Gearbox simply introduced that the corporate will quickly be closing down its dialogue boards, and inspiring all customers to as an alternative migrate to utilizing particular person sport Discords for their neighborhood wants. I’m as soon as once more right here to say it is a very silly concept.
A discover on the boards—which have existed of their present type since 2015, and for lots longer earlier than that—explains that they’ve already been locked right down to read-only and can quickly be wiped solely, with customers having 30 days to “save any content material you need to maintain”:
We’ve had many good years of conversations on the Gearbox Boards. This has been an excellent place to attach with all of you and a haven for superb discussions, builds, and help. Through the previous 12 months, we observed a lot of our neighborhood members choose to interact on our different social platforms—and that’s nice. We love speaking to y’all and holding the neighborhood going there.
the place the conversations are going down and suggestions is expressed, we need to proceed that dialog on our social channels the place a lot of the neighborhood is getting their info. Our Help crew will proceed to obtain your suggestions and considerations by help.gearbox.com.
As of July 19, 2022, we are going to flip classes to Learn-Solely. This implies members will not be capable of create posts on the boards, however of us will be capable of learn earlier posts. This may present 30 days to save lots of any content material you need to maintain earlier than it’s closed. Later this summer season, you’ll discover a brand new Gearbox web site and the boards will disappear solely.
Thanks for years of chats, guides, help, and for making this an excellent neighborhood. We sit up for persevering with the dialog with you.
This was, is and can ceaselessly be the dumbest fucking pattern in online game neighborhood administration. I perceive boards have gotten much less fashionable, and that their glacial tendencies current quite a few challenges. The need to shut boards down when confronted with declining use and perceived advances in know-how is pure and fully comprehensible.
However shifting that performance to Discord isn’t the reply! Discord and boards are, as I’ve defined in depth beforehand on this website, solely completely different websites with solely completely different functionalities!
Discord is nice for speaking within the second. It’s a spot for real-time conversations (or at lease these just a few hours previous in the event that they’re not as busy), a elaborate solution to handle a number of chat rooms and voice comms, and if that’s what you need—and hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the world do, for a great deal of wants and desires—then nice!
Boards aren’t the identical although. They’re nothing prefer it. Boards are extra deliberate, extra thought-about, and whereas they’re removed from excellent—I’m certain you may put up a billion examples of individuals being neither deliberate nor thought-about on boards—the purpose is that they’re extra everlasting.
Boards create a file, an archive we will search by, in order that at any time when we need to revisit points, or discover assist with an issue, or see what was occurring throughout a sure time, we will try this. There’s a paper path, and whereas generally that results in embarrassing takes on television exhibits and sport reveals, different instances it’s offering an infinite assist with technical points or elements of a sport you’re caught on.
G/O Media could get a fee
Online game publishers and studios, I’m begging you, should you actually should discover a solution to migrate your communities and their legacy to a brand new platform or service, please discover (or make!) one that’s extra appropriate to the duty.
