Could you and would you use either a forum and/or a chatroom dedicated to hobbying - not gaming?
I've poked in forums from time to time and seen a lot of construction stuff. However, I usually avoid the gaming sections because they tend to be filled with drama. Now, I haven't visited many forums since I've gotten involved in the blog community, so I'm not sure what the landscape looks like, and whether this venture would be me filling a void or if I'd just be creating something that someone else already has a solid presence on.
I know of Miniwargaming and Warseer's forums, who seem to have tons of room for lists, strategy, systems and so on, but only 1 or 2 forums for painting without any detail to break things down into all the different aspects of what I consider the non-gaming tradecraft (painting, modding, building, tool use, sourcing, frugality, etc)
- Whenever I poke my head over to 3++, the chat always seems to be in full swing. Would people be interested in a space where they can pound out ideas not on tactics and lists but on painting, modding, specific tools or techniques, etc?
- Would a larger forum split into topics be more useful?
- Does someone else have a forum THAT YOU USE that already provides this?
- Are there enough people out there looking to have questions answered that a forum would be used
- Are there enough people who would watch the forum and answer these questions
I don't like to do things half-way, and have some pretty wild ideas for integrating the forum into Blogger and expanding the forum, by turning the Network into an extension of your forum profiles that would be sortable by category and genre. (I've rewrote forum code for this use before, very successfully) Needless to say, this takes a lot of work, which is why I'd first like to be sure that it'll be used.
Please leave some comments, perhaps some brainstorming (a forum is for the community, not for myself, after all) - and at least take a moment to vote on my main page to tell me how you feel about this idea.
I would also appreciate anyone who posted the same question to their readers, redirecting them here and/or to the poll on my page.
I would also appreciate anyone who posted the same question to their readers, redirecting them here and/or to the poll on my page.
Thank you,
Hrm, I'm kinda torn on this one, and I think a lot of people here will be, mainly because a lot of us came to blogging as an escape from forums.
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea, and especially the idea of a chat room I can be in while I sit and paint, maybe even that takes a camera feed so I could aswer questions directly if I've the stuff to hand. but although I like the ideas, I cant honestly say how much I'd use it, that would depend entirely on the coomunity that grows up around it.
I've also been looking at the 3++ chatroom lately and they do seem to have their critical mass. It's on other sites too, and that might be the way to build up interest. I doubt I'd use a forum, but I'd be interested in having a chatroom available, on something very general, hobby and gaming as a whole. I doubt I'd be in there much, but I'd be willing to host a clone at the Expanse to raise awareness.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm with Karitas. I came to blogging basically as an escape from years of forums! I'd certainly love a forum where the focus remained on hobby and tip-sharing and the community was great, but that hasn't really happened in my experience unless the forum is very small.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't like to be negative toward such a positive idea. If you decide to go ahead with it I'm with you.
Thanks for the feedback, and no worries about negativity. I too avoided forums for the longest time because of the atmosphere that usually surrounded them. It was a brief forray into the great mod community at Miniwargaming that gave me the blogging bug.. but even there, the main focus of the forum is the game, not the hobby. That's why I'm pondering this.
ReplyDeleteChest of Colors looks to me like what you might be wanting (that said I frequent it quite infrequently).
ReplyDeleteLooks kinda like what I'm thinking about, though it seems greatly unused.
ReplyDelete