darkSpyro

So, I thought I'd mention this in here. Hope this is the proper forum.

I have noticed a trend lately with a few people that find it necessary to comment and take threads down the wrong path when someone posts something that has been posted before. We have what I like to refer to as "Forum Police" who have taken it upon themselves to clutter up virtually every thread with things like "That was posted somewhere else" or " You can't swear in a forum" or "Why don't you read the forum rules".

I don't think it's anyone's responsibility to police the forums. We have a report button for a reason. The person who can determine spam, overpost and everything else is Dark52. I think those that want to play forum police should personally ask Dark52 if that's what is proper etiquette. I think when everyone is slamming everyone in here, it gets out of order and nothing productive is accomplished.

I'd love for all of us to stay on topic. And the next time you have the urge to chew someone out for not following the rules. Kindly click the PM button and send them a private message. This avoids conflict in public and also can be settled between 2 people and not an entire forum and you can then educate them if you feel the need to. Even better. Click "Report" and check the correct box for the infraction. Lets get this forum back in order so Giants can be a fun forum to post in.

Opinions are greatly appreciated. I'd imagine I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Thanks for reading and happy future hunting!


Xerokills

You explained my thoughts on this better than I ever could. I agree totally.

I know people will say I'm forum police. I personally messaged a few of the people who do this frequently asking nicely to try to refrain or turn a blind eye. A forum can really thrive if we just talk about the game. People will overpost. It happens. Just report it and move on to the next thread. It really is simple. I've been guilty of doing negative things before...heck, I got a 3 week ban for it even. But I am here to contribute and try to make this place better as most of us are intending on doing with our actions. But a lot see it as otherwise. If I posted this in the main thread, I'm sure it would fill up rather quickly. But I put it in the proper thread...I feel at least.

So I hope the guilty parties will see this thread as it fills up and think better for their future actions.

Cheers,

xerokills

Really? I have to post this again? Fine.


Quote: bionicle2809

Quote: xerokills

People...seriously.... Look over there...to the right...see it? IT SAYS REPORT. Now if you see someone's post that is out of context or isn't beneficial to the topic. Just click it and report it. Let Dark52 take care of being the forum admin duties. Stop ruining all the threads. Every thread is "OH NOZ IT WAS POSTED OVER HERE ALREADY" Instead of saying it...PM the person or report it. Stop crapping up threads with playing forum cop.

Posting something we already know about doesn't warrant a report - that would be stupid. Telling the person that we already know should mean that (hopefully) they learn and, when they think about posting some new information, check if someone else has posted it before.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: we don't say this all the time to be massive arseholes. We do it because it means that the less duplicate posts we have, the longer it'll take before we reach the topic post limit. Reporting/deleting a post does not correct this.

That was the reasoning for the Giants topic, but the same can be applied for the whole forum. The site has a limited amount of storage space for forum posts. Telling the people not to post information we already know about, or to look for similar topics is a way to stop this. If everyone made duplicate posts/topics and the only solution was just to report it, that wouldn't make a difference. The existence of the useless duplicate post is what causes the issue - not the fact that we're all massive arseholes and we like making people feel like **** by pointing out that they've posted something that has been posted before.

Now, to the irony of this topic, I know exactly who you're talking about (it's mostly me and Aura) so why don't you take your own advice into hand and if you want us to stop, PM us about it rather than making a whole new topic. At least if you PM us, we can ignore you and delete the message rather than have it linger on the forum.

/thread

I actually wasn't referring to you bionicle even if you are guilty of it too. And I personally did contact both Dark52, Aura and 2 other about this. The goal of my post is pointing out that you are only making threads worse filling them with arguments about spam, trolling and whatnot. A PM directing them to the rules is all you need to send anyone and a report (Dark52 will probably tell you . I think you all vastly exaggerate the dire status of overposting and whatnot. And reporting threads will get them closed if it's valid.

Just learn to let things go man. We don't need reminders. Just direct them to the rules via PM. Keep it off the actual threads. Plain and simple. You aren't contributing if you're just copping the forums. A lot of us feel it's detracting from the forum. Do me a favor and go on another forum. Lets for example say go to the World of Warcraft forums. Now peruse them and see if you find anyone in there posting "Double post!!!!" or some other useless flagging. You typically don't. People stay on topic and report threads. Forum admins monitor it. If Dark52 doesn't have it under control, then he can or could hire someone to assist him. Nobody rules these threads except him. Let him be the one to dictate how they are run. Don't go dictating things for him.

It's a respect thing. There are a lot of kids in here. I'm not a kid, and I've been around all sorts of forums. If the cops continue to hoard over these forums, more and more people will vanish from here and it will lose a large core group of it's members to a better forum without the disruptive policing. And I only made this topic to bring it up because it was brought to my attention by a few others who visit the forums. Just go back to contributing useful information that is on topic and everyone will be happy...and new members may actually stick around.

I don't want to bore anyone with a long post, so I'll just keep it to relatively short points...

Leave the administration duties to the actual admins. If you're contributing to the derailment of topics, you're no better than those who are doing it. If your post has nothing to do with the topic at hand, you're guilty and you're sucking the fun and sense of community out of the forums.

I think temporary bans like the type xerokills received should be handed out more often. That goes for those who consistently break the rules and also to the amateurs who are unwantedly policing the forums.

Also, I think the "Report Post" should read exactly the same as the "Forum Rules" page to avoid further confusion and institute a warnings by PM then temp- then perma-ban system that should be levied for rules broken. Most reasonable users should get the hint once they receive a warning.

...but absolutely, posts should only be reported and off-topic policing posts should not be allowed.

I like how you stated that Sykotek... (I always see Skyotek) I 100% agree with that assessment. I personally can't always say it so eloquently. So thank you for being a clearer voice of reason.

Quote: dark52

I agree with this topic, please try to leave the moderation to me. If you think something is a problem, report it. Reports are not just for getting posts deleted.

I am aware that I have not been stepping in where this kind of thing has happened, it seemed redundant but I suppose I probably should since otherwise people are seeming to get the false impression that I don't do anything.

It's not a false impression. It's what many people (including me) consider to be the honest truth.

And if you want people to stop trying to take things in their own hands, how's about you just hire some mods? That's all these people want. They want people to be able to keep the site safe and orderly when you aren't online. If you don't want to hire mods, then at least give us a valid reason why you won't do it. Don't treat us like animals, believing that you don't need to talk to us or give us any sort of explanation. That's rather disrespectful to the members you have here.

Also several reports go unnoticed by you. And before you say "those reports aren't valid", then tell me why you gave me a mod message for trolling when the post you deleted from me had nothing at all to do with trolling. The report wasn't valid (I get the idea someone reported me).

EDIT: But then again, why am I even bothering to type this? You won't listen. You won't read this. And even if you do you'll just pass me off as some pathetic person that doesn't know what he's talking about. You don't respect people enough to bother reading what they say to you, or the advice they try to give. This is what disappoints me the most about you Dark. Your refusal to even listen to us when we're concerned, or trying to help you. It makes me wonder why you even have this section anymore when you very rarely respond or do anything about it (unless of course, the topic is defending you or stroking your ego).

I personally can't expect someone who probably has a real life and a job beyond this forum to moderate it by himself. I know you do your job here as it is proven when &$#! hits the fan, you're there within 15-30 minutes to respond. Thank you for the response to this inquiry and any future efforts are always greatly appreciated.

I also missed Dark's post before I posted mine.

Perhaps an I'm New Here section at the top of the main page with tips on posting, rules, and how to navigate the site would help. It took me months to learn (still learning), but I am new to forums in general.

Quote: xerokills

I personally can't expect someone who probably has a real life and a job beyond this forum to moderate it by himself. I know you do your job here as it is proven when &$#! hits the fan, you're there within 15-30 minutes to respond. Thank you for the response to this inquiry and any future efforts are always greatly appreciated.

I also missed Dark's post before I posted mine.

That's one of the reasons why people here want mods aside from Dark himself. He has a life, a job, and isn't here all the time. And it's unfair for him to have to constantly come here in his free time to check up on what's going on here. Having mods can help do the job for him when he's away.

Cav, I agree help can always be used. But that's on him, not on us. If he doesn't want help, then there isn't much you can do. We have offered it to him, probably more than I know and I'm sure this community grew much bigger than he ever could have expected. But I doubt he can afford to pay someone to MOD. I personally don't have the time in my life to MOD with efficiency. The only people who do are teenagers that have no job or aren't in school...or work IT.

All I wanted out of this is to just get people back on topic. I do like the idea of a RULES topic stickied in each forum group with clear, concise rules to follow. I think here would be a good place to leave suggested rules that may not be covered in the current rules post. I am sure Dark will figure something out to smooth the group over a bit.

I'm definitely not here to stroke his ego or anything else...heck...I did get the ban hammer on me...lol. Why should I be fond of him..but I understand a bit of the life of a forum owner...you aren't many people's friend...

I hope this isn't meant for Aura24. First of all, shes an Emerald Sparx. Emphasice on Emerald. She has the right to help younger users and steer them in the right direction. If they post old information, then someone needs to correct them. If they double post, someone's to correct. There's no need to report and get someone in trouble when they're new and don't know all the rules. It's just wrong for people like kappa to get away with attacking her for trying to help.
As for Dark, I dont think he's lazy. He just needs help. He needs to go ahead and make people like Aura mods. It's simple logic.

I'm not here to stroke anyone's ego. I think it's a completely unfair to say dark52 does nothing around here. As xerokills said, he very likely has a life outside of maintaining this website and this site is not just the forums alone.

In the time I've been here, I've seen entire walkthrough sections being added, new information and photos on the upcoming Skylanders Giants game is being added and organized all the time and splitting and organizing of the Skylanders forums into various categories couldn't have been easy.

dark52 does a lot around here and I'm not blind to it. Should he have some help, sure he should. I've offered to help him with some of the walkthroughs before, but it may not have been up to his standards.

Anyways, cut him some slack, it's a lot to do all by himself, but who are some good mature candidates for the job, the amateurish forum police who have possibly been unknowingly trolling the forums and throwing topics into disarray? Right...if that happened there'd be a mass exodus.

Anyone that is truly unhappy being at the forums can simply leave, as far as I know, no one is forcing users to come here.

^"Forum cops" aren't trolling. It's rather unfair to them to believe that they're trolling, when in reality they're just trying to maintain order when Dark isn't around.

As mentioned earlier, he does have a life. Hence why he should hire mods so they can do his job when he can't.

And what about the people that are unhappy, but still love the community or have friends here they can't contact any other way (I can think of members with this problem). Should they be forced to leave anyway?

@CAV: The thing is, the average user wants to go into a topic and see what people have to say about the topic and not arguments about who double posted, who bumped a topic that is old, or all that garbage... etc.

dark52 didn't appoint anyone to police the forums in his perceived absence. The "forum police" took that upon their righteous selves and are incredibly disruptive whenever they step in to be involved. No one is disputing that dark52 could use some help, but who does he have among the community to deputize? Who would the average users accept that they don't perceive as people who have just been immature trolls? Certainly not the forum police, not with how long this has carried on.

I'll share a secret, I'm a relatively new user to this site and I've stuck mostly to the Skylanders forums until recently and I perceived the forum police as a group of trolls...in fact because of the constant interruptions from people who I don't perceive that post there under normal circumstances, I've associated very high Gem count users that I've seen or those posting with secondary accounts that are high Gem count users otherwise as being nothing but a bunch of trolls. I'm observing now, that a lot of the community is going quiet to avoiding posting in topics like the one knowingly dumped into the Skylanders section recently that originated from S&N that was known to be off topic. Whether the forum police is trolling or not, that's how I've seen it and I seriously doubt I'm alone in that sentiment.

As for people that are unhappy, maybe there should be an official place to allow them to air their grievances or their concerns, but in actuality, regardless of whether there is or isn't, even dark52 knows that you can't please everyone. In the end, no one is being forced to stay here and as far as I can tell, no one is being forced to leave for an invalid reason either. Whether you stay or not, that decision is firmly in your hands and in your hands alone...Planeteer, the power is yours!

First of all, I just want to say we should only rely on dark since he is the one active user able to delete posts. However, the ways he does delete them are awful. There have NEVER been so many complaints about Moderated Messages, which should say something. I deeply respect the amount of work he does, but not how he goes about it. He deleted a post that went off-topic... IN THE SPAM THREAD! If that's not awful I don't know what is. (AFMC)

As for trolls... Their bridge is Stuff and Nonsense. Anywhere out of there they remain virtually unseen. I don't know any in the Skylanders Forums. There's a difference between a Troll and a Flamer. Trolls tend to decieve people and joke around more (example: Blackholes_Wolf) while Flamers genuinely complain and whine(example: kappapopm). You are definetly referring to Flamers, not Trolls. (I actually consider myself to be part-Troll, as I have Trolled several times in the past even if I don't always say it.)

Now, Forum Police... What they're doing would be fine but they do it every third topic. Why not say it in the Guestbooks or anything? They're not Hunters. I understand what they want to do but just cluttering the threads so much is annoying and just as bad as Trolling or Flaming. Yet I do think they would have the manners to just edit or delete rule-breaking messages if they DID become Hunters. Specifically, Aura24 deserves to be a Hunter, since she looks across the Forum and it wouldn't be a new job to her.

So basically... I don't believe in Forum Police being actually helpful, but neither do I support dark's system. darkSpyro needs active Moderators STAT. It's as easy as changing a member's status.

And on the topic of wages, dark himself has said in the past if he had mods, they would not get paid. It doesn't make sense that they would anyway, especially since most users fit for it want to do it anyway.