thread: 2005-12-03 : I Cop to Hyperbole
On 2005-12-04, Ben Lehman wrote:
Hey, so here's something.
We can debate about whether there've been 5 good threads on RPG Theory, or 10, or whatever. That's all cool.
How many good, seriously productive conversations have we had on anyway in that time? On JKim's LJ? Brand's blog? My blog? Deep in the Game? Dog Blog? I can't even count the number of awesome topics.
The point is this—the theory has left the building. No fretting for Ron closing the door after it. It was getting pretty drafty on the Forge with it hanging open like that.
yrs—
—Ben
This makes VG go "When discussion moves from a forum to a blog,"
that makes me worried. A forum is (at least on the surface) a neutral arena for discourse, whereas a blog is always _someone's_ blog, and power-free discourse with that someone is simply impossible there.
This makes CRN go "Forum = neutral arena?"
Seriously, no.
This makes VG go "More neutral, at least."
Of course, it also depend on the forum; I have to agree that The Forge, with its heavy moderating, is one of the least neutral fora I know. (This is not a judgement, merely a description.) But for all that, it is far more neutral than someone's blog. Before I post in a blog, I try to think very carefully whether my comments would fit into the aims of the blog as seen by its owner; on a forum, you are much more free to pursue your own goals in varying groups of participants.
This makes ecb go "you're right but..."
everyone can have their own blog. See Clinton's response to the other thread & the alternate universe version of the Forge.
This makes VG go "That's true, but..."
... centralisation does have advantages. :) (Example: Wikipedia is such a great site not because it contains information that you cannot find anywhere else on the web, but because it has all that high quality information in one plave.)
This makes JAK go "Plus, there's the whole..."
...thing about discussions not scrolling, easier to reference, collected in one area, etc.
Still, though, I roll either way. Blogs are a little troubling to keep up with, but overall not a bad evolution of discussion.
This makes VG go "On the positive side: let's try!"
Enough complaining already. I'll simply give the 'new format' a try. Who knows what may come of it?
This makes BL go "Yay!"
Yay for Victor!
This makes Chris go "One benefit"
I like seeing the multiple views or side topics that arise from blogs- it gives enough space for things to develop on many fronts.
