Not exactly a rules question here, but a question about rules questions.... Has anyone found a good substitute for tzumainn's site in terms of a card database that is useful for looking up common rules questions in the comments section? tzumainn's site was great for this because, first, everyone used it and, second, it had a little bar on the side that allowed you to see what cards had been commented on most recently, so it was easy to see if anyone had asked a rules question and answer it.

This is my impression of the databases we have these days. Perhaps I have overlooked some features on them (or maybe even some database sites?):

1. http://agot.dbler.com/ : no card comment feature.

2. http://www.agotcards.org/ : you can't view the card database without being logged in, so this is not a very good site for linking new players to since they have to go through the registration process to view the card. Also, as far as I know, there is no way to see a list of the most recent comments, so it is hard for people who know the answers to find out about the question and answer it.

3. http://www.cardgamedb.com : has comments and does post recent comments on the side. The only thing about this website is that the interface is a little cluttered.

4. http://info.wsisiz.edu.pl/~szczesnj/index.php : has comments and a recent comments page. Rogue30 usually copies any interesting or frequently asked rulings to the appropriate page. The problem is that no one besides Rogue30 or myself ever posts comments there, so not a lot of rules questions get generated there, just copied over from here.

I was just curious what other people's impressions are of the options for posting card-specific questions/rulings. I remember back when tzumainn's site was up to date that I could often quickly look up a card ruling without trying to search the boards simply by going to that card's page or the page of a similar card. It seems like the new database sites are starting to get back to that point, but they still need to build up card comment volume. Is your first instinct still to come to this board with a rules question, or do you find one of the card databases has enough content that it is worth checking there first?

Well, I guess the problem with those new sites is that ktom doesn't visit them. And if he did all his explanations would be gone if the site went down like tzu main did. I can imagine that happening once discourages him or others since all the gathered wisdom was wiped away for good.

mischraum.de said:

That's a good point. At the time, I understood that Tzu-Mainn had moved on with his life from the game and was really busy, but it was still slightly infuriating that he let all of that extra content that people had posted (like all of the card comments) just evaporate when there were members of the community volunteering to host it if he would give out the code.

The unreliability of fan-created sites is a good argument for FFG having their own database. If a fan can make one in his spare time, surely FFG could produce its own. I just find looking up card comments in a database much more informative than searching back through the forums for learning about certain rules interactions and also just synergies between cards that people point out.