http://oerthjournal.hypermart.net
(I understand there's also a link on Canonfire.)
Having now discovered this journal, I'm wondering if there will be any more. I know that some of the people involved with it post on these boards, so I'm hoping that one of them will reply . . .
Here's a forum where you can voice your opinion on the matter specifically to the people concerned: OJ General.
Marc Tizoc González
Editor-in-Chief
The Oerth Journal
Issue 15 features the following editorial and articles:
- A Scribe’s Chronicle: Lendor’s Lament?
by Marc Tizoc González - Of Oerth and Altar - Norebo: The Daredevil
by Paul M. Rokuskie, a.k.a. Jachyras - Legends & Folklore of the Vesve Forest
by Andy Seale, a.k.a. Fallon the Wanderer – Ranger/Sage of the - The Nature of Druids in the Flanaess: The Old Faith
by Paul J. Stormberg - By Sword and Song: Old Faith Bards of the Flanaess
by Paul J. Stormberg
Originally posted by CryptoNova
That is one of the reasons why I supported the creation of a new, more regularly updated fan site.
Canonfire is updated 2 to 3 times per week. There is more to Canonfire than OJ. Let's not reopen this debate in an unrelated thread, ok?
http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2
You can download all the previous issues there, as well as keep up to date on the release schedule.
*****
Oerth Journal 15
January 12, 2004
A Scribe's Chronicle: Lichen on the Stone, Ivy Bursting Through by Marc Tizoc Gonzalez
Of Oerth & Altar - Norebo: the Daredevil by Paul M. Rokuskie
Jachyras returns in this popular column to detail the exploits of the Suel god of luck. Paramour of Wee Jas, thief of fortune, Norebo is well known throughout the Flanaess. Included is a new prestige class for his most devout worshippers.
Folklore of the Vesve Forest by Andy Seale
Fallon, the Ranger-Sage of Vesve, returns to share lessons from his childhood beneath the whispering eaves of Great Vesve. Adventurers pay heed! Vesve holds many secrets; listening to its folklore may help uncover its riches.
The Nature of Druids in the Flanaess: the Old Faith by Paul Stormberg
Deeply researched, this article discusses the evolution of the druid class over the changing editions of the game and details the hierarchy of the Old Faith in the Flanaess. The nine territorial orders are described and accompanied by brief sketches of the nine Archdruids. Samples maps of certain groves and illustrations of the orders' symbols complete the piece.
By Sword and Song: Notes on the Old Faith Bards of the Flanaess by Paul Stormberg
Recapitulating the history of the bard class over the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, this article presents a new prestige class to create characters that accord with the Old Lore of the Flanaess. The nine bardic colleges are described, including their druidic deans, bardic instructors, and their mystical sites. Also presented are the legendary Instruments of the Bards.
Originally posted by Tizoc
Remember, to LOG INTO your Canonfire! account before you attempt to download the issue.
That's frelled.
Originally posted by Delglath
That's frelled.
To quote from Spongebob Squarepants, "That's not even a word and I agree with you." ("We've been schmeckeldorfed!")
I mean, what's the deal? A) you used to be able to access the Oerth Journals without logging in. B) if it's free to register, what's the point? All you're doing is adding a step to the process and aggravation for the user. Anyone care to explain this?
Originally posted by Brom Blackforge
To quote from Spongebob Squarepants, "That's not even a word and I agree with you." ("We've been schmeckeldorfed!")
You need to watch more Farscape :D
Originally posted by Delglath
You need to watch more Farscape
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie comes out later this year, you know. ;)
Originally posted by Aeolius
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie comes out later this year, you know. ;)
Excellent link, Aeolius. Of course, it should come as no surprise that your awareness extends to Spongebob. :D
Originally posted by Brom Blackforge
To quote from Spongebob Squarepants, "That's not even a word and I agree with you." ("We've been schmeckeldorfed!")
I mean, what's the deal? A) you used to be able to access the Oerth Journals without logging in. B) if it's free to register, what's the point? All you're doing is adding a step to the process and aggravation for the user. Anyone care to explain this?
There's a couple of reasons I know of, though perhaps Gary can chime in with a more "official" answer:
- A lot of the downloads (though not this one specifically) are housed on our 'partner' site, greyhawkonline.com, this makes tracking downloads by unregistered users a little more difficult. We do try and track usage patterns a bit, to see what features of the site are popular, so as to try and target future updates more to what yall are actually coming to the site for.
- We try to make sure that people downloading anything from the site ( a pdf, a map image, or just a regular article) get to see what else we have to offer. This helps promote the less "celebrated" features of the site, since we do realize that some things, like OJ, draw a bigger audience than others, and we want to assure our contributors, especially those of the smaller articles and stuff that are the 'meat and potatos' of the site that their material is important to us as well and that people visiting the site for one of the 'big' downloads will be encouraged to check out the little stuff too.
- The big downloads also tend to get reported more at places like this forum, ENWorld, Greytalk, etc. By asking that downloaders who see the announcements on other sites/fora register with us and take a look around, hopefully we can bring new faces to the Canonfire community, or at least show surfers some of what we have to offer. If we didn't ask for registration and simply allowed direct linking to the file, a lot of folks grabbing the file wouldn't get to see the rest of the (in our opinion at least) excellent material and features we offer.
Hopefully noone will have any trouble registering or logging in to their account. Remember, it's free, only takes a few minutes (the bulk of which consists of waiting for the software to send you the confirmation email) and in no way subjects you to any sort of spam (joining Greytalk, our discussion list, is a completely separate and optional step). The problems we had in the past with log in time outs and such have been resolved for the most part, and we're always available at [email]editors@canonfire.com[/email] to assist you with any trouble you may encounter.
At the end of the day though, OJ is a publication 'for the fans, by the fans' and we in no way want to suggest a totalitarian monopoly on its distribution. so if you choose not to register at canonfire, just ask around a bit here and someone will likely send you a copy of the file. Before hosting or redistributing the file en masse, however, please check with [email]editors@canonfire.com[/email] (adding ATTN: Marc to your subject) to ensure that the agreements he, Marc 'MTG' Gonzalez, the OJ EIC, has with his contributors and staff are not invalidated by such plans.
Thanks for the feedback, hope that explains the situation.
I'd say it was worth waiting for but then I don't want to wait another year for the next edition :D
Originally posted by Greyhack
- A lot of the downloads (though not this one specifically) are housed on our 'partner' site, greyhawkonline.com, this makes tracking downloads by unregistered users a little more difficult. We do try and track usage patterns a bit, to see what features of the site are popular, so as to try and target future updates more to what yall are actually coming to the site for.
How about a survey? Opinion poll?
- We try to make sure that people downloading anything from the site ( a pdf, a map image, or just a regular article) get to see what else we have to offer. This helps promote the less "celebrated" features of the site, since we do realize that some things, like OJ, draw a bigger audience than others, and we want to assure our contributors, especially those of the smaller articles and stuff that are the 'meat and potatos' of the site that their material is important to us as well and that people visiting the site for one of the 'big' downloads will be encouraged to check out the little stuff too.
- The big downloads also tend to get reported more at places like this forum, ENWorld, Greytalk, etc. By asking that downloaders who see the announcements on other sites/fora register with us and take a look around, hopefully we can bring new faces to the Canonfire community, or at least show surfers some of what we have to offer. If we didn't ask for registration and simply allowed direct linking to the file, a lot of folks grabbing the file wouldn't get to see the rest of the (in our opinion at least) excellent material and features we offer.
So, in an effort to encourage people to browse the site, you make it harder to use? Granted, registering and logging in are not extraordinarily difficult, but it is a hassle.
Moreover, I don't see how the two are connected; someone who just wants to see the new Oerth Journal is going to just register, log in, download the Journal, and leave. I don't see how registering and logging in changes that. It seems to me that by not requiring registration, you would be encouraging the more casual fan to explore the site and see what you have to offer; then, once the casual fan is hooked, he or she will register to take fuller advantage of the site. I do understand that this prevents a direct link to the download that would bypass the rest of the site, but that's being accomplished by actually discouraging people from downloading in the first place. That's my view of it.
Only a handful of activities (such as posting in the forum, posting a comment on an article, downloading a file, and making a submission) require the login.
Using polls to gather usage data is difficult, because for our average poll, only 100 to 200 people vote. We've got over 2000 users now. That means we'd be judging the site's development on only 5 to 10 percent of our user's feedback.
I hope my explanation doesn't come off as argumentative or harsh, as that wasn't my intent. We are taking the feedback here into consideration and the downloads situation is being discussed by the CF staff currently, I simply wanted to explain our motivations for instituting this policy in the first place (it was done months ago, btw, it's not a new thing just for the new OJ).
Thanks again for the feedback, if you have specific suggestions or further questions, please feel free to contact us on the staff discussion list, [email]editors@canonfire.com[/email] or post them here, we are taking all opinions into consideration since the voice of the users is the most important one in the discussions about CF's future plans.
I just think it's ironic that you've taken this step in an effort to better serve the Greyhawk fans (and more specifically, Canonfire users), and the effect is to make things harder. Also, it seems somewhat paradoxical to take this step in order to keep track of how much interest there is in the new Oerth Journal when you already know that its arrival will be widely reported and will generate a lot of interest.