Screw the Forums.

[sir.rutthed]

I really like the idea of posting in forums. I think they're a great way to get your message across and let other people her what you have to say without forcing it down their throats. That said, I think forums are now stupid vehicles for mindless discussion. I'm not referring strictly to the Escapist forums, but to almost all the forums I've seen. Most of the posts in a given thread don't say anything new, don't say anything meaningful at all, are troll posts, or are otherwise wastes of space and it pisses me the Hell off. It's like people just want to be heard and don't think about whether they're saying has any merit or not. I try to post only when I have something to say that hasn't been said before or when I want to let my opinion be known, but I guess most people don't do that.

Well that does it for the rant section. What do you Escapists think? Am I off base? Did I somehow miss the point of forums? Am I completely right and awesome? What are your thoughts?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Cool story, bro.

Nah, I'm joking, and I think you're right, that's why I avoid threads with a massive number of posts, simply because there is nothing I can add to the discussion that hasn't already been posted.

 

[JokerCrowe]

I think you have a point. But there are a lot more users than there are "real" answers, and I guess a lot people want to make themselves heard, regardless if what they're saying has been said before. I think a problem is that a lot of people on this site think alike and therefore answering on these forums is like gobbing into a river. A lot of times I find that my view on the entire thing has been said within like, 10 posts. And after that there doesn't seem to be any point. And if you don't think alike you don't often get a chance to stand by your opinion. (Not talking about just the Escapist forums here)
Now look at all the answers similar to mine.

 

[robotam]

I really have the urge to just post something troll-y here, but I must resist.

I really don't find scrolling through the boring or repetitive answers, to be all that hard. Sure there can be alot of stupidity, but I kind of enjoy some of it. Anyway, if you did give up on forums, you would run across a few less trolls. But it would also prevent you from hearing from a lot of genuinely intelligent people.

PS I'm sure you are completely awesome.

 

[Sorafrosty]

I agree somewhat with you as well. I try not to post anything unless I feel my opinion or whatever I have to say adds something to the discussion. I am quite fond of threads with high post counts, though, because there are so many opinions and thoughts there I can read, and perhaps one of them might even change my perspective on the topic!

That being said, troll posts annoys me just as much as the next person.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Nah, I'm joking, and I think you're right, that's why I avoid threads with a massive number of posts, simply because there is nothing I can add to the discussion that hasn't already been posted.

Same here. Also, if a thread's got more than three pages or so, I usually don't feel like reading every post before me. That might mean I could be posting things other people have said ten times already. That's why I hardly ever post in such threads.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

What are you talking about, seeing 5 million zombie threads is why I live /sarcasm.

Eh, that's the internets for you. There's something for everyone out there, but you have to weed through a lot crap to get to it.

 

[Mr. Google]

I actually like having a lot of people comment on any thread but i actually think that the Escapist is pretty low on Trolls the Mods dont put up with them too much.

 

[Jordi]

I think I've found my soulmates in this thread. When I contribute to a meaningful conversation I always read all prior posts. When it becomes apparent that most other people don't, it annoys me. For this reason I tend to avoid long threads. I have often thought of how a forum could be made that basically forces people to only contribute something meaningful or stfu (I dabble in web development).

But it can also be nice to have "smalltalk" topics where people just post to have a pleasant conversation with one another. Both kinds of topics are nice to have, but I think problems occur when some people want to have a serious discussion, while others are just trying to make smalltalk.

 

[Popido]

Its the Facebook I tell you!

Internet is supposed to be harsh phenomenon that calls you a cocksucking n00b when you make your first thread/post. Now people just post meaningless shit.

 

[Plurralbles]

well.. yah. Duh.

You gotta' get to very specialized forums to actually get any shit done. THe more general the topics, the more retarded the shit people say. Youtube and 4chan has the most broad user base so is absolutely shit. Other sites that focus on one or two subjects and don't have people who visit every day but only when they have something to say about a specific topic: Pretty damn useful.\


But if you dont' want to have a solid use for a forum and just want to bullshit with everyone, the escapist is great and it serves that purpose. Stop pretending that's a bad thing.

 

[Broken Boy]

I think your onto something here. I stopped going to any forums for months because of this sort of thing. I don't mind posts that have " I agree " or something like that & that's all to it. I really don't it's not in depth but at least its on topic. People that post just to raise their post numbers or just to flame others. Best example I can think of ( Grammar Nazi ) now if this person would like to add something to the thread as well as correct everyone fine but just to correct & not add anything of any worth to the thread. That really gets to me. Ok I'm going to wrap it up there because I feel a rant coming on. ; )

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Have you ever heard anyone say you are never the only one? The answer to that is probably yes and it is true you are never the only one. There will always be someone in a thread who has a striking similar opinion to you. Not posting because of that to me seem a tad stupid. You are on a forum you are supposed to be putting ideas across and even if you realise half way through your argument your original ideas was flawed you might learn something from another view point. At the very least "Stand by your crap". Everyone does have crap and small posts every now and then so there's no real complaining about that. I have had about 4,000 posts in the last near 3 years and that is on the short side and I have had some abysmal posts and crappy arguments on my side but as I said I try to stand by my points.

Just to repeat what everyone has said I try to read all the posts before posting. Although if the thread has an excessive amount of posts I read the last 3-5 pages depending in what mood I am in but if there are arguments I follow them back to the starting point. Also to be honest all threads recur in fact I have seen threads that may not have the same name or 100% same idea the way you are posting but I have seen this core sentiment a few times. I think I have seen about 10 truly original threads in the last year. Although I don't include every thread about a new game as they are easy to make.

I am happy we have stopped with the Halo, CoD, BF, JRPG, WRPG and other such flame bait threads. Well at least we have stopped with that crap at the moment which is a bit of a relief.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

Well, I dunno... Everybody has a different opinion. Even if that opinion only varies in a slightly different way, its still different. Anything anyone says is usually valuable, especially on this forum where the amount of trolls is reduced to almost nothingness because of the ruthless mods. Not everything has to be an intelligent conversation though (on the topic of pointless threads). Sometimes people are bored and just wanna talk about random crap until something interesting happens.

I like it the way it is.

 

[olicon]

At least I'm finding Escapist forums to be much better than elsewhere. I play LoL a lot..and the forums there is just sad. People will vote threads to be closed as soon as your opinion deviates from them, old mantras are parroted, and no one ever pause to think about what they are arguing for or against.
Which is why I just stay off it nowadays.

 

[InsomniJack]

I have the same views as well, but my main concern is that some of the forums I've been to have some very... colorful celebrities on them. You know, the ones that are well known, really high post counts, been around for years, usually say the craziest stuff. And regardless of what I or the rest of the lesser people may share, our statements won't really be noticed.

But I guess that's just prevalent on every board.

Still discourages me a little, though.

 

[sir.rutthed]

Glad to see there's others out there like me. The Escapist forums in general are really quite good about trollslaying and the moderators are pretty good. I get a little chuckle every time I see a suspended post ranting about the tyrannical moderators on here. Now, there are communities like the WOW forums where nothing constructive is ever done, and I avoid those like the plague.

I think your onto something here. I stopped going to any forums for months because of this sort of thing. I don't mind posts that have " I agree " or something like that & that's all to it. I really don't it's not in depth but at least its on topic. People that post just to raise their post numbers or just to flame others. Best example I can think of ( Grammar Nazi ) now if this person would like to add something to the thread as well as correct everyone fine but just to correct & not add anything of any worth to the thread. That really gets to me. Ok I'm going to wrap it up there because I feel a rant coming on. ; )

I can see why you wouldn't like Grammar Nazis: we have a lot to say to people like you

I think I've found my soulmates in this thread. When I contribute to a meaningful conversation I always read all prior posts. When it becomes apparent that most other people don't, it annoys me. For this reason I tend to avoid long threads. I have often thought of how a forum could be made that basically forces people to only contribute something meaningful or stfu (I dabble in web development).

But it can also be nice to have "smalltalk" topics where people just post to have a pleasant conversation with one another. Both kinds of topics are nice to have, but I think problems occur when some people want to have a serious discussion, while others are just trying to make smalltalk.

I'd be interested in seeing how a web developer would approach this situation. Certainly there's a time and place for everyone posting whatever they want with no discretion, but I can't imagine moderators will always be the only answer for moderating posts.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Could I at least buy them dinner first?

 

[PureChaos]

the forums are the main reason i come here so, as far as i can see, they can't be that bad here. not any other forums i go on so they could be bad elsewere

 

[Hiikuro]

There seem to be two kinds of fairly separate types of threads on the Escapist. The first is the tell-me-something-about-yourself thread, and the lets-have-a-discussion-about-this thread. I find both types important, but for different reasons.

For discussion threads, the opening post will eventually spawn a discussion tree (or equivalently quote pyramids). However, it seems that most posts in discussion threads just directly answers the opening post (or some specific other quote), giving a lot of loose nodes for discussion. These tends to be 'normal' responses that provoke neither honor nor rage, and thus quickly fade.

Exactly what the merit is of such posts is, I'm not sure. But some such posts that has made an impact on me in a minor way, so they aren't ignored, even if the poster never gets to know.

Ahem.. I'm not exactly sure where I was going with that.. but. As for troll posts, pointless, badly formed or incoherent arguments, they are pretty much an inevitable part of any discussion, especially with a community as diverse as this.

Maybe what I want to (quite incomprehensibly) say is that, in any thread, if the less-than-perfect discussion material was left out, we would miss out on some valuable thoughts. Posts are essentially never equivalent, even if the later posts in a thread are echoes of already spoken opinions. Any post may invoke rewarding thoughts in others, and removing the possibility of such thoughts might be something akin to censorship.

That one may humbly ask for people to spend some extra time shaping their argument, I can agree. But as with many other things, not everyone have a strong facility for discussion.

I'm not sure this post even has any point (I thought it would, initially. I'll sacrifice my word and leave it here nevertheless), I'm still trying to figure out what I think about this subject. But I'm pretty much air around these parts, so this probably doesn't matter anyway.