GS up for sale again?

[Gordon]

As they said in Firesign Theatre's "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All", "You can wait here in the sitting room, or you can sit here in the waiting room ..."

 

[JoeArthur]

Here in the UK we have these ASL websites:

VFTT, Britain's Premier ASL Journal

www.vftt.co.uk

London ASL Club - LASL - London ASL Club

The London ASL Club (“LASL”) now meets monthly at: The Penderel’s Oak 283–288 High Holborn Holborn London WC1V 7HP Click here for the location on google maps. Opens from 0900 We play both Starter Kit as well as full ASL.… Continue Reading →

londonasl.siterubix.com

Wall Advantage

walladvantage.blogspot.com

There was a site for the Bounding Fire Tourny but Martin just closed that due to the running cost

Bounding Fire Blackpool - November 18th-21st 2021

Hi all. Just a brief update on this year's event following the VASL tournament last year. Pleased to confirm that it looks like Bounding Fire 2021 will be back, live with real dice, maps and stuff, all things being well. Dates have been booked with our usual host The Headlands Hotel. The...

www.gamesquad.com

There are probably others.

The accountant / tight wad in me says "just combine them all to share / save costs".

 

[Michael Dorosh]

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.

That's hardly a 1st amendment issue, though. Moderation, yes, but it was a clear and unambiguous decision which is generally desirable in a moderator, though some may have disagreed with that decision.

 

[Jazz]

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

The only language option is "British English"?

 

[hongkongwargamer]

Not to denigrate the impact of GS have on the community, but financially, I am almost leaning towards saying one should be PAID to take up the future cash outflow AND to do all the work to keep it going.

I am sure there's another way to look at it but it's not clear to me as to what value a buyer gets for the purchase.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

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

The Canadian Football League (CFL) website has an interesting feature by which posts on the forum automatically sync with the Facebook group and vice versa. I don't know if there is a commercially available way to do this, but it would probably make forums like yours more accessible. You would lose the anonymity of the log-in names (which I always thought was a detriment to decent discussion anyway) but would probably maximize cross-traffic. I'm in the same boat as you, I've run a Canadian Army themed web forum since 1998, but there is little traffic now (even I can't muster the energy to look at it most days) and thousands of people posting on similar themed discussion groups on Facebook. I think the day of forums like these may be over, but if cross-linking platforms becomes common, might be a means of resurrection.

 

[Vic Provost]

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

Your website looks fine as a substitute for this one if it comes to that,
hopefully more players will find it over time.
I'll be there if GS goes under, Vic.

 

[Jazz]

Your website looks fine as a substitute for this one if it comes to that,
hopefully more players will find it over time.
I'll be there if GS goes under, Vic.

Bookmark is right next to GS on my list

 

[Philippe D.]

The political cesspool was useless and I haven't seen similar folders on other forums hosting ASL sections (BGG, CSW and French Cote1664).

I agree wholeheartedly with Robin on this.

The other ASL forum I frequent is Cote1664, where there is no political section. I am pretty sure there are people there with whom I would disagree violently on political matters - and we are talking about a more than 90% French crowd, so that's people who live under the same political system. But since there is no political discussion on the site, this problem almost never surfaces and people get along pretty well.

I come to this site to discuss a game I like (probably too much) with other people I share that with. Keeping the discussions on-topic is way, way better than the alternative, IMHO.

 

[fenyan]

Not to denigrate the impact of GS have on the community, but financially, I am almost leaning towards saying one should be PAID to take up the future cash outflow AND to do all the work to keep it going.

I am sure there's another way to look at it but it's not clear to me as to what value a buyer gets for the purchase.

Yeah who knows what'll happen in the future. I do get a lot out of looking up rules questions and scenario aar's here.

 

[Neal]

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?!?!?!?

The link is in every post I've made here, and I've made specific posts here and on FB requesting people to submit AARs they write up (there's an easy submission form on the site). There are posts in the AAR and VASL forums about it. We're created specific tools for players such as:

VASL Scenario Creator

Advanced Squad Leader Charts | Advanced Squad Leader

asl-players.net

Advanced Squad Leader Downloads | Advanced Squad Leader

asl-players.net

I've had a handful of AARs and a couple articles submitted, but other than the content Scott, Stew and I post it's mostly been ignored. Not much more I can do really, and I don't want to constantly spam about it. I mean, I'm okay with it as it's part of my hobby and contributing, but it can get a little frustrating seeing how fragmented the community is (mostly FB, Discord, CSW, and here), and each community spends time complaining about the other (and their own).

 

[Neal]

The only language option is "British English"?

Sure. ASL is an English game. The rules are in English, so afaik everyone who plays the game probably has a better grasp of English than me.

 

[Jazz]

Sure. ASL is an English game. The rules are in English, so afaik everyone who plays the game probably has a better grasp of English than me.

Does that mean the spell checker will flag correct spellings like "color"?

 

[Robin Reeve]

Does that mean the spell checker will flag correct spellings like "color"?

That would be a cause for Don Quixote to put on his armour and show some valour indeed.

 

[von Marwitz]

I mean, I'm okay with it as it's part of my hobby and contributing, but it can get a little frustrating seeing how fragmented the community is (mostly FB, Discord, CSW, and here)

That hits the nail on the head.

Every other year, there is some new tool that is rated being fancy. FB, Discord, whatever. Are these needed?

Not really. Every new thingy will further the fragmentation up to the point that there's nothing really left because it has become too cumbersome to follow various places to keep an overview.

I skip all that.

None of the new thingies has been close to the resource value of GS (albeit seaching here can only reasonably done using google search). IMHO this is the real value of the forum to the ASL-community and the collective ASL-wisdom here is what is worth to be saved - and would not be saved by merely moving (yet) someplace else.

Eliminating the political section when Randy took over has been one of the best decisions in a long time in my opinion. It's simply not needed in this context. Whether moderation policies have been perfect around here throughout the existence of this forum would probably see different judgements. In the end it is moot, because who owns the site makes the policy.

Any forum will have some sort of natural "drain" of members. So to have a new influx of people (which is more difficult with more and more media around), the bar needs to be low. I doubt that a lot of new people would join if even only $5 were obligatory. Maybe, this would do more to end GS's life rather than to prolong it.

With regard to moderators, I believe these can be found if sought. Usually, moderating does not require real technical knowledge on how to administer the inticacies of the forum but is rather means providing a steady reliable presence and an even tempered mind that can live with the current policy of the forum.

As for paying the price to buy this forum - probably to high to just be paid without blinking by an individual. Maybe a pool of individuals might join to pay it, but that would leave the question of who has the hat on afterwards.

von Marwitz

 

[benj]

The other ASL forum I frequent is Cote1664, where there is no political section. I am pretty sure there are people there with whom I would disagree violently on political matters - and we are talking about a more than 90% French crowd, so that's people who live under the same political system. But since there is no political discussion on the site, this problem almost never surfaces and people get along pretty well.

And even more than that, we have a "no politics/religious talks/bullying" policy. Of course, there is some tolerance on news stories chit-chat as long as it does not degenerate. We have seen far too many people leaving the forum and the community angrily due to heated debates, and to my opinion the ASL population is too small to afford loosing good people that way. As a result of this, I don't think we had a ban since 2015 and moderation has been quite easy since then.

 

[Philippe D.]

And even more than that, we have a "no politics/religious talks/bullying" policy.

I had not checked, but I was pretty sure it was the case.

But we're not from a country where the constitution is a religious thing (we rewrite it from scratch every 70 years or so) and it doesn't have a freedom-of-speech-no-matter-what amendment. Somehow, it helps

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Does that mean the spell checker will flag correct spellings like "color"?

There is no single "correct" spelling of color/colour.

Which is why no one should rely on electronic spell checkers.

 

[olli]

Does that mean the spell checker will flag correct spellings like "color"?

Can only hope it does as long as it’s in English and not American English

 

[Jazz]

Can only hope it does as long as it’s in English and not American English

So were you referring to "English" as it is spoken in Scotland?