GD may close for a while

Minstadave · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:20

sphen said:
Is it really new people that are the problem? I don't think I have seen people with a post count of under 10 come out with the ovaries line, SPAM in big bright orange letters or the what should I have for breakfast threads.

There are some GD regulars that need to be thinking about the quality of their posts, you're very right

sphen · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:21

cleanbluesky said:
depends how seriously you take it TBH, lots of Muslim posters are in here but most of them don't feel the need to fly the flag and complain and insult everytime they see something that disagrees with their religion, either rightly or wrongly

Agreed, this is a forum for discussion. There are bound to be views that you find offensive. I just hope we can steer clear of personal insults.

mightynimrod · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:21

DRZ said:
Postcount means nothing if your posts dont get you noticed. You arent someone I have noticed and your trust rating is irrelevant to me as I dont use the MM at all.

You not remember the Dead_dog and Jay fundraiser then?
HERE
I do participate in GD, only the threads that interest me though obviously, it may be there that we have differing tastes - but then it wouldn't do for us all to have the same views now would it.

I'm sure you'll remember me now we've conversed regarding this - i guess our paths just haven't crossed before.

It certainly has with plenty of others.

Strict moderation of the kind we saw when this place was an amazing place to be would be SIGNIFICANTLY better than closing GD. Unfortunately, almost all of the good moderators have gone.

I agree stricter moderating would be the key, if GD were to continue.
If things get out of control again where does that leave Spie?

Shake up, yes. Closure - no.

See above

So the people that not only moderated to make this place great but contributed fantastically too having left/been fired has NOTHING to do with the influx of morons getting away with all sorts?

This isn't the first time that a section of the forum has been closed, even in the "good old" moderating days, so what does that tell you?

I wouldnt have seen your first post if you were.

Very glad to hear it :cool:

Regarding Tupac - you might have called him a fanboy but he gave a LOT of time speccing up PCs and giving general advice. If you cant recognise something so simple as that, what hope have you got of understanding the huge impact some people have made here?

Of course i recognise his contribution - i was making fun.
His advice and system specs were all Intel......or just about, he was renowned for it

As i have made huge impacts on people i've given advice to and sorted out their problems, there's thousands of members on here - we can't all stand out now can we?

As you haven't until today with me.

Zip · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:21

sphen said:
Is it really new people that are the problem? I don't think I have seen people with a post count of under 10 come out with the ovaries line, SPAM in big bright orange letters or the what should I have for breakfast threads.

It might not be them but its best to work on the next generation while its young so they grow into Respectable GD posters

Its a way to keep the future safe

Minstadave · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:24

I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

DRZ · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:24

Spie said:
That's simply not true. Yes, moderators come and go, after all the forums have been active for 7 years now and people's lives change. But we have a superb moderating team and some outstanding moderators.

I agree that there are some superb moderators and I believe they know who they are, but I also believe there are some poor ones and generally speaking, there arent enough of them.

This is coming from my perspective of having been an avid reader for 4 or so years and a member since 2003. I have been here for the peak and this is the lowest they have ever been in my view and the only thing that has really significantly changed is the mod team.

Feek and Lopez at the top with you and an absolutely corking set of dedicated dons below them. Perhaps its sugar-coated memories but I cant find myself feeling the same way about the current mod team as a whole, bar the exceptions I have mentioned.

Oblivious · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:24

Minstadave said:
I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

HAHA post of the day. You just proved you know naff all.

Zefan · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:24

Minstadave said:
I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

That would work, but it'd upset me muchly

I liek to keep a track of how many posts I have, not for ego purposes but just because I find it interesting.

Matteh · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:24

Zip said:
It might not be them but its best to work on the next generation while its young so they grow into Respectable GD posters

Its a way to keep the future safe

But unfortunately I don't think it's feasible, as you can't really train or control peoples behaviour in that way. The only way forward will be tighter moderation and control on the forums we already have.

da_mic_1530 · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:25

Minstadave said:
I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

tbh i think most of GD doesnt really care about post counts, so that , i feel would be pointless

Tru · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:25

Zip said:
It might not be them but its best to work on the next generation while its young so they grow into Respectable GD posters

Its a way to keep the future safe

That's the single most ridiculous reasoning to the worst idea I've ever heard, ever.

manveruppd · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:25

Sequoia said:
So we have hardware forums. If that's what you want, and what interests you, stick to them.

I think what Minstadave was saying is that he wants a forum where he can hang out with other people interested in computers, and that he would have preferred GD to be a chillout room where he could chat off-topic with people who shared his computing hobby about non-computing-related things. The current situation is that the forum population is completely segregated: there's the hardware crowd, and the life crowd. There's some overlap, of course, but a lot of GD regulars are here for GD and GD only and never set foot in the hardware forums. I think this makes a lot of the hardware-section regulars feel unwelcome in the life forums.
Some of the oldest members of these forums are here for the hardware section, venturing into GD only sporadically. It's not unreasonable for them to want to have a "chillout room" where they would feel at home rather than being outnumbered by people with absolutely no interest in computers.
I can't say I agree with him completely, even though I sometimes share his feelings, as I think having a diverse community is extremely valuable.

OcUK (the business) started (as I understand it) as an overclocking specialist, and grew up into a general computer supplier. The forums have grown up with it.

But it may be that the growth was too unrestrained, which is why GD reads more like a drunken MSN conversation some days. It's perfectly reasonable for Spie to try to shape the community he founded: every online forum is centred on a specific area of interest. OcUK's used to be hardware, but GD became bigger than all the hardware forums put together, so this focus was lost, and GD became a chatroom for Myspace users.
I think a temporary closure might be good because it would "prune" out those people who are only here to socialise with their RL friends and don't really care about the community at large. There is a small danger that too many people will leave, and only the hardware crowd will remain, and I hope that doesn't happen as I like having a diverse community - if I wanted to surround myself exclusively with geeks like me, there are other, more specialised computing forums I could've joined.

Oblivious · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:25

To all you posting about no postcount in GD, its been done before.

Zip · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:26

Spawn said:
Anyways im more or less decreasing the amount of time i spend on here, so in a way its a final goodbye, fed up of all the anti islam feeling this place has and some of the opinions are downright insulting not only to me but also to quite a few muslim members here. Hell i cant even remember the last time i saw the few muslim members post in here.

Its not just Muslims. You cant use that card. Christians probably get more **** in here then the muslims have been getting. Most of us just brush it off though and not get too Offended by it.

Look in SC and you will see a thread call "Does Jesus Exist". IMO that could be taken as very very Offensive to some people yet there have been no problems with in the thread from what ive seen.

Glaucus · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:26

The O RLY, burn it from orbit and other jokes are annoying.

Also is it possible for the mods to post a reason why threads are closed or deleted?
I think it would help reinforce what is and isn't allowed. I've seen a lot of threads close/deleted with no explanation.

DRZ · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:26

Minstadave said:
I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

Why cant you see that its the community and friendships that people make here that matters to them FAR MORE than that number under their name? Why dont you understand why so many people are sad to see their home on *** internet fall into decline?

Spacky · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:26

Spie said:
That's simply not true. Yes, moderators come and go, after all the forums have been active for 7 years now and people's lives change. But we have a superb moderating team and some outstanding moderators.

Some?

Uh-oh, mods are going to be crying now

Justintime · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:26

As a supermod for another site that essentially closed the Off topic forum for a few years, i've seen firsthand what it can do. a lot of members left, we had old timers and a community spirit that was wiped out when OT went. The forums still alive and we've got OT back in recent years, the no of members still show 47,075 but theres like 10 members max at one time with like 150+ guests, hardly anyone says anything and maybe closure is imminent. The old timers main beef was the constant heavy handed policing done by former power struck admins (not saying thats the case here) and the shutting off of OT and their community. We never got em back and went from like easily 100 members at one time to almost a trickle.

sphen · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:27

Minstadave said:
I wonder if simply making GD posts not count towards post counts would help reduce the spamming?

It would certainly help with the spam that we get here in GD from those wanting to access the members' market. As for the regular hardcore spammers, well the only thing that will work is stricter moderation, however, I appreciate the difficulties in implementing this.

I'm just not convinced it is done solely to improve post count.

Kerplunk · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:28

Ere, did you know outside this forum theres the big thing called a 'world' ?

Check it out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World :eek: