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Post by iMacThere4iAm on Jan 22, 2007 16:21:30 GMT
I guess we'd better have a thread to discuss this forum, now that it's here.
I'm going to start by saying I think it's a good idea to try it out, but we'll have to wait a few days/weeks to see if this format really works.
I would have actually suggested improving the original comments system a bit, but I can't wait to see how this works out!
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Post by mudmaniac on Jan 22, 2007 17:18:15 GMT
I.... have nothing constructive to say.
It would be interesting to see the development of this forum.
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Post by Aspen d'Grey on Jan 22, 2007 17:27:46 GMT
I definetly like the idea, and I'm more likely to post comments & questions about the strip in something like this rather than in the comments form on the site. I do think that it would be better to have this somewhere else besides ProBoards, maybe using a phpBB2 board. It would also probably be a good idea for Tom to designate moderators, so that he wouldn't have to spend time on it.
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Post by Dinnerbone on Jan 22, 2007 17:39:42 GMT
I do think that it would be better to have this somewhere else besides ProBoards, maybe using a phpBB2 board. Agreed. Personally, when I see a site using proboards or invisionfree I tend not to visit the site again - but I'm making an exception this time  Although it would be stupid for Tom to go and waste bandwidth hosting a forum himself if it just gets spammed - so I suppose using a free forum first is a good idea. |
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Post by Tom Siddell on Jan 22, 2007 17:42:25 GMT
Well, for now I don't think there is going to be so much traffic I can't keep track of things, so we'll see how things go. Also, for now, Proboards is the cheap and easy choice. It doesn't seem to be bogged down with ads, and it isn't going to cost me any more bandwidth. Again, this is mostly to see how things roll.
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Post by Dinnerbone on Jan 22, 2007 17:45:18 GMT
This probably isn't the right place to ask this - but Tom, any chance of adding more forums aside from "Discussion"? Perhaps one for theories and one for each chapter to keep things organised?
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Post by Aspen d'Grey on Jan 22, 2007 17:48:46 GMT
If Bandwidth is a problem, the bandwidth on my site (greydawning.net) is virtually unlimited, and I have experience running phpBB2 forums before. Just wanted to get that offer out there. It would be 'unoffical', most likely, but it could take the problems off of you (Tom) completely, eh?
Edit: Needed to add that 'unofficial' part
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Post by Tom Siddell on Jan 22, 2007 17:57:12 GMT
This probably isn't the right place to ask this - but Tom, any chance of adding more forums aside from "Discussion"? Perhaps one for theories and one for each chapter to keep things organised? Perhaps when things get a little busier there might be a need to make a couple sub forums. Right now though, there is plenty of space for threads in this forum. |
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E!
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by E! on Jan 22, 2007 18:57:11 GMT
Looks good. It will be interesting to see how many readers show up. If you want another free board to look at there's invisionfree.com/Now, what about moderation? You should consider hiring one or two to keep the rowdys in line. |
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blackfire3bird
New Member
I'm a Gunner student!!!YAAAAY !!!!!!!
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Post by blackfire3bird on Jan 22, 2007 19:33:28 GMT
I say finally a place where I can express my anger and my fury to Tom and be sure everyone sees it... *coughahemcough*......... TOM I LOVE YOUR COMIC !!!!!!! ....... that didn't come out right -_-', oh well maybe next time.... (and yeah I am quite addicted , just check my personal image, img483.imageshack.us/img483/3420/tek070122639b946ab.png here it's bigger a little) ok I'm taking to much space now I'm leaving |
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Post by iMacThere4iAm on Jan 22, 2007 19:34:53 GMT
Now, what about moderation? You should consider hiring one or two to keep the rowdys in line. Mods are only really needed if the forum gets so big that one person can't handle it, or if you have to go away for a while and want to leave someone else to look after. This brings up the question I've wanted to ask for ages... How big is this comic? Tom, do you have any idea how many readers you have? Aspen, Dinnerbone: You're right that PHPBB2 or similar would be cooler than Proboards, but Proboards is very simple to run, and involves no hosting worries at all. Ideal for a little community such as ourselves. |
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katana
New Member
Mad hatter
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Post by katana on Jan 22, 2007 19:50:10 GMT
I really like the forum idea  .... And about Mods, I agree that they are needed only when the forum is big |
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Post by thechron on Jan 22, 2007 21:21:25 GMT
The only thing that I don't like about the forum idea is a phenomenon this comic seems to generate. Most comics elicit some form of deliberation, but never have a seen a comic that has been the object of nearly as much inane and groundless speculation. What makes it annoying to me is that the majority of people presenting these illogical conclusions state it as fact, as if they have found the missing key to the puzzle, when in fact they are completely off-base.
Other than that, it sounds like a great idea to me.
P.S. No, they are not lesbians. No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it true.
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neal
Full Member
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Post by neal on Jan 22, 2007 21:58:24 GMT
It is true that moderators are only needed with large forums, but seeing the way that the comments have exploded, I am assuming that this forum will grow surely and swiftly. There are many questions that people want answered, even if no one wants to or can answer them. It is part of the fun of fandom to endlessly debate completely offbase theories and then weep when you were no where close to correct.
Anyway... if this forum grows to the point of needing moderators, please don't hesitate with adding them. I'd hate to see Tom spending time controlling the forum that could have been spent on the comic.
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Post by Aspen d'Grey on Jan 22, 2007 22:06:41 GMT
Good point about not needing mods until the community gets larger.
I was thinking of them more as a way for Tom to pretty much be able to read or ignore this as he pleases, even this soon. (Speaking of which, it might be a good idea to add one BEFORE you really really need them, like neal said) Then again, the Megatokyo forums started out small, and now those things are bloody crazy. (I, for one, hope the the Gunnerkrigg forums never get that big. x.x)
Definetly agree on the Speculation != Fact comment. I'll be posting that in my 'Story Discussion' threads from now on.
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Post by starlightdreamer on Jan 22, 2007 22:17:35 GMT
I like the idea of a forum, I hope it works out.
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Post by Tom Siddell on Jan 22, 2007 22:19:50 GMT
but never have a seen a comic that has been the object of nearly as much inane and groundless speculation. You've posted something similar to this in the comments before, and I feel I should butt in. One of the things I enjoy most about putting the comic on-line is reading people's theories about what might be happening, and I get the feeling that the readers enjoy it too. If they didn't then there wouldn't even be discussion about it. If you find it difficult to read what other people might think then you are free to not look at any of the reader comments. So far I've been really pleased with most of the conversation that evolves in the comments area, especially compared to other comics. I like to keep the readers guessing. I do this in purpose. |
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Post by Aspen d'Grey on Jan 22, 2007 22:25:13 GMT
Tom - is it OK to ask people to mark 'speculation' as opposed to something that they can support even in a wild way? I mean, I can support that Gamma & Zimmy are psychic, but I only speculate that the Tic-Toc is used to spy on the students because he's robotic.
Speculation is a Good Thing (TM), but sometimes we can get a piece of it so stuck in our heads without any supporting evidence that it can go sour.
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Post by thechron on Jan 22, 2007 22:56:24 GMT
What makes it annoying to me is that the majority of people presenting these illogical conclusions state it as fact, as if they have found the missing key to the puzzle, when in fact they are completely off-base. To quote myself, Tom. Otherwise I enjoy the speculation as well. |
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Post by flyingpcp on Jan 22, 2007 23:13:59 GMT
Most comics elicit some form of deliberation, but never have a seen a comic that has been the object of nearly as much inane and groundless speculation. The fans of College Roomies from Hell made a separate webcomic about an alternate universe that completely revolves around speculation about the future adventures and relationships of the characters in CRFH. It can't be THAT bad here. |
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Post by Ultimatum479 on Jan 22, 2007 23:24:41 GMT
How big is this comic? Tom, do you have any idea how many readers you have? Guess that's one thing we can find out here. A forum? Wewt. |
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Post by iMacThere4iAm on Jan 22, 2007 23:27:47 GMT
Thechron, I think half of the fun of reading this comic is the speculation. Everyone puts forward their theories, knowing they'll be disproved in the next strip. (Damn you Tom with your evil disproving - love you really  ) The usual approach with fandom is to assume nothing is canon unless stated by the author. Flyingpcp: I really should get up-to-date with CRFH, that comic rocks. Aspen: I like your idea for the speculation tags, but I don't know if it'll catch on. I'll try to remember to use them myself from now on. |
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Post by Uncle Benny on Jan 23, 2007 0:02:17 GMT
not much point to register if this is just going to be a beta.
or simply just a catagory dedicated to speculating...
I'd love to see the forum just so some of the readers can post the translations from the pages with polish or spanish or whatever else that's around, without it disapearing, that'd be nice.
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ethyl
New Member
Too weird to live, too rare to die...
Posts: 21
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Post by ethyl on Jan 23, 2007 0:10:38 GMT
I think the forum is a great idea, it'a nice to talk to other people who enjoy the comic which is quite hard to do on the current comments system because as soon as anyone's theories have bounced off each other to become a larger point the page is deleted and it's time to start over again  . Wearas now, we can all discuss furture developments and tweak our theories with the on coming information. Wow that was a post of drivel. |
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Post by Aspen d'Grey on Jan 23, 2007 0:12:46 GMT
I'd love to see the forum just so some of the readers can post the translations from the pages with polish or spanish or whatever else that's around, without it disapearing, that'd be nice. Definitely- I was expecting that kind of stuff to go into the discussion topics I'll be making for each thread. I'll post that in the thread... |
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Post by monkeybucks on Jan 23, 2007 1:39:48 GMT
What makes it annoying to me is that the majority of people presenting these illogical conclusions state it as fact, as if they have found the missing key to the puzzle, when in fact they are completely off-base. Other than that, it sounds like a great idea to me. P.S. No, they are not lesbians. No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it true. The thing that bothered me about this comment is that really we don't know if anyones speculations are off-base or not yet. We've barely had any answers in the comic so far, and about 90% of the speculations still have a chance to be proven or unproven. Personally I don't think Zimmy and Gamma are lesbians, but once again, we have no hard evidence that they are not. True, we haven't seen them kiss each other, but we haven't seen them show any interest in any boys either. Right now it could go either way. I think this is the case with most speculation around at the moment, and I don't really think that any of us, aside from Tom, have the ability to shoot down anyones ideas. We've seen twists in the comic before, it could happen again, right? Anyway, I don't really think that many people see their theories as undeniable fact. If they come across that way, it might just be because they're excited? I think we should let people theorise as much as they like. I know I would, but I never have any ideas anyway.  |
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Myrani
Junior Member
Posts: 85
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Post by Myrani on Jan 23, 2007 3:35:32 GMT
La! Forum! From what experience I have, speaking from the technical side, Proboards offers a good straightforward system as they come, with a nice support base as well. The main advantage that phpBB has over Proboards is its faster loading time when the forum is spiffied up with a shiny skin. That, and I'm under the belief that phpBB also allows its administration to set a wider variety of restrictions, which may be ideal especially in the case of a webcomic forum prone to population explosion... But that said, I don't see any bad things about sticking with Proboards.
P.S. Might I venture to suggest setting up a signature image size restriction right away? Like 400x100 pixels? It's awful having to scroll past people's banners that take up half the browser window... and we have all seen the tragedy happen.
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Post by Uglyhead on Jan 23, 2007 4:12:15 GMT
Here's to hoping that this whole "forum" notion goes well! Seems off to a civil start, at least.
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Post by tagless fact on Jan 23, 2007 7:49:11 GMT
... you can get readership stats from Project Wonderful. Just click on the "your ad here for $0.20" link under the littel ads on the main GC page. Then scroll to the bottom of the PW page. It shows charts and graphs for the ad coverage.
-tagless fact
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Post by The Contemptible Cat on Jan 23, 2007 10:27:50 GMT
I have a proboard myself and I think they're great ^^ Making skins and stuff for them is really fun even if they tend to be obscure on the web searches. The fact there are so few ads even for a free one is terrific too ^^
OooO, could you make a section for Fan art, Mr Siddell? It's really easy to post pictures here, and it'd be cool to have art looked at by other fans, rather then just who finds it on DA or wherever ^^
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....
)
. Wearas now, we can all discuss furture developments and tweak our theories with the on coming information. Wow that was a post of drivel. 
