Mark]

There definitely was a blog/journal forum.

I suppose that's viable too, though my thought was the retrospective stories and not so much current events. Not that it couldn't facilitate both.

Glad the pieces are starting to come together. If we can get Maj here, I might have a chance of rebuilding a full memory again.

 

[VashTheStampede]

yeah, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of sub forums for everyone that want a them.

Yeah just one for me, that makes a lot of sense

 

[Cole]

Yeah just one for me, that makes a lot of sense

your stories are literally all just video game memes

 

[VashTheStampede]

 

[Mark]

I finally got around to toying with some of the forum settings, and I think I have something that’ll work for this purpose. Here it is.

 

[Ben]

Awesome. Excited to try out out and see what the difference is in it format.

Impressive turn around time, too! Thanks, Mark.

I had a side thought of giving the forum a weekly/monthly prompt for what to write about, so encourage story sharing, but that's something to consider down the line.

 

[Mark]

Awesome. Excited to try out out and see what the difference is in it format.

I spent a bit fucking around with the settings, and it’s mostly presentational differences. Nothing real flashy, but it’s kinda cool how it previews the article before you open the thread.

Impressive turn around time, too! Thanks, Mark.

Eh, if it were a dumbass badge I would have made time for it right then and there, but I wanted to mess with the different configurations and try to get it right. Without an add-on blog software, that should cover just about everything. The only liberty I took with your idea was expanding on the types of content encouraged, but that’s simply to encourage a wider range of shit. Not everyone gives a fuck about journaling, so I figured if we open it up to more possibilities it’ll stand a better chance of drawing people in.

I had a side thought of giving the forum a weekly/monthly prompt for what to write about, so encourage story sharing, but that's something to consider down the line.

That’s definitely a solid idea and something that can be done as far as implementing and communicating it goes, but that’ll be something a mod or regular visitor can handle when there’s more content to feel out.