Question.

[cingchris]

Why was the Chit chat thread closed but not the free thread in the gaming forum? I only pose this question because they are both the same thread just ones for anything and everything, and the other is specifically for anything and everything gaming. If I recall correctly the reason that it was closed was to promote making threads but as far as I see closing it didn't really spike any conversation in the general discussion thread, and it stopped all the conversation that went in the chit chat thread that was just a bunch of random drivel anyway that never really deserved making a thread over, and that's why it got posted there. Like I said I know your reasoning I just think it's invalid and you didn't get rid of the gaming one which made absolutely no sense to me.

As for this being a question to site staff I will also ask that anyone with opinions on the subject also speak up, although I feel there won't be many people who are still on this, it just kind of occurred to me out of random to be honest.

[Mass Distraction]

Shhh... Let us remain hidden...

[Wastelander]

You're like the kid in class that tells the teacher they forgot to give us homework ...

[BumblebeeCody*]

To be honest it is a fair point and when you look at it a few months on after it closed, you can see the results. That being said, closing the thread also gave us more overall threads. Both sides make valid points.

Personally I'm for closing it. Once E3 comes out for the gaming section though, I expect people to just post a crap ton of new threads. I think it might be worth closing the Free Gaming News Thread. (I'll see what everyone thinks of it first).

[Mass Distraction]

I dunno, there are just so many gaming related things that I often think of that don't deserve a thread of their own. Besides, this IS a gaming forum. At least the free gaming thread has to do with the actual subject of the forums. I guess I would be just less active on my posting if there was no thread I could post some general VG talk.

[cingchris]

To be honest it is a fair point and when you look at it a few months on after it closed, you can see the results. That being said, closing the thread also gave us more overall threads. Both sides make valid points.

Personally I'm for closing it. Once E3 comes out for the gaming section though, I expect people to just post a crap ton of new threads. I think it might be worth closing the Free Gaming News Thread. (I'll see what everyone thinks of it first).

I guess I see your point, but that comes right back to my point of saying it didn't really help the forum to close it like it was intended, it didn't exactly hurt it either but having a chit chat thread isn't something to be feared, and personally I'm for re-opening it.

[BumblebeeCody*]

I dunno, there are just so many gaming related things that I often think of that don't deserve a thread of their own. Besides, this IS a gaming forum. At least the free gaming thread has to do with the actual subject of the forums. I guess I would be just less active on my posting if there was no thread I could post some general VG talk.

I guess I see your point, but that comes right back to my point of saying it didn't really help the forum to close it like it was intended, it didn't exactly hurt it either but having a chit chat thread isn't something to be feared, and personally I'm for re-opening it.

Again. Everyone's points are valid an I understand them. I think a way to distinguish and come to an agreement is if we keep the free gaming thread but don't post news in there.

All new information can get it's own thread
New game
New Nintendo announcement
New Xbox game etc

While keeping posts about "how many Sims you've killed today" in the free gaming post which doesn't really need it's own thread. We don't lose the activity but we're able to have threads that filter out news discussions for personal discussion. Just how I see it.

At nearing 240 post it's probably worth closing it anyway with the new "rules" stated and also just because that thread has gone on long enough.

Agree/Disagree? Everyone's opinion is welcome.

[Mass Distraction]

I really don't see the point in closing it. It would just kill activity in talking about video games apart from posting news and the such. Like you said, not everything needs its own thread and we do like to talk about that stuff nevertheless.

Like I said before, at least it's relevant to the subject of the forums. I don't mind restarting the thread but destroying our way to just chat about the things we are all here for would be just mean.

[cingchris]

I'm with Mass Distraction, killing the remaining free thread would be pointless and actually create less activity, but that's not to say some of the things that go in there and in the chit chat thread could have used their own threads but most everything that goes in the free thread and went in the chit chat thread is/was just a bunch of random drivel that doesn't deserve a thread. I personally think the chit chat thread should be re-opened or just re-made as it doesn't actually cause any problems sure some things in it are gonna be thread worthy, but 90% of it will just be the same random drivel we came to expect from the thread. As for saying that the thread get too long, the reason they receive so much activity is because they are the easiest places to make post in, as there is no actual topic and you can say basically whatever you want, the best analogy I can come up with for what the free thread and chit chat thread serve as is a tiny Facebook for these forums, the chit chat thread was a place to go where we could just talk about whatever was on our mind thread worthy or not, usually not, by taking that away you have created less activity actually which is counter-productive to your original reasoning sure we have a few more threads in the general discussion area but those would have probably been made anyway, as just about any thread made is usually a question or a topic, not just us saying whatever comes to mind like what the chit chat thread was and the free thread still is.

Edit:Also I just remembered a time when we were all making a bunch of dumb threads that lasted like maybe two pages each we were actually told by staff (don't remember who and too lazy to go check) that we should have been posting stuff like that in the chit chat thread as it was just kind of pointless and stupid, and then we are told in the chit chat thread in the closing message that if we wanna talk about something we should make a thread about and that you wouldn't tell us "no" these two statements contradict each other and actually I'm pretty sure if we all started posting threads about a bunch a random crap that was basically pointless again you guys would question why we even made the threads and possibly close them.

[Combat Lobster]

I think the real problem here isn't the free thread or the fact that the chit chat thread is no more. The real problem is that these forums are suffering from stagnation; there are only like 10-15 people who actually post anything outside of submitting trivia and rarely anybody new coming in and sticking around to post on a regular basis. (Don't believe me? Just click on 'View Today's Posts' and point out anyone who isn't already a regular poster.)

I mean, I rarely read these forums anymore because whatever is posted here can be found and discussed on any other forum or social media output. Like what IS the big draw to posting on VGFacts other than submitting trivia anyway? To discuss it? Sure that happens sometimes. To discuss VGFacts videos? Yeah sure, but most of the posts in those threads are nothing but white noise "Good Job 10/10" posts; besides it's not like you can't do that in Youtube comments.

Remember when the site launched and there were lots of folks posting? What happened to them? It might have been that they just don't have time to read the forums, or they're already apart of another community (Like TSR or VGR) and don't want to commit to two communities. (I mean pretty much everyone that came from TSR went back to TSR after a few months.) not to mention when we came from DYKG we kinda posted in a circlejerky manner, and what I mean is that the first couple of threads posted had posts like, "Hey, I remember you from DYKG!" or "We used to do this back at DYKG!" Hell, there's was a badge in everyone's sigs to show you were from DYKG; that's as circlejerky as you can get! (And I'm not gonna lie I too did some circle jerking back then.) So what? Why can't we have our fun with our little badges or letting everyone know that we were on another forum before having to come here? It's not like it'll alienate anyone from registering or posting anymore. I'm not saying it did, but it could have.

Not to mention why would the chat thread being closed or open change forum activity anyway. Are you saying that you can only post like you're on Facebook or Twitter? I guess that's true because the most popular threads are ones where you just talk about whatever in gaming or repost funny picture/videos you find on 9gag or whatever. So why post here when most of the content on these forums is nothing but that? You could just go to those sites to look at them there.

Actually, why don't everyone take a good long look at all the threads that have posted so far and ask yourself, "Why would I want to post here." and assume that you know nothing about this community other than what gets posted here. I think you'll see that there's not many reasons to.

[cingchris]

I see your point Combat Lobster and agree with you but at the same time it's just because this community is close knit or at least what's left of it. I'm just saying that closing the chit chat thread was pointless IMO and should be re-opened, as for the fact that this forum is stagnating, yes it is but that's just about any forum of any site, just about every forum you go to you will see a very small amount of active posters, and this is because Facebook, Twitter and all the other major social media websites already fill the role that forums do, before Myspace forums were a much bigger thing on the internet, but after it was popularized most everyone moved away from forums to Myspace, and when Myspace got shitty they all moved to Facebook.

[Mass Distraction]

Spoiler

I think the real problem here isn't the free thread or the fact that the chit chat thread is no more. The real problem is that these forums are suffering from stagnation; there are only like 10-15 people who actually post anything outside of submitting trivia and rarely anybody new coming in and sticking around to post on a regular basis. (Don't believe me? Just click on 'View Today's Posts' and point out anyone who isn't already a regular poster.)

I mean, I rarely read these forums anymore because whatever is posted here can be found and discussed on any other forum or social media output. Like what IS the big draw to posting on VGFacts other than submitting trivia anyway? To discuss it? Sure that happens sometimes. To discuss VGFacts videos? Yeah sure, but most of the posts in those threads are nothing but white noise "Good Job 10/10" posts; besides it's not like you can't do that in Youtube comments.

Remember when the site launched and there were lots of folks posting? What happened to them? It might have been that they just don't have time to read the forums, or they're already apart of another community (Like TSR or VGR) and don't want to commit to two communities. (I mean pretty much everyone that came from TSR went back to TSR after a few months.) not to mention when we came from DYKG we kinda posted in a circlejerky manner, and what I mean is that the first couple of threads posted had posts like, "Hey, I remember you from DYKG!" or "We used to do this back at DYKG!" Hell, there's was a badge in everyone's sigs to show you were from DYKG; that's as circlejerky as you can get! (And I'm not gonna lie I too did some circle jerking back then.) So what? Why can't we have our fun with our little badges or letting everyone know that we were on another forum before having to come here? It's not like it'll alienate anyone from registering or posting anymore. I'm not saying it did, but it could have.

Not to mention why would the chat thread being closed or open change forum activity anyway. Are you saying that you can only post like you're on Facebook or Twitter? I guess that's true because the most popular threads are ones where you just talk about whatever in gaming or repost funny picture/videos you find on 9gag or whatever. So why post here when most of the content on these forums is nothing but that? You could just go to those sites to look at them there.

Actually, why don't everyone take a good long look at all the threads that have posted so far and ask yourself, "Why would I want to post here." and assume that you know nothing about this community other than what gets posted here. I think you'll see that there's not many reasons to.

So, what you are saying is that the problem is not the threads but the users? Or more specifically, the way users make threads?

So... What? Reboot the forum? Again?

I'm not really all that in for reopening dead threads but I just wouldn't see the point in closing even more.

[BumblebeeCody*]

I mean, I rarely read these forums anymore because whatever is posted here can be found and discussed on any other forum or social media output. Like what IS the big draw to posting on VGFacts other than submitting trivia anyway? To discuss it? Sure that happens sometimes. To discuss VGFacts videos? Yeah sure, but most of the posts in those threads are nothing but white noise "Good Job 10/10" posts; besides it's not like you can't do that in Youtube comments.

In all honesty, I doubt a lot of those who watch the VGFacts YouTube videos even know there is a community/forum.

Remember when the site launched and there were lots of folks posting? What happened to them? It might have been that they just don't have time to read the forums, or they're already apart of another community (Like TSR or VGR) and don't want to commit to two communities. (I mean pretty much everyone that came from TSR went back to TSR after a few months.) not to mention when we came from DYKG we kinda posted in a circlejerky manner, and what I mean is that the first couple of threads posted had posts like, "Hey, I remember you from DYKG!" or "We used to do this back at DYKG!" Hell, there's was a badge in everyone's sigs to show you were from DYKG; that's as circlejerky as you can get! (And I'm not gonna lie I too did some circle jerking back then.) So what? Why can't we have our fun with our little badges or letting everyone know that we were on another forum before having to come here? It's not like it'll alienate anyone from registering or posting anymore. I'm not saying it did, but it could have.

I spend a lot more time browsing and posting on NeoGAF than I do here but it's because they're two very different scenes. I like the busy nature of 'GAF but the slow posting that happens on VGFacts. It's not necessarily a negative that the community isn't as active as others as it's more manageable to read for some.
As for the DYKG circle jerk, I don't see the badges bad because it's more of a remembrance of our old forum. The change from DYKG did shift how the members participated though, but that can't be helped.

Actually, why don't everyone take a good long look at all the threads that have posted so far and ask yourself, "Why would I want to post here." and assume that you know nothing about this community other than what gets posted here. I think you'll see that there's not many reasons to.

Preference. A small community. Low level of posting means you're voice won't get drowned out. Easy to keep track of. Isn't of the serious nature like NeoGAF. Has a diverse community. Hardly any arguing. No spam. A place where mods are part of the community and won't ban hammer for no reason.

Think of it this, way do you keep coming back? Because it has qualities here that make it worth returning to. I know I do.

So, what you are saying, is that problem is not the threads but the users? Or more specifically, the way users make threads?

So... What? Reboot the forum? Again?

I'm not really all that in for reopening dead threads but I just wouldn't see the point in closing even more.

I wouldn't be closing the free gaming thread. I'm just saying that nearing 240 pages it's worth making Free Gaming Thread V2. A lot of other forums (even the old DYKG) did this after near 250 - 300 page mark.

[Mass Distraction]

I'm not really all that in for reopening dead threads but I just wouldn't see the point in closing even more.

I wouldn't be closing the free gaming thread. I'm just saying that nearing 240 pages it's worth making Free Gaming Thread V2. A lot of other forums (even the old DYKG) did this after near 250 - 300 page mark.

The way you worded it on the previous page made it seem like that. I'm all for the thread restart so go ahead whenever it seems like a good time :P

Will the old one be archived in General Poop?

I mean, I rarely read these forums anymore because whatever is posted here can be found and discussed on any other forum or social media output. Like what IS the big draw to posting on VGFacts other than submitting trivia anyway? To discuss it? Sure that happens sometimes. To discuss VGFacts videos? Yeah sure, but most of the posts in those threads are nothing but white noise "Good Job 10/10" posts; besides it's not like you can't do that in Youtube comments.

In all honesty, I doubt a lot of those who watch the VGFacts YouTube videos even know there is a community/forum.

They really should add a mention of the whole existence of the forums in the post video stuff or at least in the video description.

[Beware of Cuccos*]

I miss the Chit Chat thread. It was a very comfortable place. There are tons of things I want to tell you guys everyday that absolutely do not need their own threads. I see y'all as my friends, and sometime I just want to have a short chat.

"DUDE I just killed the biggest spider in my office!"
That doesn't need it's own thread.

"Ding Dongs are back and I just ate an entire box by myself."
That doesn't need it's own thread.
(I did not consume an entire box of Ding Dongs by myself, although I tried really, really hard)

I feel the Chit Chat thread was the perfect place for us to talk about nothing while still communicating. It kept conversation going between us. No matter what, you could always go there and say anything you wanted.
I posted a LOT more when it was up. Not that I don't want to post now, I reeeeeeeeeeeally do, but I don't see some of the things I want to talk about as worthy of it's own thread. I even attempted making a few threads and got very poor (and even once, rude) responses, so I stopped.
I still get online every day. I still check what everyone is up to (if anything is posted that day). But I am much more reserved with what I post, between not feeling worthy of a thread, to having rude comments or lack of comments on the ones I attempted.