Resident Answers is the new black

In case you didn't get the memo....LL closed these forums quite a while ago. What was left open is little more than a token handful of postings, namely the ones with little controversy - and very little productive use.

Add on top of that unwanted resmods to babysit, and now verified registrations, LL has taken repeated and deliberate steps to disembowel the SL forums, reducing them to irrelevance.

At this point, why should anyone care if the forums are shut down officially? They're already reduced to that point in all but name only.

Moderating an active forum is a thankless job. But moderating a dead one is just an exercise in self-abuse. I'm frankly surprised anyone's willing to do the job.


- Newfie

@Newfie: You have touched on the truth and some of the core issues.

The forums were limited to verified accounts to reduce the most annoying abuse. Those who were banned were coming back with alt accounts most notably to complain about why they had just been banned from the forums. Also we were having problems with unverifieds spamming the forums. In the end it was determined the bulk of abuse was created by unverifieds.

Why should anyone care if the forums are shut down?
I feel it is important for SL to have forums, which is why I continue to do the job. The benefits the forums provide to the community are not all obvious or easily quantized. Distinguishing where the forums end and the community begins is not an easy task and performing such an amputation would have disastrous effects on the community. The content forums provide a wealth of information and gathering place for creators. The other forums serve critical rolls in providing support for the community that would otherwise be shifted elsewhere in the system (or the user would leave SL altogether).

Strife hit on many important points. We need the forums. But what we don`t need is those people with issues that suit no purpose other then harm others here. It use to be the forums has alot of useful info, but thats not the case anymore. I hope they stay open even if LLabs censors the post with key words or waits for a UI scan to check content.

Usagi

The one thing that I don't think is being acknowledged here is that the deed has already been done. Talking about wanting to help conserve a forums that's already been gutted is akin to trying to shut the barn gate after the horses have left.

It doesn't take a lot to see what the disemboweling of the original SL forums has caused. Activity is drastically down, posters have moved on, and what's left is little more than a dying fascimile of a community. The concept of needing to moderate in a set of forums that is reduced to little more than ads and weak cries for help is spinning wheels at best. It's like taking a dying patient, chopping their head off, and sticking a breathing tube into their lungs in the attempt to 'keep them going'.

On one hand I can understand Strife's position, being one of the very few left to actually do the moderating task; after all, if he doesn't, who else will? On the other hand...why try to keep vigil over an already wrecked and ruined shadow of a forums? It's time to let LL deal with their mismanagement issues, instead of sheltering them with pointless effort.

Time to let this one die already, instead of further dragging out what's already been done.


- Newfie

Well, the forums are nicer to me, now; most of what used to happen here now happens on other forums, and I get a chance to talk without being attacked straight off the bat, in the grossest of manner, by various people who were running wild on the forums here.

I don't like the idea that we're not supposed to discuss things; that's so insulting to anyone over the age of two, let alone adults. But I DO like the idea that we get to discuss things anyway, when something major is occurring, as Strife allows that.

I agree with Strife as to the necessity of forums. It is absolutely vital there be a central official forum. I don't know why they didn't just pass them off to Stratics or something. I guess it's the same reason they don't want to let residents clean up THAT DANG PRIM THAT IS HANGING OVER THE PUBLIC ROAD IN ROSIERI and now there is no land management to report it to, it just sits there. The reason is, they don't want to do it, but they also don't want anyone else to mess with their toy, either. Not doing the job but not letting anyone else do it either. Kinda selfish.

As for Strife being the only resmod around (much, anyway), that right there is an example of ridiculous mismanagement. It is phenomenal that this company, with several million sign-ons, is incapable of finding more resmods. Ideally, they would hire help to moderate the forums, and pay them. Short of that, they should pass them off to Stratics, as TSO did. But you can't make me believe that they are INCAPABLE of having forums without having one particular volunteer.

I don't particularly WANT them to do that; things are at least shakily stable right now, and as I said, they are pretty nice - but think about it. What sort of place is this that relies on one person? What kind of FORUMS is it that relies on one person? What kind of forums anywhere has the idea that only one person can do the job?

And Strife, when you are on vacation, we don't exactly suffer . . .

I'm all for things the way they are now, since they are at least not as horrible as they once were, while also not being as restrictive as they are ostensibly supposed to be. I'm with Strife that we do need the forums, crippled though they might be.

Philip said he closed the forums he did because they "depressed his staff." Well, hopefully their customers aren't depressing them too much now that they aren't paying any attention to the forums, and we can carry on for a while longer, at least.

I would say that without Strife, we probably couldn't even continue on. That's pretty dismal, that an entire company's forums depend mainly on one volunteer, but it's probably the truth. We're on life support, and Strife is it.

coco

Phil doing that is an absolutely Unprofessional attitude if I ever heard one. Those people depressing his staff help pay his (and their) bills.

(I liked the rest of you post Coco - I wanted to comment on that)

I agree. Nicely said Coco. Also I am astonished at how thinned skin some companies are when it comes to Forums and criticisms. I saw this on another Forum, which will go unnamed. The Developers insulated themselves more and more from legitimate criticism of the producr, and much like here let the users do all the troubleshooting and new user help tasks. Then the over moderation and dictatorial management started. Many longtime users left taking their knowledge and enlightened opinions with them. Then one day....A "Crash" occurred. The Forum came back in a week...stripped down, No OT , No General. All the old info was allegedly "Lost" in the crash so all the Help Stickies and what not were lost. One thing though Colette. It seems we aren't the ones paying the Bills for the Providers. They've hooked bigger fish. Were simply the Brine Shrimp and Plankton the whales feed off of now.

Just out of curiosity, how many of you find your interest in SL has waned since so many of the forums closed? People used to post in General about their projects and things they were working on that I liked checking out and now that it's gone, I feel a bit cut off and I find my interest in SL is lessening. I log in about a half hour a day on average to answer IM's from customers.

For various reasons the 3rd party forums haven't been able to replace the General forum as a central place for people to discuss SL stuff.

Well either know this topic is offtopic and hasnt gotten closed yet *crosses fingers that it wont*. I'd say my opinion on the following topics...
Strife Onizuka--
-Some people think that he rants and abuses his power, but he is only doing his job. Bumps threads that are supposed to be bumped, and closes ones that should be closed. And I can only imagion how difficult it is patroling a forum with sooo many posters and topics. So I say good job strife

Resident Answers--
-The resident answers is sortof like the Weapon Testing Sandbox. It is messy, offtopic, filled with irrelevance, spammy... Its difficult to post there and actually get it read because there are so many posts. Primary Target Needed for ResModing *aims crosshair on Resident Answers*. But hey, its patroled quite frequently on the contrary

Chuck Norris--
- Gawsh Im just kidding! o_O

Currently, we have no plans to close the forums. In fact, we're dedicating more resources to the forums, reading and posting to them every day. We feel the forums are a valuable source of communication between LL and Residents.

Strange it was only a few months ago we started to get the feeling that LLABs was about to close off the forums. Now your keeping them open? Who to believe and when to believe is the game on SL with the forums.

Why not allow the creation of new group forums?

We found in The Sims community it was a better solution to simply run our own forums on our own sites. Then we can organise ourselves how we like. The official EA forum is... well some people seem to enjoy it, but I am not sure it would be a great loss if it closed. Horses for courses I suppose.

Are you talking "regular Sims" or "Sims Online", because TSO is officially hosted by Stratics... and, naturally, being part of the world's largest multi-MMORPG community, they have a Second Life forum. We'd love to see you there... http://sl.stratics.com

Broccoli

I meant normal Sims, cos when I tried to join TSO I found they only allowed people from the USA to join up and I am in the UK. I wonder if that's why they didn't do as well as they hoped?

Ok I shall take a look at your link, thanks

Sue, can you say more?

I think LL has been having problems with DB load with regards to the forums, which is why they stopped accepting new group forums requests. I remember reading about it somewhere.