Not from above. But it ties into how far Bit-Tech deviates from the desktop PC. My own view is that the desktop PC does, and should, form the heart of Bit-Tech, but there are lots of interesting things going on in technology, and gaming, beyond that. And I think that's worth covering and talking about. All thoughts welcomed!
The desktop PC is the foundation of bit-tech. If it were not, then the site wouldn't really be bit-tech anymore. Although I'm sure some would debate whether that should be past or future tense. I suppose it really depends. Do you want to cater to users who have a core focus on modding, or on the world of the PC, or just on the tech world in general? I don't know the stats, so I don't know what is most popular, although I'd imagine that the modding side of things is as niche and unprofitable as ever.
And it will remain the foundation of Bit-Tech. My immediate priority is to get some more modding content moving, which I've started work on. I'm not intending to rock the boat, rather to quietly monitor things, ask questions, listen to answers, and try some stuff. I'll be open about everything, but there seems little point me turning Bit-Tech into something it isn't. My aim is for the readers here to regularly find things that interest them. It's as simple as that at the moment. Simon
Hello Simon. I wanted to ask a question regarding the future direction, emphasis and control of the forum with regard to forum members' contributions, in the form of threads and posts, if I may. The forum has seemed, in the short time I've been here, reasonably tolerant of a wide range of subject matter and opinions thereon. Yes sometimes there are heated disagreements in which mods intervene, sometimes a warning is posted by the mods to reign in behaviour or content, spam and occasionally completely inappropriate or offensive posts that are deleted in their entirety, quite rightly. But I notice a new phenomenon taking place, select sections of forum members' posts being censured and edited, whereby the text in question is actually deleted and replaced by a mod comment! Is this to become an accepted and established practice by mods now? It seems to me to be one thing to delete a post that contravenes forum guidelines but quite another to censure sections which in turn could potentially completely change the context or meaning of a post from that which was originally intended by the poster. Carrie
One of the primary complaints in the feedback threads started some time ago was how the gaming part of bit-tech was TOO focused on consoles; And it's a sentiment I agree with. When I got into reading bit-tech game reviews it was because I got to enjoy pc-centric game reviews from a pc-centric site. Aside from RockPaperShotgun, there isn't much of that out there these days; And this has been my biggest complaint about the state of bit-tech in the past year - It has turned into a "me too" site in far too many regards just for the sake of not being stuck in a supposedly unprofitable niche. I've said it before, and maybe it's not a strong enough point to matter, but why does the internet need yet another generic tech site? There are hundreds of sites out there doing console game reviews, general tech news and non-PC, non-niche content; And often (sorry to say this), doing it better and faster. The generic tech news is typically days out of date by the time I read it on bit-tech. We've been told by editors and writers before that they haven't the time to focus on every new pc game or every new piece of hardware. If they stopped writing about the kind of mainstream shite that the original core bit-tech readership didn't come here for originally, they might have more time.. (I'm aware that some members would even put gaming as a whole into that category - not just non-PC gaming) Bit-tech flourished BECAUSE of its niche, not in spite of it. Why try to compete futilely with other, bigger names in areas that don't represent the site's original interests when there was a market niche right there that bit-tech successfully exploited in the past before the total cluster**** that was the CPC merger? Improvements were made by the editors in response to these past threads, but the important articles that showed a commitment to change (such as the Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 multi-article approach) have been few and far-between; And the overall site direction still absolutely stinks of mis-guided corporate directives akin to a middle-aged uncle trying to act 'hip and cool' for the kids at Christmas. I really hope we can either get a firm "sorry but this is the way the site is going - You're an unprofitable minority and you might as well remove us from your bookmarks" or a commitment to a change in the right direction; because right now I think a lot of the 'niche'-interest members are asking themselves why they still come here and where else they can go instead. I needn't go into what kind of long-term effect that is bound to have on the community here that the site thrives on.
Carrie, you are relatively new to the forum, you may be unaware of a time when the forum was a happy place full of people enjoying witty banter - ohh wait I can't quite remember that time either. The point being, if people post crap, we will act - either by censoring/deletion/banishment? It's not new, it's just a reinvigoration of forum policies. Be aware we will be more attentive than we may have been in the recent past.
Hi there Carrie, it's great to see members who're interested in the health of the forums! I'd be very interested to hear some examples of members' posts being censured or edited where you disagree, if you could provide some? I'm also quite curious to hear of any alterations which have changed the context or meaning of posts, if you have examples of this also.
Hi Brett, thank you for addressing my question to Simon so promptly. I think you may have misinterpreted my enquiry slightly. I repeat I fully understand and accept the need for censorship and I do not question that, nor do I have a right to. What I was asking of Simon was is deleting part posts to become a normal practice? Sometimes I waffle in posts and take time to reach the crux of my point and if part of my post were to be deleted I'd potentially either come across as illiterate, the village idiot, just plain wacko or even be accused of being at "that time of the month" as one forum member once posted Now you may well have that opinion already but that is not the point
Just a question Brett does that include going through peoples private photo albums as well , Just asking is all.
Unfortunately there is occasion for us to moderate posts, which may include deleting part/sections of posts/threads. It would appear, however, that you are referring to a specific event. Therefore rather than posting on the general forum I would have thought it appropriate to approach the mod team first.
Hi spec. Examples of censored or edited posts where I disagree? My point is not that I disagree that specific content may be inappropriate at all; if a mod feels it is then it is. My point is that deleting a post in its entirety in such circumstances is understandable but to edit a post to exclude the offensive or inappropriate text which may form a fundamental element of the poster's thought without which the entire meaning becomes scewed or the post itself Irrelevant. As intelligent as you all are, sometimes when people post, myself included, they do not always communicate their meaning clearly, and I would find it hard to believe you would on every single occasion understand exactly what the intended meaning is. Prior to joining this forum I had never used the term WTF yet now I do regularly! Furthermore if our posts are to be edited in this way I for one would feel the need to check back over my posts on a regular basis to see if they too had been altered, or a first and final warning issued, since I do not revisit a thread necessarily after posting. The example below I noticed when reading through a post in Serious. Now as the text is no longer there I have no idea what he was trying to say SENT FROM MY PHONE SO APOLOGIES FOR THE TYPING!
Carrie, the message from spec was intended to inform the poster of the indescresion of the need to moderate their posts, as obviously they will be fully aware of the original contents. In reality this is none of your concern.
I was asking a general question the answer to which could affect me. spec asked me for an example which is what I provided, from a thread I had intended posting in until I saw some of the horrifying responses. You are right that that example is none of my concern but I considered the principle was. Sorry, my mistake.
Oh crap, I just wanted to chime in and say I went too far and that the mods intervention was justified. Almost banned by a new mod, ha.
I've frequented many, many online forums over the years, and this is comfortably one of the best moderated I've ever seen. My hat goes off to the moderation team, who have a thankless task, and having had a peek behind the scenes at some of the things they have to put up with, I can't thank them enough for their work. You'll have seen, for instance, how quickly the mods have picked up and answered your question Simon
