SHOULD THIS BOARD REVISE THE BANNING POLICY?

[AChimp]

I like Jixby's idea.

We'd still have to set banning rules, though, like banning people who keep making the admins move their gay-ups.

[Krythor]

That does sound like a good idea. Keeping track of the number of "Gay-ups" a user makes and banning if they reach a certain limit would be an effective way of cleaning out the crap.

[Les Waste]

Jixby's solutions are the best so far. Make a gay-ups forum and turn off post counts.

I think post counts are just making new people post more in an attempt to have a higher post count, because they feel that will make them be more accepted, due to this thinking that many people have of "you all just hate me because I'm a newbie! But if I post more, I won't be a newbie any more, and you'll love me!" Idiots are still going to have that thought process, but I think it wouldn't run as rampant if post counts were turned off.

[Perfect Suspect]

I think towards new people, they think you are rewarded with those little signatures under your name, and you get more privileges as long as your participation is good (Post Counts for example). So they continue till they are noticed and they think they'll will gain a higher status, they're are some message boards that are like that. Of course they're are people that were smart enough to ask.

Of course it is a little irritating when you see two or three post about "How do i get that subtitle thing" threads in the Q&S Forum.

[Jixby Phillips]

Also, before each thread is moved to gay ups it should be made vocal as to WHO is to blame for it being moved, since the person who started the thread isn't always to blame.

[noob3]

Let's just turn post counts off for awhile and see how that goes

[theapportioner]

The idea of a Gayups forum is fine, but moving threads from GB or elsewhere to a Gayups forum would spell more work for the moderators, and perfectly good threads could be hijacked (even intentionally) so that they are ruined and moved. Plus I think most of us would agree that it's nice to have some fun in a thread, and the decision to move one but not the other could be quite arbitrary.

I still prefer the ignore feature -- it's a one-shot time investment for the admins to develop it, and it saves us the trouble of even looking at idiotic posts. One drawback, however, would be if the idiot reformed her or his ways and we would lose out on reading his or her clever, funny, or interesting posts.

If a paid premium service were developed, you could offer this feature and others (such as multiple userids, more emoticons, picture icons, the caption under the userid, discounts on goods purchased through the site, etc...). No one really "needs" these amenities to post. Not sure how easy it would be to implement, but throwing the idea on the table.

[ziggytrix]

Keep the rules as simple as possible. If you trust your mods like I know you do, you won't have to spell out every detail about what is and isn't acceptable.

Warnings via PM or an "examples of unacceptable behavior forum" or both would be fine to let someone know they are overstepping a boundry, but I'm not sure there should be a set number of strikes before one gets a time-out. I trust our mods to use good judgement. I'm not worried about Doopa or Protoclown banning someone for being gay.

And I think if we do get a new forum for stupid posts, it shold be called The Stupid Forum or better yet, The Newbie Forum.

[James]

I really can't read all these posts. When I woke up and checked the boards, I just saw this thread and it was at 2 pages. I come back later today, and it's at 4.

Really, the bottom line is that people are boring, annoying, or flat-out stupid. I don't quite know how we'd make rules about this, unless it's done deliberately and frequently. But then again, there are a few regulars who do that on a normal basis for whatever reason. So is it safe to say whatever the rules may be, there will be a double-standard?

[VinceZeb]

Doesn't the nature of the main site dictate that you may get.. well... a hell of a lot of annoying and stupid people on the boards? I mean, I think you all do a good job of keeping the various topics seperated. Best kept message board I have seen in a long time.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Having a pay option would be a bad idea, cuz like Ror said, it might keep cool folks out, and doesn't necessarily keep the losers out (I'm sure mom & dad's credit card is close by).

I like the ignore option, perhaps after a stern reinforcin' of ye ol' rules.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Wouldn't ignoring people be useless? If you ignore people you dislike or something, that means only the regulars and people who stayed here a long time would still be the same. The newbs right now, would still be newbs. If they become smart while they are being ignored the whole time, no one would know. They would consider someone who posts are good, a newb still, which they really aren't. I don't like the idea of ignoring, but that is just me.

[soundtest]

I feel kinda weird replying to this cuz I'm pretty much a newbie myself (well, more lurker I'd like to believe), but I like the idea of removing post counts and putting limits on how many posts newbies make per day if that is even possible. A newbie forum is also a decent idea.

I don't know how possible or time consuming this would be, but just to throw out the idea: what about a status system so that 'proven' members have the freedom to post as much as they want and those who would like to earn that status just have to not be stupid? It would at least give those that seem so desperate for acceptance here some direction.

It seems that the same 3 or 4 people have to reply to everything and it is pretty annoying. Not that I am any expert on quality control by any means.

But maybe just this topic was enough to open some users' eyes - since it's been up I haven't seen as much of the above mentioned crap. Maybe you scared 'em STRAIGHT Doopa 8-)

Again - my opinion means shit and for all I know I'm one of the idiots that shouldn't be here, so feel free to tell me to go fuck myself

[Black Flag]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Crunch

I don't like the idea of ignoring, but that is just me.

Of course you don't, because you know that everyone would ignore you.

[Secret Agent Vomit]

If people actually made interesting or entertaining threads instead of threads bitching about how boring the forum is, then I think the forum would be better. There, I solved your problem.

[Skulhedface]

Dropping any semblance of character whatsoever:

I guess I'm guilty of not being myself, I thought I knew what was going on, but maybe I was wrong, in that case excuse me, but allow the fact that I'm not just a newb to I-Mockery.net, but more or less a newb to message boards in general. I was basically playing an exaggerated character because it looked like that's what people DID around here.

I can't speak for the others like Esuohlim or Matt Harty, but the main reason I came here was because I like reading the political forums (admittedly, I don't know enough to actually comment on them) and posting in the metal and gaming forums, but people don't post there enough. Everyone seems to gravitate to GB, and even I'm guilty of getting the impression that GB is nothing but a place to talk your shit and play your characters.

Maybe that's half the problem. I'll admit, that's the impression I got, as a newb, that GB was basically a place for people to fuck with one another, it just seemed one-sided, like regs vs. newbs. Watching the regs complain is giving me the other side of the story, made me think about it, and I guess I'll reevaluate my posting style.

But that seems to be a good idea... explaining to the newer newbs that GB is not a place to blow your wad. So it took me 2 months to figure it out, but I can admit my mistakes. That being said, I'll work on making better posts. I'm sure I've made some people happy by making LESS of them :

[Secret Agent Vomit]

I think you're right to a degree, skul. Most of the people on here seem to be exagerrated versions of their own personality. Except for a few people, and those are the people that I like. People who aren't trying to sound cool and not trying to be funny all of the time. They're not characters, but actual people talking to people on a message board.

I know I-Mockery is all about funny and stuff, but people on here really try too hard to be funny. L:ike if they aren't funny enough someone will shoot them. It gets kind of old and then it just all turns into shits and giggles, which leads to the forum being the way it is, which is not neccessarilty a bad tthing to some people.

I guess what I'm trying to say is for people to cut the shit and stop trying to be funny, and stop being a character. Let's take Jixby for example, I happen to think that Jixby is a very funny person, but not every single post of his is some sarcastic shit where he tries to be funny and make people laugh. He actually contributes to discussions and comes across as a genuine person. As does Noob3, FS, and even Esuohlim.

Sarcasm is funny, but only in moderation. When everyone on the forum starts acting like fucking Chandler from FRIENDS it stops being funny.

[Protoclown]

I was away from my computer all weekend, so I just saw this.

I hardly read General Blabber anymore myself, and I typically only bother to read threads started by people I know.

I think FatSatan's idea is pretty good, I'm not sure we have to take any drastic action, perhaps we moderators could simply be a little more viligant with regard to deleting worthless posts or locking stupid threads. But like Jixby and a few others said, there are some threads that I might not like that others do.

So maybe a "Gay-ups" forum isn't a bad idea either, a place where we could simply move all the trash and not be bothered by it unless we want to be.

I'm not sure we would have to go so far as to ban anybody at this point.

[CastroMotorOil]

Skulhed and Vomit, that about sums up my feelings as well. I will back up Skulhed in saying that the impression at the start is that it was vets vs newbs. The impression was also that you ahd to be crazy and funny all the time to be popular. I tried it and got shit so i stopped, it just seems like some of these newerbies just do not get the message.

Back on topic, with the limit on starting threads until 100 posts, could that be resarted at any time by a mod, to shut up known repeat offenders?

[Zomboid]

About skullhedface and vomit's posts...

I pretty much agree too. One of the things that annoys me the most is when people try too hard to to be cool or funny or whatever. It just comes off as stupid more often than not. Typing in caps and trying to be offbeat is done by way too many people now and it's obvious they're not being themselves. The people who seem to be acting naturally tend to post stuff that's worth reading :/

It's just my opinion and I haven't been here that long, but obviously I'm not the only one sick of the the amount of crap gb's been filled with lately.

[Skulhedface]

Well, I'm glad that I'm getting some favorable responses, but yea, stepping back and looking at it as myself and not as the exaggerated character I am on the boards, I guess I'd just be better off being myself.

GB IS getting full of crap, and the way I see it is, I didn't realize I was guilty of posting crap as well until I stepped back and realized that it was only getting crappier. So from this point forward I was just going to drop all semblance of character or trying too hard to be funny.

The biggest problem is that most people off the pike read only the first couple of pages (if that) of GB and figure that's the way things work around here, and start posting complete shit, figuring it's representative of the whole site. Yes, most of us noobs are guilty and are learning, and admittedly it took some of us awhile to catch on, but the newerbies who can't be arsed to look at more than the first page of GB are just going to repeat the cycle of shit.

So I agree, maybe there should be Gay Up forum, because I don't think I'd like to see the mods suddenly act all god-like, it makes them less approachable and in some cases you'd see a LOT more ass-kissing.

I like the board mainly because away from GB, I AM myself and not the character, and I find the mods and admins like RoG and Protoclown approachable and helpful when needed, and if they suddenly started deleting threads or posts it would diminish that.

Maybe all newerbies should be required to read the whole site and not just General Blabber, or maybe for the people that lurk before they join, add a "Members Only" posting rule for GB itself but let all the other forums be openly accessible to anyone. That might encourage more reading of the rest of the boards.

[theapportioner]

Newbies don't get a say

[noob3]

The problem is, Skullhead: You suck either way. "exaggerated character" or not, you're still bland and tasteless. And stupid!

And I hope I de-rail this thread, because it SUCKS!

[sspadowsky]

OK, I read the first half of the first page of this topic, so forgive me if I say something that's already been said.

I think this is a fairly simple situation. I'd rather this board only get one post an hour than a flood of bullshit, which, I'm sorry to say, is exactly what it's been the past few months. And Rog and Re are right- I hardly ever come to GB anymore, because it's chock-full of imbeciles.

To make a long story short, if you don't have anything to say, DON'T FUCKING POST ANYTHING. I've been on this board for close to three years now, and this current shite-storm beats all.

I'd like to close by addressing a few of the "problem children." You, in particular, are the malignant tumors on the ass of this board. You are not funny, and you bring nothing to the table here. You would do this board a great service by getting the fuck out and never coming back:

Captain Robo
Captain Crunch
feelevil (worst character ever)
GnrySgtHartman
Wiffles

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few. If you're so god-awful that I can't even remember you for how much you suck, that should clue you in on how worthless you are. Get out.
________
Wiki Vaporizer

[Helm]

A total nonsense forum would be a good idea. However, if you need an ignore function to do just that, ignore people, then I can't see how this forum is for you. The posts that are stupid that we choose not to ignore, we make fun of. And that's part of what this forum is about.

However, I agree the general board shouldn't be the newbie sandbox(I don't read it usually, just because of that), so I suppose another way to deal with that would be to make the total nonsense forum the default forum new users should be directed to. You'd be suprised how few morons can find their way around a message board index anyway.