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The Future of Duke4.net  "Bouncing off ideas"

User is offline   Yatta 

  • Pizza Lawyer

  #1

I was bouncing off some ideas to TX today and this is some of the stuff I have in mind:

- New duke4.net frontpage powered by Wordpress
- Serves only as a portal with links to hosted sites, downloads, and archives screenshots (as well as an archive of the old "current" front page)
- Has a feed from the forum
- The feed brings in the most upvoted threads and posts. For example, once a post or thread reaches 10 upvotes, it gets fed to the front page on Duke4.net

This means the community will become the news writers. The admins can still write news, but we'll give strong deference to what gets posted in the forums based on upvotes.

Let's bounce off more ideas!
0

User is offline   Jblade 

#2

Portal bit is a good idea, but the up-voted threads/posts thing to me seems like a bad one. I think that'll just encourage circle-jerks.
6

User is offline   Hank 

#3

I would change the focus to EDuke32, mapping and TCs. Or if you really want to change, include 2014 type 3D modeling, movie projects like Commando Nukem is doing and so on. In short, change from one game site to a mod site.

As for the rep, system, lol, you are banned with a minus 900, you sure TerminX will go for this? Why not just promote news writing, people will write if it is of their interest.

This post has been edited by Hank: 12 May 2014 - 12:04 PM

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User is offline   DNSKILL5 

  • Honored Donor

#4

I think the ideas Yatta has mentioned sound great, and though I do agree with Hank on maybe finding people who would be willing to news write would be a good idea too. They could be like their own label (how there's users, doners, moderators, admins, etc.) or something too. I don't think this site should change too much as it's already quite flawless.
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User is offline   Kyanos 

#5

I like the idea of linking trending forum topics to the front page. I would keep up votes out of it and maybe rank it by most replys?
0

User is offline   Hendricks266 

  • Weaponized Autism

  #6

I'm skeptical at automatically bringing threads and posts with high upvotes OR activity to the front page. That's what http://forums.duke4.net/ is for. You would see a lot of cruft and stuff that isn't newsworthy, especially catch-all stickies.
1

#7

Again, agree with most everyone. Upvotes should be out of the question, constructive posts often don't get upvoted, stupid memes and 13-year-old-chan idiocy attract the most.

The threads with high activity idea might work, if it can be set to ONLY focus on the EDuke32/Duke Nukem General areas of the forum, the rest of it has it's place but that isn't the front page.
1

User is offline   Inspector Lagomorf 

  • Glory To Motherland!

#8

The rep system was, is, and should be trivial.
2

User is offline   TerminX 

  • el fundador

  #9

 Hank, on 12 May 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

As for the rep, system, lol, you are banned with a minus 900, you sure TerminX will go for this? Why not just promote news writing, people will write if it is of their interest.

Don't worry guys, I didn't go for it. The rep system is a joke, always has been, always will be. I'm in favor of pushing content to the front page, but only by way of explicit "submit to front page" links which add a topic or post to a moderation queue.
4

User is offline   Micky C 

  • Honored Donor

#10

Does that mean no more proper news stories? It was always nice having a new "official" announcement/article on the front page like a HRP update, new mod release, or interesting piece of information regarding the future of the Duke franchise (although we haven't had anything positive much on that last one for a while).
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User is offline   MrBlackCat 

#11

Does the site need to change for a reason? Is there are goal or an expected outcome, or just experimentation? Is this forced or experimental evolution for the sake of being different than the site is today?

Just curious... questions, not judgments or Change-a-Phobia. We all know what happens when something doesn't have a clear direction... even with 14 years of trying.

What about an articles/writers thread for people who might wish to write about a given game-related subject and isolate that thread for linking to the front page. I am thinking of material other than news... like guides or other material that isn't necessarily news, but still might be of interest. Maybe a thread of user typed News and or other postings that would be considered "articles". Is that kind of the idea?

MrBlackCat

**edit**
An example of the kind of material I write periodically (not posted on this forum)... nothing fancy or professional... I write manuals, not articles usually, but still game related. :)
Anyway... In an example like this, it is kind of stand alone and doesn't need a thread in my opinion, so I generally don't create one just to post this sort of thing, at least on Duke4.

Spoiler


This post has been edited by TerminX: 13 May 2014 - 09:20 AM
Reason for edit: Malformed post tags

0

User is offline   The Commander 

  • I used to be a Brown Fuzzy Fruit, but I've changed bro...

#12

Something really does need to change because Duke Nukem it's self is pretty much dead.
The only thing going for it right now is eduke and the new android app.
0

User is offline   OpenMaw 

  • Judge Mental

#13

While i'm totally biased regarding hank's suggestion I do think it raises an interesting point. I think Duke related content should be much more ferverously be cycled through on the news page. I can vouche that the front page brings in a lot of views. All the Duke series videos that got a front page posting got at least a thousand additional views as a result. So in regards to spotlighting mods, maps, and projects of the community, I think that needs to be pushed for even more.

As far as updating to a wordpress format... I'm not sure I see the point. Although the current website design does have a few issues here and there. I've noticed some people having a hard time navigating. The old DNF section related to the various "eras" of DNF can be a little tricky to find what you're looking for. Honestly I think updating to a wordpress design would simply make Duke4 look like every other web page on the planet. What the page needs is more general activity. Maybe a monthly podcast. Some retrospective reviews of classic Duke maps and mods, a youtube channel where some of this media can be done not just in text but with members of the community providing a legitimate voice. The problem this community is currently facing is a drought in activity. We want to get people excited about all the stuff we do, and coming back, then it's time to consolidate and get the juice flowing again.
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#14

 TerminX, on 12 May 2014 - 03:52 PM, said:

Don't worry guys, I didn't go for it. The rep system is a joke, always has been, always will be. I'm in favor of pushing content to the front page, but only by way of explicit "submit to front page" links which add a topic or post to a moderation queue.


I like this idea. It has basically all the advantages of the original proposal but allows us to ensure that only appropriate content gets "promoted" to the frontpage.
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User is offline   Forge 

  • Speaker of the Outhouse

#15

 MrBlackCat, on 12 May 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Does the site need to change for a reason?

to stay relevant while not conflicting with the new 3dr site
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User is offline   Frederik Schreiber 

  • Slipgate Studios

#16

I like the suggestions Yatta :)
Having the users post news is a great idea.
The website "Railgun" uses the same concept, where users can write news, and each newspost is approved by an admin.
It's a way of getting a better flow of news, without requiring the time from the admins to write every newspost themselves.
0

User is offline   Yatta 

  • Pizza Lawyer

  #17

The general sentiment seems to be that upvotes shouldn't dictate (or at least SOLELY dictate) how the front page news feed gets fed, though it might still work if it's limited to EDuke32 forum subsections, for example.

 Hank, on 12 May 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

I would change the focus to EDuke32, mapping and TCs. Or if you really want to change, include 2014 type 3D modeling, movie projects like Commando Nukem is doing and so on. In short, change from one game site to a mod site.

As for the rep, system, lol, you are banned with a minus 900, you sure TerminX will go for this? Why not just promote news writing, people will write if it is of their interest.


Well, I still want this to be a purely Duke Nukem and/or 3D Realms-focused website, but I do want a lot more mod news to be fed to the frontpage. Modders nowadays do a good job of posting about their mods themselves, so now we just need a system to have those posts fed into the front page without my having to copy-paste or paraphrase them into a new article.

As for the rep system, I feel that even though it's not to be taken too seriously, it's still the equivalent of karma points on Reddit. People still really care about it, and it does to some extent encourage people to write better quality content. However, my idea of having majorly-upvoted posts getting fed into the newsfeed wasn't so much to motivate people to write news, but to allow for the community to show what it regards as most front-page worthy. People would not consciously upvote something because they know it'd go to frontpage--they'd do it because they think it's quality material, and by extension, it'd end up on the frontpage. Just like Reddit. I really love how Reddit works.


 gerolf, on 12 May 2014 - 01:24 PM, said:

I think the ideas Yatta has mentioned sound great, and though I do agree with Hank on maybe finding people who would be willing to news write would be a good idea too. They could be like their own label (how there's users, doners, moderators, admins, etc.) or something too. I don't think this site should change too much as it's already quite flawless.

Finding news writers has always been difficult. I've had trouble with this for the past ten years. I still have PMs saved in my 3DR forum inbox dated mid to late 2004 when I was asking people to be content writers for Duke4.net. Even people who showed interest rarely followed through. Reddit has proven to me that user-generated content is the future (and really, the present) of where the Internet is headed as a whole.


 Drek, on 12 May 2014 - 01:45 PM, said:

I like the idea of linking trending forum topics to the front page. I would keep up votes out of it and maybe rank it by most replys?

There can always be an amalgamation of methods. Ranking by replies is interesting, too.


 Hendricks266, on 12 May 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

I'm skeptical at automatically bringing threads and posts with high upvotes OR activity to the front page. That's what http://forums.duke4.net/ is for. You would see a lot of cruft and stuff that isn't newsworthy, especially catch-all stickies.

Yes, but I want the frontpage to automatically highlight the most interesting events in the forums. I guess there's various indicators that can be used aside from # of upvotes or replies. For example, the number of people viewing a thread could be another factor to script into the newsfeeder.


 TerminX, on 12 May 2014 - 03:52 PM, said:

I'm in favor of pushing content to the front page, but only by way of explicit "submit to front page" links which add a topic or post to a moderation queue.

A manual submission method would be good, too. But maybe we can allow for other ways to get something onto the frontpage in cases where the content is too good to be forced into a moderation queue.


 Mickey C, on 12 May 2014 - 04:38 PM, said:

Does that mean no more proper news stories? It was always nice having a new "official" announcement/article on the front page like a HRP update, new mod release, or interesting piece of information regarding the future of the Duke franchise (although we haven't had anything positive much on that last one for a while).

I intend to always write news stories. I still try to do it (or get Mr. Green to do it) when it's a major announcement. However, I don't want the activity on the frontpage to be solely dependent on the availability of admins. The community should be able to update it, too. As long as there are automatic checks on the system (i.e. factors I mentioned above) to make sure only quality content makes it to the front page, I think it's possible. Again, Reddit is a model website for what I have in mind.


 MrBlackCat, on 12 May 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Does the site need to change for a reason? Is there are goal or an expected outcome, or just experimentation? Is this forced or experimental evolution for the sake of being different than the site is today?

Just curious... questions, not judgments or Change-a-Phobia. We all know what happens when something doesn't have a clear direction... even with 14 years of trying.

What about an articles/writers thread for people who might wish to write about a given game-related subject and isolate that thread for linking to the front page. I am thinking of material other than news... like guides or other material that isn't necessarily news, but still might be of interest. Maybe a thread of user typed News and or other postings that would be considered "articles". Is that kind of the idea?

Yes, the website needs to change for a reason. It's not experimentation. It's Web 3.0, which in my mind is heavily based on user-generated content. Wikipedia is another great example of that.

The core website will always remain Duke and 3DR/Apogee, and even adjacent things like Radar Group projects or Shadow Warrior.

Having a subsection for user-typed news, you like mentioned, is great. But my idea is more than that. Some people who might have very valuable things to write might not think to write them in an isolated subsection. Sometimes the most interesting posts are single replies to existing threads, and sometimes the most interesting threads only garner interest after-the-fact. Plus, I want people to still be able to post their threads into the proper categories, so only putting it all into one subsection or one thread wouldn't be practical.

Guides or material other than news is fair game, too. The automatic news feed system I'm proposing doesn't have to be the only way that content is posted. If you become a designated news poster, you'd be able to override the automatic system and post a guide onto the frontpage whenever you'd want. Is that something you're interested in?


 The Commander, on 12 May 2014 - 08:57 PM, said:

Something really does need to change because Duke Nukem it's self is pretty much dead.
The only thing going for it right now is eduke and the new android app.

Duke isn't dead. Thousands of unique visitors come to our domain every day, or Statcounter tells me so. Also, you're overlooking Intereceptor.


 Commando Nukem, on 12 May 2014 - 09:41 PM, said:

While i'm totally biased regarding hank's suggestion I do think it raises an interesting point. I think Duke related content should be much more ferverously be cycled through on the news page. I can vouche that the front page brings in a lot of views. All the Duke series videos that got a front page posting got at least a thousand additional views as a result. So in regards to spotlighting mods, maps, and projects of the community, I think that needs to be pushed for even more.

As far as updating to a wordpress format... I'm not sure I see the point. Although the current website design does have a few issues here and there. I've noticed some people having a hard time navigating. The old DNF section related to the various "eras" of DNF can be a little tricky to find what you're looking for. Honestly I think updating to a wordpress design would simply make Duke4 look like every other web page on the planet. What the page needs is more general activity. Maybe a monthly podcast. Some retrospective reviews of classic Duke maps and mods, a youtube channel where some of this media can be done not just in text but with members of the community providing a legitimate voice. The problem this community is currently facing is a drought in activity. We want to get people excited about all the stuff we do, and coming back, then it's time to consolidate and get the juice flowing again.

Yeah, the front page is still important and I feel like its power is not being adequately utilized as things are now.

Moving to Wordpress has technological advantages for us, and it's also more practical from a web developer's standpoint. All the websites I make for my clients these days are strictly on Wordpress, and I have many good reasons for that.

The design can still be unique (and even look the same as it does now). But as a minimalist, I want to simplify all the links so content can be easier to find. No more tricky navigation, like you said. Podcasts and Youtube videos are great ideas, and I want users to be able to do those things without admins having to post them. Hence the news feeding system.


 Frederik Schreiber, on 13 May 2014 - 04:45 AM, said:

I like the suggestions Yatta :)
Having the users post news is a great idea.
The website "Railgun" uses the same concept, where users can write news, and each newspost is approved by an admin.
It's a way of getting a better flow of news, without requiring the time from the admins to write every newspost themselves.

Thank you! Can you link me to Railgun? Googling it didn't yield an immediate result.
3

User is offline   Hank 

#18

 Yatta, on 13 May 2014 - 09:45 AM, said:

As for the rep system, I feel that even though it's not to be taken too seriously, it's still the equivalent of karma points on Reddit. People still really care about it, and it does to some extent encourage people to write better quality content. However, my idea of having majorly-upvoted posts getting fed into the newsfeed wasn't so much to motivate people to write news, but to allow for the community to show what it regards as most front-page worthy. People would not consciously upvote something because they know it'd go to frontpage--they'd do it because they think it's quality material, and by extension, it'd end up on the frontpage. Just like Reddit. I really love how Reddit works.


I quote High Treason!

 High Treason, on 12 May 2014 - 02:44 PM, said:

Again, agree with most everyone. Upvotes should be out of the question, constructive posts often don't get upvoted, stupid memes and 13-year-old-chan idiocy attract the most.

The threads with high activity idea might work, if it can be set to ONLY focus on the EDuke32/Duke Nukem General areas of the forum, the rest of it has it's place but that isn't the front page.


Why not assign one person to feed to news automatically. You can preselect the space for the content and the content itself. It's like an autofeed that acts like a search engine sifting through the forum, you get real good news with two extra mouse clicks, based on text (and not a rep votes) of this here forum.
[added]
Sorry, does not work. I tried to imagine E-Craft as a news item, it still needs a writer to explain what it is, and it only got 6 votes so far.


Also, I visited scent 88, the other day. Good maps make front page there on a regular basis. Why not have it for Duke4? Reserve a spot to highlight EDuke32 work. And/Or what is the programming team up to, and what is the latest version and so on. Where are we at with currently worked on TCs, etc.

Just mouthing off rough ideas. Posted Image

This post has been edited by Hank: 13 May 2014 - 04:44 PM

0

#19

Frederik, is this the website you were thinking about: http://railgun.newz.dk/
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#20

 James, on 12 May 2014 - 11:46 AM, said:

Portal bit is a good idea, but the up-voted threads/posts thing to me seems like a bad one. I think that'll just encourage circle-jerks.


[HOME] [NEWS] [FORUM] [ARCHIVE]

Welcome to Duke4.net, you're premier source for Duke Nukem news! We're nothing but a bunch of hardcore Duke fans just waiting to take your call!

!!!HOT DUKE NUKEM NEWS FROM THE FORUMS!!!

Upvoted forum post by Protected by Viper on 5/18 at 4:20 PM (13 upvotes):

Quote

That is interesting, because did you know It's always been a fantasy of mine to be a sex slave for 2 pig cops, male and female, pleasing the male when she's tired, and vice versa. Slowly sliding my lips up and down his thick shaft, tasting his pre-cum on my tongue. Once he's had enough of that, he rolls over onto his back, lifting me up as though I weighed nothing. Gently placing me on his cock and four balls, I guide him in, feeling him stretch me wide open. I moan with pleasure, feeling him fill me up. He growls softly, I feel it rumble deep in his chest, vibrating all the way down his body and through mine. He continues to lift me up and then pull me down. He's doing all the work for me, it feels so good, the warmth of his fur, his gigantic hands either side of my waist. He is in total control, I'm just nothing compared to his vast size and strength, but I have total trust in him, I know he won't hurt me. I feel the pace quicken, almost imperceptibly. I slowly stroke myself, feeling myself nearing the point of no return coming closer with every stroke. I can hear the growl getting louder now; he speeds up even more, forcing me further and further down onto his thick cock. If it wasn't for the fact my body is releasing so many endorphines, I would probably be screaming in agony. Except I am panting and whining, just like a bitch, begging her mate to fill her up. His claws dig in deeper, the pain, its excsquisite. It sends me over the edge. My head goes back, I let out a short grunt, I feel my cock explode, covering his furry chest in my seed. I keep stroking, it looks as though I'm trying to rip my cock out. I let out another grunt, another torrent flows forth, then another and another. A drop lands on the beasts tusk. He seems confused for a moment. That's what I think. He digs his claws in even harder now and slams me onto his cock, I feel his grumble turn into a roar. He's cumming, oh my god. I can feel in, filling me up. It's undescribable. He's mating with me, he's claimed me. I feel him slow, his cock still throbbing within me, it seems as though there's no more room for his cum. It's dripping out of me, onto his four balls. I reach down, and then bring my hand up, tasting him. It's more than I ever expected. It's heaven.


Upvoted forum post by Jimmy on 5/18 at 4:19 PM (17 upvotes)

Quote

dukenukem_sonic_ed_edd_n_eddy_mickey_mouse_mass_effect_orgy.jpg


Upvoted forum post by Forge on 5/18 at 4:15 PM (11 upvotes)

Quote

eat a dick you fucking cunt


This post has been edited by Protected by Viper: 14 May 2014 - 04:30 AM

2

User is offline   Tea Monster 

  • Polymancer

#21

We may get a lot more hits that way - just saying.
0

User is offline   Micky C 

  • Honored Donor

#22

I did try to write a few news articles in the past about mods and things (I'm sure some of them at least were posted), but then it became harder due to a lack of time so that I was only able to post about my own projects (being too busy to properly analyse anything else). Then of course I seemed to have forgotten my front page password and couldn't figure out how to reset it, so I couldn't post news at all Posted Image I probably would have tried to make a simple article talking about how 3DR was in the process of releasing beta material otherwise.
0

User is offline   Tea Monster 

  • Polymancer

#23

If you did use the automatic upvote system for getting content for the front page, the future could look like this:
Posted Image
5

User is offline   Player Lin 

#24

Sounds like good ideas, but should minus rep system. :)

I just hope the new site working and looking enough fine for 800x600...hate a lot of sites like do a 1280x1024 resolution, and I can't even see shit at all unless I scale the whole page down and sometimes I can't read texts because it's too small after scale down. :)

And no, I won't change to higher resolutions due some my personal problems, like eye hurts when reading small texts/icons on higher resolutions. I know the new Windows has "scale" setting for scale up if these things if they just too small on higher resolution.

But I still prefer use default one, unless one day stupid display driver/OS developers dropped 800x600 for their good.

Just saying, can ignore this pointless suggestion...

This post has been edited by Player Lin: 14 May 2014 - 07:17 AM

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User is offline   MusicallyInspired 

  • The Sarien Encounter

#25

You know you can increase displayed font sizes in Windows, right? That includes everything from Windows message boxes, programs, websites, and icons too. Everything. There's no reason to stay on such an outdated resolution. Geez I'd say 1024x768 is the absolute minimum nowadays.

This post has been edited by MusicallyInspired: 14 May 2014 - 08:40 AM

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User is offline   ReaperMan 

#26

There are still separate accounts for the home page and forums right? So how about we just merge those into one account while you are making changes.

This post has been edited by ReaperMan: 14 May 2014 - 07:03 PM

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User is offline   Tea Monster 

  • Polymancer

#27

Plus 8 on that.
0

User is offline   Fox 

  • Fraka kaka kaka kaka-kow!

#28

 Yatta, on 12 May 2014 - 11:14 AM, said:

I was bouncing off some ideas to TX today and this is some of the stuff I have in mind:

- New duke4.net frontpage powered by Wordpress
- Serves only as a portal with links to hosted sites, downloads, and archives screenshots (as well as an archive of the old "current" front page)
- Has a feed from the forum
- The feed brings in the most upvoted threads and posts. For example, once a post or thread reaches 10 upvotes, it gets fed to the front page on Duke4.net

This means the community will become the news writers. The admins can still write news, but we'll give strong deference to what gets posted in the forums based on upvotes.

Let's bounce off more ideas!

Wouldn't it be better to just make the forum the front page then?
0

User is offline   ReaperMan 

#29

BTW if we really need people to post news we should advertise the shit out of it so more people know.
0

User is offline   Gambini 

#30

Next year cars will fly, skateboards will hoover, jackets will talk and pizzas will come in portable sizes. With all that technology at our reach.. who the hell will care about a site for a 19yrds old game?
0

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