Should RB have a facebook presence?

[BRickAstley]

And strange that people still somehow read this is a membership drive after me stating the contrary in 2 posts.

I apologize because I think this is partially my fault. When there weren't any reasons at the start, I included "potential advertising" as one of the reasons for a possible facebook presence. If you never intended for that to be a motive KoP then my statement is just unnecessary.

[KingOfPain]

Apology accepted

I am not pushing for facebook. I am not trying to influence the poll in anyway, for or against. The idea crossed my mind and I threw it out and see what the people think. Besides, I did set an example at the end of the first post ;p

[Gustaran]

Me think you've quoted the wrong sentence from me?

Yes, I am also concerned.

Oh, yes I did. I also think I misunderstood you somewhat (lost in translation), because in German the word "paranoid" is used when you describe a fear that has no basis in reality (i.e. someone is close to being crazy). So my understanding was that you thought my concerns are highly exaggerated.

Ah well, my bad.

[KingOfPain]

I am zipping coffee on this beautiful morning occasionally checking in the forum, while, I am sending out 17 DMCA take down notices to 2 scraper sites.
:Bangs head on keyboard:

[scooter]

I guess I should restate my post. I'm completely indifferent. If somebody 1) thinks it would be useful and 2) would maintain it and make use of it, go nuts. I probably won't hit the "like" button for previously stated reasons or even really look at the page, but if there's a nice use for it, cool. I haven't seen any suggestions for usefulness yet, though.

[Bigger]

I said black sheep. I don't really use facebook. I think my feelings have already been mostly reflected in previous comments.

its not like you really have the option of using facebook in China anyway

I'm against the idea.

I think we are doing well on the membership front already and from a personal standpoint I'd rather not link my Facebook to other forums such as this because I prefer to have some level of anonymity. Plus I have a very strict way of working facebook that I only have close friends as my friends and very few pages for just things I essentially need so it wouldn't fit with me.

I don't see the need for it, I don't see much benefit.

what makes you think RB having a facebook page would require you to link your account or like the page? If you chose not to interact with it, then it would have no effect on you, but it would still benefit the community as a whole.

I don't think it would be a good idea, and here's why: the notion of a Facebook group or page would be for one of two reasons, added social connectivity for members, or advertisement of our website.

1) I feel like our community is a strong one, in that a lot of our members interact with each other in a variety of different ways through civ and FFH and WW and all the other different things we have going on here. But there really isn't a need for additional interaction thee than what we probably each have. There are a good few people on here that I've found I get along well with, and I have connected with them on GMail and chat regularly or periodically on there, as I imagine a lot of other people do as well. Likewise, I know that there are at least a few pairs of people that really don't want to talk with each other regularly, out of some sort of dislike and/or to keep things civil. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; that happens in all groups and well-managed isnt a problem.

So what would Facebook do to our present community interaction? Well, to be short, the people who would use it to talk with each other likely already do, and the people who don't either wouldn't join or wouldn't use it for any sort of social purpose. It would also require people to connect more information about their personal lives, and some people (me included) would prefer not to share more personal things with people on here that do not know us in real life, just out of principal/personal privacy. So net effect: no benefit, or active hassle.

2) from my time here, it seems like people are brought to RB most often hearing about a certain report/event/person that is native to here. I would venture a large percentage of our users have come throu Sulllas website/PB2 game alone. Due to this method of knowing about RB, people that have come to RB come predominantly for planting or watching MP Civ games. There are a few sub-communities with distinctish member-bases (I've been seeing a decent amount of MoO and MoM posts recently by people I don't see anywhere else).

So what would Facebook do for our growth of community? Well, if our main draw is relative serious/intensive Civ games, then not really a whole lot. Facebook doesn't seem to be an ideal platform for reaching and enticing people to grow on our existing content just based on what we do. So, I don't see It working for growth.


Based on those, I'm not convinced there would be any benefit for us to have a Facebook presence. If you have a good reason why we should then let me know.

ok, I guess I'm going to have to inject some reason in this discussion - there is a lot of snobbery and nonsense talk here. YES, rb should have a facebook. This seems such an obvious no brainer to me - in that there is potential for good, and almost no potential for harm. All I see is "well I would never use it, so we shouldn't get it." That's completely irrelevant. Of course you wouldnt use a facebook page to talk with RB people - why would you, when you can talk to them ON Rb?

I see two benefits:
1) the potential for RB members who wish to do so to connect w/ each other off line (again, liking a facebook page requires some effort and is voluntary, so no one is going to accidently get connected with the rb page).

2) more important - why wouldnt we want more members who fit in with our community? facebook pages are very niche, and unless the webmaster starts generating meme's or something stupid, its not going to attract randoms who just stumble upon the page. its going to attract people who are facebook friends with someone who has liked the page - and if you are friends with someone who is a RB member, chances are good you have similar interests and would enjoy RB as well. I don't actively try to convince my friends to come to RB, but I'm quite certain I have several people on my friends list that would enjoy it, and if there was a RB page, I would like it just in case some of them stumbled upon it and decided to check out the site.

Facebook is the #1 website in the world, even getting more traffic than google - I think its crazy that we don't already have a fb page.

[Sullla]

I have no interest whatsoever in creating a Facebook presence for Realms Beyond.

On the other hand, we definitely should update and improve the RB front page(s), which have been a wasteland for years. I've long regretted the fact that such an active community wasn't reflected at all in the front pages. This is important enough of a subject that it deserves its own separate thread.

[KingOfPain]

If you chose not to interact with it, then it would have no effect on you,

That is why I was most interested in hearing why people would think it is a BAD IDEA.

[BRickAstley]

ok, I guess I'm going to have to inject some reason in this discussion - there is a lot of snobbery and nonsense talk here. YES, rb should have a facebook. This seems such an obvious no brainer to me - in that there is potential for good, and almost no potential for harm. All I see is "well I would never use it, so we shouldn't get it." That's completely irrelevant. Of course you wouldnt use a facebook page to talk with RB people - why would you, when you can talk to them ON Rb?

Well, maybe my post was a bit harsh. But I do think that it isn't a great idea for more reasons than that I wouldn't use it.

I see two benefits:
1) the potential for RB members who wish to do so to connect w/ each other off line (again, liking a facebook page requires some effort and is voluntary, so no one is going to accidentally get connected with the rb page).

So does this mean off-RB communication? Cause with emails most of us already have that or have the potential to do that. Or off-internet altogether communication, like a meetup? It seems like that wouldn't need Facebook to be arranged.

2) more important - why wouldnt we want more members who fit in with our community? facebook pages are very niche, and unless the webmaster starts generating meme's or something stupid, its not going to attract randoms who just stumble upon the page. its going to attract people who are facebook friends with someone who has liked the page - and if you are friends with someone who is a RB member, chances are good you have similar interests and would enjoy RB as well. I don't actively try to convince my friends to come to RB, but I'm quite certain I have several people on my friends list that would enjoy it, and if there was a RB page, I would like it just in case some of them stumbled upon it and decided to check out the site.

Now, I could see this as a valid point. giving a chance for those people who wanted to opt in a way to say "Hey here's a cool website I like" to those they know. If that was one of the main purposes, yes, that should be ok. I was more worried about either trying to specifically advertise as a goal or having any sort of content moved over there, which would result in that segmenting of people off and on facebook instead of just having the RB site as the main focal point.

Facebook is the #1 website in the world, even getting more traffic than google - I think its crazy that we don't already have a fb page.

Eh, sounds to me like "Hey they're all jumping off a cliff so let's do it too!" mentality, but I get what you're saying.


Anyways, I have a good deal of animosity with Facebook personally, and had an incident today that is motivating me to just shut mine down for good; thus I'm very well biased against the medium in general and so will withdraw from this conversation.

[Gustaran]

If you chose not to interact with it, then it would have no effect on you,

That is why I was most interested in hearing why people would think it is a BAD IDEA.

I believe it could be problematic because it might split the community if certain important updates/messages are shared via Facebook. Imagine a team game, where half of the members decide to communicate through a private Facebook group...
Additionally, all announcements would have to be triple posted: In the forum itself, on the new portal/frontpage and on the Facebook site.