idea for poly's future that deserves its own thread.

[self biased]

we should have a Civilization-Productions forum, for Civ/Sid Meier games related podcasts, videos, and other entertainment. hosting this kind of content and having discussion forums for it strikes me as an area that we can grow some traffic.

because good/original content => traffic => PROFIT! right?

we could have regular recordings of ACS members playing games using tech/sites that i've seen used for FPS kajiggers, with webcam video and live colorful color commentary by the participants. Hades, we could even have our own YouTube channel if we get enough participatns.

maybe we could even sucker persuade DanQ into giving us some exclusive content for the various polycasts he does, too.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

This could be SO hugely good for 'poly. YouTube is one of those huge ubiquitous sites where a presence can draw an unimaginable number of eyes.

-And Dan is a promotional MACHINE. There's no way that with his help, in a setting showcasing his very successful line of podcasts, the idea couldn't win. That folder would fill up in a hurry.

[Lorizael]

I think that's an excellent idea. I'll note that we wouldn't be the first to do this, but I think we'd be the first to do it focusing solely on Sid/Civ games.

[self biased]

it doesn't even have to be the latest flavor of game. we can alternate between SMAC/X, civ 4, civ 5, and C: BE.

i am thoroughly unfamiliar with the tech required to do the simultaneous audio discreet vid grabs and what have you, though.

[Lorizael]

I don't know much either, but it's called screencasting software and a quick perusal of Wikipedia shows they pretty much all allow for audio commentary.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

The most junior mods and Lori agree; now we just need a folder and some content...

[Aeson]

It's a good idea. There have been some players who did their own screencasts and posted them here before, but never got much traction. Others who promoted their Civ YouTube channels, again never getting much response. Part of that is the inactivity on-topic, and part of it (and part of that as well) is that they were never promoted at all. Having a screencast dedicated portion of the site would fit well with what I want to do with the front page.

If I can get a decent enough computer by then I'll probably post some screencasts of my first games of CivBE.

We could also approach active Civ YouTubers and invite them to participate, promote their channels on Apolyton and perhaps do some "exclusives" where they promote Apolyton in exchange. Apolyton is still a PR5 forum with a decent amount of search engine traffic, so should be a big draw for content producers who want to get links to their own web properties. (Witness never-ending spam.) It's a win/win situation if they do put their content here.

I'll try to get together a platform for it that makes sense. The forum/blog layout and functionality as is is a not a good format for sharing video (or for blogs for that matter). We can start a forum for it now though and improve it as we go.

[Aeson]

In the OT there's been some talk of reorganizing the site navigation... I could really use some work. It's something that we need to figure out and commit to. I'm torn between a category->game and game->category options. Right now we have a weird mishmash of it with a lot of duplication because of the content/forum dichotomty. It's rather confusing. In regards to this, do you think it's more intuitive to have a top level category (Screencasts) and then subcategories (Civ V, IV, BE, etc))? Or the other way around? Civ V, IV, BE, etc ... with their own Screencasts submenu? Or a united screencasts forum?

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

Definitely a united forum. This is a gaming site, and it needs to look like we're about gaming, not just one sort of gaming-related content. Broadening our focus a little, yes - going too far off-mission, no.

[Lancer]

Of course Civ has some huge time gaps in releases so it seems that the greater the depth the better. The folks come here to discuss and play the games and stay for other stuff. (Or leave because of it)

There is only one substantial Civ forum now, CFC. They have stuff for gamers to do besides talk about gaming. An A&E forum which is a Writers Forum +, History Forum, etc. So, a Civilization News Forum as self biased describes it, sure, why not? I'd put it under the same rules as the Civilized Forum however.

While Poly doesn't have nearly CFC's membership and WPC even less, is that a reason to offer less services? Well yes, I guess it is. However with the Barbarism OT the way it is, the more sub forums split off that the better. Lets say you get someone who likes to write stories, is that person going to put it in there? Or endless stories, those things went on and on and were pretty decent too. Of course most of those folks moved on as well...but what if some of them look in once in a while? Will they post in the Civilized OT the way they used to in the OT when it was more civilized? Perhaps they'll respond to Civilized News...

There will be a temptation to ax dead forums, to cater to what you have, trolls. Its what Plomp went with and was the final nail. If you make a Civilized News it will be dead because trolls aren't allowed to troll. However if the place is ever to climb out of the toilet it will need a place to climb to.

I don't know. Turning this forum around after so long is a reach. Just remember, one of the big reasons for the schism was the trolling. You've done something about that now but, its had a long time to rot. If they had done the Civilized Forum years ago there might be more traffic there now. I'd say there definitely would be considering its current state after only a few days. There was a time when I could have led 20 people in there and they would have been glad to have it. Now... There's almost nobody left of that crowd. Its a broken record to some but once upon a time there were dozens of people from all over the world who built Poly I. There were even enough left to build Poly II. Dozens of folks who could believe in something besides the next clever insult. Now the Civilized forum is dead because why? Because Civilization has moved on, imo. How to get such people back? Well, I don't have a direct link to Poly anymore, I have to google it every time. I don't see a choice in OTs, no Barbaric OT, just the OT, and no Civilized OT choice. That might be a start, and self's idea might help too...

[Lorizael]

I agree that the main page is kind of cluttered and confusing, but I'll admit I don't really have a clue as to how to fix it. I'm not really an interface kind of guy. I like Kentonio's suggestions, despite the apparent argument I had with him. The key there is figuring out what those top-level categories should be.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

I suppose the question to be answered regarding the thread topic is: who do we talk to about creating that kind of content? It's out of my line...

[Aeson]

Site Feedback and News is an on-topic area of the site. As such posters are not allowed as topics. While it didn't get out of hand, it's still not allowed. I have removed posts which were discussing members rather than Poly's future. Some of them also contained some good debate on the topic, but I'm lazy to edit the posts.

[Ming]

I don't know. Turning this forum around after so long is a reach. Just remember, one of the big reasons for the schism was the trolling. You've done something about that now but, its had a long time to rot. If they had done the Civilized Forum years ago there might be more traffic there now. I'd say there definitely would be considering its current state after only a few days. There was a time when I could have led 20 people in there and they would have been glad to have it. Now... There's almost nobody left of that crowd. Its a broken record to some but once upon a time there were dozens of people from all over the world who built Poly I. There were even enough left to build Poly II. Dozens of folks who could believe in something besides the next clever insult. Now the Civilized forum is dead because why? Because Civilization has moved on, imo. How to get such people back? Well, I don't have a direct link to Poly anymore, I have to google it every time. I don't see a choice in OTs, no Barbaric OT, just the OT, and no Civilized OT choice. That might be a start, and self's idea might help too...

Again with the revisionist history.

This site lost it's lead when it didn't cater to the modding crowd... when it was next to impossible to upload and download files. The very heart of the community left, and made CFC what it is today. The owners did nothing to stop people from leaving, never fixed the technical issues. By the time the WPC "group" split, the traffic was way down already... and if "civilized" people was the answer, why didn't WPC take off, and Why is Poly still far more active?

You tried the "Let's all hold hands and be nice" approach, and you had dedicated people... and the experiment still failed.

Aeson is doing a good job... he thinking along the right directions. He's THINKING CONTENT. Because CONTENT is the answer. That's what we should be focusing on, not some "let's get rid of everybody that still posts here" theory that you seem to keep bringing up.

[Lancer]

He is doing a good job.

You're right about why non OT people left.

OT people who weren't trolls left because of the trolls. What my opinion of why WPC isn't busy is not for discussion here, but I will say this. The schism happened because of the troll culture. The admins have stated that in public. It happened then on a large scale, but its been happening with individuals for a long time. Maybe they didn't discuss it with trolls so you wouldn't know.