Thoughts on the forum as a whole
Small userbase might feel sad but I think it's inevitable. The mass exodus after the surge when grant was outed as a piece of shit might not have been, and some people claim to have been bullied out or bullied themselves out, idk how to address either in the future personally.
People get older, are busier and generally less inclined to want to read or care about other user's posts they think are garbage. That goes double for a relatively unmoderated community where you can say most anything you want, older people don't have the time or care to talk to people they think they'll never relate to, at least as much as a younger crowd. In general I think a lot of people put the onus on others to act how they want them to without realizing how they've grown or changed personally and what they like or are willing to find acceptable.
Moderation
Idk there's nothing to moderate outside of some people requesting individuals be banned. Even when there was a discussion whether to moderate something the users tear each other to pieces before an actual decision is reached. I never asked nor wanted to be moderator but it makes running mafia games easier so I can't relate to someone legit trying to but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be one when the forum imploded.
Mafia
Can't speak for others but it's a terrible experience for me atm and I have no motivation to play. People saying we need an Iron Code that has to be obeyed for infractions every game when half the games are setups designed to be shitshows from the beginning and half the playerbase are mods seem a bit overzealous. We can't afford to split the player base as we barely have enough to get 1 game going and I'm not sure if making every host abide by an Iron Code of rules is good for a small site.
So what do you think should/shouldn't be allowed rules-wise? Because I assumed one of the reasons you didn't enjoy playing was the bullshit that went on (rulebreaking) that virtually guarantees you cannot win. If u have to play scum multiple games in a row where the town just blatantly cheats with no consequences ofc it would be a bad experience
screenshotting or sharing of info from out of the game thread, fabricated or otherwise, leads to a leveling game i have no interest in. forum mafia has text as a foundation; jpgs, gifs, mp4s are all cool as long you stay in the game thread or use random garbage like me and bazinga.
underlying that is either the random garbage or evident gamesolvey setups recent games are playing off. there's a reason i enjoy semiclosed setups the most
The mods are a big portion of the offenders here - but let's not turn the matter into the age-old forum game of mods vs users. I'd like to view everyone here as equals.
The issue at hand is poor quality mafia gameplay, I believe that enforcing rules would not change that fact, as it would only manifest itself through other means.
The players have no inherent interest, and while they may point fingers and scapegoat to the most recent issue they see ("The setups aren't vanilla!", "The Rulebreaking!", etc...), I think these are all mere excuses.
What really drives players to post their role PM? Look at it from their perspective - It's not like they sign up with the intent of doing so, clearly they lose interest in the game due to one reason or another.
One could be the fact that half of the playerbase, mostly consisting of the people who later complain, barely put in any effort to engage with the game or even post at all, and when they do post; interacting with them is like talking to a stone wall.
How come nobody ruined Christmas Carol? For one, the host of that game put in effort into making sure it's a playable setup (unlike some other recent games), didn't make any major game-ruining errors (unlike some other recent games), which kept all players engaged to a reasonable amount.
Yet still you have people complain and whine after the game - mostly people who barely even played and spent the whole game AFK.
What do you call that? What Rule needs to be put in place to fix this terrible attitude? There isn't one.
I've said it before but the majority of you couldn't care less about mafia anymore, come up with any reason you may - but it's not going to change the reality of the situation.
No matter the setup, no matter the players - you don't care.
People tried to host all sorts of things, and in fact the results show that people only sign the "CRAZY WACKY GAMES" (as you call them), and guess why? Those games are simply better.
Nobody signs the "vanilla" games because they don't actually want those, it's (again) simply a scapegoat.
These recent games aren't "Gamesolvey" as you called them, they are as "solved" as a Cop+Doctor setup. Mafia itself is a "solved" game when you have players that are A. Very experienced and familiar with the game (Like us) or B. Pretty much AFK (Like us).
You can't beat game theory, and that's what you call "Game Solve" - we've reached a point where people random roll to lynch and night kill.
Your "Semi-closed games" are also "Game Solved" just as easy through the same logic as the other vanilla games.
Do you seriously blame people for "breaking the rules" at that point?
What do you seriously imagine would happen if all of us were put into a 12 man Cop and Doctor game right now? We'll all start roleplaying wild knights and fairies? No, it would end up the exact same as Mixed Signals and Alice in Borderlands - I'm sorry, but you can only replay the same movie so many times before you start skipping ahead - this has nothing to do with me even, you would have the same AFKers as every game, and the people putting in effort would be as demoralized and disappointed as ever.
Look inward before shifting blame and wishing back for the "good old days".
no one is signing traditional mafia games because no one is hosting them. i feel like youre talking past me right now i don't reminisce on the good ol days. even on nadota there were plenty of griefers and throwers (grant), and im not blaming people acting like clowns on unique setups just saying i personally tire of them after a while