Policing this forum

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It is this stated concern that has led me to the conclusion the best thing to do is to reopen the General and the Off-topic forums.

Thus sorting out the threads based on content.

And that use to be true here. Questions were answered and debated and then once it became obvious that the thread had outlived it's usefulness (obviously subjective) then someone would bring up pie.

That's not true anymore. It's pie pie pie all the time. I'm amazed more haven't gotten tired of it.

I'll give my personal perspective on when I came to the forums. When I first came to find answers I was frustrated by all the pie and pantie jokes because it became hard to search through a thread to find answers - and many times very good answers come after the pie, etc discussions. As a newbie to the forum it made it difficult.

Eventually I got acclimated to the forums and joined in the fun. I was honored when people started referring to me as a member of the so called clique. I had come to understand what I stated above, that despite the silliness, the work always got done and I had great fun with it.

That tide has turned. It appears to me that we have a vast number of newer people that started coming in at the end of last year who I don't think have ever posted a question or answered one. They see this as a Fun and Conversation Only Forum. I don't blame them, it's the perspective they saw as it was headed that way. Many of our regulars who I had high regard for rarely seem to be answering questions anymore either. They only come on now to join in the fun too. Sometimes they get in really heated arguments as well, but that's not the same as assisting.

Love and others have expressed they don't see questions not being answered and maybe that's true. My observation is that they are not answered nearly as well because not as many are giving feedback as in the past. In addition, there are a lot less questions being asked than I can recall. Granted, I don't have actual numbers, but it's my observation. If they have reduced, as I believe they have, I think it has to do with the change of the tone of the forums also.

As I said before, I think the turning tide occurred when we lost a moderator. We always had silly threads and I joined in many, but Strife would come in and lock them. That kept them from getting too long or the forum having too many at one time.

If this forum is going to be like SLU then why have this forum at all?The tone has changed dramatically here. Obviously I'm in the minority and most seem happy about that. As much as I wish I had the power to change it to what I prefer, I know that is not the case. I don't have to like what I see happening though, and will likely to continue to grumble about it because I see it as a very sad turn of events.

I can't agree with you more. I would love to see those old forums reopened. If that was the case I'd post there and be about as goofy as they come.

Bradley your post summed up exactly what I have been trying to say. Thank you

he is right . I can't speak for myself, since I'm the last person with a helpful answer usually, but I imagine some of the Regulars are tired of answering those same questions over and over, or a lot are not questions where the answer resides here. Some point to threads that are full of fluff before the question gets answered, which is fair enough, but i wonder how many of those threads would have fallen off the first couple of pages unanswered. All the complaints are valid. But Human nature is what it is. A strictly moderated forum is one that I would no longer visit, but I have no vast knowledge to take with me so it's no loss to anyone. The answer is simple. Give people a place to do their general conversing. LL show you customers you care by doing this, or, if you feel the forum is irrelevant and useles, shut it down.

The answer is simple. Give people a place to do their general conversing. LL show you customers you care by doing this, or, if you feel the forum is irrelevant and useles, shut it down.

AMEN!

That's all very well, but LL deliberately closed down an existing "general" forum. They have also been closing down various unmoderated mailing lists (granted, because one of them was getting some absolutely ridiculous posts, but that isn't usually a reason to close down _all_ of them or indeed _any_). I have to suspect that an open forum is unlikely to happen; thus we must make do for the moment.

The answer is simple. Give people a place to do their general conversing. LL show you customers you care by doing this, or, if you feel the forum is irrelevant and useles, shut it down.

I think that you have mixed up the quoting there.

But to be frank it is all rather academic whether they _should_, unless anyone has a good suggestion for bringing that about. There have been various efforts to do so over the years, none of which have had an effect. I would be very happy to see a new idea, but I am not all that interested in stamping my foot for the millionth time and saying "well they _should_!" My foot has begun to hurt.

I think that you have mixed up the quoting there.

But to be frank it is all rather academic whether they _should_, unless anyone has a good suggestion for bringing that about. There have been various efforts to do so over the years, none of which have had an effect. I would be very happy to see a new idea, but I am not all that interested in stamping my foot for the millionth time and saying "well they _should_!" My foot has begun to hurt.

To add to this - if people could just not post their stupid joke pie spam posts in their dozens on threads which _they_ think are pointless but where other people might be interested in discussing a topic, that would help. And that has nothing to do with not having an off-topic forum, it is simple politeness.

I'd join any group that is willing to get a response, any kind of "official" response from LL. Not just telling one or two people who chat. Let's go as a group to their office meetings. (I don't know which one is appropriate). Let's email or petition or just start a thread asking them to please give us a response (We know for a fact they've been reading us these days).

All I want is a clear all answer once and for all. If they say they'll open them back up then wonderful. I'll have a great time joining the fun there while feeling useful here. If they say it's never going to happen then fine I'll probably just leave the forums. Until then, I'll just continue doing what I'm doing and hoping something changes, having a little fun here and there and bugging everyone with my grumbling too.

As low as the odds are that LL will ever reopen General and Off Topic Forums, I think the odds of this ever happening are next to nil.

Take a look at the JIRA; it has been ignored and rejected.

I'd prefer to ignore and reject the JIRA actually. I must not be geeky enough, but it makes my eyes bleed trying to figure it out.

I'd prefer to ignore and reject the JIRA actually. I must not be geeky enough, but it makes my eyes bleed trying to figure it out.

As little as it is, it is all we have.

But it seems to me that if suggestions can be arbitrarily shelved by anyone, for god knows what reason, maybe no one likes the person suggesting it, it is not a very valid tool. It's great the community can make suggestions, but should they be able to decide what gets fixed or not. Or am I off base with my grasp of the concept,? I've only looked at it a couple of times, I really can't deal with it.

Take a look at the JIRA; it has been ignored and rejected.