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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Discussion: Blog Uses, Future, and Wishlist

Let's discuss uses we see for the blog and features we'd like to include. Be as specific or general as you like. And think not just in terms of the blog, but the group's online presence as a whole.

Join by commenting on this post. I'll start things off by leaving the first comment.

8 comments:

Spooktalker said...

Some main uses I see are:

Sharing the workbench, seeing what we're all up to<

Collaborating on projects (this one follows from the first)

Showcasing finished figs

Battle reports

Event coordination

Games library (CB suggested this and I support it)

Establishing a public presence and interacting with the community

Starting an East Bay chapter (obviously this one is unique to me. and it's related to above).


And some things I'd like to see:

A proper about page so our webpage makes sense to visitors who stumble across us. Who we are and what we do. I'll write it.

A title that is self explanatory. For instance, I would call our blog "In Under the Wire: The blog of Op-For, a California Bay Area based Tabletop Games Club."

Move the blog to the WordPress platform. I think we'll outgrow the google blog eventually, and WordPress is simple at it's core, but infinitely expandable.

An second RSS feed for comments. Currently we can see the stories as a RSS feed, but a second comments RSS feed would let us received each comment as a feed when it appears. This is essential for keeping track of discussions like this

More full featured comments. The formatting options for comments are very limited here. For istance, I can't make these items bullet points.

We should have a page for every member, a dossier with relavent details about interests, current modelling projects etc.

A blogroll or links list for every member, showing where else in the games community we plug in

A photo gallery. WordPress allows full integration with Flickr.

Tags and tag clouds. Again, WP.

Possibly a wiki

Op-For said...

I fully support the move to WordPress but let me get the embarrassing bit out of the way: the whole OpFor/op-for/opposition force thing get even more muddled, the only available domain was op4.org. This was somewhat acceptable at the time because op4 was a sort of tagger short hand CL and I came up with for logos and graffiti.

As for branding, OpFor is military short hand for Opposition Force (sometimes Opposing force). I had a sort of paramilitary/mercenary/shadowy network vibe in mind. I'm glad the use of initials instead of names caught on, I think it adds mystery. Keeping with that theme, I think we should refer to our battle reports and events as "Operations." Like Operation Silent Thunder or Operation Steel Dragon. Also, our member dossiers should be like the old GI joe file cards:

Operator
Codename: Spooktalker

Primary Specialty: Figure Painting
Secondary Specialty: Demolitions
Grade: E-7

Spooktalker was raised by wolves in Siberia and learned how to paint at the ancient Shin Jao monastery in Tibet. His preferred method of attack is to get his target so engrossed in the detail of his work that they never notice the fuse. Qualified expert: Necromunda and all NATO small arms.

Spooktalker hold himself to such a high standard that team members he works with can't help but improve their own techniques. He fears only one thing, failure.

Nerdy, but cool. Its too bad about Flickr free user set limit. I was about to hit my head on that ceiling. How much does a full account cost?

Spooktalker said...

Operator
Codename: Op-For
AKA: Op-For Alpha

Primary Specialty: Operations Planning; Master of Terrain
Secondary Specialty: Personnel Recruitment and Training; Logistics
Grade: B-2

Though the American government denies any connection with the individual known as Op-For, suspicions continue to circulate that his origin lies in Project Bright Young Minds, that fabled military project wherein infant subjects are alleged to have undergone intensive gene therapy and other measures whereby the dna of the greatest military minds of history could be distilled in the mind of a single individual. As for the question of to which, amongst that elite cadre of warmasters, OpFor's own genetic makeup is indebted is utter speculation, but several unreliable sources concur George Patton is among them.

Though the promise of Project Bright Young Minds was accepted to a degree that mention of it alone was enough to cause senior KGB officers to break out in sweat, the project's denouement, it can be agreed, was nothing short of a complete debacle. And though test subjects are assumed to have been summarily terminated with the project, for reasons unclear Op-For escaped such a fate, growing to maturity in an isolated mountainous region within the States, aided by forces hereto unknown.

In the service of Op-For, the eponymous Op-For is responsible for carrying out some of the organizations most decisive operations, such as Operation: Apocalypse Now! and numerous campaigns in the Pyrus theater. Op-For is known for his particular ability to plan and execute operations of mammoth scope in impressively short order. Whether acting as the unseen hand or leading an armored division from the front, he strikes fear in his enemies, just as he wins allies to the cause.

Spooktalker said...

btw, thanks, you've managed to muddle the OpFor/Op-For/op4/Opfor/Opposition Force/Opposing Force/etc. ad infinitum question even more. So which is it already? What do I call the Flickr group?

Op-For said...

the Flickr group should be called the "Observation Post". Lady J is figuring out the domain issues.

I like my bio, but don't forget I absorbed my Hannibal twin in the womb.

Anonymous said...

When I click view comments on a post it takes me to the default blogger page. Is there anyway to stay within the framework of the site design? Maybe click and it expands all the comments below? Could be plugin of sorts?

skywatcher said...

wordpress would be nicer in the long run

CB said...

The flicker page sounds good to me. I'm planning on bringing a camera to game nights so I can put up a brief report every week. Probably not a full blown bat rep at first, but just some fun pictures.