On #qc

[FrikaC]

I think the chatroom may have killed the forums, we don't seem to get as much post volume as we did back in the old days. QuakeOne's boards have already surpassed us in post count and they're a johnny come lately.

[Lardarse]

Maybe... but I think that we need to keep them both...

[CocoT]

Funny you should mention that, FrikaC. I have actually been thinking about that a lot these few days, surprised as I was to see that, for some weird reasons, the forums remained so quiet despite QExpo raging just next door.
I have been toying with some ideas on how to try to bring some life back here, but I really can't go in the details now. I need some time to lay it down properly (Qexpo-thread-style ) I do think personally it's vital to not only keep the forum but to really strive to bring back life to it.
More to come later

[scar3crow]

Honestly, QExpo received very little forum attention, if i3d, func_, quakeone, and various other sites are an indicator. Even the QExpo forum, linked on the frontpage, received basically no love. I think my livejournal was the most active "forum" for QExpo.

However, #qexpo was quite active and usually had 35+ people from various subcommunities with interesting conversation of the various releases and future ones.

The thing is... and no offense to QuakeOne, but they have a lot of nonsense threads, and a lot of bickering threads - and I sometimes have a hard time reading it because it seems to exist in defiance of Quake's history, completely without knowledge of the first 5 years of the community seemingly. I never would have fathomed a Quake community that did not know of Headhunters, that had never played a Steve Rescoe or Matthias Worch map, that didnt mention Painkeep or Team Fortress in a mod list... Im wondering if any of them were aware of Thunderwalker CTF =\
So, to risk sounding a bit brutal, I dont think the post count is that noteworthy when you compare... honest content of the posts.

I do keep an eye on the forums, but rarely do I think of something that is worthy of the more documented debate style as seen on forums, and thus such topics are oft reserved for the Pickup Game style of #qc #darkplaces and so on. If I see a thread going on at the i3d forums, or func_ or wherever else, that I think I can contribute to, I will. But otherwise, I will leave it be. This isnt really a community that gives any particular value to post count per person.

[ajay]

I only tend to go on irc during qexpo, with a little extended time afterwards, like right now. I post here more during the rest of the year, although as my posting usually consists of "I can't do this, please help" or "My house" type posts, I can hardly claim to be keeping this place alive either.

I generally prefer forums to irc, as i tend to get dragged away from my pc a lot, so either appear to be lurking, or just plain miss conversations. Forums therefore are better for me, as your replies don't need to be in real time.

I think like others my irc parcipitation goes up during qxepo as it's all part of the "experience"

CocoT - can't wait

[FrikaC]

my posting usually consists of "I can't do this, please help"

Those type of posts are really what this forum is all about.

[ajay]

True but sometimes I'd feel more like I was contributing if I could help others too.

[scar3crow]

ajay - look at it this way, i neither ask for help, nor have the ability to offer it, at least youre getting half of the job done!

[FrikaC]

I think the main problem is there isn't enough people that need help...

[spamalam]

True but sometimes I'd feel more like I was contributing if I could help others too.

you do, your question and your answer are achived so people can check this in the future. You can search and find answers. IRC is dead weight. Once its said, it exists on a few people's logs for a while but its of no use to anyone and the same questions get asked over and over.

Asking questions, as detailed as possible, and the subsequent answers are very useful for n00bs like me

[CocoT]

Do you think it would be fun/make sense to create a forum section called something like "This happened on #qc", inviting people to copy-paste interesting bits of conversation to share with others? I know people can technically do it in the main section, but, you know, maybe this could actually entice them to do so... ?
Just a thought...

[CocoT]

Note: I guess the "issue" with that is that not everyone taking part in that conversation might want it to be posted. IRC does have that semi-private dimension to it. On the other hand, though, I think there is a kind of silent concensus on what should or should not be shared, new section or not. Private conversations would of course not be posted, unless both parties agree...
mmm... what do you think?

[FrikaC]

I think http://quotes.fov120.com is where most of that stuff goes now.

[CocoT]

True, but then 99% of these quotes are posted just because people thought they had some form of comical value... (which, granted, they often have )
I guess I was thinking about something sightly different, like, I don't know, asking people to copy-paste bits that are relevant to qc-coding/mapping/engine-coding, people helping each other, interesting thoughts that could actually appeal to forumers and make them want to somehow "expand" on the topic. Or post on questions that were somehow left unanswered. Posters could in fact even "cleanse" the entries from comments irrelevant to the focus of the question.
I guess it'd demand a lot of self-discipline, and maybe I'm being a bit too idealistic... I dunno...

[Baker]

The shame of IRC conversations is that the knowledge isn't preserved for the benefit of all New people have to ask the same questions that were answered 10 minutes ago.

IRC is an extremely helpful and fast way to get answers, but it can also be a time waster and outsiders are not necessarily comfortable logging into an IRC channel.

(Case in point, RocketGuy didn't know anyone at #qc was not comfortable asking questions so usually I went, with or without him.)