Trading forums and stuff

[Dogg Thang]

It suits me perfectly but then I like a smaller party. I feel like I'm familiar with all the regulars here and we have a huge amount of common interests and there is very little drama. It's like coming to Cheers.

[toythatkills]

Forum culture may have declined but many others are still very busy. Something is clearly amiss here. It can still be good bit but it happens in fits and starts. Normally in the Retro section too.

I think it's the website and forum structure which causes the problems here, largely.

[kryss]

Not worth it for the most part, too much effort for just a few quid. One of the reasons i binned a big stack of pc engine cd games last week.

Don't tell Colin!

[djtickle]

It's true that the sales forum isn't what it was. So I appreciate that you guys that sell a lot of stuff might want a larger market. But I like how this place has a small, trustworthy trading community that always give good prices. So that's why I'm in favour of the continuation of the current restrictions.

Having a trustworthy trading community is a thumbs up from me. I have no fears sending something off to any of the regular names I see here.

[replicashooter]

Being someone who totally missed the facebook boat I love forums for they have a much better vibe and feel but have noticed that there isn't as much traffic these days yet places like neogaf have waiting lists for members to get in?

[Colin]

I wasn't going to say anything in here, but I suppose I might as well add a few words.....

The thing with trading folders is, you're never going to please all the people all of the time with how they're run. The rules we have in place here are actually fairly basic, but a lot of the issues with people are caused by the fact that no one bothers to read those rules in the first place, and then get all uppity about it where they could've saved any drama by just spending a couple of minutes going through them to see what's acceptable.

We do an awful lot to try and protect the people here from bad trading, mainly behind the scenes, although it sometimes has to spill out in to public view so that we can make sure that every last person gets any issue resolved. I can guarantee you this, at any point if there has been even a sniff of someone being ripped off here that we are all over it until it's resolved. I think these days we've got a pretty excellent track record of sorting out any problem that has arisen.

As for the content of the folder, well, times have moved on so what's for sale in there isn't going to be what it once was. There's still plenty of import goods in there still, and regularly at good prices, but the fact is that not many people here are interested in buying any more. They are however more than happy to moan about pretty much every part of it. Face it, we're all older, and we are all becoming grumpy old men who can remember when it was all fields round here and how everything was much better when WE were young........

As for the forum itself, I'd rather it was a (mainly) more mature place to post, as when you get forums where free reign to act like they do on the likes of neo-geo.com is given, it just becomes an utter cesspit.

[charlesr]

Suggestions for bringing in new members and discussion then please. Saying "it's not as good as it used to be" is the same thing people have said since 2003. Ideas for improvement would be useful. People obviously care because they are bothering to vocalise

New younger readers that actually get excited about new games would be good - us old gits have seen and played every imaginable game style so just aren't impressed when new stuff comes out.

And importing is now super niche. More niche than retro.

[charlesr]

I think it's the website and forum structure which causes the problems here, largely.

Can you elaborate / make suggestions please?

[toythatkills]

Can you elaborate / make suggestions please?

Well, as someone who has used this website for many many years, even I don't really know what the hell it is anymore. Is it a website? Is it a forum? Then imagine what a new visitor to the site will feel. NTSC-UK was always focussed on content, but Bordersdown is focussed on search-engine optimisation. The absolute worst aspect of this is in the first play forum where every thread is edited to include the word "review" in its title, no matter what the intention of the thread creator is. Not only is this inaccurate as these threads are not reviews, but it devalues the actual review content that the site used to carry and ocassionally still does. As a writer here I used to contribute a fair bit (possibly) but now if I write a review it's afforded the same status as someone who starts a first play thread and writes "it's good I guess" or something and leaves it at that. When you click a link on the front page (as a new visitor) it's never clear whether you're going to get some curated content or a random forum post and so the website feels a bit like it has no idea what it actually is, which in a way is true. I don't start threads in that forum anymore, nor do I use it much, because I don't like how it misrepresents my content. If I want to write a review, I'll write a review, and I'll call it that. If I'm starting a first play thread it's because I specifically don't want to write a review and it's unpleasant that my words are then deliberately taken out of context by the forum software which it doesn't really have the right to do.

As for the forum structure, there's just too much really. When there were a lot of members posting it worked, but as time went on and the readership dwindled, the structure didn't evolve with it. Again, as a new visitor I can come to the forum and it looks slow because there's so many index pages and pick any one at random and scroll to the bottom and you can find "latest posts" which are sometimes years old. Certain sections such as "import gaming" and "get answers" could easily be folded into "gaming discussion" without losing much, and other sections like "article comments" are again blurring the lines between the site and the forum in a totally confusing way which again make it feel like the site doesn't know if it's a website or a forum. In other areas the forum hasn't evolved with its readership. As the members have become older and maybe have moved away from gaming, the forum hasn't moved with them and is rigidly a "gaming" forum, so if someone doesn't play games much anymore they've left rather than stick around to post elsewhere on the forum. There's not necessarily anything wrong with it and obviously the site should always be gaming-first, but it can stifle discussion in other areas because (and especially to a new user) it could easily feel like if you don't want to talk about games or music/movies/TV there's not really a place here for you.

I'm rambling.

[Asura]

In other areas the forum hasn't evolved with its readership. As the members have become older and maybe have moved away from gaming, the forum hasn't moved with them and is rigidly a "gaming" forum, so if someone doesn't play games much anymore they've left rather than stick around to post elsewhere on the forum. There's not necessarily anything wrong with it and obviously the site should always be gaming-first, but it can stifle discussion in other areas because (and especially to a new user) it could easily feel like if you don't want to talk about games or music/movies/TV there's not really a place here for you.

To be fair, that's one of the reasons I've stayed here.

I left behind a lot of forum stuff I used to do because I was using it as a crutch for my real-world job and social life.

Bordersdown's focus on gaming means I come here when I want to talk about gaming, but I don't feel drawn to a wider community that covers other topics.

This is very much my personal tilt, though.

[MrKirov]

I agree that there are too any folders now, and possibly it's a reason why things seem so slow. Posts are spread too few and far between.

NTSC used to be my go to forum, but now I find myself browsing GRcade and Neogaf more because it's more constant with regular posts and news. I personally don't post so many threads anymore because I don't feel anyone really looks at them.

Personally, I feel since changing from NTSC to Bordersdown is when the downfall really began. Maybe a lot of the member felt the focus of the forum had been lost and went elsewhere? I understand the reasoning behind it, but it's never felt the same since.

There also seems to be a lack of characters around here, whether they've left, or been banned I don't know- it's a difficult line to walk when active discussion gets heated and then people are modded on their comments- perhaps that drove characters with generally good discussion away?

I don't know, I'm spitballing here - but I'm certainly someone who has turned away from the forum in recent times, and it's a really shame when I've been here for over 10 years.

[fishbowlhead]

I actually quite like the forum as it is personally. It's become like an old gentlemens club for semi retired gamers.

You stroll in, see the same familiar faces that you now will give a decent opinion, and chill out.

[MrKirov]

But no change will eventually mean it would die out in time.

Another point, is the actual website itself- I don't know if it needs to exist. Do you have records of views/hits etc? I've never looked at it since joining, and find that it's unnecessary.

[toythatkills]

Another point, is the actual website itself- I don't know if it needs to exist. Do you have records of views/hits etc? I've never looked at it since joining, and find that it's unnecessary.

It was kinda my point. The problem with the website is that the content which it was known for, like reviews, has now been devalued in the pursuit of SEO. As well as that, it hasn't really moved with the times - the demand for import gaming is waaaaay lower than it was but the site hasn't really adapted to that. There could be a place in the market for a games website with a proper forum/community attached because surprisingly few of them exist but the website isn't really giving people content that they're looking for.

Obviously there's still room for import coverage but, assuming the site still doesn't want to directly compete with IGN et al, it'd be better placed as an indie-focussed site, or something like that, download-focussed maybe with importing as a branch of that.

But yeah, I'm not sure the "website" part needs to exist as it is, especially with the pretence that the forum content is site-curated. Imagine someone coming here for a review of Metal Gear Solid V, clicking the link on the front page that says "MGSV review" and getting that First Play thread. I don't mean any disrespect to you because it's a perfectly legit First Play thread, but the site is calling it a review. Would you blame that person for not coming back here for review content? I mean, I certainly wouldn't come back here looking for reviews.

[Zen Monkey]

It suits me perfectly but then I like a smaller party. I feel like I'm familiar with all the regulars here and we have a huge amount of common interests and there is very little drama. It's like coming to Cheers.