I still hold the stance I had months ago when I made a thread specifically addressing the issue of the Chit Chat thread with none of the results as far as activity changing my mind on the issue. If the general gaming thread were to be locked, personally for me it would just do what the chit chat thread did and make me not care to really post around despite the community being nice. Before that, I never thought there was any real big issue on the forum, which was one of the reasons I liked browsing and posting here even if I'm not into video games as much as other members.
I don't think I have ever read such a friendly debate in my life.
Just chiming in.
Well it seems I know what to do then.
Free Gaming Thread is going to get a version 2. Today(07/06/2014) is the last day for it to be open and just in time for E3.
Free Gaming Thread v2 will be opened tomrrow.
I'll see about getting a Chit Chat thread v2 opened.
The more I think about this, the more conflicted I am. I talked to BumblebeeCody about the Chit Chat thread earlier today and my original stance was that it should stay dead. Then, after reading about your plans for the General Gaming thread, I realized that I actually really like where that's going - the thread stays but there is a good set of criteria for things that should always have their own thread and that should strike a nice balance there.
The issue I'm having is that I can't think of a set of criteria that applies to General Discussion. I'm afraid that a new Chit Chat thread will do what it did before - suck almost all activity into that one thread and leave the rest of the forum mostly devoid of posts. However, if you can come up with some way to manage it like the General Gaming thread is going to be, I think I'd be fine with Chit Chat coming back because, especially after reading Cuccos' post, I can see the value in it. Short of getting on Skype and creating group chats, or using Facebook and the like, there really is no way to simply communicate informally with friends made on the site and that's something I'd like to see rectified, one way or another.
I'd say move it to Real Life section, and call it thoughts/feelings/news or something along those lines. It wouldn't take away anything from the general discussion, and we'd have our little thread.
Like today, Rik Mayall, one of my favourite comedians has died. I don't want to start a thread about it for it to die (no pun intended, seriously) in one post or so, but I want others to know of what happened and that I'm sad that it has happened.
The Free Thread was a cool thread for that to occur, but now I keep most of what's happened to a minimum since I can't post it anywhere, and I don't want to start a thread about it.
This is exactly the problem though. Why not just create a thread about it? If it dies in two posts and gets buried, who cares? Isn't that what's going to happen in a free thread anyway? But if it doesn't die, if it just so happens that there are others of a like mind, it could turn into a good discussion.
Like I said, I don't mind bringing it back if I can be shown a good set of rules to govern it but the problem here isn't really the lack of a free thread - it's this aversion that most of you have to posting threads to begin with. I don't know what staff member told people to stop making so many threads in the past but that's definitely not a rule and you shouldn't worry about it if that's what's limiting most of you to posting only thread that you think are "important" enough.
When you make a new thread that you're excited about, and there's only a post or two and then it dies, it feels really shitty. Then, you think "what's the point in making new threads if this is the outcome?" But when there's a general thread- the Chit Chat Thread- and you post the same subject, that can turn into other conversations. It keep people talking. And then it doesn't feel so bad when only a few people respond, because what you say goes on to create other conversations.
Okay, fair enough. Now all that's left to do is convince me that it can be managed as effectively here as it can in gaming. :P
Just make Cuccos the CiC of the entire thread, she'll make sure people stay on topic and things that are super important are made into their own threads.
Right?
I think that'd be more her decision.
Haha hell yeah if something is a reeeeeeeeally good subject, i'll totally ask that it be made into it's own thread. I recommend everyone do the same :D
Cuccos, I'm willing to give this a shot if you promise that you'll be really on top of it. I want this thread to be almost like a group instant message - anything more significant than that should still be created as its own thread and any conversations that actually develop should be split off and moved to their own thread. If you're in agreement, you have my blessing to create a Chit Chat v2. :)
(06-09-2014, 02:30 PM)Beware of Cuccos Wrote: [ -> ]When you make a new thread that you're excited about, and there's only a post or two and then it dies, it feels really shitty. Then, you think "what's the point in making new threads if this is the outcome?" But when there's a general thread- the Chit Chat Thread- and you post the same subject, that can turn into other conversations. It keep people talking. And then it doesn't feel so bad when only a few people respond, because what you say goes on to create other conversations.
Well, you know what could help this is to put a little effort in your OP. You can spit out a thread about X with like a one line OP of "Hey, I like this thing X. What about you guys?", but you can't really join in the conversation unless you already know X. Part of making a thread is giving the needed information so that any random reader can comprehend the subject matter and maybe form an opinion and post!
Let's take my "Let's Stream Anime" thread for example, I included and broke down all the needed information for what I intended the discussion in the thread to be about. (Not to mention the whole thing was against the rules and I'm surprised nobody called me out on it, and I pretty much abandoned ship because nobody was watching and my streaming method was garbage.)
I'm not saying you need to write a college paper just to post a thread I'm just saying maybe put in a little effort than, "Hey guys, let's talk about X" when like only two people know what you're talking about.
But then again I'm pretty much in a vocal minority, and I can't really change you guys' attachment to a "Just Post Whatever" thread.
EDIT: You know what, fuck it. This isn't a community I want to be apart of anymore. It would be better if I just go to message boards that I want to post on rather than trying to make one out of this community.
(06-09-2014, 06:55 PM)Combat Lobster Wrote: [ -> ]Well, you know what could help this is to put a little effort in your OP. You can spit out a thread about X with like a one line OP of "Hey, I like this thing X. What about you guys?", but you can't really join in the conversation unless you already know X. Part of making a thread is giving the needed information so that any random reader can comprehend the subject matter and maybe form an opinion and post!
Let's take my "Let's Stream Anime" thread for example, I included and broke down all the needed information for what I intended the discussion in the thread to be about. (Not to mention the whole thing was against the rules and I'm surprised nobody called me out on it, and I pretty much abandoned ship because nobody was watching and my streaming method was garbage.)
I'm not saying you need to write a college paper just to post a thread I'm just saying maybe put in a little effort than, "Hey guys, let's talk about X" when like only two people know what you're talking about.
But then again I'm pretty much in a vocal minority, and I can't really change you guys' attachment to a "Just Post Whatever" thread.
For what it's worth, this is exactly in line with what I feel about the subject. Saying you don't want to post a thread because it's going to die in two replies is paramount to simply saying "I don't feel like putting in the effort to properly describe what it is I want to talk about." You're welcome to leave if you want but what you're describing is exactly what we're trying to accomplish.