> >Busted. I was being deliberately provocative... but in a *good*
> >way. :-)
>
> You devil you, you have been QUITE successful..... ;-)
Thank you. :-)
> >It's rare. I'd like to see more. Just because other newsgroups shout
> >"read the archives" at any reasonable question doesn't mean that we
> >have to do it too.
>
> I actually don't think we do that, but it also is true that I've not
> seen a question in years of that sort that hasn't been discussed at
> some level somewhere in the archives. And there used to be more
> REALLY active, clever writing posters here, much better than a hack
> like me....
It's common enough elsewhere that we need to find a way to make it
specifically clear that it is OK to revisit questions here. Otherwise
only those generally ignorant of netiquette will do so.
> >> No FtF or RT meetings scheduled anymore.
>
> >RT moved completely to Yahoogroups when it moved off the judges. I've
> >been using a group to try to organize FtF in Phoenix, AZ for a couple
> >years without success. I'll start cross posting my RT and FtF
> >inquiries here.
>
> I think this is a decent place to troll for FtF inquiries, but that
> frankly is the hardest thing to find in the hobby since so few people
> know where each other lives.
There are a few listings, but there is nothing that was set up with
expiration dates. As a result, they are cluttered with non-existent
addresses and otherwise out of date information. I would place a
searchable double opt-in player index with some sort of expiration or
period verification built in.
> >One big problem was the "reconstruction" games on USAK. Now that
> >those are cleaned up, however, there are still a lot of old games
> >floating there. My pet peeve: Huge games like chaos and void that
> >start after 6 months only to have half the board go CD the first
> >phase.
>
> Especially if they're anonymous??? ;-)
Even for non-gunboat games, the GM really should plan on shagging for
players if a player doesn't provide their own replacement.
> >> The Pouch itself (which I love dearly) is
> >> plagued with broken links.
>
> >Re****t them! Seriously. I jump right on anything in the Email or
> >Online section when I'm not AFK for an extended period. I fixed a
> >lot of things when I first signed on for the task, but I don't have
> >the wherewithal to spider those huge directories.
>
> I know there are still some broken links in the Postal section, but
> ditto, tell me where they are and I will correct them.
The majority of the broken links in the email section are to the
original r.g.d FAQs. I've been looking through the software available
on my Linux distro and I have installed something that might help once
I get a chance to learn it.
> >I expect to see 80 games running on
> >USAK before summer. I'll also be starting other judges to handle
> >niche games so that USAK can remain a general purpose public judge.
>
> Chris, this will be VERY useful..... I've not looked, but I hope the
> E-Mail pages on the Pouch that you've been updating are up-to-date on
> the key questions for people:
These questions would be best addressed in the Queue section, which is
maintained by Millis - not that I am unwilling or unable to butt in. I
did at one point edit the Registration page to better communicate what I
perceived to be the key appeal of each of the active judges at that
time - based on the Openings Page, Judge List and my experience.
> 1) Can I join a queue and what should I expect when I do?
I'm afraid to answer this one. Players need to know that a typical game
will run over 6 months and that a "fast" game is still 2 or 3 months,
but I can't quite bring myself to own up to the abandonment rate of the
novice queue.
> 2) If me and my friends want to put a game up, and we don't have a GM
> but trust each other to just let it run, what Judge will not erase
> the game we set up and just let it run?
Nearly all judges conform to the default behavior of promoting the game
creator to master, because in games without a master the judge keeper
becomes the de facto game master. If you cannot find a judge that
sup****ts private games without a master then ask judge keepers and
participants in r.g.d for a volunteer master.
> 3) Which judges should I join if I'm more experienced to look for
> games to try to get into more dedicated games?
If you are not eligible to join a club like Dipsters, Diplomacy Direct
or Vermont Group then send the "version" command to the judge. Those
judges which are closer to the bottom of the openings list on the Dip
Pouch were started more recently. Judge version 1.7.x has better player
controls than versions prior to 1.5.0.
> Aren't those the top three?
I think so. Anyone want to help me with these answers. I, for one,
think that they leave much to be desired. It's just what I can think of
now.
> >Sure DPJudge has 800 games, but how many are active? As for other
> >adjudicators... Where do I look up stats?
>
> DipWorld has an archive, but I don't visit it so I don't know where
> it is, Peter? Are you around? Jeremie's new stabbeurfou site has
> all the stats for that, there are quite a few games there, including
> the World Cup Tournament. I'm not sure which others have stats to
> look up.
http://diplomacy.ws/index.asp
There are 19 games currently running in DipWorld. DiplomaticCorp has 30
active games.
How about Cat23 and others? (I know that worldmasters.net is down. If
you want it up sooner rather than later, please let me know that it is
im****tant to you and I'll try to speed it up.)
> >> Yes. We need more volunteers to maintain the Diplomatic Pouch,
> >> handle the queued newbies waiting for games, and to keep things
> >> moving, but the question I would pose for this thread is, "Has
> >> interest in Diplomacy declined enough to threaten closure of some
> >> online resources?"
>
> >I, for one, am opening more resources under the theory of "If you
> >build it, they will come." That means additional judges to segment
> >the market according to interest (the way additional channels
> >segment the television audience) and the creation of forums that are
> >geared towards exposing a broader audience to the hobby.
>
> See my questions above, just be sure you're answering the key
> questions before you get too fancy.
I build a project list with the idea that if I start enough things
(then stop :-)) the right ones will get finished sooner rather than
later.
I think that the im****tant thing is to be certain that new resources
differentiate themselves from existing ones. The last thing that I
want is for mailing lists and bulletin boards to split the signal so
that public resources fall into extreme disuse. There is no surer way
to see Yahoogroups go the way of Delphi than to have a situation where
the company doesn't think users have viable alternatives to their
services.
> Really? Is the old FAQ still sitting there (I've not looked at it in
> a dozen years since the last successful rewrite -- if memory serves
> there was an unsuccessful one around 1999 or so)?? But hey, knock
> yourself out!! A bit more seriously, I'd be willing to help with
> history if you want.
No, the old FAQ is responsible for the majority of *known* broken links
in the email section of the Pouch. I'm going to see if I can find it in
the Google archives, but I'd love it if someone had a copy or a pointer.
I'm aware of the failed rewrite attempt. A new r.g.d FAQ is just part
of a larger do***entation rewrite project that I started last winter.
So far I have a draft of updated house.rules that is slightly clearer
than the existing version, but still has some potential points of
contention with the installed user base. I've written a series of
novice articles for use with my games that needs to be made more
generic for public release. I *do* have at least one other contributor
lined up, which at this point means the project is on the "fast
track". :-)
Chris
|
