=][= THE ARTICLES FUNCTION IS NOW LIVE! =][=

[Brother Tyler]

Some of you may remember the Librarium from the days of yore. The Librarium was a venue in which members could publish finished articles about the Warhammer 40,000 hobby. Unfortunately, we had to close it because lack of admin supervision allowed things to develop in unintended ways, artificially limiting the articles that were being published. We thought we would be able to bring it back online again, but that failed to happen. The software update brought a function called "PAGES" but we didn't want to rush into things. At this point, we're way overdue, and you deserve to have this function.

 

We're not quite ready for prime time yet, and it is likely that we'll see the new article system (the function is called "Pages" and the page is called "Articles" - we might find a sexier name) released incrementally. We haven't worked all of the kinks out yet, so collectively we'll probably learn by discovery.

 

What I'm looking for from you are ideas for broad categories for articles. I don't want things to be too specific (which would result in a large number of categories and a lot of vertical scrolling), but I want the categories to be distinct enough that people can intuitively figure out how to drill down to the [types of] articles that they want without needing a secret decryption ring. And while thematic names are always cool, I want category names to be clear for those that are new to the hobby/setting, too (though category descriptions might mitigate some more thematic names).

 

How are articles different from discussions and blogs?

Well, articles are written so that members only have to read the article, without real need for discussion. The function allows for people to post comments/questions, and discussions can develop from articles; but discussions aren't necessary. Articles are different from blogs in that each article is (though it doesn't have to be) a stand alone posting, whereas a blog implies a series of posts on some sort of issue/project. All three have broad similarities, especially in terms of formatting (so posting an article is much like posting a topic, reply to a topic, blog post, or blog comment). Each has small distinctions, however.

 

What articles are not is a "best of" trophy case. There will be minimum standards for formatting and quality, and the normal rules of the B&C will apply (e.g., any articles posted must be relevant to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby and the games set in the universe, content must meet our community standards, etc.). We won't require that articles be written at a level required for a peer-reviewed academic journal, nor will things have to conform to someone's interpretation of the lore. Articles simply provide one more way for members to share hobby content with fellow hobbyists.

 

I expect that we'll have Librarians, though we haven't worked the details out yet.

 

There will be more to discuss on this, and you are welcome to post questions/suggestions here.

 

Remember, though, my priority right now is figuring out what categories we want to start with. We can always adjust them later.

 

Right now we have:

• DIYs (think of Index Astartes articles and the like, I'll probably start with new versions of the articles currently found in the Liber Showcase)
• Site Help Files (replacing the outdated Bolter and Chainsword 101)
• Tutorials (replacing the current crop of Tutorials and How To's)
• Miscellaneous (things that don't fit in our other categories)

What other categories do you think will be useful, and why?

[Lysimachus]

10 minutes ago, Brother Tyler said:

What other categories do you think will be useful, and why?

 

 

I seem to remember the old Librarium also included a Fan Fiction section (finished stories, obviously), that would be nice to have again?

 

[ThePenitentOne]

I've always thought that GW should make a Big Book of Campaign Play. Some articles could be edition agnostic, while others might be Crusade ideas, and still others might be campaigns designed to be competitive games.

 

 

[apologist]

Could homegrown rules fit in as part of the Liber? I'd prefer to see the 'crunch' alongside the 'fluff', rather than separating them into different fora. That way they can both feed into each other – so you could have a standalone pure-lore Index, or one that allows posters to contribute/discuss in-game rules.

 

Likewise, this would tie in with @ThePenitentOne's idea above. Missions, as a good example, could be presented here – with the expectation (or space) for some accompanying lore to help tie them into a particular narrative.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I hereby petition for a section of Tactica articles.

[Brother Tyler]

All of the suggested article types are valid (and I would love to see these and others become articles). How would we categorize them, however? Would we need a level of granularity where homegrown rules, missions, and campaigns all require different categories? Or could we create a smaller number of categories into which a variety of article types can fit?

 

We already have a forum for fan fiction, but I envision finished fan fiction transferring over to the Articles and the existing forum serving as a workshop of sorts, being used as a place for people to hone the craft of writing and throw ideas around before finalizing them in the Articles. Likewise, the Liber forums will probably transition to the same sort of format (much the way they did when we had the Librarium).

 

One thing we discussed back in 2011/2012 was the Librarium (now Articles) serving as a development ground for some sort of e-zine. We've had very little success in that area so far, with only a few e-zines reaching fruition (and all of them were very good, but they required an immense amount of time and effort). There is a possibility of exploring the possibility of Articles somehow working with some sort of e-zine format.

[ThePenitentOne]

If you want broader categories, homegrown rules, missions and campaigns may all loosely fit under the broad umbrella of Narrative articles. So maybe you do Competitive/ Pick-up Gaming and Narrative Gaming.

 

It isn't perfect- someone might design a custom mission designed to be used for stand-alone competitive games; certainly a lot of house rules could fit either category. But then the authors would just choose whichever platform they thought best matched their intent. 

 

When you mention things like e-zines, it makes me think about the White Dwarf Bunker clubs. There could be a B&C Bunker Club where folks pool Bunker activities or whatever. What's interesting is that it can get you attention in White Dwarf if B&C is interested in that sort of thing. I think the WD Bunker is a cool concept, but I don't know if it goes far enough- I was a bit disappointed with the "Crusade Campaign" they ran. They just didn't provide enough content. I feel like Bunker Clubs are where that content has to come from.

 

Lots of the stuff that's taking place in the Iron Gauntlet right now is wicked cool. I think all of it makes for better campaign content than the stuff WD put together. At base, a Bunker Club tracks the painting and playing of its members, with rank badges for various milestones. You're incentivized to try the Bunker missions, and some of them have been decent. But really, it might be possible to run a B&C Crusade as a Bunker event of our own.

[MARK0SIAN]

A general ‘Lore’ section might be good where people can post articles on the lore/history of a faction or subfaction or anything else in-universe like a particular planet or individual etc. 

 

This could even include articles on the real life development of factions in terms of how the minis have changed over time or how the rules or lore have developed since the army was first released.

[Brother Tyler]

Categories

 

I'm not sure about the "Narrative" name as that might confuse people, implying fiction (which will also be included). Besides, "narrative" describes only one style of gaming, implying that there would also be a "Competitive" category. A better catch-all would probably be "Gaming" as the category name, with the potential for sub-categories that mirror existing (sub-)categories in our forums and/or downloads (e.g., Tactica, Homegrown Rules).

 

I could see a "Lore" category including sub-categories for discussions of official lore (though I haven't figured out a good name for that) and fan fiction (easy: "Fan Fiction").

 

The categories that currently exist are:

• DIYs (envisioned for DIY Liber ~ articles)
• Site Help Files (replacing/augmenting the B&C 101 forum)
• Tutorials (articles on how to do hobby things)
• Miscellaneous (anything that doesn't fall into one of the above categories)

Those were never envisioned as the end-all, be-all of our categories and were simply the ones that were created for testing purposes.

 

Ultimately, I think that several logical/intuitive broad categories, with slightly more specific (but not too specific) sub-categories will suffice. As the number of Articles increases, we may have to create more categories/sub-categories simply to assist in navigation and findability, but we can probably start with a lower number of each. The key to success will be in the appropriate use of keywords.

 

Article Process

 

Here's a basic rundown of how the Pages/Articles system will work...

 

 

Step 0: Discussion (Optional)

The member either starts a topic to present and refine something they hope to turn into an article, or they post a very informative reply in a topic and decide to convert/expand that reply into an article. Realistically, there are many current topics/posts that would make good articles. Articles don't have to start as discussions, however, so this step is optional.

 

Step 0a: Recommendation/Nomination (Optional)

Someone other than the topic/post author might see the topic/post and think that it would be an excellent article. The "someone" might be a Librarian (more on them later), some other staff member, or any other member of the site. The mechanism for making the recommendation/nomination hasn't been developed yet (there is no button for this, so we'll have to come up with some manual process).

 

Step 1: Submission

A member composes an article and submits it. The article may have begun life as a discussion, or it may be submitted directly to the Articles function.

 

As an alternative, Librarians may submit articles if original authors are inactive or don't want to submit their own article (the latter presumably if the staff feels strongly that a topic/post is worthy of being an article). We would much prefer for original authors to submit their own articles so that they receive the reputation/achievements for the work, but some authors are either no longer active or don't have the time to do the work.

 

The article will remain invisible to everyone else except staff members until it is ready for Publication (see below).

 

Step 2: Review and Refinement

All submitted articles will be reviewed by members of the Librarian group (more on them later), who ensure that the article is clear, readable, and formatted correctly. If they identify any areas in need of improvement, they work with the article author to bring those areas up to standard. Note that this is a review and refinement process, like proofreading/editing. The goal here is to help the author get the article ready for publication, with the intent that all submitted articles will be refined and published in the minimum time necessary. Rejections will be limited to those articles that aren't appropriate, clear, readable, or which may not be formatted correctly.

 

Step 2a: Download Preparation (Optional)

Many articles might also be presented as downloadable files, typically as .pdfs. Once the online article is finalized, the author may choose to develop a print version that can be submitted to our Downloads. This step may also take place later, at some point after the article is published (see below). If the author wants to have a downloadable version go public concurrently with the online version, they will notify the Librarians.

 

Step 3: Publication

The finished article is published, at which point it becomes visible to everyone. If a downloadable version is published concurrently with the online version, the system will automatically create an announcement topic; and that topic will also be [manually] linked to the online article. The download and article locations will be cross-linked. If there is no downloadable version, the online article will link to a discussion topic, either a new one (if none exists) or an existing one. The intent is for the discussion topic to be created by the author to ensure that the author gets the reputation increases for reactions to the article. The discussion topic serves as both an announcement and a method for feedback and updating. Members are also able to comment in the articles section.

 

Step 4: Updating (Optional)

If an author decides to update their article, they simply go through a process that mirrors the Submission > Review and Refinement > Publication steps, but with an existing article.

 

Requirements

 

We're still working on these, but our goal is to have minimal requirements beyond being relevant to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby, clear, readable, and well-formatted. We're not looking for peer-reviewed articles or articles written to some gold standard (though there's certainly nothing wrong with those levels of work). What we're looking for are interesting, informative, thought-provoking, helpful, and entertaining articles across the full range of Warhammer 40,000 hobby-related content. We will probably provide some basic guidelines, and we'll probably link to some examples of style guides and other aids to writing. We're not going to tie anyone down to any particular style, however. Articles written using UK conventions will stand alongside those written using US, Australian, South African, Brazilian, and any other conventions. The goal is for members of our community to be able to submit any kind of Warhammer 40,000 hobby article to help others to better understand and enjoy the hobby.

 

Librarians

 

A vital element of the article process is the Librarians. Librarians will be staff members, and, as with all other B&C staff members, will be volunteers. Librarians won't be Moderati, however, and will focus solely on assisting members in the process of getting articles published. In this, they will serve as guides and facilitators, not gatekeepers. The speed with which articles are processed will depend in large part upon the Librarians in terms of their numbers and the amount of time they have to perform the work.

 

Librarians will have a group title (TBD) and will be indicated by the Librarian icon: 

 

Librarians will not be rules enforcers, except that they will police comments within the Articles area (though any discipline enforced for infractions within the Articles area will fall to Moderati/Administratum members). We may have a few Moderati dual-hatting as Librarians, and these will have rules enforcement authority within the Articles function.

 

We will probably solicit for volunteers to fill out the Librarian ranks.

 

Continuing Preparations

 

In addition to finalizing details, I'm working on having a few initial articles available when we open the function to everyone. It will probably look self-aggrandizing since those articles will be authored by me and the Moderati. The Articles function creates achievements, however - so members gain badges for submitting articles. What I don't want to do is steal the opportunity for members to receive those badges for their own content, so I'm left to work with my own articles, and the Moderati are left to work with their own articles. Ideally, these will inspire other members to submit their own articles, and those will quickly outnumber the initial batch.

 

In the meantime, we're open to input on the Articles function. At some point in the near future, we'll probably make it visible to everyone without allowing submissions. This will give you a better feel for it, enabling improved feedback and suggestions prior to the actual launch.

[jaxom]

On 6/6/2024 at 9:12 AM, apologist said:

Could homegrown rules fit in as part of the Liber? I'd prefer to see the 'crunch' alongside the 'fluff', rather than separating them into different fora. That way they can both feed into each other – so you could have a standalone pure-lore Index, or one that allows posters to contribute/discuss in-game rules.

 

Likewise, this would tie in with @ThePenitentOne's idea above. Missions, as a good example, could be presented here – with the expectation (or space) for some accompanying lore to help tie them into a particular narrative.

On 6/6/2024 at 9:50 PM, Brother Tyler said:

We already have a forum for fan fiction, but I envision finished fan fiction transferring over to the Articles and the existing forum serving as a workshop of sorts, being used as a place for people to hone the craft of writing and throw ideas around before finalizing them in the Articles. Likewise, the Liber forums will probably transition to the same sort of format (much the way they did when we had the Librarium).

 

Perhaps have a forum or subforum called something like "Writer's Workshop"?

 

 

On 6/6/2024 at 9:50 PM, Brother Tyler said:

1 hour ago, Brother Tyler said:

Categories

 

I'm not sure about the "Narrative" name as that might confuse people, implying fiction (which will also be included). Besides, "narrative" describes only one style of gaming, implying that there would also be a "Competitive" category. A better catch-all would probably be "Gaming" as the category name, with the potential for sub-categories that mirror existing (sub-)categories in our forums and/or downloads (e.g., Tactica, Homegrown Rules).

The semantic hill I will continue to die on: narrative play versus tournament play. Having gotten that out of my system, I think a single subforum for missions would be fine if we all use tags effectively and with some sort of agreed upon standard. 

 

 

[Brother Tyler]

On 6/14/2024 at 11:05 AM, jaxom said:

The semantic hill I will continue to die on: narrative play versus tournament play. Having gotten that out of my system, I think a single subforum for missions would be fine if we all use tags effectively and with some sort of agreed upon standard. 

According to the rulebook, we're both wrong. The converse of narrative play would be matched play and open play (and we're both talking about the former concept).

 

A "workshop" implies something more in line with a discussion forum. It might actually be appropriate to use "Fan Fiction" as the Articles category and change the discussion forum name to "Writer's Workshop."

[ThePenitentOne]

For me, the biggest dichotomy in "types of gaming" is not Crusade vs. Open vs. Matched (Gw's terms) or Competitive/ Tournament vs. Narrative (more general terms).

 

It's "Stand Alone" vs. "Campaign"

 

I look for campaign rules in a lot of places, And they're often buried in forums full of missions and homebrew rules designed for stand-alone games. Those sometimes have utility for the types of narratives I'm trying to create through campaign play, but quite a few don't really move the needle for me.

 

I find it strange when people refer to stand-alone games as being narrative, but quite a few people actually do. I find the difference between a narrative mission for a stand-alone game to be virtually indistinguishable from a competitive/ tournament/ matched mission. And I know, people will respond by talking about how narrative missions have a greater capacity for asymmetry, and while that's true and visible, the difference between a symmetrical stand-alone mission and an asymmetrical stand-alone mission is far more subtle than the difference between a stand-alone mission of any type vs. a campaign of any type.

 

That being said, there's no need to bend B&C to my parameters- B&C is a cool community to create and post in, and it will continue to be that, regardless of which semantics we go with. No matter how it turns out, I just want to be a part of it.

 

Heck, I don't know if there are even enough campaign crazy fraters like me to justify such a thing. It is what I wanted to with Chronicles of Saint Katherine's Aegis club- I mean, originally that started as just the CoSKA campaign, but when it was re-imagined as a club, I tried to write generic "How to Campaign" type articles so that anyone could use them in their own campaigns, but then there's a thread within the club that is just for the CoSKA campaign where you can see what it looks like when all of those generic "How to Campaign" come together to create a campaign- kinda like having a theory thread and an application thread.

 

I probably should have chosen a better name to reflect the intent behind the club, rather than labeling it with the name I've chosen for one specific campaign. Then again, I'm so slow at both painting and content creation that I can't really satisfy people who would follow the club even if I renamed it. The Iron Gauntlet has been very good for me, and for CoSKA- I've actually posted more there in the past two months than in the previous year. And the Iron Gauntlet will continue to provide me with material for the club once the painting challenge is behind me.

 

Anyway, sorry for getting into the weeds here.

 

 

[INKS]

Categories: 

• DIYs (envisioned for DIY Liber ~ articles)
• Site Help Files (replacing/augmenting the B&C 101 forum)
• Tutorials (articles on how to do hobby things)
• Miscellaneous (anything that doesn't fall into one of the above categories)
• Narrative Campaign
• Tactica
• Lore

I can see the merit in having a Narrative Campaign section. This is for complete Narrative Campaigns, articles in how to start them, how they function, telling the story start to finish, all the steps involved through out. I think this can be a rich topic.

 

Tactica : I am a little biased. Tacticas were my thing back in the day. It's what I did here on the B&C for a long time. Boy did I have so much to learn even writing them back then for 3rd edition and 4th edition. I see tacticas as competitive. It's about how to use a unit, an army, an army list. How it's structured, how it works, the combo. What CPs are good to use and why and when to use them, which ones are bad and why. All the little details. And articles about this and this type of game play, I see as mostly competitive. This doesn't mean it can't be used in a more casual setting. knowing how to use your armies, your units and so on is important even in casual play and will make you a better player over all. But when I think of tacticas, I think of it from a top down perspective. 

 

For now, the above categories seem good, solid. I don't know how granular we need to be. I am sure we will at some point encounter articles that just don't fit. Sure we have miscellaneous, but at some point you will gather a collection of topics that warrant it's own category. Until then, this works.

 

I am thinking about home grown rules, home grown lore and the like. We have a place for that. I think it fits there. Are those articles? I mean, maybe they can be. Where does that fit then? Well it depends. Are those home grown rules for Narrative Campaign? Are they just for one off games? If they are for one off games then does it fit into an article? I don't know that it does. If these rules are part of a Narrative Campaign, then great, it fits there within that article. 

 

Home grown lore: we have tones of it. And people love writing it. Is it an article? Maybe, if it's complete. And if so then it can fall under Lore with a sub category. I don't know that it needs a place of it's own. 

 

Lore: Do we even need this here? Articles on lore? Articles on which books to read, on where to find information and so on. I feel like this could be covered maybe in the Liber already. I am not even sure if Lore fits. Something to think about more of. 

 

E-zine: First: It's a lot of work. Period. There will have to be discussions on yearly, quarterly or some other time frame. I can see it as a collection of the best articles from here. I think the idea of some sort of battle bunker B&C edition is a cool idea. Really a cool idea and I look forward to seeing this come to light. 

 

Edit: Wanted to come back here for a minute and acknowledge that there is a Tactica section. I think this is great for discussion wise. The Tactica Articles are for more when something is complete and comprehensive. 

Edited July 17 by INKS

[ChapterMasterGodfrey]

On 7/17/2024 at 3:42 PM, INKS said:

Lore: Do we even need this here? Articles on lore? Articles on which books to read, on where to find information and so on. I feel like this could be covered maybe in the Liber already. I am not even sure if Lore fits. Something to think about more of. 

I'd like what would equivilate to essays on lore. "Hot takes" that are backed up with quotes, passages etc. The old Gears of War forum on Epic had an awesome essay on the origin on the locust.

[Brother Tyler]

 

I composed a preliminary response to the posts above, especially the one by @INKS here. It grew far beyond what is reasonable here, so it has been posted as a blog entry. Realistically, this is just a precursor to something that should be either an article or a series of articles. Here's the basic summary:

 

The most important thing to realize is that all of these features exist within an ecosystem. Each has a specific function and works best for different types of outcomes, though there are many commonalities. Yes, the discussion feature can be used to emulate blogs and articles, but blogs and articles each do their own thing better than discussions. Many of these features support or are supported by various other features.

 

 

If you're interested, you can see the full blog entry here.

[INKS]

Consider myself educated. 

[Brother Tyler]

To address specific comments, I'm amending the [starting] categories to the following:

• DIYs (envisioned for DIY Liber ~ articles)
• Editorials
• Homegrown Rules (tags should include both the game system and the edition/year)
• Lore (includes discussions of canon lore as well as fan fiction)
• Product Reviews
• Site Help Files (replacing/augmenting the B&C 101 forum)
• Tactica (tags should include both the game system and the edition/year)
• Tutorials (articles on how to do hobby things)
• Miscellaneous (anything that doesn't fall into one of the above categories)

The "hot takes" idea is covered under Editorials. The suggestion for narrative campaigns is too specific. Following the logic of having a category for narrative campaigns, we would then need similar categories for each of the other types of campaigns, missions/scenarios, organizations, terrain, etc. For now, proper assignment of tags will enable members to search for specific types of articles within the various categories (e.g., narrative campaign and matched play mission as two of the many types of tags within the Homegrown Rules category, Liber Astartes and Liber Sororitas as two of the many types of tags within the DIYs category, etc.).

 

If we see certain categories with a large number of articles and the types of articles allow for sub-categorization, we can create the necessary sub-categories later. So if we see a plethora of narrative campaigns (along with other types of homegrown rules), we can create the appropriate sub-categories and move the articles to those sub-categories.

 

Part of the job of the Librarians will be to ensure that effective tags are used.

[INKS]

Looks good. I think those categories along with proper tagging will serve well for a good deal of time.

[Brother Tyler]

This project has advanced, albeit slowly. The delay right now is in the preparation of our initial guidance, both for aspiring article authors and the Librarians.

 

Two things are happening now, however, in preparation:

1. The Pages/Articles function will be accessible to all members, though we won't be accepting any articles just yet.
2. We are soliciting for volunteers for the Librarian role.

When you go to the Pages/Articles function, you will see the current range of categories/sub-categories and a number of starter articles. These have all been authored by Admins/Chief Librarians. One of our goals is to maximize achievements and reputation for content authors, not staff members. Had we selected articles that were authored by other members, any achievements and reputation garnered by those articles would have gone to us instead of those authors. It is our sincere hope that the starter articles you'll see will be vastly outnumbered by articles submitted by other members. In the meantime, these serve as examples of the realm of the possible. Hopefully these will inspire you to craft your own articles, and we'll accept those submissions in the near future. 

 

As for the Librarians, these staff members will be vital in supporting this function. You can see more about them in my post above. It is important to remember that these staff members, like all staff members, will be expected to work. What we don't want, however, is for this to become a job. We want to keep our expectations of these members reasonable, serving as an extension of their love for the hobby and dedication to serving the community. My starting goal for these members is that each will be responsible for 1 article per month, whether that's helping another member in submitting an article or writing their own article (and this might be something completely of their own devising or an article whose original author is either inactive or unwilling to craft an article). We'll see how that works - if it's too high or too low, we'll adjust the number. I don't want anyone to feel like they're being driven unreasonably. Some Librarians may be willing to work on more articles per month, so we're not going to establish a ceiling (though we hope that they pace themselves and don't burn out).

 

If you are considering serving as a Librarian and have any questions, or if you want to volunteer for the job, feel free to do so by replying in this discussion.

 

Similarly, if you have any questions about the Pages/Articles function, what types of articles we're looking for, standards, etc., feel free to post your questions here.

 

We'll all be learning as we go, so I expect things to be refined over time.

[Brother Tyler]

The Articles function is now live!

 

This is a preliminary opening. I expect things to evolve over time, especially as we get a better feel for how to improve things to better support the community.

 

Here's a quick rundown of how things are envisioned to work (and this may change over time).

 

First, the Articles function is led by the Chief Librarians (under the guidance of the Administrators). These staff members have a dual role as both Librarians and Moderati. They are in the ++ CHIEF LIBRARIAN ++ group and bear that group's team icon.  The Chief Librarians (there are three: @INKS, @Lord_Ikka, and @Lysimachus) coordinate the efforts of the larger team of Librarians, and they also work as Librarians themselves. While we don't currently have any Librarians, these will also be staff members in the ++ LIBRARIAN ++ group and [will] bear that group's team icon. 

 

The role of the Librarians and Chief Librarians is to assist members in the publication of their articles. They'll look for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting to ensure that articles are clear and easy to read. They are essentially proofreading and editing (for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format, not content). They do not judge the merits of articles. Only the Chief Librarians [and Administrators] can reject articles, and then only because the articles are either not suitable for the community's subject-matter or because they are not ready for publication. In the latter case, the intent is that the submitting member will continue to work on the article and re-submit it when they think it is ready. Think of the Librarians and Chief Librarians as facilitators, not gatekeepers.

 

Something to keep in mind is that these are hobby articles created by amateur hobbyists. We don't expect perfection, nor do we expect standards rivaling articles you might see in academic or professional journals. Similarly, we don't expect peer-review (though that can come later, see below). The higher the quality, the better, but we are enforcing a minimum standard (correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clear formatting). We may even provide links to example style guides to help, but we're encouraging all members of the community to participate.

 

Articles are formatted in the exact same manner as discussion posts, so there's nothing for members of the community to learn. All a member has to do is compose their article and submit it. A Librarian will then be assigned (or volunteer) to assist in the publication, working with the submitting member to get the article finished and ready for publication. While the article is in this review stage, only the author, Librarians, Chief Librarians, and Administrators can see it and edit it.

 

In my ideal world, members will concurrently submit articles to the Downloads section as .pdf files that members can download and print, but that is wholly optional. We haven't worked that process out, but it may be something that [some of] the Librarians assist with.

 

Once an article is ready for publication, the Chief Librarians will approve it. The system keeps track of the articles that a member submits, awarding achievement badges along the following progression:

 

 1,  3,  7,  15,  31+

 

Our initial goal is for each Librarian (and Chief Librarian) to work on one article per month. This may be by facilitating another member's article submission, submitting their own article, or submitting someone else's content as an article. We may adjust that "quota" over time, but we don't want to put too much pressure on the Librarians (which would burn them out). The more Librarians we have, however, the faster we'll see the collection of articles grow. With our existing stable of three Chief Librarians (and maybe me), our progress will be slow.

 

Since there is a level of effort for the Librarians in facilitating the publication of articles, they will be awarded badges, too. You can see the badges and the progression here (it is a very different progression from most of our other achievements, so there are a lot more badges).

 

Within the Articles function, members of the community can provide feedback on the article by writing reviews (and you get achievement badges for reviews, too) and posting comments. It is from these feedback mechanisms that the quality of an article [in the eyes of the community] is assessed.

 

When an article is published, the system automatically creates a discussion topic in a forum that is determined by the system. For example, DIY articles (homegrown Adeptus Astartes Chapters, Heretic Astartes warbands, etc.) are announced in the + THE LIBER + forum. This provides another feedback mechanism. Where the comments and reviews should be focused on the article itself, the discussion topic allows for the subject of the article to be discussed. In addition, this provides a method by which a sort of peer review can take place, enabling article authors to modify their articles if they desire. The system automatically duplicates the entire article in the discussion topic, but the Chief Librarians will probably delete most of the duplication, leaving an introduction and the link to the full article. The standard for doing this is something that we'll develop over time.

 

If the article author also submits a for-print version of the article via the Downloads feature, that, too, creates a discussion topic; the Administrators/Chief Librarians will probably merge the discussion topics announcing the Articles/Downloads.

 

What value do articles provide? And how do they differ from discussions and blogs? And how are they complemented by downloads?

 

All four functions (articles, blogs, discussions, downloads) are formatted in an identical manner, but each is best under different circumstances; and as you see in this post (above), they can be interrelated. Functionally, articles and blog posts are the most similar. Each is largely intended as a one-way communication from the author to the viewer. Each allows for feedback from the viewer, however, whether via reviews/comments or linked discussions. Discussions are the medium with which members of the community are most familiar, serving as the foundation for everything that we do. Discussions involve multiple "authors," each providing their input on the topic. Downloads, meanwhile, are similar to the articles/blog posts in that they are author-to-viewer, but downloads are intended to be something that members of the community can download and print. All work well and, as we've seen, members often bastardize the discussion format to emulate the other features (often because the other features weren't available here or because discussions are the most easily accessible).

 

One disadvantage of discussions, however, is that the system automatically archives inactive discussion topics after a period of time, removing the ability for members to continue those discussions. So discussions should be thought of as ephemeral while the other formats remain active indefinitely. We have the option to unarchive archived discussions, but it's generally something we try to avoid because archiving topics makes them more compact in the system database. If you have a project that you might work on over the span of years, a blog is the best format. Meanwhile, articles and downloads provide superior mediums [over discussions] depending upon the content.

 

As I said, though, all of the features are interrelated. It's easy to envision content starting life as a discussion topic and then being refined to either an article, a download file, or both (either of which will also create a discussion topic). In such cases, the discussion topic created by the system will be merged with the original discussion to keep things neat and tidy. Conversely, members often focus their efforts in their blogs and then concurrently promote their projects via the discussion forums.

 

I have gone through a number of posts that I've made in the past and have targeted a bunch for submission as articles. There are some, however, that I will probably update as blog posts first, with articles (and downloads) to come later. Ultimately, we want to enable creativity and freedom for our members, but we want to facilitate that work as much as possible.

 

If you go through the site, you'll find a lot of content that is currently in our discussion forums and which is probably eminently suitable for conversion into an article. Any number of finished DIYs, tutorials, homegrown rules, and other forms of deep-thinking, especially some of the really old stuff that is hidden on the back pages and which current members might never see, might be of great use to the community if presented as articles. So we've created a mechanism by which members can recommend such content. All you have to do is go into the Article Recommendations topic in the Suggestion Box and post a reply with a link to the content that you think would be of use as an article, along with your explanation of how it would be helpful. We'll contact the original author to see if they're willing to do the work to submit the article. Alternately, if the original author is no longer active here or if they give permission, the Librarians may perform the work of converting the content into an article. Or, you can get permission from the original author to submit the content as an article, earning you the achievements shown above as the original author (though ethics demands that you (a) get permission, and (b) credit the original author). Better yet, if you recommend content for submission as an article and that content is later published as an article, you will earn achievements along the following progression:

 

 1,  5,  15,  30,  50+

 

Something we don't want is for anyone to poach anyone else's work, whether that work appears here at the Bolter & Chainsword or elsewhere. If you see content that you think would be suitable as an article here, please contact the content's creator and get their permission; and if they don't grant that permission, respect their wishes.

 

In the future, we may develop a means by which the best articles are recognized and published. We have used the Legio Imprint for this in the past (sort of), and we may modify that concept to support our community's articles. That's all up in the air for now, however.

 

We expect to refine the Articles function over time, including the categories, our procedures, etc. In the meantime, we encourage you to submit your own articles or recommend other members' content for article submission. And if you are interested in helping out as a Librarian, please contact one of the Administrators or Chief Librarians.

[Brother Tyler]

To support print versions of articles (via our Downloads feature), the Articles category has been created. On the assumption that files will be uploaded here concurrent with a corresponding article in the Articles feature, the approval of these files will not create an announcement topic in the Forum. Instead, we'll edit the announcement topic that is created when the article is approved, cross-linking between the discussion topic, the article, and the download file. Files submitted to the Articles category in the Downloads feature will not be approved until their corresponding article in the Articles feature is approved, at which point both will be approved simultaneously.

 

I have no doubt that this will be refined as we gain experience with things.