Do you think Users should be shut down/merged?

[Kirk]

Actually no, I don't ban people that often.

[rossmum]

Yeah, but that doesn't mean there aren't still quite a lot who could do with it, no offense.

[SnaFuBAR]

No, the reason I don't want to merge is very simple.
I'll even draw a little diagram for you to understand.

fucking awesome. i see my dot there.

oh, and nubs are like the flood. you can only fight them off for so long before you're overwhelmed.

but on a serious note, i can't stand members of the files forums. they all bask in masterbatory self congratulations, and have a shitfit if you say you don't like something. they all need their asses and noses wiped, their hands held, and generally have to be told how to act respectful of other members. i swear the nub fanboys will try to maul you if you say, "the modeling is poor, and the idea could use work. try this or that" after they have already said, "z0mg d00d, lyk3 i kant mohdel, s0 1 th1nk 7hiz iz teh awesome!!!11!11shift plus one".

[rossmum]

Exactly. We've just cleaned THIS forum of that, so why undo all that?

[Iron_Forge]

Maybe I do that because I'd like to see this place go back to at least some semblance of what it used to be before we got morons coming in and crapping it up with their stupid questions, 2-year bumps, unprovoked flaming, horrible mutilation of the English language, and then posting their "ZOMG MY FURST MODD LOL!!!!11" topics which are just simple swaps done in HMT. I want to see this place go back to people learning to respect the rules and each other, post legibly, and actually put some effort into things before posting them.

Call me old-fashioned or elitist, I don't care. This site was better when there were only 3,000 members.

And the saying is "couldn't care less", by the way.

Your right...This site probably was more enjoyable in many ways when it had 3,000 members...Then again, it was more enjoyable when it had 100 members...But, the time was also better, there actually was things to learn, things to discuss in intelligent ways...There comes a point when popularity takes over, and there are just so many people you can't meet them all, and the number of newer members outweighs the number of experienced members...All these newer members only have each other to count on, since none of us experienced members will really help them, because we're "overwhelmed by the flood"...So yes, most of them seem unintelligent...

But for the most part, I don't notice it...I read 1-2 forums on UF, on average 3 these days on the FF...I pick and choose the places I go, I only read the topics which look of interest to me...To be honest I can't be bothered to read all the idiot topics on the UF (yes, they exist here too)...

To continually claim that all FF members are stupid and arrogant does an injustice to them, and shows your own ignorance...There are probably a dozen people on the FF who I would bother conversing with outside of the forum...Maybe two from the UF...And thats it...Out of all the members on both sides...By merging the forums, you'll have to wade through a few more posts (though I don't think any topic gets the 20 posts a day you're all worried about), and in return, you'll actually meet a few very nice, intelligent people to discuss things with...

As far as I'm conserned, even one intelligent person added to my thread these days is worth any change...

[rossmum]

The problem is that most of us won't help them because they're either:

*Gibbering incomprehensibly
*Blatantly ignoring the rules
*Seem to have an aversion to searching
*Magically became temporarily blinded as they scrolled past the tutorial and new user sections
*Totally disrespect other members
*Refuse to accept our advice
*Are excessively egotistical.

When we do get a new member who is none of the above, we help. This holds for both forums, it's just that by now the UF has a lower percentage of these troublemaking sorts (well, the sections I visit anyway - announcements, art, cafe and sometimes gallery as I left the PC section during the original flood).

Also, you're right - there are a fair few good people on the FF. The problem is, the ratio of active people worth talking with to those who we'd rather see leave is somewhat lower... and a lot of the people there who I consider worth the time are either a) also members here or b) also members of other forums I visit.

In the long run, the only real advantage I can see from combining the forums would be more activity (but this depends heavily on personal peference; I, for one, like the UF as it is), and one index from which to access anything. But balance that up against the culture shock of adding all the FF members, the time and effort of first deciding what to do with the dupe accounts, then carrying out that action, then re-organising the place and sorting stuff out like possible additional staff, what goes with what, then trying to keep the place in working order... there's a lot of potential for stuff to go wrong along the way. As well as that, after all the time Excal's spent working on the UF, even if he does want a merge it'd probably just add a heap to his workload.

[xXxCocoFangxXx]

I help new people all the time.

[rossmum]

Yes, notice I didn't say none of us did.

I help new people who meet the criteria of NOT being describable by any of the above points I made, simple as that.

[Kirk]

When we do get a new member who is none of the above, we help. This holds for both forums, it's just that by now the UF has a lower percentage of these troublemaking sorts (well, the sections I visit anyway - announcements, art, cafe and sometimes gallery as I left the PC section during the original flood).

Well of course, you forget the fact that nothing ever happens here. Any newbie would want mods to download. He's not going to want to discuss things...

[SnaFuBAR]

Anyway, I'm just bringing up one thing... I don't necissarily think it should happen, though I'm not saying it shouldn't. Maybe we should make a section reserved for people over 500-1000 posts or so, people can't just pop in and annoy the people that post in that section. The good thing would be the freedom of idiots (for the most part... there are a couple that have 500-1000+ posts ;P). The bad thing is that once people know about it they might just start either complaining all the time, or spamming hoping to get the needed postcount. Just bringing this up for a quick discussion.

i think that any member spamming and complaining all the time to get their post count up should be ip + name banned. hunter or elite status minimum plz. also, i know there are some people who are of the tallented crew who don't have a high post count, but they could be let in based on their ip or some kind of admin granted permission.

i'm just dreading having to sift through all the "log mod", "my first mod", "my first skin", "omg help me!!", "how do i" and "lol" topics just to find one decent model to talk about.

[metkillerjoe]

i'm just dreading having to sift through all the "log mod", "my first mod", "my first skin", "omg help me!!", "how do i" and "lol" topics just to find one decent model to talk about.

I think this explains exactly how I feel so I won't comment on that, but I have to say that making Elite or Hunter the the only ones to access certain forums would be a very good idea. And no, I'm not ignorant of my rank and think that I am one of these, but as I said before, people in higher ranks need breathing room.

*something clicks*

Wait, I remember I suggested something like this a few weeks back.

Oh well.

[dos mes]

i'm just dreading having to sift through all the "log mod", "my first mod", "my first skin", "omg help me!!", "how do i" and "lol" topics just to find one decent model to talk about.

I think this explains exactly how I feel so I won't comment on that, but I have to say that making Elite or Hunter the the only ones to access certain forums would be a very good idea. And no, I'm not ignorant of my rank and think that I am one of these, but as I said before, people in higher ranks need breathing room.

*something clicks*

Wait, I remember I suggested something like this a few weeks back.

Oh well.

Not to mention, you'd definitely be one of the few exceptions, since you've joined you've been a great member. Just thought I'd let you know that I appreciate you being a good member and a helpful one too

As for the merging deal, I don't care anymore. I suppose it would be better overall, if only there was a way to noob-proof forums...

[Excal]

Perhaps we could establish a Senior Member group where older, experienced members could join in and have access to forums reserved for more intelligent discussion...

[SnaFuBAR]

Perhaps we could establish a Senior Member group where older, experienced members could join in and have access to forums reserved for more intelligent discussion...

best idea so far. if we can do that, i'd be glad to see a merge.

[xXxCocoFangxXx]

Perhaps we could establish a Senior Member group where older, experienced members could join in and have access to forums reserved for more intelligent discussion...

I like that idea!

[Kirk]

Perhaps we could establish a Senior Member group where older, experienced members could join in and have access to forums reserved for more intelligent discussion...

Even better.

[Iron_Forge]

My post count is slightly under 400...That being said, I'll never support any group based on post count...It's a completely arbitrary number that reflects nothing of importance...I've also never liked any system where it requires "someone" to be incharge of whether or not you're worthy...They might just not like you...I don't like lots of people...Or they might not believe you're worthy because you're a FF member...Or a new user...

What could work is a forum with a select number (eg less than 6) of respected members...At any time, they can add users to their list of recommended members...Each recommendation increases the users score, a forum specific karma if you will...How much karma you get from each recommendation is based on that users own karma...Keeping in mind, only users who are members of this particular forum can vote...So say the first 3 members each start with a karma of 1000, anyone they recommend gets a karma of 100...Anyone those people recommend gets a karma of 10...You require a karma of 30 to make posts in the forum...Say, negative karma is assigned on a 5% scale...So if one of the original members thinks your posts are stupid, they hit you with a negative recommendation, you lose 50 karma, likely pushing you out of posting range...Everyone who has you as a recommendation gets hit with say, a 25 karma loss, because it's their fault you get to post...You could also not give karma to anyone who gave it to you, preventing trading of karma...You can of course revoke your recommendation of someone, removing what you gave them, however this will not remove any punishments you have been given because of them...

Note, this is not an idea for karma on the entire site, just one forum of mature people...It would allow for anyone to become a member, either by being recognized with potential, or just having friends who are already members...The friends system works here since it would likely take several to let you in, and should you turn out to be an idiot, it's likely they're idiots too, and they also take the punishment...It also prevents people from just karmaing everyone, since it requires several people to get you in, but the closer you are to the top of the hill, the more say you have, so if 20 people say you're great, it only takes one original member to cast you down, punishing the 20 idiots...

Just an idea to toss around...

[Sarb]

I think this is all being over complicated.

[metkillerjoe]

My post count is slightly under 400...That being said, I'll never support any group based on post count...It's a completely arbitrary number that reflects nothing of importance...I've also never liked any system where it requires "someone" to be incharge of whether or not you're worthy...They might just not like you...I don't like lots of people...Or they might not believe you're worthy because you're a FF member...Or a new user...

What could work is a forum with a select number (eg less than 6) of respected members...At any time, they can add users to their list of recommended members...Each recommendation increases the users score, a forum specific karma if you will...How much karma you get from each recommendation is based on that users own karma...Keeping in mind, only users who are members of this particular forum can vote...So say the first 3 members each start with a karma of 1000, anyone they recommend gets a karma of 100...Anyone those people recommend gets a karma of 10...You require a karma of 30 to make posts in the forum...Say, negative karma is assigned on a 5% scale...So if one of the original members thinks your posts are stupid, they hit you with a negative recommendation, you lose 50 karma, likely pushing you out of posting range...Everyone who has you as a recommendation gets hit with say, a 25 karma loss, because it's their fault you get to post...You could also not give karma to anyone who gave it to you, preventing trading of karma...You can of course revoke your recommendation of someone, removing what you gave them, however this will not remove any punishments you have been given because of them...

Note, this is not an idea for karma on the entire site, just one forum of mature people...It would allow for anyone to become a member, either by being recognized with potential, or just having friends who are already members...The friends system works here since it would likely take several to let you in, and should you turn out to be an idiot, it's likely they're idiots too, and they also take the punishment...It also prevents people from just karmaing everyone, since it requires several people to get you in, but the closer you are to the top of the hill, the more say you have, so if 20 people say you're great, it only takes one original member to cast you down, punishing the 20 idiots...

Just an idea to toss around...

Best idea I've heard of. In my opinion, a system such as this should go into consideration by the team of admins that will merge the two forums and make the system better and better (not stopping even when the merge has occurred).

Dos Mes:
Not to mention, you'd definitely be one of the few exceptions, since you've joined you've been a great member. Just thought I'd let you know that I appreciate you being a good member and a helpful one too Smile

Thanks . Much appreciated.

[Grunt Rebel]

Iron's idea sounds reasonable.