Edited for clarity.
As someone who just started doing LPs I can see both sides to this, as a player, and as a viewer. I don't think this rule change is going to be a good idea though. People are already not really seeming to like it, and I think it is the wrong way to go about fixing the "problem", which isn't really that big of a problem, imo. The LP forum has always been kind of a niche, often feeling like its own thing away from PureZC; a hub to allow us to share games we're playing. It's an LP forum. Imagine that, people posting updates to their LPs. Maybe that's the problem? I just think that pressing more restrictions and rules on people is going to make productivity, and site morale, if you will, go down. The site is already experiencing a large lull, and this could easily turn into another "rating system" (which will be forever referred to as "ratergate") level fiasco, and make even more people distant, or pissed off.
I did spend a lot of time watching LPs before too, and the "link dumping" never really bothered me. I think as long as there is enough information in the post about the part being added, it shouldn't matter if they make consecutive posts. As Zoria already touched on, it's nice to know which LPs are active, or which LPs are finished. I don't think this rule change will immediately get people talking in the LP forum, if that is it's purpose either. A lot of people also use YouTube's comments to, well, comment on the videos, and discuss it. I get that the staff doesn't want to wade through it all, and it does seem kind of shallow, or campy to just dump links (not saying the people who do so are, but I can see why people might think that) but I'm just not so sure this is the best solution, but I can't really formulate a better alternative at this time.
To clarify, with this new rule, a post like this or this is not okay, but a post like this, this, or this is? I kind of prefer adding more than one section at a time, as it is less work, and editing, and formatting posts for me too. I've actually been trying to add at least three, or two sections at a time to any given LP. I also have another question regarding "LP index threads". Are we allowed to update these daily, or multiple times a day if actual substantial content has been added (several videos, an LP has wrapped, a new one has started. etc)? The index threads are more of less a hub for finding the user's individual LP threads easily on a time-based threaded forum, so there probably isn't much room for a lot of discussion there, unless the viewers want to suggest stuff to play, or give tips on recording in general. If you look at my LP thread in my sig, you'll see that I update the main thread to say I've added parts to, sometimes, several LPs. Is that still okay, as long as it is not a bump to say "hey, part 46 is up"? What happens if there is a discussion in an LP thread? Is there some arbitrary threshold at which we can post new sections again? I feel like the more I'm thinking about this, the less I see the point.
On a side note, I wish more LPers in general would put in the times of interesting stuff. I know it is a lot of extra work, but I don't always want to sit through a 30 minute video if I'm trying to find a boss battle, or something like that. I'm basically just wondering if my current approach to LPs is okay, with having an "index thread" that has big updates (game announcements, LP wrapping/ starting, a bunch of parts added to a few different LPs in one day, etc) then have posts in the individual LP threads that add two or more parts, but offer some information, and description, and generally speaking, times of interest? With the way I currently do it, the Playlist is linked to in the first post, and all of the descriptions, and times for all the parts are in spoiler tags in that post. Any bumps link directly to the new video, or reference the first post. If we're not allowed to bump them, how will people know we've added stuff? This line seems too fine.
While it may seem counter-intuitive,
Yes. Sorry, but yes. It really does.
we hope this will increase the amount of traffic the forum sees,
Less posts won't increase traffic. Less updates won't increase traffic. At least, I don't think it will. People aren't going to be flooding in to talk about stuff just because there are less link-dumps. A bigger problem is, LPers need to work harder to make people want to talk about their stuff. I get banning just straight-up link dumps, but why can't you post adding one section a day, if there is a solid description, and content?
as several members have told us that they don't wish to view the forum at all due to becoming lost in page after page of links.
Who? Are they active members? Is it a big enough percent of the community to warrant a rule change like this?
Admittedly, you were one of the biggest arguments against the rule changes. Your format was really cool, and really fun to read too.
Then why force NJF to change it? You said yourself, it is fun to watch.
Rule changes like this make me a bit uneasy. I try really hard to follow to rules here, and this does seem kind of unnecessary, but I do kind of see the larger problem this is trying to correct, again, just not sure I have an answer either. I will say, frankly, this feels useless and is something that I can see causing another big rift in this community. It's almost better the way it was until something better can be done. Of course, I would like it if people did discuss stuff more, but I feel like it has to happen organically. An example, I've watched tons of NJF's, and pixcalibur's ZC LPs, but I've not commented once (until very recently, that is, now I do post more cause I'm more active in the LP forum). I'm not really there to talk about it, I don't mind just watching, and this will make it harder to do that in a forum that is pretty much for that. This also makes the viewer have to work harder too in terms of remembering stuff, and checking in, as Dimentio said below. You can't just throw down rules, and tell people they HAVE to discuss stuff.
I think I'm finally done messing with this post. There went my morning