Alright well recently a lot of people have noticed the amount of spam that have been circulating throughout our forums and several things have arisen from this. They can be listed and named quite simply. They are the crackdown of OT, the accusing of the staff of being corrupt, and the discussion over what has being done. Note that I will not be using any names in this writing. ~ So the first I will start off with is the crackdown on OT. This was, in my opinion, a great move on the part of the staff. I think that when they first implemented the OT forum, they didn’t expect it to go down the road that it did. Now I can’t deny that I did not enjoy the mass chaos that we made OT into. The threads were awesome for a laugh and I spent most of my time over the summer searching these forums and even contributing to it a bit. After a while, I’m sure that most of us forgot that the site was based on and that its primary directive was Halo 3 and forging. For this reason, and for, as Sarge would put it, “the prevalence of idiocy”, the crackdown and dare I say shutdown, of all unnecessary OT operations was an expert move executed by the Staff. ~ Now with the crackdown on OT and the prevalence of spam I our forums, the moderators that deal out punishment have often been called corrupt. I disagree with this completely. The staff are doing what they are doing for a reason. I have total faith in them that they are doing what is best for us and for the benefit of the site as a whole. Also, who are you to comment on what they are doing. There is a reason that they were chosen to be in the position that they are. That reason is for their dedication and knowledge of the site and its operations. I therefore believe that they know what is best for the site and trust that what they do is for the best. I keep this trust, even when what they do doesn’t pan out. The reason for this that they are human beings and are not immune to fault. They our sort of like the parents and guardians of our site, and as you probably know by now, your parents aren’t immune to bad decisions. Even in the current scandal about the banning of TDF, they are handling it, being calm, cool and, above all, rational about the entire affair. ~ As I some of the points of the last two issues intertwine, I will not repeat myself as to not sound redundant. I have been looking through the forums and, more often recently, have been seeing discussions between members over these issues. There views, while I may agree with some of them, are completely idiotic. They seem to be evaluating the actions of the staff and question what they are doing. Also, I believe in the age-old principle, “actions speak louder than words.” So please, stop discussing these subjects and do something about it. There is a little thing at the bottom of a post where you can report the post to a moderator. But just punishing a member doesn’t stop the spam, it just deprives him of the opportunity to enjoy the full benefits of our site. I know from experience that talking to them and explaining their fault is better than just reporting the infraction and dumping it on the moderators. Try talking to him as a human being and not just a lifeless being on the internet. I have made more friends with former-spammers than any other source. I can also confirm this because, as many of you know and I’m not afraid to admit, I was a compulsive spammer. Most of them do honestly not know what they are doing. Talking and explaining things to them, helps…a lot. So please stop your gabbing and get working. ~ Those are my views on those matters. Take it or leave it I am entitled to my opinion and I believe I have told the truth and made my view evident. Discuss, critique, do what you must. But remember that nobody can run from good logic and well founded research, myself included. So please listen to mine and other opinions, before voicing your own. ~ My Humblest Regards, Andrew Finelli xSharpshooter94
Now that you have done that. I sort of agree with your point. The staff isnt corrupt but they are quite picky. They are just doing the job of making sure that this site is spam free. However some people are being a bit harshly punished, especially a few new members who dont read the rules. When I joined, I learned the hard way. But there werent as many rules a year ago then there were now.
In this little spiel, you stated that the moderators know best and that we should trust them as they are doing what is best for the site. I agree that they are doing things in the good interest of the site. However, you said something along the lines of "Who are you to question their judgement/action?" Then later you go on to say they are subject to mistakes just as the rest of us. If they are subject to mistakes, is it not right for us to question things we find unfair? If it's possible that someone could make a mistake, I think it's a good idea to get second opinions on these things, and those opinions sometimes come from regular members in the community. I would encourage members to think for themselves and to take into account every part of a situation. Other than that, I really don't see the problem with all the spam in Off Topic. I am naive in the running of a site, so I may not be aware of the problems it creates. However, if someone posts a thread with only a picture or a random thread with no meaning in OT, what's the matter? Everything else in there is pointless, so as long as nobody posts anything illegal or any porn, I fail to see the huge problem.
If you ask me, I think that off-topic should be treated just like every other sub forum. I think that all posts should count in there and the mods should be infracting for spam as well. Andrew I do agree with you 100% though. The mods are doing their jobs very well, and are not corrupt. They are not being too strict, they are simply doing their jobs well.
I posted something similar to this the other day. Let me see if I can link you to it because we share a lot of the same opinions on this matter sharp. Here it is =0 http://www.forgehub.com/forum/general-chat/57091-my-thoughts-spam.html On the whole thing about mods being corrupt, I think that's bullshit. In my opinion, the mods are really nice guys even if they <3 giving out infractions. Hell, I just got an infraction today for something I feel was a bit unjust but I still love the guys.
You are absolutely right but I think that there is enough amount of loyal, premium and staff members, that a second opinion from inside the administration should not be hard to find. Although I do realize that if someone wants to say something, nothing will stop their opinion from being heard. The problem with OT is that it is becoming the center of the site. This is not what we want. We want the site to go back to what it was started and intended to always be, a hub of Forge (see wut i did thar?) I know you share my opinions and thank you Alex for voice your approval. No need for the link It can be easily found but I guess that is what we have to live with. No matter what, if we break a rule, we suffer consequences but i suggest a explanation of the infraction in person per say. Then why not delete OT?
Halo Forge Maps (93 Viewing) Halo Forge Discussion (22 Viewing) Off Topic (13 Viewing) I think forging is still the center of the site, just maybe not for some of the better known members.
Off Topic 193430 Competitive Maps 83540 Halo Forge Discussion 40616 Casual Maps 34649 Graphics and Arts 33539 That is bad as well ^
Well that's a very good thing to know. I wonder how many people would be viewing back in our peak around summer. Anyway, to further elaborate, I support maybe giving guardians some more power for the time being to control the mythic map pack crowd mostly because I really don't think any of them are unloyal to our site's prospects or corrupt in power. I care more that we get more members and more of a community than the amount of spam that is going to come in though. In response to sharp: I think that is more due to the offtopic being more of a social board, so people post things that are much simpler much more often.
I don't want this to turn it a "what the Mod's should do thread". If you read the entire thing Ben you would have realized that i detest that. <3
Well to make everyone shup up, I think Off Topic should really be removed. It may sting a little for like a week but then everyone will get over it.
Off Topic - 4,071 threads Halo Forge Maps - 9,627 threads You can make statistics look however you want. And, if anything should be removed, it's General Chat imo.
wisdom from mister Nick. I suggest moving the PPC to General chat and only allow spam there. Than delete OT and all those Srs Business threads can be moved to general chat. But once again I leave that up to the mods to do what they believe is best. BTW dude the Halo forge maps has been getting more popular due to the crackdown on OT. And what do you have against GC. OT is killing GC when they are now essentially the same thing BTWBTW Double post FTL
Well, then its very simple. We do not need to sub forums that support the same all around topic. In my opinion the off-topic forum simply needs to be abolished. Yes, but If you look at the part about where the most posts are, its obvious that offtopic dominates this category
General Chat and Off Topic are essentially the same things. Places where you can post anything that doesn't pertain to another sub-forum. The only difference is that General Chat supports post count while Off Topic doesn't. Off Topic, on the other hand, is much more popular. You would piss alot less people off if you removed General Chat and just moved the stickies into OT. I'm not telling anyone what to do, this is just my opinion. Isn't it more important where all the people are, rather than where more posts are. Maps get viewed hundreds, if not, thousands of times and only get a handful of posts.
hes right looking =/= posting. We want to promote posting but I want to stress once again. I do not want to discuss what the Mods Should do.
In my opinion, I think that all posts should be at least a paragraph long. I think if forgehub stressed this idea, the whole site would look a whole lot more professional. Spam is such a problem here at the forums and I think that we really need to be strict on this issue
Last chance I am asking for a lock if this thread get into a what we should do thread. read my last paragraph people.