General discussion

Well put. I always reckon we just hang around looking bored while waiting for questions to appear and if they don't appear quickly enough, we have to find other ways to stay awake.


welcome back Bilbo

Yeah, when I mentioned the forums in passing, she said
"/me shudders"

Have I told you I have the attention span of a goldfish?

I don't think the goldfish is unduly worried ... seems to have his mind on other things.


and thankyou Sally .. our honorary Brit

Don't knock it - I'm sure you realize how much comedy he provides (yes, quite irritating at times, but lots of comic relief).

I know there's a sordid history, but a "sand box" forum would be great. There have been a number of entertaining and/or very educational threads that Strife has rightly closed since they aren't appropriate in RA. But it's a shame that such topics have no legitmate place.

I understand the argument about RA getting ignored if such a sub-forum existed, but I doubt it. Many of the most helpful posters are invested in RA, for whatever reason.

It's the people here that make it all worthwhile. And the consensus has been to not move to a new home, so here we remain.

It's all wishful thinking though. Nothing will come of this thread. Except Strife will close it, because it's not appropriate.

Erm.. bilbo?
Absolutely hate to correct you but do you know thats not true? If you have the attention span of a goldfish I'm impressed. Its more than I have:


Also, did you know a group of goldfish is called a 'troubling'?

Hasn't this been discussed loads of times before? I did a bit of back reading the other day (historical purposes of course lol) and this was asked not long ago. It was a multi page discussion and the general consensus was that If they open a GD forum, great, but it is v. unlikely and besides, no-one would answer any questions then.

I'm all for a general discussion area. I think it should be an area where we welcome everyone, including Prokofy Neva.

BUT...just go to a non-official forum.... LL doesn't like people destroying the community =P

You weren't around when they shut down General were you? Oh there were plenty of votes....

LL are grown ups in business they should be able to handle some criticism.

Other than griping about SL's bugs and faults the "general discussion" is just banter

Hitler tried to stop General Discussion too.

and then threads get closed and such. This forum is a lot more helpful than general discussion was.. go down and look at the archives..you'll see why it's gone

And no amount of votes will bring it back. If they decide it should be back, it will. If not, then too bad for us, end of story.

Thats right, to hell with what the paying customers want.

Here try this version instead:

Go back farther - and you will see how useful it was.

Stricter moderation during the times things got sour would have accomplished more.

Damn! .. do I have to find another role model then?

OK .. ok .. Have I told you I have the attention span of Homer Simpson?

Umm .. Claire? .. how did the goldfish know which hour it was .. were they supplied divers watches?


This thread is officially Godwined

Yeah go back farther and it was, but I mean the reason it was closed. It got out of hand and it wasn't moderated nearly well enough, which made LL angry at residents or something lol

BOOM, HEADSHOT!

In your face, thread!

It would be nice, but it's never going to happen. Human nature makes it a bad idea. We used to have a general discussion forum and an off-topic forum. They were a blast, but they were very rough and tumble and venturing in without flame retardant underwear wasn't a good idea. Some people enjoy that sort of thing, but many more find it cliqueish and very intimidating. What you end up with is a few close knit groups of people with similar viewpoints constantly at war with the others and people generally being snarky, rude, and dismissive to new people with honest questions or comments.

I used to be a much bigger forum addict than I am now, and I was not a happy camper when the discussion forums were closed, but with the benefit of hindsight and a bit of distance, it was a smart thing to do. LL intends the forums to be a place where SL residents can go to get help without being flamed or made to feel like they're crashing a party no one invited them to, and that's how many people felt, and understandably so. It's not anywhere near as bad as it was back then but if we're given free reign it would quickly turn in to that again and that doesn't really serve LL's interests, or the interests of new users.

There are great third party forums out there who would welcome new posters. I think Bilbo is right that allowing a little bit of leeway so that experienced people are having enough fun to stick around and be here to answer questions is necessary, and I think Strife does a great job of striking a balance without letting things spiral out of control.

They were the ones moderating it.

The problem was they wouldn't close a thread unless the disagreements had degenerated to exchanges of REPEATED insults and profanity.

They also would not suspend anyone unless it was show they were intentionally breaking the rules, rather than just the fact that they were.

They basically acted like Police officers claiming they cant do anything because no one will press charges.

In their effort to be "FAIR" even to known problem posters, they created a situation where they were unfair to everyone else by closing the whole forum.

I forgot to thank Claire for that!!!

/me is very proud to have been made an honorary Brit for one day

Thank you Claire !!

/me goes off in search of something Brit

I meant they got mad at the residents not as in resmods like strife but as in what people talked about and said and such

But yeah... thats about all the reply I have =P

While I wasn't around to see this back then, and am too lazy to go digging for it now, I can't help but think of the crap Strife takes today while reading your post. Make a human-sounding remark: get crap. Close a thread that somebody wants to stay open: get crap. There seems to be weekly calls to get his head on a platter.

Personally, I'd like a general discussion group that was a little wild-west and change the moderation here, in RA, to be far more strict. Some people need somewhere to be silly or to vent or to wave their panties around. Others need help and don't want to have to wade through lots of off-topic to get it. The current RA forum tries to do both things..

The crap Strife gets is unjustified.

And and his biggest current detractor was around at the time of the big general forums wars and should know better.

Oddly enough Strife gets a lot more crap than Jeska or Pathfinder got. Usually when THEY were criticized it was for not coming down on certain people hard and fast enough.