Suggested forum addon

Suggest improvements to the forums' appearance, function, or management.
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Discombobulator
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Suggested forum addon

#1 Post by Discombobulator »

I'd like to see an option for the member to decide whether he wants to see posts and threads by new members. The default post threshold for defining new members would be around 10 posts, which could be customizable for everyone.

I'm sure that 90% people here don't want to read the bullshit that new people post. For some reason everyone who comes to this forum has the "I'm a genius, everyone will like my bad ideas" thing in his head.
I'm this forum's MVP.

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Re: Suggested forum addon

#2 Post by Hammel »

May I disable viewing the OT forum for myself pls?

Ohh, and I dislike BGB/SeasonsofLove, I dont want to see anything he writes...
And that poolman834 is annoying, pls ban him while you're at it...


Hey, just check who made the thread, and dont open it then ;)

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Re: Suggested forum addon

#3 Post by Discombobulator »

"Just don't look at it" is hardly a way to stop it.

For example, would you look the other way of your neighbor was sexually abusing his child? Would you just not look at a large junk filled dumpster just below your window?
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Re: Suggested forum addon

#4 Post by Emufarmers »

As far as I know, this is not possible with phpBB, and I know of no Olympus MOD to add such a feature. If you want to request a MOD, you are free to do so, and I will consider implementing a finished version. But I think you would be sorely disappointed with the result: Your suggestion would not prevent you from seeing other people's replies to people you are ignoring, and so it would be no better than the current "friends/foes" system, except in that you wouldn't have to block people individually.
Discombobulator wrote:For example, would you look the other way of your neighbor was sexually abusing his child? Would you just not look at a large junk filled dumpster just below your window?
Sometimes it's OK to just make your point and not bother illustrating it.

Similar sentiments came up in a series of private messages I exchanged with a member after I gave him a warning. Maybe it will change your mind, maybe not.
Emufarmers wrote:
[User] wrote:
Emufarmers wrote:1. Remember that we're all humans here: You don't have to be friends with or even like everybody, but you must treat others with respect. It's ok to disagree with someone, and it's ok to make your disagreement known, but don't be unnecessarily harsh or cruel.
I honestly think his posts are noisy, unintelligible, crap. I also honestly feel people like him shit up the entire board to the point where I really hate posting here, except I really like the game and there is nowhere else to go. See viewtopic.php?f=27&t=445 , I am hardly alone in this sentiment.

Its not a common just your run of the mill stupid as far as the internet goes. This forum has a real problem with fucking retards shooting off at the mouth drowning out meaningful conversation and discouraging people from posting here. [...]

I was not trying to be unnecessarily harsh or cruel. If it seemed unnecessarily harsh or cruel, there is no other way I felt I could make my disagreement known. Is there a nice way of saying you wish some forum members would drop off the face of the earth, never to return to the forum again? At least, until they finish school or have some father-figure beat the stupid out of them.

I will probably just stop posting here because this obviously isn't a discussion I will win, and I find the whole situation pretty intolerable.
I'm looking at [his] posts, and I'm not seeing it. I think you're mad at other people, and you decided to take it out on him because he happened to say something that came out like gibberish. [...]

If somebody is being disruptive, I have no problem with banning him, but if it's just that he rubs you the wrong way, you're going to have to learn to ignore him (you can even use the "Foe" feature so that you never have to see another post of his).

I've dealt with forums where there is a pervasive culture of idiocy, and it's rarely fun, particularly since administrators tend to be unwilling to help. I want to help, but I can only do so if I know what the problems are. More than anything, I am concerned about the culture of cruelty here, which I feel does prevent many people from posting. The total volume of posting on this forum is so low that you [...] and whoever need not fear being drowned out by anybody else. It's a big forum with a small community, and you can easily voice your own opinions without having to respond to others' if you don't want to.
Emufarmers wrote:
[User] wrote:ok, I looked over some of his other stuff too and you are pretty much completely right, was pretty much an isolated post for him :(

I pretty much completely agree with your assessment, was just pissed about mostly other people's posts. It's not that there isn't enough space on the board, God knows it is just a fragile little community as it is... it's just the opposite really, very few active threads and the lowest common denominator pretty much posts on them all. Maybe you can ignore or block or whatever people you don't like reading from, but what about the people responding to them, and the people responding to that.

People will always feed trolls, or whatever these ugly half-trolls are... people will post half-page dissertations ending with in-your-face assertions based on the stupidest incorrect assumptions. People feel obligated to answer even if it is just to disagree... so the topic just gets dragged through the mud as psuedo-troll loudly defends his position, and overall its no fun to read.

Even if you stop being that guy that answers the idiot, plenty of decent people are that guy.

I admit it's meanness I'm pushing! I like a damn mean forum and I think people who post stupid crap should have mean things done to them... to paraphrase Gandhi: A social evil for a social evil leaves the whole community purified!
This is all true, of course, and it is the main obstacle to my ignore first, ask questions later policy (you think it's bad here, try it on forums that don't have a proper ignore feature). It's a problem mostly because of administrators who are no longer able or willing to properly oversee their forums, and refuse to delegate the responsibility onto moderators (or choose poor moderators). Obviously, I can't please everybody by doing what everybody tells me to, but in a properly-moderated forum, no good member feels that he can no longer participate so long as he truly wants to. That's why the report feature is so crucial (along with my own powers of perception, hopefully): If I can identify the posts that are causing or are likely to cause trouble, I can nip them in the bud and prevent trolling and troll-feeding.

One other thing: Though I often question its value, I think Wikipedia's doctrine of "assume good faith" is applicable here. [He ...] is a well-meaning but imperfect individual, as well we all are. There is such a thing as willful stupidity, but I don't see that here. Just people making mistakes. :)

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Re: Suggested forum addon

#5 Post by Hammel »

Discombobulator wrote:"Just don't look at it" is hardly a way to stop it.

For example, would you look the other way of your neighbor was sexually abusing his child? Would you just not look at a large junk filled dumpster just below your window?
There's still a slight difference between breaking the law in a... disgusting way (this isnt about the law but the way), and giving ones opinion, but I dont want to argue with you...

And by the way, there IS no way to stop people from giving their not-so-intelligent opinions, unless you disable the function to register for new people and ban all the old people whose opinion's you dislike...

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