GS up for sale again?

[Robin Reeve]

I think that MMP gains something with this forum.
It is the best ASL forum out there (the CSW one is a horror and the BGG one is not as good).
GS is the place where Klas collects the Perry Sez, which are very useful.

Now, the challenge is not only buying this forum, but running it : hosting it could be costly and requires to pay a fee once a year.

 

[Matt Book]

Hopefully the new owners will see the 1st amendment as a priority

 

[hongkongwargamer]

Hopefully the new owners will see the 1st amendment as a priority

Perhaps if they are American.

 

[Brad M-V]

I'm becoming more of a penny pincher as I get closer to retirement and if there was any fee to be a member I would likely pass and just not visit no matter how much value I may or may not get out of it.

I would hate to see anyone leave, because as hongkongwargamer once said of the community; it's dynamic. It truly is, there are many different personalities here and that's what makes these forms interesting IMO. I don't propose cutting anyone off from using the form at all though, just posting. It appears from the information up thread that relying on community support is lacking and for $25 I'm seriously borderline interested in supporting as well. $5 bucks would sure make me happy!

 

[Matt Book]

Perhaps depending on which American.

Fixed that for ya...

 

[Kijug]

Hosting a website is easy. $36/year from MacHighway.com web-hosting folks. A few more bucks for a domain name renewal. That's the easy part. See https://www.machighway.com/hosting-plans. However, as someone said, monitoring and running it are more the issue--as ASL Servant (free) or semi-professional (paid for time).

At least that's IMHO...ignorant or not.

 

[Brad M-V]

Forgo the "you can't post if you don't support crap then", just add a bronze support level as Iluis61 stated and I'm sure a lot will support that. $25 most likely won't be coming out of my wallet next time around either, I'd willingly pay $5 though.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Hosting a website is easy. $36/year from MacHighway.com web-hosting folks. A few more bucks for a domain name renewal. That's the easy part. See https://www.machighway.com/hosting-plans. However, as someone said, monitoring and running it are more the issue--as ASL Servant (free) or semi-professional (paid for time).

At least that's IMHO...ignorant or not.

Yes, you are correct.

As von Marwitz, Reeve et al rightly point out, moderation is the real resource hog. Time and energy, and to do it well, even more time and energy. That burden has historically been undertaken for the most part by volunteers, some of whom have been good, some of whom have been abysmal at it. All of whom I'm sure were surprised at the variety of personalities and posting styles they had to try and "moderate."

 

[Actionjick]

I would venture a guess that most new players are introduced to ASL by word of mouth. Tournaments and events are probably a distant second. The main use of the forum to new players is rules information and clarification and making contact with other players. These are obviously very important functions.

MMP probably already has enough on their plate trying to satiate the demand for new ASL releases.

 

[Actionjick]

Yes, you are correct.

As von Marwitz, Reeve et al rightly point out, moderation is the real resource hog. Time and energy, and to do it well, even more time and energy. That burden has historically been undertaken for the most part by volunteers, some of whom have been good, some of whom have been abysmal at it. All of whom I'm sure were surprised at the variety of personalities and posting styles they had to try and "moderate."

Yes I believe that you are correct. Herding felines is probably a much easier task than being a moderator on the forum.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Hopefully the new owners will see the 1st amendment as a priority

Out of curiosity, what have you been prevented from saying by the old owners, that you feel the community has suffered as a result of not seeing it?

 

[Michael R]

Hosting a website is easy. $36/year from MacHighway.com web-hosting folks. A few more bucks for a domain name renewal.

I believe hosting a site with the GS storage and traffic requirements would cost more than that, but I have not done the research. There is also a cost for the forum software licence.

 

[GeorgeBates]

Hopefully the new owners will see the 1st amendment as a priority

Why would this be relevant? Is GameSquad a public square?

 

[Neal]

Hosting a website is easy. $36/year from MacHighway.com web-hosting folks. A few more bucks for a domain name renewal. That's the easy part. See https://www.machighway.com/hosting-plans. However, as someone said, monitoring and running it are more the issue--as ASL Servant (free) or semi-professional (paid for time).

At least that's IMHO...ignorant or not.

I've been running a 100% ASL specific site and forum for 1.5 years (see signature), no ads, no social media harvesting of info, no secondary game forums...just 100% ASL 100% of the time. But I can't get anyone to really visit or interact there. I don't recommend anyone else start another site/forum. It's almost an exercise in futility to get people to leave sites they constantly complain about (FB, GS, et al).

/shrug

 

[Matt Book]

Out of curiosity, what have you been prevented from saying by the old owners, that you feel the community has suffered as a result of not seeing it?

Well there is the whole digital Tiananmen Square Massacre of the Political Forums right during an election year and as a Pandemic kicked in resulting in numerous players leaving.

 

[Matt Book]

Why would this be relevant? Is GameSquad a public square?

The political forum wasn't forced on the public, you had to go there, it wasn't forced on the public anywhere in the square.

 

[GeorgeBates]

The political forum wasn't forced on the public, you had to go there, it wasn't forced on the public anywhere in the square.

So that's it. That "forum" was also not a public forum, and the new ownership was free to remodel as they liked. Perhaps a new proprietor will decide to restore it, perhaps not. Won't be up to the rest of us - all we can do is vote with our feet.

 

[olli]

I've been running a 100% ASL specific site and forum for 1.5 years (see signature), no ads, no social media harvesting of info, no secondary game forums...just 100% ASL 100% of the time. But I can't get anyone to really visit or interact there. I don't recommend anyone else start another site/forum. It's almost an exercise in futility to get people to leave sites they constantly complain about (FB, GS, et al).

/shrug

First time I have heard of it, as you say you cannot get people to go to it if they do not know about it?!?!?!?

 

[Robin Reeve]

I would plead for an ASL only forum.
Which GS is, massively.
The political cesspool was useless and I haven't seen similar folders on other forums hosting ASL sections (BGG, CSW and French Cote1664).
There are a Chit-Chat and Pub folders for discussions not related to games.
Keeping out politics, religions and other ideologies is not repressing freedom of speech, but giving this place its true meaning: speaking of games.
As for the other games featured here, the trafic is quite low and GS is much less a resource for them than it is for ASL.

 

[hongkongwargamer]

I imagine insisting on a Politics section in a Gaming site is akin to insisting on having a Gaming section in a Politics site.