Rant Is the attitude of the forum community changing?

The biggest change, in my opinion, is the general acceptance of "trolling" as a normal thing to happen, and everyone being perfectly okay with it.

Personally, I can't stand "trolling", people just trying to be annoying for the sake of being annoying could stand to be given a shoeing.

I dislike that "trolling" (Also known as "being an asshole/*****/dickhead") has become accepted as 'the norm' for forums. In fact, no, I hate that it's become acceptable for people to be abhorrent dickheads just because "It's okay, I'm only trolling, go get a butthurt form lolrofl", or whatever else those irritating ****ers drawl these days.

The "Look at my shiny new kit" threads are as abundant as they ever have been, and don't really bother me - I just don't read them if it's not hardware I'm interested in.

 

- I hate trolling, we had one thread for that before, now we have several where it happens all the time.

- I don't mind the "pimp your kit" threads at all, on car forums that I'm a member of, people show off their pride and joy all the time and it's no different here.

- I can't stand the nonsense/spamcount++ threads that have become too common in GD over the past year or so. Lord Xeb is mostly to blame, I don't mind telling you. They make it harder to find the good threads with interesting content in General Discussion.

- I find myself struggling to write the same sort of constructive, thought-provoking replies to relevant threads on this forum lately. I don't know what that means, but I don't like it. I'll try to read through this thread from start to finish and post something more constructive later on.

 

This is exactly what a community should always strive to achieve, whether it be online or brick and mortar communities. We should all play our part in making it better to attract more people into it - the right kind of people. Leading by example.

 

I have to agree with this. I've seen people join, and have a full rep bar in a few months by doing nothing but post in the demote thread. Where as my full bar has been built up over 8 years by giving useful advice. I'm not saying there aren't SOME rep points from frivolous stuff, but by far the huge majority is given by people I've helped. It's basically no longer a benchmark for who's advice is trustworthy. Anyone can gain rep by basically ripping stuff off 4chan and reddit, and regurgitating it in the demote thread.

 

You know something? I stopped giving a crap about any hardware discussion here, bar the tech help stuff, because that's people being nice and sharing.

The rest is,



You might say "What the hell are you doing on our hardware forum then?"

I'm here for the off-topic, the odd stuff, the interesting things beyond hardware some members have to share and yes, the odd look in tech help to find a solution or if possible, assist with one.

And I stay for this because I find some members genuinely knowledgeable about those 'odd things' they get up to. For example from time to time I will share some of my airsoft nonsense, knowing there are a few others here but I like to read about other peoples nonsense too.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, i'm creeping on you all and it's only a matter of time before I find one of you.



The look at me stuff, one recent-ish example, without naming names, just caught my eye, and I do not wish to be cruel but it was just endless pictures of a case, close up, far away, here's a bit of plastic on the front, here's a screw, here's it upside down, here's it on a table, here's it even closer, here's it with a hat on, here's it with the light off, here's it with the window open (window out of shot).

 

To make this abundantly clear I for one am in no way questioning the level of service provided by the Mod's.

But your comment proves that not everything can be policed, which is the way of the world. But for this very reason what does need to happen is exactly what I outlined in my post. Those cases that are reported or spotted should have swift and hard action taken against them to deter others from offending in the same way.

I also have experience of moderating forums of various sizes, I appreciate the time and effort it takes. So to that very end, taking this stance will surely assist the mods in keeping the standard of conversation, replies and comments to a good valuable level.

 

I don't take offence to the massive "Look what I've bought!" Threads because, more often than not, I'm never going to see that hardware myself. Seeing how another person examines and rates things also helps me understand that which I've never had a chance to use myself.

I do enjoy posting in the Geekbench thread and such (I do wonder where that Benchmark Sticky went), even though I know, full well, I don't have a hope in hell of being the best in there. I do it for the competitive aspect, as well as showing others how the hardware I have stacks up against other parts.

What I do take offence to is when someone offers up an opinion that differs, before being shot down in flames. I understand that sometimes people may come up with ideas that we may see as wrong. But all of us here should be more than intelligent enough to be able to calmly and clearly explain why you don't agree with their point of view. Not just go "No. It's balls. Go away."

 

It's inevitable as things get more popular, the lower bound for the quality of content decreases.

I remember my first post here, I spent ages trying to sound like an old bloke talking about the ol' gallium cooled ATI GPUs that Sapphire did a few years ago.

 

I poke around Hardware every one in awhile, may as well throw in 2 cents:

The people posting the high end kit threads are generally friendly and helpful people. They aren't there to brag, they're there to show fellow tech enthusiasts shiny hardware. It's really quite similar to expensive case mods, they have the means and are letting us live vicariously through their purchases. What puts me off is the "club" mentality that is dangerously similar but far less productive. A thread discussing a certain piece of hardware can be very helpful for owners and people looking to buy, threads just to say "me too!" are pointless at best and flame provoking at worst. That and if I wanted every other thread to be ~*~*OFFICIAL*~*~ <product name> Owner's Society! I'd go to Overclock.net.

 

Well I like the fact there are others on here who buy ridiculous hardware. It's nice to see others with comparative hardware and see how it perfoms for them.

At the end of the day if you look at just about any of those threads you dislike they promote chat about the hardware, which is what I am here for. I care just as much about low end hardware as I do high end but why should the high end hardware be excluded?

That's almost discrimination against people just because they can afford something different.

If someone posted a thread saying they had just brought a antec 100 case they were so happy with it etc, I wouldn't jump on saying "is that all you can afford" no that person is proud of their purchase so let them enjoy it. The same goes for someone that goes out and buys an sr2 with dual 20 core xeons and 4 7970s, they are proud of their purchase let them enjoy it. After all we are all enthusiasts here and I for one love seeing different hardware and what people put together.

Is hate to feel I couldn't post here or had to tippy-toe around in case I upset someone.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using Tapatalk

 

Tbh the whole buisness of complaining about these new hardware threads is ridiculous and indefensible. If people were limited to post about only what everybody owned, there would be no forum.

Not wanting to point the figner, but it's clear (to me, at least) that some of the people spoiling the forum are the ones who bicker about the slightest thing. "Somebody started a thread about hardware that I don't own, and it's giving the forum a bad name." Huh... wot? Gimme a break! Even if hardware is being flaunted, let it happen - it's not a crime.

Frankly, I think that some members in particular need an injection of tolerance more than the wider forum needs the changes suggested above. It's give as well as take, and the people who whine about other people's valid contributions are very obiously the takers.

I must say that in the relatively short time that I've been a member here I've found the forum content stimulating, engaging, and the community largely welcoming and very supportive.

/soap box

 

I think you're missing the point. Members buying new hardware and displaying or benching is a good thing. It's people portraying the attitude of 'check me out' or similar that drives new members or people with less capable hardware into obscurity is detrimental.

You can review your own hardware without unzipping your epeen. Look at my sig for example. I dont have low end hardware, but I still act humbly and help people wherever I can. I wouldn't be a part of this community if it was a dick measuring stick. I despise that. The threads that I've highlighted have divided the community and caused members to leave. That's not what BT is about and a change is necessary.

And as I highlighted earlier, the boasting is the lesser of the two problems, trolling is much worse and more prevalent.

 

So are you saying those with high end hardware don't help people with low end hardware?

What constitutes in your opinions as "unzipping your epeen"? I would actually like to know the threads in question as I can't say I've seen any to that degree, if you could pm me them so I could take a look.

As for the "check me out" attitude again it is hard for me to address since I don't know the threads in question, maybe I am completely oblivious to them or maybe they just don't interest me so I don't care. But at the end of the day you are on a forum with people from every walk of life and yes some people are more brash than others but you can't expect peole to behave to what you deem acceptable.

I'm not gonna even go into the trolling cos I just couldn't care less about people being idiots, doesn't phase me at all, just ignore them.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using Tapatalk

 

I'll forward you those threads tomorrow. Boys night tonight and a little worse for wear! I'd rather be sober when commenting on such a subject. Now off to see the wife. Bueono note all.

 

I would also like to know which threads have caused this.

 

Could you send them to me too? I would be keen to see as anything like this should be stopped.

B

 

Would be good to see what you're on about here. I've yet to see an example of what it is that is making people leave.

 

In reflection this morning, sans alcofrolic enrichment, I don't think naming and shaming is the right thing to do. It would only serve to alienate those involved and further divide the community. I think that, judging by the replies thus far, I'm not the only one who came to this conclusion. Equally, there are others who disagree. Either way, this thread served its purpose to make us all question if we're 'doing it right' or could it be better. The latter is closer to the truth if we're honest.

Quite happy to draw a line under it now.

 

"Be the change you want to see in the world" --Ghandi

The quality of the forum is up to you in the end guys. Moderators can't be everywhere and we all have daytime jobs and nighttime sleep to take care of. Report trolls, don't feed them. Take a deep breath before you post. Address other members as you'd like to be addressed.

Moderation is a thin line between giving people the freedom to be their relaxed selves and have a creative exchange of ideas, and running a tight ship with lots of rules and boundaries. I can think of at least one thread, a whole sub-forum and ten members I would ban now, outright, because I feel that would improve things immeasurably. But that would make me a dictator, and the forum a police state. In a (relatively) free world things are by their nature a bit all over the place and people have to be tolerant of that. Take responsibility for your own community and you'll feel better about the result.

 

Haha, you got me

I'm all for threads about high end stuff, but not a new thread each time someone gets a new gpu or two...