How can we improve AH

The Artist

Rb wrote: »

Acronyms > text speak.

= bbbgger hhwfdth jwiuu924[llku[pp:p

AlmightyCushion

Rb wrote: »

Acronyms > text speak.

They're more or less the same thing. Actually acronyms would probably be worse than text speak for people to understand.

Steve

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

They're more or less the same thing. Actually acronyms would probably be worse than text speak for people to understand.

QFT, FTW.

For sure.
I still find I have to google some of the acronyms that pop up.

It's all fun though.

+1 to Snypers post.


*Sorry to mods for posting that crap earlier, I was a PUI.

WhiteWashMan

snyper wrote: »

I think the problem is somewhat ironic.

What makes AH so popular is the diversity of the topics and the various responces to these threads that can come. Some topics are rather daft and will obviously contain daft answers, other threads can have a particularly serious underlining issue within that can turn into a decent debate. The thing that needs to be looked at however is that if you take most of the threads from AH, you could probably move them to various other forums within boards.ie where the topic will be discussed more seriously, but in effect there will be less of direct activity to it because unless the member has a particular interest in that area they wont be logging on.

Personally, i think AH's biggest problem is personal abuse. Im far from a saint, but u think that there are members that at every oppertunity will make a point of being negative toward members, im not referring to well known active members taking a jibe at another well known member, because in most cases its all in jest, however its when new members are given an unwarrented agressive response from long standing members, it discourages noe members from participating. I know it was certainly the first thing that struck me when i joined Boards.ie, was how agressive some members can be toward others particularly in AH. I joined in 2006, but didnt post very much until the end of 2007 because of this. On the face of it, it looks like there is malice within their comments, however i know that most of the time its not really meant to be.

I suppose the 2 points im trying to make is..

I think members should try to be nicer to newer members, first time posters if you will.

I think that the other difficulty, which is the ironic part that i had earlier suggested is that AH is popular because of its sometimes daft postings and variety of comments that wouldnt be tolerated in other forums.


I dont really have the answer other than, let the moderators decide what is acceptable and what is not, and perhaps because of its popularity and activity and also because of the difficulty of moderating a forum where there seems to be alot of "grey area" as to what is acceptable, i suggest perhaps an extra couple of moderators.

- Brian

I dont disagree with you, but how does a moderator ensure that people are nice?

again, its the same withthe content of the forum. moderators dont decide what topics are posted, and we dont decide how people should act.

the overall feel and theme of this forum is not dictated by the moderators. its the users that make it what it is. I am not about to implement something that really we have no control over.
being a dick is a bannable offence, although one i will rarely ban for, but being unkind isnt something i can ban for, nor would i even want to open that little pandora's box.

less subjective ideas, and more tangible ideas that we can act on are the order of the day.

if people want to be nicer and start interesting threads, you wont hear any complaints from the moderators!

Rb

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

They're more or less the same thing. Actually acronyms would probably be worse than text speak for people to understand.

Well, the thing about acronyms is that those used on this site are quite commonly used i.e lol, tbh etc and the majority of people would have seen them elsewhere previously. If they haven't, sticking it into google will immediately produce the definition.

The same can't be said about outright text speak though, which not only is used more frequently in a typical sentence than acronyms, but are completely person dependent. Some are common enough, such as "h8", but others are/could be made up by the OP themselves, unlike acronyms.

WhiteWashMan

i think youre mixing up acronyms and abbreviations.

AckwelFoley

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

being a dick is a bannable offence, although one i will rarely ban for

this, i have noticed

As for the rest of waht you said, yes i understand the difficulties, and yes they are more subjective than definitive suggestions ive made, but i suppose the point still holds some merit.

I dont want to go and list posts from threads - you've been here alot longer than most of us so you know the type im talking about, but if a moderator sees a post from a member suggesting to another member that "dont be such a loser" or something of the same calibre, i think they should be pulled up for it.

I love AH, its good fun - but, on any given day there are threads that should be in the Cuckoos nest rather than perhaps AH.

Threads like ..

I just froze a slug to death
How long does it take you to piss
Pissing on the seat

Again, yes i do acknowledge, that there is not definitive line here, and could probably lead to a few members running off to spam feedback, but its the only particular issues i can see with AH.

Trying to ban the use of phrases such as YORE MA, while annoying to some or most, its not realistic, i feel, as soon as people stop finding it amusing people will stop using it.

Rb

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

i think youre mixing up acronyms and abbreviations.

Well, "lol" is an abbreviation and "tbh" is an acronym afaik (which is also an acronym) so you're right in that I mixed them up a little there.

Keano

Can yore ma not become **** ** as is the case with other words?

AckwelFoley

Then what? Blank out other phrases we dont like??
It wil die out in time with a little work on repremanding of posters that use it too much or in the wrong time and place.

Eoin

Rb wrote: »

Well, "lol" is an abbreviation and "tbh" is an acronym afaik (which is also an acronym) so you're right in that I mixed them up a little there.

They are all acronyms (which are a form of abbreviation anyway).

Keano

snyper wrote: »

It wil die out in time with a little work on repremanding of posters that use it too much or in the wrong time and place.

Hopefully.

Steve

Rb wrote: »

Well, "lol" is an abbreviation and "tbh" is an acronym afaik (which is also an acronym) so you're right in that I mixed them up a little there.

Sorry for being pedantic but they're all acronyms Rb.

An acronym is a word, representing a phrase, derived from the first letters of each (or selected) words in the phrase.
lol = laugh out loud

An abbreviation is simply a shortened version of a word - "it's", "dept." "etc."

AlmightyCushion

It's would be a contraction.

SimpleSam06

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

less subjective ideas, and more tangible ideas that we can act on are the order of the day.

Without getting into reorganisation of the forum structure or cracking down on memes, theres really not a hell of a lot you can do to improve AH without some fundamental changes.

Like using some of the many nifty web 2.0 gimmicks out there, or setting up a "pool table" section where people can play flash games, maybe even have a leaderboard or championship. You'd need a spectator mode as well as a "record and replay" mode in there though (I can see some grudge matches of legend coming to pass). As I understand it, boards was founded based on gaming, wouldn't that be a logical progression?

Or perhaps a limited highly moderated image posting ability, if you've ever wandered over to fark that can be a lot of fun, AH-specific competitions, maybe. I'd say using some of the chat software out there as well, but that would really detract from the forum (and don't start about that exercise in pain, IRC).

Theres a lot that could be done with a forum which has such a large and active membership, but you need to be able to take a few leaps of faith. Some of those would inevitably backfire, but you've pretty much hit a wall in terms of forum improvements otherwise, imho.

AlmightyCushion

There games here before (I wasn't around for it but I've heard others go on about it). They were removed for some reason (probably causing a strain on the servers). Getting them brought back would be a site issue those.

Rb

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Like using some of the many nifty web 2.0 gimmicks out there, or setting up a "pool table" section where people can play flash games, maybe even have a leaderboard or championship. You'd need a spectator mode as well as a "record and replay" mode in there though (I can see some grudge matches of legend coming to pass). As I understand it, boards was founded based on gaming, wouldn't that be a logical progression?

Games would be fun alright, but as AC said it'd be more a question for the admins than just a moderation of AH as is...

People are always free to set up forum games on Yahoo or the like too, at the moment the soccer forum have some game running (externally) afaik which is going quite well.

SimpleSam06 wrote:

Or perhaps a limited highly moderated image posting ability, if you've ever wandered over to fark that can be a lot of fun, AH-specific competitions, maybe. I'd say using some of the chat software out there as well, but that would really detract from the forum (and don't start about that exercise in pain, IRC).

Well, as you said, IRC exists as is and it's quick and painless to create a #afterhours if you wanted. Also, there was that program, can't recall the name of it but it overlayed a kind of chat client for each page that went ok for about 20 minutes and then died. Suppose a "Post you msn/skype/yahoo/aim/etc" kind of thread is an option, people could add eachother and have group conversations and the like...

SimpleSam06

Rb wrote: »

Also, there was that program, can't recall the name of it but it overlayed a kind of chat client for each page that went ok for about 20 minutes and then died.

I've seen this thing used with some effective results, its even got a vbulletin integration section... It could also be possible to maybe allow image posting to members with sufficient daily posts and a decent length of membership, after specific approval by a mod. That would cut down on the goatse shock pictures and whatnot appearing.

JC 2K3

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

while I understand that people would like a more unifrom approach across the board to 'enforcing' the rules, it cannot be done.
we are all individuals and we all have different states of mind. i am not the kitten loving andrex rolling personality you see before, for a full 24 hours a day.

Why can't it be done? And you don't have to be nice 24 hours a day, but you shouldn't mod according to your feelings, I strongly disagree with this:

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

sometimes i just get fed up of people doing stupid things all the time. i react according to my state of mind at that patricular moment. i assume the rest of the mods do as well. therefore, im not too worried about someone getting the rough end of a someones tongue every now and then.

Mods should always have to act in a neutral and professional manner when moderating. They should not have to act artificially mature or reserved when making posts as normal users and I think posts along the lines of "I would have expected better from a mod" are completely unfounded, but I think to say you allow mods to lose the head with a member every now and then and abuse their power as a result is ridiculous. You say this:

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

i think most people understand that, and i think only somon who is very sensitive, or is spoiling for an argument would take real offence otherwise.

Which seems a bit hypocritical to me. By this logic, mods would have to be extremely sensitive to overreact and ban someone simply because they're annoyed at them as opposed to an objective review of the situation.

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

perhaps the mods would take a more unifom approach if users do too?

I would have thought mods would have the responsibility to act uniformly when moderating....

Not that I see bad mod decisions very much or mods acting on feelings rather than following the charter, but I just don't agree with what you've written there at all. Of course I may have misinterpreted you, and if I have I apologise.

I think in general mods are a bit too respectful of one another. It sometimes seems as if it's taboo for a mod to criticise another mods decision. More open, constructive criticism by mods of other mods would be welcome I think.

All this talk of mods isn't exactly on topic here, however, as it applies to all of Boards really.

For the most part, AH is pretty well run. Keep it up is all I can say. Maybe more "yore ma"s to annoy the eaily irritated?

The Artist

+1

WhiteWashMan

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Why can't it be done?

for the simple reason that we havet got a set of written rules and proceedures.

when you write them up and you pay the moderators to enforce them, then you get it.

i also think that answers all of your other points nicely.

while you may feel you have some good points there, i'll just say that you may be right, but it wont happen, so im not too worried

Terry

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Why can't it be done? And you don't have to be nice 24 hours a day, but you shouldn't mod according to your feelings, I strongly disagree with this:Mods should always have to act in a neutral and professional manner when moderating. They should not have to act artificially mature or reserved when making posts as normal users and I think posts along the lines of "I would have expected better from a mod" are completely unfounded, but I think to say you allow mods to lose the head with a member every now and then and abuse their power as a result is ridiculous. You say this:Which seems a bit hypocritical to me. By this logic, mods would have to be extremely sensitive to overreact and ban someone simply because they're annoyed at them as opposed to an objective review of the situation.I would have thought mods would have the responsibility to act uniformly when moderating....

Not that I see bad mod decisions very much or mods acting on feelings rather than following the charter, but I just don't agree with what you've written there at all. Of course I may have misinterpreted you, and if I have I apologise.

I think in general mods are a bit too respectful of one another. It sometimes seems as if it's taboo for a mod to criticise another mods decision. More open, constructive criticism by mods of other mods would be welcome I think.

All this talk of mods isn't exactly on topic here, however, as it applies to all of Boards really.

For the most part, AH is pretty well run. Keep it up is all I can say. Maybe more "yore ma"s to annoy the eaily irritated?

Danger, Will Robinson.

AckwelFoley

how about looking at bringing back the thanks button or a rep system for AH?

I think it would need to be limted to perhaps 3 reps per user per 24 hour period to avoid abuse of the system but i think it would be a good idea.

MooseJam

yeah big time bring back rep, I'd give ++rep to snyper cause I think he's really great

Rb

Rep, karma and thanks are three things that aren't needed in AH. Two of which aren't needed anywhere on the site.

GrumPy

+!

nevaeh-2die-4

Get rid of all the mods & especialy these wannabe mods.
and let everyone post what they want...

Sherifu

nevaeh-2die-4 wrote: »

Get rid of all the mods & especialy these wannabe mods.
and let everyone post what they want...

AH for you

anniehoo

Most of the abbreviated terms like lol/afaik etc i understand but theres a few example (ftw) and lolcats i dont get..is there a section that explains all the shorthand stuff?

Sherifu

anniehoo wrote: »

Most of the abbreviated terms like lol/afaik etc i understand but theres a few example (ftw) and lolcats i dont get..is there a section that explains all the shorthand stuff?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/ ftw. You can look up stuff there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolcat Are one of many internet memes.