Dune Choice + Forum Culture Oddities
By ahoodedfigure 7 Comments
Coupla things:
Forum Behavior
Folks say it's (1) poor forum etiquette to "necro" or post on an old topic, even if you have something new to bring to the discussion, but at the same time it is (2) bad form to start a new post about something that has already been talked about before.
In reverse: It's frowned upon to start a topic that already exists, yet it's frowned upon to contribute to a topic that already exists but happens to be too old.
Those sound like nearly mutually exclusive ideas, unless the philosophy is to eliminate every topic of discussion, except the very new, for the benefit of a few readers.
Sometimes old topics should be revisited, and a bump once in a while might actually be pertinent to the person who contributed to the original post, even if it's old news to the forum trolls. And sometimes a topic's nuance is different enough for it to be considered separate, despite them being similar.
I don't see the point in only catering to people who are compelled to rant when they read new posts which turn out to have been started a while ago. It's their hobby to only keep up with the latest on the forums, that's fine, but some of us prefer organic discussions of ideas rather than treating forums like a news blog.
I realize those very people will wind up reading this blog, so a reasonable explanation as to how those two principles above don't conflict might help me understand. I do already realize that simply bumping up an old post with a superfluous addition might cause confusion, as there's no way to distinguish between long-running conversations, totally new posts, and ressurrected posts. I've done that before I realized there's an actual posting update. I mean when it actually adds to the discussion.
Far Future Blog
There's been some interest in Dune games, I've noticed, and I've been continuing my strange obsession with Frank Herbert's world for pretty much the entire time since I wrote the blog below. I've explored the computer game side of Dune a bit more, and wanted to ask you all what you thought might be an interesting topic to cover.
I recently had the opportunity to play the original Dune by Cryo Interactive, and am interested in talking about the many things that great game does right (along with its surreal failures). I was also thinking of detailing one of the last projects of Cryo, called Dune Generations, which was never completed. That one promises to have video, screenshots, and concept art, along with the design philosophy of what might have been.
If anyone has a preference for what they'd rather read about of the two, let me know and I'll concentrate on that first.
[EOL]