So what do YOU like about your favorite forum?

jungleroomx

If I may have a bit of your time:

This may be a bit of a nerdy thread... it seems to go with the rules as I won't post what site I moderate for (nor ask anyone to visit it... please god do not visit it right now), but I can tell you it's a fairly large game site that's got a bit of a problem on the forum side.

Of all the forums I've visited as of late in the hopes of finding ideas for improving the ones I volunteer to mod, these PA forums are by far the best I've been to... so much, in fact, I'm coming here about as often as my main site. There are quite a bit of intelligent posters here as well, which is why I'm hoping to hear some really good opinions. I sincerely doubt that if I manage to help "fix" the boards I mod at I'll stop coming here... I love the vibe of this place. I'm also not trying to duplicate it elsewhere, but rather augment a different segment of net culture into a place that is practically starved of it.

Again, what really makes a forum great to you guys?

FunkyWaltDogg

I think the reason the PA forums are so great is because there's a large member base, rules are set and enforced appropriately, and it's something of a general purpose forum so the vast majority of forumers don't have an ax to grind.

jungleroomx

FunkyWaltDogg wrote: »

I think the reason the PA forums are so great is because there's a large member base, rules are set and enforced appropriately, and it's something of a general purpose forum so the vast majority of forumers don't have an ax to grind.

I'm constantly astounded how this place has hundreds of people viewing and posting on a game forum that isn't divided up by manufacturer, and yet flame wars seem rare as hell.

jclast

I spend a lot of time over at 360arcadians. I think what makes it my favorite is that the folks there aren't just people to talk to; they're the people I was blowing up the other night in Bomberman and the folks that kicked my ass at Catan.

Also, the administration is good, and Syndalis (I think he does all the coding) and the moderators listen to what the general population think would make the place better. For example, in the last couple (maybe few) months LCDXX opened up our Game On calendar so that anybody could make a game without having to wait for a mod to do it. This way somebody can throw up a GO to grab one or two more people that didn't happen to be in IRC.

They're also not disconnected from the user community. You're just as likely to play with Syn or LCD as another forumer. They also participate in the discussions and chat thread. Makes the place feel smaller and more welcoming, I think.

emnmnme

I'm shocked that people bother with spelling and grammar on any internet board. This board seems fairly consistent about those kinds of things.

Kaputa

Basically, you have to mandate a certain level of intelligence in the discussion. The reason G&T has always been better than, say, Gamespot forums is that they'll ban you if you come in with posts resembling an angry 12 year old's AIM diatribe against their most hated console manufacturer. The reason D&D is a good forum (I'd say "better than ____" but I haven't really visited many alternatives to this place) is because if you're a cock who doesn't add anything to the discussion or can't maintain any semblance of knowing what you're talking about, you'll be banned or verbally abused until you leave.

Since I don't know what site you moderate I don't know if the following applies to you, but prohibiting AIM-speak in general is a good idea. I won't spend 10 seconds at a forum that tolerates the "y r u bein so mean" shit.

jungleroomx

Kaputa wrote: »

Basically, you have to mandate a certain level of intelligence in the discussion. The reason G&T has always been better than, say, Gamespot forums is that they'll ban you if you come in with posts resembling an angry 12 year old's AIM diatribe against their most hated console manufacturer. The reason D&D is a good forum (I'd say "better than ____" but I haven't really visited many alternatives to this place) is because if you're a cock who doesn't add anything to the discussion or can't maintain any semblance of knowing what you're talking about, you'll be banned or verbally abused until you leave.

Since I don't know what site you moderate I don't know if the following applies to you, but prohibiting AIM-speak in general is a good idea. I won't spend 10 seconds at a forum that tolerates the "y r u bein so mean" shit.

We get that AIM speak plenty.

Por ejemple (on the subject of GTA4 on the PS3 vs 360):

as somebody who only owns a ps3 i gotta say, this interview really turns me off buying GTA4 at all, a developer basically says the ps3 is the incomplete watered down version and im suppose to just gladly hand over my 80 dollars after hearing that? thats just insane. He says that rockstar tries not to be a puppet as much as possible yet theyre making the complete game for one system because of a 50 million dollar payout, if that isnt a puppet im not sure what is.

dissapointment is the only word for this lol

The "lol" at the end was just the twist of the fucking knife in my goddamn brain.

FunkyWaltDogg

I don't see what the big problem with that post is. Other than the lack of capitalisation and the lol (both of which run rampant around these parts), it's perfectly readable.

Kaputa

jungleroomx wrote: »

We get that AIM speak plenty.

Por ejemple (on the subject of GTA4 on the PS3 vs 360):

as somebody who only owns a ps3 i gotta say, this interview really turns me off buying GTA4 at all, a developer basically says the ps3 is the incomplete watered down version and im suppose to just gladly hand over my 80 dollars after hearing that? thats just insane. He says that rockstar tries not to be a puppet as much as possible yet theyre making the complete game for one system because of a 50 million dollar payout, if that isnt a puppet im not sure what is.

dissapointment is the only word for this lol

The "lol" at the end was just the twist of the fucking knife in my goddamn brain.

That's not too bad. The random lol is dumb, and he could stand to use his shift key more often, but I've seen much worse.

Bingo

I agree with the OP. The PA forums are one of the best and one reason I'll be sticking around to annoy the fuck out of you guys :P

Forums associated with my favourite games are chock-full of elitist pricks and moderators who are elitist pricks and "warn because you disagree". It appears the mods here have a sense of humour, much like many of the posters.

There's another forum I went on, I won't mention the name but it was very popular. However, the "long-time" members had such a clique going that newbies were just thought of as trash. Shame really.

EDIT:

And a perfect quote from one game-forum member who didn't like the graphics in a particular game:

"Fuckin game. who the fuk buys game for anything but the gfx?"

I mean, wha? And no, he wasn't joking...

Quid

Good mods, a good chunk of whom I have/will meet.

CaptHawkeye1

Any forum that enforces the rules of logical debate and demands its members contribute genuinly usefull information or commentary on a subject has my respect. Though personally, I prefer Mike Wong's Stardestroyer.net above all. PA is still awesome.

jungleroomx

FunkyWaltDogg wrote: »

I don't see what the big problem with that post is. Other than the lack of capitalisation and the lol (both of which run rampant around these parts), it's perfectly readable.

I know.

But it's agitating.

I understand I'm not supposed to run amok on people because of those things, and I don't do so.

This feller got a bit of a vacation... and no, we don't have a swear filter:

as a owner of a ps3 and not the s*** xbox 360 i woul side with kill dave the are siding with microsofr

Shazkar Shadowstorm

I like you guys.

geckahn

Shazkar Shadowstorm wrote: »

I like you guys.

Plus it's well moderated and . . it's the best/only place I've ever been that's great for reasoned political discussions.

And I've been posting here forever.

emnmnme

"It appears the mods here have a sense of humour..."

*places a KICK ME sign on ElJefe's back*

Gooey

I don't like anyone here.

Besides Hap.

Just kidding!

About liking Hap!

Proto

Gim

Muse Among Men

My once favorite forum was RD - it was the first forum where I can say with confidence I got to know the people there. It was/is small, and you knew every single forumer by heart. Whenever a newbie showed up, you could tell, and you'd joyously proclaim that escape was impossible hence forth. The RDers were my first real 'internet friends', if such a thing exists, and possibly are the only people I've never met face to face and know only through their posts and avatars that I would meet in a heartbeat. That forum made the year a hell of a lot more fun, so it's rather sad to see it die slowly and agonizingly.

Knowing that like all forums, my dear little recluse would wilt, I went out on search for a new haven. PA forums manages this rather well. It's zany, kooky, bold and ballsy. PA's got moxy, I tell ya. And *gasp* there's actually some intellect here, something that can be hard to find!

Quid

It's not hard to meet PA people face to face. We're surprisingly sociable and pretty much everywhere.

jungleroomx

Quid wrote: »

It's not hard to meet PA people face to face. We're surprisingly sociable and pretty much everywhere.

Got some Arizonians?

jungleroomx

Thanks for the comments you guys. And for any future ones. I'll see what I can accomplish.

s_86

-

Hacksaw

Quid wrote: »

Good mods, a good chunk of whom I have/will meet.

This is true. Our mod staff is by and large the main reason why things don't suck here. I shudder to think of what this place would be like without them.

Irond Will

Quid wrote: »

It's not hard to meet PA people face to face. We're surprisingly sociable and pretty much everywhere.

I've only met Dyna, Shinto, fightinfilipino, and some other guy who had a retarded username that I don't remember. You guys need to move to the East Coast.

But, yeah, I've been impressed with the caliber of people here.

Elki

I agree that 100% of the credit goes to the mod staff.

That credit is then divided up based on activity statistics.

Elki

Irond Will wrote: »

Quid wrote: »

It's not hard to meet PA people face to face. We're surprisingly sociable and pretty much everywhere.

I've only met Dyna, Shinto, fightinfilipino, and some other guy who had a retarded username that I don't remember. You guys need to move to the East Coast.

But, yeah, I've been impressed with the caliber of people here.

I met Quiddy, mrflippy, tynic, and a forumer that shall not be named.

Edit: And some girl who lurks here.

Irond Will

Elkamil wrote: »

I agree that 100% of the credit goes to the mod staff.

That credit is then divided up based on activity statistics.

I don't know how you do it, Elks. I suspect that you've downloaded your hindbrain into the internets.

VishNub

Hacksaw wrote: »

Quid wrote: »

Good mods, a good chunk of whom I have/will meet.

This is true. Our mod staff is by and large the main reason why things don't suck here. I shudder to think of what this place would be like without them.

Kusu. Everywhere. Oh god. The horror.

Also: Mods. Except tube. Tube is a buttmonkey.

Thanatos

s_86 wrote: »

I was once at these Lost forums (The TV show), and their signature banner pictures (whatever those are called), were 3 times larger than the ones allowed here. It really ticked me off. I was a guest though, maybe I could have turned them off if I had an account.

I keep trying to convince Ramius to turn off sigs here altogether.

You can do it for yourself from the user panel, but mods aren't allowed to, because we have to be on the lookout for rulebreaking/NSFW/Too-large sigs.

I do not understand how people can browse a forum where 90% of the content of a page is people's sigs.

japan

I think the reason the discussion around here is relatively intelligent is that idiots get stamped on hard by ordinary posters, and for the most part, the mods back them up.

It means you have that rare situation where both the mods and the forum population are both working towards the same end. I don't think it's possible for a mod staff to enforce standards on users when 90% of them have no interest in adhering to them, or any expectation of their application.

CoJoeTheLawyer

I'll agree with the above that good mods, a surprisingly high IQ and common sense quota among posters and a general sense of respect for others' opinions make PA a good board to waste hours of your day on.

However, I will add that in addition to all of those factors, PA boards also seem to attract people who genuinely care about games You don't see twenty post a day about whether the Wii can run Gamecube games or what games are good for the Xbox or if Console A is better/worse than Console B. People here seem to *gasp* have formed intelligent, coherent opinions prior to posting and don’t just use the forums to answer stupid questions.

Also, it seems that most petty/mean/troll-ish (is that a word...it is now) behavior is confined to strict areas of the board. You don't have internet thugs bashing people around the clock here.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Irond Will wrote: »

Quid wrote: »

It's not hard to meet PA people face to face. We're surprisingly sociable and pretty much everywhere.

I've only met Dyna, Shinto, fightinfilipino, and some other guy who had a retarded username that I don't remember. You guys need to move to the East Coast.

But, yeah, I've been impressed with the caliber of people here.

Yay East

ElJeffe

We do have good mods, a lot of the credit for that goes to a consistently good string of admins. The admins are the ones who get charged with determining the overall tone, with selecting the mods, with listening to the mods (and users) to determine what should and shouldn't fly, and so on. From Bone Daddy to Whippy to Ramius to Cardboard Tube, we've always had some very good leadership at the top level.

If a forum is really in the crapper, it's a good chance that the guy(s) running the show need to rethink some core policies, or step down. Selecting an appropriate mod staff is probably 75% of running a good forum.

edit: Beyond that, I think that having mods who actually contribute to and understand the forums, and having a requirement for at least minimal adherence to proper spelling and grammar is important. People tend to take things more seriously when evry poast duznt lok liek th1s.

Irond Will

ElJeffe wrote: »

We do have good mods, a lot of the credit for that goes to a consistently good string of admins. The admins are the ones who get charged with determining the overall tone, with selecting the mods, with listening to the mods (and users) to determine what should and shouldn't fly, and so on. From Bone Daddy to Whippy to Ramius to Cardboard Tube, we've always had some very good leadership at the top level.

Jeff I think that, no matter how much you kiss up, your title isn't going to be changed.

Jacobkosh

My 'main' forum was the old Warren Ellis board on Delphi (defunct as of 2002, but its descendants live on). Everyone was required to use their real names, which for my money helped cut down on a lot of nonsense, and it was a different crowd than you see in most fora - more media biz/creative/professional types, fewer compsci majors and Gamestop employees - which, since I lived in a dorm full of engineers and CS majors, really helped broaden my outlook in a positive fashion. Also the forum was like a magic one-armed bandit that dispensed friends, girlfriends, money, and jobs to myself and others. I salute it with wistful nostalgia.

All that said, I've only been here a bit, but I'm quite happy with D&D, at least (I don't venture out all that much). There's never a shortage of interesting things to read about even if I don't post that much, and the "what are you reading" thread alone has given me hours of fun, so...yeah. Big ups, as I am told the kids say, to the mods and admins. I wouldn't want your jobs but you do them with elan.

Tav

I think what I like most about here is that the user base is so large that you're guranteed to get discussion about something that interests you. My favourite forum, which I won't link, only has one other WoW player and only one thread about WoW which hasn't had a post in about 2 months. I've only been here a month but I've already seen topics about things that I'm really interest me, and actually make me wanna post.

Also, much for the MMO section mods. They're awesome.

thundercake

I am surprised I found myself here...I have been reading PA for a very long time, and recently wondered what could possibly be on the forums...lo and behold, people my own age, not acting like jerks...well, most of the time =P

But apart from this forum, I have loved Conceptart.org's forum for ages...

Rohan

Penny Arcade? The intelligence level of the people... and the fact that they have good taste. Honestly, the amount of stupid on the 'net is frightening...

SirUltimos

Rohan wrote: »

Penny Arcade? The intelligence level of the people... and the fact that they have good taste. Honestly, the amount of stupid on the 'net is frightening...

This really is true. Every now and then I wander into a thread on these forums and think that this forum has gotten a lot stupider, but then I stop by another random forum (say, the Gamefaqs forums) and see what true stupidity is like.

The level of intelligence and coherence on these forums may not draw new people, but it does encourage people to stay, which is great for the health of the community. We're not filled with people who make one or two quick posts and are gone, and instead we're filled with an actual community of people.

Rohan

SirUltimos wrote: »

Rohan wrote: »

Penny Arcade? The intelligence level of the people... and the fact that they have good taste. Honestly, the amount of stupid on the 'net is frightening...

This really is true. Every now and then I wander into a thread on these forums and think that this forum has gotten a lot stupider, but then I stop by another random forum (say, the Gamefaqs forums) and see what true stupidity is like.

The level of intelligence and coherence on these forums may not draw new people, but it does encourage people to stay, which is great for the health of the community. We're not filled with people who make one or two quick posts and are gone, and instead we're filled with an actual community of people.

It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...