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[harveysimpson]

You find a game within the forums that you wish to discuss.

You are enjoying reading about the experience of others, similar to your own.

And all of a sudden, someone who has never heard of Dosbox (let alone DOS) comes along and says "Excuse me how do I run so and so, and whats an .exe file?"

MY reading pleasure then becomes a mish mash of comments from people attempting to help this person run the game and those sharing fond memories.

The mood is totally ruined.

People need to stop abusing the system and use Google to discover how to run Dos Box. IT has nothing to do with Ultima Underworlds or Command and Conquer etc etc

This really needs to change IMO.

Please let me know if you guys agree?

[Lulu_Jane]

We have a troubleshooting section of the forums (which I'm sure you're aware of ) and we do our best to keep the two separate, but of course occasionally things slip through. Let us know if there are any threads in particular that need attention and we'll get that sorted.

It's lovely to have you with us

[Doink]

But any game related tech issues should surely remain in that thread?
or should a separate thread be created when a game is put on the site one for game discussion and one for tech related discussion?

Keeping a single thread makes it much easier to find a solution to similar issues.

[Lulu_Jane]

It's a balance I guess.

[arete]

Not that people read two posts above their own... So annoying.

[Saccade]

Originally Posted by arete

Not that people read two posts above their own... So annoying.

Sorry, what's this thread about..? What balance?


It'd be nice if people used the troubleshooting section, but the first link from the game page is the "discuss this game", which refers to the game thread.

I don't mind reading the games threads to see if anyone needs a hand with getting a game working. And, as it's the first place most people look when they have problems, it's a good place to leave instructions or fixes - it's helped me out in the past, too.

Maybe one day there could be an additional link to a game's troubleshooting thread..?
But that'd mean a big overhaul (and creating a shit-load of threads) of how things work...

I agree that a single thread is probably the best way. If a game needs more in-depth technical discussion, then there's the troubleshooting section.

All people need to do is be referred, in the game's discussion thread, to the troubleshooting.
But how many people take the 2 seconds required to figure out how to click the right buttons..?

[TheChosen]

The weird thing is, we have TWO sections. One dedicated to starting the games, other for problems playing the game. Talk about dividing your problems.

Say, can we merge these two?

[Eagle of Fire]

Merging Troubleshooting with the game threads would make no sense.

I always encouraged people to start their own personnal thread in Troubleshooting, while in the game thread they can oftentime get personnalised help from other fans of the game.

Also, most of the posters who ask for help in the game threads are unregistered guests who simply stumbled on this site and clicked on the "discuss this game!" button. Even if you were to hammer them with the one thousand years of pain jutsu, they'd never know the difference...

Edit: blargh, how does the spoiler tag work? I give up.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Actually, having a "Problems running the game? Ask here!" link to a corresponding tech support thread in Troubleshooting might be good idea (at least from my point of view).

[Lulu_Jane]

It wouldn't even need to link to the specific thread, the Trouble shooting section should be enough., But either way, it's not a bad idea.