FB/BGG/GS I miss the ASLML

ibncalb

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I have an interesting post. Its a shame now that I have to post it in three places to reach the community.

FB is ephemeral as discussions tend to dissolve and dissappear. GS is good in terms of its permanence. I try to avoid CSW for its interface, I don't even know the ASL community there.

Does anyone know the overlap between the multiple online communities?

I know there are people sworn off FB, I know there are people who have left GS for various reasons. Is BGG the new gold standard?

GS has nearly a million ASL posts. I feel that this should be the place to post.
 

Hutch

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The CSW ASL Community has Brian, Perry, Chas, Klas, and many others. Stick with Game Support Forum: MMP and Boardgaming, WWII Era: ASL. After that try the ASL Blogs: Chas' and mine :) and a few others.
 

Spencer Armstrong

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BGG should be the place because it's the best of the available options, but ASLer Exceptionalism is alive and well, to our detriment.

This forum is lousy now that it's lost a few crucial members, Discord isn't a forum in any meaningful sense, Facebook is Facebook and CSW's interface was unusably dated when I first encountered it fifteen years ago.
 

Michael Dorosh

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BGG should be the place because it's the best of the available options, but ASLer Exceptionalism is alive and well, to our detriment.
If there is exceptionalism, I humbly submit it isn't here among your peers, it is alive and well among the BGG owners. They never wanted wargamers there to begin with, have only grudgingly accommodated them, and in fact have taken active measures to marginalize them. ASL devotees wisely went elsewhere. I'm not so sure that is exceptionalism as much as a natural reaction.

Holst and Pitcavage both hosted purpose built ASL forums which were not well trafficked. I even took a kick at a can with a forum dedicated to tactical wargamers which was even less well trafficked. I think Critical Hit had a modestly successful discussion forum also. There was no critical mass in any of those cases.

My sense is that Facebook is the most heavily trafficked of all the options now available and will continue to be so until the next big thing comes along. But I also wonder if the day of the discussion forums like this isn't almost in the past. I hope not, but seeing the reach of say TikTok, and having personally experienced the monetary benefits of posting to YouTube, it's easier to believe.

Hutch makes a good point about blogs (and of course podcasts should be in that conversation) but they don't draw a lot of interaction in their comments sections. People want an audience which is probably why the impermanence of Facebook is raised so often as a complaint (that and the lousy search feature for actually finding stuff).
 
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von Marwitz

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I have an interesting post. Its a shame now that I have to post it in three places to reach the community.

FB is ephemeral as discussions tend to dissolve and dissappear. GS is good in terms of its permanence. I try to avoid CSW for its interface, I don't even know the ASL community there.
For me FB has never been an option and never will be.
I "discovered" GS Forum and CSW at the same time, but BGG had too many bling bling thingies and I neither liked the interface nor had it as much content as GS Forum.
That is why I am here.

You are part of the community. But you also form it. As such, for various reasons, I made the deliberate decision not to frequent the other places. Too much fuss. And of what is there, GS has the best offerings for my purposes.

von Marwitz
 

von Marwitz

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Discord isn't a forum in any meaningful sense, Facebook is Facebook and CSW's interface was unusably dated when I first encountered it fifteen years ago.
Agreed.

This forum is lousy now that it's lost a few crucial members,
IMHO there is only a single person the absence of whom is really felt. And this is JRV for his rules knowledge and dry humor at times.

That said, it does not help to lament but rather to take the initiative. Anyone around here who wants to improve GS is free to make it happen. Using Kennedy's bonmot: Don't ask what GS can do for you. Ask what you can do for GS.

von Marwitz
 

von Marwitz

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But I also wonder if the day of the discussion forums like this isn't almost in the past.
Probably that's basically the case.

With regard to ASL, things might lie a bit different:
ASLers - at least a very significant part of them - are people that are still pushing cardboard like they did a couple of decades ago. One could say the mode of ASL itself is outdated. Still players stick to it. Because they like it just at it is. That said there might as well be an above average tendency among ASLers to stick to discussion forums, because that's what they grew up with - just like with ASL.

Another part of the commuity moves along following new trends, but with each new 'big thing' some stick to the previous one, which means it will splinter up to a point where this inhibits general usefulness. Just as it has been noted upthread. FB shitty to search, things get lost, and it's FB. Discord not much of a forum at all. Next thing people might be "dancing ASL" at Tik Tok? Whatever...

von Marwitz
 
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Michael Dorosh

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Next thing people might be "dancing ASL" at Tik Tok?
Agree with most of what you said but will respond to this to clarify. No, I was commenting on their reach and demographics rather than their content. What I mean is you're seeing much more interactivity now by using video. I also mentioned YouTube. There are some quite good AARs and tutorials there, but actual 'conversation' is limited to a comments section with restrictions on post length and no ability to embed images.
 

von Marwitz

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Yes. Personally, I have hardly ever used any YouTube tutorials, nor watched the 2HS or things like that despite all these things having real 'value'. But I am most interested in 'conversation' or the asking/answering of questions. I am centered on written things (that may very well be illustrated) and have just thrown away my TV-set a couple of months ago.

von Marwitz
 

hongkongwargamer

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I don't care so much about the technological interface than the community within. It's the people, not the tech. Plus it's always about what you can do for ASL, not what ASL can do for you.

Discord is something that other places ain't - real time community interactions + voice + passing vlogs around - but I am not so stuck on the platform. Platforms comes and goes. Discord gets "compared" to GS only because there are a flood of people looking for a GS alternative. Well it's not GS, it's something else (and there's a strong contingent on Discord who want it to be something else).

I like CSW for the responsive interactions with MMP folks. GS is best for interactions with the VASL crew.

It's always about the people. I can be on HAM radio tomorrow if that's where my favorite people goes. If I am only on GS, I'd miss a lot more terrific people than JRV. I go where great people feel comfortable, wherever it is.

It's the people, the community, not the tech. Having multiple channels is a privilege, not a burden.
 
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Actionjick

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Never been on FB, YouTube a few times to check out video young coworker made and have no idea what the other ones are and don't care. I come to this forum because I am comfortable here and enjoy the conversations.
 

Spencer Armstrong

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IMHO there is only a single person the absence of whom is really felt. And this is JRV for his rules knowledge ....
He's the main one and the most recent for sure, but there has been a steady bleeding off over the years. Without him here, Klas is stretched too thin. He did the bulk of the rules lifting.
 

hongkongwargamer

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He's the main one and the most recent for sure, but there has been a steady bleeding off over the years. Without him here, Klas is stretched too thin. He did the bulk of the rules lifting.
Among others, both Klas and JRV are answering rule questions on Discord btw .. plus a few tactical analysis from JRV
 

Honza

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It is reassuring to know that if I get really stuck on a rules question I can pop over to Discord and pick JRV's brain.
 
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