This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Revolution is coming to IRG!
Well, okay, revolution is too strong a word. "Renovation" might be better. Two things are going to happen that will make those of you who aren't reading this post go "whaaat?!?" when they log on afterwards.
- We're creating a new subforum! Its working title is "The Shaved Ice Lounge," and as the name suggests, it is the dessert to the appetizers and main courses offered by the other subforums. The Shaved Ice Lounge is for quickpost forum games, one-liner threads, online quizzes, and all else that is delectably free of nutritional content.
- We're destroying an old subforum! Yes, Roleplaying is going away. Don't worry, we're keeping the threads; they'll just be moving to one of the other forums as appropriate depending on their content. Everyone remains welcome to participate in or begin role-plays, just not in an RP-only subforum.
These are two changes that both needed to happen independently, but work especially well together. Over the past few months we've seen posts and received PMs independently from several forum members who want a change in how IRG is organized. We discussed the idea, and it turns out that threads like Avatar Above Me, Ban The User Above You, and Flirt 'Til It Hurts have more in common with each other than they do with their current neighbors. Threads like these are very popular, increasingly numerous, and closely linked; they deserve their own forum. What's more, giving them a forum of their own will give the other forums -- especially GD -- more space to breathe. Those of us who prefer serious threads will have less trouble finding them, and those of us who prefer fun threads will have less trouble finding those. Win-win! It's a wonder we didn't do this a long time ago. In case it's not clear, by the way, we hope everyone who's so inclined will continue to participate in all parts of the forum; we're trying to sort threads, not people.
As for RP, it's always sad to bid goodbye to an old friend, but there's a law of conservation of forums at work here. Five subforums is too many for a forum our size. Even if it weren't, only eight threads in Roleplaying have been posted in within the last month; it's been by far the quietest forum since its inception in 2006. The original reason for the creation of the RP forum was that we thought role-plays would stretch across multiple threads and create clutter in other forums, but as it's actually played out, role-plays are contained within one or two threads at most. That means our active RPs should be able to peacefully coexist with their new neighbors. Again, we're not at all trying to discourage RPs! This change may even increase the amount of role-playing on IRG; segregating the RPs has had the effect of discouraging people who don't think of themselves as RPers from visiting them, and if they don't visit, they can't play. (And no, we're not worried about having the same problem with the Shaved Ice Lounge. Everyone wants to post in a goofy thread once in a while.)
Together, these changes will make IRG better at being the forum it already is.
Now opening the floor for comment!
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That's the idea! There are a few edge cases where it's not quite obvious whether they belong in the new subforum or their current one -- Songs You Fucking Hate, for example, which is used as a one-line thread by many but a discussion thread by some -- but for the most part threads clearly belong in either one place or the other. If your favorite thread ends up in what you feel is the wrong place, let me know!
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Alas, RPing subforum! You will be missed.
This plan is generally quite swell. I do like the name.
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Sounds like a good idea. Only three/four subforums does seem quite limiting and I had felt there could be more subforums to better organize these types of threads, personally. It may help to diversify the style of forum activity and perhaps promote the general activity level over-all (and I enjoy both serious and not-as-serious threads due to the balance, but usually the activity level is one-sided and then it's hard to generate that same level activity to the other side so it' like, why bother posting). But if there is a better dividing line and people see 'oh, this forum is pretty inactive, let's make a new thread and get some activity going,' it would really add to the IRG experience (did I just type that? Ew).
It's a very smart move, actually. I never did say anything about it, but I always felt that there was possible conflict of interests because of things being lumped together (and I admit I felt awkward devoting attention to only certain things when things of very different natures shared the same subforum, thinking how some people might take it, not that that is/was anyone's fault, in my book, just a consequence). But I admit I am not too good at speaking my mind as I don't feel it's my place. But I look forward to seeing the changes to an already great forum.
Last edited by spoon-san (09-03-2009 10:48:11 PM)
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My name is Giovanna and I've approved this message. </politico>
Seriously we've been ready for this for a while. Luckily since satyr is the smartest decision ever made on the site, I don't have to do the work.
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I like it...I love the games and quizzes, but I do like my serious threads too. The Book and Movie threads are still going to be in General Discussion right?
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Yes, those qualify as discussion threads.
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I think it's an excellent idea. When are you guys expecting to begin this and will the forum be offline while you reorganize it?
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I'm hoping to begin this evening; if not, tomorrow. There will be a little craziness for I'm guessing around an hour as threads get moved back and forth (and then more moderate craziness for a while longer as I deal with the archives). Threads exist independently of their forums, so everyone should be able to post as normal during that time. I've never done anything like this before, though, so if there's a little bit of downtime, you know who to blame!
Last edited by satyreyes (09-04-2009 09:49:44 AM)
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Whee, I'm excited satyr! It sounds like a nice addition. You guys rock.
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Satyr, you do have the option of bringing the forum offline while you do it, but since there's no direct database dickery involved until you create and delete forums, I'd say save it for that. (A span of about five minutes that's probably better to kick everyone off for to be glitch-free.) Once you're done, I'll backup the databases and run basic repair functions, just to be safe.
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Sweet, I'm already planning a rude bitchfest about the forum being down!
(you guys know I you right?)
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I remember when the RP forum was made. And I shall be sad to see it go.
But, seriously, this is awesome. Very good choice on everyone's part.
Though I imaging I will be grumbly if I come in some morning and only find Shaved Ice posts. >>;;;;
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Lady Chani wrote:
I remember when the RP forum was made. And I shall be sad to see it go.
But, seriously, this is awesome. Very good choice on everyone's part.
Though I imaging I will be grumbly if I come in some morning and only find Shaved Ice posts. >>;;;;
I don't think so. I love the Shaved Ice so far, but I don't think anything will top my love for IFD. I think many can agree.
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I'll probably end up avoiding Shaved Ice like a plague... after all, I think everyone on the forum knows my opinion of the one line/one word threads.
But yes, IFD is muchly nommy.
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As for me, moving all the posts was a nostalgic experience! I like a lot of the threads that ended up in Shaved Ice and am happy they'll be able to thrive in their new home (and give their old homes some new space). Already people are resurrecting old games and surveys, partly because they know they're not cluttering forums that people expect to see serious discussions on. Good stuff!
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A new forum with a yummy name? Awesome!
I'm curious to know how many posts from game threads added to the post count of the other threads. Would anyone happen to know what the post count in GD, SKU, and IFD were before the threads were moved to SIL?
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What a great idea!! Kudos to the mods, and a nod to you Satyr for putting it all together.
And as I type this most of it has been moved, so it's looking great so far. I've seen this done on other forums before where they have smaller subforums. I think it'll be great for the forum as well as it's organization.
I never participated in the RP thread, but it's a nostalgic part of the forum and will always be remembered. Wait---doesn't that sound like I'm personalizing it?
Anyway, good beans.
Last edited by lex (09-04-2009 03:27:04 PM)
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Razara wrote:
A new forum with a yummy name? Awesome!
I'm curious to know how many posts from game threads added to the post count of the other threads. Would anyone happen to know what the post count in GD, SKU, and IFD were before the threads were moved to SIL?
Actually, while I'm not 100% sure about this (I will check), I think the post counts are not dynamic; that is, they don't decrement when posts or threads are deleted or moved. In other words, the post counts now are the same as they were then. If you'd like to make a note of the current total, you can; I'll hit the button that re-tallies the post counts when I'm through with this Edit: I am wrong; the post counts have already changed. Sorry! But at a guesstimate, I'd say that easily 15,000-20,000 posts came from IFD, and there will be more as I get into the archives and move the rest of the one-word story threads and such.
Also, spoon-san PM'd me to make a good point: some of the threads in SIL were originally in IFD, and thus semi-private. I don't think any of them contained significant highly personal material (that's why they're in SIL), but if anyone is worried about a specific thread being too personal for the public forums, you can let me know or delete the particular posts you don't want brought to the light of day.
Last edited by satyreyes (09-04-2009 04:00:55 PM)
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Sounds good to me. And it's really cool seeing all the old threads and seeing them come alive, too. Great job Mr. Mod, sir!
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Stormcrow wrote:
Sweet, I'm already planning a rude bitchfest about the forum being down!
(you guys know I you right?)
*helps*
RABBLERABBLERABBLE!!
satyreyes wrote:
Segregating the RPs has had the effect of discouraging people who don't think of themselves as RPers from visiting them, and if they don't visit, they can't play.
I like this, it seems encouraging, since I have always avoided RP like the plague. Seeing it more often will probably make me curious and want to look.
Also, I can't think of any one-liner threads that would be too personal for the general public, vast majority of them are cute banter that should be displayed to the public anyway for lol's.
How exciting, my first IRG reno!
Edit: Will the favourite quotes thread be moved as well? They're not necessarily one liners, but there doesn't seem to be much discussion about those quotes, it's more of a collection.
Last edited by Syora (09-04-2009 04:43:26 PM)
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Good questions about borderline cases. Yeah, favorite quotes is probably good in SIL; unlike favorite books, which stayed in GD, it hasn't developed to include a lot of reflection. The SKU Caption Contest should also go in SIL; I missed that one because very few threads in the SKU subforum were good candidates for SIL. I'll move both.
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