How can we solve the Babble Board problem?

Invisible Egg! · Post by **Invisible Egg!** » Fri May 23, 2003 3:18 am

This is important, so please give thoughtful replies.

Pipian · Post by **Pipian** » Fri May 23, 2003 4:30 am

Here's what I have to say about the situation (I voted "new moderators" but only because that's really the only major thing I could think of):

The Babble Board is a necessary evil. You will never actually be able to stop people from talking about non-.hack stuff. What you can try to do however, is try to cut down on it.

Merely making user descriptions more detailed or making newbie threads or similar such things may alleviate the problem somewhat, but I doubt by much. Newbie threads seem (to me at least) not to be the main source of the posting. Instead, there's a lot of threads like "food," "Best website evaer," "Killer pets," and "Whats wrong with being mute." Newbie threads would help some, but not likely, as people tend to want their own newbie thread anyway, rather than languishing in some unknown thread that noone reads. Adding descriptions won't help because people will want to talk about their hobbies and so forth anyway.

The BEST possible solution (albeit perhaps the most harmful to website traffic, considering .hack to be a rather limited topic, even in its many forms) would be to make rules banning certain forms of babble board traffic (limiting it to discussions that only relate to anime or specific related entertainment (e.g. The Matrix Reloaded), or similar), and leaving it to reliable mods who visit the boards on a more regular basis to dish out the dirty work deleting any thread that doesn't follow the guidelines.

Tsukasa · Post by **Tsukasa** » Fri May 23, 2003 4:31 am

Just letting you guys know, that it's highly doubtful if we're going to make any more moderators at this point.

I'd say get rid of the Babble Board, but that's just because of how spiteful I am of it at the moment. Just so you guys know, I'm sick of spending hours to check the messages here and barely any time to check the messages anywhere else on this forum. c.c;;

Pipian · Post by **Pipian** » Fri May 23, 2003 4:42 am

I dind't think it was likely. I merely suggested it as the only really viable option short of deleting the forum.

Well, then why read here? I don't, most of the time... I just pick and choose threads to read. Eventually the new message light goes off (in fact, I believe you can mark all messages as read by clicking on the little link right below the forum listings on the index)

And if you ever really don't like it and don't want to wade through this forum to read select threads? You can click "Watch this topic for replies" right at the bottom of the post.

Don't get mad at me for pointing them out if you knew they were there. I'm merely suggesting ways to alleviate the problem for your own sake without having to resort to deleting the board (though I admit that the many (worthless) replies annoy me too sometimes...)

Sora · Post by **Sora** » Fri May 23, 2003 6:10 am

I suppose it's to the point that some of us are tired of being 'good' moderators. In talking to my friends, a lot of them suggest that I stop being as just as I try to be. They suggest that I ban the people I don't like and find annoying, or who post things I consider stupid.

They say that sure, you may have fewer people at the board, but it would be fewer stupid people and a large amount of stress would be gone.

I retorted that the drama and name-calling and finger-pointing and 'MODS SUCK' kinda of behavior is something I'd like to avoid, for it's an annoyance at most, but I'd be sure to get that if I started being a lot more tyrannical and petty.

Really, in the long run, it would be better if we had fewer posts, but more posts that are actually interesting to read. Like, if people who were not members of the forum were just browsing, they could actually GET something out of what they're reading, not just learning about the board members. I'm more than sure they don't care.

Not to mention, having exceeded 10,000 articles, I get the feeling that Bear is feeling a little queasy about how much bandwidth and such this is taking up. I'd like that bandwidth to be worth it.

So maybe it's time I stopped trying to be a nice mod and turn more gestapo-ish.

Unless there's a sudden change in things, that is.

I suppose, for the most part, it's up to you guys.

Krono · Post by **Krono** » Fri May 23, 2003 11:26 am

... do you guys think that without the babble board... people (n00bs) might start posting this stuff in general discussing... or spam the other boards? just a possibility....

So maybe it's time I stopped trying to be a nice mod and turn more gestapo-ish.

... that doesn't sound too fun... I mean... I guess... but... it would sorta suck the fun out of all this... at least for the users.

Here's an idea! mods would make some general posts... and then the rest of us would reply in those... and I guess we'd pm you and you'd make it... altho your inboxes would be flooded...

Nebu · Post by **Nebu** » Fri May 23, 2003 11:35 am

hmm... maybe we should "post less" *thinks*

I don't see any ads...

that means somebody is paying for this, right?

Krono · Post by **Krono** » Fri May 23, 2003 11:37 am

I think we're being forced to:

As a note, the number of posts on the babble board is getting to insane numbers.

If this keeps up, Sora, Bear, and I will likely start deleting random posts.

This is a warning.

This is a .hack board. Not a 'talk about anything you like board.' When there's 2-3 times the traffic on the board on stuff that has NOTHING to do with the .hack project than the REST of the board, it means that we're going to have to do something about it.

I would like to see the posts cut down. Immediately.

tsukasa says

Pin · Post by **Pin** » Fri May 23, 2003 1:17 pm

I don't know about you...but there's little traffic on this board.

Sora · Post by **Sora** » Fri May 23, 2003 1:24 pm

hmm... maybe we should "post less" *thinks*

I don't see any ads...

that means somebody is paying for this, right?

Yes, someone is. Bear, to be exact. That's another reason why we

A) want to cut down on pointless posts and

B) have every right to treat this place like we want it, since it's hosted on a private server.

I don't -want- to be a tyrannical mod, but we can only take so much, and I don't -want- to shut the board down.

Pipian · Post by **Pipian** » Fri May 23, 2003 3:32 pm

Sora wrote:I suppose it's to the point that some of us are tired of being 'good' moderators. In talking to my friends, a lot of them suggest that I stop being as just as I try to be. They suggest that I ban the people I don't like and find annoying, or who post things I consider stupid.

They say that sure, you may have fewer people at the board, but it would be fewer stupid people and a large amount of stress would be gone.

I retorted that the drama and name-calling and finger-pointing and 'MODS SUCK' kinda of behavior is something I'd like to avoid, for it's an annoyance at most, but I'd be sure to get that if I started being a lot more tyrannical and petty.

Having run my own forum for the past year and a half, I know how difficult it is to juggle honesty and integrity in ones' personality with distaste for certain actions. It's a very difficult job to be a super-moderator/admin, because when you are, you typically don't like a lot of stupid posts (lacking spelling, forethought, or otherwise) clogging up the board you've worked with for so long.

There are times I just want nto go on a banning rampage because some people are total idiots. I suppose I'm just lucky I only have something on the order of 10-15 regular posters, so I don't have to worry about it so much.

I would hate to see it come to a forum gestapo, but if things get out of hand sometimes, that's the only way (I myself have proposed banning all AOL ports time and again merely because one AOLer has caused way too much trouble on a board), but as I say timme and again, sometimes it is necessary to amputate the arm to save your body.

I honestly don't care either way (at least until my threads are violated with little reason), but I should hope that cooler heads prevail in the posting population, and this issue can be safely averted.

Black Lotus · Post by **Black Lotus** » Fri May 23, 2003 3:43 pm

Although Tsukasa has said that they dont plan to make any more mods I think that would be the most simple way to solve the problem. One new mod could be created with power only over the Babble Board and be told to control the vasts amounts of nonsense that takes place here. There are alot of mods already here that I never really see. I think that one more mod only in the Babble area wont make things worse. The person doesnt even have to be a .hack fan if its easier like that, it could be someone that Bear, Tsukasa, or Sora know IRL. Just my 2 cents.

Tsukasa · Post by **Tsukasa** » Fri May 23, 2003 3:47 pm

Pin wrote:I don't know about you...but there's little traffic on this board.

I beg to differ, actually... I've been told by Bear that this page generates more bandwidth than any of his other pages.

I'd like some of that bandwidth actually be for .hack, guys.

ronix · Post by **ronix** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:08 pm

tsukasa, i see that you locked the rhyste post...instead of locking it can't you delete it? this would help with getting rid of stupid posts. but i voted to have an ongoing introduce yourself thread. ive already made that comment before and im suprised that you guys dont do that, but i understand that you're swamped with all the stuff popping up here.

Tsukasa · Post by **Tsukasa** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:45 pm

I can delete it. I didn't delete it because I chose to make sure that the people who were the cause of my anger with that post saw -why- I was angry. I don't delete threads I lock immediately. I've said this several times before, actually. n.n;;

If I don't leave the posts there for awhile to be sure that people read what happened in them, they won't understand why I'm much more angry the second time.

Just so you know, locked threads don't hurt our bandwidth. It's the active threads that do.

It's also like what Pipian said, though. The majority of the posts here aren't 'introduce yourselves' posts.

Pipian wrote:Merely making user descriptions more detailed or making newbie threads or similar such things may alleviate the problem somewhat, but I doubt by much. Newbie threads seem (to me at least) not to be the main source of the posting. Instead, there's a lot of threads like "food," "Best website evaer," "Killer pets," and "Whats wrong with being mute." Newbie threads would help some, but not likely, as people tend to want their own newbie thread anyway, rather than languishing in some unknown thread that noone reads. Adding descriptions won't help because people will want to talk about their hobbies and so forth anyway.

Read that again. You'll see what I'm talking about. ^-^

.hack//INFO

How can we solve the Babble Board problem?

Which of the following do you think would best help solve the problems we're having with the Babble Board?

How can we solve the Babble Board problem?