Legitimate complaints about the General forum

[Katganistan]

Awe.
That's the kind of stuff the community as a whole should just discourage on it's own, without the help of the mods.

You know what, the flag thing is just like racism. Discriminating against those who look different than them. I find anime appealing, a work of art, and kind of taboo (I live in the south ATM, terrible place for a person like me to live) cause here the anime that comes to mind to the locals is Naruto, which is quite sub par, in my opinion.

Well, the idea is that when NSG allowed many more "fun", "social", or "community" threads, it became more of a community forum where we would disagree on politics and other issues (although there were always the hardcore arguers), rather than an argument forum, where everybody just argued with each other.

Not exactly what I'm talking about. I'm reffereing to the people inside them that think theirs is better than the other without actually doing much in the other.
What I'm trying to say is why can't we all be friends? But according to my earlier statement, that wouldn't happen, because the majority of the NSGers would say "stoopid idealizt ur an idjot" and leave it at that.

Again, if someone is flaming you, please report it.

[Audentias Gryphus]

So would we allow porn and ED and 4chan etc. in Forum 7 then? A lawless society isn't a functioning or productive one.

Just because F7 is home to spam, doesn't mean it's going to become a new *chan. Max would never allow such a thing to happen. F7 doesn't need to be productive, that however, doesn't mean it has the right to spam DESU DESU DESU and trade pictures of underaged boys.

Functioning OR productive. 4chan doesn't function. 4chan just is.

It was also a hypothetical. I know that. That's why letting forums have their own rules wouldn't be a good idea. But hey, to each his own. And that's the fun in visiting different forums and finding their own twist on things. For some, the twist on things in General ain't a good one.

@Kat, which is why I linked the post. So he wouldn't need to find his own interpretation of the rule in the OSRP.

[Katganistan]

Why couldn't we have a welcome thread stickied in NSG? Most forums have one.

Different from the player info thread. Where new people can pop in and introduce themselves, have a bit of a chat with the people who are already here. It might help with new posters blending in.

I hadn't thought of that -- though we do get a number of "Hi I'm new" threads in General. I usually try to post in them.

[Katganistan]

Take it to NSG or Gameplay.

You're not a moderator. Don't tell people what to do.

[Katganistan]

To a very limited extent, there are different rules depending on the forum.

So would we allow porn and ED and 4chan etc. in Forum 7 then? A lawless society isn't a functioning or productive one.

A-G, there is no porn allowed anywhere on this site. Please at least familiarize yourself with the rules and with the forums you're discussing before making silly comments.

[Zwangzug]

From the locked thread...

Having been a part of a number of communities over the years -- NSG, II, Gameplay -- I know that more or less every community is in accordance on one point. NS is dying. It's hard to think of any group that is currently thriving or at its peak... maybe 10000 Islands, based on the number of active nations, but that's a few hundred players out of thousands. When discontent springs in such a great number of communities, particularly forum- and game-based ones (as opposed to region-based ones), one must stop to consider the existence of a potential common thread, or several.

As an FYI, sports RP has experienced a significant uptake in tournament signups since leaving Jolt. This is more coincidental timing than anything else, but in the last few days, users in the World Cup (the largest sports tournament) have been discussing potentially expanding the tournament field--there might not be any structural changes, but general consensus is that activity in the sports forum is particularly high. I wouldn't describe it as "at its peak" per se because I don't believe things will necessarily tail off any time soon! But the picture isn't as simple as it might appear.

Anyway, carry on...

[Audentias Gryphus]

So would we allow porn and ED and 4chan etc. in Forum 7 then? A lawless society isn't a functioning or productive one.

A-G, there is no porn allowed anywhere on this site. Please at least familiarize yourself with the rules and with the forums you're discussing before making silly comments.

*points to the post above*

"It was also a hypothetical. I know that."

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

It was also useless and added nothing to the discussion - something you still haven't seemed to keep a grip on, in spite of numerous comments, warnings, and time-outs to encourage you to learn. If you don't have anything useful to add, please refrain from posting.

[Audentias Gryphus]

It was also useless and added nothing to the discussion - something you still haven't seemed to keep a grip on, in spite of numerous comments, warnings, and time-outs to encourage you to learn. If you don't have anything useful to add, please refrain from posting.

With all due respect, I actually meant to quote Sailsia's original post, but quoted Kat's instead, just to let it be made aware I saw her post, read it, and was adding to the reply, by providing a fallacious sort of argument albeit valid in an extraneous sort of example. That has seemed to backfire and become a slight misunderstanding. Now that it's cleared up, will we be moving on? Probably without me though, I have nothing more to add.

[Katganistan]

Why couldn't we have a welcome thread stickied in NSG? Most forums have one.

Different from the player info thread. Where new people can pop in and introduce themselves, have a bit of a chat with the people who are already here. It might help with new posters blending in.

Willing to give it a try...

[The Blaatschapen]

Why couldn't we have a welcome thread stickied in NSG? Most forums have one.

Different from the player info thread. Where new people can pop in and introduce themselves, have a bit of a chat with the people who are already here. It might help with new posters blending in.

Willing to give it a try...

Can old people also introduce themselves or do we have to wait for a new person to come up and take the initiative?

[Nightkill the Emperor]

I like F7 and General, don't have complaints about either.

[Katganistan]

Willing to give it a try...

Can old people also introduce themselves or do we have to wait for a new person to come up and take the initiative?

Perhaps that would help break the ice so they don't knowthink they're sacrificial lambs being offered up for the slaughter.....

[Dyakovo]

I stand by the same thing I have been saying since the move to these forums. The social aspect is still somewhat absent. Of course we will never have another DCD, but we lack the fun light news stories he provided. That isn't the fault of the admin.

We are also lacking things like Sexiest NSer, which was allowed to stay in General last year, but not this year. We lack threads like "whatcha look like" and all those which allowed for some directed and moderated conversation. We lack threads like "Choose Wisely", which achieved much the same.

F7 takes the social aspect too far for my taste. I don't want unmoderated spam. I do, however, want to be social with other users.


Oh, and Kat: Thanks.

I really don't have anything to add to this... Sarkhaan summed my feelings up pretty damn well...

[Panzerjaeger]

In my ever so humble opinion I think NSG could use a little more light-hearted fun it can be as inviting as a witch's teat in there at times. I enjoy a good argument but it seems that is all people want to do in there anymore. I don't know how you can really fix that though except mandatory pies to the face or wedgies.

[Dyakovo]

In my ever so humble opinion I think NSG could use a little more light-hearted fun it can be as inviting as a witch's teat in there at times. I enjoy a good argument but it seems that is all people want to do in there anymore. I don't know how you can really fix that though except mandatory pies to the face or wedgies.

Trying to bribe LG?

[Panzerjaeger]

In my ever so humble opinion I think NSG could use a little more light-hearted fun it can be as inviting as a witch's teat in there at times. I enjoy a good argument but it seems that is all people want to do in there anymore. I don't know how you can really fix that though except mandatory pies to the face or wedgies.

Trying to bribe LG?

Whatever works.

[The Blaatschapen]

Okay, this is not a complaint, but it is something I wonder about now that the name of the Goofy One has fallen:

When a thread is closed because it has become a big cesspool, does it happen that LG dives into it because he had mistaken it for a pool of mud?

[Katganistan]

Okay, this is not a complaint, but it is something I wonder about now that the name of the Goofy One has fallen:

When a thread is closed because it has become a big cesspool, does it happen that LG dives into it because he had mistaken it for a pool of mud?

I certainly hope not. Mud is good clean fun. An internet cesspool is horrific.

[The PeoplesFreedom]

If it would be nice if posters who habitually ran up to the line, tippe-toed just over it, then runs crying to the mods when they bait someone into slapping them, would be punished.

[Euroslavia]

If it would be nice if posters who habitually ran up to the line, tippe-toed just over it, then runs crying to the mods when they bait someone into slapping them, would be punished.

Examples?

[The Norwegian Blue]

Sarkhaan hits the nail on the head every time the general topic of NSG and Forum 7 comes up.

To expand on that a little - back on Jolt, I can remember approximately two posters that I would ever have gone so far as to say I even vaguely disliked, and loads I would have said I actively liked. Nowadays, there's several of the former, and I can't even think of one of the latter I didn't already know from Jolt. I don't think I've completely changed personalities and become a much meaner person - I think I am a normal human being who likes people when we have pleasant discussions and discover things we have in common, and dislikes people when all they do is argue with me or say things I think are dumb. In the Jolt days, even the people whose politics were diametrically opposed to my own would show up in a thread about what sort of music you like or what your favorite kind of chocolate is or what toppings you put on your pizza or what TV shows you watch regularly or which way you hang your toilet paper rolls, and they'd change in my mind from "that guy who says stupid things in abortion threads - grr, he pisses me off" to "that guy who says stupid things in abortion threads, but agrees with me about the awesomeness of sliced tomatoes on pizza and who I had a really great conversation with about Renaissance choral music - he annoys me sometimes, but he seems like a decent sort." And then, the next time I saw the same guy saying stupid things in an abortion thread, I was far less inclined to treat him like an idiot, and far more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I knew he wasn't all bad. When all those light-hearted threads are scooped out of NSG and sent over to Forum 7 (or Arts and Fiction, occasionally), it's no wonder NSGers feel burnt out and like what used to be a fun forum now often just feels like a place where everyone snipes at each other all the time about the same topics.

I don't hate Forum 7. It's not for me, but the people who enjoy it enjoy it, and that's great. I hate that somewhere along the line, General stopped being a forum "for discussion and debate about anything" and became a forum "for discussion and debate about anything serious." I like serious threads. I just like being able to take a break from serious threads and engage the same people I was just arguing with in a pleasant conversation about how we both think Dr. House is totally sexy and Kinder eggs are delicious, and since the move and the addition of Forum 7, it seems like all the threads where that sort of pleasant social conversation can occur get yanked out of General to die ignominious and spammy deaths elsewhere, while Generalites go right on viewing each other as allies and adversaries rather than friends and acquaintances.

[The Bleeding Roses]

Are you people honestly trying to rationalize including F7ers in NSG? F7 is the 4chan of NS, the dredges of the internet.

No thanks.


That being said, a welcome thread is a horrendous idea.
No one will read it and a sticky simply clogs the screen.

[Dumb Ideologies]

I've noticed it is mostly those who have been around a while who are commenting on the lack of a social aspect. Obviously, we can partly explain this away by newer nations turning up largely after this element has drained away; you don't miss what there hasn't been while you've been here. But, keeping in mind that participation in these threads only comes from a minority of posters, we do need to ask the question if the majority even want a more social aspect to the forum.

[Ballotonia]

The problem I see with the way moderation is being done is that the forum is seen as one whole unit. Threads like this go here, threads like that are moved over there, etc... Thing is, the forum may look like that for a moderator, but it doesn't look like that from the perspective of a user.

A user typically hangs out in a group of sub-fora. For me it's Moderation/Technical/Got Issues?/Gameplay/Security Council. That's it. Any venturing out is done only rarely, depending on specific personal interests. And there's a good reason people pick and choose: the forum as a whole is simply too much to keep up with. So I skip F7, and all RP, and in NSG I only read the Dutch thread.

Everyone will have their own selection of sub-fora. And thus, moving a social thread from NSG to F7 is like destroying it. It moves it from belonging to one group of users to another, and thus the point of the thread is gone by the mere act of moving it elsewhere. It might as well have been deleted.

So, I think moderation should consider allowing social threads in NSG. Organization of threads should be based on the userbase the thread serves, not purely on the type of thread.

Ballotonia