Introducing New Sonic Forums and 'News Topic' Rules

[Dreadknux]

Time for a site update! We want to prepare for the imminent re-blossoming of everyone's favourite Sonic community, so to do that we're mixing things up with our discussion boards. Over the next day or so, you might find the number of Sonic-specific discussion forums expand, and topics moved around (or even split up) to suit their new homes.

We know that up until now, there has been three major Sonic forums, and they've all gotten a little bit stale and strange over the years as discussion about different Sonic media is merged and Megathreads rule over all. We want to invite a little more pep to the proceedings, by giving specific media their own breathing space and encouraging more exciting posting activity.

 

What Forums Will Be Affected

• Sonic Fan Games Club
• Upcoming Sonic Games

These two forums will be either removed/replaced or 'sunset' as we introduce new forums that will aim to be a more appropriate home.

 

New Forums Incoming:

• 'Sonic Games' - This will be the new home of all chat related to official Sonic games. You will be free to chat about news on upcoming Sonic games, as well as discuss more openly about classic titles and talk about mobile games as well. Whatever you fancy.
   
• 'Sonic Comics' - A forum dedicated to all forms of official Sonic comic media. IDW will lead the show here we suspect, but discussions on Archie, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, esoteric Japanese manga and more will be more than allowed.
   
• 'Sonic TV/Film' - Discuss the latest on the Hollywood Sonic movies, as well as things like Netflix's Sonic Prime and legacy cartoons such as AoSth, SatAM, Sonic Boom, Underground and more.
   
• 'Sonic Community' - This one is a little special, and is not the same as the already-existing 'Showcase' forum. The purpose of this forum is to discuss cool events, projects and works created by the broader Sonic community. It's not intended to be a place to share your own fan works or to promote YouTube channels; for example, discussions about the Sonic Amateur Games Expo and some of the games that exist in that show belongs in this forum, as do things like Sonic & Tails R. Some cool artwork you've done, or your own project, should go in Showcase. In the future, we will introduce SSMB community events that will belong in this forum too.
   
• 'Sonic Merchandise' - Merch is now a big part of the Sonic scene, and we want to open up a forum that will encourage discussion on all the latest to come from that side of the franchise. New LEGO products, Jakks Pacific toys, books, exclusive clothing lines, new music soundtracks... all belong here. You can continue to use the Marketplace forum to sell or trade items you own; this new forum is simply about discussing new merch news or sharing old bits of merch you may have in your collection.

 

New Rule: New News, New Topic

In order to justify the existence of these new forums, we want to introduce a new rule (or maybe relax an old one). In the past, we have insisted that multiple threads for the same project/product should not be allowed, and that any new developments for a game (for example) should remain in a single topic. This sub-rule doesn't make much sense in today's age of discussion and fan activity surrounding breaking news - nobody wants to go diving into a 60-page long topic just to catch up on news.

But, we're not totally removing this rule. Instead, we are just relaxing the current situation and allowing for members to post new topics for the same game/movie/product if there is significant new news announced for it. For example, if SEGA releases a new trailer for Sonic Colours Ultimate and it unveils a new mode or something, that is worthy of a new topic. If Takashi Iizuka says something interesting about Sonic Colours Ultimate a day later, that too is worthy of a new topic. If SEGA releases a bunch of new screenshots for Sonic Colours Ultimate - new topic (or maybe this one can be relegated to a screenshots-specific megathread, we'll see). If IGN or Gamespot reviews Sonic Colours Ultimate on its own, this is not new topic worthy (although a 'Review Roundup' collecting a bunch of reviews from different outlets MIGHT be considered worthy of a new topic).

As we're introducing this as a new sub-rule, specifics about what can be considered news and not-news may change and the sub-rule may be redefined over the course of the next few months, as we understand how the community responds to it. We trust you all to use your common sense and best judgement as to what should be considered a new topic (or news) - if it's something truly new that you find interesting, then it could well be worth posting a new topic about!

 

Megathreads Still Have a Purpose

All this is to say that Megathreads will not be going away, or killed off. There are still loads of uses for a Megathread for a particular game. What I would say is that Megathreads should be for general discussion about a game (your opinion on how it plays, questions about the game etc) while discussion within a news topics about a game should exclusively be about the news being presented in the original post. Megathreads can also be used to talk about news about a game as well... but general discussion about a game should not feature in a news topic.

It might not be worth having a Megathread for some products (i.e. Sonic Movie), and it might be worth having a Megathread for a particular issue of a comic rather than the entire IDW Sonic line. But how Megathreads evolve around the concept of "new news, new topic" is up to you guys.

 

We hope these changes will spark some insightful discussion, excited news chat and open talk about parts of the Sonic fanbase/franchise that we have not really touched before in any great detail. Let's make this a home for every kind of Sonic fan!  

[Indigo Rush]

I know this has been in the works for well over a year now, so I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone reacts with these changes and improvements. I've been hoping this will bring some new positive energy to discussion and hopefully attract more new members! Good show, Mr Dread.