what do you think is acceptable for threads here?

Adults should be perfectly capable of not starting threads they know are inappropriate or that are not within the forum guidelines.

If someone want to tell the world what they had for breakfast, or wants to talk about some amazing thing they saw in-world or some activity they're taking part in then they should get a blog, or stick with the "undying thread" where the drama and off-topicness doesn't take up half the front page all the time across different threads.

As far as ignoring the threads go: people make that impossible because drama from one thread inevitably spreads across others. Maybe you just don't notice because you're in the eye of the storm. Barely a day goes by that the "undying thread" isn't referenced from another thread, with or without drama, or that a normal thread isn't hijacked for no other reason than that people can't seem to exercise restraint and stick to one single thread.

I did't see it -- but after reading it, I hope no mone minds me as I look for a sturdy table to hide under.

Meh, don't. Since I have been in SL and around these forums I can say things are gonna likely get looser, not tighter.

I suggest a "stick in my ass" section for the ones that can't handle people being people. Maybe they can have a one post/one reply rule there and all gather round like vultures to be the first to respond.

I happen to think you're wrong on this. It's time to get new hair..
no wait...dresses...no hair? damn!

It's not your place to tell them what's appropriate or not. Until you have "Linden" after your name or there is some sort of general election, you are no better than the rest of us.



Maybe I don't notice because I've perfected the art of skimming over stuff I'm not interested in. I don't know what you mean by "in the eye of the storm". I maintain that anyone with a legitimate question gets a legitimate answer. In fact, people with questions that are more rants than anything else also get answers despite the fact that they aren't looking for answers. Those answers come in record time - certainly much faster than you could ever expect to get an answer on anything from LL. It's rare that a thread is hijacked before there are several answers to the question. I don't see what the problem is with people enjoying themselves as long as questions are being answered. Nobody is making you join in.

she stealth Moderates.

Basically we have 1 linden Lurker Mod

and 1 resident Lurker Mod.

Fixed it for you

This is why we can't have nice things.

So why isn't it called 'Resident's Questions' then?

I think for the most part RA works just fine as it is. I don't mind the banter. It gives the forum some personality and a community flavor so it's not just sterile, and as forums go this place is pretty well behaved. As long as people with questions are getting prompt answers then RA is still doing its job. The only stuff I think that's really inappropriate for RA are things that there are other dedicated forum sections for, and topics that have nothing to do with SL. Classifieds and content creation help should be posted in the proper places, not just because it keeps RA less cluttered but because it's easier for people to find what they're after and adds to the great resource those sections are.

I'm of the school of thought that believes that Resident's Answers should be approached in the same way that one approaches a real-life legal system based solely on a doctrine of judicial precedent rather than one based on a clear legislative framework - essentially, you know if something is unacceptable if you do it and are subsequently successfully prosecuted for it. Likewise, you know if something is acceptable if you do it and it is accepted. One can never really know the rules until one has broken them.

Your question answered itself.

Threads where someone tells he is selling his stuf and leaving: Not done

Threads where someone tells she is leaving the forums: Done

Easy

against my better judgement, here's my simplistic two cents:

only the mods can make decisions about what's appropriate, and where. doesn't really matter what ANYONE else thinks.

No, Marcel, it shouldn't be done either. But there it is, anyway.

@3ring: I see where youre coming from, and in the end they decide indeed.
On the other hand, it is bullshit. There should be clear rules, and mods make sure they are followed. The way it is now, its up to the arbirariness of a resmod what stays and what goes.

Nothing to do with rules. If it would have, tell me where Rha's goodbye fits in for example?

Believe me, I am intelligent enough to understand the rules. And intelligent enough to know my topic was not on-topic in RA. The reason I posted it anyway, is the fact that in the last half year, half of the postings I read here are off-topic.

Lets face it, if enough people bitch or complain, a thread gets closed/moved. If they do not, the thread stays. Period.

@Cristalle: Well it only needs enough people bitching and/or complaining there as well. Won't be me though.

The forums guidelines *are* written by LL, pointing out that a thread conflicts with those guidelines isn't trying to enforce a personal opinion of what the forums should be like., it's pointing out that the rules should apply to everyone equally and that if anything forum regulars should be setting an example rather than the current sense of entitlement that the rules shouldn't apply because someone's "in".

You also might want to look back to your own post in Marcel's thread and note that "telling someone what's appropriate" is exactly what you did in that thread, and it was solely your own personal opinion rather than actually backed by any official guideline (contrary to those actually).

Remember the 'What is the "ignore this" thread actually about?' thread? It looked innocent enough to not expect the little war some regulars unleashed in there. Hence my statement that it's nearly impossible to avoid all the drama and infighting and unnecessary silliness that goes on here and that the people involved in it might not actually see just how bad it gets because they're a part of it (nothing bad intended with that. If you're talking and laughing in a group it's easy to get caught up and not realize just when you pass from acceptable to just annoying the people around you with all the noise, it's normal).

There is a thread for "fun", what's so difficult about restricting it to just that single thread?

If the first few answers are wrong, or leave out a detail, or there's an alternate solution and the thread is then followed by 2 pages of random back and forth you still need to glance over all that to see if someone didn't already point out the missing piece.

There might not be any "making you join in", but there's definitely a "make you waste your time reading it" when it's plain impossible to avoid.

Are we really all so bored, or just plain cranky, that this is the type of discussions we want? Of course, i guess this is just as good of an argument as anything else.



/me goes back to looking for questions to answer, and failing that, trying to at least find a fun thread or two.

Because then the threads would be one deep and end with the question. Or if it were called Resident Questions, I would have had to answer you in the form of a question, like, "Well, how would we be able to answer?"

Actually, I think I like it. Do I?

/me smiles at the convoluted logic.

i'm saying the same thing as i did before, but how about this approach then?:

post what you want, where you want. if the mods don't like it, they'll close it, delete it or move it. it doesn't matter what ANYONE else thinks.

Works for me

Bingo!

Forum cops and wannabe mods have the bite of a newborn baby.
Mods and Lindens are in charge..

No mere guideline rule is going to prevent someone from being a jerk if they want to be.

However, I think an active moderator presence would discourage some of the rudeness. People who actually use these forums frequently would start to think about the fact that a moderator can ban them from the forums for excessive abusiveness. I think at least some of those people would shift to their best behavior if someone with authority were actually watching them.

When I first came to this forum, Strife Onizuka was actively moderating Resident Answers. He would promptly lock off-topic threads, or threads that may have started on-topic but degenerated into a flame war. I don't know if he ever actually banned people from the forums for abusiveness.

While Strife was actively moderating these forums, there were some flame wars. But to my recollection, there were far fewer flame wars and off-topic threads. I have no idea how much, or how little, time Strife may have devoted to moderating this forum.

Since Strife stopped moderating this forum actively, there has been no active moderator, and it seems that the flame wars and off-topic threads have very significantly increased. The ratio of garbage-to-gold seems to me have to have greatly increased to favor the garbage.

It seems like it has taken Katt Linden, and whatever team in which she participates, way too long to deveop a draft version (remember, she just promised a draft for comment forthcoming). I think it's a case of misplaced priorities.

If anything is wrong with the current guildelines, the current guidelines are not so bad that Katt Linden, or whomever, cannot enforce them in the meantime, while waiting for better guidelines. The forum gets better from her mere presence. As she is actively enforcing the current guidelines, any guideline tweaks that need to be made suggest themselves.

Unless, the plan at Linden Lab is that there will be no staff time devoted to whatever guidelines are developed. In that case, they shouldn't bother wasting their time to develop new guidelines. A large portion of users are going to ignore unenforced rules.

Edit: And after writing this post, I noticed that a moderator moved an off-topic thread to a more appropriate forum. I'm impressed. I hope it's a signal of things to come, rather than an anomoly.

hmmm let's see if this works both ways:

Amar and Mac.... i was talking to Marcel. not you! so hardy har har

Hey.. I call a good point a good point. No matter who says it.