Problems on the forums

[Storm Wolf]

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn

Here's a problem, Krang.

Some people are only here to be miserable to other people.

Sometimes it's not enough to take action as a mod, because they will cry 'foul' and being overpowerful.

Some of them ARE in power.

Either way, they are overtaking any good things we have here.

But they need to stop being such complete idiots, and grow up.

oy....definitely! I see that a lot here.

Originally Posted by jester

I agree with Jo. It does seem like there are people who just like to be tools and rain on peoples parades, and that needs to stop. If you don't have anything constructive to say in a thread, anything to keep the conversation rolling, and just post something mean, then don't. I can't tell you how many times I've thought twice about a post I was writing and refrained from posting it, and it was probably for the better.

Heh...Jester...you have no idea! I would have been removed from these forums long ago if I would have posted a quarter of the things I wanted to post!

I ought to start defending myself a bit better, but my nature isn't to fight. It's to accept, adapt and let things slide. Why can't everyone just be a cool cucumber?

[Krang]

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn

Here's a problem, Krang.

Some people are only here to be miserable to other people.

Sometimes it's not enough to take action as a mod, because they will cry 'foul' and being overpowerful.

Some of them ARE in power.

Either way, they are overtaking any good things we have here.

But they need to stop being such complete idiots, and grow up.

I agree that this sort of behavior should not be happening, and I would like to help fix it, but I am unable to do so unless:

1. You are more specific
2. You offer suggestions as to what to do

[Jo Dawn]

I can be specific, though I wont do it 'live' here. Although, there is a list of certain names where you can just read any of their posts and see what I mean.

And as for what to do? Tough love. People must be held accountable for their actions, so if punishing is what is needed? So be it. They can't be ignorant, unnecessarily mean little children and expect to not be punished. They will not grow up, they will not contribute in a way that is conducive to keeping this forum alive. They are running free and rampant and are ruining it for many people.

I belong to another forum and someone (who didnt know it was me; I post under a different name) said the reason they left here is because of the people who only post to be idiots.

And don't any of them dare tell me that it's their 'personality' and 'get over it'. I say become a productive member of society and grow up. Learn to use your words as an adult.

We must learn to communicate as humans and adults.

[Krang]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. However, what do you do when standard punishments (warnings, temp bans) don't work? Should we ban them? If so, what if they say something along the lines of, "Well, Person X did the same thing and got away with it, so you're taking sides"? Sure, you could ignore them, but is that really fair if Person X really did what they said? Do we ban Person X, too? If we continue down that path, we'll end up banning half the forums, and then they really will be dead since there will be nobody left to post on them. This is a difficult and frustrating situation, and as far as I can tell, there is no perfect solution for it.

And yeah, I know people from other forums love to bash this one. Goes to show that those forums aren't exactly full of kind, mature people, either. Nothing says "polite" like trashing other people's hard work behind their backs, huh? I'd like to see them try to run a forum as big as this one and see if they can do the oh-so-perfect job they think they can...

[Jo Dawn]

Originally Posted by Krang

If so, what if they say something along the lines of, "Well, Person X did the same thing and got away with it, so you're taking sides"? Sure, you could ignore them, but is that really fair if Person X really did what they said? Do we ban Person X, too?

I don't take sides. Been there, done that, lost a friend because of it.

If we continue down that path, we'll end up banning half the forums, and then they really will be dead since there will be nobody left to post on them.

And this shows how MUCH of a problem we have, then. If half the people cannot post appropriatly.

[Anarky]

Well, normally, if you make a public announcement going "Here's a line, do not cross." and then people naturally will cross it. However, if you just kick their asses... granted, you'll lose some members, but the others will realize that you mean it and start behaving. You can change a forum that way. Granted, it's not a natural way of changing things, but it works.

Granted, you'll lose one of every 20 morons, while the other 19 will fall in line. And that's far off taking sides and wrecking the forums. Obviously, something needs doing. Not just content-wise, but also in terms of behaviour of members.

[Peanut]

I'm glad I haven't been around for awhile. It's great that it isn't my fault this time.

[GK Punk]

Personally, I blame Peanut.

[Voltron]

Originally Posted by GK

Personally, I blame Peanut.

KRANG! Peanut's on my side of the car seat!

[Krang]

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn

I don't take sides.

Good to hear. However, what if you have two opposing groups who both want you to punish the other? Even if you punish both or neither, you still have people accusing you of taking sides. And that's exactly the kind of frustrating situation that I keep getting dragged into.

And this shows how MUCH of a problem we have, then. If half the people cannot post appropriatly.

Well, I didn't mean that literally... My point was that when people are punished, they tend to nitpick and misinterpret their enemies' posts to try to drag them down with them. What do you propose we do in that case?

Originally Posted by Anarky

Well, normally, if you make a public announcement going "Here's a line, do not cross." and then people naturally will cross it. However, if you just kick their asses... granted, you'll lose some members, but the others will realize that you mean it and start behaving. You can change a forum that way. Granted, it's not a natural way of changing things, but it works.

In my experience, that doesn't work. When people see their friend(s) banned, they'll either get angry and cause trouble on purpose, or just leave because the forums aren't fun for them anymore. And even people who aren't their friends may see that so many are getting banned and either get upset at the forum staff for being "ban happy" and leave, or be afraid to post anything for fear of getting banned themselves. In the end, half the forums are gone, and this time I do mean that literally.

Originally Posted by Voltron

KRANG! Peanut's on my side of the car seat!

I can picture that in my PM inbox now.

[Anarky]

Okay, Krang, what is your suggestion then? I mean, consensus seems that something needs to be done, so why not work together instead of trying to prove the other party wrong and get something done instead of endless bickering?

And yes, Peanut's fault. All the way.

[Krang]

To be perfectly honest, I think the problems that people are bringing up in this thread are being blown way out of proportion. We've been through much worse times without having to take drastic measures, and we're still here. People are expecting the forums to be flawless, and that's simply not possible with any group of people who have differing opinions, so let's just calm down and do the best we can.

If you're looking for suggestions, one that I have for everyone in general is to properly use the tools that the forum software gives us to handle problems. When someone notices a problem on the forums, it only makes it worse to argue back and forth, so people need to stop, report the post to the moderators, and move on. If someone absolutely can't coexist with someone else, that's what the ignore list is for.

Mods need to help break up arguments by asking people to stop, and if they don't listen, either temporarily or permanently lock the thread. Rude comments should be soft-deleted as soon as they are seen, and if the one who posted them doesn't stop, the situation should be discussed in the mod section. But watching problems build up over time, then dumping them all on the admins is not the way things are supposed to work. We should all be working together.

And endless bickering is exactly what I didn't want to see when I split your post into its own thread. This thread has gone way beyond what it was meant to be about, which was only the issues that you brought up, so let's try to wrap things up here.

[Anarky]

So you think nothing's wrong while everyone says something's off and even showed you what it is? Job well done, I'd say.

But tell me, does it actually make sense for us to figure out solutions and suggestions? Or do you just want us to wreck our heads to then just say "Oh, you're wrong?" Are you willing to even change something around here? Or help the users change something?

And yes, that is pretty harsh to say, but if it doesn't make sense, we can stop here and forget this farce of a "Let's change the forums so that everyone enjoys them again."

[GK Punk]

That's not what he's saying at all. But he's right to a point, a lot of it IS Blown out of proportion. There are problems that need fix, and trust me when I say Krang really wants to fix them, he's genuinely asking for suggestions. he has a few he's come up with already even.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Originally Posted by Anarky

Okay, Krang, what is your suggestion then? I mean, consensus seems that something needs to be done, so why not work together instead of trying to prove the other party wrong and get something done instead of endless bickering?

Frankly, I think the only reason you started this thread was to stir up debate and heated conversation about a problem that doesn't exist. The only thing I've seen in the boards is a lack of activity. The fanbase is in a slump. The TV show just got canceled, and no movies are in the foreseeable future. Big wuh. This board has gone through far worse than just an extended slow period. We live in depressing times (especially here in the US), and there isn't a lot around now to cheer people up. Isn't it expected that a lot of people would just be on a downer right now?

It just seems totally illogical to come into a TMNT forum after having been inactive for what seems like forever and then complain that people with a TMNT fetish post art in a TMNT Fan Art forum, and to complain about people living goofy TMNT fantasies in a TMNT RPG section. That's what the forum is for. The GD section is just going slowly because all the regulars are busy and/or too lazy to start threads. Myself, I'm preoccupied with lawn work, working at Kombo, and presidential campaign volunteering. It eats my time, but I drop in when I can.

We do what we can, and that's what Krang is doing. Let him be. There's nothing wrong with this forum that isn't wrong with every other forum across the internet. You can't get rid of the stupid people on Earth, otherwise civilization would shut down.

[Anarky]

The argument with "But you've been gone" is ridiculous. I found myself in the same situation as you do now for ten months. I've been working for various charities and I just happened to have 19 hour days for months on end. I barely had the time to run my own site.

So, now. Do we want to change something? Yes/No. The question stands.

[愛]

Originally Posted by Anarky

The argument with "But you've been gone" is ridiculous. I found myself in the same situation as you do now for ten months. I've been working for various charities and I just happened to have 19 hour days for months on end. I barely had the time to run my own site.

So, now. Do we want to change something? Yes/No. The question stands.

The answer is no.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Anarky

The sorry state doesn't just happen here, this thread was just the one that made me finally say something.

Look at it from my Point of View:

• General Discussion: Nothing. Practically dead because the core users have either left or just lost interest in it. A couple of nostalgic people still hang around, wondering what on earth happened to this place.
• RPG Section: A place where all the clowns get to live out their absurd fantasies of self-insertion. Sure, the forum is mostly dead because nobody feels like being the one TMNT among seventy fancharacters that all have Mary Sue traits.
• Fan Works: Fan works seem to mostly be "Draw April wearing this dress. It is my fetish." these days. It is not a place where you draw Leo vs. Shredder and everyone marvels at you for having drawn Shredder so nicely. Would Shredder be wearing a thong, then yes, it would be awesome. And if you don't have fetish-April, you have fanfictions that are harebrained to the point where you want to hurt the nearest living being.

The solution to this? A first idea would be to just tell the people that they're behaving like complete tools, that they're being so stupid, it hurts. Granted, the internet is a place where stupidity is apparently a sign of some weird degree of quality, but seriously... April as Velma? So just telling the people that they should maybe hold a bit back on inserting themselves into the TMNT everywhere and maybe should not pester us with their fetishes, would probably help this a lot.

Look, I love this place like the next guy, I've been here forever and I will probably never leave. Fact is, I love this place, whether I like it or not. And before I see this place being completely overrun by fancharacters and absurd sexual fantasies, I will at least try to fix it. And this is me starting.

I totally agree with you on the "Fan Works" section, I also hate when TMNT is turned into pornography. But watch http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=25400. There you have some fantastic TMNT fanwork that really rocks!

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by GK

Personally, I blame Peanut.

God damn it.

Krang is right, this is being blown way out of proportion. The only thing I see wrong here is that there isn't enough activity. Because there's so little, every little argument stands out tenfold.

You're always going to have the ass clowns who just want to b*tch and moan about everything, that will never change. And you're always going to have segregation and dislike between forum members, especially when it comes to large groups of friends, but that's the way it works. That doesn't mean the forums are in any kind of dire state, and it doesn't mean that there needs to be a radical change in policy.

As far as the yiffers go, if people are making threads about ridiculous turtle fantasies, just don't go into it. If you're totally disturbed by those actions, avoid them. If that kind of sh*t was spilling over into unrelated sections of the forums, I could see getting annoyed, but when it's confined to a specific section, just stay away! It's quite simple not to click on the RPG or Art sections.

I personally believe the forums are just in a slump. We get some decent threads going, you'll get regulars back into the forums and things will be fun again.

[gobo]

I completely agree with Peanut.

I'm just as surprised as you all are.