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Blogs (of the CN variety)


JoshuaR

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I hate them. Too many relevant game discussions don't see the light of day because they're squirreled away where I have no desire to search. Instead, the OWF sits relatively dormant (compared to what it could be) because people take their game-related discussions elsewhere for no particular reason. It's not like you have advertising on your blog and are trying to make it some kind of business.

 

For example, this post could be a blog entry. I am voicing my opinion regarding how people use the forum to talk about the game. But why should I hide it there if I actually want people to see and discuss this opinion? Even if you aren't talking about the game, I feel like we have a forum for that as well... In fact, blogs are a sounding board for people to talk about things over the internet, but that's often because they are also the best outlet for that voice. If you're talking about your dog, Sue, probably only you and a few friends and family care to hear updates. So you don't use a forum, you use a blog. If you're posting stats threads or alliance opinions or leader evaluations about a forum-based browser game, you ought to post in the forum itself.

 

Anyone want to describe why they think blogs are useful? Or want to agree with me?

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Wait, people actually use the forums for more than just general discussion and mud-slinging?

 

This pretty much, plus after a page or two your voice is drowned out between people like tywin and rotavelle having to post the same crap 50 times in a thread.  I actually enjoy reading some blogs and even comment on them.  The discussion is usually civil and I don't have to wade through piles of bad posts, although the ignore feature is being used more liberally these days to help me digest the owf.

Edited by TBRaiders
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although the ignore feature is being used more liberally these days to help me digest the owf.

Whoa, whoa, the what?

re blogs: Back in 08 and 09, there were several really decent blogs. One on Francoism by Vladimir in which he wrote essays I always enjoyed and a few others I can't find. Part of the problem, in my mind, is that it's sorted in a very terrible way. This isn't admin's fault by any means I don't think, but just the forums blog feature's way of doing things. There's no sorting it by reads/ votes/ popularity. Just new. You can follow blogs but the point is that it's really hard to find GOOD blogs in there.

Right now, I too hate just about everything posted there. Jerdge is quite intelligent and posts interesting things, Schattenmann's blog is worth reading (agree with him or not) in my opinion. Few blogs have substance or possess intellect and the ability to make me question something. Very little of anything in this game makes me do that anymore.
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I actually enjoy the blogs. The OWF is too full of posturing and bluster. The blogs feel more personal. You can comment to the person, rather than posture for your alliance, or against theirs, or whatever. It just feels more human and breaks down the cliquish divisions that the OWF encourages.

-Craig

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I actually enjoy the blogs. The OWF is too full of posturing and bluster. The blogs feel more personal. You can comment to the person, rather than posture for your alliance, or against theirs, or whatever. It just feels more human and breaks down the cliquish divisions that the OWF encourages.

-Craig

 

This pretty much.

 

 

Also, a blog is perfect for all the random things that run through one's head but might not deserve a topic, or not really CN related. When you post on the forum you are essentially saying "Hey, this is important and relevant! Read this!" (note all the outrage at one man DOEs and when micros post) whereas a blog post is more of "Here's what's going on in my little world, come inside if you want."

Edited by Kzoppistan
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I actually don't mind the insults, as going back and forth with people is strangely one of the things I actually like about the OWF. I just don't think you need to make a thread every time you have a thought. I think of blogs like a diary that people have a choice of whether or not they want to look at it. It allows you to express yourself as a person, and not as a member of an alliance or a CN player.

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This pretty much, plus after a page or two your voice is drowned out between people like tywin and rotavelle having to post the same crap 50 times in a thread.  I actually enjoy reading some blogs and even comment on them.  The discussion is usually civil and I don't have to wade through piles of bad posts, although the ignore feature is being used more liberally these days to help me digest the owf.

 

Tywin is the best argument I know of to bring back EZI.

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There is one niche that blogs fill, and that is discussing things that can be construed both IC and OOC. Alliance announcement s are IC and the OWF is not allowed to have IC debates. If you have a topic for debate that has both elements (say conduct that is both poor IC and OOC) or discussing how an OOC action (such as suggestion box things) impacts on someones IC character, it is a useful place to have those discussions without ending up getting a warn. 

 

For me my blogs are generally things that I regard as more academic and less suited for rough and tumble debate-the AA and OWF are more like a news site, whereas blogs tend to be more like an academic journal. 

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There is one niche that blogs fill, and that is discussing things that can be construed both IC and OOC. Alliance announcement s are IC and the OWF is not allowed to have IC debates. If you have a topic for debate that has both elements (say conduct that is both poor IC and OOC) or discussing how an OOC action (such as suggestion box things) impacts on someones IC character, it is a useful place to have those discussions without ending up getting a warn. 
 
For me my blogs are generally things that I regard as more academic and less suited for rough and tumble debate-the AA and OWF are more like a news site, whereas blogs tend to be more like an academic journal.


Blogs are useful for taking facets of conversations within Alliance Announcements threads that may be construed as derailing or off topic or OOC, but with a real relevance to the event in the AA OP, and discussing them without fear of ToS violations.


I hadn't thought of this. These are really good points.

 

I'd love for blogs to be an academic journal; that's what I love about Vladimir's blog, the old Schatt posts, and most of Jerdge's post. The problem, to me, is that most aren't - glancing at the blog "homepage," there isn't anything resembling intellectual academic writings. If there was a way to weed out the non-CN related blogs or simply an easier way to search/find good blogs (whatever your definition of good is), I'd find myself there a lot more often.

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The argument that people are "kinder" on blogs and that you can be more personal doesn't hold water. Rush's last umpteen blogs have been his "judgments" on the top eighty alliances. That's the perfect fodder for the OWF, and it then invites people to issue their own judgments. And from the very word, you can tell that some alliances will be considered filth, and some angels. The harshness level is the same here or there. And I've seen plenty of comments that equal those seen on the OWF.

 

Sure, you may feel more comfortable discussing "your opinion" on some matter that you feel isn't objective enough for the OWF, but then that leaves this forum as the home for twelve different "nominations for best or worst x," "voting for best or worst y," threads, and you lose the personalization that should exist here.

 

jerdge's post wondering about why people chain like dominoes should be an OWF discussion. Rush's Judgments should be an OWF discussion. Anything Schattenmann posts (if he is posting blogs) should be where the public can more easily find it (I obviously haven't searched for anything that doesn't just show up on the top list). People updating their own various war or alliance stats should be posting that in the OWF. Vladimir's posts WERE in the OWF, or the academic sub-forum.

Edited by JoshuaR
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There are no rules as to what is posted in the OWF as long as it doesn't explicitly belong elsewhere. There aren't any rules at all for what can go in a blog (as far as I know). You can argue all day that the blog posts should be posted in the OWF, or at minimum, they could. Of course they could. Vladimir's essays were in the Academic sub-forum (which I miss dearly), but as that no longer exists, blogs are really the only platform for academic discussion.

I guess this boils down to why you made this topic. It seems like you're trying to slander the blog function of the forums rather than consider what people have said and go find decent blogs/ posts.

Edited by Letterkenny
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I guess this boils down to why you made this topic. It seems like you're trying to slander the blog function of the forums rather than consider what people have said and go find decent blogs/ posts.

 

I thionk, like me, it's the latter half of your sentence that applies -- too lazy to hunt down the good stuff, and he wishes it was all on the OWF.  Maybe the trolls don't bother with the blogs, though, and the blogs are a better avenue for finding the gems.

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The argument that people are "kinder" on blogs and that you can be more personal doesn't hold water. Rush's last umpteen blogs have been his "judgments" on the top eighty alliances. That's the perfect fodder for the OWF, and it then invites people to issue their own judgments. And from the very word, you can tell that some alliances will be considered filth, and some angels. The harshness level is the same here or there. And I've seen plenty of comments that equal those seen on the OWF.

 

Sure, you may feel more comfortable discussing "your opinion" on some matter that you feel isn't objective enough for the OWF, but then that leaves this forum as the home for twelve different "nominations for best or worst x," "voting for best or worst y," threads, and you lose the personalization that should exist here.

 

jerdge's post wondering about why people chain like dominoes should be an OWF discussion. Rush's Judgments should be an OWF discussion. Anything Schattenmann posts (if he is posting blogs) should be where the public can more easily find it (I obviously haven't searched for anything that doesn't just show up on the top list). People updating their own various war or alliance stats should be posting that in the OWF. Vladimir's posts WERE in the OWF, or the academic sub-forum.

I disagree. "Worst X list" or "Worst Y list" are precisely opinion posts and should be left for blogs. If you want to do a poll, maybe that's fine for this forum, but if you're going to to post your own opinion of various alliances, blog it, because no one gives a !@#$. +1 for Rush there.

 

Even "AMA"'s are blog worthy. No need for that stuff here.

 

On many forums, "blog it" Is a common insult. It's a shorthand way of saying no one cares about your opinion, so put it in the blog so you don't waste the time of others who don't care about what you have to say. I'm a bit surprised that insult isn't used more here. Maybe that's an OOC insult? I'm not sure.. Would be nice if a mod chimed in here, cause maybe I'll use that one >_>

 

I'll argue that the reason the forums are such filth is because the community doesn't use blogs effectively. Far too many !@#$ posts/topics or threads simply go off topic, when in fact you could !@#$post far worse stuff in a blog than you can on the OWF. The problem is that CN is as much a propaganda game as it is a nation/political simulator. There's little incentive to use blogs, because this games all about changing public opinion.

 

If you're making 50+ posts in a thread repeating the same thing over and over, people should be smart enough to know they need to make a freaking blog post associated with the thread, say what you think, and stop posting. The people that care what you have to say will read your blog and respond accordingly.

 

Roquentin was actually quite effective at making off topic blogs about a thread.

Edited by Enamel32
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