Resident Answers and Computer Manual Syndrome

I admit I post several times a week. This is an open forum and so I am not concerned about that. A few years ago, Resident Answers explored many issues that are not considered "PC" anymore and people enjoyed the "give and take". There were always a few people who couldnt stand the post or the poster and so clonked it closed as much as they could with general silliness towards teh end of the thread.

New faces appear and new forumites. And so, avatar needs change. Now we expect "appropriate" topics. Since this is a place where social interaction within sl can also be discussed I dont see why we cant raise issues here that people can explore. I like causing a few issues to be raised.

Perhaps - *perhaps* - teh problem lies in teh "bully-replies"; a thread is opened and before long, people get personal but not just personal in a funny and witty way but personal in a vindictive way. Probably mean-spirited people in attitude. It doesnt bother me. I am tougher than that. But I believe that if people become too vociferous and corrosive about thread topics, resident answers will simply become as scintillating as a computer manual.

There are many experienced avatars here whose knowledge of social interaction within a virtual world is extensive. I dont claim to be one of them. But I liek to ask for their opinions. And if I sometimes make you - the reader - feel uncomfortable, ask yourself why.

Comment on this: should the forum be monitored / policed by us in such a way that the outrageous and the unusual become sliced out in favour of teh mundane?

This forum will be closed down soon, anyway.

Maybe with the threat to close down these forums, posters have been a bit cautious - I can understand not wanting to do anything to give reason to close the forums down.

This is the place to come to ask for help and it will be a sad day when Resident Answers and the other boards here go.

i'm in favor of there being forum areas that address both worlds, the nice gentle warm-fuzzy PC one and keep brand new people only able to access there, and an unmoderated free-for-all in which people can say pretty much anything and let the sparks fly as they will, that after some time of getting their feet wet and being maybe less prone to just getting scared and running away, people that have been here long enough that they should be able to handle it can have access to.

This has always been lost on Jig. Fortunately for us, LL hasn't made any such step to close RA despite all the non-related discussion.

Most people here favor having a general forum to have the kinds of discussions Jig would like, myself included. However, without that, it makes me and others wary to push the boundaries. As they say, "this is why we can't have nice things." When the paper tiger grows claws, watch out.

This.

There is a need for both, and it's an uncomfortable fit trying to fit both functions into a single forum.

I'd almost go further, and suggest a third forum, devoted to general but on-topic discussions of culture, governance, and so forth in SL, and that has the attention and hopefully input of the Lindens themselves.

A lot of good stuff is getting buried in this forum because it is not, I suspect, seen as "serious" or disciplined enough. That's not to say that I don't value highly the goofiness of things like the undying thread, but, again, it doesn't marry well with the other functions that this forum is trying to fulfill.

/me throws a snowball and Deira, and runs away . . .

(See? Is that a "comfortable" or appropriate match with the rest of the content of this thread?)

I like oddball philosophical questions in here. I wouldn't want to see it make up the entirety of the resident answers forum. All good things in moderation. I agree with Eternus that a separate Answers Only section would be nice. Not just for newbies though but for all who just want an answer only. They can moderate the crap out of it if they want.

Well, in theory, we have that: the new Answers blogrum. And yes, they DO moderate the crap out of it. The problem is that the format sucks, and that they, um, moderate the crap out of it.

Couple things- First off, hello Eternus- just love your name so figured wd hello.

Jig- I hope LL continues to ignore us and we manage to hang on- as has been said a hundred plus times, RA is a wonderful resource. To comment that LL has been blind to Residents' wishes on prior occasions would be the epitome of an understatement. But I guess I am the eternal optimist...

Meantime we manage to hang on...

As for policing etc.... I prefer the self monitoring myself- If the Residents here overall act mature we have no problems at all and should be able to discuss anything at all and how it impacts our SL. Sadly, you always have Trolls of one stripe or another- whether stealth ones masquerading as alts or the sadly homegrown variety; everyone knows the best response to a Troll is to just ignore it, but so few really do.

And if you want to be free of possible LL interference, you can always choose third-party sites such as SLUniverse and SecondCitizen- of course, moding goes on elsewhere, but at least you are not at risk of having your in-world account threatened. And who knows what it would take to incur that much LL wrath - it could be for being a general a$$ here, but it could be for something like telling folks about options to XStreet - depends on whose bad side you get on...

You mean, this forum will be closed down "Soon"tm).

I may be being premature. I think I noticed a quote in one of the Wallace threads that an announcement is due in the next couple of weeks...

If you don't want to respond to challenging replies....that's fine. But to label them "bully-replies" is generally off base. You received challenges from the type of people you described above, that you indicate you want replies from. Just because you do not like the replies.....does not qualify them for vindictive and mean-spirited. Might want to examine your own backyard on that concept.

Your threads end up the way they do....simply because of the way they are originally worded, and the tone of some of your responses....and you've indicated that you do that on purpose for a rise.....just as you did this thread.

People do just fine here, calling each other out on bad behavior....they even do just fine discussing being called out for it....and examining it, for future reference. If you don't want your thread to become "silly"....then respond back to the people who took time out of their day to respond to you....rather than just walking off, after you received replies that did not suit you.

If you want to experience "give and take".....then you have to practice it.

Doesn't get any more accurate than that. Some seem to forget when posting or replying (or just don't care) that RA is a community resource area first and foremost, not some personal blog where they magically happen to have a whole lot of captive readers following. We (as a community) may get to use RA longer than initially thought, and it's a valuable asset certainly worth the cost of a little self-restraint.

while I personally consider questions of social nature relevant (SL is a social network, amongst other things) I think that flooding the forum with those discussions also tends to drown out some of the more basic hands on information that people come here for...

on the other hand, having multiple high profile social impact threads brings in more readers and posters which can more quickly answer the hands on questions...

I don't fault jig for her habitual thread starting (although I have to wonder about some of questions posed) but having more that one jig type multi poster would be way more than this forum could handle.

Closing this forum would suck, big time. And it's a stupid, stupid idea.

The people who trashed this forum were mainly banned looong ago, before most of you even got here. They didn't care, they are on their tenth game past SL now and might even have trouble remembering they even played it.

Yet we live with the results.

The blog forums are beyond horrible. Normally I'm the first person to adapt a bit, even if things aren't quite matching my vision. But there's a limit, and I just don't like posting on them. And now they are moderated... something that can be done *here* and is already done here. There's no excuse left to not have a general forum. Instead we have one forum thread that people chat in, that 'ignore it and let it die' thread.

What incredibly horrific customer relations, to shove people all into one thread, in fear of forum deletion.

The idea that we can't be considered mature or civil enough to have a general forums just amazes me. Or the 'naming names' thing. Hey, someone defrauds with land or copybot, they need to be called out. Period. Rather than just sweep all the dirt under the rug and pretend it's not there, let's clean house instead.

The other big point is that no matter how ugly drama is, it shows life and interest in the platform. It's getting sterile as a product showroom... and that is no place anyone wants to be for long.

If these forums go, rest assured I'll be doing most of my posting on the official forums of a different platform.

Well bully-replies are meant to intimaidate or poke fun at teh poster or comment upon personality of the character in a way taht has negative connotations.

Let me say here an dnow, I dont mind if you call me every name under the sun or deconstrauct my personality - real or otherwise - to infinite measures. I kinda like the nonsense that is espoused by apprantly "objective" thinkers here who liek to point out moral charcater flaws. I know I am flawed. I know I have much to learn. That is why I ask questions and make commments.

As long as you dont mind my answering back.

But some people get hurt by what is said and never comment again. Whatsisname earlier says there should be a thread like that for expereinced people.

It's sad - to me - to see the days of pep gone. He was vicious to everyone but I think he really was just acerbic and "normal" for his kind and his ways. It's sarcasm and cynicism that peopel dont understand. I hope I am always fruitfully naive about many things - in real and in sl. This really is "me" on this and this is how I sound in real. I never shut up and I just ramble on. Intensely annoying, actually - but I cant help myself.

I *know* peopel love me and enjoy my comments. It's the peopel who are shy who are frightened away by bitter acrimony and character assainasination.

You know, this forum would go back to being "Answers only" if LL would give us back our General Discussion forum!

Other forums that have been mostly PC have also had sections like "Flame-Retardant," "Fratching," or even the affectionately named "WTFBBQ?!" Put the more.. um.. troll-like postings there and moderate lightly. Then the people with squishy sensibilities can steer clear of it all.

Well Jig.

I have had my moments when you drove me insane. Usually I just sit on my hands until it pass. Can't say this works 100% of the time. I really think some people take a lot of space and they are best off ignored instead. Because I am a little older and I have learnt to choose my battles. It's so not worth it.

You aren't so bad. Sometimes witty. I think the main problem I have with you is that you see all things only your way. I don't care much for what others do as long as they don't bother me. You seem to be puzzled that not all think like you?

What you think about Pep, you speak for yourself. He was gone last January too, and came back full of vitrol as always. With a lame exscuse for why he wasn't posting. We had those "Where is Pep" threads then too. If you miss him why not send him a IM inworld.

He never replies to IMs. Doubt if he really cares for sl anymore.
I like that comment "sometimes witty". Must put that in my professional portfolio.

It can't be.

yea my intent wasn't to keep oldbies out, just to keep newbies in, and even at that its a hard call to say how long 'newbie' should apply, or whether and how to distinguish between new in world and new on the forums.

30 days starting when you first post here, not to in world time. You can be an oldie in world, but a newbie to the forums. The forums have a very different community (I almost spelled it cummunity) that what you might find in world.

After 30 days, a person might be able to chose via the User CP to see posts in the less sheltered areas. And if LL really wanted to, they could create a sub-forum just for the adult stuff and tie it into the same things that allow us to visit Zindra. If they did, they might want to consider raising the time requirement to 60 days. And that is where the *ahem* cummunity would fit, I guess

And yeah, I've perused the blogorums and I have to say, they're just as horrible there as we are here. The only difference in the two is that LL occasionally moderates the blogorum.

I think I love you Mickey. You are one of the few people who say what you think and don't give a shit about how unpopular that makes you.

I believe this is the point of the thread? To that I say "no". However, I really believe I'm in somewhat of a minority. There are people here who have a "know it all" attitude/flare to their responses or threads.......and it's those who will tell you all about what they percieve as your intentions for starting a thread such as this. They'll comment on your character or the character of your threads and/or posts. They often will use the sometimes extremely irritating tactic of pulling that little trick of dissecting a post by you and attempting to rip it to pieces with "facts" that are seldom backed up. I believe that is the "bullying" part of your thread. Those people, though they may say otherwise, do want the mundane.......but they are exempt (they can do the cute, irrelevant, off the wall but you can't). If you fit the mould you are good........if not they attempt to put you in a corner.

It's happened in this thread.

Yes, if that is what it takes to keep the resource open. Why doesn't this sink in for you? You are seemingly incapable of seeing beyond what it is that you want, to understand that we have to make decisions like these in order to maintain what we have. It is not as if there is no other space to discuss the outrageous and unusual.

Until LL opens another general forum, there are places to do it, but that is not here.