In Regards to Wild West

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

OK, little test. Can I still post in this subforum?

 

[vallorn]

Removed innocent and humourous joke

I have found the perfect image to summarize my feelings surrounding this whole shebang and the apparent willingness to swing hammers at anything which moves.

Seriously, when a joke like Lost Gryphon's gets someone put on probation things are kinda fucked up, and, well, there's no WW to talk about weird things like this anymore, so I hope there's a replacement. Even though I probably hope in vain since the initial post on this thread shows that people would rather delete an entire forum than deal with long running problems in this forum's overall community.

 

[vallorn]

OK, little test. Can I still post in this subforum?

We're in Off Topic but yeah I see your post.

 

[chocolate pickles]

Again, this was a decision that wasn't made lightly nor without serious input from the whole moderation team.

.

So the views of all the mods mattered, but those of the community weren't worth anything?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

OK, little test. Can I still post in this subforum?

We're in Off Topic but yeah I see your post.

I was actually testing to see if I could post anything at all, not just if could still post outside of the WW. Been having problems with 504 errors lately. Seems that one went through, most of my other recent ones haven't.

EDIT: ok, seems things work for me again. Odd.

 

[vallorn]

Hey, whoever removed the extra warnings on Lost Gryphon. Good on you anonymous moderator who I will continue to credit as being Tippy until told otherwise. Yes, even if Tippy isn't a mod he should still get credit, he's just a swell dude.

 

[JoJo]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

 

[chocolate pickles]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

Or maybe just let us have fun and enjoy the site as it dies?

 

[vallorn]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

This site has given me some good times over the years, even if I do feel a little surly sometimes, I'd possibly be willing to write a semi regular article for the site. All I'd ask for in payment would be the blood sacrifice of the R&P forum (I'm only half kidding).

 

[Fallow]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

Or maybe just let us have fun and enjoy the site as it dies?

As clearly stated in the OP, this is a no-fun zone.

Ooh, I found a new avatar for OP.

Spoiler: Appropriate avatar

Anyhoo, I'll probably hang around less as the non-WW forums are just too petty and passive-aggressive for my tastes. I'll miss the fun conversations, like Bobular's weird threads, CMDs parliament (I'm still a proud member of the cuckold liberals), or just the weird derails. Don't forget the grammar lessons I taught you all, and never use 'literally'.

I still remember the original callout thread with that weird Z-something person. That was better than Family Guy. And that kind of hilarity can no longer happen on this site

See you around.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

But where will I go to hear people being called Nazis now?

(Looks behind him at the rest of the Internet)

...Never mind.

If there weren't so many Nazis running around these days we would not hear/see people being called Nazis. They literally walk through the street claiming to be Nazis or stand at my court house in my hometown screaming about how cool it is to be a Nazi trying to recruit people. If they are actual Nazis, or behaving like a Nazi the term is completely appropriate.
These are the times we sadly live in.
What else would you call these guys?

 

[JoJo]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

This site has given me some good times over the years, even if I do feel a little surly sometimes, I'd possibly be willing to write a semi regular article for the site. All I'd ask for in payment would be the blood sacrifice of the R&P forum (I'm only half kidding).

Not a bad idea. We tried something like that at the end of last year, but it sort of fell apart as a result of the mods in charge being busy, and problems with IMS access. Those seem to be fixed now, so no pressure, but if you or anyone else reading this is interested in producing content for the site, feel free to PM me and we can talk about it more.

 

[Basement Cat]

The biggest problem we had with people providing new content for the site was that people said they were interested...but almost nobody actually followed through and did anything. New Classic was heart broken.

 

[vallorn]

The biggest problem we had with people providing new content for the site was that people said they were interested...but almost nobody actually followed through and did anything. New Classic was heart broken.

If you promise the blood sacrifice of the forum's eternal lump of horror and hate that is R&P for a certain number of articles there are a lot of people who would contribute. If you promise the return of the beloved WW as well you'd get more, but the OP makes it clear that there is, as the image above states, "No Fun Allowed".

 

[chocolate pickles]

I can't tell if it's an innocent mistake or an intentional disproportionate retribution on part of the moderation team.

Either way, I don't think this action endears you to the general public... in a thread that is already guaranteed to not endear to the public.

Hell, I understand axing WW sooner or later (despite being one of its prime defenders) but people like evil roy bring up a good point: What will you do now? Because the forums are in dire straights and merely axing one of your boards wouldn't fix anything. It's just throwing a blanket over the underlying the problem and honestly what I am seeing in this thread is that the people who hold the hammer have more interest smacking others with it than correcting the quagmire state of the site.

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

And of course, we wish as much as anyone that site activity would increase again. The truth is, though, that there is little we can do to pull in new users without new professional content, which is something only Defy can provide. Having access to the backend of the site, I can see that traffic peaked in March 2012, with a slow decline ever since (well, there was a cliff-like drop in late 2014 when Jim and Bob left). To turn that around would be a lot to ask of a group of unpaid volunteers. Still, you never know. Maybe we'll be bought out by some rich sponsor who will pump money and content back into the site. And who will give free holidays to the mods as thanks for all their hard work... ;-)

This site has given me some good times over the years, even if I do feel a little surly sometimes, I'd possibly be willing to write a semi regular article for the site. All I'd ask for in payment would be the blood sacrifice of the R&P forum (I'm only half kidding).

Not a bad idea. We tried something like that at the end of last year, but it sort of fell apart as a result of the mods in charge being busy, and problems with IMS access. Those seem to be fixed now, so no pressure, but if you or anyone else reading this is interested in producing content for the site, feel free to PM me and we can talk about it more.

I'd like to do an article. It'd be like community spotlight, but it would actually be called community shitbirds, and I'd interview the local degenerates.

 

[vallorn]

Look, let me reiterate my post from the last page without the swearing.

There's a problem in the community, everyone knows it and it's been around for years, it really kicked into high gear with Gamergate, but it's always been there.

There's a subset of the community who always try to rules lawyer and game the system for insult and wind people up, to make the forums and threads as toxic as possible to drive away people who don't share their ideological bent or just for the fun of it. This has almost always been a problem in the community, and it's obvious that more and more strict moderation and trying to add new rules to patch up the loopholes isn't working. The people I refer to find new loopholes and that's fine, it's normal to push rule boundaries. But overall, this tends to pile up, and the people left on the forums who are active, especially many of the people in the R&P regulars group, continue to keep up with this mess of a post style.

This got amplified in the WW after a while, as more and more WW regulars got sick and tires of the R&P takeover of the forum people left and more of the forum proportionally became the yelling of R&P regulars against one another and then that blew itself out of proportion to the point where there were two solutions.

-Easy, close the WW, sweep the R&P problem under the rug, ignore the source of the forum's problems and just burn everything
-Hard, Deal with the forum community's tone and texture problems, deal with the R&P contamination into other subforums.

I know there's rules against insulting other forum groups, but in this case, nothing I've said is an insult, I haven't called anyone names, I've merely described behaviours that emerge from the named groups en mass.

EDIT:

Also who in the bloody hell gave Ewok a warning for that post? I was the recipient of that sass and it was glorious, sod the person who hit Report on that, the humourless wanker. I swear to Tippy, this thread is really proving the points of the people who wanted to keep the WW.

EDIT 2:

Wasn't it stated in this very thread that mods would be lighter and more lenient in Off Topic to compensate for the loss of the Wild West? The sheer numbers of infractions getting hurled about for the most inane things kinda calls whoever said that a liar, either that or someone didn't get the memo and needs a boot up the butt.

 

[Elijin]

The biggest problem we had with people providing new content for the site was that people said they were interested...but almost nobody actually followed through and did anything. New Classic was heart broken.

The biggest problem you have with people providing new content is that any content submitted through The Escapist will belong to "give no fucks" Defy, who will either pull the plug whenever they feel like it, or capitalise on the hard work they had no hand in, and gave no payment for.

It's incredibly telling that google no longer considers The Escapist a trusted site.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I know there's rules against insulting other forum groups, but in this case, nothing I've said is an insult, I haven't called anyone names, I've merely described behaviours that emerge from the named groups en mass.

Calling an entire, nebulously defined, group of users problematic and the root of the problems the forum faces can be considered both insulting and inflammatory. It is, after all, a great way to stoke ire and generate tension, all under the guise of "telling it as it is".

Also who in the bloody hell gave Ewok a warning for that post? I was the recipient of that sass and it was glorious, sod the person who hit Report on that, the humourless wanker. I swear to Tippy, this thread is really proving the points of the people who wanted to keep the WW.

And this would be insulting other forum members.

Wasn't it stated in this very thread that mods would be lighter and more lenient in Off Topic to compensate for the loss of the Wild West? The sheer numbers of infractions getting hurled about for the most inane things kinda calls whoever said that a liar, either that or someone didn't get the memo and needs a boot up the butt.

And this could be interpreted as arguing with mod decisions.

Now, since you are explicit in your desire to help this site and community, here's a piece of advice: Be a part of the solution by showing the good behavior you obviously want others to show. Bitching and whining about mod decisions, calling other user groups problematic (no matter how much you doll it up) and referring to other members as "humourless wankers" are all parts of the problems this community has with attitude.

This thread is meant for people to vent their feelings about the closure of WW, which we know is controversial. That means we are keeping the moderation in this thread somewhat more lenient, so that people can express their feelings. That being said, this thread is not the last hurrah of WW and it follows all the rules of the regular boards. There are several posters, you included, who needs to keep this in mind.

 

[StatusNil]

Look, I get the whole "I've been here for years! Spent so much time here!" mindset, but as I've said earlier things change and sometimes in ways you don't like. If you don't like the change, then you can leave. It's as simple as that. It's kinda like when your favorite restaurant changes something and the food's just not that good anymore. Nothing's going to bring the Wild West back in its old form short of someone hijacking the site. Maybe you might get a Wild West Lite, but now we're just like any other forum, boring and rule-abiding across all boards. You're more than welcome to make your own Wild West elsewhere, with blackjack and hookers if you want. Hell, with how easy it is to make Discord servers - while it's not as organized as a forum - you could do that.

Yeah, thanks for the advice but I'm already working up to it, through the inertia and the sentiment. But it's not because I really liked the Wild West, it was 98% or so garbage with the occasional gem (thanks for explaining Shakespeare, Bobular - I finally get it!) And the moderators are helping me on my way out.

No, it's just the lack of a potential outlet for frustration about the tediously predictable biases and the driving away of some of the people who stayed because it was there, combined with the generally grim grind of these forums where hardly anyone ever says anything that you couldn't simply deduce from their name coming up.

The Escapist was never in the time I was here what I hoped it could become (which would have been like, a forum for discussions or something crazy like that), and it's certainly never going to become that now. And I know I myself am way too jaded with what has passed here to clear the slate and start afresh with the current population.

The biggest problem we had with people providing new content for the site was that people said they were interested...but almost nobody actually followed through and did anything. New Classic was heart broken.

Speaking for myself, I gave up any notions of offering to contribute the second I saw the first thing New Classic did with his assumed Editorship-in-Chief. Not even GamaSutra has gone back there. Broke something in me too.

 

[The Lunatic]

I looked at Gryph's record, and he appeared to have been hit three times in short succession for the same post. Either a site hiccup, or the mod giving out the infraction didn't think it went through. Either way, it should be fixed now.

Or it could just be moderators are doing what they want now, apparently that's a thing.

Calling an entire, nebulously defined, group of users problematic and the root of the problems the forum faces can be considered both insulting and inflammatory. It is, after all, a great way to stoke ire and generate tension, all under the guise of "telling it as it is".

But everyone knows this is an issue with the forum. Burying your head in the sand and saying "You're not helping!!" when everyone else is powerless to do anything about an issue which has plagued the forum for years.

We can act as nice as we like, as well-behaved as we like, there's still going to be this toxic group of people who refuse to engage in any way other than off-hand slights and collective mockery.

As being a friend of people who have cause many issues on this forum and basically bred the current atmosphere that forum has, I figured you'd know better than anyone. I must admit to being pretty disappointed that your solution is to blame the people who're constantly on the receiving end.