Rumour Engine Thread in News and Rumours

[Corswain]

With the GW rumour engines becoming more and more obscure, I thought it might be better/more interesting to keep them in one thread rather than having a new one each week.

 

I don’t believe the thread would become too unwieldy as they just don’t seem to generate a lot of conversation anymore, outside of wild speculation.

And maybe having it gatheres in one place will help people piece clues together.

 

To be clear, I think it should just be Rumour Engine posts from GW, nothing outside that.

 

Just a thought, really not a big deal.

 

Thanks.

[Dosjetka]

A good suggestion. I'd be all for that. :tu:

[Vel'Cona]

Seconded.  In fact, this may the best suggestion since forever 

[Slave to Darkness]

Thirded. Has any of the rumor threads ever reached the third page?

[Warpmiss]

I also have to agree, the last rumors I've seen where just a picture of piece of cloth and another of some hair. Both could belong to anything.

[Slave to Darkness]

I also have to agree, the last rumors I've seen where just a picture of piece of cloth and another of some hair. Both could belong to anything.

Obviously they are AoS Bretonnian Sister Squats from the fair land of Kheremi :lol:

[Halandaar]

Yep, completely agree. At this point the rumour engine images are so vague that they could be part of any kit from any faction in any system and there is zero constructive discussion around them, it's pure wishlisting. It's becoming frustrating to see a new version of the same "we don't know what this is, commence rampant speculation" thread every single week.

[Brother Tyler]

A round up as the admins move into discussion:

 

Under the current method, each Rumor Engine image is discussed in its own topic. Often, the discussion becomes nothing more than rampant speculation, jokes, and wish listing as the images are often vague enough that very little/no credible discussion can take place. If an image turns out to be from a non-WH40K [setting] model, the topic is closed. If an image turns out to be from a WH40K [setting] model, the topic shifts into discussion of the model up until it is released.

 

Under the proposed method, all Rumor Engine images would be discussed in the same topic. The discussion will (usually) remain the rampant speculation, jokes, and wish listing until the full model is revealed. If it turns out that the image is from a non-WH40K [setting] model, further replies will have to be hidden by the mods (and if a member continually does this, they may receive a warning). If it turns out that the image is from a WH40K [setting] model, then a new discussion will have to be created for it up until it is released (since it is no longer a "Rumor Engine" discussion).

 

The basic "pro" of the suggestion is that all of the Rumor Engine discussion is in one place, the only real benefit being that members only have to ignore one topic instead of multiple topics.

 

There are some "cons" to the suggestion, however, and one is the converse of the "pro." Rumor Engine images aren't all resolved on a consistent timeline, with some lasting for weeks and months before the full model is revealed, while others may be revealed much sooner. So there's also a possibility of discussion overlap with the single topic, with sequential posts referring to different images. This makes the path of the discussion confusing (on top of being pointless). Another "con" is that shutting down discussion on a Rumor Engine image revealed to be non-WH40K [setting] is much more work-intensive for the mods. Under the current methodology, it's a simple as closing the topic. Under the proposed methodology, the mods will have to determine that a reply is about an image revealed to be non-WH40K [setting] (rather than another mysterious image) and hide individual replies. And since we have no way of marking individual replies as being on/off topic, there's the continual risk of misidentification (one mod might look at a reply and interpret it as being applicable to the discussion one day, with another mod coming through a day or two later and interpreting a post as applying to an excluded image).

 

Digging deeper, the real problem statement is that the Rumor Engine topics are often pointless until the image is revealed to be part of a model that is relevant to discussion here at the B&C. The desired outcome is that members don't have to slog through these discussions until there is something worthwhile and relevant to discuss. Are there any other potential solutions that will satisfy the desired outcome?

[Bryan Blaire]

The desired outcome is that members don't have to slog through these discussions until there is something worthwhile and relevant to discuss. Are there any other potential solutions that will satisfy the desired outcome?

A different potential solution: Don't allow discussions of pieces of images under the "Rumor Engine" at all - this would keep the Mods and Admins from having to do any additional work, people can still let their imaginations run wild with their friends offline without the need to inflict unknown nonsense on everyone else here, and there's no potential posting of pieces of Age of Sigmar models that have no relevance to 40K here.

 

If people were posting snippets of pictures down in the Forge or elsewhere on the board, and couldn't specifically guarantee that the image was a board appropriate one if a Moderator/Admin had a question about it, would it be allowed to stay? A picture of a piece of cloth or some hair is about as guaranteed to be 40K as a piece of armor from Infinity or Warmachine that is clipped down to just a fragment. The only difference with the Rumor Engine stuff is that it is known to come from GW. It's relevance as 40K is just as completely unknown though.

 

Once the known items show up and are relevant, then people could post the Rumor Engine pics up in the reveal/real rumor thread and go "Ohhhhhh, that's how that fit in."

[Corswain]

A different potential solution: Don't allow discussions of pieces of images under the "Rumor Engine" at all

That would suit me just fine too, the Rumour Engine is just so pointless.

If GW actually make it something worth looking at/discussing, it could be opened up for discussion on a weekly basis again.

 

Whatever works for the Mods and Frater.

[Brother Tyler]

=][= DECISION =][=

 
We will not be collecting all Rumor Engine topics into a single topic, nor will we prohibit discussion of Rumor Engine images. There is valid room to discuss the Rumor Engine images.
 
All Rumor Engine topics will have the Rumor Engine tag to enable easier searching (and for those of us that don't like them, skipping).
 
Replies in those topics should be semi-serious efforts at identifying what model a Rumor Engine image belongs to. A little levity is okay, but obviously ridiculous answers will be removed.
 
If a Rumor Engine image is demonstrated to be from a non-Warhammer 40,000/Horus Heresy setting miniature, the topic will be closed. If we later learn that the conclusion was incorrect, the topic will be re-opened. (Collecting all Rumor Engine image discussions into a single topic would prevent us from closing irrelevant (i.e., non-WH40K/HH) image discussions.)