On Removing Clutter

[Retsu]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

We already have a place for the Obsessive Scribblers.

It's called... the Art forum. There's even an Artists' Lounge for them to socialize in! Problem solved. :D

 

[surskitty]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Dead threads don't tax the database the same way huge threads do.

If it's trying to load the last page of a huge thread, it first has to process the earlier posts.

 

[ultraviolet]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Was this always a problem at TCoD? I was only here like a month before the database wipe.

 

[surskitty]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Not as far as I know, because usually stupid threads didn't last that long.

Although the database died from a 'too many connections' thing. And that might've come from really freaking huge threads. I don't look at forum games much!

 

[spaekle]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Yeah, I've thought about how neglected the Art Lounge is. I like Obsessive Scribblers, but I'm sure pretty much everything we discuss there can be moved to the Art Lounge or respective art threads. And Social Groups, I guess.

I don't know; I like the overall idea of Social Groups and how you can track memberships with them and all that, but I don't like how it's so isolated from the actual forums and how all of the posts are so mashed together and whatnot. I don't see the point of having both a Clubs forum and Social Groups, but... :[

 

[surskitty]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Should I move Obsessive Scribblers to the Artist Lounge?

 

[ultraviolet]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

But clubs isn't like Forum Games anyway; there's active discussion about the things they're based on. It's not made up of spam (for the most part).

If you merged most of the clubs with the misc. Discussion, wouldn't you end up with super huge massive threads anyway?

 

[Zora of Termina]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

... Yes, I agree that OS could be moved to Artist's lounge but if you did half of us would forget about it, not to mention that half the time a sprite thread would be posted in at the same time and then the sprite thread would wind up with top billing which DRIVES ME NUTS ><

So no leave it where it's at.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Are you going to move all of the other clubs that could logically be placed somewhere else, including things like the spriting club, etc.?

It isn't exactly a special case.

 

[surskitty]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

But clubs isn't like Forum Games anyway; there's active discussion about the things they're based on. It's not made up of spam (for the most part).

If you merged most of the clubs with the misc. Discussion, wouldn't you end up with super huge massive threads anyway?

That'd be why I'm not saying "LOCK EVERYTHING THERE".

That one thread was at 17k posts when I killed the forum with it.... I don't think they're likely to hit that.

... Yes, I agree that OS could be moved to Artist's lounge but if you did half of us would forget about it

Wait, what? Why not subscribe to it and other threads so you just have to check your User CP...?

[shrug] @ sprite threads. It already gets hidden by some of the stupider clubs, so.

Are you going to move all of the other clubs that could logically be placed somewhere else, including things like the spriting club, etc.?

It isn't exactly a special case.

I'd like to! Butterfree seems to think that general discussion threads should only focus on canon material while clubs have fanstuff, though. I'm not really sure why: sharing of AWESOME FANART should still be on topic....

 

[spaekle]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Well, I mean, pretty much all Obsessive Scribblers is is us drawing each other and posting pictures and sometimes giving critiques or discussing what media we use. We did arrange Artmo, but other than that there wasn't much we did that the Art forums aren't actually intended for. I'm sure it's that way with other clubs too. Do whatever sounds most logical, I guess. Although having lots of 'clubs' scattered all over different boards seems kind of... I dunno, messy?

Looking through the Social Groups, that entire part of the site as it stands is a bit of an eyesore. The majority of the groups are either things that there are already clubs for or things like "Post here if you've ever been to summer camp" or "Join this if your Pokesona is in your sig". I think it could be cleaned up and made into a useful part of the forums, and I guess I can get over whatever my beef is with the format of it. D:?

 

[Zuu]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

I made a social group I intended for actual use.

 

[surskitty]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

Well, I mean, pretty much all Obsessive Scribblers is is us drawing each other and posting pictures and sometimes giving critiques or discussing what media we use. We did arrange Artmo, but other than that there wasn't much we did that the Art forums aren't actually intended for. I'm sure it's that way with other clubs too. Do whatever sounds most logical, I guess. Although having lots of 'clubs' scattered all over different boards seems kind of... I dunno, messy?

It'd probably need a slightly different title, but yeah, sounds like that could be cleanly moved.

Looking through the Social Groups, that entire part of the site as it stands is a bit of an eyesore.

There is currently absolutely no moderation there.

The majority of the groups are either things that there are already clubs for

and frequently discussion threads! Don't you just love redundant things~?

or things like "Post here if you've ever been to summer camp" or "Join this if your Pokesona is in your sig".

as I said, completely unmoderated

I think it could be cleaned up and made into a useful part of the forums, and I guess I can get over whatever my beef is with the format of it. D:?

It probably could~

I hate the format too. :<

 

[ultraviolet]

Does the Clubs forum really contribute to the forum's slowdown that much? o.O I didn't really think that there were that many active clubs. I mean I guess the Social Groups could work, but I dunno. :/

 

[Zuu]

It's not so much about slowdown as clutter now, really.

/me points at thread title

 

[surskitty]

ultraviolet, we're not currently talking about the forum's slowdown. So um.

 

[Eevee]

Re: On Stupid Threads in Forum Games

People know that they behave differently while playing a game than when participating in discussion.

They're all just threads. The only difference is the title of the forum.

Because spam is not a communicative activity. You can't play forum games without other players.

Really! Let's look at the first page of Forum Games. I am going to bet right now that the majority of these don't depend on anyone else actually playing -- i.e., every "player" is used only for some metadata about the account (if that), not any actual contribution, so you could just pick someone at random from the member list for exactly the same effect.

Write with a body part -- no other people necessary
Rate the avatar above you -- other people irrelevant
Caption the avatar above you -- other people irrelevant
Pokemon vs Pokemon -- depends on previous post
You're banned -- other people irrelevant
How famous are you on the forums? -- other people irrelevant
Never ending D/P cheat -- CAN depend on previous post but doesn't need to
Caption the signature above you -- other people irrelevant
Rock, Paper, Scissors -- depends on previous post
Rate the signature above you! -- other people irrelevant
Rate the usertitle above -- other people irrelevant
Making the Band -- no other people necessary
Lie about the above poster -- depends on previous post
Predict the next poster -- weird case but going to say other people irrelevant for actually playing
People vs people -- depends on previous post, but answer is essentially predetermined
Pokemon letter game -- depends on previous post, but answer is essentially predetermined
Gotta see em all -- other people irrelevant, and answer is random
The association game -- depends on previous post
Corrupt a wish -- depends on previous post
And of course: US vs the world -- depends on the previous post, but answer is essentially predetermined

So we have:
11 that are masturbatory
3 that can be played by very small shell scripts (eta: actually 5 since Making the Band and Gotta See Em All are in both categories)
6 that actually depend on (only) the previous post, often tenuously -- with several of them, the previous post could still be generated randomly, as it doesn't really provide any context or require any thought
Well would you look at that.

Keep in mind that, since these are on the first page, they are the most recently-updated and thus ostensibly the most popular.

How, exactly, is this a communicative activity? How is it not spam? By your own definition: "You are also spamming if you make a post or thread that is directed personally at only a very few people and has nothing of interest for anybody else." The ONLY person who benefits from a post in a forum game, even a non-masturbatory one, is the next poster!

 

[#1 bro]

Also, keep in mind the fact that pretty much every forum has a forum games board, and usually the threads inside are roughly the same set of activities. (corrupt-a-wish, count to ####, ctrl+v, and you're banned, for example, are games that you'll see at pretty much every forum games board.) I would suspect that almost every member on this forum frequents at least one other internet forum in addition to TCoD, and therefore any of our members who feel the need can get their forum games fixation basically anywhere else.

I like to think that discussion in tCoDf is of higher quality than the discussion in most pokemon forums, so why not just let those people that need to play pointless spam games go off to other forums, where that sort of activity is common/tolerated/encouraged?

EDIT: Also, Eevee, despite that being one of the most badass posts I've seen you make (and that's saying a lot) I would have to disagree with you about "Rate the ____ above you" threads not being community activities. I, personally, think it can be fun to see what other people have to say about my avatars and signatures.

 

[Evolutionary]

Yeah, if you change your avatar or signature you'd want other's opinions on it, right? And you can get suggestions to make your avatar/sig better. And I'm not really active to other forums. Unless you count Dragon Cave but I don't want to play Forum Games there, I only go there for News and discussion.

 

[surskitty]

However, people have a tendency to just post numbers.