Forum Suggestions

[Ben]

I think the forum needs /something/ because as it stands right now, the forums are a mess. There are two groups of people I've noticed, people who like to make long posts about the park full of thoughts and opinions, and another who are more interested in socializing with other forum members. A thread with a mix of those posts kills the conversation very quickly.

Exactly

There's nothing wrong with either one, but the conversation dies when you have one side giving 10 word posts making jokes and the other side writing paragraphs about the park.

Perhaps two sections could be conceived, one where members can think about their fully fledged opinions and another where members can "hang out"and just talk casually about the park.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

I totally would love a rant section. I would love to listen to, and write long stories/posts on a topic that is meant to be written in a "rant-ish" way, and topics that are important to me.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

There's nothing to keep you from doing that now, this would just be a way to keep the two styles of posting separate to keep conversation from dying quickly.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

The reason I don't like doing it now, is because it seems like it is highly frowned upon by people who don't feel like reading it, and like you said can kill conversation.

 

[Franco]

I think that, for the most part, it all boils down to the consensual attitude of us forum members. The burden shouldn't be placed on the mods to determine and regulate what is and is not serious. If we allow ostensibly serious threads to be hijacked by a gross amount of sarcasm and tomfoolery, then we're all responsible for it. I think that for many of the threads on this site that are obviously serious, those problems don't really exist anyway. I've never really cared much for Reddit's use of [Serious] tags. I don't want my discussions separated between serious and non-serious. Some threads need a little comic relief. Sometimes I think of something (that I think is) hilarious to add to a more serious thread, and I don't want to be denied by a green serious tag. I have rights!

I think if we do a better job of moderating ourselves within the community, we can alleviate most of the problems.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

The ultimate goal should be to keep everybody happy, but the posting styles of people can conflict with that, which is why I suggested a moderate use of these safe havens. I really wish we could moderate ourselves better, but the fact that the two styles reinforce and each other to the point where the thread gets off track doesn't give me much hope with that. The scenario I'll see is real conversation, then spam post, a few responses to the spam post, and a real conversation down the road a little bit. The thing I see a lot is that the silly post will get more responses because they're easier to read and people respond to humor better, which makes it harder to pick up the conversation again.

 

[Ben]

I once again agree with PK, why not have two different sections? threads now get off topic too quickly and I think if there's a place for members to vent off some air and legally go off topic, then it is best for everyone.

the serious threads will be more interesting because of the lack of irrelevant posts and the rants forum will be entertaining because everyone in the thread has the same attitude as you.

 

[Thomas]

Yeah, I agree with you guys. So who else likes weeping angels?

 

[Franco]

The ultimate goal should be to keep everybody happy, but the posting styles of people can conflict with that, which is why I suggested a moderate use of these safe havens. I really wish we could moderate ourselves better, but the fact that the two styles reinforce and each other to the point where the thread gets off track doesn't give me much hope with that. The scenario I'll see is real conversation, then spam post, a few responses to the spam post, and a real conversation down the road a little bit. The thing I see a lot is that the silly post will get more responses because they're easier to read and people respond to humor better, which makes it harder to pick up the conversation again.

That's just a byproduct of the social media culture that's become entrenched in us over the last decade. There's really not a lot that can be done to circumvent a mindset like that. It's much easier for the majority of people to respond to a quick gif, or a response that's 140 characters or less.

I'm sure there are people who have never taken the time to read anything I've posted in my "Being the Best Guest You Can Be" thread simply because I write a novella every time I make a post, and that's fine. But it also prevents off-topic posts when the only people who bother to read it contribute with a similar, albeit less verbose, attitude. It's only the more middle-of-the-road threads where such a haphazard coalescence of posts occur, and of course, those threads are, in their nature, the most popularly read and commented on threads. Stricter moderation of jokes, one-liners, and "spam posts" (which seems like a bit of an indictment to me), won't do much to ameliorate the quality of the content. The moderation must come from within the community in some way, I believe.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

How do we spark self-moderation though? I would love that, but how do we tell a person, "This isn't okay to post and detracts from the current conversation?"

And I'll be blunt, I do think that at times, these posts where conversation is happening, does spam the conversation up.

Thanks, Alpen.

 

[Nicole]

Just a random thought: sometimes the jokes or diversions are intended to defuse conversions that have gone from heated to ugly.

I personally think it is sometimes more important to self-moderate the overly aggressive attacks than the netiquette violations.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

That's not always the case, there will be a perfectly fine conversation and somebody will come in with a random Dr. Who reference, which leads to another reference, and before you know it there's a whole page of Daleks.

 

[Nicole]

I said "sometimes."

 

[Franco]

I think it comes from a collective attitude. If we disregard such "spam" posts, they won't muddle up the conversation. If something's funny, just hit "thanks" and move on, there's no need to address the comment itself. If something isn't even funny and just detracts from the conversation, hit "report" and move on. Look at this thread for an example. Alpenghost jumped in with a funny comment that doesn't add anything to our conversation, but we're still rolling. If things get carried away enough, anyone can just step in and say, "Hey, let's get back on track." We don't need to wait for a member of the Forum Staff to come along. They're busy doing other things to help improve the site. I think we're all capable of having a cogent discussion with room for a little fun here and there that doesn't cause us to lose sight of the ultimate topic.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

This kind of goes back to my point. There are two distinctive posting styles on the forums, and there would be nothing wrong giving people a playground of sorts. I'm not saying two separate forums, just a few threads.

Franco: That's a good idea, but that requires a bit of self control to not jump in on the jokes in the thread...

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

I said "sometimes."

That's not always the case....

Sorry that was bothering me, just thought I'd clear the air.

And for the record I think it would be good to keep the threads organized. We're not saying we should ban people who's posts maybe spammy sometimes from these threads, we just don't want the spammy posts in them, that doesn't mean you can't post in them.

 

[Nicole]

???????

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

Ultimately, would these sections actually hurt the posting ability of anybody? I mean the worst that would happen is you would mainly be posting in threads more favorable to your posting style, which in turn would mean more people would appreciate your post more. I see this as a win-win for everybody to be honest.

 

[chickenking]

I think Franco has already stated the most obvious solution here; and this is assuming that enough folks here even consider the topic in this line of discussion an actual problem. I get the so-called "flow" issue that seems to bother some members (Alpen you are a kindred spirit and inspiration to me), but let's be honest...lots of folks are guilty of this apparent breach of etiquette in the forums, and if it were really that big of a problem I'm sure the MODERATORS will contact those who are seen as a serious contributor to it. I think this whole line of conversation is pretty much unnecessary, as the tools to deal with any apparent problem are already in place. REPORT it and move on. I'm sure the MODERATORs & ADMIN folk will take care of any serious breach. If that isn't enough, just ignore whatever post and/or poster may be offensive/irritating.

On another note, I am saddened to see this whole "we" and "us" against "you" and "them" attitude that seems to be more and more apparent over the last few months. Stuff like this serves to divide a community and drive some away. Having love for something like a theme park and memories is awesome; I totally understand and feel it too. But lets not forget that people are what make the forums, and the park, special. Everyone has their views, and maybe some are misguided, but let's not berate each other openly with what appears to be disdain, and in some cases, outright disgust and hatred. There is a solution to those kind of issues as well...take it to PMs, REPORT or IGNORE (or meet out back in the parking lot).

Now, let's move on.
Feel free to report this post if it is seen as spam.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

The idea wouldn't have been pitched to the staff if the staff didn't think there was an issue as well...

I'm going to be honest here, I'm a bit surprised at the rejection of the idea of areas dedicated to a style of conversation one prefers. The idea of threads with nothing but long and thought out posts makes me very happy, I'm surprised that the idea of un-moderated everything goes isn't received.

Is it just the idea of being limited that's a turn off?