News Posts in Gen Chat

[Canofceleri]

Gen chat really blows. And it's not just all the news, but it adds to it a lot. It's lazy, people just say "I want to make a thread now" and then look for this sh*t. Do we really need to be updated at every incidence of infanticide or the last terrible sh*t that went down?

 

I mean, general chat is open... back in the day everything used to go to gen chat, even stuff like short stories, but after awhile we got a writer's forum. I don't mean to bitch or seem like a censor, people should talk about what they want to and hell I might even post something like that if I'm so inclined. But it's never ending and gen chat is losing any semblance of original threads with this constant influx of "easy posting".

 

News Hell anyone?

[Forty]

It's not really news hell so much as it's post hell. I know it's supposed to be generally unmoderated, but I think that entire philosophy should be reconsidered. It's quite the dump currently, and has been growing in stink for a long time.

[Pat]

I just posted something about this about fifteen minutes ago in the Grumpy Old Forumers topic.

 

It's getting a bit repetitive. 75% of all the posts I see in there are "woman puts baby in microwave," or "children kill some guy," and the only replies you see are "wow, that sucks," or "who cares?"

[Banana]

It's not really news hell so much as it's post hell. I know it's supposed to be generally unmoderated, but I think that entire philosophy should be reconsidered. It's quite the dump currently, and has been growing in stink for a long time.

I agree. There needs to be more limits for gen chat and not have it be a random horrible news forum.

[Justin]

Yeah, it sucks, but it's sucked for a year or so now.

 

That said, the next time I see a topic that's a quote from a news source without any personal insight by the poster, I'm locking it without question.

[Forty]

Yeah, it sucks, so we should clean it up. The overall quality of posts needs to be encouraged to rise.

[Tsuroki]

I think part of the problem is that we have a specific forum for everything now. Serious topics? Debates and discussions. Sports, vehicles, writing, art, computers, gaming... everything has its own place. Because of this, the General Chat that we have now is pretty much in line with Off Topic forums in general; retarded posts filled with nonsensical jibberjabber about nothing in particular.

 

I know when I came back to the forums after a bit of a hiatus (earlier in January), I made a silly little topic just to see what the reaction would be like. I complained about the dip in quality and other such nonsense, but honestly... and I do mean honestly... I can't really think of any way to improve that particular section of the forum. There are only two (two!) things that I could think of.

 

1) Disregard the forum and let things be, or

2) Remove General Chat and force the masses to stick to the other forums, posting threads of substance.

 

The first option is the easiest to follow -- don't change a damn thing -- while the second one would be the most effective in forcing post quality to be upped.

 

[Banana]

I think part of the problem is that we have a specific forum for everything now. Serious topics? Debates and discussions. Sports, vehicles, writing, art, computers, gaming... everything has its own place. Because of this, the General Chat that we have now is pretty much in line with Off Topic forums in general; retarded posts filled with nonsensical jibberjabber about nothing in particular.

 

I know when I came back to the forums after a bit of a hiatus (earlier in January), I made a silly little topic just to see what the reaction would be like. I complained about the dip in quality and other such nonsense, but honestly... and I do mean honestly... I can't really think of any way to improve that particular section of the forum. There are only two (two!) things that I could think of.

 

1) Disregard the forum and let things be, or

2) Remove General Chat and force the masses to stick to the other forums, posting threads of substance.

 

The first option is the easiest to follow -- don't change a damn thing -- while the second one would be the most effective in forcing post quality to be upped.

Yeah, getting rid of it would probably be the best thing to do, but losing people a lot of posts.

[Forty]

liek omgf not teh post countz!

 

Option 2 would be the most effective as far as forcing quality, but it would be odd not having a general section for uncategorized things and social threads.

[Girish]

Why not just make a rule disallowing posting of news stories?

[Tsuroki]

Why not just make a rule disallowing posting of news stories?

News stories alone aren't the point. It's the content of the posts, in general, that are an issue.

[Exkabewbikadid]

The power to improve gen chat lies solely with the members. We can't guide it or specifically moderate it. I suggest doing these things:

 

- If someone posts something that sucks, ignore it. Let it die from its own weakness rather than keeping it alive with senseless replies.

- If you don't like the topics being posted, start posting ones of your own that you feel are of quality and interest to others.

 

That's right, if you think gen chat sucks, then TAKE THE POWER BACK! Fight sh*t with a shovel, yo.

[jelly]

General chat has always sucked. You know what has happened? Older members have grown up and now see it as the dump it is.

 

I don't think there's much you can do other than hope that the demographics of the GTA fanbase changes drastically.

[SWEETSAPRIK]

I agree with the two above posts.

 

Also, I kinda like it the way it is, for what it is. Is it filled with crap, yeah, but it's been basically the same since I joined. If I don't like a specific topic, I skip it, problem solved. Every now and then someone points to one of the four great topics ever posted in there and makes like they were the norm, when really they were the exception to the rule. I say leave it as it is, and if you think all the topics suck, make a good one, try another subforum, or shut up.

 

That said, I wouldn't be against making it so posting in gen chat doesn't up your post count or something. Not that I think it would change anything.

[Canofceleri]

I wouldn't be against making it so posting in gen chat doesn't up your post count or something.

I think that's a good idea.

[Forty]

I wouldn't be against making it so posting in gen chat doesn't up your post count or something.

I think that's a good idea.

We may have a winner, folks.

[MindCorrupt]

 

Make a dedicated news forum?

[disco]

I wouldn't be against making it so posting in gen chat doesn't up your post count or something.

I think that's a good idea.

We may have a winner, folks.

I thought of it first!

 

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=211156

[Otter]

I'm with Sweets on this one. I actually kind of like it in there.

 

I also don't see what's so wrong about news posts. They're infinitely better than milestone or birthday topics, aren't they? Furthermore, it's a great chance to discuss world affairs in a completely candid setting, with both the retards and the Mensa squad alike sharing their points of view - bottom line? Priceless entertainment.

 

Disabling post count isn't going to do a damned thing, people. You could remove the entire post count system from the whole board, and you wont see a spike in intelligent posting.

 

Now, the problem (if there really is one) is a lax attitude brewing in the GTAIV section spilling into the rest of the board. No offense to the active moderating staff, but some areas are in need of a little firmer attention. Take Stilton's "ledby," the D&D, for instance. Once mortukai was banned, the trepidation to post idiotic responses was drastically reduced, and with no restrictions, the place has become overrun by r8tards.

 

Now look at sections with a good, mother-hen type approach, like Movie and TV chat. (Why hasn't papsmear been mod'd yet? ) GTAIV, albeit an infinitely harder place to do so, needs this kind of structure. I know there's a fear of frightening off new members with strict rules - but we're not going to be found wanting for members any time soon.

 

As for Gen chat, well, it needs a moderator led-by who loves the area, has a sense of humour, is fair... and is 16-18 years old.

Edited February 10, 2008 by Otter

[SWEETSAPRIK]

Once mortukai was banned, the trepidation to post idiotic responses was drastically reduced, and with no restrictions, the place has become overrun by r8tards.

I agree, except for the bit about mort. I found that the amount of inane and needlessly hostile bullsh*t being posted in there dropped quite a bit when he was banned. Not by coincidence either.

[truthypants]

 

As for Gen chat, well, it needs a moderator who loves the area, has a sense of humour, is fair... and is 16-18 years old.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Gen Chat needs a moderator... more of a light touch here and there, every once in a while.

[Otter]

Whoops. I actually meant led-by.

 

Edit: Sweets, needlessly hostile bullsh*t was the best part!

Edited February 10, 2008 by Otter

[Forty]

I completely agree with Otter. The GTAIV sections are where a lot of the newer members spill out of, and (with complete respect to Xcomm and whoever else is brave enough to moderate that place), it needs stiffer attention. If a standard is set there, where so many new people first make themselves known, it would trickle out to other areas of the board. There's nothing wrong with being more strict.

 

I remember a few years ago when mods were called nazis all the time because of how strict they were. But we all had much more respect for quality posting, and it was recognized community-wide when someone had a dedication to it. I think that mentality is gone from the board in many ways. (and I don't think it has to do with age, really)

[Icarus]

- If someone posts something that sucks, ignore it. Let it die from its own weakness rather than keeping it alive with senseless replies.

I think this is something that needs to be enforced a lot more.

 

The problem is that you have a really crappy topic and one person goes in to say how bad it is. After that, you have about 20 people jump on the bandwagon, going on like, "YEAH THIS TOPIC SUCKS NOOB! GTFO!" and so on.

 

I know Wheels has a topic pinned in General Chat about not replying to spam, but no one really seems to listen to it. It's like all these people have to get in a free post count to say how much the topic sucks or that they've reported it before the mod manages to lock it.

 

One solution and I'll try and describe it as best I can is when you enter general chat, have the rule about replying to spam right on the main page... like how in Network Support, you have in giant letters: "Yes, we know that GTAGarage isn't working." Put something like that on the main page of General Chat and maybe it'll cut down on the retards posting stuff like, "u suck... so does this topic lulz."

 

I also agree with Otter; General Chat needs a led-by, even if the forum is unmoderated.

[Pat]

How about a feature for the moderators and administrators to warn everyone who's posted in a specific topic all at once? That way, the rule (replying to spam = verbal warning) can easily be enforced, without the moderator and/or administrator having to warn everyone who's posted in the topic individually.

Edited February 10, 2008 by EmoPat

[Forty]

 

- If someone posts something that sucks, ignore it.  Let it die from its own weakness rather than keeping it alive with senseless replies.

I think this is something that needs to be enforced a lot more.

 

The problem is that you have a really crappy topic and one person goes in to say how bad it is. After that, you have about 20 people jump on the bandwagon, going on like, "YEAH THIS TOPIC SUCKS NOOB! GTFO!" and so on.

Quoted For Truthyness

[Banana]

- If someone posts something that sucks, ignore it.  Let it die from its own weakness rather than keeping it alive with senseless replies.

I think this is something that needs to be enforced a lot more.

 

The problem is that you have a really crappy topic and one person goes in to say how bad it is. After that, you have about 20 people jump on the bandwagon, going on like, "YEAH THIS TOPIC SUCKS NOOB! GTFO!" and so on.

Quoted For Truthyness

Sorry to be off-topic but why is 40 in awaiting authorization?

[anuj]

I think the lack of interesting discussion is directly related to the lack of interesting people.

 

Funny enough, I was appointed to moderator as sort of a staff liaison to general chat, replacing 40 who had left earlier. This was due to my usual contribution to GenChat as well as my previous positions in GFX and Gaming. Of course, the quality of GC went down greatly, due to whatever reasons, and I moved to modding the forums in general, responding to each report from every section. I think the best way to revitalize GC is to get rid of the insane amount of other forums we have. I think diverting traffic to 10+ different sections when all we really needed were "General Chat" and "Graphics" was a bit of a waste. Yeah, everything is more organized, but now because of the lack of traffic to those forums (due to whatever reason) those forums are dying and could be re-integrated into general chat.

 

My two cents at least.

[Crokey]

This statement applies to 90% of the posters in this Topic

 

"Your just getting old and grumpy, because you've been on here for so long, that it's not like it was in the olden days"

 

I'm included in that by the way, but in many ways it's true, if we were to look at the posts from an average day back in 2003-2004 we would look at it and have nostalgia, but if a new member was to look at it (and disregard the post date) they would see that it looks just the same as it does now*. Yeah I've been guilty of posting the odd News topic, but probably everyone else has at some point, but I'm with Otter in that it's good to get other peoples opinion that isn't that of the Broadcaster (like that Fox News effort... allegedly) or thier sponsors, but at least add your point to it, to at least get the conversation started.

 

*To me there is only one problem in Gen Chat, and that is those that post one-lines that aren't relevent like "STFU", "u r lame gtfo", "tell them to eff off" etc, nothing helpfull and not even remotely funny, if it was a funny response like "Ask 'nuj he had a stubbed toe once" or something like that, then that is Gen Chat. I also can't stand this thing of typing in 'txtspk' and all lower case, I know some folk don't speak English very well, but those that do still type like idiots, I mean how hard is it to hold down the shift key while pressing another button or if you don't know how to spell a word then type it into google nine times out of ten it will ask if you meant what you wanted to spell.

 

Perhaps a Post-Count limiter or just some general slaps all around are needed and it will get some of them back into line. Or even as part of the Registration process, we could code in a General Grammar and Spelling test and if you fail then you can't join or at least post in any of the Community Areas.

[Canofceleri]

- If someone posts something that sucks, ignore it.  Let it die from its own weakness rather than keeping it alive with senseless replies.

I think this is something that needs to be enforced a lot more.

 

The problem is that you have a really crappy topic and one person goes in to say how bad it is. After that, you have about 20 people jump on the bandwagon, going on like, "YEAH THIS TOPIC SUCKS NOOB! GTFO!" and so on.

Quoted For Truthyness

Sorry to be off-topic but why is 40 in awaiting authorization?

On topic of the first quotes... definitely true. I think it's something that people need to be aware of because most people are guilty of such, I am at times. But that is a big thing to deter sh*t posts, no one will want to post crap if they're not getting feedback. Good posts should be rewarding with replies.

 

And on the last quote... I was wondering the same thing... what's up with 40? Is he moving into modship or did he do something bad?