Jump to content

Off Topic Suggestion Thread


Recommended Posts

Off Topic has been recently closed as staff feels that some changes need to be made, over the next few days we will be discussing the section and its future on our forums. Those who feel they have something to contribute can make a post in here and it will be read by all staff and taken into consideration before making any final decisions.

 

Some points I feel should be focused on:

  • Moderation - please remember to be respectful when discussing this. 
  • General organisation of the sub forum - there needs to be a happy medium found that keeps posters and mods happy
  • Changes you feel should be made (if any)

 

Please do not make low content or off topic posts in this thread, this is for suggestions only. I have opened a thread in the Round Table for you to use temporarily for socialising between yourselves. This is your chance to have your say, so please keep this in mind. 

 

 

Link to comment

So, I'm not a person who really uses the OT section at all, but I may have an idea.

 

What if there were a warning for each forum user before entering off topic? Would only have to be viewed once, or every so often, and would simply warn the user that what they are diving into may not be the most heavily moderated content on the forums.

 

That way, staff covers their butts. Daft gets some work lifted off of his shoulders. And OT posters would have more freedom to post what they want

Link to comment

Copied from the other thread:

 

Here's how I envision a good OT:

 

1. Our general chat thread, whether it's laidback zone or something else.

2. The ability to make joke threads on occasion without being locked because they don't have what's considered "good" discussion

3. Threads like the music discussion thread, E3 thread, etc. where we had legitimate discussion about things

 

It's really simple. Let us have our fun without it getting out of hand. Obviously close threads that are completely inappropriate, but use some discretion when you see a thread like the OT best posts thread or the relationship advice thread.

Link to comment

As i said, a laidback subforum where we could have pointless discussions in an organized manner.

Same rules as any other forum, except we can open pointless threads like "how many likes did you receive from os today?".

Unless you want to stop us from discussing about pointless things, but then you'd better just close the forums, because that's what most of us is here to do.

Link to comment

There  was nothing wrong with OT except the moderation.

 

Seriously. We aren't all children who need their eyes shielded from everything. Moderate when something NEEDS to be moderated, not when it MIGHT NEED to be moderated. If somebody wants to make an OT Best Posts thread, and you THINK somebody MIGHT get upset from being posted their without permission, DON'T DO SHIT

 

WAIT FOR THEM TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT, IT'S THEIR JOB AS HUMAN BEINGS AND USERS OF THIS SERVICE TO COMPLAIN TO MODERATORS WHEN THEY DON'T WANT UNWANTED ATTENTION BROUGHT UPON THEM

 

Like, you don't have to be at everyone's beck and call, you can lock threads that are clearly toxic and insulting users, or shit that is NSFW. Just PLEASE stop treating OT like it's some precious fucking glass sculpture ready to be dropped.

 

-gilgamesh's original post

 

/thread

Edited by Gunthug
Link to comment

1- "It didn't work before, most likely it will never work again" drop that shitty logic of yours
2- "We want to see Off Topic tidy and presentable" You cannot enforce such a thing, you can build its way... Don't mistake dreams for moderating.
3- "No Fun Allowed" aint our fault you are a depressive lot.

Link to comment

Copied:

Deeply consider if what we're getting in trouble for is negatively impacting your forums. Is a user spamming scat porn? Sure, let's take care of that. Is the user opening a secondary relationship opinion thread, half-jokingly? Maybe we just let that one go.

I've heard a million times the argument of not allowing certain off topic posts, but why? You're keeping a player base, we're having fun, contributing to the community, and no harm is done.

Link to comment

I don't get why you're taking OT too ONtopic. We are allowed to have a non-related section right? You mods have to consider that we can talk about pointless things too and not just all about pokemon things. Its like you guys make us follow a script and if we say or add a new word you cancel the whole episode

Link to comment

 

So, I'm not a person who really uses the OT section at all, but I may have an idea.

 

What if there were a warning for each forum user before entering off topic? Would only have to be viewed once, or every so often, and would simply warn the user that what they are diving into may not be the most heavily moderated content on the forums.

 

That way, staff covers their butts. Daft gets some work lifted off of his shoulders. And OT posters would have more freedom to post what they want

 

 

Oh god, a good suggestion. Quickly, lock the thread, hide the posts, close the forum, delete the internet, turn off the computer, throw it out a window, sell your house, move to Vietnam and take up shoemaking. That'll fix 'er up right.

 

Serious time: All of my suggestions are about as likely to be implemented as a missing script; those suggestions being either to moderate like people who have better things to do than urinate on someone's party favours, or to "hire" someone who will do that.

 

[spoiler]Misfire for OT mod 2015[spoiler]I don't have any warning points, what could possibly go wrong?[/spoiler][/spoiler]

 

"No Fun Allowed" aint our fault you are a depressive lot.

 

I'd be making fun of that for being ironic, but I think Mr. Slinkpot has a point.

Edited by Misfire33
Link to comment

Honestly, what was even wrong with Off Topic? It's an off-topic section meaning the posts are going to get a little bizarre. From what I had seen things had honestly been really chill lately without any nonsense. 

 

If there absolutely has to be any change, here are my thoughts:

 

1. Find active moderators, like daftkitteh

2. Support your moderators to ensure they don't get burned out (give them something in game or something)

3. Provide a warning page for people that click off-topic for the first time

4. Remove dead threads after like 3 months of inactivity

5. Create subtopics for off-topic like [Television] and [Manga] since these threads will likely be dead for months on end before new series or issues are released (avoid unnecessary trashing if you take up the inactivity suggestion)

6. Use your basic warning point/temp post ban methods to moderate activity

7. Ban people when necessary, obviously absolute justification doesn't need to be provided since you don't give it everywhere else in the forums

 

And just simply remember, it's off topic. It's a gathering of your players to talk about things that aren't necessarily in game. It creates camaraderie and keeps players interested in this game through the relationships they build, because honestly, this game isn't really fun for a lot of people. The competitive scene is great for people with the resources to be a part of it, or for "Mr.NoLife" who have the time to waste getting to the point of someone like myself. These relationships we build in game and on the forums keep us here, and keep the money in your pockets. So quit pissing your player base off.  

Link to comment

Serious time part two: I think the general issue here is an attitude/mindset issue. I know what you're thinking. Either I'm shit-talking the mods or the users. Back in 20-whathefuckever when "autism" was OT's favorite word, I might have said it was both. Now, I have to say it's mostly the moderation strategy. To you, we must seem like a bunch of rowdy children asking for picture threads and making fun of each other and rubbing our snot in King's face. Sure, I get it. You want to avoid conflict, keep everything classy, keep up appearances and all that. To us, though, you seem like children yourselves for seemingly ignoring the entire purpose of a forum and hoping that it will be filled with sunshine and rainbows and well though-out paragraph-form political lectures. In a section where most people have only first languages and a love for anime t1ts in common, what do you expect? Moreover, what do you want?

 

What we want is to d1ck around, have fun, call each other shitheads, relax, make fun of my music taste, and go on with our days. What, in particular, bothers you about that? Before, I could see why OT needed the moderation. Now? Absolutely not. I haven't see one thing that I've considered offensive on OT this year, and I say that trying to look at it from an unbiased perspective. Really, what have we done? The only thing I can think of is the ritualistic shitting on new users, and if you cited that as the reason for the issues, I would understand. But you don't. No, you don't give enough of a shit to intervene on their behalf, or tell people to stop bugging them, or talk to them yourself; therefore, it must not be that.

 

So I ask again, what is it? Is it the "shitposting"? I put quotation marks around that for two reasons; one, I'm a snarky black woman online, and two, it's not even shitposting. Since Darkshade linked Urbandictionary in his definition of shitposting, I'll give you mine:

 

"top kek"

 

"lol"

 

"hahah"

 

"(Something someone else said with a ^ underneath)"

 

"( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

 

To be fair, we do those things sometimes. Maybe, at most, 5% of the time. Those are shitposts; if they're the entire content of a forum, the forum suffers. They mean nothing, and nothing can really be used to respond to them. They kill conversations like a vicious, Taco Bell-fueled mach three shart. Funny thing is, you don't hide those. Rightly so, I think; it's hardly worth the bother of clicking.

 

The "shitposts" you hide tend to actually be part of the discussion.

 

One-sentence joke replies aren't shitposting. They're jokes. Your definition of shitposting is "jokes." Your definition of shitposting is what makes up 75% of real-life conversation. We can't all be Shakespeare all the time. Even I can only muster up one of these textual coilers if I feel the need. I think you know that. I think you point at the shitposting rule as a scapegoat to hide things that might look bad upon you, or that you simply don't like. To hide what we consider an entertaining discussion because you consider it crude, rude, or simply a bother to deal with.

 

So how should you moderate OT, in order to maintain the perfect balance between everyone being pissed off at you guys and us making Cleveland Steamer threads? I think the moderation of OT should be guided by these main points:

 

- It's about fun.

 

Remember, this is OT. This is a place for fun and making fun, not your average liberal arts college bulletin board.

 

- Only lock if it's against the rules, not because you think it might be later.

 

That decision can be made if or when it develops into such a situation. If you could predict the future, you wouldn't be moderating a pokemon forum.

 

- What you think and what we think may be different; That's not a bad thing.

 

A difference of opinion is not the end of the world.

 

Stop hiding things without telling us.

 

There's nothing more annoying than having something you made disappear without a trace--and without any indication it was there, or any notification to you that it's been wiped off the face of the internet. I know it looks cleaner than a blank or edited post, but any way that notifies the user what they did wrong would be much better.

 

- Friends poking fun at friends is not conflict.

 

Best post discussion. Hidden immediately because we can't make fun of each other. Show me someone whose feelings have honestly been hurt by this forum and I'll show you my taint.

 

Shitposting is not short-posting.

 

Nor is it joke posting. I understand it's a very subjective thing, but if we're willing to quote it and/or like it, it can't be that bad.

 

The rules were not made for you to use as an excuse.

 

Be realistic. If it doesn't break the rules, or cause unnecessary strife, don't cause unnecessary strife by locking/hiding it.

 

It's okay to ask.

 

Be that asking someone the intention of their thread, their post, or their dank meme, this could clear up a lot of miscommunication issues. For instance, if someone had asked Heimann if he meant his thread to be mean...

 

Have discretion.

 

I can't say much about this. It's all up to you. Just remember, the forum is ostensibly here for us to have fun in, not just for you to be able to look at without seeing any bad words.

 

This forum does NOT represent PokeMMO as a whole.

 

Some of the issues seem to be over the fact that OT is not presentable. To whom? The three children from General that visit there every year? Really, when your in-game chat is mostly people talking about weed and making cancer jokes before periodically descending into a "who can be the most racist" competition, I think you have bigger things to worry about than us poking fun at each other.

 

- Have a sense of humour.

 

Sometimes, things can't be helped. 

 

Don't ban alts until they do something deserving of it.

 

I know this is just as unlikely as the one above it, but c'mon. You preach about expanding your userbase, and yet every time an old user comes back, you decide that their mild-mannered politeness ABSOLUTELY CANNOT STAND FOR ANY LONGER and ban them again for something they did two years ago. If you want a bigger userbase, stop pushing them away.

 

---

 

I guess my point is that I'm politely telling you to grow up and realize that people aren't 100% constructive or serious all the time. In our case, we're almost never serious. Does that mean we can be a bit of a handful? Yes. Does that mean you should have a panic attack and clamp your massive moderater thighs down upon our heads any time it looks like we're having too much fun? Although I do like me some watermelon-crushing thighs, the answer is no. I figured that would be obvious, but recent events suggest it's not. Hence the great text wall of China you see here.

 

I know my view is biased. I know yours is too. A happy medium is possible; call me a cynic, but I think the best chance of that is to have OT moderated by someone who knows OT enough to call their shots well, yet is polite enough to not let it degenerate into a circlejerk of Republican senate proportions. No offense meant to any of the mods here as people; I'm sure you're all very nice. As mods, you're a little overboard right now.

 

If you really want to, you can make the new OT into something it shouldn't be. Make it a place tailored exactly to your taste, not ours. Make it a place for long-winded, polite, intelligent posts only. 

 

 

 

 

After all, the Writing forum is quite popular, isn't it?

Edited by Misfire33
Link to comment

What in the actual fuck did you guys do different to cause all this, anyway i'll just assume the problem lies at both the users and staff.

It's good that you guys are bringing these 2 groups together in this thread. But doesn't this entire lockdown and shit seem a little bit...excessive?

 

I mean I remember way worse things with the 12 fake offtopic rules threads, and that didn't even result in this.

Edited by TheGloriousWalrus
Link to comment

this is it guys. this is the chance. we finally have the opportunity to bring it back. POYT.

 

In all seriousness, I don't see what has to be changed beside moderation in OT. We are a kinda small group of people that dwell in OT and for the most part enjoy each other. Jokes are jokes and chances are the person receiving the joke is going to take it well. And if they don't thats when you can step in and moderate. Its that simple. I know it seems like OT is a little harsh but in all honesty, we are pretty accepting. Just like OS said you can moderate on the necessary stuff obviously breaking the rules but, let that little small group of the forums communicate in the way this part of the forums was made for. OFF TOPIC. You may as well rename it to "Off topic but you have to be on topic at all times". Let us have our fun. We for the most part all know each other. Unlike the other parts of the forums where people come and go, OT are the longest lasting people on the forums. Just let us be us in our own domain. We aren't hurting anyone. No but for real, POYT pls.

Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.