coffeecup: Late to the party, but thanks for selling you out to disqus:
http://gogcom.tumblr.com/post/96361022413/disqus-on-gogblog

Of all options, you took the worst data tentacle sucker.

Sorry, but you will know soon, if you really want to switch to disqus. Why not vbulletin or MiniBB (http://www.minibb.com/)?

eVinceW21: First of all, let me say that my experiences on the GOG forum has been great so far. I say so far because I've had decent experiences on forums before that go real bad real quick.

Discussion has been lively and pleasant, users have been courtesy and helpful and the discussions I have participated in and witnessed have been open, engaging, on point and respectful.

In terms of functionality, the GOG forums could certainly stand to be more robust, just shy of unnecessary features such as upvotes, forum shops and user blogs that turn forums into a commercial driven popularity contest. The functionality of the forums as it currently stands suffices well enough but it would be nice if they were more robust and user friendly on the technical side in regards to things like profiles, PMs, thread tracking and organizing, etc.

Personally the GOG forums need to stay within the realm of games and entertainment as it relates to GOG.com. The most effective way to kill an engaging forum is to open it up to free-for-alls where everything from sports to politics to religion and social commentary is being discussed and argued and bickered about. Avoid any "General Discussion" or "Off Topic" subforums like the plague, they will invite trolls and degenerates and disruptive attention seekers from all corners of the net and your service will become the domain of bickering children.

For the love of all things bright and beautiful: Don't do this. I personally implore you.

Emob78: I don't see a problem with sub forums at all. Don't want to engage in sports or political talk on gog, then don't go to those sub forums. Pretty simple, really. Finger waving at people who are 'bickering children' in an environment that encourages creativity and free speech is a bit heavy handed... and wrong, in my opinion. Don't like my opinion? No one says you have to. The gog forum has been AWESOME when it comes to allowing people a fair chance to exchange ideas, links, and constructive criticism.

I've left many forums in the past because they began to have strict rules pertaining to what was and wasn't allowed to be discussed. Some were plainly oppressive in their discussion rules. So I left. I wasn't intending to troll the forums, I just wanted to talk to people. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has them and everyone thinks it's only theirs that doesn't stink. Provide an open and fair arena for discussion and the good, smart ideas will always prevail. Please, gog, don't go down that road. Your forums could use a little tweaking, maybe, but not an oppressive overhaul that stifles discussion and opinion.

eVinceW21: That's a nice idea but misguided I am afraid. In my experience there are just way too many people who are not capable of handling the responsibility of free speech. No matter how much you try to encourage it they use it to terrorize and disrupt because that is what they want to do. And on the world wide web under the cover of anonymity and the lack of empathy that comes from proximity to others the people expressing ideas for the sake of taking offense and issuing insults and initiating flame wars are not the sort of people who are interested in friendly productive conversation. Quite the contrary, they openly seek to be disruptive, argumentative and combative given the advantage and the means to do so. Do Not give them a platform with which to do so. The GOG forums are a useful place to discuss matters pertaining to Good Old Games and its services. I would loathe to have that useful communications service disruptive in such a way. There are countless other venues and methods for discussing any and all matters there are to be discussed on the internet and otherwise. I would recommend anyone wishing to engage in such extracurricular discussion to invite those willing to have them via the multitude of pre-existing means.

If you think people will just ignore such click-bait bullying tactics or keep their feelings confined to the appropriate sub-forums remember that these common spats breed animosity and bad feelings that people carry with them. They destroy friendships, are non-condusive to helpful discussion and drive friendly respectable members away despite their intentions. They spill over into other forum discussion and make people unwilling to engage. Eventually forums turn in to an ugly free-for-all where everything but the original subject matter is being discussed and flame wars are practically exclusive. Everyone flees except the trolls. A lively community is important to GOG from a business standpoint. A forum full of trolls and flame wars can negatively impact business. In fact, ask yourself "What would Steam do?" and whatever the answer is, don't do it.

The gog forum has been AWESOME when it comes to allowing people a fair chance to exchange ideas, links, and constructive criticism. This is because the people here now genuinely care about GOG and the good old games it offers. This is what we know. This is what we love. We share this interest and this is why we can (safely) discuss it.

Sachys: so, in short, you want to relegate all non-directly-gaming-related discussion to a sub-forum?

eVinceW21: Sure. A sub-forum on some other forum. I would rather not have non-directly-GOG-related discussion on the GOG forums at all. There are other places for such discussions. Invite your friends to have them there. I would not invite trolls into GOG to engage in flame wars via general discussion or off topic sub-forums.

rodrolliv: From what I understand, it's the lack of active moderation that gets forums derailed and full of flame wars. I've seen what eVinceW21 mentions in other places, and it's usually a group of moderators that let too much stuff happen for too long, either because of lazyness or because they are friends with the users that generate trouble, until the people that cared about the place decide to leave, and only toxic users remain. Just my own experience in the issue.

eVinceW21: Sure. A sub-forum on some other forum. I would rather not have non-directly-GOG-related discussion on the GOG forums at all. There are other places for such discussions. Invite your friends to have them there. I would not invite trolls into GOG to engage in flame wars via general discussion or off topic sub-forums.

rodrolliv: From what I understand, it's the lack of active moderation that gets forums derailed and full of flame wars. I've seen what eVinceW21 mentions in other places, and it's usually a group of moderators that let too much stuff happen for too long, either because of lazyness or because they are friends with the users that generate trouble, until the people that cared about the place decide to leave, and only toxic users remain. Just my own experience in the issue.

Emob78: 1. At what point and for what reason do you think that the forum would deteriorate into flame wars and troll-fests?

2. Granted, many forums do become that with the right combination of anger, mismanagement and immaturity, but I don't see that happening here at all.