The Rumor Mill is an oddly named subforum. While all of the other subforums are named for their function, the Rumor Mill is not. In fact, the name has nothing to do with the forum, as actual "rumors" are relegated to Speculation and specifically forbidden in the Rumor Mill proper. This makes it more difficult to direct people to Magic-related news threads (which is what the Rumor Mill is actually for), as there is no logical connection between "news" and a "rumor mill."
I realize that the name "News" is already used for a subforum concerning news about MTGSalvation itself, but there are plenty of alternative names that would more clearly indicate the Rumor Mill's function. "The News Desk" is the one that immediately jumped to mind, but if that's too close to "News," you could get more creative. "The Future Future League" might work, as nearly all the news in the Rumor Mill currently is concerning future releases or changes. Alternatively, you could rename the News subforum to something else, like "MTGS News," and change the Rumor Mill to "News."
There are lots of naming possibilities, but I don't really care too much about that, too be honest. All I know is that the Rumor Mill is not a rumor mill and calling it such obfuscates its true function.
I talked with some RM mods (and other staffers? I don't remember) about it, and I would not agree with going away from the Rumor Mill name, as it is basically an established brand of MTGS that people recognize and come here for. My suggestion was that if a new name is desired, we rename it "Rumor Mill & Magic News" or some such.
I talked with some RM mods (and other staffers? I don't remember) about it, and I would not agree with going away from the Rumor Mill name, as it is basically an established brand of MTGS that people recognize and come here for. My suggestion was that if a new name is desired, we rename it "Rumor Mill & Magic News" or some such.
Yeah, I was worried there would be a branding issue with renaming it. What if, instead of calling it "Rumor Mill & Magic News," it was given "Magic News" as a subtitle or parenthetical. For example:
The Rumor Mill: Magic News
or
The Rumor Mill (Magic News)
I really like the idea of having a subtitle (the first example, using the colon), as that maintains the brand identity while making it clear what the subforum is used for.
I also just realized that you could change the description of the subforum without changing the name itself. Right now, the description reads "Everybody loves Magic rumors! Share yours with others here. Please read the Rumor Mill Guidelines." That could easily be changed to more accurately describe what the subforum is used for, and that would help a lot. That would get around the branding issue, as I can't imagine that the description is part of the brand identity.
Even if you do change the description, though (and I really think you should), it still makes sense to add the subtitle of "Magic News" to make sure things are as clear as possible.
Whilst I am used to the Rumor Mill name, it does make little sense.
Rumor as defined by Google is: A currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth: "they were investigating rumors of a massacre". However, what's allowed to be posted in the Rumor Mill main section is confirmed news about to be released sets/cards/products.
If someone posts about what might be upcoming about a Magic set, it goes to speculation or baseless speculation, if it's just therir thoughts and theories with no proof to back it up.
One major peeve I have is that card previews from the Mothership are exactly the opposite of rumors as they are confirmed cards in the set.
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I talked with some RM mods (and other staffers? I don't remember) about it, and I would not agree with going away from the Rumor Mill name, as it is basically an established brand of MTGS that people recognize and come here for. My suggestion was that if a new name is desired, we rename it "Rumor Mill & Magic News" or some such.
With respect, I submit that MTGS is a known entity; the Rumor Mill is a holdover and is not, in fact, an established brand worth retaining, if indeed established and if indeed a brand. Inertia, as it were, and a history of inertia is not esteem or authority.
The other subfora names and descriptions have to go too, along with their lack of consistency or uniformity due to various administrators creating and modifying them.
Also, I know PBG's retention as a posthumous moderator of Artwork is as a tribute, but could that be done any other way, like a stickified memorial page in Artwork? If Staff wants to make official statements, great.
The state of the Rumor Mill is something I've given commentary regarding in the past. In the past several years, for every set, outside of two or three rares that are leaked by people opening early product and possibly some commons or uncommons, all of our spoilers come from official sources (sources which are not MTGS). The Rumor Mill isn't the Rumor Mill, anymore. The days of Daron Rutter posting leaks passed a long, long time ago, and Captain Black isn't even around anymore.
While the Rumor Mill may be a brand of MTGS, it's also an aging relic. It's the plastic pink flamingo in the yard at the old folk's home - unecessary, trite and a laughing stock for those looking on from the road. Truthfully, if we want to feel like a bigger part of the online Magic community, I think it's time to reconsider what MTGS's identity is. We can't realistically call the month leading up to a pre-release event a "rumor season" anymore, because there are very rarely any actual rumors. Steps have been taken to improve the legitimacy of competitive Magic discussion, but we're still a far cry away from other websites.
If all that MTGS has remaining of what people once identified it by is a no longer accurate name of a subforum, then perhaps we should focus on shedding that and discuss what we can do to be in Wizard's good graces so that we can get official previews. I've seen people suggest that our consolidation of spoiler information is the hook for people, but I remain skeptical. The spoiler page is long out of date and in need of a face lift. The information we provide can be found everywhere else, because the information is shared across all the other websites and we don't have anything specific of our ownto share except for, again, the rare early opening of product and a scan.
Think about it: If we had 2-3 exclusive previews a set, that'd be the same amount of cards from leaked sources that we find ourselves. At the moment, all we have is Wizard's ire for being the go-to for people opening product early and doing things to piss Wizards off. Other than that, we have the longest threads of "this card is bad" and "EDH card" discussion. That's not much to brag about or be proud of, really. I think it'd be funner for the community to have a really awesom.e preview card to spoil every week instead of some random jank rare a random player opened early. Then players would be at least less disappointed when an official preview is one we've already leaked.
"Rumor Mill". Is it common to relate rumors with milling? How about drilling, turning or boring? Secondary meaning to the word "mill"?
Etymologically, it is using "mill" as in "grist mill", so it became an idiom for a place just grinding out rumours.
@The topic at hand:
I don't really see a reason to change it. We still have confirmed and unconfirmed information there, and the name has very high recognition. Whether or not it's the sole domain of rumourmongers doesn't really change it for me. The RM has come to be practically a brand name of MTGS, as Sene said. There needs to be a very very strong reason to go away from using something that is so widely known and regarded imo.
EDIT:
@Gals:
EDIT #2:
I will say this though: I have for a very long time desired to change it to "The Rumour Mill".
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@The topic at hand:
I don't really see a reason to change it. We still have confirmed and unconfirmed information there, and the name has very high recognition. Whether or not it's the sole domain of rumourmongers doesn't really change it for me. The RM has come to be practically a brand name of MTGS, as Sene said. There needs to be a very very strong reason to go away from using something that is so widely known and regarded imo.
This.
Frankly, this resembles an effort to fix something that ain't broken, out of boredom...
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I wouldn't worry about rebranding it until we get a real home page. Then you can discuss function in relation to the site as a whole.
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How about creating a whole new group of forums called Magic News and moving the Rumor Mill there from Magic Fundamentals. Also putting Speculation and New Card discussion there. You could also change the descriptions to make it clear that the Rumor Mill is for substantive discussion and Speculation is for anything else.
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I realize that the name "News" is already used for a subforum concerning news about MTGSalvation itself, but there are plenty of alternative names that would more clearly indicate the Rumor Mill's function. "The News Desk" is the one that immediately jumped to mind, but if that's too close to "News," you could get more creative. "The Future Future League" might work, as nearly all the news in the Rumor Mill currently is concerning future releases or changes. Alternatively, you could rename the News subforum to something else, like "MTGS News," and change the Rumor Mill to "News."
There are lots of naming possibilities, but I don't really care too much about that, too be honest. All I know is that the Rumor Mill is not a rumor mill and calling it such obfuscates its true function.
The Rumor Mill: Magic News
or
The Rumor Mill (Magic News)
I really like the idea of having a subtitle (the first example, using the colon), as that maintains the brand identity while making it clear what the subforum is used for.
I also just realized that you could change the description of the subforum without changing the name itself. Right now, the description reads "Everybody loves Magic rumors! Share yours with others here. Please read the Rumor Mill Guidelines." That could easily be changed to more accurately describe what the subforum is used for, and that would help a lot. That would get around the branding issue, as I can't imagine that the description is part of the brand identity.
Even if you do change the description, though (and I really think you should), it still makes sense to add the subtitle of "Magic News" to make sure things are as clear as possible.
Rumor as defined by Google is: A currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth: "they were investigating rumors of a massacre". However, what's allowed to be posted in the Rumor Mill main section is confirmed news about to be released sets/cards/products.
If someone posts about what might be upcoming about a Magic set, it goes to speculation or baseless speculation, if it's just therir thoughts and theories with no proof to back it up.
One major peeve I have is that card previews from the Mothership are exactly the opposite of rumors as they are confirmed cards in the set.
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With respect, I submit that MTGS is a known entity; the Rumor Mill is a holdover and is not, in fact, an established brand worth retaining, if indeed established and if indeed a brand. Inertia, as it were, and a history of inertia is not esteem or authority.
The other subfora names and descriptions have to go too, along with their lack of consistency or uniformity due to various administrators creating and modifying them.
Also, I know PBG's retention as a posthumous moderator of Artwork is as a tribute, but could that be done any other way, like a stickified memorial page in Artwork? If Staff wants to make official statements, great.
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What name?
Also, my proposal: Is it Spoiler Works.
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That's about correct.
The state of the Rumor Mill is something I've given commentary regarding in the past. In the past several years, for every set, outside of two or three rares that are leaked by people opening early product and possibly some commons or uncommons, all of our spoilers come from official sources (sources which are not MTGS). The Rumor Mill isn't the Rumor Mill, anymore. The days of Daron Rutter posting leaks passed a long, long time ago, and Captain Black isn't even around anymore.
While the Rumor Mill may be a brand of MTGS, it's also an aging relic. It's the plastic pink flamingo in the yard at the old folk's home - unecessary, trite and a laughing stock for those looking on from the road. Truthfully, if we want to feel like a bigger part of the online Magic community, I think it's time to reconsider what MTGS's identity is. We can't realistically call the month leading up to a pre-release event a "rumor season" anymore, because there are very rarely any actual rumors. Steps have been taken to improve the legitimacy of competitive Magic discussion, but we're still a far cry away from other websites.
If all that MTGS has remaining of what people once identified it by is a no longer accurate name of a subforum, then perhaps we should focus on shedding that and discuss what we can do to be in Wizard's good graces so that we can get official previews. I've seen people suggest that our consolidation of spoiler information is the hook for people, but I remain skeptical. The spoiler page is long out of date and in need of a face lift. The information we provide can be found everywhere else, because the information is shared across all the other websites and we don't have anything specific of our ownto share except for, again, the rare early opening of product and a scan.
Think about it: If we had 2-3 exclusive previews a set, that'd be the same amount of cards from leaked sources that we find ourselves. At the moment, all we have is Wizard's ire for being the go-to for people opening product early and doing things to piss Wizards off. Other than that, we have the longest threads of "this card is bad" and "EDH card" discussion. That's not much to brag about or be proud of, really. I think it'd be funner for the community to have a really awesom.e preview card to spoil every week instead of some random jank rare a random player opened early. Then players would be at least less disappointed when an official preview is one we've already leaked.
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"Rumor Mill". Is it common to relate rumors with milling? How about drilling, turning or boring? Secondary meaning to the word "mill"?
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http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rumor_mill
EDIT before ExpiredRascals corrects me and says it's an Idiom.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Etymologically, it is using "mill" as in "grist mill", so it became an idiom for a place just grinding out rumours.
@The topic at hand:
I don't really see a reason to change it. We still have confirmed and unconfirmed information there, and the name has very high recognition. Whether or not it's the sole domain of rumourmongers doesn't really change it for me. The RM has come to be practically a brand name of MTGS, as Sene said. There needs to be a very very strong reason to go away from using something that is so widely known and regarded imo.
EDIT:
@Gals:
EDIT #2:
I will say this though: I have for a very long time desired to change it to "The Rumour Mill".
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This.
Frankly, this resembles an effort to fix something that ain't broken, out of boredom...
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Still, rumor mill is such a strange name and has a stigma in the professional world. Why not also call it the grapevine or the scuttlebutt?
At the end of it all, whatever it's called is fine. I'm sure many other things could be done first, if this even gets or needs to be done ever.