Phasing out the reviews and walk-arounds board

[AnimalToyForum]

So, the Animal Toy Blog is approaching a year old. We said that this would replace the reviews and walk-arounds board in time. Now that the ATB is well established, shall we start officially phasing out the board now?

Shall I lock the board so new walk-arounds can't be posted?

Shall I lock the board to new replies?

Shall we delete the walk-arounds post by post as we migrate each one to the ATB?

Or shall we bite the bullet and delete the whole board?

[sirenia]

So, the Animal Toy Blog is approaching a year old. We said that this would replace the reviews and walk-arounds board in time. Now that the ATB is well established, shall we start officially phasing out the board now?

Shall I lock the board so new walk-arounds can't be posted?

Shall I lock the board to new replies?

Shall we delete the walk-arounds post by post as we migrate each one to the ATB?

Or shall we bite the bullet and delete the whole board?

I say board but go review by review, starting by deleting ones that have been reviewed. Might want to look over the walkabouts, see if some could do with expanding upon before being put onto the ATB.

[Isidro]

The two first options are just a bit sad. The third option is ugly. The fourth option is barbaric.

The fifth option, the best one in my opinion, would be migrate each Animal Toy Blog review to the Walk-arounds post so the figures can be represented also in the forum section. But without deleting them for the blog, for maybe somebody want to see them in the blog too

[AnimalToyForum]

The two first options are just a bit sad. The third option is ugly. The fourth option is barbaric.

The fifth option, the best one in my opinion, would be migrate each Animal Toy Blog review to the Walk-arounds post so the figures can be represented also in the forum section. But without deleting them for the blog, for maybe somebody want to see them in the blog too

But then what's the point of having the blog at all? There's no point in duplicating content on the blog and forum, that would be messy and confusing, right?

[sirenia]

The two first options are just a bit sad. The third option is ugly. The fourth option is barbaric.

The fifth option, the best one in my opinion, would be migrate each Animal Toy Blog review to the Walk-arounds post so the figures can be represented also in the forum section. But without deleting them for the blog, for maybe somebody want to see them in the blog too

But then what's the point of having the blog at all? There's no point in duplicating content on the blog and forum, that would be messy and confusing, right?

Agreed. A transition would be better, but maybe only after contacting the original content makers if they are ok with moving it over, if after adding more to it. The walk-arounds are great pieces, though some would need expanding. I feel bringing blog reviews here would be very messy.

[bmathison1972]

I say delete as they migrate over; in the meantime lock the boards so no new ones can be posted.

A blog review does not have to be wordy; so ones with minimum dialogue are fine (maybe Adam or I can beef them up a little).

Also, we should get permission from the posters before migrating over. Technically the blog and forum are two splits on the same road, so I guess it doesn't matter, but more out of courtesy

[AnimalToyForum]

I say delete as they migrate over; in the meantime lock the boards so no new ones can be posted.

A blog review does not have to be wordy; so ones with minimum dialogue are fine (maybe Adam or I can beef them up a little).

Also, we should get permission from the posters before migrating over. Technically the blog and forum are two splits on the same road, so I guess it doesn't matter, but more out of courtesy

Yes. Also, if any of the more prolific contributors to the walk-around section want to migrate their own content over to the blog, we can make a blog account for you.

[Isidro]

But then what's the point of having the blog at all?

I would say none. We already had the walkarounds section

There's no point in duplicating content on the blog and forum, that would be messy and confusing, right?

It would be indeed, but was you who purposed it (duplicate the content of the walkaround section for include them in the blog. Just the difference is that you also want to delete the content after duplicate it).

The point of all this is that while the blog can be a nice accesory, it should never replace the walkarounds section. More likely could be the reverse! We already have a magnific walkarounds section working finely and much before any blog. Why on Earth should we phase it out?

[stargatedalek]

The blog has a number of advantages over the walkarounds section. The most key being image longevity. The blog uploads images directly, they're around as long as the blog itself is. The same can't be said for the walkarounds, and many of them are missing images now for a great number of different reasons.

I'm all for closing them down, just don't delete them until they're migrated or replaced.

[AnimalToyForum]

But then what's the point of having the blog at all?

I would say none. We already had the walkarounds section

I was being rhetorical, the point is clear. The blog is a far superior and intuitive format for reviews/walk-arounds. This is true on the back end in terms of composing reviews, saving drafts, uploading images (as @stargatedalek pointed out), and managing content.

It is is equally true on the front end. Not least, while the forum board is structured by company only, the blog allows visitors to filter by a variety of categories and keywords.

By company, e.g. all the AAA are here: http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/category/aaa/
By animal common name, e.g. all the komodo dragons are here: http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/tag/komodo-dragon/
By genus, e.g. all the Varanus are here: http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/tag/varanus/
By broader taxonomic groups: e.g. all the lizards are here: http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/category/lizards/
And so on. The contents page also provides an alphabetical list of all reviews at a glance. http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/contents/

None of that is possible on the ATF. In short, forums work best for discussions, blogs work best for reviews. Is there some feature in particular that you feel is missing from the blog that is present on the forum? If you want to be able to post on the blog I can set up an account for you.

The question isn't whether we should phase out the walk-arounds section, it is when and how? Even without an extensive sub-divided board for it, members will still be able to post their own walk-arounds, just as they do on the Dinosaur Toy Forum. We're not banning walk-arounds!

[Isidro]

I see your reasons and both looks quite valid for keep the blog active.

[AnimalToyForum]

I see your reasons and both looks quite valid for keep the blog active.

Thanks for your understanding.

The general consensus from this this thread is to delete the walk-arounds from the forum as they are migrated. So, @bmathison1972 and I can start doing that retrospectively.

In terms of numbers, there are just over 1000 walk-arounds on the forum, and there are already almost 200 reviews on the blog. So, in that sense the blog is 20% of the way to matching the forum. Not bad going, especially considerrng that each blog entry is much more detailed than the forum walk-arounds. Of course, not every figure reviewed on the blog has been featured on the forum, so more than 80% of the walk-arounds need migrating or review from scratch.

[AnimalToyForum]

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[bmathison1972]

there are some walkarounds we won't be able to migrate because of image issues, broken links and Photobucket's problems. We might have to 'bite the bullet' and let those go...

[sirenia]

there are some walkarounds we won't be able to migrate because of image issues, broken links and Photobucket's problems. We might have to 'bite the bullet' and let those go...

Would be a shame to lose them completely, but without the images, they don't say as much as they could.

[AnimalToyForum]

there are some walkarounds we won't be able to migrate because of image issues, broken links and Photobucket's problems. We might have to 'bite the bullet' and let those go...

Would be a shame to lose them completely, but without the images, they don't say as much as they could.

Indeed, some of them are only images, so without the images they don't say anything. Which members in particular has this affected? 

[sirenia]

there are some walkarounds we won't be able to migrate because of image issues, broken links and Photobucket's problems. We might have to 'bite the bullet' and let those go...

Would be a shame to lose them completely, but without the images, they don't say as much as they could.

Indeed, some of them are only images, so without the images they don't say anything. Which members in particular has this affected?

Know it affected Jetoar's AAA Komodo Dragon, but seems to be a few out of the many he did (though they have 'photobucket' over the top of many of his photos).

[postsaurischian]

Not long ago I re-uploaded some of my pb-damaged pics, which I have been doing from time to time throughout the last year.
Now I'm asking myself why I waisted my time on that .

[bmathison1972]

Not long ago I re-uploaded some of my pb-damaged pics, which I have been doing from time to time throughout the last year.
Now I'm asking myself why I waisted my time on that .

@postsaurischian - your fantastic images are not going anywhere. They will be here on the forum, or on the Blog, if you choose to have them migrated there!

[bmathison1972]

@animaltoyforum I have an idea about migrating over walkarounds that have good images but little text. Could we create an author category for 'Joint Reviews' (analogous to Guest Reviews) where walkarounds that are low on text can be incoporated into the Blog with supplemental text. For example, take walkarounds by @postsaurischian - we can use your photos but Adam or I can supplement them with minor text (basic info on the animal and figure).

The introductory sentence would say something like this: Images by postsaurician; text by bmathison1972

@postsaurischian @stemturtle would you (and others) be opposed to this idea?