Rather belatedly, I'm posting on the Taraltaran debate, prompted by Morgan's declaration to drop subscription, and the subsequent replies. I know that I risk being told that this has all been talked about ad nauseam; while a long-time player, I'm very new to the Daily. If so, my apologies, and I withdraw the question at the end of the post.
First, I'll try to briefly summarize the situation as I saw it. The original question was a practical one. Morgan asked for help in designing a playable mystic. It referred to topics covered by HW, as requested by this forum. (It looked very innocuous, and, silly me, I didn't expect the ensuing kafuffle at all.)
Many subsequent posts didn't think that true mystics could be PC's, which sort-of answered Morgan's original question, though not in a way that satisfied him. The discussions started getting longer, delving into the nature of mysticism in Glorantha, with RW analogies. Jeff and Greg both declared the thread to be Digest material, where it has since gone (and where I've posted an entry myself). I would have been perfectly happy if it had stayed where it was.
Now to the present. Very recent opinions from Andrew and Jeff defend this decision. When a double standard was pointed out by Morgan, it was declared that many off-topic posts on silly or amusing subjects are allowed because they are self-limiting and short entries. OTOH, long discussions that are on-topic (defined as sticking to HW material), but highly theoretical (e.g. mysticism in Glorantha), are asked to go to the Glorantha Digest, on the grounds that this type of entry is too boring or challenging for newer players.
Is this fair to newer players? Are your attention spans any shorter than those of long-time players? Are you any less capable of discussing the issues? God, I hope not!
I don't know the number of subscribers unique to this list. There is, obviously, a lot of overlap. I would suspect that those who subscribe only to HQ may be annoyed that the longer 'grown-up' discussions are only allowed in a group which habitually discusses topics deriving from material that new players don't have, which is supposedly why HQ Daily was established in the first place. Given that premise, I would say that the decision was wrong.
Tangentially, this brings up the longterm future of Daily. Is it hoped that, sooner or later, all HQ-only subscribers will 'graduate' to the Digest, leaving the Daily for the quickie questions only? Or will the Daily then fold? Do you foresee a permanent separation of the Gloranthan populations into pre- and post-HW/HQ?
Before I'm reminded that short, snappy entries are the preferred type of post here, yes, I do dimly remember this (no "Rules of the Road" at the head of each digest to remind me :-) ). I'm just not sure that this should remain so, so long as entries are pertinent, germane and HW-compliant. It's long been agreed that new blood is the hope of any community. What does the new blood think?
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