Your New Retro Gamer Community Team

[Spector]

Both Twitter and Facebook are terrible sites for having a conversation - Twitter because of brevity and Facebook because the structure sucks, no organisation just a cacophony of noise.

It's absolutely true. Facebook is hopeless for finding old content, and it's too soundbitey anyway.

[jpishgar]

Rest assured, you've not been forgotten. As Nick mentioned, there were several pressing migrations (one still pending), and my team is down a head for a tidbit. As for where we are on things:

• Mods are selected, next step is impaneling them.
• New theme is still tentative. Response from initial selection was poor, so back to the drawing board.
• Game of the Day/Week/Month initiative concept got good response, that'll be up first when we get the infrastructure tended.

For expectations, there will be no revolution - it's a slow-cooking kinda thing.

-JP

[Shinobi]

Jpishgar after Future bought several mags they closed or merged the forums. I realise this forum/forums in general are dead and Facebook and Twitter are your main concern as they are your bread and butter so to speak.

With you & your team split between several places at once, does this bode well for the future of the forum. I mean working for Future and modding this forum in your spare time.

[DPrinny]

Both Twitter and Facebook are terrible sites for having a conversation - Twitter because of brevity and Facebook because the structure sucks, no organisation just a cacophony of noise.

It's absolutely true. Facebook is hopeless for finding old content, and it's too soundbitey anyway.

True, social media seems to be for the moment
A few hours later and it becomes hard to find

Its not helped by Facebook thinking that I want to see "Top stories" first (FBP helps)

[NickThorpe]

Jpishgar after Future bought several mags they closed or merged the forums. I realise this forum/forums in general are dead and Facebook and Twitter are your main concern as they are your bread and butter so to speak.

With you & your team split between several places at once, does this bode well for the future of the forum. I mean working for Future and modding this forum in your spare time.

I can't speak for Joe here, nor can I pretend to know what's going on at higher levels of the company. However, if there was some drive to abandon forums as a matter of policy, I can't imagine Joe and his team would have been allowed to start big jobs like the major upgrades they're involved in elsewhere.

As it goes, Future has owned Retro Gamer long enough that "new owner" jitters really should have passed. The deal to buy Imagine was announced in June 2016 and completed in October that year, so Future has been in charge for well over two years. If any huge, sweeping changes were coming, we probably would have seen them by now.

[Shinobi]

I can't speak for Joe here, nor can I pretend to know what's going on at higher levels of the company. However, if there was some drive to abandon forums as a matter of policy, I can't imagine Joe and his team would have been allowed to start big jobs like the major upgrades they're involved in elsewhere.

As it goes, Future has owned Retro Gamer long enough that "new owner" jitters really should have passed. The deal to buy Imagine was announced in June 2016 and completed in October that year, so Future has been in charge for well over two years. If any huge, sweeping changes were coming, we probably would have seen them by now.

Many thanks for the reply Nick. As this is the only forum I post at and visit regularly I would hate for it to disappear. I much prefer forums, to Facebook and there’s a lot of very cool people here I enjoy talking to.

Before anybody says I know we have that good politicaly motivated forum as an alternative to Retro Gamer. But I deleted my account as I’m not even remotely interested in that place.

Retro Gamer mag has lasted a long time espically in the current environment with the decline of printed material.

[jpishgar]

However, if there was some drive to abandon forums as a matter of policy, I can't imagine Joe and his team would have been allowed to start big jobs like the major upgrades they're involved in elsewhere.

During a recent presentation to shareholders, the one big thing that the C-suite of the company raised as most exciting was "forums". Community is of high priority, hence all the work on platform migration and the Future Community Suite. There is no move away from forums towards social media - the two are not mutually exclusive. These forums are not in any danger, and I stand firmly against the closure of any forums, so no worries.

[Sephiroth81]

However, if there was some drive to abandon forums as a matter of policy, I can't imagine Joe and his team would have been allowed to start big jobs like the major upgrades they're involved in elsewhere.

During a recent presentation to shareholders, the one big thing that the C-suite of the company raised as most exciting was "forums". Community is of high priority, hence all the work on platform migration and the Future Community Suite. There is no move away from forums towards social media - the two are not mutually exclusive. These forums are not in any danger, and I stand firmly against the closure of any forums, so no worries.

I get the sense though you wouldn't exactly stand in the way of what your "Future" leadership ultimately decide! Unless it perhaps involves involuntary redundancy to your own role.....you may suddenly grow a spine then!

[RetroBob]

However, if there was some drive to abandon forums as a matter of policy, I can't imagine Joe and his team would have been allowed to start big jobs like the major upgrades they're involved in elsewhere.

During a recent presentation to shareholders, the one big thing that the C-suite of the company raised as most exciting was "forums". Community is of high priority, hence all the work on platform migration and the Future Community Suite. There is no move away from forums towards social media - the two are not mutually exclusive. These forums are not in any danger, and I stand firmly against the closure of any forums, so no worries.

I get the sense though you wouldn't exactly stand in the way of what your "Future" leadership ultimately decide! Unless it perhaps involves involuntary redundancy to your own role.....you may suddenly grow a spine then!

Ask yourself the same question in your job Sephiroth81.

[jpishgar]

Hah! If you're referring to the fact that community management is often a servant to two masters, you're right. However, good companies trust their community people when it comes to communities, and empower their judgment. In this, I'm exceptionally fortunate to work for Future, and the site is fortunate to be operated by them.

[Antiriad2097]

good companies

I direct you to the 'tracking lateness' thread, I'm pretty sure there may be one or two people there who would question this assessment of Future.

[psj3809]

Agree with antiriad. Since RG was taken over people seem to be having a nightmare with deliveries and nothing much seems to be done about it

[Antiriad2097]

It makes me wonder how it is for Daz under this regime, not that he could comfortably discuss it here.

[RetroBob]

It makes me wonder how it is for Daz under this regime, not that he could comfortably discuss it here.

I don't think the mag teams have ever been particularly comfortable talking about corporate stuff (neither should they). I'm thinking back to when people used to complain about the porn phone numbers in back in the Imagine days sullying the mags, I think it was in gamesTM and RG, they said "we hear you" - eventually they went away which was good.

[Antiriad2097]

Yes, but I just wondered if Daz was still happy or if he found the new management to be lacking. He'll never say, it was just a passing thought I had that it doesn't just impact us.