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Would you like B&C blogs feature to have more categories with members allowed to have multiple blogs?  

44 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you like B&C blogs feature to have more categories with members allowed to have multiple blogs?

    • No, having a single "General" category with members limited to a single blog is sufficient.
      25
    • Yes, having more discrete categories and the ability to create multiple blogs is preferable.
      18

This poll is closed to new votes

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  • Poll closed on 09/01/22 at 04:59 AM

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The blogs function has been activated.

Blogs provide members with a method by which they can share their Warhammer 40,000 hobby content and ideas with the community. We had blogs a long time ago, and they were very popular, but we had to turn them off for technical reasons. In the meantime, many members have been using the discussion format as a bastardized method for creating and maintaining blogs/plogs/etc.

Since blogs are "new" (again), we're still in the experimentation phase. We're likely to adjust things as the community gains more experience and as we learn the potential uses for blogs.

Currently, each member is limited to a single blog. Blogs fall into two categories. Most members will create blogs in the "General" category. The "Advertisers" category is for members that represent a company that offers third party goods and services that support the Warhammer 40,000 hobby. Examples of these advertisers include producers of compatible models and commission painting services. The theory with a single blog per member is that members can create multiple categories within their blogs, presenting multiple projects in a single blog.

You can access blogs through the link that appears at the top of the page. You can also find a link to a member's blog [if they have created one] through their profile.

Members are also encouraged to include links to their blogs in their signatures. In addition, you are free to "advertise" updates to your blog by posting links via discussions in relevant forums and clubs. For example, if a new entry in your blog shows a squad of greenskins in the Third War for Armageddon, you can create a topic in the Orks forum and the Battles for Armageddon club.

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Lovely stuff! 

I assume this now means that the old form of pseudo-blogs in the discussion forums will be discouraged. Is there a way to move things wholesale? I've got lots of quite long blogs, and the thought of copying and pasting things post by post makes me feel tired at the thought of it! :D

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I've just added a poll to this announcement.

The two choices come down to:

  • Single "General" category (not including Advertisers) and members only being allowed to create a single blog (No).
  • Multiple categories (probably similar to our forums) and members allowed to create multiple blogs (Yes).

The current arrangement is allowing members to have a single blog in the General category. In theory, members can then use categories within their blog (i.e., defined by them) to differentiate blog posts/projects. So someone with a blog could have a category for their Drukhari kill team, another for their Horus Heresy Emperor's Children Legion force, another for their DIY Adepta Sororitas Order, another for their ruminations on tournaments, etc. All of these would be covered in the same blog, filterable by their categorization. This is the No answer.

An alternate arrangement is to create a range of pre-defined categories, allowing members to create a log specific to that category while having multiple blogs. So the member's Drukhari kill team might be covered in a dedicated blog, the Emperor's Children force would be covered in a separate dedicated blog, etc. Members would still be able to define their own blog-specific categories for internal blog use (so the Drukhari blog might have further categories for Wyches, another for Haemonculi, etc.). We would retain the General category for blogs that don't fall neatly into one of the other categories, but the other categories would probably be similar to our forum structure. This is the Yes answer.

I have a personal preference, but that personal preference might not align with what is best for the majority, so I'm deferring to the community.

This poll will close at midnight on 31 August.

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I’m erring on voting ‘Yes’ on the basis that seems to also allow for discrete project blogs and make multiple-person blogs workable (e.g. a gaming group could all share one project blog)  – is that correct?

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Hmm, will need to think on this.  While I think just one blog should be enough for anyone and prevent burnout for the individuals involved, there are others who like to keep their various projects separate in both mind and (written) deed.

Also, do I want to trawl through hundreds of pages of singular, multi-topic blogs looking for info on just one particular subject?

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7 hours ago, CaptainFrederickson said:

I plan to start a blog soon, and I would prefer the “No” option. I like the idea of all of my different projects being gathered together under one overall blog.

If I understand the question correctly, you would still be able to do a single all-purpose blog (with internal categories) in the general blog category with the 'yes' answer.

The question is whether people should be allowed to have multiple blogs which are e.g. army/faction/project specific while others have a single all-purpose blog; or whether everyone can only have a single all-purpose blog.

Up to now, people can have effectively multiple discussion threads-as-blogs; they can have multiple WIP threads, hall of honour thread(s), and any number of army-specific threads in the relevant sub forum. Or just do everything under a single WIP thread, which is also pretty common. So a single 'general' blog is more restrictive than currently.

I'm therefore inclined to vote 'yes' to give people more choice - particularly if they create a lot of disparate content. I think it would be more useful to be able to look at say, blood angels blogs to see cool models/find inspiration of that type rather than try to find it across a bunch of mixed general purpose blogs, including lore/background/tournament result entries. It also potentially gives the option for people to split off WIP work more cleanly if they choose. (perhaps a 'WIP' and/or 'Completed' category might be useful, mimicking the current Forge arrangement?)

I guess the downside is that by splitting such posts across more specific blogs, you're going to have a lot more tiny blogs with only a couple of posts in, though organising by 'last updated' (the current default) will naturally filter those down to the bottom as currently happens in the discussion threads. And general purpose blogs will be less visible if someone is looking for specific types of content - e.g. if it's not in the 'blood angels' category, I'm not going to see it unless I specfically search for it in General, or relevent keywords.

Personally I'd welcome anyone suggesting further upsides/downsides of the 'yes' multiblog option, given a single all-purpose blog is possible under either option.

Edited by Arkhanist
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I'm leaning towards No but I'm curious how searchable/filterable the categories are. If there's a decent UI to find all content in a given category then I don't see what the multi-blog option brings to the table apart from more complexity.

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I feel the multiple blog options might step a bit much into the toes of the Works in Progress and the general areas of the different subforums? People might just create a blog instead of a topic in the corresponding subforum, depopulating them as a result

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I think Elzender makes a good point.

Before I vote, can I ask what the current admin thoughts are about what will happen to the discussion threads that are really blogs/plogs at the moment? 

Is the plan to still permit those kind of threads as well as the blogs or introduce a policy that those kind of threads should, in future, be created as blogs instead?

If it’s the former I’ll probably vote no as people will still have the ability to create a dedicated space for a discrete project. If it’s the latter I’ll probably vote yes so people have the option of organising their projects as specific blogs. 

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The option to create multiple blogs wouldn't require members to create multiple blogs - they would be able to create a single blog and organize all of their projects within using different categories while those that want separate blogs would be able to do so.

We have tons of pseudo-blogs scattered around the site, bastardizing the discussion forum format to present what is essentially a blog. So yes, we foresee that many members will transition such projects to the blogs function. However, our previous experience with blogs showed that many members would present blog updates both within their blogs as well as in the relevant forum(s), providing more immediate visibility to their blog. We foresee this practice continuing.

We're trying to be as hands-off as possible with the blogs and discussions. If someone wants to present their project as a blog, that's fine. If they'd rather use the discussion forum format, that's fine, too. If they want to use the two capabilities in a complementary manner, that's also fine. The limits of our control will be in terms of ensuring that content presented in blogs remains consistent with the site's rules (i.e., Warhammer 40,000 hobby-related or general tabletop miniature wargaming in relation to the WH40K hobby) and that members behave appropriately.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Surprisingly (to me), a clear majority prefer limiting each member to a single blog. In six months we'll re-assess, but we'll leave it as-is for now.

Thanks to everyone that voted.

We hope to see the community capitalize on the blog capability as a method for sharing your hobby content, activity, and thoughts.

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