decipher strpg messageboard?

[jeffearley]

Went to the decipher site to see if anything is new on the rpg front, and in trying to access the messageboard area, it gave me the message that it either no longer exists or has been moved. Has anyone else had this problem today? I hope they are just updating the messageboards and not eliminating the rpg area. Just another in a long list of decipher problems.

[RickInNC]

I saw the same thing. No idea what the problem is, but honestly this seems to be par for the course with Decipher.

[D.S.McBride]

Ditto. I find this considerably weird and off-putting; odds are it's part of their ongoing update/clean-up/reshuffling efforts - not that they'd ever see fit to inform peons like us about that - since the message board is already set up and costs them nothing (or close to it) to run. Nonetheless, bad news has been falling from Decipher like rain from an overcast sky in the last while - if it turns out that they have nixed the board (and there have been no new posts in the last week or so) I wouldn't find it completely out of character for them.

BTW, I did a quick checkback and the LotR board is down as well.

[Ineti]

All of their message boards appear to be down at the moment. They were working earlier today. Probably just some maintenance or the like.

Not like we're missing any news, anyway.

[D.S.McBride]

Originally posted by Ineti
All of their message boards...were working earlier today.
Not like we're missing any news, anyway.

Agreed and agreed. Still, with regard to Decipher and the RPGs' status, we've become like a bunch of stricken relatives hanging around in an ICU, hoping for the best, and dreading that hang-faced doctor coming by and telling us, "Sorry, guys, it just didn't pull through..." We're jumping at any sound or trip-up as a harbinger of the worst news possible.

All apologies to BouncyCaitian - if you're reading this - for the analogy; I don't mean to sound cavalier about the recent incident.

[REG]

Don't you think it's time Decipher get a new messageboard? I mean having been spoiled here, I go there to find like I'm back in the Win95 time period.

[D.S.McBride]

Originally posted by REG
Don't you think it's time Decipher get a new messageboard?

Yeah, probably...and Trek-RPG.net was supposed to be it. Just thinking about it, the current boards were probably put in place as a kind of stop-gap until the official, bells-and-whistles version could be unveiled here. Of course, that went off the rails when the Decipher management decided, "Neh...too much like work," and called it a day with the RPGs.

I still think it's unlikely that they've erased the boards from existence, as whatever cost it takes to maintain/run them is probably close to negligible, but I wouldn't be astonished to find less and less interest - i.e., fewer and fewer official Little Green Men responses - becoming apparent as the "best-before" date on the RPGs slips further and further into the past. The sole exception here is likely to be Doug, who'll probably continue to serve on as Rep, to the best of his ability, as long as he's content to hold the position.

Anyway, it's late; I'm tired; time to say goodnight. Talk to you guys tomorrow.

[RickInNC]

Not to make this into (kind of already is, however) a Decipher bashing post, but...

The last time I saw this kind of thing was when I put down a hundred and tewnty samolians on the Texas Instruments Avigo, which was suppose to be their answer to the mid-range Palm Pilot. It came out just before the Pocket PC and was completely pounced by the competition.

We constantly drilled them on their message board, asking about why there was suddenly a halt on all TI support, software and new information, when they suddenly put out some 3rd party programming to quell the storm (see a correlation??). Two months later, TI took the step they were denying for so long and pulled the plug on the Avigo altogether.

I would say that I loved my Avigo, too. About as much as I like the CODA system.

Thoughts?

[Chris Jones]

Yep, I think its all over except for a big announcement, not that it matters since I haven't had time to run a game. I guess its time to start converting everything over to d20. and say goodbye to CODA.

[D.S.McBride]

I think the example is an appropriate one, RickInNC (or just Rick, if I may ). While I've got only a tyro's knowledge of the business world, its practices, and the chain of logic that would result in a line of products being either continued or guillotined, I don't think you have to be a professional geographer to know which way the sun is rising.

I know I'm repeating what I've posted here a number of times before, but I've put the odds of Worlds coming out at probably fifty-fifty; the others, I think, are pretty much a lost cause. Yet, with every day's delay, the likelihood of Worlds arriving drops as well; and as for this becoming a Decipher-bashing thread...well, they've screwed over enough people with their unprofessional behavior re the RPGs that they probably deserve to get a bit of battery acid dumped on 'em. Case in point is the man who runs this site - to use another analogy, he was invited as a partner into a (corporate) marriage, sold the old house and possessions and was anticipating getting into the new digs...and was left standing at the altar when the fiancee decided that the wherewithal to follow through just wasn't there. Granted, it's business and it happens, but man that must burn.

BTW, checked just before posting this; the boards are still down. This is getting worrisome...

[jened]

there is nothing to worry about here guys. as was said it is all decipher messageboards and not just the rpg ones. i'm sure it's just a computer down somewhere. they have looked into getting new bbs software from time to time and maybe someday they will but the messageboards being down aren't a conspiracy against the rpg faithful. besides we really come here for the most part and any official word at decipher.com will be reprinted here.

[D.S.McBride]

Okay, okay - I admit it, I jumped the gun. The Decipher message boards are up and running again.

Nevertheless, I stand by the general assessment of the situation: it's still bad and getting worse. I'm hoping to God that Warren Holland - or whomever - sees fit to actually make that announcement about the RPG lines, one way or the other, before the month is out. Slim hope though that may be.

[jened]

i hope so too DS! we just started our decipher/coda trek group last week after talking about it for quite a bit and we all had lots of fun. another couple of books would be great. our narrator has bought them all faithfully so far and a few of us were planning on buying the limited editions when they came out but i'm not holding my breath!

[redwood973]

Originally posted by Chris Jones
I guess its time to start converting everything over to d20. and say goodbye to CODA.

Why not use LUGs ICON system. It's a great system, you can get the books off eBay cheap and have all the past posts to these forums as another resource.

[Sheridan]

Just an FYI... I went to Decipher's boards today and they seem to be back up and just fine.