This is going to be a much more serious thread than the usual one here. I am writing this thread is to talk about social/cultural issues I have noticed around here recently.
Do you remember NADOTA in 2014? I do. Is this what you see now? Ask yourself why. I'll tell you why.
This forum has turned from a place of discussion and fun to a wretched hell hole. Certain people ("posters" as they call themselves, more on this later) do not want to return this forum to its glory, they want to stay deep in their swamp, never to resurface.
We have a few central issues here that I'd like to discuss in this thread. I have came up with names for these issues because it's much easier to talk about them this way.
These are:
- "Posting"
- Weak Roleplaying
- Strong Roleplaying
Before I get into the details, please make sure to read this through an objective lens. This forum is in dire need of help, and everyone can contribute.
Now for some real talk...
1. "Posting"
A phenomena that has been on the rise for years now but only recently has reached a point that it needs to be stopped. Some users have been taking part of this so much that it started to very negatively influence the rest of the forums.
These users call themselves "posters", and this is why they come to this website. To post of course. Their goal is to collect what I call "quotevotes", which are a way of showing that they "like" a certain "post" (comment) in a certain "thread". (submission)
Their view of the forums has become so skewed that they do not see threads as subjects of discussion anymore, and posts as replies or comments on those subjects, but they see both threads and posts as ways of accumulating quotevotes. "Posters" do not contribute to the forums but just try to appeal to each other, they are in a herd mentality where they see each other doing it so they do it more.
I don't think any of them ACTUALLY believe in what they're doing deep down, which is very frightening.
This phenomena has resulted in countless threads being thrown away by "posters" attempting to get quotevotes, attempting to gain fame as the "best posters" by getting the most quotevotes possible. It is clearly exemplified by the state of the NADota Awards, they want to turn the "Best Poster" award away from its real meaning and into a quotevote contest. "May the funniest man win is their motto", they want to destroy the forum. Ruining all serious discussion, turning it into a screen competition for golden stars.
A reformation is needed.
Biggest culprits in order (In my opinion):
- Quality "Poster"
- Haxity
- agile_mind
- plasmanation
- NABOKOV1995
Common phrases include:
"" (This is a quotevote. It doesnt include text, just a quote.)
"Your "posts" fucking suck!"
"You're a terrible "poster"!"
"Your "posts" are not funny!" (At someone talking seriously about a serious topic)
2. Weak Roleplaying
Some users, on the other hand, feel the need to fight. The need to create an argument over nothing, and to destroy a community from the inside. These users (I call them "Weak Roleplayers") do post real content and do engage in real conversation from time to time unlike "posters", but when they see their roleplay "target" they choose to derail the conversation and ruin the thread. The tunnel vision and fake (Fake as in fabricated, they trick themselves into thinking it is genuine so they do feel it) hatred blinds them and drives them into an endless argument across all boards campaigning to "ban" (This is not actually possible on this website, just a name ban) their target, even to the point of creating their own threads for this. It's an endless made up game of cops vs criminals where they genuinely believe that they are going to improve the state of the website, but my best guess is that they are mentally damaged and need to be in the spotlight as a leader of some sort.
This phenomena creates a very unstable community, especially when there is no such thing as actual bans. Turning the boards into a constant non stop fight that nobody even wants to look at except the guy leading the charge. Destroying all forms of conversation and discussion and replacing it with anger and two guys raging on each other. These users need to be confronted with their wrongdoings, they need to see that they are the ones doing damage. This is all obviously exemplified by the now removed "tribunal" system, which although it did turn the forum into a banning contest for a while, it was only used when necessary.
These users want to destroy the forum, turning it into an entire forum about bans and nothing else. Turning it into a state of war;
A reformation is needed.
Biggest culprits in order (In my opinion):
- electrowizard
- dotakyle
- Haxity
- Quality "Poster"
- NABOKOV1995
Common phrases include:
"[x] needs to be banned"
"Ban [x]"
"You're useless!"
"Why is [x] not banned yet?"
3. Strong Roleplaying
This is a much more obvious issue to you all, one that you should be all familiar with. This is where a user pretends to be something they're not, when a user creates a character to post as on the forum. When called out, they spew more garbage calling it "catharsis" (This is their word for roleplaying, they just don't realize it) and pretend as if they simply don't care. That they hate everyone! They're crazy and wacky! They then proceed to spam posts and threads, each according to their own characters of course, enforcing the idea that they are simply cuckoo and hate everyone but post here because they're so crazy. They cannot give up the lies that they created so they push it further. This is exemplified by the simple minded weak brained posters that do not see through their lies and act as "fans" to them, quotevoting and praising them etc..
I do not need to go into much detail here since each one of them has their own personality, but you all know how much damage they cause.
Strong roleplaying is a form is "posting" as it is created to garner attention, and to appeal to "fans".It could be the most destructive of the three honestly, but I will let you folk decide that yourselves.
These users end up taking a lot of forum space and filling it with nothing, repelling all real potential this forum has and turning it into a contest of who has the best coolest character, and encouraging more and more users to start acting a character to gain attention (negative or positive) on the boards because everyone else is doing it.
A reformation is needed.
Biggest culprits in order (In my opinion):
- NABOKOV1995
- Casandra
- agile_mind
- yung_nigga_sigma
- imilliterate
Common phrases include:
None, they're each different. But one shared habit is posting song lyrics and talking about killing people over and over.
Conclusion
A reformation is very desperately needed, all these users (not just the ones I named) need to be confronted with the truth, with what this forum is truly about. This needs to be done quick as the forum is in a rapid state of declination, and only we can save it. Spit-wad gave away his powers to someone who is clearly not familiar with these issues or the forum as a whole even, we need to be our own admins.
Yes, of course there are issues that I may have not mentioned here or people that I have missed, but I am trying to shed light on what I personally think is truly important, and this is what it is. People have been asking me repeatedly what was bothering me about this forum so much, this is it.
Thank you for reading and please take this into serious thought. I am not a "poster" and this is not a joke thread. I am looking forward to seeing what you think on this very delicate topic.
Have a good day.
