+1. Let's see how it all works out for a couple of weeks first. Not every one knows that promo contests have been shifted to other forums now. Once the lurkers realize that the contests are moved we'll have quite a few users refreshing that page every couple of minutes. I still believe this was necessary. I mean look at that Galactic Gunner thread. I think it has over 1500 replies and I m sure not even 5% of those posts would be discussing the game. And with te promo giveaways now showing up on TA front page I think you'll get atleast the same if not actually more exposure then earlier. Promo contests in game releases will be buried down under other threads as soon as the the contest is over. But in promo forums it'll stay there for a much longer period as there will be a lot less threads in those forums. But I'd really hate to see the devs loosing out coz of this. If it doesn't work good enough even after a week or so then you can poke arn to move the promo contests back to the New releases forums
I like this last part, as a "soon to be" dev. The Game Release section is for game releases, not contests that are held later on. I want to be able to release my first game with some codes and not have it stuck into the Promo Code forum. I agree with White Bear on most of his points though. I don't see promo code threads as a big problem here... I AM glad the MMO "add my code" threads have disappeared though. Now THOSE were annoying. I think the devs participation on this forum is what makes the site unique and popular. Limiting exposure may take away a big reason why they are here (I'm not sure if this will limit exposure mind you). Devs take advantage of the site in this way, and, in turn, TA takes advantage of increased traffic. There needs to be a balance between the two. As a side note, devs need to be smarter about their giveaways. Just listing 10 codes in the OP guarantees you a short-lived thread which gives you no exposure. I will probably have a combination code contest as well as giving codes to specific people here that I'd like to have them.
I definitely agree with this. The App Store has provided a scenario where dev's interests and reader interests tend to be aligned. People want to hear about new games and get feedback from developers. I certainly encourage developer participation, but I think the promo giveaways just need to be tempered a bit. If that reduces the pure promo giveaways, then so be it. I think the dev participation is far more valuable to the majority of readers (at least the ones we want to attract) than promo code giveaways. arn
Are you planning on making the section for members only? And I have a little complaint. Whenever someone posts their code in the MMO section, it makes that show up as the newest poster in the release category, so you constantly see "Epic pet wars codes" under the iPhone and iPod touch games recent post. Is there a way to change that?
Yeah. Dev participation is the only reason I m hooked on to TA forums. Promo codes are just a bonus for spending my time here now. How bout adding promo forum as a sub category in Game releases forum instead of MMO which could be moved to general game discussions(where they'd be more appropriate). But the giveaways would still need to show up on TA front page of course to make sure they get enough visibility which is the main purpose these giveaways.
Nice New forum about promo code giveaways, and there also should be a recent game updates forum so people can know what game received a new update and what new features it brings.
I think the big threads were more from promo contests versus promo giveaways. The promo giveaways are usually short lived threads involving the developer's post and then the usual whining about lurkers afterwards. The promo contests on the other hand can get rather big depending on who's doing the contest and how they have it structured. Either way, as long as there is meaningful discussion about their game taking place, a dev should be happy. After all, exposure with people who are interested in the game itself is far better than exposure with people who just want something free.
i dont know if anyone hs said this but u should have to be logged in to visit this part of the forum. u no, to discourage lurkers
I think there are more than enough forum sections here(if thats what you meant). And dont see any need to add more forums. In fact I`m finding it hard to keep track of all the forums sections which are already here. Since I`m spending quite a bit of time here and find interesting topics in all the TA forums, I`d rather like to see some way of tracking all the threads in all the forums without any need to go to the specific section. Right now what I`m doing is I made a bookmark for "Todays`s posts" and click on that link to see all the latest updated thread at a single place. Not really perfect but close enough for my needs. Any plans of including something like Forum Spy here arn
The problem isn't lurkers. The problem is simply that there are only ever 50 promo codes up for grabs, at most. Usually, it's far, far fewer than 50. Often, the amount is in single digits. I know it's nice to have some invisible group of baddies to blame for the harsh realities we suffer here at Touch Arcade, but I really don't think "lurkers" are as much of a problem as some may think. After all, being a member and being a lurker are not mutually exclusive. I am a member and a lurker at another tech forum. I created an account because it allowed me to view attached images. And viewing images isn't even that important. Imagine if there were $1 freebies up for grabs! I'd have probably broken some fingers as I rabidly typed in my new account information. Registering or being logged in seems like a very low barrier of entry. If this invisible band of code thieves have enough time to sit around refreshing the codes forum 24/7 in order to steal codes from honest, do gooder members, as alleged, why would having to spend all of 2 minutes filling out a form deter them? This is just an empty "fix" that would placate the paranoid, but in reality, change close to nothing. (And before any more dead horses are dropped from the big glue factory in the sky: Requiring a pre-determined post count or member status would only encourage spamming, and frankly, I'll take the lurkers over the spammers every. time.)
Good points but I find it funny that you said that the only difference between you and the tech forum is that you are a member here for petty benefits AND 800 posts.
what seems to work quite good, is to post a dumym code like a1,a2,a3,a4 which the people shoudl reserve and and a PM to gain the promocode. Just a step and you get the alias names of those using the codes (to avoid doubles for example)l.
