Would My Platform Forums Suggestion Work Well?

I think the platform forums should work much like the general forum, but only show content related to that platform. So, any thread created in a Wii game forum, would also show up in the Wii platform forum, as it does in the general forum.

That way you won't have to search for every single game you want to discuss if debates are still active, and since most people won't even bother searching but instead only respond when and if they see it on the general or platform forum, it will encourage discussion further.

The general board alone is not enough as posts there can be buried too fast, while traffic in platform boards is a little slower and discussions tend to last longer. At least, I haven't seen any of the threads related to a game that isn't super-popular get many responses when they're put in the game forum alone, while when they're put in the platform board they seem to have a better chance to spark casual discussion from bystanders that wouldn't have searched for the game on their own.

Well, that's my 2 cents, because I think only having game related threads in the game's forum, as the moderators ask of us, will only will make people not respond as much. You may think it's only one extra step to take, but you don't go to the forum to discuss just one thing, so it will be one extra step for say, 15 different games, which is 15 extra steps and quite unintuitive.

It may help newcomers more in the long term since they can see all the past discussions easy, but in the short term I think discussion will just decrease altogether. I think my suggestion caters to both possibilities just fine, I just don't know if I explained it very well. What do you think?

There's no suggestion board that I can see or I'd have put it there mind you.

This kind of searching and finding important threads is what favourite boards are for.

Which is why I'm talking about encouraging casual discussion, and not only having people discuss their favorite things alone. Even so, would there be something negative about making the platform boards work like I say? I see you voted C. What would be so wrong?

Can C voters at least try to justify their reasoning? What would be so negative about changing it? You'd still have all the functions and threads you do now, but you would also see the related game threads without having to search for the specific game on your own. You'd still be able to create platform threads only, just as this is a general thread only. It would be like a second, but filtered by platform, general forum.

I like that Idea. Perhaps a small bit at the top (maybe 10 posts or so) that shows posts actually in the platforms forum, and then below that it will be a larger section to show posts from any game on that platform. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

True, that would be great also, if people really want their "just platform" threads more prominent. A great compromise from my suggestion.

I like it, it's certainly better than what we have now. The only problem is that it sounds like a very labor-intensive solution for the engineers to have to deal with.

"I like it, it's certainly better than what we have now. The only problem is that it sounds like a very labor-intensive solution for the engineers to have to deal with."

"It would be like a second, but filtered by platform, general forum."

"On top of that, someone has to program whatever you're suggesting.  I don't think anyone's going to pay Ted Technician $30 /hr. to put through any suggestions you're making here."

     By your authority, I expect this webcode update soon."

I really like this idea. Thats all I really have to say

I am definitely in favour of this. in my eyes it would certainly prolong discussion far better than currently, it would also make the forum easier to use by many, both moderators and members. 

In truth, commentors should not have to go through the hassle of looking into a game page, topic creators on the other hand definitely should when creating topics.  I have been guilty of posting in the Wii forum more than I perhaps do on specific game pages. The reason for that is, a while ago people would complain to me and say, "why post it there, nobody's going to see it"  While I still think that's true to a small degree, I have noticed in recent weeks that more members are now posting on specific game pages, which is certainly encouraging. Still, it's not striking up a level of discussion anywhere near as well as it could do, with some tweaking.

I think this idea would aid all the forums on the site. I can see no negative ramifications from putting into effect such a feature, none at all. I also don't think it would be too difficult to implement, we do already systems in place that work in a similar fashion.

I hope that like myself other members will change their posting habits, they should seek the game specific forums and test the current system, that way when a revision of the site is on the cards, coonce & co will have better idea of what they need to do.

There's one thing I'm unsure of that doesn't seem to be mentioned yet. Would this affect multi-platform games or just exclusives?

Good idea. If the staff can find time, I think this could be a great addition.

@Lord:

I've been thinking that this would be a big improvement ever since I joined the site. I was worried that topics on individual games wouldnt get as much love, especially over the long run. This would make sure that good game-related topics get the attention they deserve, even after dropping off the first page on the main forum page. 

Well, I can see that as a person creates a forum topic, before it gets posted, you can click off not only the main forum, i.e. Playstation 2, but also "Persona 3", "Persona 3 FES" and "Shin Megami Tensei Series".   And visa-versa, if you made a topic for Bioshock 2, it could be linked to show up in Bioshock 1,  Xbox 360 and PC forums, if you checked off those boxes.  It would take some coding to link them all so that the topic creator can see all the reasonable choices and not have access to every possible forum around.

"There's one thing I'm unsure of that doesn't seem to be mentioned yet. Would this affect multi-platform games or just exclusives? "

Yah, what Matty said :)

Anyone else? :)

And again, why does nobody that votes C actually explain what would be so bad with this, and maybe suggest a solution and vote B instead?

It gets the Dalai seal of approval.

I like it.

The Poster would have an option to add it to a specific game forum and the platform forum, much like a blog, but advanced. The Post would show up on the Game Forum and the Platform Forum, but would be the same post. So... much like blogs, if you post in the Game Forum, it would automatically appear on the Platform Forum. The priority post would be the platform forum if selected.

Thanks Dalai, I'll wear it with pride.