In which we Discuss the Quality of OT

[LucyDuke]

Plus, even if the clique is annoying there are still genuinely cool people who may be a part of it.

I challenge anyone who doesn't "hang out with" any given clique to list all the posters who "hang out with" the clique. (Although perhaps that discussion shouldn't be public? I suppose it's a rhetorical challenge.)

On top of that I think they should try to ban certain topics or close popular threads if someone (or certain posters) doesn't behave. So the people who were seriously debating the topic will be mad at the people responsable for the ban or the closure.

I think that's (bolded) not a good idea. If you know a topic is going to rile up what you don't like, stay away from the thread. It's unreasonable to outright ban discussion of something. Even the severity of the ban on PDMA is too much for my taste, although I can understand it. I can't, though, understand how it's productive to shut down something people are obviously that interested in. What would OT be without creationism, atheists, abortion, lunatics, and George Bush? Mostly a bunch of spam about peanut butter and waterboarding, I'll guess.

Threads that get out of line usually are shut down, or the parties responsible for the fuss are usually "removed". And other people do get mad at them. But anger doesn't help anything.

 

[Fifty]

First of all, Red Door's advise is most apt. A lot of the people who whine about perceived lack of quality are pretty sucky posters.

I also agree with Strider that there ought to be more strict modding. The more strict the mods are, the smarter and wittier you have to be to get away with being witty. The less strictly a forum is moderated, the more you get bad spammy posters as opposed to good spammy posters.

The need for strict modding, though, requires very consistent mods, if it is to accomplish a good filter between good spam/humor and bad spam/humor. I feel like DoM had pretty much the perfect modding style in that regard (I assume praising a mod isn't PDMA!).

Also, I think blaming perceived cliquishness is silly and irrelevant. It has very little to do with the supposed lack of quality.

 

[.Shane.]

Quoted from the Comings and Goings thread.

Ah, gotcha. See, so he left because his life changed. Totally to be expected.

Also, I think blaming perceived cliquishness is silly and irrelevant. It has very little to do with the supposed lack of quality.

lol, "cliques". If anything that shows you that a juvenile mindset is present. Oh, and I agree, btw.

 

[LucyDuke]

Also, I think blaming perceived cliquishness is silly and irrelevant. It has very little to do with the supposed lack of quality.

It's certainly not very high on the list of things we could come up with, but a coordinated gang-bang rarely improves a discussion.

It also isn't something that can be solved, really, so I guess it is pretty irrelevant.

 

[.Shane.]

Good lord, I just read some of that "comings and goings" thread for the first time and its really pathetic. Its 1 part high school yearbook, 1 part myspace page and 2 parts suicide note.

 

[Fifty]

Good lord, I just read some of that "comings and goings" thread for the first time and its really pathetic. Its 1 part high school yearbook, 1 part myspace page and 2 parts suicide note.

Agreed.

 

[Whomp]

OK let me add a few things...

1st--if you don't like what someone's posted or a thread topic then report it. I know I don't look at every infantile thread opened and I'm sure the other mods could care less too. Many times we'll just browse over them but if they get reported they get our attention. If you want stricter or more moderation then you need to self police. We're not your babysitters.

2nd--This is a public forum. Not much different than a bar/pub/club. You're not required to talk to anyone here or for that matter respond to them. Sometimes I feel as if some of you need to puff your chest out to prove something. It's childish and it will serve you well as an adult to avoid this type of activity. Believe me...

3rd--the hissy fit some of you threw on Sunday was unacceptable and I won't forget it. Don't do it again or I'll recommend severe actions you won't like.

Thank you--Staff

 

[jafink]

I think people think things are getting worse, when really they are just outgrowing a site they used to love.

I used to love playing with toy cars. Slowly I lost interest. This wasn't because the quality of toy cars was decreasing, it was because after you do something for too long, 95% of the time it becomes boring.

 

[downtown]

Man, I leave you guys alone for like, 2 days, and look what happens!

I'm still planning on being gone, but somebody showed me this thread on fiftychat, and I feel like I ought to throw in my 2 cents.

First, I never actually said that I thought that CFC quality was declining. I merely stated that it was repetitive, and thats going to happen when you hang out in the same forum for a long time with some *weird* dudes.

Several posters have said that the forum isn't really changing...we're changing. BINGO. Honestly, I don't think CFC OT has changed a whole lot since i've been here...but I sure have.

Fifty is right...if you want a change, you should be that change. Everybody should be a little bit less of a douchebag to other people (even if they are being stupid, or you're pwning them *so bad*), spam a little bit less, and try to think of something new and interesting. If everybody who posted in this thread did that, we'd have a much better place.

I am seriously flattered by the response my decision to leave has produced...I honestly didn't expect it at all (and I hope you all later donate to my PAC ), but please don't go "downtown is gone, all is teh lost", or leave because I (or gogf) did. I've done what I was supposed to do here, now its your turn.

The ending of the coming/going thread was pretty darn sad...Shane et all are right that it looked like a bad high school yearbook/myspace moment, and we all hang out on the internet to get away from that sort of thing right?

In conclusion, Dudes, be excellent, one unto another. You'll find things are better that way

DTizzle

 

[.Shane.]

Several posters have said that the forum isn't really changing...we're changing. BINGO.

Yep, this is what I see all the time on forums. People change or, if its a gaming forum, something about the game and who it attracts changes

The ending of the coming/going thread was pretty darn sad...Shane et all are right that it looked like a bad high school yearbook/myspace moment, and we all hang out on the internet to get away from that sort of thing right?

I didn't mean yours per se. Just in general, I eschew those types of threads because they tend a bit toward the teenage angst/narcissism that my comment was lampooning.

The whole *hand to head* "OMG I'm leaving this forum" is so overdramatic and juvenile to me... its just silly. You're leaving an internet forum... big deal. As you noted, you move on in life. Be it an internet forum or the mall or whatever other place you "hang out" people move forward in life and things change.

Plus, then when you realize you have time to hang around a little bit from time to time you look like you were just playing for attention, which is even MORE pathetic.

GL Downtown.

 

[Berrie]

Good lord, I just read some of that "comings and goings" thread for the first time and its really pathetic. Its 1 part high school yearbook, 1 part myspace page and 2 parts suicide note.

You got me interested. I read the thread. Man, that was hilarious. Made my day!

 

[philippe]

The large number of stupid threads (Who's The Sexiest Dicatator?) that has popped up in the last month or so hasn't helped.

I think most of it could be helped if the mods were more strict. Don't allow trolling/flaming/insults of any level and delete/close useless spam threads.

As the creator of "who's the sexiest dictator?" I would like to say that such an thread is ok, of course it is not serious, and yet it didn't stop to become a quite interesting thread, when browsing through the 4 pages of the thread some very interesting posts were made.

OT can be an excellent place to have serious discussions but I don't believe that every thread has to be an serious discussion.

The quality is more declining in the sense of the baseless, unfounded rather harrasive remarks and boring spam at times.

It's a matter of checks and balances, without a silly thread every now and then OT wouldn't be the same place.

Of course threads who are an reaction to other threads as an "joke manner" who in fact tend to fail like: 'annex UK?' for starters, do help in such degree of declining.

Now if you excuse me, I have to post a pic of the winner of sexiest dictator in the "hunk thread".

 

[LucyDuke]

Of course threads who are an reaction to other threads as an "joke manner" who in fact tend to fail like: 'annex UK?' for starters, do help in such degree of declining.

Troof.

If you think a thread is stupid, it's not funny to make seventeen threads mocking it. One might be funny, but then other people want to play, and it gets out of hand. (Recent waterboarding threads.) I'm sure the mods hate it, and oftentimes the person who made the original thread hates it too - yes, I'm still bitter about the birthday thread collateral. But as far as the topic at hand, I assume this has always happened. That doesn't make it any less stupid.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Delete all threads on hot topic issues.

The interest level will take a massive hit, but the number of abusive/flaming/trolling posts will also drop.

 

[LesCanadiens]

My thoughts. I don't care if some of them have already been said, I'm giving them anyways.

1) On any reasonably large and active forum, there are always at least a few people whining about how the quality of said forum has declined. Sometimes it's posters who used to be respected but lost the respect of the community, sometimes it's posters who are elitists and don't like new users and harken back to days when they were more popular, or sometimes an influx of users with certain beliefs have changed the social dynamics of the board. Or, sometimes it's for no real reason at all. Regardless, there will always be people whining about a decline in quality.

2) CFC OT has always had trolls and spammers. There have always been ups and downs in terms of the quality of discourse, and maybe right now is one of the downs. It happens all the time. Inevitably, it will go the other way in time, without moderator action required. Those of you who have been around a year or less may not be aware of this.

3) A lot of the people whining about the decline in quality are themselves the source of the problem (ie. they're crappy posters).

4) Users, both good and bad, come and go all the time. No one's going to spend their entire lives on this forum. We have always lost good quality posters for a variety of reasons. Downtown and Gogf choosing to leave are hardly the first time quality posters have left us. People come and go. We will acquire new users, and some of these will be high quality posters. In the long run, there will be no net loss, if Downtown and Gogf actually stay away.

Most people, when they leave a forum for good, do so quietly. Most people who write long winded going away notes about how much the forum sucks now and that's why they're leaving tend to come back pretty quick.

Some other stuff I forgot but will add later when I remember it.

 

[Darth_Pugwash]

You know, as one of the first to suggest that OT was on the slide in the coming/going thread, I looked back at some threads from 2004...and whaddya know, there was actually just as much spam and general nonsense to sift through as there is now. That's nostalgia for you I guess.

So, yeah, it's not getting worse. It's always been this bad.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I find that the leftwing posters go nuts when you post anything else and then start ranting away. This causes us right wingists to answer which later wrecks the thread.

 

[LucyDuke]

I find that the leftwing posters go nuts when you post anything else and then start ranting away. This causes us right wingists to answer which later wrecks the thread.

Are you taking responsibility for "the declining quality of OT"?

 

[Gogf]

Just reading over this after someone sent me a link... and I agree with downtown that people are misunderstanding why we left. That's at least partly my fault. My goodbye post was completely misleading, and I have now edited it.

I don't think CFC's really taken a turn for the worse. People are right when they say that we changed, not the forum. I left because I didn't find CFC as interesting as I used to: I don't play Civ anymore, and the novelty of OT wore off after a couple of years. I'm tired of the flaming, trolling, and immaturity, and I'm tired of every single thread turning into the same couple debates after a few pages. I left because I thought I would be happier doing other things with my time.

I am seriously flattered by the response my decision to leave has produced...I honestly didn't expect it at all (and I hope you all later donate to my PAC ), but please don't go "downtown is gone, all is teh lost", or leave because I (or gogf) did. I've done what I was supposed to do here, now its your turn.

Downtown is spot-on here. A lot of you are great people and I miss you, so don't think that OT is suddenly devoid of posters you like because a couple of people left. CFC will go on without us, just like it always has.

(By the way, I'm also touched at the reaction to my leaving. It means a lot .)

If you want my advice on how to help make OT a nicer place: think in terms of trying to convince the other person you're right, not bludgeon them into submission with your points. Your goal should be to persuade, not prove wrong.

Take care guys, you know how to reach me.

Gogf

 

[.Shane.]

I don't think CFC's really taken a turn for the worse. People are right when they say that we changed, not the forum. I left because I didn't find CFC as interesting as I used to: I don't play Civ anymore, and the novelty of OT wore off after a couple of years. I'm tired of the flaming, trolling, and immaturity, and I'm tired of every single thread turning into the same couple debates after a few pages. I left because I thought I would be happier doing other things with my time.

Exactly. I've seen this on every forum I've ever participated in. People come, people go. if the forum is tied to a game, then it typically arcs in sync w/ the games popularity.

At some point, I too, will quit playing Civ and, no doubt, will likely quit posting her shortly thereafter.

No big mystery, no OMG-the-sky-is-falling gnashing of teeth.... your life interests just changed.