Rules Forums - Keep them seperate or merge them together?

[Jikanta]

In the past we had a single rules forum that anyone could post into, and anyone could reply. This single forum was easy, but oftentimes a new member would ask a complicated question and get several wrong answers before recieving a correct answer. There were also quite a few problems with users flipping out during heated rules debates, flaming other people, and etc.

Now there are two seperate forums. The Rules Discussion forum is intended for experienced members to discuss and develop the current rules set. Members have to apply to it to be allowed to participate in discussion. This setup is good because anyone who can't handle the debate and/or resorts to flaming can simply be removed from the forum without banning them entirely from use of the board.

The Rules Questions forum has a set group of "Rules Gurus" who have aced a rules test designed from the Belegarth Book of War. Anybody at all can initiate a thread in the Rules Questions forum, but only the "Rules Gurus" are able to reply, thus eliminating non-knowledgable people from giving incorrect answers.

So here's my question: Is this duel forum setup still working well? Should we keep it the way it is now? Should we revert to the way it was a year or two ago with one forum and lots of arguements? Or does anyone have any suggestions for a new and improved forum(s) setup?

One option is to keep the Rules Questions forum as is, but allow open membership in the Rules Discussion forum (meaning I could not disallow someone from posting in this specific forum alone if they caused problems).

Another option is to simply merge the two forums into one. I could either allow open membership or have apply-only membership so I could still remove troublemakers.

Another idea is to make the Rules Gurus group have moderator privlidges over the rules forum(s) and appropriate "Rules Guru" titles. This would enable them to easily provide the most accurate responses to any questions and add valueable input to debates. I would encourage them to remove or correct any inaccurate information stated by a non-Guru about the current rules set.

Anyway, there are about a million different ways we could possibly set up these forums and permissions, the PHPbb software we use is very flexible. If anyone has input or ideas about this please share in this thread.

[Jikanta]

Noone has any opinions about this?

[Peregrine]

I kind of like it the way it is. especialy the rules question part.

[Elebrim]

The moderator idea is good for conciseness, but the current set up has been working well for a while. I don't see a reason to change it.

[Mercer]

Keep it as-is. It makes it self-moderating.

[Oznog]

I have had difficulty with the format, I can post an initial question, someone responds, but I wasn't able to follow up on the thread so there's not really a discussion aspect to it. That doesn't sound within the intent of the forum as it was explained to me anyways, the idea was supposed to keep others from answering but this prohibits even the thread-starter from asking more. Well you can start another thread but that is generally a messy solution.

[debuenzo]

you can edit your first post for follow up questions
(usually the people who answer the rules make note of that)


and i say keep it as it is

[Jikanta]

Ok, we'll keep it then. Thanks for the input!

[Elebrim]

I have had difficulty with the format, I can post an initial question, someone responds, but I wasn't able to follow up on the thread so there's not really a discussion aspect to it. That doesn't sound within the intent of the forum as it was explained to me anyways, the idea was supposed to keep others from answering but this prohibits even the thread-starter from asking more. Well you can start another thread but that is generally a messy solution.

It helps to edit the O.P. and then mark each time you edit so you can keep the moderators informed.