Email Notification Tweaks
We’ve been tweaking the email notifications a bit in response to user feedback, and I thought I’d just give a quick rundown of how it works. It’s changed a bit, so people may be confused.
Push not Pull
What differentiates our system a little from traditional forums is that we have a push model, not a pull model. In other words, the author/originator of an update gets to choose who will be notified, rather than people having to request to be notified.
Why did we go this route? On a traditional large-scale forum, there may be thousands of users, so it’s impractical to allow someone to spam them all with updates. By contrast, an Obsidian Portal campaign is a tightly cohesive group that often requires that everyone be up-to-speed on the latest info. Therefore, it makes sense to allow someone to dash off an update and have it sent to everyone else in the group, or a subset if they choose.
I didn’t get the email!
The biggest complaint we got is that people kept forgetting to check the boxes to send the updates. Most of these complaints were combined with a request to be able to subscribe to updates. In essence, they wanted the pull model in addition to the push.
I held out as long as I could, but it was affecting enough people that I had to do something. In response, we added the ability to subscribe to notifications in your user profile. It’s sort of an all-or-nothing setting, but from what we were hearing that’s what people wanted. The frequency of updates was low enough that people would rather be hit with everything rather than miss something important. This matched up well with my own experiences.
Settings on your profile
Bringing it together
Last night we pushed a new tweak that brings the push and pull together. Now, when you select in your profile to receive all notifications, this simply means that the notification box next to your name is automatically checked when someone is making an edit. If they do nothing, you’ll receive an update. However, if they want a little more control, they can un-check your name and choose to skip the notification.
Hopefully this will solve all sides of the issue: You can choose to be automatically notified, yet authors/editors can choose to disable this for individual edits if it doesn’t make sense.
As always, we’re open to suggestions for improvement. If there’s another system that does this better or cooler, let me know and I’ll definitely take a look.
Free System Friday: Free RPG Day Eve!
Put the gauntlets up by the chimney with care, because it’s FREE RPG DAY EVE! In this, the very specialest of Free System Fridays, we’re not giving you one. We’re telling you how to get over a dozen tomorrow!
- Go to http://www.freerpgday.com/.
- Look over the list of companies giving away the glorious gaming goodness.
- Then go here: http://www.freerpgday.com/stores.htm.
- Find a store close to you that’s participating.
- Profit
Enjoy, and Good Gaming!
New System Thursday: Dresden Files RPG
It’s Thursday! On Thursday we add a new system to our list of over 150+ supported RPG systems. This week, it’s the system on everyone’s mind. It’s the Dresden Files RPG!
The world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold.
But in my corner of the country, I’m trying to nail things down. … I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges, and where elves don’t come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p’s and q’s.
My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.
— Harry Dresden in Jim Butcher’s Storm Front
This system isn’t even out yet! So why are we featuring it this week? Simple. Did you know that if you Preorder any of the two core books, you’ll get the matching PDF imediately? It’s true! So what are you waiting for? Grab some friends, get the PDF from Evil Hat Productions, and make a Dresden Files RPG campaign now!
Tuesdays with Nicole: The Drubal Projective
Nicole’s back with an all new episode! Last week it was swords. This week it’s a different kind of killing machine. Meet Hans Drubal:
Want Nicole to help bring your campaign to life? Leave a comment on the blog post, or message calabacita with a link and a brief message on why you think she should sketch it!
Late Night Updates
It’s way past my bedtime, so I’ll make this quick. We’ve added a couple things tonight, and here’s a rundown:
Timezones
Many of you have noticed that the times displayed on the site are always off by a couple hours. The reason is that the server runs on UTC time, and all time values are stored in UTC. So, it thinks it’s in England, right on the Prime Meridian. With the new timezones, you can choose your local time zone, and all times will be automatically converted. Easy as pie.
Auto Email Notification
The email notifications have caused a lot of confusion, as we’ve made them a push system instead of pull. In other words, you choose to send, not receive. To help alleviate some of the confusion, we’ve added some settings in your profile where you can choose to receive everything. I warn you, it’s like turning on a fire hose, but if you want to know every little thing that goes on in your campaign, then turn on these settings. By default, the forum notifications are on for everyone, as those seem to be the most requested.
Sexy Time Picker
We’ve also sexified the date/time selection for your Adventure Log posts. It’s a snazzy javascript widget now, and it works with the new timezones. Setting the date/time for your posts should be much, much easier now.
That’s it! The reason the server was down for so long was due to some backend plumbing we had to do, but all signs look good, so we press on.
Free System Friday: Vox Draconis
Free RPGs! Come and get your red hot Free RPGs! Why hello sir, can I interest you in a bit of Sci-Fi shenanigans? No? How about an RPG about running a Japanese Bathhouse for Unicorns? Not your cup of tea, eh? Well what about a Rock-Paper-Scissors based game all about Congressional Chefs? Wait! Don’t go just yet, I have it I have just the thing you’re looking for! You want something established, yes? Something that’s been around for at least a decade. And how about a rich fantasy world yes? With dragons? Now what if I told you there were also dinosaurs? Ah ha! I see I have sparked your interest. Very well sir, let me tell you more about Vox Draconis:
Vox Draconis, the game of high adventure in a somewhat confused world of dinosaurs, dragons, monsters, and men. The Basic Rules, this book, contains the basic mechanics for running and playing a game of adventure in the Known Planes. You only need some six-sided dice, a pencil, paper, and this rulebook to begin your adventures. This game is a role-playing game, in which each player creates a character and then, under the supervision of the games master, or referee, they act them out.
Did I mention it’s Free? Well then don’t let me waste any more of your time. Grab some players, grab some dice, get the rules, and play Vox Draconis today!
