These forums are degrading

[emolover]

I love the edit that he is now a moderator, Stachu FTW

Yes but they made a new mod but it seems like most of the mods are never on the forum anymore. The only mod that I often notice on the forums is Mike Hughey and are new mod.

 

[Cool Frog]

I remember the friendliness, and the feeling of everyone being sort of like brother.
How there used to be random pictures on useless threads. (it was silly and fun)
It seemed very Friendly like everyone knew each other.

 

[StachuK1992]

Yes but they made a new mod but it seems like most of the mods are never on the forum anymore. The only mod that I often notice on the forums is Mike Hughey and are new mod.

I'm pretty much always here.

I remember the friendliness, and the feeling of everyone being sort of like brother.
How there used to be random pictures on useless threads. (it was silly and fun)
It seemed very Friendly like everyone knew each other.

I don't remember that.

 

[Lucas Garron]

A classic post: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/speedsolvingrubikscube/message/35023

I barely understood his ire at the time. We've come a few orders of magnitude since then.


Sorry I don't have time to reply to this thread thoughtfully. I'm too busy spending my time on this forum moderating.

 

[JonnyWhoopes]

Yes but they made a new mod but it seems like most of the mods are never on the forum anymore. The only mod that I often notice on the forums is Mike Hughey and are new mod.

This post made me die a little inside. People on this forum (not directed at you individually) often don't realize the work that mods put into this forum. Just because mods don't post don't mean they aren't involved, or aren't moderating. You don't see them moderating often, because you get there after they've already done their work. When posts are deleted, you don't know it because they're already gone. Or when threads are moved. And on and on the list goes. In fact, a lot of the the mods don't post because they're busy moderating.

 

[MovingOnUp]

Ever since I started cubing I have been on the forums (about 5 months ago) and I look/check for updates every day. It used to be that there was so much funny/interesting/useful material posted all the time that I could easliy spend a lot of time on this website. The organization and seperation of the threads make it really easy to access the information you would be looking for. I wholeheartedly agree with Stachu's first post and think that even if a lot of stuff is happening behind the scenes, I almost never hear of anyone getting banned or notice it at all for that matter. Infraction points exist for a reason. If you aren't going to use that power to make the forum better for everyone else, then let someone who will. That's my input

 

[Cool Frog]

I don't remember that.

Maybe I was too nub to notice the underlying aggression?

Or it could have been first impressions...

 

[kprox1994]

I completely agree, so many threads can be easily answered by Google searches. I'm getting sick of it, when I was new to cubing I did my own research, I didn't have others do it for me. I always question myself before I post. I really hate all of the "Which cube should I get?" threads. I'm okay with the huge order type ones though, I have done a couple of those just to get opinions overall on what I should spend my money on and to get a few more opinions, but I always to my own research and watch plenty of reviews beforehand. Some people I think are just attention whores.

 

[Sa967St]

I'm getting sick of it, when I was new to cubing I did my own research, I didn't have others do it for me. I always question myself before I post.

:3
If only more people would do that. When I was new to cubing (in 2007) I didn't go around directly asking things like 'how do I get faster?' or 'where do I get algorithms and which ones should I use?'. Part of the learning experience for me was by figuring out and deciding things on my own or by researching on my own. I have to admit that I progressed slowly, but imo it was better for me since I've learned from all the mistakes I've made. It's rather annoying how someone who has little cubing knowledge and no initiative to look up things on their own can just have all the information they need fed to them with almost no effort.

 

[izovire]

This is the internet and people tend to let out their inner troll more often than they do elsewhere. I just go around the nonsense, but sometimes... sometimes people deserve a response! That's when my inner troll likes to come out and play. So I put it back in its cage before it's too late (I think twice before posting).

So for all you people that are tired of seeing repeated 'question' posts or other nub posts. Wouldn't be cool if there was a quiz that newer members could take before starting threads?... like, they have to pass a 'forum rules, etc. test' before embarrassing themselves and being ridiculed by the oldies on this site.

Or don't allow members with less than 100 posts to start a new thread? This might force them to navigate the forum and post in existing threads to understand how it works here.

Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about... Maybe I'm just trolling. My 2 suggestions probably won't work anyway.

 

[emolover]

Or don't allow members with less than 100 posts to start a new thread? This might force them to navigate the forum and post in existing threads to understand how it works here.

Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about... Maybe I'm just trolling. My 2 suggestions probably won't work anyway.

At first I am like yes!!!!

But then I remembered that Jorghi has about 250 posts.

 

[Sa967St]

So for all you people that are tired of seeing repeated 'question' posts or other nub posts. Wouldn't be cool if there was a quiz that newer members could take before starting threads?... like, they have to pass a 'forum rules, etc. test' before embarrassing themselves and being ridiculed by the oldies on this site.

I see a few problems with this though. It would make the forums appear strict, which could scare new users away. It also gives away that some people are irritated by stupid threads, which may make new users intimidated to create threads, whether it would turn out to be a good thread or a bad thread. Not all new users are the kinds that blatantly ignore the rules. Even though this idea sounds amazing, it may make speedsolving.com seem like an unfriendly environment.

 

[Logan]

I agree with you completely, statue (as I frequently do). When I got into speedcubing and joined this wonderful site a little over two years ago I fell in love. It was filled with informed and helpful cubers, with the occasional humor and minor (but funny) flamage. As I grew I became a fairly accepted member and began trying to return the favors that were given to me. In the past few months/year, however, I've slowly grown apart from the site, and speedcubing altogether. I really think the site needs a kick in the butt to bring it back to its old self. Stupid behavior needs to have consequences. The site has grown exponentially lately, and this means that the amount of stupidity/trolls will also grow. We can't be the small, nice, trusting site that we used to be.

p.s. Congrats, Statue! I knew it was only a matter of time until you were moderated. I trust you'll do great.
p.p.s If the site is in need mods, there are a handful of well trusted, veteran members that come to my mind (like statue). I think they would do great.

 

[Itchy Cacti]

So do we report posts for bad language? Or is that not important enough?

 

[emolover]

So do we report posts for bad language? Or is that not important enough?

Yes. I pointed that out in one of my posts. I am not sure you should report something like "B****" or "S***" though(things that are bleeped out).

 

[RyanReese09]

You should report anything that you deem fit. Anything offensive. That will let the moderators know to look more closely at it since others are offended by it.

Reporting is nice, it lets the moderators know when I think something is bad, which is more often than I'd like.

 

[blakedacuber]

Mike i think the 100 post idea is good but as sarah said it might not work out for the better of the site.I know personally before i post a new thread i think" how would i react to this thread if someone else posted it".as someone just posted said why dont we get a few new mods but people who make valid points/threads who have been on the site a while and know the flow of things and perhaps the site should be run slightly stricter.

@ statue i honestly have no problem with a joke but there was at least ten posts flaming/ making fun of/ joking about the user and post which imo is beyond joking and slightly where flaming begins( though the OP received it in a jokingly friendly manner)

@ Ryan Reese the only problem about reporting is that if people did use it more often the mods would be overflowed with it

 

[Jaxon Peterson]

Here is a noobie's point of view:

I have asked a question and gotten great feedback!
I feel like the biggest reason noobies like myself post the same questions over and over is that we see threads that start out with the correct information that helps us, and then 50 pages of useless conversation and pointless posts later, we give up because it appears to be going no where. It would be WONDERFUL if threads could be cleaned up, posts deleted that don't hold water in the thread etc. I feel that it would help new members out a lot.

(A prime example is the Roux Method thread started years back. Has anyone tried reading through each page of that lately? I have. I gave up at page 80)

 

[Xishem]

The site has grown exponentially lately, and this means that the amount of stupidity/trolls will also grow. We can't be the small, nice, trusting site that we used to be.

This statement is so very true. I think that the policies need to change to accommodate the growing populace. We aren't the small, nice, trusting community that we used to be, but that doesn't mean we can't be productive.

As we lose the personal touch of the forums, I feel like it's hard for the forum to keep its composure. However, if the longer standing members can work to keep quality control, I think that the development of information available on the forum can keep up with the development of the community.

It's tough for anyone to maintain and develop a community that is growing so quickly, and I commend Patrick for continuing to strive forward and develop the forum further with new features. I also commend the staff for busting their butts to keep the place clean and productive.

Personally, I have no suggestions on how to handle it, but I do think that the entire community needs to chip in, and the entire community needs to understand that we are looking at a completely different ball game now that the community is growing at a much faster rate than it ever has.

We can turn this degradation into elevation if we work at it.

Here is a noobie's point of view:

I have asked a question and gotten great feedback!
I feel like the biggest reason noobies like myself post the same questions over and over is that we see threads that start out with the correct information that helps us, and then 50 pages of useless conversation and pointless posts later, we give up because it appears to be going no where. It would be WONDERFUL if threads could be cleaned up, posts deleted that don't hold water in the thread etc. I feel that it would help new members out a lot.

(A prime example is the Roux Method thread started years back. Has anyone tried reading through each page of that lately? I have. I gave up at page 80)

Interesting...

I completely agree. (The Roux Method thread is atrocious).

I feel like it would definitely be helpful to somehow accentuate the good posts within a thread -- the posts which answer the OP's question well.

However, this is definitely not the job of a moderator. They are busy enough as it is. Either a community-based voting system could work, or a staff member specifically dedicated to, not weeding out the crap, but accentuating the quality posts.

This reminds me of Yahoo! Answers' "Best Answer" system, where people vote on what they think is the best answer out of the ones available.

I feel like if it were somehow possible to bring out the quality content, without just trashing the lesser-so content, it would really contribute to the well-being of the quality control here. But the question is, how do we implement such a system? I think we need to be careful with it, as to not turn this into something that is nothing like a forum.

Open discussion is what makes forums so great.

 

[Escher]

This is a public forum. People ask nub questions and make nub threads all the time. I haven't particularly noticed a degradation in forum quality because I only read threads that interest me. The banhammer is getting dusty though.