(10-28-2013, 12:41 PM)MexicanAnime Wrote: Pre Face - At first when I saw that the Chit Chat thread was locked, I was going to attempt to make around ten threads with a different subject. Such topics would only include short posts such as "I had a good burger", "Work was bad today", "I found some money!", "Time to do homework", and so on to prove my point. While I still humor the idea, the admins, mods, and members have done no ill will, so I decided to abandon the plan and to avoid being snarky or snide. I decided to include this little section as I was pretty excited about it. However, I will attack the issue with a more direct, formal, and civilized way so that every one can give their opinion.

Let me first say that I respect the mods and admins of the site and they're pretty good with keeping this place in tact. That being said, the latest action to lock the chat thread is something I really don't approve of and that I would like reversed. Personally, I believe it was unneeded and unnecessary for something so harmless to the forum and the members. To be frank, I think it will do the opposite of what was intended, which was not a bad thing really.

As a moderator of two active forums and a person who browses many different forums, the most active thread is usually the Casual Talk/Chit Chat/Current Thoughts thread, which I'm sure everyone here knows. What's the appeal of this topic? Why do so many people love it? Well, within the limit of not posting a bunch of spam, one can just talk about whatever comes to mind or those little daily events in their life. There's no fear of "derailing" a topic if a conversations is switched and the whole thread is usually very relaxed. Sometimes someone may bring up a certain video game or show and there might be conversation about this. Honestly, there's no problem with this as can just do little chatter and be done with it, and then move on. If the chat were to be taken away, then the option you suggested would result in many threads over the smallest shows/topics/discussions which would clutter the forum. There would also be less incentive to check and comment as they would have to get through all the topics just to see it. While I understand not wanting to have restrict the forum to only a few threads, doing this will cause just as worse damage and have the same effect.

The chit chat threads binds everyone together (including the animu obsessed nut like me) rather than dividing them off into certain sections of the forums. This connection between the members is what makes it special and if this were to be taken away, part of that would be lost and some may eventually lose interest. Part of this is going off my experience with another forum where this happened, so it's not exactly unheard of, no matter how corny it sounded.

If someone wants to talk in depth about a certain topic, then they can feel free to make it still without having the chat thread. While I understand that the forums have not been as active, can you truly say that the fault of it is due to just one thread, let alone a harmless one like this that's on other boards and has done nothing but add conversation? For those who feel otherwise, feel free to correct me, but there's never really been huge problems on this forum, especially compared to all the sites I go on. The chat thread is welcoming and nice, which many newcomers first check out and is what has a high chance of making them stay. There's no conflict in the thread and as said before, only does good which is what really makes me wonder why the thread was locked in the first place. I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't check the forums as much if that were to happen and I'm sure a few others may feel that way. I don't mean this as a threat as if the thread were to remain unlocked I would still post around, but it wouldn't be as frequent due to the sillyness and the fun of just chating would be gone.

Finally, let me ask a question to the admins, mods, and members. Would you prefer the site to have more posts and topics in the loss of the current members having less fun and enjoyment?

If you feel otherwise or just want to share your opinion on the matter, go on ahead.

(10-28-2013, 01:33 PM)Mass Distraction Wrote: To be honest I never ever check the playground section. I much prefer to talk about random shizz in one thread and keep my actual ideas and discussions for more in-depth threads. I'm here for the community for the most part and it's kinda sad to not be able to casually chat with other people. Restricting the casual discussion has already killed one community I was on.

I was more inclined to discuss random and unnecessary stuff on the chat thread. I see actual topics as places for more deeper discussion that just random talk. Then there's the fact that often times people will get off-topic. Then someone comes and tells people to stay on topic and make a thread for that other discussion that was started. The same happens again and again and all I end up doing is skipping from thread to thread. This is my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

(10-28-2013, 01:49 PM)MexicanAnime Wrote: Members posting in chats that were many pages long is not a problem and I have seen that with this forum. When a new member joins, they can enter the Game Discussion or Chit Chat thread and already fit in with the discussion and the members. While this community is pretty close, I don't see why you're worrying about members here doing that as mostly everyone is welcoming and don't act very "cliquy". For my proof on this, all one has to do is check the different threads to see that both members and mods welcome newcomers in a friendly way without making them feel like outsiders.

(10-28-2013, 02:08 PM)CosmykTheDolfyn Wrote: Here is one issue that I have: How many new threads will be created because of this?
I'd much rather go through 6 pages in a single thread of random gibberish than 6 separate threads of random gibberish.
I'll admit, if there are more than two pages of unread threads when I log on, I don't read a single one. It's just too much to bother with, and I generally log off. If the number of new threads increases exponentially due to this, you may be seeing less of me, and other people...
In my general experience, without such a general thread, that is exactly what happens, and it has made me lose interest in a forum before.

But, for now, I guess we can just sit back and see what happens. If the site and forums benefit, great! Leave it. If nothing really changes, leave it! No real big reason to fuss about it.

(10-28-2013, 02:40 PM)CosmykTheDolfyn Wrote: All right, fine. No more dumb gifs. Since you're the first person to ever actually say anything. Generally, I just post those after something I figured sounded thoughtful as a laugh. Ironically, I hate both Tumblr and Twitter. And I have working on submitting more facts recently. Trying to get several new ones every few days.

CosmykTheDolfyn Wrote:I had wanted to post some of this in the thread about the chit chat thread, but figured it would simply work better as a PM.
I am excited as to what is happening. But I will say, the implementation may need to be gradual. The reason I feel that way is that not everyone will agree to what is or isn't spammy. GIFs and video for no reason? Ok, I can see that. Can't say I've never posted that either, but at least I kept my random gifs after a long, on topic post. I'll give you my personal guarantee though that you won't see any more stupid gifs/videos from me.

But what will happen if a Mod steps in and declares a thread too generic and shuts it down? The real issue here is that some people have stated that some of the mods themselves post things and create new threads that are "spammy" and generic. I can see a real finger pointing contest going on. I don't want to see a bunch of posts "Wait, he can post this and I can't" nonsense. That could kill this forum quicker than anything.

Now, I'll admit, the chances of this are slim. I doubt it will ever happen, but the potential IS there. I hope that you and all the site staff keep this in mind. Be firm and consistent when deleting/altering post/threads that are spammy, and this should all go smoothly. Thank you for all your hard work at keeping all of this running!

(10-28-2013, 11:08 PM)Petie Wrote: This applies to using the search function as well - searching against threads is much more efficient than searching a single thread against posts.