Noone ever said they would give a straight answer.
Yes. I was thinking a thread for Questions only. No chit chat. That can be done here.
Each user limit yourself to 1 burning question . Others communities can run their own polls and choose someone to submit their finalized questions in that thread. All with a firm date in mind.
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I second this. Only one post per operator. the most burning question for them, and only the question in the post.
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We are in a bit of a hurry to get this done, which is fine. For that reason I think we should direct any ‘outside’ operators to either of us (NMSCord / Forum) to provide their questions for initial voting.
Membership overlap I hope is limited, but it would help to make a choice where to participate, as otherwise the effect will only increase, especially if the same ‘questions’ are going to be provided on both.
Totally with you on the single final voting location, preferably external without signup. (Not familiar with any myself, aside fromt he now defunct strawpoll)
15 total to submit for a 30 question final poll is fine with me. I am sure this will help us avoid repeats/similar, even during combining both sets of 15.
So I am looking to both of us to agree on an initial setup in this discussion @Gumsk. Just so we can align our coordination in this.
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In that case I think the post at the top of the thread should lay the ground rules - (up for debate)
- Only one question can be proposed per member
- Ranking of the questions will be based on the number of reactions
- First round of ranking will close on Saturday 4th June [SIC] 00:00 UTC
- Around 10 top ranking questions from the ETARC suggestions and 10 from NMScord will be combined for a final vote to shortlist the 10 questions to The Architect (or 9 if we allow Tom A a question of their own)
- Final round of voting will close on Tuesday 7th July 00:00 UTC to then the final list will be compiled on ETARC
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Y’all see what Archie has done? Put us in his shoes. How do you bring communities together in a short amount of time for a set of tasks? The answer; start the process. The answer will reveal itself. Those who truly want to be a part of this will take the steps needed to get here. They carry the questions we want on the list.
Now, if Archie answers the questions with puzzles…
And yes we definitely need to leave a question for Tom. That is only fair. He is the one conducting the interview. But he would need to list the question here with the others
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I would also say its safe to assume most communities or at least their leaders have a presence in NMScord so if people are reaching out to them for their input, It would make the most sense to direct them there if they dont also have a presence here.
Then it would be down to personal preference, but also its vital to express the importance of choosing one or the other, not both, for less busy work for those gathering the questions and avoid doubling up of our finalised lists for polling.
I have a presence on both but I will be limiting my question to here and my voting to this forums poll so as to be as fairly democratic as possible.
4th of june? Ah, so its a “past forwards” deadline, rather than a future backwards one. 
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@sheralmyst
One burning question, sounds great.
@Rusty:
1. I am fine with some of the suggestions, but…
4. …as just discussed with @Gumsk above, it looks like we prefer to each come up with a list of 15, not 10.
2. Not sure if we are referring to the same when it comes to reactions. Ranking when it comes to a poll for the questions seems logic to me and will usually have the best outcome.
3. an 5. I have not yet looked into closing dates/times, but those might work out fine.
We first need to gather the questions before being able to setup a poll. So we’ll require an additional date/time to close submission and start the poll.
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I might be alone in this, but I think ETARC is a reasonable home for the final round of voting, perhaps with a ranked choice. Active participants are well represented here, and it being in ETARC would limit potential for bad faith actors (see also: Boaty McBoat Face).
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I have thought of this too. Archie was very firm about keeping out bad actors.
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I’m afraid I don’t follow the logic of making a list of 15, since we can only present a list of 10 questions. If one of the ten is bad, tough. Why assume we would get a do-over?
Edit: never mind I misunderstood, 15 from each community, that makes sense.
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Its for a broader choice on voting, but the top ten voted will be the ones we pull, if the poll is only ten then there is no need for a poll, we have our ten 
Edit: dont worry about it. Its sunday, our brains should be resting, not CSD testing 
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Alright, for sake of making sure to keep out bad actors, external poll would not be an option. We would all have to agree on one of two locations for a final vote. I do not necessarily have a preference for either, as I merely like as many operators as possible to cast their ‘final’ votes.
This also slightly touches on ‘representatives’, which we most likely have a few, but they only have a single vote. How fair would this be, in case of a Reddit/YT/Twitch/etc community
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Reddit/YT/Twitch etc as far as i know have not participated in the actual ARG aside from asking questions like “what is this”. Anyone from those communities that is interested enough or have enough knowledge to ask a relevant question are already here or discord
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I think limiting operators to only a single question is a bit restrictive. The minimum ought to be three.
The ARG is a sprawling beast of a mystery and I think participants will come up with interesting questions. Three would add a more diverse set. Approximately how many active participants in the ARG are there at this stage?
Perhaps if the ARG becomes more mainstream then a single question may be appropriate but at present I feel this ARG and even the subject matter is quite niche and active with deeply engaged fans of No Man’s Sky.
Some quieter participants may have many questions and this would be a chance for them to shine with all sorts of surprising theories and ideas they may want answers too. A lot can happen in a week and things can go viral very, very quickly.
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Wrangle your thoughts. You can do it. If we end up with a list too long, that will delay final results. I still say just 1. Decide what you want to know the most.
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I agree 1 is restrictive, but i think that may be for the best. Due to timeframe, and the complexity and amount of operators across multiple(mainly 2) platforms, filtering 3 questions from 100 people amounting to 300 questions across 2 platforms to root out duplicates before even getting to a final vote can be daunting. But that is up to what the “filtering persons” want to deal with. IMO
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Come to think of it, what trust level is required to take part in a poll here? If one is required above a newly registered account with little interaction on ETARC forum, and we decide to keep the final polling set restricted to here, we would need to give people a heads up to sign up and get their trust level up ahead of taking part in the poll.
If a certain trust level is required it would certainly keep out bad actors, but it also restricts those with good intentions who arrive late. Its a mixed bag situation but I think ultimately most people who have been seriously invested in the ARG have certainly signed up here in recent weeks since its beginning.
And I think an informed vote is more powerful at the end of the day, so from that point of view I don’t personally mind if someone who has been casually checking in is unable to influence the poll.
If theyre lurking or paying attention now, they’ll certainly start making tracks towards getting involved if they really want to take part in this decision.
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I’m inclined to agree, the voting process will inevitably thin things down anyway (sorry I’m not meaning to sound negative but struggling with how to phrase).
In the down selection before the final vote probably some judgement is needed to see if any of the 15 are essentially duplicates, as I can see that as happening very easily.
Yes, I would love to assume this being the case, I’d meant it somewhat hypothetically. So if we assume only 2 locations for submission to get to a final list of questions to vote on, I’d say those hypothetical communities will just have to get themselves organised and visit either of us to participate.
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