Re: Remember PBEM.Com?

From: Geoste <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid>

Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:16:52 +0000

Greg Lindahl wrote:
> In article <eA9Df.1325$Iw6.49745@news20.bellglobal.com>,
> Geoste  <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid> wrote:
>
>> I believe this issue has been covered already, of which I have read, and I am still
>> convinced there is a need for a searchable, categorized, and updated site for announcements
>> where old advertisements are automatically deleted, and where visitors do not have to wade
>> through pages and pages to find what they are after.
>
> You never did answer why my announcements, which are a categorized and
> updated site where old announcements are automatically deleted, didn't
> float your boat. More resources can be bad if they only add to the
> fragmentation of the community.
>
> The announcements appear at the top of each category page. They
> include new games and also games where the GM has entered an
> announcement. They are deleted after 60 days.
>
> -- greg
>

My guess is that the fragmentation has already occurred, and nothing you and I can do will make
it worse, IMHO.

Since you demand me to answer your question, here goes. You may not like it. (Hopefully this
newsgroup allows attachments.)

The difference, to put it bluntly, between your site and the former PBEM.Com is the delivery of
information. Yes, your site is organized, and you are technically correct. However, organization
doesn't equal ability to use that information easily. Not everyone knows how to use the Search
or Find functions in their browser. Even then, a lot of category entries that appear beside game
announcement links on your site aren't all that specific, and could be easily overlooked.

Hypothetically, let's pretend I wasn't a savvy Internet surfer and my knowledge of RPGs extended
only into what I could see from a visit to my local gaming store. Obviously, that is going to be
D20 D&D, and if I were to ask a salesclerk or cashier about what game was popular, chances are
very good that mention of D20 D&D would come into being. Let's also assume know a little
something about online games called "PBEM".

So I hop on your site, Greg, and what do I see? Assuming I avoid the two "What's New" links, I
can see "email". I click that. There are other options on the next page, and a lot of links
below. I can see a lot of stuff that isn't D&D, so I have to click on something else - the
category links. Possible candidates are: free and fantasy. I can click on free and then fantasy,
or vice versa, and arrive at the same place.

I still see a lot of games where there are keywords that say "wargame", "buffy", and let's not
forget the vague headings of "fantasy" or "storywriting". Still, I even get other keywords that
isn't related to what I am trying to find, such as "vampire" or "superhero" as well as others.

There are games that do indeed say "D&D" or "D20", which is good (however, this is wholly
dependent upon the announcer making the inclusion of adding D20 or D&D to their keywords). I am
only wanting to look into D20 D&D, and there isn't any more categories and there are no search
functions. How do I narrow my search margins to these specific entries? I can't.

There are no more category links on the top. I do have links up there that are headed by "New
Game:" along with a date, and still a lot of them aren't related to what I am after.

Either I wade through those entries and look carefully to spot what I want (frankly, in this day
and age, is *too much work* for the average Internet user) or I give up and go someplace else.

You could argue that having all these alternates may be good because it may lead to someone
trying something new. You could be right or this may be a very small fraction of people who
would actually try something new.

In finishing (and to reiterate): it's the delivery of information that matters to the average
Internet user. What you are after is that the information is clean and to the point and easy to
use. Your site, I'm afraid to say, is not very user friendly.

However, I will not leave you without construction to consider: I strongly encourage you to
build in some kind of search feature into your site, or start enforcing categories (via your web
page forms) that categorize games into the popular systems - such as D20 for example. Use
drop-down menus with prefilled entries so that a conforming standard is created. These two
implementations alone will drastically increase the ease of use of your site by leaps and
bounds. In fact, if you implement this in an excellent fashion (meaning a finished and ready to
use method), I would stop creating my site.

Remember: you did press the question.

-Steve

References

Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:44:04 +0000
Remember PBEM.Com?
Geoste <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid>
Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:09:54 +0000
Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
Brandon Blackmoor <bblackmoor@blackgate.net>
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 18:45:32 +0000
Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
Geoste <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid>
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:29:04 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:44:04 +0000
Remember PBEM.Com?
Geoste <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid>
Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:09:54 +0000
Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
Brandon Blackmoor <bblackmoor@blackgate.net>
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 18:45:32 +0000
Re: Remember PBEM.Com?
Geoste <geoste@ATsympatico.DOTca.nospam.invalid>
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:29:04 +0000