I'm getting sick and tired of the childish behaviour here.

[brunson]

And yet another thread mutates into a discussion of monkeydude. I admit I'm partly to blame, but let's drop it.

 

[ChrisBird]

And yet another thread mutates into a discussion of monkeydude. I admit I'm partly to blame, but let's drop it.

Agreed.

An DJV: I'll do that.

anyway, back on topic.

Have we come to any agreements on what would be the best solution with the fewest number of drawbacks?

I think maybe we are blowing this a little out of proportion, its not like half the new threads are stupid, but we should crack down a little on the people that post lots and lots of threads.

~Chris

 

[byu]

All right, I've read this thread over once just now, from Page 1 to Page 11 (for me at least). We've come up with several solutions, but I think I have one in mind that might work. The next time someone makes a question thread that has been repeated, copy this for your message:

Your question has been answered many times before already. You'll find the answers to your questions by using the Search Function at the top of the page. Click the link below to get search results:

[URL="http://link-to-search-description"]Search Results[/URL]

 

[ChrisBird]

That does not stop the creating of such threads, just stops that thread from turning into flame wars.

 

[byu]

I know that, it won't stop the thread creation, but if a person has 5 questions, and is asked to use the search function once, they may have the common sense to use it the other 4 times. And not having flame wars is a good thing you know.

 

[ChrisBird]

The fact they are making threads rather then searching shows they don't have the common sense. So that won't do anything.

I know not having flame wars is a good thing, I am not retarded.

 

[SlaughterMelon]

Ok, so I realize I'm a "noob" (if you want to use that word-low post count, blah blah blah), and that I may get flamed for this, but here goes:

I am against splitting the forum in to 2 parts for a few reasons:
-People in the "higher" group who have been allowed to separate from the "newcomer" group will most likely NOT go back to that group, because they MIGHT feel there is no discussion worth their time.
-If the "newcomer" group is able to view the entire forum but not post, they may have questions/discussion they wish to add to topics, but cannot. This creates more question threads that may go unanswered.
-If a moderator(s) can choose whether or not a "newcomer" is going to be "beneficial" to the community, it is completely up to THAT PERSON not the whole community. This could not be a problem if the moderators weren't the only people to choose members to "cross over"
-Finally, a disjointed community is, well, disjointed. If a new person were to come from the "newcomers" section into the other "selected" group, they would not actually be part of a community, but they would just be there for their information, not for who they are. Last time I checked, communities were about people.



A possible solution:
I frequent a form that discusses scene releases/homebrew for DS games. One rule the forum has is not linking to ROMs, because pirating is, of course, illegal. Thus everyone who asks for a link/posts a link gets banned from the forums. All the discussion generally takes place in a single thread with the official scene release info about the game.

Now, I think this could be implemented onto these forums. Possibly a rule about talking about/attacking a single person, a rule about posting duplicate topics, etc. etc. with time constraints on some of the rules (say, a few months for duplicate topics). The only problem I can think of about this method (in the last 5 minutes I've thought about it) is the enforcement. It would take forEVER for a mod to go through all the new topics, checking them again and again to see if it does not follow the forum rules.


That's my take, take it how you want, I don't care. After all, I'm a "noob" right? :3

The fact they are making threads rather then searching shows they don't have the common sense.

However, the search function on this forum is (sad to say) not very good, and it is hard to find (at least it took me a while to find it), because it is a standard size word in a long navigation list.

 

[ChrisBird]

Which was my idea for making the search function it's own banner at the top, mentioned a few pages back.

As for the rules you mentioned, there already is such a rule on no posting duplicate topics, just the newcomers don't read the rules/don't listen to them.

 

[SlaughterMelon]

So then you suspend them for breaking the rules. Rules don't do anything unless they're enforced.

 

[ChrisBird]

Which was also my next statement, where I said maybe more mods would work.

Please read the thread.

 

[Dene]

SlaughterMelon:
You're blowing it out of perspective. If there were to be a section for only certain members, they would by far make up the minority. There would surely not be more than 30 people in that group, and there are hundreds of regular posters on these forums.

 

[mark3]

Furthermore, if you had a double community, the newcomers would all be refreshing their pages like mad to try and be the best response to any question. This would eventually lead to the "my post was better than your's!" etc. etc.

My opinion (which will not be liked) is that all of the regulars here need to stop being so adamant about using the search function. Maybe the exact same question was answered 16 months ago, but it's not killing anyone to discuss it again. It is differnt if it was only asked, say, 3 days ago, but one of the reasons that people claim this forum isn't what it used to be is because there is less original content. If you let a couple "you could have used the search function" slide, there would be more to discuss.

Just my two cents. It wont be liked.

 

[ChrisBird]

Furthermore, if you had a double community, the newcomers would all be refreshing their pages like mad to try and be the best response to any question. This would eventually lead to the "my post was better than your's!" etc. etc.

My opinion (which will not be liked) is that all of the regulars here need to stop being so adamant about using the search function. Maybe the exact same question was answered 16 months ago, but it's not killing anyone to discuss it again. It is differnt if it was only asked, say, 3 days ago, but one of the reasons that people claim this forum isn't what it used to be is because there is less original content. If you let a couple "you could have used the search function" slide, there would be more to discuss.

Just my two cents. It wont be liked.

There is no need to discuss things again if they have already been answered before.

We have enough good threads to discuss as it is, let alone more to make.

If half of the new threads made are about old topics, that would reduce the amount of good conversations.

 

[JLarsen]

Might I suggest the banhammer? The recent mod powers have been great, especially the ridding of irrelevant thread titles. Brunson, own some nubs.

 

[SlaughterMelon]

@monkeydude:
I did read the thread. But just because you have more mods doesn't mean they'll enforce the rules.

@Dene:
I was under the impression this would be a forum wide thing, in order to cut out the useless banter. However, if it's only going to be in a small group of people, why not go and make a private forum with one of the free forum services?

 

[Dene]

Because then the other members of the forum would not read through it; nor would they know where to access the valuable information. The idea is that it would be a place where the more useful among us could post information that we can almost guarantee would be productive. This way newcomers know exactly where to go to find the best information.

 

[darkzelkova]

THE INTERNET IS SERIOUS BUSINESS GUYS!

 

[SlaughterMelon]

But of course, Gentlemen. (you win 1 cookie if you can guess that reference correctly )

 

[ChrisBird]

@monkeydude:
I did read the thread. But just because you have more mods doesn't mean they'll enforce the rules.

@Dene:
I was under the impression this would be a forum wide thing, in order to cut out the useless banter. However, if it's only going to be in a small group of people, why not go and make a private forum with one of the free forum services?

If you have more mods, that don't enforce the rules. What is the point of having more mods.

Meaning, it is very obvious that when I said more mods, I meant more enforcement.

 

[TobiasDaneels]

SlaughterMelon:
You're blowing it out of perspective. If there were to be a section for only certain members, they would by far make up the minority. There would surely not be more than 30 people in that group, and there are hundreds of regular posters on these forums.

I'm really curious on how you will make the selection for the 'protected' forum area...
I don't think it managable to do so, without turning the forum into a graveyard of hurt members, who were not chosen, even though they think they deserve it.