| amp316 said:
See, that's the thing. There was nothing wrong with Spurge voicing his opinion. I can understand that he is frustrated, but you can't just tell people to "Shut the f*** up!" because you don't agree with them. There is a way to express your displeasure without doing something like that. I would have banned anyone for saying that. I am pretty sure that he knows that I don't have any personal problem with him, but there is a line that can't be crossed. I'm not trying to be a tough guy, but there are certain rules that everyone must follow.
I am one of the members that seems to have a bond with many newer and older posters. I am friends with you and with Montana, for instance. There can be several reasons why one group doesn't get along with another and I always have looked at the community as one group, but unfortunately not only have we not only been divided by what consoles that we own, but also into other sub-groups by how long we have been here. I remember when I first signed up here and a few of the more popular posters acted snobbish towards me and other new members and wouldn't even reply to you when you personally asked them questions. It was like they were protecting there territory or whatever... I always said to myself that when I became a senior member that I would never become like that and I hope that I don't ever come across that way. But I don't think that the senior members have a problem with some of the newer members because of that. Let's put it this way, many people poked fun at members like Soriku and Leo-J because they would often "spam". The thing is that they wouldn't take it personally when you would tell them so and many of the newer members don't seem to understand that the same rules had to be followed back then as they do now. I'm sure that you heard of the Soriku rule, right? It's called that because the rules that we are asking people to adhere to were made when Soriku was getting prolific in his posting with one or two word responses (sorry Soriku, I am not picking on you and you've become a fine member but you were an example that I could draw upon). My point is that spamming was frowned upon back then and it's not like "newer spammers" are being picked on. It always has been against the rules. About the humorous posts and sometimes off topic posts; I have been doing this myself the majority of VGChartz career but usually in my case, Rol's, d21 Lewis', badgenome's, etc the joke is usually sarcastic or ironic and has something to do with the subject. If the thread was about the Wii U and Rol came into it and said that he heard that his poop tastes like licorice but he'll never find out (for no reason), that would be spamming. The humorous, sarcastic, and ironnic posts often lighten the mood AND add to the conversations in my opinion.
I don't care for when one group acts like the existence of the other needs to be wiped out. That being said, I have seen posters from both the newer and older groups saying things in this manner. It is a two way street and it's not like it's only elders are picking on the newer members. I've seen some newer members saying how much better that the site will be when us older guys are gone. It's not right either way and both groups need to calm down. Someone that signed up here in 2012 has just as much right to be here as someone from 2006 and vice versa. Everyone needs to treat everyone with respect.
I don't understand what kind of guidance you are looking for. The rules are the rules and are listed for everyone to see. "No one" is allowed to troll, spam, flame, etc. It is the job of the moderators to enforce these rules and this is not "nazism". The only guidance that I can give everyone is to take stuff a little less seriously, be original, create original content, follow the rules and respect others. I can not speak for all of the older members, but I personally contribute less in the way of threads because I have made a lot and am not as inspired as I once was. Coming up with original quality threads is difficult and I'd rather put out a failed original joke thread than just leave a link to another site. That's the type of members that I wish that we had more of. More original content. Less links. Don't be afraid to fail. I am trying to contribute more through my new position and honestly am trying to do my best to be unbiased and to help out the community. The problem with being unbiased is that I have too be equally harsh as well as lenient with everyone.
Now I can't speak for Rol, but I would rather more people take your approach in certain ways. Even though I don't agree with everything that you (or anyone) says, you are brave enough to not just accept what some of the more popular senior members say and this is what adds to discussion. Having YOUR OWN opinion and voicing it (but being respectful at the same time) is encouraged.
I also feel like I can't please anybody in this job that I recently took, but I know that if I do my best and am unbiased that that's the best that I can do and I can be proud of that. That's all we can do. Do the best that you can.
Wow, this wound up being a lot longer than I thought that it would.
|
I think this works for me.
As long as the other mods are aware of this and that they understand that some older users might just be asking the mods to do something that goes against what you just said, just let users be and have fun like they were able to have fun, then it should be okay.
Users might come up to you guys and say "hey, these guys are just saying useless things, shut them up", because they're behaving like the jealous older sibling that doesn't want the newcomer to have a place in existence, that's when you have to remember this topic. I was shocked once when Monty locked the roast thread. It was fun, it was a place where we were allowed to poke fun at each other brienfly, but it was short-lived.
I wish the mods and veteran members could enter threads like that and give the less familiar ones the example and show them what makes people smile/laugh and what scares them away, that way those who aren't as fortunate as them can learn to socialize with others in a more pleasant way.
An example, just so I illustrate this. IRL, I'm typically a person who struggles to make friends and get along with people. I am rude and very prideful. This year and the last I played in a softball league, and there is this girl in the team with who something happened, I said something she took the wrong way and since then (a year and a half ago), she barely talks to me.
Well, I was playing rover and she covers second base, but she doesn't get _on_ the base. I knew I couldn't tell her because she wouldn't listen to a word I said, so I talked to the coach/organizer, and he told me this "Be careful, don't tell her after the play she screws up, that makes it unpleasant. Tell it to her before the play discreetly, something like 'Stay close to second so I can throw it to you'".
That just went a long way to help me how to reach out to her. I think we need something similar here. The veteran users who are complaining need to break free from that attitude and show those who are lacking the better path, like big brothers. I know it's not a normal request, but as weird as it is it's what I wish on the chartz. I have a big e-mail I sent to the team here when I got off vgchartz as padib the first time... maybe some day I will share that with you guys. It was ideas on how to help people become better posters by example and mentorship, a tad of a different structure from policing. For now I see you guys doing that mentorship, going into the threads, inspiring us, you, Smeags going to the Wii experience thread letting us know about an upcoming Wii celebration. And then beyond that a kind of atmosphere where the more veteran aren't always exasperated and are showing us by example how to be better, that's what I would love to see.
