ManWhoJaped
Keeper of the Watch
- Joined
- April 10, 2011
- Messages
- 777
First off I have posted on practically all these sites before, usually as bryce777 but also as other names sometimes, so if you don't recognize me well, I have posted here back before whatever it was that happened with all the various changes (I forget all the drama now), plus on all other sites as well.
If you look at the oldest sumerian writings, you will see complaints that the young generation does not worship the gods properly and is not serious about marriage. Likewise on websites the minute they exist some people are worried about their decline.
The truth of the matter is, it is quite futile and even insane to try to control the flow of discussion. I don't mean to have anarchy or no rules - if anything most forums have too few rules. What I mean is you can't treat people like little sims and instruct them on how you want things organized, what topics and tones are important, etc. It completely flabbergasts me to see people who think one liners are bad, or walls of text are bad - they are each appropriate for different purposes.
I know these ideas are well intentioned, but that is what ruins websites. It's like a form of political correctness added to everything you do which restrains the user. This is why codex is now unreadable crap - everything is bunched into a couple megathreads and there is absolutely no reason to dig through 90k pages of nonsense. A web site with good forum software is ALREADY very well organized - users get to create the threads THEY feel are important, and discuss them as they see fit.
Honestly there has NEVER been a huge difference in the real quality of posts between this site, RPG codex, or any of the other myriad sites. Only change I have seen is over time there's been more europeans and after that way more people from around the world, and way more 'mainstream'. To be honest I think this has dragged things down a bit across the board, as every teenager on earth has a high speed internet connection now. But no problems perceived here are anything to do with any other website, and nothing you can really control. It's like thinking you will bring back the 60s by putting on some groovy clothes if you think you have real control over it. If you go that route it will bejust like MMA where Rosh and 2 of his buddies say the same inane stuff over and over.
That said, rules are good. I swear sometimes but I don't mind a no swearing policy. Any sort of shock pics or post should bring a ban. Any person who never wants to talk about RPGs should be banned as well. As far as behavior like thread merging and duplicate threads, this is only really an issue on a very busy board, or when occasional certain people are simply spammers. The obvious solution is: just ban the spammer. Most of the whining I see REALLY comes down to they simply dislike individual people's opinions. In that case, they simply need to grow up. It's a big world, and in some parts men who don't use a condom are rapists and in others women taking their veils off are immediately beheaded. Same goes for likes and dislikes in a game and it's ridiculous to try to keep everything positive - everyone should be able to be negative on whatever game they like, or like whatever game they choose without accusations of trolling. Any "trolls" like this are very rare and easy to identify, if you have any doubt just ask me I can spot a troll 100 miles away.
Like most people I am in between the extremes but it always seems it's people at the extremes who are very concerned with the behavior of others, and even think the average user is somehow completely "wrong" in their opinions or they are actually trolls. Those are the people who completely ruin message boards because they are always very concerned about what everyone else is doing that they don't like, but don't take into consideration what is annoying to the ones they are persecuting or that they are the minority (sometimes totally insane) opinion. And this part does not apply here - no accusations but it's common elsewhere - they often attack others, then when they get hit back harder instead of admitting defeat or seeking resolution they turn to rules lawyering to get rid of people. Just like backstabbing coworkers in real life who work so hard to keep from actually doing their jobs.
If you look at the oldest sumerian writings, you will see complaints that the young generation does not worship the gods properly and is not serious about marriage. Likewise on websites the minute they exist some people are worried about their decline.
The truth of the matter is, it is quite futile and even insane to try to control the flow of discussion. I don't mean to have anarchy or no rules - if anything most forums have too few rules. What I mean is you can't treat people like little sims and instruct them on how you want things organized, what topics and tones are important, etc. It completely flabbergasts me to see people who think one liners are bad, or walls of text are bad - they are each appropriate for different purposes.
I know these ideas are well intentioned, but that is what ruins websites. It's like a form of political correctness added to everything you do which restrains the user. This is why codex is now unreadable crap - everything is bunched into a couple megathreads and there is absolutely no reason to dig through 90k pages of nonsense. A web site with good forum software is ALREADY very well organized - users get to create the threads THEY feel are important, and discuss them as they see fit.
Honestly there has NEVER been a huge difference in the real quality of posts between this site, RPG codex, or any of the other myriad sites. Only change I have seen is over time there's been more europeans and after that way more people from around the world, and way more 'mainstream'. To be honest I think this has dragged things down a bit across the board, as every teenager on earth has a high speed internet connection now. But no problems perceived here are anything to do with any other website, and nothing you can really control. It's like thinking you will bring back the 60s by putting on some groovy clothes if you think you have real control over it. If you go that route it will bejust like MMA where Rosh and 2 of his buddies say the same inane stuff over and over.
That said, rules are good. I swear sometimes but I don't mind a no swearing policy. Any sort of shock pics or post should bring a ban. Any person who never wants to talk about RPGs should be banned as well. As far as behavior like thread merging and duplicate threads, this is only really an issue on a very busy board, or when occasional certain people are simply spammers. The obvious solution is: just ban the spammer. Most of the whining I see REALLY comes down to they simply dislike individual people's opinions. In that case, they simply need to grow up. It's a big world, and in some parts men who don't use a condom are rapists and in others women taking their veils off are immediately beheaded. Same goes for likes and dislikes in a game and it's ridiculous to try to keep everything positive - everyone should be able to be negative on whatever game they like, or like whatever game they choose without accusations of trolling. Any "trolls" like this are very rare and easy to identify, if you have any doubt just ask me I can spot a troll 100 miles away.
Like most people I am in between the extremes but it always seems it's people at the extremes who are very concerned with the behavior of others, and even think the average user is somehow completely "wrong" in their opinions or they are actually trolls. Those are the people who completely ruin message boards because they are always very concerned about what everyone else is doing that they don't like, but don't take into consideration what is annoying to the ones they are persecuting or that they are the minority (sometimes totally insane) opinion. And this part does not apply here - no accusations but it's common elsewhere - they often attack others, then when they get hit back harder instead of admitting defeat or seeking resolution they turn to rules lawyering to get rid of people. Just like backstabbing coworkers in real life who work so hard to keep from actually doing their jobs.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2011
- Messages
- 777