Blog Categories

[Brother Tyler]

We are close to changing the limit on the number of blogs that members can create from 1 to unlimited. The one thing that we need to settle on before that happens, though, is the Categories. We currently have two Categories: Members and Advertisers. The Advertisers Category will be kept, but the Members Category will be replaced with a slew of other Categories.

 

Two quick notes...

 

When capitalized ("Category(ies)"), I am referring to the Categories at the Blogs feature level - the Categories into which all blogs are organized. When not capitalized ("category(ies)"), I am referring to the internal categories that members create for the internal organization of their blogs. This discussion is solely about the Categories that apply throughout the Blogs feature. As much as possible, members will have complete freedom in creating their own blog categories.

 

An important aspect of the content architecture is tags. We will create a system of Categories that works under most circumstances, with tags complementing the Categories. Since members will be given as much freedom as possible in both the organization and content of their blogs, there may be times when the baseline Category structure doesn't quite work. For example, we have opted to not create Categories for different games. Instead, projects that are focused on specific games should include the appropriate tags.

 

Here is the current list of Categories that we are considering:

 

Miscellaneous

Imperium

Adepta Sororitas and Ecclesiarchy

Adeptus Astartes/Legiones Astartes

Black Templars & Descendants

Blood Angels & Successors

Dark Angels & Successors

Deathwatch

Grey Knights

Imperial Fists & Successors

Iron Hands & Successors

Legio B&C

Legion of the Damned

Raven Guard & Successors

Salamanders & Successors

Space Wolves & Successors

Ultramarines & Successors

White Scars & Successors

Talons of the Emperor

Adeptus Mechanicus and Cult Mechanicus

Collegia Titanica

Astra Militarum & Solar Auxilia

Imperial Knights

Chaos

Chaos Daemons

Chaos Knights

Heretic Astartes

Alpha Legion

Death Guard & Nurgle

Emperor's Children & Slaanesh

Iron Warriors

Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion

Night Lords

Thousand Sons & Tzeentch

Word Bearers

World Eaters & Khorne

Xenos

Aeldari

Asuryani

Drukhari

Harlequins

Genestealer Cults

Leagues of Votann

Necrons

Orks

T'au

Tyranids

Modeling, Sculpting, and Painting

Game Play

Editorials and Opinions

 

To illustrate the envisioned outcome with the tags, imagine that a member is working on a project to create an Ultramarines army. Regardless of game system, that blog would be placed in the Ultramarines category (under Imperium and Adeptus Astartes). If that army is for the 10th edition of the Warhammer 40,000 game, it might be given the tag WH40K 10e (or it might not - the Warhammer 40,000 game is assumed to be the default, so it might be omitted unless you want to specify a previous edition). If that army is for the Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness game, it should be given the appropriate tag (we haven't settled on that one yet, but it may be something along the lines of HHAoD 2e). It would be entirely possible for the member to simply create a massive blog intended to cover all of their Ultramarines projects, across different editions of different games, and possibly including all kinds of other things like battle reports, homegrown rules, etc. In this case, the member might use different categories within their blog, assigning appropriate tags to each category and/or the entries within. For example, the member might have both a Primaris army for the WH40K game, a firstborn army for the Horus Heresy setting/game, a fleet for Battlefleet Gothic, a kill team for the Kill Team game, homegrown rules for Captain Invictus, etc. The member might decide that each of these might be a separate category within their Ultramarines blog, assigning each the appropriate tag.

 

There are going to be times when a member's concept for their blog doesn't fit neatly within the overall Category structure that we create, in which case the Miscellaneous Category is there. In this case, members should use (meta-/sub-)faction tags to help members to find the content in which they are interested. For example, At one time I created tokens for the 2018 version of the Kill Team game. These tokens spanned all of the various factions of the game. Tokens don't really fit into one of our Blog Categories, so I would have located that blog (had we had Blogs at that time) in the Miscellaneous Category and assigned the Kill Team 2018 tag to the blog, then I would have assigned tags for each entry in which I presented a faction (e.g., the entry with the Exorcists tokens would have had the Exorcists Chapter tag).

 

All that said, if you think we need to make any changes to the proposed Categories, please post your suggestions here.

 

Also note that the increase to unlimited blogs means that there will be a progression of achievement badges for creating blogs. The achievement for creating a blog has been changed to green (from gold). We are looking at the entire achievements system, though, so we won't implement the entire progression until we get the overall system redone. That is still a work in progress, though, so it won't happen for a bit. Once the revision is implemented, though, achievement badges will be retroactively awarded.

[Bouargh]

I like It, yet I am not sure I really understand what is underneath the GamePlay category. Does it refer to Bat Reps, leagues ... or other things? Or does it include also other stuff such as gaming aids, rooster sheet... and eventually the tokens mentionned as example?

[Brother Tyler]

That's one that would need a description. It's about tactics, battle reports, and stuff like that. I could see members creating homegrown rules blogs therein (unless they want to focus them in faction-specific Categories).

[ZeroWolf]

I think it's a solid list and in your breakdown you answered a question before I could even ask it (my blog drifts from one topic to another depending on my current whims, I've been using tags to sort them).

[Brother Tyler]

If you haven't seen the announcement, the expanded Blogs Categories have been implemented and there is no longer a limit on the number of blogs that members can create.

 

Those of you with existing blogs are free to turn each of your categories (presumably each as a separate project) into a separate blog. You'll have to create each such new blog first, then you can move the existing categories into the new blogs. I'll post a tutorial later.