The night is dark and full of comic con’s with very little information of substance while writers, cast and crew avoid questions regarding the future of the best hair in Westeros.
Welcome to the off-season.
On that happy note and before casting and filming news gets hot and heavy, let’s kill some characters time, shall we?
The immediate lack of significant news gives us an opportunity to poll you Ladies and Sers and gives you an opportunity to submit feedback on your wonderful corner of Internet bliss and how the team might improve it. More news? More features? Site T-shirts? WotW Coffee Mugs? Or is everything good as is?
Let your little fingers be heard. Read the rules and type loudly…
**Disclaimer: Before we even get started, understand that while our goal is to make this the best Game of Thrones site on the interwebs, not all reader conditions can be met. As bad as we all want it, Lysa cannot be resurrected. However, a team can do their best to make your reading experience even more pleasurable.
Having said that, if your current pleasure level regarding WotW is 9-10/10, then speak to that as well.
Rules:
Be polite. This Wall was built and is maintained for you by volunteers and this is our half-assed attempt to make it better.
That’s it.
Potential Topics
- Site upgrades: Any particular technical features that might be a useful addition to the site (cool buttons, layout alterations, fonts, etc.)
- Content: Our news coverage will always be one of the primary components of what our team provides. Beyond that, would you like to see more editorials? Opinion pieces? Speculation? Cross-site discussions? Giveaways?
- WotW App: How important is it to you? Droid, iPhone or both? Would you utilize it? If so, what features would you like it to provide?
- Merchandise: Primarily T-shirts… Would you support it and buy one? And is there another form of merchandise you would like from the Wall (Watchers underwear, cufflinks, chaps, etc.)?
- Social Media: Hopefully you are all aware that we heavily utilize Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr already. Do you follow us on those platforms and are there other forms of social media we should be using?
- Additions to the Lexicon page.
- Any other constructive suggestions.
This is your shot, so speak up. We’re all in this together. And may there always be peace in your realm.
-Oz
“Unbowed. Unbent. Unsullied.”
Follow Oz on Twitter.
Send us some notifications.
In those notifications there must be a glimpse of your posts but they should disappear
before we can read them.
And they should be mostly old posts.
Call it sight!
Is it possible to add an upvote/downvote feature to comments?
Also I would absolutely wear undies with ‘Support the Bottom’ on them.
It seems to me that the forums are barely used here. The forums / message board should be a place for major discussion that is off topic to the content of anything that is put up. Or for swooning over a favorite *he who is not to be named as dead*. Or like happened recently between two folks commenting that really was all about “he said/he said”. Or for someone to start a topic that they want to talk about. Or maybe some GoT role play?
When I first signed up here I was happy that a message board was included then realized it is basically totally underused. Maybe a link in every new topic on the main page and encourage folks to use it? It is also a great place to “welcome” new members to WotW. Or even to get out a pet peeve from the show, writers, runners, actors……
I realize that you can’t make folks use the forums/message boards, but I think most just aren’t really sure what to do there. Like maybe celebrate a birthday or someone having a baby or getting married. It is a personal way to interact.
Other than that, I think you folks do a jam up and jelly tight job of running this site. Love all the contributors, always a pleasure to read and come here. The off season is long and full of questions, just maybe the forum could be used to a higher and better purpose.
Thanks ahead of time. Jules
I only want spoiler button. Everything else is fine.
BeautyBrinne,
I agree. I was thinking a “like” feature on comments, but the upvote/downvote works too.
An integrated spoiler button.
I think there really should be a way to organise comments. Under interesting posts there are hundreds of comments and it takes too long to read all of them. Maybe if they make nesting like IMDB forum, at least the replies will be together with the original comment and it will look more organised.
Comments section is a very important part of this site and there should be a way to improve it.
I would buy a T-shirt (something simple, like a black background with “Watchers on the Wall” in the GoT font).
Overall, I love the website and think no major changes should be made. Minor tweaks like the upvote/downvote that BeautyBrinne suggested would be nice.
BeautyBrinne,
Upvote/Downvote was a good suggestion!
Also, I really enjoyed the panels that you guys had with other sites. If possible I would like a video/article where wotw invites a guest known in the fandom (History of Westeros Podcast, Radio Westeros, Bryndenbfish, Steven Atwell, etc) and discusses the future of certain characters and what that means for the show/books. Basically predictions of what will happen.
I love Oz’s predictions but they are few and far between and it would be nice to have a Sullied perspective on what will happen as well.
Oh and the countdown feature back up at the top. It may be depressing for some to know that it is so far away until April next year, but for me, it is encouraging to see one less day. 🙂
This is the only GoT site that I post on – love it! Keep up the wonderful spoiler reporting and speculations in the off-season.
Suggestions: Please organize comment section better. Sometimes there is too much off-topic discussions going on, and that may not be of interest to all readers.
As suggested above, nesting comments would be wonderful.
Spoiler button that is integrated.
Please, no more cross-site discussions. We can all go over to those sites if we want to.
Also, yes to merchandise! I would happily support the site.
mau,
THIS. THIS TOO.
I’d like to see an episode guide like in the former site before Fansided took over and axed it. A character/house guide would be too much work, but pretty neat and helpful for newbies.
Opinion pieces and giveaways are nice, perhaps some speculation too.
I don’t like the upvote/downvote thing, as most of the time people use it to silence people who don’t agree with them or who have a different opinion, not just the trolls.
A “most helpful/interesting/funny” highlight to a post could be nice, though.
Me too!
Have followed you folks for years (even pre-current site) and you always do a great job. Only thing I would like to see is closer monitoring of out of line trolling, particularly when they attack and insult the actors (I am not talking about legitimate negative comments).
Merchandise is of little interest to me, but I would use the SEVEN HELLS out of an app! (iPhone, but I’m betting Droid users feel the same)
To kill time in a slow news cycle, why not write storyline-by-storyline reviews of Season 5 as a whole, now that we can see it in retrospect?
You’ve already done episode by episode reviews. I mean, “Jon Snow”, “Arya”, etc.
Not sure how to handle storylines that intersect, but I’d go by their leads. I.e. treat “Stannis” and “Jon Snow” separately, even though they overlapped at the beginning, just to give them more to do. I’m not sure if Samwell/Gilly would count as a separate subplot but it depends on how you want to space out “The Wall” storyline.
“Dorne” would be a separate one. “Arya” is separate. “Daenerys” and “Tyrion” are two separate lines though they briefly overlap near the end. King’s Landing has many subplots; maybe split between Cersei/Lannisters and Margaery/Tyrells.
“The North” is most complicated because a lot got condensed into what was already an interconnected plot. Ostensibly, this includes: the Boltons, Stannis, Sansa, Brienne (almost the Wall, even, if you consider Stannis a link between the two).
But we already established Stannis as a separate thing (he doesn’t really…interact with the Boltons). Brienne is separate from the others for the most part (before disappearing in the second half) though she had that nice character-backstory-building scene with Podrick). I guess the Boltons and Sansa would be one big line, they merge in episode 4 and discuss merging since episode 3.
lol,
Not to mention “cover your spoilers”
The Dragon Demands,
Good idea.
The Dragon Demands,
Agree
Good to get episode by episode but arc by arc is also nice as it goes into character development
More Oz. Specifically, more Unsullied speculation. That’s been one of the most interesting features here and it really shows the difference in context between the books and the show, even now when the show has in many places surpassed the books.
Everything else, meh, not my thing so much.
I’d like the comments easier to navigate if that’s possible. If I follow a link (I read on my iPhone), I often have to scroll through endless pages to find the next post when I return. It’s the same if I read a post that’s a reply to an earlier one, unless it’s quoted. I’ve no idea how easy/difficult to do, though. Places like tumblr you end up with the comment width getting narrower and narrower until it’s one letter wide! No good.
I often want to ‘like’ comments, so that would be handy. Seems pointless just posting ‘I agree’.
Also, maybe being able to be notified of new comments even if you haven’t posted?
I would buy T-shirts.
Any chance of links to ASOIAF merch? I believe there are affiliate programmes e.g. with amazon that offer discounts if we click on links. Not sure if they pay you or you have to pay them, but Aziz on History of Westeros does that. Not for amazon.co.uk unfortunately.
Also I’m probably missing something but I find it hard to find old posts, such as the previous VFX vid you posted. Maybe there’s a search function, but a list of posts would be great.
At this point any additional material is welcome.
Thanks guys for doing such a superlative job and keeping the rude trolls at bay!
Do you need donations?
Have missed any donate feature.
Opinion piece op-eds on the largest changes from the novels? In retrospect?
I mean they keep saying “you can’t judge our changes until it’s done”. And yes the TV series isn’t over, but we’re in a stronger position to judge now that we have the whole TV season.
I had 5 complaints (three of which relate to “the North” storyline, because it crossed with many).
1 – Dorne storyline – actually I thought sending Jaime to Dorne was good on paper, but terrible in execution. You can tell it received the lowest priority in writing and the D-list of camera direction
2 – Condensing Sansa with the Boltons remains a controversial choice. At SDCC, Sophie Turner insisted that this was Sansa being manipulative…..no. She’s not in control. We later see her crying in private and basically a prisoner. Yes she’s a bit more proactive than Jeyne Poole was. It’s not the fact that Ramsay maritalraped her that I find bad in and of itself (at least it was filmed well, and that’s kind of how marriage worked in Westeros)….but OVERALL, Sansa’s character arc was affected. The writers kept insisting it would pay off and it really didn’t.
3 – Anti-climactic Stannis at Battle of Winterfell. Why not at least show the battle being more than one-sided? I even tentatively accepted burning Shireen because we don’t have the next book to compare that to. It just fell apart in episode 10.
4 – Changing the circumstances of Jon Snow’s stabbing — no letter from Ramsay, instead the Night’s Watch doing it purely over the wildlings? Who they ALREADY let through the Wall? Why would Thorne let him through the Wall in episode 9, WITH the wildlings, only to stab him in episode 10? And they left Hardhome by ship in episode 8….why are they suddenly going overland when Thorne has to let them through in episode 9? We know the Hardhome subplot was extensively rewritten….is all of this just a plot hole caused by rewrites? I’m not even that annoyed by leaving out Ramsay’s letter (though I AM), but that even within the TV show *in isolation* from the novels, it doesn’t add up.
5 – Leaning too much on sexual assault. To be honest there weren’t a ton of these, but those that did happen were annoying…particularly because they just never admitted that the Jaime/Cersei sex scene in 4.3 was never intended to be a rape scene but only seemed to be that way due to bad camerawork. This is *beyond the pale* in audacity, not admitting that but just hoping we’d forget or brush it off. Already hyper-sensitive to that, they give us Ramsay/Sansa wedding night. I think it was filmed well and don’t have a problem with the camera focusing on Theon’s face (some said why not Sansa’s – I think that would have been too horrible; the whole point is that the camera can’t show *any* of what’s happening but leave Sansa’s horrified reaction to our imagination, to make it worse; I get that, I thought it worked that way). But that’s already part of the “Sansa” point. And arguably the plot change demanded that because it would be untrue to Ramsay’s behavior if he didn’t do something mean (I don’t think they did this for pure shock value).
However, the other sexual violence things that didn’t make sense? First and foremost, Gilly’s near-rape to be saved by Samwell and Ghost. WHY? In the novels they just get really drunk after Aemon dies and in their shared grief seek solace by the life-affirming act of sex. WHY did this need to happen? KNOWING that we would already be upset about the Sansa/Ramsay scene? It wasn’t actually a gratuitous scene in terms of no nudity or anything, but it was still annoying.
Then we’ve got Meryn Trant being condensed with Raff. Yes, due to economy of characters, Meryn needed to be an ephebophile like Raff due to the plot mechanic of that Arya needs to pretend to seduce him to get close enough to kill him. That makes sense. But specifically….why the heck is he *beating girls with a stick*? Sadism? To test their pain tolerance before picking one? I think sadism. Do we really need to be reminded that Meryn is bad? After everything he’s done on this show?
So yeah, these are the five biggest changes which I can’t really justify: 1 – Dorne (not the change but how poorly it was handled), 2 – Anti-climactic Stannis at Battle of Winterfell, 3 – Plot hole surrounding why Jon Snow was stabbed at this moment, perhaps stemming from Hardhome rewrites, 4 – condensing Sansa with the Boltons (frankly I’m not quite as annoyed about this as the other changes, at least you can tell they focused writing effort on it, unlike Dorne), and 5 – Needless near-rape of Gilly/Why is Meryn beating girls with a stick?
I’m just spitballing here, but have you considered making a Live Show? You know, in the format of Talking Dead?
You know what this site really needs? Cocktail recipes!
Just kidding. Please don’t take that suggestion seriously. Anyway, I definitely wouldn’t mind a comments section overhaul. A spoiler tag button, upvotes/downvotes, and making people register to comment (to cut down on trolls) would be good.
I might add some more suggestions later.
Content-wise you guys absolutely rock. The fine people who run this site do a great job reporting all the news and information of the show, and I always appreciate the opinion and guests pieces. My only quibble would be the comments, not necessarily a downvote/upvote button, but keeping the replies under the original comments would be really grateful. Nevertheless 9/10 in experience, the people of this site thank you.
Add my voice on: Liking posts, a spoiler button in the commenting form, and some organization to the comments. I like it when, in forums where you’re logged in, you can be pointed to your first unread message in a thread.
Speculation this year can be spread out among the favorite Oz, but book-readers as well… Cross-site discussions this year have been bumpy, with great moments and weird moments, but yes it would be nice to introduce some GOT/ASOIAF community leaders from elsewhere on the internet!
WotW App: Uhm, not really my thing.
Merchandise: Boxers with Always Support the Bottom on the back, and Cover your Spoilers on the front would be HILARIOUS. But a total inside joke… By the way I recently got an aluminium tray to catch barbecue drippings, and it was written ALWAYS SUPPORT THE BOTTOM!!!
Cufflinks would intrigue me!
Social Media: Nice stuff on Tumblr please continue, otherwise not my thing.
Also, if Zach could invite some of the WOTW writers on GOO from time to time, it would be nice to hear your voices and thoughts!
Priorities should perhaps be an app, a spoiler-button and a nesting-system like on other websitse so that the comment-section, which already is the main forum for watchers to discuss their thoughts, can be improved in structure. New watchers could then also have an easier start into the site and could efficiently pick the topics they already know about while trolling and off-topic comments could easily be debunked as such.
Merchandise would not be bad, too, but keep in mind that not everyone here is from the US or the natively english speaking part of the world, so shipping etc could be a problem and make this quite expensive for the website. I don’t know if it would he profitable with that in mind, but it could well be worth a try and I’m sure most would think of it in a positive way.
As to a downvote or upvote-system. Please no. It seems good and fair on paper, but mostly it just ends up blurring the comment-section (multiple profile-voting) and giving loud, polemic voices a platform.
Also it potentially brands users which once said something most did not agree with, scaring off new users and leading indecisive users to only comment conformative stuff to not become targets themselves.
So why not just a “like-system” You may ask? Well, this way the most dominating users in the discussion, par example RatKook, Wimsey, Robb Snow or Tormund’s woman would heavily benefit from it while not so well-known users would feel worth less in their arguments since they normally won’t get as much Likes as these well-known users.
Users like the ones I mentioned are rightfully the leaders in our discussions since they usually DO provide the best, most elaborate and eloquent arguments and are thus automatically liked and respected, do we really need to fortify that once more with a like-system that could well include negative aspects? Isn’t it part of the charme and the concept of this website that every opinion is regarded as equal in the beginning so that even new or normally not so active members can provide arguments for and against something without being judged?
Thus we don’t need a like-system, which arguments are proven more reasonable than others can be cleared in the discussion itself plus everyone starts off as an equal without having benefits/hindrances from former arguments they made.
Hi, been following you guys for years, so first of all, many thanks for all you do for the fans, it’s always, ALWAYS appreciated. I rarely comment but I’m here. A lot. 🙂
With regards to the “Show Spoilers” button, personally I find it’s important that when clicking on it, the spoiler text is revealed, however the highlighting remains. This way we can still see that it’s a spoilery answer and different to other parts of the posts. It’s not helpful that it all turns white. I believe this is the method used back in the errrrm, older site?
Oh, and more Oz posts please!
Thanks for listening!
BTW, unrelated, and not sure if anyone has posted this, but I came across this Owen Teale video interview (site and subtitles in greek):
http://tinyurl.com/nb9oepn
Agree with all of those above that request an overhaul of the comments section. Also, I’m not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but below the comment text box, the options for “Notify me of follow-up comments by email” and “Notify me of new posts by email” don’t work as I imagined them.
For example, the former I believed would notify me if someone replied to a post of mine only. My inbox would be flooded with emails for every additional comment added and it became cumbersome very quickly. I no longer use these and resort to “Ctrl+F my user name” to check on whether I’ve had replies.
I would absolutely support this website if there were merch. I’m a merch fiend. I want all the merch.
Content-wise, this website is the best. Don’t change.
Agreed on
I think the forums would provide the much-needed outlet we need to discuss some topics at-length, without the tiresome back-and-forth that often occurs in the comments.
Are you still open to guest posts/editorials? I had a blast writing one for the website pre-season and would love to do so again if the website and other Watchers navigating here enjoyed those.
That’s all I can think for now. Keep up the great work, love it here. 🙂
I, too, was being sarcastic, in case anyone can’t tell 🙂
I liked both a lot a few years ago and miss them still!
I follow you on twitter. It’s great to get the news so fast! Keep it up!
And I would buy some merchandize with “always support the buttom”-theme xD but only if it’s not too expensive/available for European countries.
I know that will probably not happen, because it’s a lot of work, but I always thought a youtube canal for the site would be a nice thing to have. Things that could be uploaded to it could be The Daily/Weekly Raven 2.0 or the podcast. – A nice side effect is that it might even generate a little bit of ad revenue.
1. I would use an iPhone app.
2. An improved reply function in comment threads would be nice–one in which conversations get clustered together and indented under the initial comment rather than just listed. This would eliminate a good deal of jumping between spaced out comments in a more heavily commented on article.
Lion of Night,
Oh oh oh. I’m also always curious to hear the WotW staff’s general impressions of episodes, news, castings etc!
In terms of the good, I appreciate and applaud you all for having the most current and accurate GoT reporting. I always feel that I’m completely up-to-date with anything and everything going on with the filming/cast, and for that, my hats off. *Slight bow* Also, I like that you guys read the comment section. I don’t know why that pleases me so, but it does. Makes me feel like there’s a lifeguard at the community pool. :p I love the cross site arguments and editorials (although, please feature individuals who have bothered to actually watch the season. I felt like the inclusion of that one guy was an insult to our collective intelligence). Basically, everything really rocks. Keep doing what you’re doing.
As far as suggestions, I think you have a lot of intelligent people on here who can make valid arguments (for either side of a debate) that are being underutilized. Perhaps you should pick a topic, let everyone submit a “piece” on it, pick the best two (pro and con) and feature them. It’ll certainly spark up debates.
Also, can we have a “bookmark” sort of thing for the comment section? Its such a burden to have to scroll through a million comments to get back to the last one I left off on. I would like to be able to simply return to the last comment I read and continue from there.
…and yes! I would totally buy a shirt from this place (preferably a v-neck, or a hoodie. *Cough, cough* Just saying).
I’ll add my vote against a nesting system for the comments. Comments in list form are easier to navigate through and (most important) you won’t easily miss new replies.
Other than that, I think an app isn’t really necessary (the mobile version of the site works fine for me) but I would like a spoiler button in the comment box.
a) I love the site, you guys have the best, freshest information (and then others steal it from you).
b) If at all possible, I’d like more giveaways and competitions open to Europe (for bonus points also rigged so that I win).
c) You can bet your derrieres I’d buy your T-shirt. Or a mug. Or a fridge magnet. Possibly all of the above.
d) List form comments have their downsides and so do nested ones. I think I’d prefer nested comments, though.
A spoiler button
No like/dislike button because it creates more negativity. We should encourage posting and not drive away because of disagreement. My posts would probably get a dislike.
Merchandise would be cool. T shirts, coffee mugs, hats , etc. I would buy something to support your work
I would download your app for my devices.
One of the other sites had an article about Littlefinger and his motives. Maybe do articles focused on a character and their journey. I had a discussion about LF w/ a poster about his relationship with Sansa. It was good to dive into a specific character. You can make it Unsullied friendly too.
Have a spoiler section like you did w/ the finale leak. If you want to spoil then go right ahead. Give those people a space to spoil each other. As we head into next season, there will be leaked episodes and scenes. Hopefully less than last year. It is going to happen. Internet age and all. They link and talk about the leaked material. No one else gets spoiled in the other parts of the site.
You guys run a good site. I am new and it has been good so far. Some good discussions about various topics. Some fun speculationabout casting. Joking around about every picture of a tower being the TOJ. Every castle surrounded by woods being Deepwood Motte. Good stuff.
Another vote for comment nesting.
I quite like opinion and analysis pieces. Given that none of know that much about what will happen next season, I think it is the perfect time to have both Sullied and Unsullied prediction threads, but general analysis pieces would also be great.
Personally, I don’t think the forum will ever work on this site, because the site is very news-oriented. I know people asked for it, but I would get rid of it altogether, because a weak forum kind of brings the quality of the whole site down for a new site viewer .
Apart from news / behind the scenes / sightings / castings/ leaks / crew and cast tweets / etc. my favorite content by far is the WotW’s team writting: curtain calls, essays, speculations, reviews, etc. Pretty much all your original writting is a pleasure to read. Even without any hard news, I’d still follow WotW just to read this.
Personally, I’m not really interested in t-shirts, mugs and various items. But I appreciate that you have these for fans who do enjoy them.
Generally really happy with the site. I wish searching older posts was easier, I mostly use Google to find things on the site.
I like the idea of the like/up-vote button.
I would like to see best comments of the week, or best new theories presented in the comments as a weekly post.
Overall, I am really pleased with this site, although I agree with this:
And this:
I almost got spoiled about Shireen. I am glad there was a warning from Sue about it at the end of the article. I clicked out of it immediately.
Lauren,
agreed with the “like” or upvote/downvote feature and would also like an app for iPhone
YES! I also dislike the upvote/downvote system. That highlight system sounds cool 🙂
One news site that I visit has two metrics “Well argued” and “I agree” with yes/no buttons for both. That is in my opinion a lot better that upvote/downvote system. The highlight system with for example helpful/interesting/funny seems more appropriate for fan site though. It would also be unique (at least I haven’t seen system like that).
Other than that the site is great. I also like opinion pieces/guest articles because those tend to develop discussion.
From reading the rest of the suggestions…..
Yes, for sure a “like” vote/button. Don’t care about the “don’t like”.
Nested comments. Sometimes I don’t reply because the post is so far up thread, you have to wonder if the original poster would even see it.
And one more vote for the message board. Just today there is an off topic comment that will generate comments. So maybe a “speculation” header? We are all pretty much flying blind at this point.
Clustering sounds like a good idea. That way you don’t have to hunt to see replies for your post. With the time difference from overseas posters, I can’t comment right away. They comment when it is 3 or 4 am in the U.S. I need to sleep. It would be more organized. I could find my original post and see all the replies.
I’m still pretty new to this site and I love it, wish I’d found it sooner. I agree with all the better organized comments section. I’m a techno-dork so I don’t know if it is possible, but could a system be set up where the page jumps to the last comment posted. That happens on another site I follow and it saves so much time scrolling through posts I’ve already read.
That way leads to madness. Plenty of people here are already predisposed to acute butthurt, when they start tallying votes the condition likely becomes chronic. Fatal, even.
This! I really enjoy this site, especially the news, the editorials, the interview round ups, and the discussions about the show’s (and also the books’) implications.
I participate in every single poll, but seldom see any discussion on the results? (Sorry, this is professional deformation as I am a market researcher)
However, in the comments section sometimes it becomes a bit chaotic. Somebody posts an interesting theory or news, and immediately after a troll posts something completely unrelated, and some people answer the first poster and then in between there is a barage of comments against the second poster, and new conversations sprung up… It is kind of difficult to follow up separate conversations. Netting responses could be really useful to follow conversations, and determine early on if you are interested in that topic or not.
Sometimes I stop reading when it becomes an open war between show advocates and book purists, “x” character haters and defenders…, probably missing other posts that may be really interesting.
I agree. Downvoting is just a negative thing. We have enough negativity in the internet already.
I was about to post this. But I think it is absolutely something WOTW should do. Oz or Axe in drag and doing a nice Julia Child/Swedish Chef riff would be fun.
Rafael,
You’ll still get people feeling slighted if they don’t receive as many “likes” as they feel they should. Yes, it is just that important to some people. There will also be others who, after receiving a bumper crop of “likes”, will start peacocking.
It’s bad juju all around.
Little Flower,
Love both these suggestions
True. I like how Tower of the Hand handles “like” button though. It doesn’t show how many likes posts have but it gives stars when a post has certain amount of likes. For example one star appears when a post has 3 likes – 2 stars with 7 likes – 3 stars with 15 likes etc. (maybe the numbers are too small but you get the idea)
Edit: Because only the admin guys know the exact like count and nobody (well the admin guys know) knows how many likes are needed for certain star count there isn’t that much of bandwagoning and the comments which get highlighted really get highlighted (if that makes sense)
Yup. It scares people out of posting because they won’t get a like vote. It pits posters against each other more than sullied and unsullied. It would be endorsing a riff. The WOTW crew tries to eliminate that as much as possible. Sue tells people to stop insulting each other and be more civil. A like/ dislike button would undo that effort. It would get out of control.
I would like to take back my original comment to align more with this… Also, T-shirts
good idea!
I love this site – 9 out of 10!
If you absolutely insist on making some changes/improvements, here are a few things I wouldn’t mind seeing:
– technical stuff: maybe a way to make it clearer who responds to whom (not sure how: it looks weird if there are too many levels – or maybe just one sublevel?)
– content: I would like to see more speculation, and maybe some more editorials. (But please no cocktails.)
– App: not necessary, but if you do one, would you make it usable on windows phone as well?
– social media: maybe use it more independently? It sometimes seems like the social media sites function as link distribution platforms for the site, which is totally ok, but I think there is more potential in those different formats.
– forum: I’m also not sure if it will take off. It seems that most people rather discuss things in the comments – so that’s where I would focus my efforts (see first dash)
Hey, I am the illegitimate spawn of Paul and Julia Child. 😉 While I know this is all light hearted….I would leave a GoT themed recipe every week based on content of the episode. Just for kicks and grins.
/having fun
True. Maybe system with likes always leads to damnation 😀
I agree that there is many problems with a system that permits you to like. It changes how you initially perceive a comment. I still like the system in Tower where the starred posts are quite rare (maybe one post in 50 posts). Anyway I haven’t noticed peacock effect there (of course it’s quite small site and also the guys there seem to be quite mature).
Rafael said:
” (of course it’s quite small site and also the guys there seem to be quite mature).”
*falls on floor laughing arse off*
/just kidding there Rafael
I like the site fine the way it is. But here’s a couple of thing I’ll throw out.
The first has been mentioned many times unthread – a easier way to hide spoilers. Like if we could just highlight the text we want to hide and click a “spoiler” button to cover it up.
The second is one I haven’t seen mentioned – I’d love it if you guys could work out an arrangement with some of the other SOI&F/GoT sites to put a list of links to each others sites somewhere handy like at the top of the page. I’ve seen that done with several sites dedicated to things like politics and I think back in the day they even had one for Lord of the Rings sites. (I thing it may even be called a ring of sites). It would likely benefit traffic on all of the sites participating.
Aside from that, I think the up/down arrows or “like” buttons aren’t very useful. I post on sites that include those and to be honest I rarely even notice how many up or down arrows posters have, including myself.
I’m kind of torn on the “nesting” of threads discussion. So far I haven’t found it hard to navigate the threads but I guess if they get really long, nesting could be a good thing.
Agreeing with many others, here’s a list of my thoughts:
* comments in list form so you can follow a conversation easily.
* like/dislike buttons are a nice idea but very open to abuse. Lots of people already do a quick post to say they like someone else’s thoughts so it could be left as is.
* an abuse button, not sure if anyone has mentioned this or there is a facility and I’ve totally missed it? But something to click which goes straight to the mods to alert them to a potentially deletable post. They do a very good job but can’t be on top of everything all the time.
* merchandise: if you do mugs you have to have “Always support the bottom” on the underside so it’s on show when drinking 😀
* donations: I don’t have much money but you’re welcome to some of it if it helps.
* library of links? No idea if this is feasible or there’s any demand, but people often post links to clips, interviews, twitter messages etc in the comments and if you want to find them again after a while it can be a tortuous process. Just a page where things are grouped together under headings like funny stuff; GRRM; D&D; FX; etc, whatever’s appropriate. Oh and talking of links, if you have spoilers hidden the names of links still show up as normal, which could be a major spoiler if they are labelled accurately.
That’s it, thanks to everyone for all their hard work on the site and my fellow posters for being my surrogate GoT family 😀
I agree with this – an upvote/downvote might encourage the trolls to downvote folk with a different view.
T-shirts sounds nice – the only thing I have against it is that I live in the UK and the cost of postage might be pricey.
Content wise, you all do a great job. No changes necessary.
Like everyone else, a button for spoilers would be appreciated.
One other thing that would be nice is a clearer and stricter policy concerning leaked episode material in case that happens again. I never knew when I was hitting the “show spoilers” button if I was going to get book adaptation discussion or leaked episode discussion. I’m assuming the button was probably meant for the former.
Perhaps banning episode leak discussions from the regular comment section and allowing them in the forum would work. That way people who wanted to talk about them could and everyone else could easily avoid the spoilers.
I got spoiled about Shireen without wanting to and it really pissed me off. I spent a lot less time on this site than I wanted to because the comment sections were so unsafe for avoiding episode spoilers. A few people even flounced from the site for good. People can’t be counted on to be polite and realize that not everyone wanted episode spoilers, so unfortunately it has to be regulated. I really don’t want to have to avoid this site during the on season again.
Oh, and I’m not for an upvote/downvote system. I think it would just encourage cliquishness and popularity contests.
Marouli,
Thanks for the link to the Owen Teale (Alliser Thorne) video but where he said some people had been trolling his kids on social media because of what his character did to Jon Snow I wondered do some of these people have fertilizer for brains……………
I love this site, and everything about it! I love the content provided, writer’s opinions and thoughts, and the care for unsullied like myself!
I echo most of the suggestions already mentioned here:
– Comments and discussion – I definitely agree that the comments section should be revised to be more user friendly… how it is done, I don’t know… im not a web designer by any means…. I like the nesting of comments because it keeps conversations together, sometimes I don’t care to read about the Book differences or “Sansa Gate” and its so hard to skip through all these comments… also, I went back to some of the posts that had 600 comments if I missed a few days and it was hard to read…. The comments bring out some of the best and most interesting discussions… if only we could embed the news stories with the forums but I don’t think anyone will ever use the forums… its too late for that! Agree with someone who said to remove the forum if its not being used because its not attractive to a new visitor… also if you could show more clearly current conversations going on in different comments sections on the main page, that would encourage more people to visit and join in the discussion.
I think itll be hard to control off topic conversations, but this is why it is fun…. |Will JON COME BACK” comes up in almost every thread. but with nested comments I think it would keep things more organized. you can also included the “view replies” options so that the comments section is not huge! Many websites do that! it would be nice to clearly show who is talking to who. Thinking about it gets me super psyched if you make the changes especially with all the interesting topics coming. As an unsullied… we didn’t get much action because we had to remain separate!
– I would love to see more writer thoughts and opinions.. especially Oz!!!!!!!
– I don’t agree with the like/dislike button… it may cause more argument and discourage people from posting…
– I would love a user friendly app, especially for commenting… I experience FOMO when interesting convos occur without me, and because its so hard to read through the comments, sometimes I don’t bother.
– A search engine to find old postings
– It would be nice to easily copy paste a picture directly into a comments box.
– These two options: Notify me of follow-up comments by email and Notify me of new posts by email don’t work for me!!!!!
If I think of more ill repost!
EDIT: I just noticed there is a search engine! LOL. I have never used it so I don’t know if it is easy to find things… Also, some websites comment’s section appear immediately after it is posted without having to refresh the whole page… that would be nice. Like more instantaneous!
I’d like to see more op-eds on specific aspects of production.
I.e. I wrote up this handy basic database of quotes from Michele Clapton about the region-by-region costumes:
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Costumes
But it is *only* a collection of quotations and thematic notes.
Otherwise, I don’t know a damned thing about sewing and costume-making.
😀
I’m happy to deliver some laughs!
Most of the guys there are very negative towards the show nowadays which is sad but I go there for the book related stuff anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
Cersei’s Brain,
Oh god you just spoke my heart strangely enough i think that you’re referring to same person/s that i seriously have problem with some of their comments
Basically, expand/bring up the forums a bit more. The forums have got a lot of potential, but barely anyone uses them. I think adding a tab on the sidebar with the last five forum posts listed would already make a big difference.
Also, I’d like to see some more prediction pieces, not only from Oz, but from Sullied people as well. WiC had this ‘Scripting’ series for the first two seasons. Something like this would be cool (although not necessarily scripting as that would be way too hard and specific now that we’ve gone beyond the books and what is based on the books has big deviations anyway).
Ghost’s Lunch,
I mentioned it before that arc by arc discussion would be fantastic hopefully we’ll get that in near future
JCDavis,
Can you believe that I never even noticed that there was a “forums” written at the beginningof this page??
Now thatyou mentioned it I saw that there actually are forums, lol. So I think your suggestion is on point.
Daughter of Winter,
Yep – really like Lulu’s Moms idea about a notification button to mods for alert of these types of trolls. Really hate it when they bully – inappropriately comment on some of the young actors.
Also – I would do anything to support WOTW – donations, merchandise, area parties/meetings, etc etc
Knight of Storm’s End,
I can’t agree more this upvote/downvote system seems only good in suggestion
Cersei’s Brain,
EXACTLY i mean it’s annoying that just because they don’t like the character they think that it’s ok to insult the actresses/actors who plays them so i hope the owners somehow clarify/warn those who behave like that.
This
Cersei’s Brain,
Also you mentioned young actors and i must say that somehow confirmed which commenter/s we both referring to here.
I didn’t even realise there were forums here!
I just found the link in the menu and the front page doesn’t display properly on my iPhone.
I also could see no way back to here apart from going back in my browser.
EDIT: I see there is a ‘home’ button which works fine, so scrub that, but was wondering if it might be possible to condense the content that shows up there (eg you could have a button to only show titles rather than the first few lines, too. That way there could be more per page if you’re looking for a previous post).
Just to chime in on some of the suggestions, I do think a spoiler button up in the toolbar of the comment area would be good. I have no problem using the spoiler code, but it seems like if there isn’t a button right there, some will use it as an excuse not to cover their spoilers. The button would make it so there’s no excuse, thus making it easier to ferret out those who are actually trying to spoil people. Moreover, it would prevent the lil typos which, at times, leave spoilers uncovered despite the poster’s best intentions.
I love the idea of being able to go to my last comment and reading from there.
I also like the idea of a small selection of WotW merch.
I am one who is not in favor of a like button, or up-vote/down-vote. I’m sure some of this stems from not being into the whole facebook culture where that sort of thing seems important to people. Personally, if someone likes what I said, great, we can discuss it, or not. I don’t need the reinforcement. Conversely, if someone doesn’t like what I said, that’s cool, too. They’re welcome to disagree. It seems to me to turn into a sort of scoring with “likes,” or whatever, and makes into a kind of competition.
I also prefer the comments section the way it is, as opposed to the comments being “nested.” For me, it just makes things more difficult to follow.
Most importantly, thanks for all all of you do! I’m not sure of the exact date of the “anniversary” of this site starting, although it’s been almost exactly a year, but it’s so beautiful to see the success it has had and how so many from the old place rallied to the cause!
Keep up the great work!!! 🙂
1. Site Merch – I’d buy a T-shirt for sure.
2. integrated spoiler button
3. nested comments – With the ability to follow a particular comment thread.
4. some form of like/dislike/agree button. I hear a lot of people complaining about people being negative and getting all sad inside when the either get too many dislikes or not enough likes. My feeling is that we are (or should be) all adults here. If you get upset over the number of likes/dislikes your posts get, you might think about quitting the internet. We can’t always win in life. Post at your own risk! Frankly, I’d rather like a comment than write an agreement post.
I didn’t even know that there was a forum here. So the idea to link new forum posts to the front page (like on westeros.org) is a good one. Other than that, this site is great!
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
July 25th… and yes, there will be a Nameday party.
The abuse button is good too. We can directly alert the WOTW crew about spoilers, leaks, and bullying. It can get nasty in on season.
If you can handle the server costs by posting only “most news worthy” articles and not any “more reddit type” of content I’m fine with that, there’s other sites, social media etc. where I read that other stuff.
Don’t care for any kind of opinion pieces where self declared experts gets to write their one persons opinion about something. Such as what dragon demands suggested above. The posters will just fight with each other over what changes they liked/disliked. That is the content for clickbait websites where “journalists” write controversial columns/articles on purpose to get traffic.
Nesting or some other solution for the comments section is needed and one of the big reasons is there are so many posters going offtopic. Deleting all comments that contain any offtopic stuff should teach people. Of course I’m fine with a single comment marked with OT and then a poster or two replying to that.
Example: the dragon demands completely offtopic post about the changes from the books deserves to be deleted.
Upvote button: absolutely not, “friends” will upvote “friends” and regular posters will get upvotes no matter what they say.
Downvote button: absolutely yes, there are too many trolls and hate posts allowed by mods and admins. I guess because “freedom of speech.”
Also the offtopic posts, for example the dragon demands completely offtopic post about the changes from the books deserves to be downvoted to oblivion if the mods for reasons or others chose not to delete the post.
Would love a reddit type of downvote when a post getting enough downvotes will be automatically hidden/collapsed.
When a person gets enough of these collapsed/hidden posts mods could get involved and decide if the person needs to get banned or sent an email or something.
Mods would also see if the posts deserved to be downvoted or like was feared above because “reasons”. for example valid criticism towards acting performance downvoted because they dared to criticise someones favourite.
Dark Sister,
What do you mean by off topic?
So if the article is about a casting…. and then comments go into other story lines.. those should be deleted?
Yes, I can believe it. Before here and “over there” I had never commented before except for a message board/forum. So I am used to those and also used to having threads that can be started by most any one for any reasonable topic. Usually there are separate forums for everyday stuff, then for movies or books.
It does take more moderation. I was a moderator on The One Ring. Com in the “Manwe” forum. It was a nightmare, after four years, I was cooked. 🙂
Anyway, I think that people could have fun using the forums here, especially during this down time, waiting for news. Instead of using the existing posts for off topic thoughts. And contrary to two other comments, I don’t think it takes anything away from the overall website. That didn’t make sense to me and it didn’t turn me off when I first came here. *shrugs*
JCDavis,
I said it could turn off someone because they’re not being used
Forums are great.. I used that for sports!
Hi.
I dunno. There have been a number of guest pieces that were pretty good: Knurk and Morgoth had such submissions. I trust the WOTW staff to weed out the garbage.
– Easier spoiler button
– Nested comments
– “Support the Bottom” undies 😀
Otherwise you guys are doing an awesome job. Love the site, looking forward to at least two more years of lurking around here on a near-daily basis!
You guys do an excellent job. I followed you over from the site-that-shall-not-be-named, as well. I’ve told Oz several times it was because I loved his comments and recaps, but I have grown fond of all of you. You do a fine job of monitoring and weeding out the more obnoxious posts and keeping us all aware of what’s going on. The posters to this site are a good bunch, too, friendly, patient, helpful and intelligent. It’s fun, and fun to look forward to.
I wish there was a map or two somewhere on here. When there were those big arguments about why Jon brought the wildlings back north of the wall instead of south, a common map showing where Hardhome was, and Eastwatch would have been good for settling some of those discussions. Plus, it’s hard to remember where all the towns are. I’ve come across a couple pretty good ones, but didn’t know the criteria or legalities of uploading them.
Yeah, I would buy a T-shirt. Just make sure you have them in XXL. For the big-chested guys, like it looks like Axey is, and for some of us others who may have some big ol’ titties that need to be accommodated. What?
I’m not sure about grouping replies under the original comment. If a comment was made early-on all the replies would be missed. I kind of like have the last comment of whatever type easily available. Someone was kind enough to tell me about clicking on the names to see what the reply was talking about. That has helped a lot.
Thanks to J C Davis for mentioning the forum section. Yes, I would use that. For some reason, I’m intrigued with where Cersei’s storyline might go. The forum is a good place for that thread. I admit to being guilty of going off-topic when an additional thread or two shows itself. We could just say to each other to carry it over to the forum. Or not. I don’t know, the way it is now seems to work for me. But I’ll try out some new ways if that’s what everybody wants.
Hard to believe this is all volunteer. You do a professional job, and that must eat up a lot of time. If it’s any comfort to you, your work is appreciated and respected.
Turncloak,
Upvote/downvote would be fabulous – often posters are so eloquent, I’d rather just upvote than hit “reply” just to say “This” or the equivalent. Or just downvote a troll 😉
I also agree that the panels with the other websites were great, more of those please!
“Like” buttons are for people whose mommies didn’t love them.
I have run out of “likes” for my own post.
The Dragon Demands,
Awesome analysis.
Before the season, I would have said no to speculation. Spec posts were one of those things that helped to ruin the other sight, considering a certain writer over there managed to spoil every major event left in all of his posts. But now that we’re all semi-Unsullied, it would be cool to see people like Sue and Kenny speculate about the future along with Oz.
This.
But seriously, I agree. I’ve never understood this teen fascination with posting selfies on FB or wherever just to get likes. It must be insecurity or something. My husband’s gf does it and she’s 48 or something FFS! Mind you she is a gold digging home wrecker who steals other women’s husbands and is always dolled up to the nines. And she looks much younger, probably due to cosmetic surgery and Botox etc. So beware these women. My son told me that everyone at work hates her guts and when he said he had to leave early to take care of his little sister because she couldn’t (she was 14 at the time and she’d taken care of her a lot before I found out -after she proved she was a raving lunatic to me on the phone she promised never to visit/take care of them again, so she’s a liar to boot), one of the workers said “don’t you mean your sister has to take care of her?”. And he told all of them to lie to me about it even though he knew she’s a lying psycho bitch.
Sorry….. Where was I?
Oh yes, needing ‘likes’ seems incredibly silly and smacks of insecurity. I would suggest that if we were to have like/dislike buttons we only use them to either ‘agree’ with the post or to report a problem post and that there’s no incentive to over post to collect ‘likes’. I for one couldn’t give a f*ck about getting likes, but it’d be nice to give someone a thumbs up. Maybe keep the ‘scores’ hidden or something.
I hate those boards where you’re greyed out until you’ve got so many.
Anyway, if ppl simply disagree with a comment they can reply saying why.
Ok I’ll shut up now.
I am a bit of a collector of tshirts. I snagged up the likes of Lena’s NOH8, Doge the Direwolf, and Sex Pistols style “Fuck the King” designs in a heartbeat. I would definitely purchase and proudly wear a cool WotW shirt if done right! 🙂
I like those occasional guest posts from readers’ opinions about either a general or a specific topic. Maybe you could do one or two posts about an in-depth opinion survey of about 5 readers with differing opinions on a topic (it would be best suited, I think, for discussions regarding controversial character moments or epic moments).
First, I want to thank the site owners for their time, effort, and putting up with the all of us.
That said:
* Performance of the site on iOS is distractingly slow. I’m not sure if this is a javascript issue, or if images load r e a l l y S L O W. But for a site that isn’t that high traffic, it’s very noticeable.
* For those of us who don’t live on the site, it would be good if we could find out faster if someone has replied to a comment. Some sites I use have a “Your Comments” page where you can see where you’ve made comments, and if anybody has replied to the comment. It’s also good if there’s some link to the replies.
* I’m not sure how notification works (“Notify me of follow-up comments by email.”), except that it doesn’t work for me. Might be nice to fix this 🙂
* In general, it’s hard to find comments or replies. Nesting might help, or a link from the original post to the replies.
Wow, a lot of great suggestions. I’d also like to add my thanks to the people who run this site. I am so glad I found this place and it’s become my first stop when I want to catch up on GoT news.
Please, please, please keep this place as a Show-only viewer (Unsullied) friendly site. There are tons of places elsewhere more focused on discussion of book content vs show content etc, and with this season being more contentious in terms of plot changes, I really appreciated being able to come here and discuss/speculate about the show on its own merits.
I also would love to read some articles or op-eds about major arcs or character development. I think that would help keep everyone engaged in the story over the hiatus. I also like the idea of featuring the technical/behind the scenes aspects of the show such as costume, set or prop design, fight choreography, coordination of the extra crowd scenes and so on.
I confess that the idea that someone might drop a GoT themed cocktail or meal recipe once in a while actually really appeals to me.
Hopefully the forums will get used/featured more as a place we can go to continue specific discussion topics.
I’m not a fan of down-voting at all. But a report button might help with trolls, abusive users. If some sort of upvote/like system is in the cards, I like the concept of stars for a certain number of recs, rather than actual vote count displayed.
All in all, I really enjoy coming here and look forward to visiting during the lean months too. Keep up the good work!
I’m always up for merchandise.
Up/Downvote buttons would be nice, especially if there’s a low-end cutoff point so we can vote trolls out of existence.
Giveaways and contests are always good.
Whatever you do to the comment section…please don’t do it with Disqus. I’ll cry real tears.
Abuse button idea is aces.
I’m down with just about everything suggested honestly, with the exception of cross-site stuff. It was a good idea, but that last roundtable had me pretty bummed.
Ok, now that I’ve read all the comments I forget the questions hahaha
I like the idea of a like button – sometimes I don’t want to say anything but would ‘like’ to agree with the poster, without making the comments listings any longer.
I don’t see the need for upvote, downvote or dislikes – if you don’t like something, comment why.
I think a ‘report to the mod’ button would be good – it could be used to highlight spoiler comments as well as the occasional troll pitas that are out there.
I think you all do a terrific job with the posts and always want more. The quality of the posts is top notch.
If you are thinking about tshirts, mugs etc, consider Zazzle.com or CafePress.com – you give them the pictures, they handle all the merchandise. The dog rescue (Col Potter Cairn Rescue Network) I work with uses both (cause each has its followers) and they are good quality merchandise with little harassment to the group. For an all volunteer organization, you don’t need to get into the whole sales mode – you just do the occasional promotions. Here’s a link to our groups Café Press so you can see an example, The dog on the very bottom on the bench is mine. http://www.cafepress.com/colpottercairn On Café Press, you can get Polo Shirts, tshirts, mouse pads, boxes, tote bags, Sweat Shirts, baby bibs, mugs, a ton of other stuff. I did get one tshirt from them that was not the quality of print I expected, and when I contacted them, they sent a replacement at no charge – and told me to keep the first one as well. They are a good company and its low impact to you.
I hesitate to want changes to the comments section since I think threading comments would make it harder to find new ones all thru the section, but it would make it easier to know what was being responded to…. so I’ll just take what you do.
I don’t use many mobile apps cause I hate jamming my phone up with every little thing and I’m a bit paranoid about what info each app uses about me.
Again, thanks for everything. Yours is a page I go to every day.
In regard to comment nesting, I would say limit it to only one level of nesting. That would be sufficient to keep a related sub-thread grouped together, while maintaining a chronological reading order within the sub-thread, so it stays more like a shared conversation rather than a jumbled pile of comments. It also avoids the problem of deeply nested comments becoming crushed into a really narrow column.
I don’t mind an upvote/downvote system to give people a quick way to express “I agree” or “Enough already, troll” without having to actually post a reply, but please don’t use the voting system to reorder the comments, because that totally breaks the conversational flow.
Also, showing the individual up/down counts as well as the net score is nice, because it can distinguish between a controversial post with lots of votes on both sides vs a merely uninteresting post that no one bothered to vote on. If the votes don’t actually do anything (other than show up on the screen), it can give people some feedback on how their posts are received without forcing people into a popularity contest/echo chamber just to get their posts seen.
As others have noted, a spoiler code button would be nice as well, or at least move or copy the “Spoiler Alert!” box that explains how to create spoiler tags down to the bottom of the comments (just below “Leave a Reply”, for example) so people can see it when they’re posting a comment. While it’s not a problem for me, I’ve seen quite a few people asking how to do it, and I think putting it at the bottom would help.
I would like to have a “mark as spoiler” button at each comment, so that we can help the mods to keep to comment section spoiler free
Like most of the guys and gals who have posted before me, let me first congratulate the creators of this fine website. You guys have been doing an amazing job and for this, you have my thanks.
Suggestions:
– i would agree with Morgoth that it would be great to have the episode guides and fast guides for each season back like we had in the original site before the takeover.
– a map of Planetos would be great as well, as someone mentioned.
– a “What We Know About Season 6” index page would be great, with the info in point format and links to the articles.
– The roundtables with creators/members of other sites were fascinating. Would love to have more of those, as well as the occasional guest posts by them.
– I don’t really think that we need an app for the site, tbh.
I think the comments should be left as is. And that the forums should be utilized (I too didn’t realize this site had them.) IF the forums start getting used regularly that should actually cut down on the comments going off-topic as they do. And as someone suggested, if they do, just say “Take it to the forums.”
I’m sure that some people with experience will be happy to help moderate if it becomes needed. I know that I would be one to offer up to help (I’ve got nearly 20 years experience modding forums), and again, I’m sure others would as well. (westeros.org should *not* be the only active GOT forums out there!)
Oh no pls, no up/down buttons. Those serve no purpose to me and only cause more dissension then there already is at times. and no to like buttons, for the reasons expressed here: Knight of Storm’s End,
Would like spoiler buttons as well as an abuse button. Would also love a way to bookmark posts so I could return to the one I previously read, or a ‘mark all read’ button
I don’t like nesting comments at all; its easy to miss comments or lose the thread. I like the way it is here, esp since I can click on someone’s name to reread a post, then click back to return to where I was.
One thing that bothers me is trolls who pop in under different names and continue to get in the way of good discussions. Is there another way of registering that would keep that contained somewhat?
Also wondered about the forum section; its not used at all. What is its purpose? All of our discussions are here. If its meant to be a chat section of things not GOT, well, Im not sure Im all that interested, but if it is, then it needs to be set up in a way that encourages comments different from the posts.
Angela,
Have a spoiler section like you did w/ the finale leak. If you want to spoil then go right ahead. Give those people a space to spoil each other. As we head into next season, there will be leaked episodes and scenes. Hopefully less than last year. It is going to happen. Internet age and all. They link and talk about the leaked material. No one else gets spoiled in the other parts of the site.
I really liked this idea when I saw it done; made for a very interesting discussion without worrying about ruining it for others. Yes, more of this (tho hopefully next year, HBO will have their act together and not encourage leaks with screeners!)
I do like the forum exchanges; yes they sometimes are frustrating but I have gotten some interesting perspectives from them and think they can be useful and entertaining.
Re merchandise: I’d love a big mug, maybe with drogon on it, or a night shirt with my favorite character’s photo!
I really love the posts written by the mods; they are usually well written and very interesting. More of those pls (esp now in the off season)
I loved the voting of the season’s best – when is that going to start up for season 5?
And finally please do not change how wonderful all you folks are in what you do to keep this place running so smoothly. Its the only place I come to get GOT news, and really appreciate everything you do!
Oz, you’re so popular 😉
I don’t always agree with what Dragon Demands says but he/she does make some good points – I know it was quite a while ago but Dragon pointed out where another site had “borrowed” some of his/her written work without asking or acknowledgement. Perhaps – as has probably already been mentioned – a separate thread for changes from the books could be posted – that way, Unsullied – or Sullied who aren’t that bothered – would not have to get involved (although looking above at ash’s comment they maybe have appeared in the past). I don’t always open a thread on this site if I don’t think it would be of interest to me.
Dame of Mercia,
It just happened once, just before episode 10 aired, there was a huge leak that ultimately was a red herring, but nonetheless had enough people wanting to talk about it that sue opened up a spoiler post. Worked really well, at least for me, and I think that it kept spoilers from appearing in the other posts
Interesting perspective. I agree that needing “likes” is pathetic, same as when people fawn over certain posters – gimme a break. I have never cared like that about what others think of my posts, other than to be irritated at pedantic or patronizing or sexist comments. But even then that doesn’t drive me to upvote or downvote or whatever. I upvote when someone says something interesting, and downvote when someone’s a troll, simple. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time to read a comment from me unless I have something I want to contribute that’s different from “YEAH DUDE TOTALLY.” So that’s why I would love the upvote/downvote functionality for this site, as well as one of the reasons I moved to reddit/asoiaf and the Tower of the Hand because the commenting and discussion are a lot more satisfying for me there. I check this site mainly for news updates now and to see hilarious things from Lulu’s Mum because I’m SUCH A FAN OF KILLER PENGUINS.
That said after today spending time on some other sites for an unrelated series, I have to complain about having Disqus or other systems that make me login to the “same” login across different sites. For me that’s a violation of my privacy, not to mention they’re monetizing me by aggregating my data without my consent. There are tons of sites where I don’t comment because of these kinds of requirements, stifling debate and discussion. THAT SAID, in order to cut down on abuse/trolling, I’m happy to provide my email privately to the site owners (as is done here) in exchange for the privilege of commenting. There’s a balance, Interwebs!
The episode recaps need to be less of a scene-by-scene repeat of what we just saw, and more of an analysis and explanation.
We know what we just saw, we want to know your thoughts on what it means/signifies/forebodes/etc….
Allrighty, so heres my bag of cents:
Site upgrades: Any particular technical features that might be a useful addition to the site (cool buttons, layout alterations, fonts, etc.)
Please, no upvote/downvote thing. One of the reasons I come here is that I can read all the comments without having to dig them out of downvotes n then shake my head over why the hell those comments got downvoted. Same for nesting. Quoting works fine enough. What I would like is a ‘report’ button, to help the human moderators with weeding out the few comments that really should not be here. Now, I’m not sure if I should create more work by posting about them, or leave them unchallenged till they get seen. And yes. Would use forums if there was more content/discussion there. No, please don’t change the overall layout. I love, love, love the simplicity of it.
Content: Our news coverage will always be one of the primary components of what our team provides. Beyond that, would you like to see more editorials? Opinion pieces? Speculation? Cross-site discussions? Giveaways?
Yeah, n news coverage is why I’m here, because that’s what you guys really are best at….but I’m not here for much else.
*Editorials n opinion pieces: not sure you guys can still fill a gap that’s not been covered elsewhere, already. The chief reason I went elsewhere for episode recaps is the ones here mostly told what just was on screen, and had too little opinion/argument. Never listened to the podcasts, though.
*Speculation threads be lovely, especially the casting choice ones.
*Cross site discussions….yes, with a tight ish set of questions. What I’d be especially interested in is the art of tv making/storytelling in the visual medium. I mean, I know how storytelling gets done in books 🙂 Perhaps a cross site discussion with another long ish running tv series’ fan site? Hope this makes sense.
*Giveaways…meh. Not that interested in those.
*If we can do wishlist things: what I’d love to see is full(er) transcripts of panels n interviews. English is not my native language and I have a bit of a hearing problem, so they help a lot in understanding what was said. But yeah. They’re probably a pain to type out 🙂
WotW App: How important is it to you? Droid, iPhone or both? Would you utilize it? If so, what features would you like it to provide?
Would not use it.
Merchandise: Primarily T-shirts… Would you support it and buy one? And is there another form of merchandise you would like from the Wall (Watchers underwear, cufflinks, chaps, etc.)?
If I do buy merchandise, it’s usually t-shirts. But I don’t buy merchandise a lot. So no, would most likely not buy one.
Social Media: Hopefully you are all aware that we heavily utilize Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr already. Do you follow us on those platforms and are there other forms of social media we should be using?
I unfollowed you on Facebook because it was just links to the stuff that gets posted here, and during the season, some of the photos with those links spoiled what I hadn’t seen yet. Season is over now…does the FB page have content unique to it? If no, will not follow again.
Morgoth,
Agree about the upvote/downvote. It can lead to a certain level of ‘piling on’, which could lead to members being inhibited to post frankly. Already we can reply, as I’m doing here, and we all feel free to call a troll a troll. IMO, we don’t need a feature that might promote contention. I would not want WOTW to turn into Westeros.org.
Oh, the quoting functionality here is absolute shit. It’s a garbage salad, and that’s being kind.
[quote=”Username”]Ahhhhhh. That’s the stuff.[/quote]
Marouli,
Thank you Marouli for the Owen Teele interview. It’s always a pleasure to see and listen some of the other important characters in GoT that get less attention from the media. I was impressed by the way he refers to Kit Harington and also by how emotional he was about the scene.
Talking about emotional it made me remember this:
Sorry all for the disgression, but I guess this illustrates the importance of clustering comments… ;oP
GhostCR,
That video was awesome 🙂
My 2 cents..
Merchandise: T-shirts (will buy one)
Contest w/Prizes for those of us outside US
Thanks 😉
#gottarun
There are compelling arguments against the like/dislike feature. I’m not eloquent and to be honest I couldn’t think of the word ‘Agree’ when I was originally posting. I didn’t even think about people needing their egos stroked with a like/agree/concurrence system. I was just thinking that it’d be a lot easier, and a lot quicker to hit a button saying ‘This particular view is in line with a particular view that I also have and is in no way trying to ease or cause any possible butthurting’.
But, y’know, shorter.
GhostCR,
That was incredible! Thanks so much for that; I plan to watch that often during the off season.
Totes agree. Best JS tribute vid I’ve seen, and the scene with Tyrion and then Thorne reminded me that he’s a bar steward!
BeautyBrinne,
That’s how I feel, but many are opposed to it. Keeping numbers hidden to all but the recipient and mods may help.
Someone else suggested a star system, or you could have a colour-coding system or something.
I often post drivel just to get the later comments emailed to me, else I miss them. Reading in emails is quicker than trawling through everyday, so if it were possible to just activate that without posting I would only post if I really felt I had something to contribute.
Thanks. I just thought it would help with that situation. It won’t prevent everything but it will help some with spoilers and leaks.
I’ve just been using the forums for the first time and there are some issues with comments. Basically everything is tiny in comparison to these threads and really difficult to read, both when writing and reading posts. Also, there doesn’t seem to be an edit facility and spelling errors don’t come up automatically like they do on here (I am using a Mac computer, I realise it probably doesn’t work like that on some devices anyway).
Also, also, I might be a bit special but there are lots more buttons like the bold and italics ones above this comment box I’m typing in now, but I have no idea what most of them are and can’t really tell from the boxes themselves. Is it possible to write in them what they are if the words are short enough? Again because it’s all smaller over there it’s difficult to see what I’m looking at. Here I can see the “b” is bold and “i” italic but there you can’t really make that out.
Essentially what I am saying is please can you adjust things over there so they work the same as in the threads: font sizes, preview and editing facilities etc.
Finally, the reply facility there groups replies together so you can follow a conversation easily, that’s the way I would like the comments on the threads to work.
That’s it, thanks again 😀
Sorry, I’m back. Just to let your programming people know that in the forums, the spell check thingy doesn’t come up if I am typing an original post but does when replying to someone 🙂
Definitely more drink recipes and cologne ads. And maybe a post-episode videocast that never has any guests that have anything to do with the show? I mean sure, the “writing” is “good” and you have “legitimate coverage of the subject material” but you’re way behind other outlets in the categories that count.
harma dogememe,
Mmmm, I think I know of a website I could introduce you to………
Hey, Lulu’s Mum, really good points that you brought up. I’ve been hovering around some other sites that have nested postings and DON’T have the reply and quote buttons like we do here. I don’t like posting to them as nearly much. When replies are nested, you can’t tell what’s a new reply unless you scroll ALL the way through all the prior replies. (Unless I’m overlooking some special trick to tell where the new replies are.) That takes too much time. And those sites don’t have the amount of replies to a topic that we do here. I like the way we do it here.
Of course, those issues over on the forum page that you mentioned are valid and should be looked into.
Always support the bottom!
However, is it possible to add a “Jump to the bottom” or “View new content” button (s) at the top of the page? On my tablet, it is necessary to wait for all comments to load before scrolling down to read or making a comment. Call me impatient!
Generally speaking, I’m happy with most of the content & layout here. I really appreciate the analytical pieces from Marc & Sue, while Oz is humorous & I enjoy his speculative posts. I like that there are occasional editorial pieces or submissions from commenters, as well as the cross-site discussions (though the most recent one seemed to make people lose their minds). I love reading casting & filming news here, too.
Spoiler & abuse buttons (trolls seem to have gotten worse lately) would be appreciated in the comments section, as well as improving the quote function. The comment ordering needs help, too. I don’t know if nesting is the answer, but many have offered suggestions which might be useful.
Probably wouldn’t use an app for my phone; might buy some WotW stuff; I follow on FB regularly & sporadically on Tumblr; I used to follow more often on Twitter but not so much anymore.
Thanks to the admins & contributors who keep the site full of great content. It must’ve been difficult to abandon the WiC ship & strike out on your own but you’ve built a nice little place for all of us to hang out.
Khal Cass,
I’d buy a coffee mug like that. And I would download an app if they had one.
I might even pay for one if it wasn’t too expensive.
Marc’s post today reminded me of something I hope you continue, even tho we are no longer ‘in the books’ so to speak. His Anatomy of a Throne columns are among my favorite regular posts, and this latest one is as usual very interesting and though provoking. I’d love to see more of these!