Oops!

[GrimFinger]

Well, it appears that, while trying to upgrade the PBM Wiki, I may have inadvertently deleted it or overwrote it.

This really sucks.

[GrimFinger]

If it proves that I am unable to revert back, I honestly don't know if I will bother with trying to recreate the PBM Wiki.

Now, even the issues of Suspense & Decision can't be downloaded from advertised links.

[GrimFinger]

And to the rescue comes my webhosting company, HawkHost!

Hooray! The PBM Wiki is restored.

[Rick McDowell]

Grim,

Do you realize how hard it is to even post a note on your various channels? I just want to find out if the latest issue of S&D is out, and I have to channel down to all these other sites, or whatever they are.

We are getting no posts here, as it is even hard to get to. Why not just a forum as you set up for Alamaze where visitors post to a thread? This is so complicated to just be able to do that, I guess with the intention to accommodate social media. Just have a forum so people can post, and they will. Not five different sites, most of which not many viewers will visit, and then wonder why it is not working. Just have a forum for Suspense & Decision: there to be all postings on the magazine. BTW, when should we expect the magazine?

[GrimFinger]

Grim,

Do you realize how hard it is to even post a note on your various channels? I just want to find out if the latest issue of S&D is out, and I have to channel down to all these other sites, or whatever they are.

We are getting no posts here, as it is even hard to get to. Why not just a forum as you set up for Alamaze where visitors post to a thread? This is so complicated to just be able to do that, I guess with the intention to accommodate social media. Just have a forum so people can post, and they will. Not five different sites, most of which not many viewers will visit, and then wonder why it is not working. Just have a forum for Suspense & Decision: there to be all postings on the magazine. BTW, when should we expect the magazine?

There's already a section of the forum dedicated to Suspense & Decision. Just click on the forum index at the top of the page, and that forum section is pretty plain, I think. It's the one titled:

Suspense & Decision (A New PBM Magazine for the 21st Century)

This forum uses the exact same forum software as you use for your Alamaze forum. I installed both forums, so I'm positive about that.

On the front page of this site, there's an image in the upper left that displays the latest issue of Suspense & Decision. Right above it in bold letters it says: Latest Issue

Alternatively, if what one wants to know is what the latest issue of Suspense & Decision magazine is, then at the top of the front page of this site, inside that black horizontal bar that runs across the top of the page, one of the links say: Suspense & Decision magazine

If you click on that link, it takes you to a page that has small images of all issues of the magazine (Front cover images), with the most recent issue being the very first link beneath those images.

There is a forum thread for Alamaze on this forum. You, yourself, have already posted in it a total of ten times, in fact. You first posted in it on November 26th, 2012 and as recently as May 20th, 2014.

http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.php?tid=682

[ixnay]

I would like to say that the blog may serve as a barrier to new people. They will search for PBM, come to the blog, and not see any obvious sign that there is a discussion forum here. I myself usually scroll over to the far right midway down and click the "Old Front Page (Portal)" link to get to the forum. Why? Because that's the only place that reliably shows the "recent posts". The "Recent Forum Posts" section on the blog appears to be an RSS feed or something like that, which updates itself irregularly.

Maybe the blog could have more focus on linking to a non-blog discussion forum? Like a large graphic icon, similar to the magazine icon? Or restore the "old front page" (with some updates) and give a link to the blog prominent screen-space there?

[GrimFinger]

We can change it.

We can create a dedicated Alamaze forum section, as I did with some other games. The Alamaze players are likely going to gravitate to the Alamaze forum on the Alamaze website, though, just as the Takamo players have largely gravitated to the Takamo forum on the Takamo website.

For the front page, part of the problem lies in deciding what gets displayed on the front page and what doesn't. Four years or so ago, or whenever it was that I put the PlayByMail.Net website online, there was less information to display. Plus, there's always a limited amount of time to spend, and what free time there is gets split amongst a wide variety of tasks. It's not just this website that I spend my time on or am involved with. Not making excuses, just pointing out what may not always be obvious to others. Sometimes, even many times, I place other things on the priority list ahead of the forum or the front page, here.

The blog could use a different theme. I am not well-versed in editing blog themes. There are learning curves involved with learning how to do such things. Learning curves require time to become functional at, much less acquiring a degree of actual mastery.

The attempts to accommodate social media, if one wants to call it that, are part of a greater, overall approach. Not everyone might appreciate a given part of the overall approach, but I try to look at a wide variety of factors and considerations. Ultimately, the objective is to grow the overall player base of the hobby.

The site was less complicated, before there was a blog, and it was even less complicated before there was a magazine, and it was even less complicated than that, before there was a PBM Wiki. To be certain, what is in place, today, is imperfect. It likely always will be.

PlayByMail.Net is a facilitator, as mentioned on multiple prior occasions:

http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.ph...947#pid947

http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.ph...d=92#pid92

http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.ph...d=75#pid75


So, certainly, I want people who want to post about Alamaze to be able to do so, and for those who are looking for information or postings about Alamaze to be able to find what they are looking for.

But, then again, from my perspective, it's not really hard to find a link to the forum on the front page of the site. It's under the Forum Links section, the first link in that list.

This site doesn't use one piece of software to accomplish what it seeks to accomplish. Rather, it utilized multiple pieces of software, and they are not integrated with one another. Some of the other links on the front page were placed there for the convenience of site visitors to access other features. They could be eliminated, and with eliminating them, other things become less convenient. Which Peter do I rob to pay Paul?

The blog facilitates SEO (search engine optimization). Typically, I look at numbers pertaining to traffic flow several times per week. It's not uncommon for me to look at numbers for other websites, also. The impact of the blog has been overwhelmingly positive. It facilitates people being able to reconnect with PBM gaming. The role that it plays in the overall scheme of being a facilitator is different than the role that the Facebook page for PlayByMail.Net plays. Neither is a mere afterthought. Both are relevant, and their respective relevance is only continuing to increase.

Other factors do complicate things. For instance, I try to craft my approach to facilitating the growth of PBM with a zero-budget or closet to zero-budget approach. It's why I don't have dedicated domain names for the PBM Wiki and for Suspense & Decision magazine.

There's one image on the front page of the site, not counting the background image that displays on both sides of the actual content. It's in the upper left, and is titled Latest Issue. To me, that's one of the easiest things to discern on the front page.

As far as when people can expect the next issue of the magazine, Suspense & Decision, the publication deadline is the same each month - namely, the last day of the month.

To be perfectly honest, I have no desire to set up yet another forum, one dedicated to just Suspense & Decision. It isn't even decided, yet, that the magazine will continue past the initial goal of twelve issues. That aside, though, what should I do? Shut this forum down? Delete it, and install a fresh one from scratch? Should I delete the PlayByMail.Net website, and create a new one, just for Suspense & Decision? It would negatively impact page rank and search engine results.

I visit numerous websites multiple times per month, on average. Do I need one more forum site to visit? Where will the extra time come from? What do I give up, in order to free that time up?

In a nutshell, there are lots of considerations. I will try to give some thought to how to come up with a better approach - which is something that I do on a recurring basis, anyway.

I'm not sure, though, that I want to continue to turn what is a hobby interest of mine into a bigger consumer of my free time, than it currently is.

[GrimFinger]

OK, I'm not finished with it, yet, and it may torpedo the SEO efforts (at least, until I figure out how to add the labels back into the new blog theme now in use on the front page of the site.

But, it should be easier for Rick (and others) to find the forum section of this site.

Let me know, if and when you get the chance.

[Rick McDowell]

Charles,

It's your site. Do as you will. So I again went to the front page, and found no reference to your magazine Suspense & Decision. That is all I am asking for: someone comes to playbymail.net, I want a link to the magazine that is not hard to find. I actually think all the other stuff should be hard to find, relatively speaking. I don't need five links to Takoma.

[GrimFinger]

Press CTRL and F5 keys.