For the most part, 5+ players has always been somewhat of a struggle to fill in Review games, I have always attempted to play with the very fewest possible that get good to decent games.

I'll join if needed/wanted

Added Risky and Amidon. Are there any definite absentees on the Review board that should be removed?

tom wrote:

Are there any definite absentees on the Review board that should be removed?

Iroll11s hasn't been on the site since July of 2011

asm since October 2011 (inactive for quite a longer while)

Red Baron since May of 2011

The rest I believe are at least more recent/active.

Thanks Yertle I've deleted those two.

Awww.  Sad to see those names have gone inactive. I'll always remember Iroll11s for stepping up to improve ToS even when Steven wouldn't.

Would it be possible to have a private forum for just the Review Board so they can better discuss the review process of a map rather than having to keep going back to the game over and over to see if it has ended or if it has been passed/failed?

I have a map in review, the game is over and the winner asked if anyone had any issues passing it but I don't think the other members are going to check back.  I think a forum would be easier.  It would also add to the discussion of the map since the creator is in the game but wouldn't be in the forum (unless they are me and are also on the review board then I would just verbally crush you all for not agreeing with me).

Anyways, I think this is an issue and this is a possible solution, but really I just want to know if Game of Hordes! can go live or not.  I'll hang up and listen for my answer.

I'm fine with passing Game of Hordes, and I think a private forum would be useful.

I appreciate succinctness
I don't use it, but I appreciate it

Would the Board Designer get access to the forum if they are not on the Review Board?

My thought would be no.
We had a discussion before about having Review Games without the map maker and I was strongly against this, saying that the map maker should be in the game and able to defend his/her map.  In this case I think the private forum would be a good place to have discussions away from the map maker.  This wouldn't take away defense of the map from the maker, but it would allow the review board to openly say things they might not otherwise.

I wasn't on the review game for that one, but I like it! Nice clean map, Risky!

It doesn't seem fair that a reviewer could have access to the forum (where his board is being discussed), while non-reviewers can't.  I'd say all should or all shouldn't.

Let the circular arguments begin.  Here's one for starters: Risky, Yertle, and I should recuse ourselves from this discussion because we are both designers and reviewers.. 

Why wouldn't it be good enough to have a "All-but-the-Designer" option in the chat of the Review Game?  All reviewers could participate - even those who are not in the game.

Well, the reason I wanted it in the forums and not in game is because you may be in several review games and you may be eliminated in them and going into the Review section (which doesn't show the message icon) is a pain.  It would be easier to just check for new messages in a forum.  Also, that discussion could more easily include other people.  M57 & Yertle both have chimed in on my review game and then left the discussion because they weren't in the game but I think the discussion would be for fluid in a forum.  If the first post of each review section was a link to the game people would be able to follow along if they want to.

Oh, and as for the designer being a reviewer being unfair, I kinda feel like Fonzi saying "I'm wrong" because I want to say "M57, I agree with you".  I don't have any problem with Yertle being on the honor system this way, but I don't trust myself at all.  I would totally check the forum which would be wrong but I wouldn't care.  If there was a way to exclude the designer/reviewer I'd be all for that because otherwise I will cheat.

Heck, I still rummage through my girlfriend's house every December looking for what she got me for Christmas and we broke up 4 years ago!  She should really get that window fixed.

I guess I should be rethinking my position because Risky is inclined to agree with me.

There are very few cases where designers shouldn't have the opportunity to be part of the conversation. Along with more occurrences of "private" conversations,  there is more possibility for awkward situations, misunderstandings, and at worst, conspiracy theories, etc. that could be damaging to the spirit of the site (whatever that is).  On the other hand, I realize there are times when the reviewers need to be able to take a poll amongst themselves when a board is on the fringes of acceptability.   So I'll reiterate one of my suggestions.  In the absence of dedicated message boards, there probably should be a "reply to all but the designer" option in the chat.  I think there have been a few instances where I've had to post duplicate messages to all reviewers in a game.

This is yet another reason to have dedicated/linked forum pages for boards.  In addition to a semi-private message board for the Review process, there could be a Dev thread.. This would be really helpful because of the formatting and image posting capabilities of the message board format.

I'm new to reviewing - and have looked at all the games playing and read their messages to see what is going on - It would be cool if there was a slicker way of doing that.  Right now it is a pain.

Also, It would also be cool if non-players could view a current game without fog.  It's hard to see what is going on in those games for non-players without this - I really don't think any "cheating" would result of this - that would just be silly -

Amidon37 wrote:

Also, It would also be cool if non-players could view a current game without fog.  It's hard to see what is going on in those games for non-players without this - I really don't think any "cheating" would result of this - that would just be silly -

Interesting Idea.. Non-players in fogged games would have a unique perspective.  What would be really cool would be to be able to switch views and be able to see it from the different player's perspectives.

Amidon37 wrote:

Also, It would also be cool if non-players could view a current game without fog.  It's hard to see what is going on in those games for non-players without this - I really don't think any "cheating" would result of this - that would just be silly -

We've got enough players who do what they can to cheat the rules, the idea of someone getting a second account to circumvent the fog rules seems far too enticing.
Unless you're just talking about the review games, in which case I could get behind that idea.
But for public fog games, I don't like this idea.

BorisTheFrugal wrote:

Unless you're just talking about the review games, in which case I could get behind that idea.

I was.

BorisTheFrugal wrote:

We've got enough players who do what they can to cheat the rules, the idea of someone getting a second account to circumvent the fog rules seems far too enticing.
Unless you're just talking about the review games, in which case I could get behind that idea.
But for public fog games, I don't like this idea.

No question about public games.  I was talking about all private games, and certainly Dev games and Review games.  In the case of privates games, it could be an option set by the game creator.