New Comments Feature?

[Paul Campbell]

I have quietly wished for this occasionally over the years. I disagree that there will be any issues between the forums and comments under games. I always think of a comment I want to make on a game that was reviewed long ago, but then I decided against it because there is no active discussion about the game going on anymore.

I do like the idea of the comment size being limited, but 120 characters seems a bit too small to me. That seems like it might stunt people's depth of discussion.

[VideoGameCritic]

I was going with 150 characters but can be convinced otherwise...

[RDReynolds]

I've decided to ditch the "if you like this game, check out" links.

I might be in the minority on this. But I'd prefer it if you kept them, as I find by clicking those I can bounce around from console to console and game to game pretty easily. Killed many an hour doing just that.

Same here. I LOVE the like this game check this out links. Even when they didn’t quite make sense! It’s like a game in itself trying to figure out how Double Dragon ties into Jimmy Connors Tennis on the Lynx. I already miss this feature and politely request it be brought back.

[lynchie137]

I already miss this feature and politely request it be brought back.

I miss it as well, and I hope it is brought back as well. Fingers, eyes and toes crossed.

[VideoGameCritic]

It may come back. I would just need to figure out how to make it a little less obtrusive than having five long links splayed beneath each review.

[Breaker]

Every time you post (a) review(s), you always create a fresh forum topic asking for people's thoughts. I've always wondered why you don't put a link under the review to that forum topic. It would serve the same purpose as a "comments" function, and drive traffic on the forums. It could also be test run - you could just start doing it with newly posted reviews and see how well it works.

[VideoGameCritic]

Every time you post (a) review(s), you always create a fresh forum topic asking for people's thoughts. I've always wondered why you don't put a link under the review to that forum topic. It would serve the same purpose as a "comments" function, and drive traffic on the forums. It could also be test run - you could just start doing it with newly posted reviews and see how well it works.

Actually I think I have this already. If you look under each review there's a line that read "Find on ebay, amazon... forums"
That forums link will attempt to find the forum entry, if there is one.

Some reviews are so old, they don't even have forum entries. Also, since I tend to review multiple games at a time, that forum entry might be discussing one or two other games. So it's not the most clean solution.

[Breaker]

Some reviews are so old, they don't even have forum entries.

Yes, some are, but that forum has threads back to January 14th, 2006. I bet you could link to well over the majority of the reviews on the site.

Also, since I tend to review multiple games at a time, that forum entry might be discussing one or two other games. So it's not the most clean solution.

This is true, too, but how hard would it be to have a template of a post that you use each time, and drop one, two, or three separate posts so there is one for each individual review?

Would you stop making that post if you implemented the comments? If not, what are trying to create that's different between the post in the forums and the comments beneath reviews?

[Verm3]

I think the current forum link under a review is fine. No need to confuse things with another way to comment.

[VideoGameCritic]

I think the difference between a comment and forum post is like the difference between a tweet and an email.

With a comment you're just chiming in with a quick thought. Giving your two cents.
With the forums, you're really trying to initiate or participate in a conversation.

By the way, I thought of a good way to "limit" the volume, at first anyway. I could make it so only people logged in (to the forums) would be able to post comments. This would also make moderation much easier - if not automatic.
Then, if we decide to open it up to anonymous readers, we could do that later.