Before i begin my discussion- G-Flex, you're spiteful and self-righteous, and I dislike your constant disapproval of everything which offends your senses, and that post was simply painting you as Armok- unable to rebut their point, yet unable to admit defeat, you instead seek to demean others, and place yourself as a 'higher level', by saying that our willingness to pursue our own opinions other than yours makes us immature.
Edit: That was in response to:
I know, on a rational level, that he's not going to enact your bloody purges of the ill-defined "undesirables" that are totally not just anyone you don't happen to like
If you're going to continue to talk like this, then I have no reason to assume that you're interested in discussing this rationally at all, and have no reason to respond to anything you're saying, as there simply isn't a point, especially since I've explained myself quite well in several posts already. I'm not taking the bait anymore from you.
Also, FGRP should never be closed.
I think I've got a few points to make known. Although so far in this thread, I've only read the first page and the last page, as I tend to do before my first post, I noticed that the discussion hasn't gone anywhere, so there can't have been any posts I've missed which were too important.
Alright, I didn't come to this forum 'Ages Ago'. While I'd like to think I'm a long time member, I mostly started off in the upper forums and drifted down. Indeed, I only came to the lower forums after General Discussion had well started up, although I had looked at VN a few times. All I can say is, in regards to moderation, it's very much based on a personal opinion- which is why this forum can't be moderated perfectly. In my opinion, it's all about the line. With anything. To take the example of 'Mew'. Now, when I was in the forums a while ago, to have Janet/Sofia go 'Mew' and call herself 'Kitty', and such, was endearing, to say the least. And while I have to say it's worn off as I've been here, there's a point in time when it's too much. Personally, I think one person is enough. Any more than that, and it annoys me. However, if MoM want's to be also feline-obsessed, then it's not my right to restrict her, or ask for her to be restricted. It's a quirk, everyone has them. And while the forum used to be smaller, and everyone had an individual quirk, now we're overlapping a bit. I don't mind that, it's not past the line. The point where threads begin to dissolve into nothing but Auuuu~ Mew~ and Desu~ is the point where it is crossing the line, and, admittedly, some action must be taken. The problem is the action taken.
And that's what I believe is missing from the forum today. Two main things, the Chill, and the Trust. As far as I can tell, the Trust won't come back. The forum was small back then. Everyone talked about whatever was going on, and everyone else listened. Indeed, you could ask for help in the happy thread, and people would reply. People would help, instead of going 'Take it to Life Advice!'. You could post something sad in the sad thread, and people responded with sympathy. Everyone was just... closer. And that's what had half of the attraction of this forum. Aqizzar didn't Like being idolized, but doubtless he laughed at the jokes we made about him. And when someone stepped over the line, the forum itself berated them. We were like a group of friends, rather than a bunch of Anonymous. But, as the forum grew bigger, only then did I start to think about lurkers, stalkers, and how much personal information we were all sharing. But hey, this is more a bitch about how it was, rather than anything constructive. Secondly- The Chill. That's what made B12 Unique. It wasn't a forum like any others, because the single, simple rule, for everyone to follow was, 'Keep it chill'. And that's what we did. Besides, we always had Duke and Reasonableman there, exuding chill from their very avatars. To be honest, I don't think this forum needs more rules, or stricter enforcement on rules, or anything like that. I think it just needs for us all to remember rule no. 1. Keep it chill. And I think that's what is causing half of the problems here.
Another couple of things I just have to mention here-
Threads get derailed. Deal with it. A thread is like a conversation, with the OP being the guiding force. A thread will be derailed as it progresses. And, for the record, 'derailing', isn't the same as 'Massive quote pyramids and trolling'. That is what you would call... 'Massive quote pyramids and trolling'. Derailing is exactly what it sounds like. When the discussion leaves the rails- As in, when we change subject. And that happens very easily, and it's natural. If we're talking about something, we can naturally get sidetracked on a different discussion. These discussions can be just as interesting and thought-provoking as the original discusssion. However, a derail should usually fade out on it's own. If it doesn't, that's where a 're-rail' is necessary. A post to get people back on topic. Of course, when the forum was smaller, derails were one of the ways to keep a thread interesting, because everyone puts in their opinion on a topic, and where do you go from there? But yes, people shouldn't be continually complaining about derailling topics. It's the same as a conversation branching out. Sometimes it can make a new conversation, sometimes it will eventually tie back into where you were going anyway.
And for my biggest peeve about this forum- It's primarily a DF forum. The forum itself. The amount of people nowadays who have never heard of DF, let alone played it, and yet still tromp around these forums annoys me. I always considered DF to be a rite of passage into these forums. If we all played it, and it led us here, then that's a good indication that it's drawing people with similar personalities and traits together. To have people on this forum say 'DF looks bad', or 'I never had the patience for it', annoys me to no end. I think that most of the reason for B12 losing it's trust was simply because it went from people playing the game, then checking the forum, to people saying 'Hey, this forum is awesome, go on it'. Now, for some parts, I don't mind. The constant intermingling between XKCD and B12 in the Mafia- That's fine. They're here to play mafia. However, I think it's important that we remember that DF is more or less why this forum was created, and why it exists. And while we can have our discussion about anything on the lower forums, I like to think that we've all got something in common- We either play Dwarf Fortress, or we Played Dwarf Fortress.
And that's more or less what I have to say on the matter. Even though I may have lost track at a few points.
Warning - while you were typing 10 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post. Whatevs.
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Topic: Regarding the state of the forums. (Read 34338 times)