Forum needs a tidy up

[Arbalest]

As of late, i've found that a lot of the forum has started to get trolled and a lot of the topics keep getting side-tracked. Being honest, it does put me off a lot, so i'm thinking it maybe best if some of the topics where closed/watched more or perhaps some mods to help tidy the place up a bit =/ Just to mention a few, the likes of the dragon quest topic in the games section is completely off topic now, and certain people just create topics which are completely pointless =/

 

[Ryo Chan]

Completely agree with you arby,

[Rant]

The "make something up to increase your post count" thread is just asking for trolling, I mean, seriously, since when did having a high number next to your username become "da bomb" of the internet?

I've tried to make allowance and just let the forum go down this rapid-course but it's really getting too much now.

At this moment in time there are only 3 even respectable forums that I’d dare visit often, the news section, TV and Movies, and general anime/manga sections.

I can understand slightly off topic posts, I don't expect people to start pming each other just to ask a quick off topic question, but when it turns 90 degrees off and turns into a flame war, surely something needs to be done?

In its present state, I’d recommend the site to anyone, but certainly not the forums, especially to people under the age of 18, some of the things said here and content mentioned is just ridiculous for a open discussion forum.

I'm pretty sure Paul didn't make the site to bring people news, but to try and help build the anime community in the UK up, and I have to ask, how is it going to be possible if all we can really aim at is over 18's surely you'd have to aim at the younger generations too, and while I understand that bad language and such is the "thing" nowadays, even that needs to be moderated and monitored

[/end rant]

Phew, in short yes, I agree, some more mods need to be in place I feel, from what I can see only 1 active person has rights to keep and eye on the "never regions" of the forums and that is Paul and he's enough on his plate to deal with as it is

 

[Chaz]

I 3rd the motion! (Can't second cuz Ryo beat me to it.)
This place has become a tip. The amount of topics that have been made in less than a week between each other is hurrendous, and it's litterally clutter, spam and trolling.

Ryo and Arby were short-time mods for the anime fights, and they were well maintained. Now, if only we could have that for the rest of the forums, we'd be sorted.
Paul can't look after everything, but he needs help. He's not said anything about it, but if we can see it within our own forums that there's a problem, then there's a serious problem.

I'm not saying go all out and perminately ban people or wipe the forums of topics, but we need 2 things:
1) People (as forumers) to be more restricting and thoughtful of their posts and topics. A little maturity goes a long way and doesn't hurt.
2) People who (when such things are breached and abused) will clean up the problem. Just to edit/delete unappropriate elements being made, or ban people for a few days for flamers and such to cool off.

Not too much to ask for. In fact, most forums have them, so why not? Either that or we wait for the unavoidable deconstruction of the AUKN community.

 

[Wildcard]

I don't think the forum is too bad, particularly in comparison with others, and the topics aren't exactly obscene. The sites structure is fine, it's simply inevitable that things will go off track from time to time, to blunt; it's human. The forum games are a little out of hand, and yeah I'd wager some people do it purely to boost their post count - but it's not like it matters, judge people on their word's, not their ranking.

The only way this could be forcibly changed is by placing more restrictions on the forum, which I for one don't think is necessary. Paul doesn't need to change the site, it's down to everyone to try and be appropriate.

 

[Ryo Chan]

I don't think the forum is too bad, particularly in comparison with others, and the topics aren't exactly obscene. The sites structure is fine, it's simply inevitable that things will go off track from time to time, to blunt; it's human. The forum games are a little out of hand, and yeah I'd wager some people do it purely to boost their post count - but it's not like it matters, judge people on their word's, not their ranking.

The only way this could be forcibly changed is by placing more restrictions on the forum, which I for one don't think is necessary. Paul doesn't need to change the site, it's down to everyone to try and be appropriate.

i agree to a point with what you say but it's easier to judge people words when you don't have to pick them out of some of the trash that ends up in an otherwise respectable topic.

Do you really think when the "what are you doing now" topic was made, you'd expect someone to reply with 1 word saying "eating"?

 

[Chaz]

I don't think the forum is too bad, particularly in comparison with others, and the topics aren't exactly obscene. The sites structure is fine, it's simply inevitable that things will go off track from time to time, to blunt; it's human. The forum games are a little out of hand, and yeah I'd wager some people do it purely to boost their post count - but it's not like it matters, judge people on their word's, not their ranking.

The only way this could be forcibly changed is by placing more restrictions on the forum, which I for one don't think is necessary. Paul doesn't need to change the site, it's down to everyone to try and be appropriate.

We're not saying to "change" the site. Just how it's run.
The site itself is easy to work with, and has enough forums/places to add new threads and such. It's like you said, the humans that are making the mess.

What does "raising you post count" actually achieve? Am I missing out on a game that has no purpose but to plague the monitor? This part is truely a mystery to me, but it's very common for people to go ahead and blast the forums.
We have restrictions. We don't have the manpower to support it though. It's not a company, so it has to be voluntary, which no one has asked for or been given yet. Until now.
It is inevidable that people will make spam and such, but it can be monitored and filtered. It just needs some TLC.

 

[Wildcard]

i agree to a point with what you say but it's easier to judge people words when you don't have to pick them out of some of the trash that ends up in an otherwise respectable topic.

Do you really think when the "what are you doing now" topic was made, you'd expect someone to reply with 1 word saying "eating"?

I really sympathise with what your saying, so forgive me if this sounds apathetic; but this is a larger problem with the internet and people generally. As much as some may use it for appropriate or thoughtful purposes, others will just contribute to the growing layers of spam and junk. Maybe some of the more stagnant topics and forum games should be shut off, but besides that I feel it's up to the members themselves to discourage this kind of behaviour and not fall into it themselves.

EDIT: I'll stop arguing anyway or I'll be in danger of creating junk topic myself

 

[Arbalest]

i agree to a point with what you say but it's easier to judge people words when you don't have to pick them out of some of the trash that ends up in an otherwise respectable topic.

Do you really think when the "what are you doing now" topic was made, you'd expect someone to reply with 1 word saying "eating"?

I really sympathise with what your saying, so forgive me if this sounds apathetic; but this is a larger problem with the internet and people generally. As much as some may use it for appropriate or thoughtful purposes, others will just contribute to the growing layers of spam and junk. Maybe some of the more stagnant topics and forum games should be shut off, but besides that I feel it's up to the members themselves to discourage this kind of behaviour and not fall into it themselves.

Thats kinda why i made the topic, the amount of topics which are pretty much pointless or an excuse to post countless amounts of spam is extremely annoying. I've never been a fan at all with the idea of having a forums game section, but at least the majority of junk/spam topics where there at the time, now they seem to liter the place. Sure it is the members themselves which do this, but that doesn't mean to say that we just leave the spam and such there for everyone to see, its not exactly what we're on here to see. Thats why i say it needs a tidy up.

 

[Yagami]

Honestly, this forum isn't bad, at all. In my opinion, its a lot more well maintained that a lot of other forums on the web. But, I think you should consider getting a report button.

If you see a post, or a topic, which is off-topic, or against the rules, why not just use the report button? I'm sure it will bring a lot more justice than going even more off topic by just posting to justify to them, the troll / rule breaker, that they have done something bad. Or, even worse, ignoring it? Ignoring it isn't going to do anything, it will still be there, just report it and I'm sure someone will get round to it.

But, the thing is, what if they don't get round to it? I agree with the fact that it would be better to have more moderators on the forum, like Paul said, its a team effort .

Personally, I think the "Ever Enduring Games Section" should be deleted. This is just my opinion but, a lot of people are, like many have already said, to just get their post count up. Occasionally though, there is some funny moments which are quite cool.

My ideas of what I would do to the forum are these:

1. Get rid of the "Ever enduring forum games" section.

2. Start a new section called "Graphics" and put all the threads from "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board". Then, delete the "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board" sections.

3. Add new mods, or give the current ones more power.

4. Tighten up the rules a little, just bring in like a infraction system. Say for example, You have 10 points, if you flame, continue to go off-topic or something, you get a point taken off. 3 Points taken off = a day ban. 5 Points taken off = A week ban. 7 Points off = a month ban. 10 Points taken off (All gone) = Banned permanently. I know thats pretty strict, but it would be more like a deterrent, to keep people away from going off topic and breaking the rules.

P.S : I hope your not thinking I'm backseat moderating, I'm just giving you a idea of what I think .

One of the main things you could do get rid of spam, is to take away the post count next to peoples name. Instead, you could put it in the profile or something.

 

[Ryo Chan]

Honestly, this forum isn't bad, at all. In my opinion, its a lot more well maintained that a lot of other forums on the web. But, I think you should consider getting a report button.

If you see a post, or a topic, which is off-topic, or against the rules, why not just use the report button? I'm sure it will bring a lot more justice than going even more off topic by just posting to justify to them, the troll / rule breaker, that they have done something bad. Or, even worse, ignoring it? Ignoring it isn't going to do anything, it will still be there, just report it and I'm sure someone will get round to it.

But, the thing is, what if they don't get round to it? I agree with the fact that it would be better to have more moderators on the forum, like Paul said, its a team effort .

Personally, I think the "Ever Enduring Games Section" should be deleted. This is just my opinion but, a lot of people are, like many have already said, to just get their post count up. Occasionally though, there is some funny moments which are quite cool.

My ideas of what I would do to the forum are these:

1. Get rid of the "Ever enduring forum games" section.

2. Start a new section called "Graphics" and put all the threads from "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board". Then, delete the "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board" sections.

3. Add new mods, or give the current ones more power.

4. Tighten up the rules a little, just bring in like a infraction system. Say for example, You have 10 points, if you flame, continue to go off-topic or something, you get a point taken off. 3 Points taken off = a day ban. 5 Points taken off = A week ban. 7 Points off = a month ban. 10 Points taken off (All gone) = Banned permanently. I know thats pretty strict, but it would be more like a deterrent, to keep people away from going off topic and breaking the rules.

P.S : I hope your not thinking I'm backseat moderating, I'm just giving you a idea of what I think .

One of the main things you could do get rid of spam, is to take away the post count next to peoples name. Instead, you could put it in the profile or something.

some of those are basicly the sort of ideas i was thinking of myself

Personally i'm all fine and dandy with the forum games on here, but atleast make sure they're in the ever enduring game forum, and as said, just make the forum not count towards posts.

As for the mods issue, some people say we have enough, you do realise bar melon who can mod the News and General anime discussions, and me and arby who can mode the old character battles section, paul is the only person with mod on the forum?

 

[Chaz]

My ideas of what I would do to the forum are these:

1. Get rid of the "Ever enduring forum games" section.

2. Start a new section called "Graphics" and put all the threads from "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board". Then, delete the "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board" sections.

3. Add new mods, or give the current ones more power.

4. Tighten up the rules a little, just bring in like a infraction system. Say for example, You have 10 points, if you flame, continue to go off-topic or something, you get a point taken off. 3 Points taken off = a day ban. 5 Points taken off = A week ban. 7 Points off = a month ban. 10 Points taken off (All gone) = Banned permanently. I know thats pretty strict, but it would be more like a deterrent, to keep people away from going off topic and breaking the rules.

P.S : I hope your not thinking I'm backseat moderating, I'm just giving you a idea of what I think .

One of the main things you could do get rid of spam, is to take away the post count next to peoples name. Instead, you could put it in the profile or something.

No, the ideas are fine, as it's a contribution rather than "Backseat moderating."
I'd just stick with the Creative forums though and put everything in that. Add the Graphics thread into that, as it's part of the creative aspect of design.

And for the point system, I'm not too sure myself. I can see it being used logically, but I feel such a system would be iffy. If you made a mistake and you're given say 3 points for it, those points would be there perminately and may be shown as scaring a forumer's reputation.

But I do agree with the mods. I know I'm nit-picking at your suggestions. I'm just trying to help with the contributions and such, s don't be offended.

 

[Yagami]

My ideas of what I would do to the forum are these:

1. Get rid of the "Ever enduring forum games" section.

2. Start a new section called "Graphics" and put all the threads from "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board". Then, delete the "Creative area" and "Image & Screen-Cap Show-Off board" sections.

3. Add new mods, or give the current ones more power.

4. Tighten up the rules a little, just bring in like a infraction system. Say for example, You have 10 points, if you flame, continue to go off-topic or something, you get a point taken off. 3 Points taken off = a day ban. 5 Points taken off = A week ban. 7 Points off = a month ban. 10 Points taken off (All gone) = Banned permanently. I know thats pretty strict, but it would be more like a deterrent, to keep people away from going off topic and breaking the rules.

P.S : I hope your not thinking I'm backseat moderating, I'm just giving you a idea of what I think .

One of the main things you could do get rid of spam, is to take away the post count next to peoples name. Instead, you could put it in the profile or something.

No, the ideas are fine, as it's a contribution rather than "Backseat moderating."
I'd just stick with the Creative forums though and put everything in that. Add the Graphics thread into that, as it's part of the creative aspect of design.

And for the point system, I'm not too sure myself. I can see it being used logically, but I feel such a system would be iffy. If you made a mistake and you're given say 3 points for it, those points would be there perminately and may be shown as scaring a forumer's reputation.

But I do agree with the mods. I know I'm nit-picking at your suggestions. I'm just trying to help with the contributions and such, s don't be offended.

Maybe they could wipe all points every couple of months?

But, like I say, it would be more of a deterrent.

 

[Jaymii]

It goes up and down, I think. It has been a lot more busy (Random Chit-Chat) the last few weeks but now it seems to have calmed down again. I do feel some sort of slight cleanup is needed in the Off-Topic area. I'm absolutely fine with the Anime/Manga area since that is the one I mainly visit, and its basically the same as its ever been [since I joined].

The only proper change I think can be done is to the Introductions subforum; It could all be placed into one thread and stickied in Random Chit Chat, in which a load say hello and introduce theirselves and then people can say hello, to more than once. Hmm, Adding more rules, Disallowing certain types of threads to be made might be decent but also (Someone has said this before) but splitting a subforum into two forums once you click on it.. Say, "Random Chit-Chat" > "Serious Business" | "Not Serious Business" could basically be within it. Might be a form of public/automatic cleanup.

The "Talk/Chat/Raise post count" threads are for the lulz at the beginning but end up in a mess, I think... But, Rather than actually posting and waiting for a answer or whatever, People should visit the Anime UK News chat room. -Pluggin' again, I know. I just think if it got more exposure it would be nice.

Yagami's point system I think would be fairly hard to keep track off, The normal 'if someone goes out of line = Banned' system works okay...

 

[Yagami]

Hmm, Adding more rules, Disallowing certain types of threads to be made might be decent but also (Someone has said this before) but splitting a subforum into two forums once you click on it.. Say, "Random Chit-Chat" > "Serious Business" | "Not Serious Business" could basically be within it. Might be a form of public/automatic cleanup.

I think this is a good idea. You could have all the news-type and formal chat, say, for instance the "Is the UK going to hell faster and faster" thread, in "Serious Business". And then, in "Non Serious Business" you could have all the in-formal, joking kind of threads.

Yagami's point system I think would be fairly hard to keep track off, The normal 'if someone goes out of line = Banned' system works okay...

Well, you could have the infraction numbers in your profile, but only visible to Senior members (Admins/Moderators). Also, you could just get a automated pm from a bot that you have been given a infraction by X-Staff on X-Date for X-Reason. I know that vBulletin has these features.

 

[Jaymii]

Well, you could have the infraction numbers in your profile, but only visible to Senior members (Admins/Moderators). Also, you could just get a automated pm from a bot that you have been given a infraction by X-Staff on X-Date for X-Reason. I know that vBulletin has these features.

But, the way it is now, Paul is the only admin and he runs several websites and its quite a busy man (from what I know), So everything else would be hard to keep in track off for one person. This isn't vBulletin, either, Its phpBB.

 

[Arbalest]

Hmm, Adding more rules, Disallowing certain types of threads to be made might be decent but also (Someone has said this before) but splitting a subforum into two forums once you click on it.. Say, "Random Chit-Chat" > "Serious Business" | "Not Serious Business" could basically be within it. Might be a form of public/automatic cleanup.

I think this is a good idea. You could have all the news-type and formal chat, say, for instance the "Is the UK going to hell faster and faster" thread, in "Serious Business". And then, in "Non Serious Business" you could have all the in-formal, joking kind of threads.

Yagami's point system I think would be fairly hard to keep track off, The normal 'if someone goes out of line = Banned' system works okay...

Well, you could have the infraction numbers in your profile, but only visible to Senior members (Admins/Moderators). Also, you could just get a automated pm from a bot that you have been given a infraction by X-Staff on X-Date for X-Reason. I know that vBulletin has these features.

i expect Paul won't move to vBulletin, and there is no reason to anyway. There has hardly been any reason to ban people ever here, so why introduce such a system now? If some member is really being a pain on the forum at all, all thats needed is to PM a moderator(or in this case Paul) and they'd deal with it.

 

[Paul]

I do think (in terms in moderating the forum) my weakness is the whole "Random" area, simply because I don't read it very often, so I definitely agree with the idea that we could do with an extra moderator or two for that area.

We need to be careful about a few things though:

I noticed that the community fell into a bit of a coma late April/early May simply because we lacked a few dissenting voices to stir up some discussion, probably a slight fall-out from what happened with Aion etc. It's recovering now, but my point is, we need to careful about jumping on arguments and things like that. I'd rather see people arguing (in a respectful manner, obviously) and debating with each other rather than just not posting.

I couldn't really care less about post-boosting as long as it's done inside the "forum games" board. To that end, I agree there are a few threads in Random Chit-Chat at the moment that would be better off in there. I'll sort that out in a few moments.

But yes, you guys have definitely given me some suggestions to ponder on and I know you all genuinely care about the health of AUKN. I'll have a think on it over the week and probably look at some new moderators etc at the weekend.

 

[Ryo Chan]

I couldn't really care less about post-boosting as long as it's done inside the "forum games" board. To that end, I agree there are a few threads in Random Chit-Chat at the moment that would be better off in there. I'll sort that out in a few moments.

But yes, you guys have definitely given me some suggestions to ponder on. I'll have a think on it over the week and probably look at some new moderators etc at the weekend.

i think in the end that was really the biggest problem, a few people here don't really care about the ever lasting games or the post boosting, it's just when it goes into areas where it's not needed, like the random chit chat.

still, sounds good all in all :wink:

 

[Chaz]

I do think (in terms in moderating the forum) my weakness is the whole "Random" area, simply because I don't read it very often, so I definitely agree with the idea that we could do with an extra moderator or two for that area.

We need to be careful about a few things though:

I noticed that the community fell into a bit of a coma late April/early May simply because we lacked a few dissenting voices to stir up some discussion, probably a slight fall-out from what happened with Aion etc. It's recovering now, but my point is, we need to careful about jumping on arguments and things like that. I'd rather see people arguing (in a respectful manner, obviously) and debating with each other rather than just not posting.

I couldn't really care less about post-boosting as long as it's done inside the "forum games" board. To that end, I agree there are a few threads in Random Chit-Chat at the moment that would be better off in there. I'll sort that out in a few moments.

But yes, you guys have definitely given me some suggestions to ponder on. I'll have a think on it over the week and probably look at some new moderators etc at the weekend.

Sweet, and I agree with the Post-boosting being left to the E.E. Games forum. That's why it's there, and so there no reason to flood the discussion forums.

 

[chaos]

I do think (in terms in moderating the forum) my weakness is the whole "Random" area, simply because I don't read it very often, so I definitely agree with the idea that we could do with an extra moderator or two for that area.

We need to be careful about a few things though:

I noticed that the community fell into a bit of a coma late April/early May simply because we lacked a few dissenting voices to stir up some discussion, probably a slight fall-out from what happened with Aion etc. It's recovering now, but my point is, we need to careful about jumping on arguments and things like that. I'd rather see people arguing (in a respectful manner, obviously) and debating with each other rather than just not posting.

I couldn't really care less about post-boosting as long as it's done inside the "forum games" board. To that end, I agree there are a few threads in Random Chit-Chat at the moment that would be better off in there. I'll sort that out in a few moments.

But yes, you guys have definitely given me some suggestions to ponder on and I know you all genuinely care about the health of AUKN. I'll have a think on it over the week and probably look at some new moderators etc at the weekend.

Once again, if I can help somehow, let me know.