Current Events > My thoughts on the recent changes by fandom. Do you agree?

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is more a stream of consciousness so forgive me.

I feel the same way about how fandom is treating gamefaqs as I did when under armour bought out Endomondo.

The recent changes give me personally the impression that they dont respect the sites long history, its loyal user base or its cultural background and any references to these things are simply PR / Marketing things. This may be way off track so Im willing to see what the next few months bring.

In my opinion it feels like Gamefaqs has gone from a passion project for some guy simply wanting to create a decent online community and comprehensive knowledge repository for gamers to use; to simply another asset a larger company has bought up to try and make some money off. Its no longer a community. Its simply an asset. In my head any talk of wanting to grow the community is simply read as driving more traffic to increase ad revenue.

To be fair though. We are still in the early days and emotions are bound to be high after recent announcements. My own included. Some of the issues raised are fair. I simply disagree with the proposed actions to deal with the issues.

If Fandom want to appear to be acting in good faith they can start by actually implementing new features and functionality. DToast I thought has been good and maybe like Allen hes been put in an impossible position. Like the mods they simply have to deal with whatever head office wants to do.

I have noticed though that in recent weeks and months feedback tickets are taking longer and longer to be actioned. My last one took over a month to get a response on. I hope this doesnt mean DToast is starting to lose the passion he initially showed the site.

There also feels to be a disconnect between fandom the company and guys like DToast assigned to the site who is simply doing his best on the site. Weve lost so many older users and significant figures who genuinely cared about the site to be replaced by vague references to policies from head office and overarching strategies. It would be good to get some concrete clarification on what the future holds and a clear road map in plain English and not just vague corporate speak.

Second post

I dont think TimmyQuimby understands the boards.

SHRlKE posted...

The recent changes give the impression that they dont respect the sites long history, its loyal user base or its cultural background. This may be way off track so Im willing to see what the next few months bring.

They do not.

SHRlKE posted...

If Fandom want to appear to be acting in good faith

I don't think they really do.

Rotterdammerung posted...

I dont think TimmyQuimby understands the boards.

Because he doesn't. He's been here what, a grand total of a few weeks?

SHRlKE posted...

they dont respect the sites long history, its loyal user base or its cultural background and any references to these things are simply PR / Marketing things.

Its simply an asset. In my head any talk of wanting to grow the community is simply read as driving more traffic to increase ad revenue.

I agree with these.

Rotterdammerung posted...

I dont think TimmyQuimby understands the boards.

I dont feel the social boards feature in Fandoms thinking or plans at all tbh. I feel they are indifferent to them and perhaps just seen as a remnant of another time to them that predates their involvement with the site.

Like any company looking to turn a profit that acquires another business. There are reasons and assets you bought the site for and that you want to keep and there are other aspects that dont really feature into your business plans at all.

Indifference is probably the word Id use to describe fandoms views of the social boards based on what Ive seen. They have a plan to make money from the site and the social boards dont factor into that whatsoever based on my reading of the feedback threads. Its all corporate speak and vague responses. The speech of an owner of the site who wants to make money. Not one who genuinely cares about the history of the site.

To be fair maybe thats what is needed. Maybe the site in this current climate just cant be run without the changes made. I dont know. Only the future will let us know how things really pan out.

Final bump.

Timmy: Boards? ls that like the comment section on our wikis?

My impression is that they want the social boards to look more like the Nonstop Gaming General board.