I would appreciate official input from moderators and players who signed up for Wizards of the Coasts original forum website when 5th edition first came out. For everyone who doesn't know this is the 5th edition original forum is this:
Also loyal Dungeons and Dragons fans will remember that community.wizards.com was taken down with this notice: http://company.wizards.com/sitemissing/community Humorously, the notice has since been removed as well. It read: "Thank you for your interest in the Wizards Forums.
Social media has changed significantly over the last ten years, and discussions about games aren't exclusive to company-hosted forums. The majority of community conversation takes place on third-party websites (such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other fantastic community-run websites), and it is up to us to evolve alongside our players. All information posted to the Community Forums as of November 5 has been deleted.
So my question is, 1) why is this forum created when the old one was taken down? There were similar "tricks for 5e" threads on the old forum too, just like here. 2) Will this Wizards Forums "evolve" in a few years and get deleted too? 3a) If the answer is "yes", then when? 3b) If the answer is "no", then what happens if that promise is broken; are there any repercussions in that case?
I am looking forward to an open and constructive dialogue. Thank you,
First I'd like to start by saying I was an active member of the original WotC forums. Second - This forum is not maintained by WotC or affiliated with WotC other than in the content discussed within. All moderators are forum members that volunteered and all Staff members are Curse staff members working on the DDB toolset. So far we've have one WotC employee post in the forums, but I'm sure more will join and interact with the community as the tools evolve.
I like the forums... or else I wouldn't have volunteered my time to help moderate them. DnD has been a passion of mine for over fifteen years, so It's nice to interact with a community that shares that passion. I'm sure the forums will last as long as Curse believes they're an essential part of the tools. Many users have mistakenly assumed these are official WotC forums, but that is taken more as a compliment to the team than anything.
So personally I will say that i disagreed with the decision to close the WOTC forums, I hope that these can be a successor in a lot of ways- forums are great, and I'm happy to have this as we begin to move past the beginning of this edition with it's first major rules expansion (maybe?) dropping later this year. Those other forms of communication don't handle a stable community as well as forums do- they tend more towards fire and forget. Also... i get your bitterness, but nothing lasts forever, someday the DND beyond forums won't exist either- just like very other forum that will ever be. Someday even the amazing software we're anticipating now will be discontinued- but that could 20 years from now, so why worry about it? No one's going to vow to shoot themselves if the forums ever go away.
As a long-time user of the old Wizards of the Coast forum - someone who was around for things like the "new and shiny" Gleemax - I have an opinion about why Wizards of the Coast was absolutely right that their forum in particular was no longer worth "keeping the lights on" for.
For reasons that start with them really not knowing what they were doing (since it worked fine way back in the day, and they repeatedly tried to improve it, only to experience a lot of 1-step forward, 3-steps back progress before arriving at the end format that wasn't really any more functional than what was present years before), and proceed through to the atmosphere - which was toxic to fans not sharing whatever the perceived majority opinion happened to be, and even drove WotC staff away before they had access to things like Twitter which are rapidly and readily accessible (and thus better for them, busy folks that they are, than having to go out of their way to get onto the forum and sift through thousands of posts in order to find anything that warranted a response from them) - it is a good thing to have scrapped that forum and allowed for other things to fill the gap left in its place.
So long as the atmosphere of this forum remains as pleasant as it has been thus far (there are negative posts that I have seen, but they seem an exceeding rarity here, even in the cases where I recognize the handles being used to make the negative posts from the similarly negative posts made on other forums before/besides this one), I will find it a welcome thing - because I like talking about D&D, but I don't like any of the other places that people talk about D&D on the internet.
Plus, I think the immediate proximity to the digital toolset will keep these forums vibrant - people will be more easily able to ask questions about this or that they come across using these tools here, compared to heading off to some other app/website to do so - so the forum should last about as long as the digital toolset does.
Hey Most_Detailed_DnD_Master, welcome to the forums! I'll take your questions one by one, as best I can - believe me when I say I understand where they're coming from, but I need to clarify a few points as well.
1) why is this forum created when the old one was taken down?
These forums are part of the D&D Beyond toolset. This site/service is a new, separate entity to Wizards of the Coast, and whatever community forums they once provided.
2) Will this Wizards Forums "evolve" in a few years and get deleted too?
Only the staff here can give you official answers, but due to the question's phrasing, I'll say it again - these forums are not made by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond may be for WotC content, but it is being created and maintained by Curse .
None of us, except Curse and Wizards, know the full extent of any long-term business plans, however I can safely say I've never seen a company put effort into a high quality product with the intention of ending it. In my experience, businesses want something to work, and to keep it working.
You may be better served by asking how do they plan to keep it going, rather than end it - if you had asked that, I would direct you to a quote archived within the link in my signature where BadEye, the Project Lead for DDB, gives a preview of several features that will be added after release. The forum and service will 'evolve', with everything from ongoing updates, the inclusion of new content, news and articles, etc. Potential integration with other D&D services will only further bolster it - as long as people add to them, it will add to D&D Beyond, and vice-versa.
b) If the answer is "no", then what happens if that promise is broken; are there any repercussions in that case?
Speaking of this as only a forum, as per your title and your questions, then I doubt anyone is going to promise anything. However, if they did, I would severely doubt any repercussions. I'm not sure what you want that to mean. Legal repercussions? You have not paid for it and as you have said, there are other online spaces which offer similar. The forum here is one of the entirely free parts of the service - a community tool intended to create a space where players and DMs can discuss and find help for the toolset and other D&D related ideas.
---
I hope this helps and gives you a clearer picture of what to expect. I'm well aware that as a moderator my opinion is going to appear biased, but in my eyes the developers here have been extremely interactive with their users, myself included, and I remain firmly optimistic regarding D&D Beyond's future. If anything, I'd simply suggest that people keep an open-mind going forward. I don't mean to suggest that you or anyone else are not keeping an open-mind, I'm just putting it out there in general. I see this is your first post here, so in addition to recommending you read the 'Developer Quotes' thread linked in my signature, I will leave this link here as an example of how directly the staff are listening to their users.
I agree with the guys above. This forum is solely related to the application itself. If the application will have a long life, so will the forum.
As kind of new to forums in general (let's say I started navigating in forums in the last year), I can tell you my impression trying to get in contact with a D&D community before D&D Beyond: Confusion. Things were so dispersed I could not get a handle on it.
Probably, because DDB is a new-born forum and I started following it from the beginning, but I learned more here in a month than everywhere else in a year.
Second - This forum is not maintained by WotC or affiliated with WotC other than in the content discussed within.
I've said it before elsewhere but there is this seriously strange perception among people that this is the official WotC forums and that D&D Beyond is being made by WotC.
It's really bizarre. I mean, how do you miss that Twitch login being a clue?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
So basically WotC says that forums are "old tech" not relevant to their newest edition.
Curse disagrees and hosts a forum that does much of what WotC used to do. Got it.
And yes I was aware of the fact that users migrated to Brilliant Gameologists well before WotC shut down their forums.
I just want to be very clear. These forums have nothing to do with WotC, they are related directly to DDB. Even if the Wizards forums were still going strong, these forums would exist for the discussion and testing of DDB. And it would have many of the same posts, because, well, that's what we like to talk about. Nothing wrong with that. It has nothing to do with Curse disagreeing over anything. WotC did what they did for their reasons.
So, with that being said, I wasn't a member of those forums. I know nothing about how those forums were handled, what threads were there, or what subject matter was discussed. What I care about are these forums. I can only speak for myself, but I would like to think the other mods feel the same way, and I really want these forums to succeed. I want them to stay friendly, and helpful. I want to keep the positive vibe we have going here. There are a lot of places on the internet to discuss D&D, but most of those places have a very negative vibe. I want to do my best to keep this a place where nobody is afraid to ask a question as a newcomer to the forums, and D&D. I plan on doing everything in my power to make sure it stays this way.
I can certainly understand your concern. I'd be upset if a collection of thoughts and ideas, which is what a forum is, suddenly disappeared. I'd be very wary about the new one. But I can assure you, it is being handled by different people.
I can't speak to the long term plans for this forum, as I have no control over it. I can only make it a pleasant experience for everyone, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. I hope you find this little corner of the internet to your liking, and stick around to see what happens.
Also the WotC forum had everything from Magic to D&D, etc. It might be that the existence of such a forum isn't needed but something specifically focused on d&d would be useful.
I was never big on the old forums (and not for any particular reason), but I hope that this one will bring in the same numbers and interest. We have a very large community for 5e, and it'd be awesome if this could be the new home for it.
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I would appreciate official input from moderators and players who signed up for Wizards of the Coasts original forum website when 5th edition first came out. For everyone who doesn't know this is the 5th edition original forum is this:
https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20151010150924/http://community.wizards.com/forums/61981
Also loyal Dungeons and Dragons fans will remember that community.wizards.com was taken down with this notice: http://company.wizards.com/sitemissing/community Humorously, the notice has since been removed as well. It read: "Thank you for your interest in the Wizards Forums.
Social media has changed significantly over the last ten years, and discussions about games aren't exclusive to company-hosted forums. The majority of community conversation takes place on third-party websites (such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other fantastic community-run websites), and it is up to us to evolve alongside our players. All information posted to the Community Forums as of November 5 has been deleted.
For further questions, please contact us at https://wizards.custhelp.com/"
It is readable here: https://archive.is/Z8ACe
So my question is, 1) why is this forum created when the old one was taken down? There were similar "tricks for 5e" threads on the old forum too, just like here. 2) Will this Wizards Forums "evolve" in a few years and get deleted too? 3a) If the answer is "yes", then when? 3b) If the answer is "no", then what happens if that promise is broken; are there any repercussions in that case?
I am looking forward to an open and constructive dialogue. Thank you,
Howdy!
First I'd like to start by saying I was an active member of the original WotC forums. Second - This forum is not maintained by WotC or affiliated with WotC other than in the content discussed within. All moderators are forum members that volunteered and all Staff members are Curse staff members working on the DDB toolset. So far we've have one WotC employee post in the forums, but I'm sure more will join and interact with the community as the tools evolve.
I like the forums... or else I wouldn't have volunteered my time to help moderate them. DnD has been a passion of mine for over fifteen years, so It's nice to interact with a community that shares that passion. I'm sure the forums will last as long as Curse believes they're an essential part of the tools. Many users have mistakenly assumed these are official WotC forums, but that is taken more as a compliment to the team than anything.
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Please feel free to message either Sorce or another moderator if you have any concerns.
So personally I will say that i disagreed with the decision to close the WOTC forums, I hope that these can be a successor in a lot of ways- forums are great, and I'm happy to have this as we begin to move past the beginning of this edition with it's first major rules expansion (maybe?) dropping later this year. Those other forms of communication don't handle a stable community as well as forums do- they tend more towards fire and forget. Also... i get your bitterness, but nothing lasts forever, someday the DND beyond forums won't exist either- just like very other forum that will ever be. Someday even the amazing software we're anticipating now will be discontinued- but that could 20 years from now, so why worry about it? No one's going to vow to shoot themselves if the forums ever go away.
As a long-time user of the old Wizards of the Coast forum - someone who was around for things like the "new and shiny" Gleemax - I have an opinion about why Wizards of the Coast was absolutely right that their forum in particular was no longer worth "keeping the lights on" for.
For reasons that start with them really not knowing what they were doing (since it worked fine way back in the day, and they repeatedly tried to improve it, only to experience a lot of 1-step forward, 3-steps back progress before arriving at the end format that wasn't really any more functional than what was present years before), and proceed through to the atmosphere - which was toxic to fans not sharing whatever the perceived majority opinion happened to be, and even drove WotC staff away before they had access to things like Twitter which are rapidly and readily accessible (and thus better for them, busy folks that they are, than having to go out of their way to get onto the forum and sift through thousands of posts in order to find anything that warranted a response from them) - it is a good thing to have scrapped that forum and allowed for other things to fill the gap left in its place.
So long as the atmosphere of this forum remains as pleasant as it has been thus far (there are negative posts that I have seen, but they seem an exceeding rarity here, even in the cases where I recognize the handles being used to make the negative posts from the similarly negative posts made on other forums before/besides this one), I will find it a welcome thing - because I like talking about D&D, but I don't like any of the other places that people talk about D&D on the internet.
Plus, I think the immediate proximity to the digital toolset will keep these forums vibrant - people will be more easily able to ask questions about this or that they come across using these tools here, compared to heading off to some other app/website to do so - so the forum should last about as long as the digital toolset does.
Hey Most_Detailed_DnD_Master, welcome to the forums! I'll take your questions one by one, as best I can - believe me when I say I understand where they're coming from, but I need to clarify a few points as well.
These forums are part of the D&D Beyond toolset. This site/service is a new, separate entity to Wizards of the Coast, and whatever community forums they once provided.
Only the staff here can give you official answers, but due to the question's phrasing, I'll say it again - these forums are not made by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond may be for WotC content, but it is being created and maintained by Curse .
None of us, except Curse and Wizards, know the full extent of any long-term business plans, however I can safely say I've never seen a company put effort into a high quality product with the intention of ending it. In my experience, businesses want something to work, and to keep it working.
You may be better served by asking how do they plan to keep it going, rather than end it - if you had asked that, I would direct you to a quote archived within the link in my signature where BadEye, the Project Lead for DDB, gives a preview of several features that will be added after release. The forum and service will 'evolve', with everything from ongoing updates, the inclusion of new content, news and articles, etc. Potential integration with other D&D services will only further bolster it - as long as people add to them, it will add to D&D Beyond, and vice-versa.
Speaking of this as only a forum, as per your title and your questions, then I doubt anyone is going to promise anything. However, if they did, I would severely doubt any repercussions. I'm not sure what you want that to mean. Legal repercussions? You have not paid for it and as you have said, there are other online spaces which offer similar. The forum here is one of the entirely free parts of the service - a community tool intended to create a space where players and DMs can discuss and find help for the toolset and other D&D related ideas.
---
I hope this helps and gives you a clearer picture of what to expect. I'm well aware that as a moderator my opinion is going to appear biased, but in my eyes the developers here have been extremely interactive with their users, myself included, and I remain firmly optimistic regarding D&D Beyond's future. If anything, I'd simply suggest that people keep an open-mind going forward. I don't mean to suggest that you or anyone else are not keeping an open-mind, I'm just putting it out there in general. I see this is your first post here, so in addition to recommending you read the 'Developer Quotes' thread linked in my signature, I will leave this link here as an example of how directly the staff are listening to their users.
Regards,
- VT
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I agree with the guys above. This forum is solely related to the application itself. If the application will have a long life, so will the forum.
As kind of new to forums in general (let's say I started navigating in forums in the last year), I can tell you my impression trying to get in contact with a D&D community before D&D Beyond: Confusion. Things were so dispersed I could not get a handle on it.
Probably, because DDB is a new-born forum and I started following it from the beginning, but I learned more here in a month than everywhere else in a year.
Hope that DDB will have a bright future.
It might be as simple as WotC ended their forums. curse added D&D forums to D&D Beyond. WotC said that was okay and that's all there is.
So basically WotC says that forums are "old tech" not relevant to their newest edition.
Curse disagrees and hosts a forum that does much of what WotC used to do. Got it.
And yes I was aware of the fact that users migrated to Brilliant Gameologists well before WotC shut down their forums.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
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Also the WotC forum had everything from Magic to D&D, etc. It might be that the existence of such a forum isn't needed but something specifically focused on d&d would be useful.
I was never big on the old forums (and not for any particular reason), but I hope that this one will bring in the same numbers and interest. We have a very large community for 5e, and it'd be awesome if this could be the new home for it.