A Right Bloody Mess. Web Presence. What are peoples preferences?

[Matthewc451]

I need Help. What Internet platform should I use for ARBM?

I am not totally familiar with facebook and facebook groups, but would appreciate some direction for what platform I should use for an ARBM fan site, a place where people can post ideas, pictures, lists and generally discuss all things ARBM. I have my own person blog, but I need a community environment.

Choices I am aware of:

Blog Spot: I can convert my page to a community page, but not sure if you can make it public.

Google Group: I have created the group ARBM1933 but not sure if it is the right place. I am not familiar with the environment but it seems to work well and allows you to split posts into categories as well as threads.

Yahoo Groop: I have created the group ARBM1933. It is an environment I am used to, but everything appears as a list of posts. Files can be stored but the storage is limited to 100Mb.

Facebook Page: I freely admit I avoid facebook for anything than pics of my nieces and nephews, but it appears to be the most popular place and it can be a public page. Great for pictures but no file storage.

Facebook Group: I learned of these yesterday. They look like a perfect addition to the facebook page as it has file storage. I "think" it behaves like a facebook page with extra features but I am not sure. Maybe the combination of the two facebook systems is the way to go and I am now starting to lean this way.

Lead Adventure Forum: Would people rather have an ARBM presence or do we just use the wonderful resource that is Lead Adventure to post thoughts and pics. Importantly I do not believe that it has File storage space.

Suggestions from those who spend time on the web would be appreciated, I have spent the past 18 months reading and writing about Australia in the 1930s and have lost touch with anything beyond blogs.

Thanks in Advance,

Matt

[Mr.J]

I would go for a Facebook Page and Group and of course post lots and lots on LAF too.

I use blogger but I tend to just follow people rather than manufacturers and I don't think it's as far reaching as FB. Google Group is even less so and I don't find Yahoo to be particularly user friendly so I gave up on it, but lots of wargamers do continue to use it so that would come down to personal preference.

Also some people don't use FB but seemingly they are in the minority. It might be useful checking out what other games systems do and see what works or doesn't work for them.

[von Lucky]

+1 to what Mr.J said about Facebook. For those that don't want to interact on that platform - continue with your blog (for "pushing" out info) and I'm sure there'll be a few of us with threads on LAF and blogs to share ARBM related wargaming things.

[Captain Darling]

I'm not a FB person, getting my Blog fired up was a big step  ...

Could you consider a Forum/Discussion Board for the game itself or approach a Forum for a separate section, i.e. the LAF has several already for specific game titles...

Good luck with the game!

[PanzerKaput]

As one of the chaps behind VBCW I have gone through this process too and in my experience a dedicated forum is a go start, whether you have it on an existing place, like here or you our forum, this is a must.

Facebook might be the greatest evil in the world, personal I dont mind it, but I would suggest at least a Facebook page as you will be surprised by the number of people who do use it. I would also do a Google plus page too instead of using blogger.

If you want any help or advise just ask and if you want a place, room on my forum, Very British Civil Forum, just ask and I am happy to help

[Colonel Grubb]

Please do it as a Facebook Group. Its easily managed, moderated and all the back-end stuff is handled by Facebook, plus its an integrated platform (for notifications and such) and one less thing people have sign up for and remember accounts for.