Can we get more catergorys? mods,anyone thoughts please

[gordon]

I think JohnHwangBT post was a good example of a stream lined list to get things in their place maybe another issue might be how polluted each category has become in its current form if Im looking for AT-43 and other sci-fi items there is a lot of Monster poc items taking up space there maybe a bit of policing of what is posted in what section I understand thier is some over lap but the trading of collectables for collectables just doesn't seem like a good fit in the scifi section. and I know boardgames have been talked about for and against but I still think it needs a section to at least prompt more trading in that area, old new and out of print boardgames would be a section I would like to shop in.
Lets say a guy as a sci fi board game and wants to trade it for some space marines he should be able to post in board games and the 40K section but not in the misc. futuristic (include Epic, =I=, AT-43, VOR, VOID) that John listed as a sample....

These are just suggestions and some thoughts things are a bit unwieldy has you have noticed and this maybe due to the face of gaming going thru some changes and a update seems to be in order to reflect that and god bless thos who take on the task...LOL

[MagickalMemories]

Dude.
Periods are your friends.

Eric

[fitterpete]

OH My God you guys think too much!Leave the boards alone please.There are very few things you can't find right now.If I want Hordes I know where to look,need confrontation?Easy to find.If you do what you all are proposing,you will have to look thru a bunch of stuff you aren't interested in to find what you want.Maybe put in a board games though as it seems to be a problem.

[porkuslime]

Dude.
Periods are your friends.

Eric

You know.. my wife would disagree with that..

-Porkuslime

[oaflord]

TMI

oAFLORD

[gordon]

OH My God you guys think too much!Leave the boards alone please.There are very few things you can't find right now.If I want Hordes I know where to look,need confrontation?Easy to find.If you do what you all are proposing,you will have to look thru a bunch of stuff you aren't interested in to find what you want.Maybe put in a board games though as it seems to be a problem.

Heres the suggestion do you think youd get lost navagating this? Just take a moment and read this.

In general, I think Btown can have categories simplified, rather than added. There are far too many categories right now that drive minimal traffic. Combine them to remove duplicate ads and overall board clutter.

Futuristic
- Warhammer 40,000 (incl. Nec.)
- misc. futuristic (include Epic, =I=, AT-43, VOR, VOID)
- futuristic auctions

Fantasy
- Warhammer Fantasy (incl. Mord)
- Warmachines & Hordes
- misc. fantasy (include Conf., LotR)
- fantasy auctions

Historical
- Modern (WW1+ Flames)
- Ancient-Napoleonic-ACW
- historical auctions

Services
- painters
- stores / advertisers

Other
- bitz
-Boardgames ( Desent,Hero quest, the dark Tower etc.) - Added by me rest all johns
- Terrain
- Minis (Monsterpoc, Pirates, Clix)
- Cards (Magic)
- misc. (paintball, videogames, comics, books, magazines, etc.)
- other auctions

[fitterpete]

No I wouldn't get lost navigating it .I would just have to sift thru the stuff I'm not interested in.What's the point?So the boards don't look so cluttered?So we clutter them in the forums themselves instead.

[JohnHwangBT]

OK, let me see if I can give a bit more rationale about what I was trying to do with the categorie and forums..

examplesl
Mainly, I'd like to see lots more examples rather than kind of empty fluffy text descriptions. Just tell people for 80%, 90% of the stuff, and you avoid a lot of guessing. Then, when new games come out, you can simply add the example to the description, rather than needing a new category. If something actually says Monsterpocalypse, Pirates, or whatever, people will put their ads there and look there. If the categories and descriptions have clear examples, then that's a huge help. Hopefully, with more examples for the categories, the sorting is easier.

Monsterpocalypse
Right now, Mpoc trades are badly placed. There is a single, dedicated forum for "MK / MW / Marvel / DC Clix", which MPoc isn't. There is "Collectibles", but that's undescribed (do we assume Hummels & spoons?). And then parallel is "Collectible Card Gaming." And as another catch-all, we have "Misc Futuristic". I propose to simply split between minis and cards:
- Collectible Miniatures Games (e.g. Monasterpocalypse, Clix, AD&D, Pirates)
- Collectible Card Games (e.g. Magic, Pokemon, Yugioh)
vs.
Futuristic
- Warhammer 40,000 (incl. Nec)
- other Futuristic (e.g. Epic, =I=, BFG, VOR, VOID, OGRE)

BFG
When I was trading, I used to have trouble placing BFG, as it's 40k universe and Epic-like rules, but not clearly stated. I assumed Other Future, but lack of common examples is less helpful.

Necromunda / Mordheim
When I was trading, I used to have similar trouble placing these things as well, and other 28mm GW universe games would be like this. Are they 40k / Fantasy, because the minis frequently cross over, or are they "other" because the rules are different? As the minis all crossed back for legal play, I think to treat them as part of the main 40k / Fantasy system.

Hordes / Warmachine
These are essentially the same game system and play with each other. I have never understood why these are separate forums because the trade overlap is just huge.

other stuff
Most of these forums don't drive any significant volume, so why have a full forum for them? Just fold them into one.

[gordon]

Thanks John for a good example and taking the time to type all that. Its a much clearer format which I think will be a lot better. I had a call from one of the mods and we talked about this topic your ideas are being considered nothing in stone yet but thought you might want to know . Id like to "thank you" John for your input. You made a much better point of what I was thinking and looking for from my first post.
Cheers
Gordon

[JohnHwangBT]

OK, if the idea to somewhat simplify the categories and forums on the board has some traction, then, based on the feedback, I'd update the notional proposal as follows:

Futuristic
- Warhammer 40,000 (incl. Nec.)
- misc. futuristic (e.g. =I=, BFG, Epic, OGRE, HG, VOR, VOID, AT-43)
- futuristic auctions

Fantasy
- Warhammer Fantasy (incl. Mord.)
- Warmachines & Hordes
- misc. fantasy (e.g. Conf., LotR)
- fantasy auctions

Historical
- Modern (e.g. WW1+ Flames)
- Pre-Modern (e.g. Ancients, Napoleonic, ACW)
- historical auctions

Collectible
- Minis CMGs (e.g. Pirates, Clix, MWDA, Monsterpoc)
- Card CCGs (e.g. Magic, Pokemon, YuGiOh)

Services
- painters
- stores / advertisers

Other
- bitz (all games, systems, and genres)
- Terrain
- misc. games (e.g. boardgames, videogames, paintball)
- misc. media (e.g. videos/anime, comics/manga, magazines, books)
- other auctions
____

The primary changes from my initial quick draft are:
+ more examples!
+ retain Collectible Gaming as a category
+ split misc games from misc. media

[Ironhide]

Dude.
Periods are your friends.

Eric

You know.. my wife would disagree with that..

-Porkuslime

Arrgh!!! You beat me to it!

[Linrandir]

The reorganization appeals to my organizational sensibilities. I'll set some time aside tonight and see after combining forums, etc.

[gordon]

Will you announce this to the masses?

The number of posts on Misc future for Monster poc is crazy. Maybe it would be good to let folks know theirs a change coming? And that stuff should be posted in the click section! Just seems to be going crazy and with World Of War craft just around the corner it might get really polluted here soon... maybe just a reference to this thread might help ....oh and good luck!

[MagickalMemories]

JHBT has some good examples but, considering what you're putting in each section, I have some suggestions. Note that my suggestions for reworking any forums (in red) are meant to be INSTEAD OF the forum suggestion above them. Other comments/suggestions are done, typically, on the SAME LINE as his suggestion.

Note, the red text is mine. Everything else is John's.

Futuristic
- Warhammer 40,000 (incl. Nec.)
- Games Workshop Futuristic (all GW futuristic games)
- misc. futuristic (e.g. =I=, BFG, Epic, OGRE, HG, VOR, VOID, AT-43)
- Other Futuristic (all non-GW futuristic games that don't fit into a different category)
- futuristic auctions (perfect as-is.)

Fantasy
- Warhammer Fantasy (incl. Mord.)
- Games Workshop Fantasy (all GW fantasy)
- Warmachines & Hordes
- Warmachine/Hordes games & Iron Kingdom miniatures (Since IK is theirs, too, I think we should allow the minis in here)
- misc. fantasy (e.g. Conf., LotR)
- fantasy auctions (perfect as-is.)

Historical
- Modern (e.g. WW1+ Flames)
- Modern (FoW, WW1 & later) <-- Should be the actual forum title
- Pre-Modern (e.g. Ancients, Napoleonic, ACW)
- historical auctions (perfect as-is.)

Collectible
- Minis CMGs (e.g. Pirates, Clix, MWDA, Monsterpoc)
- Card CCGs (e.g. Magic, Pokemon, YuGiOh)
- Other collectible items (we do see a few of these - Webkinz, for example)

Services
- painters
- Terrain (I think it belongs in the same section as painters)
- stores / advertisers (What would this forum be used for, specifically, that wouldn't overlap other forums?)

Other
- bitz (all games, systems, and genres)
- Terrain (see "Services" above)
- misc. games (e.g. boardgames, videogames, paintball)
- misc. media (e.g. videos/anime, comics/manga, magazines, books)
- other auctions[/code]
(Aside from the Terrain, I really like what you did with this section)

Eric

[JohnHwangBT]

@Eric:

Good comments.

Personally, I like to break 28mm 40k and 28mm Fantasy out from Inq, Epic, BFG. I see Space Hulk, Gorkamorka, Necroumunda, and Mordheim with the other 28mm stuff, so those go in. But breaking out of the 28mm scale seems to better fit as "other".

But just saying "non-GW futuristic games" isn't nearly as good as giving examples of things. That defeats the whole point of having examples and using them a guidance. If I'm trading AT-43, it's easier to instantly match "AT-43" than to stop and think "It's futuristic, but not GW".

Iron Kingdoms WM / Hordes is one thing, so yeah, that makes sense.

Similarly "Modern" should be the title, or perhaps "Modern Historical". Forum titles should be as general as possible, with specfics such as "Flames, WW1, WW2" as the *examples* in the description. If I'm doing non-Flames Spanish Civil War miniatures gaming, then the clarity isn't as good. In your proposal, you make the category appear to be narrower, as primarily Flames, and also other World War stuff.

Webkinz aren't a game, so they're misc stuff. They don't warrant a forum. If I want to trade Webkinz for 40k, then it should be a single ad in 40k, and that's it - no second duplicate post is needed or desired.

Terrain was more for completeness, and could easily be dropped entirely.

Stores are a completer parallel to painters for retailers (with a business retail license) who advert on Btown. But maybe this can go away, too.