To all members of the Escapist: Please help us improve this site

[DirkGently]

My point is, when I come to a new forum, I'm not going to hand out respect based on somebody's post count or join date. People join and if they don't see the new members making great posts, just taking stabs at the new members and correcting them, they're going to assume you're just being a pompous ass. Especially when you go about ragging on all the new members for not respecting when they're just going "Who the hell is this guy? And why is he grouping me in with all the new forum members, and saying we're jerks? God this guy is an ass."

I see what you mean, but to be fair, their responses to me were still unjustifiably rude.
One more thing, my opinion is difficult to put into words, and how I've been phrasing it makes me sound like a total douche, and I apologize for that.
Also, when I WAS still trying to help the new members, and I was speaking calmly and politely to them, not mentioning any of the things I have said here, they still responded rudely to someone who was just trying to help.

You know what, I'm going to try one more time to rephrase what I have been saying:
I find that when a new member refuses help from someone who knows more than them, it is extremely rude, and the way many of the new members have been refusing help is unacceptable in my eyes.

Firstly, nice dodging your ragequit. I was there and you were extremely rude to Xitel who had just joined in. You owe him an apology in my eyes.

Secondly, you still sound like a douche. You're saying that your 'help' is A) needed and B) valid, secondly, you're grouping all of the 'new' members together and implying that they need help, and, moreover that you're the person to give them help. That's a bit pretentious and I can understand them being a bit 'rude'.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

Are we done with petty arguments that have absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand yet?

I have no idea; I'd love to find a way to cope with the sudden rise of The Escapist in popularity, but it seems to me that SpartanBanana will keep throwing around elitist bullshit for a good while.

I'll stop throwing elitist bullshit when you stop throwing petty insults.
Now can we please move on Rich? Why do you look for trouble when I state an opinion?

Insults? Where?

Hmmm, let's see, in IRC, on the forums, in THIS THREAD. Now please, just stop it.
Oh, another thing, calling me an elitist prick is technically a petty insult, calling me an elitist is not, you usually call me an "Elitist Petty Insult" instead of just an elitist, there's where the petty insults come from. And that's just on the forums, in IRC, you sling worse insults.

 

[Aschenkatza]

That's a very commendable way to act in such a situation. It's a different approach to some other ideas which state 'they should learn how make full and correct use of the English language while posting'. But, apart from ignoring them completely, can we do to help them improve so their posts are legible and correctly versed?

Well, if someone really feels up to improving the forums and helping people out with their grammar; they can simply message the OP and politely tell them where they made a mistake. Suggest to them that perhaps their discussion will get more posters and deeper opinions if they worked on their post a little harder. Encourage them to actively SEEK help with their posts instead of tell them "you suck, stop posting you idiot." No one is going to act positively when faced with those kind of reactions.
Perhaps look around on the web for programs that double check their grammar for them, and then message them with the link to said program[and a polite explanation as to why they should check it out]. I don't know if it's just Firefox, but I constantly make grammar mistakes and it shows me exactly where I made the mistake and gives me options for the word to fix it.

Little positive things will vastly improve the atmosphere of the forums. Just like if you help someone, they are more likely to help someone else afterward. There is a cycle to violence, and a cycle to kindness.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

Firstly, nice dodging your ragequit. I was there and you were extremely rude to Xitel who had just joined in. You owe him an apology in my eyes.

Secondly, you still sound like a douche. You're saying that your 'help' is A) needed and B) valid, secondly, you're grouping all of the 'new' members together and implying that they need help, and, moreover that you're the person to give them help. That's a bit pretentious and I can understand them being a bit 'rude'.

Firstly, I feel I was less rude to xitel then he was to me, for chris' sake, Dirk, he told me to go to /b/, that's pretty much the worst insult you can use on The Escapist.

Secondly, I still feel my help is needed and valid. I may have sounded Condescending, but not like a douche, in my opinion.

 

[The_Prophet]

OK, You know what? I'm going to say what I'm thinking (and probably get put on probation)

The Escapist is starting to fail, slowly, but definitely. Too many repeat threads, idiots from youtube, (as posted by TheNecroswanson) atheists that f*ck up every religious thread, and moderators not using the banhammer that often.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Well, if someone really feels up to improving the forums and helping people out with their grammar; they can simply message the OP and politely tell them where they made a mistake. Tell them that perhaps their discussion will get more posters and deeper opinions if they worked on their post a little harder. Encourage them to actively SEEK help with their posts instead of tell them to "you suck, stop posting you idiot." No one is going to act positively when faced with those kind of reactions.
Perhaps look around on the web for programs that double check their grammar for them, and then message them with the link to said program[and a polite explanation as to why they should check it out]. I don't know if it's just Firefox, but I constantly make grammar mistakes and it shows me exactly where I made the mistake and gives me options for the word to fix it.

Little positive things will vastly improve the atmosphere of the forums. Just like if you help someone, they are more likely to help someone else afterward. There is a cycle to violence, and a cycle to kindness.

Excellent! This is exactly the sort of thing we need to consider. The idea of constructive criticism has been sadly missed lately when it comes to things such as repeat threads and instead attacks have ensued. What you just mentioned is exactly the sort of things we need to be considering as a community in order to improve it.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

And Rich, I'll leave you with one final note before I ignore you completely, look at some of my other posts in this thread, I have answered to your arguments.

Another thing, can we please get back on track! This entire thread has turned into a "Step Right up and flame Spartan Bannana to death" boot. It's ridiculous. Can we all just respect my opinions and move on towards the topic, perhaps Inverse Sky could post a new question or two to pull us out of this pit.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I was going to post something about how everyone should just treat everybody else the way they want to be treated, but now I see we've moved past discussing the original topic and on to more interesting stuff, like personal attacks and racism (seriously, how did racism get into a topic about making the Escapist a better place?)

If you want a good idea of what could be done to make the Escapist a nicer place, this topic is a great example of how not to behave. I find it perplexing that so many old hands and forum legends are now reduced to bickering among themselves like little children. Please go back to dispensing your usual amount of awesome, if you wouldn't mind.

Oh, and Eggo was hard to like, but it was worth it when you saw him completely hand a rude, semi-illiterate poster their own rear end on a platter.

 

[xitel]

Firstly, nice dodging your ragequit. I was there and you were extremely rude to Xitel who had just joined in. You owe him an apology in my eyes.

Secondly, you still sound like a douche. You're saying that your 'help' is A) needed and B) valid, secondly, you're grouping all of the 'new' members together and implying that they need help, and, moreover that you're the person to give them help. That's a bit pretentious and I can understand them being a bit 'rude'.

Firstly, I feel I was less rude to xitel then he was to me, for chris' sake, Dirk, he told me to go to /b/, that's pretty much the worst insult you can use on The Escapist.

I didn't tell you to go to /b/. To quote, I said "If you want to just complain about repeat threads, look at /b/. That's all they do there." Then you told me to "fuck off", called me childish, and quit without letting me explain myself. I was saying that when all you do is complain that the new posters are ruining the site, and whine about reposted threads, it's extremely reminiscent of what I see whenever I look a /b/. I was not telling you to "go to /b/." And with that, my contribution to this thread is over. If you want to keep trying to insult me, you can take it up with me in PMs.

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

And Rich, I'll leave you with one final note before I ignore you completely, look at some of my other posts in this thread, I have answered to your arguments.

Another thing, can we please get back on track! This entire thread has turned into a "Step Right up and flame Spartan Bannana to death" boot. It's ridiculous. Can we all just respect my opinions and move on towards the topic, perhaps Inverse Sky could post a new question or two to pull us out of this pit.

Dont worry sparty... I still love ya

 

[Ultrajoe]

I find it perplexing that so many old hands and forum legends are now reduced to bickering among themselves like little children. Please go back to dispensing your usual amount of awesome, if you wouldn't mind.

Historically, this is how they dispense awesome.

 

[Inverse Skies]

And Rich, I'll leave you with one final note before I ignore you completely, look at some of my other posts in this thread, I have answered to your arguments.

Another thing, can we please get back on track! This entire thread has turned into a "Step Right up and flame Spartan Bannana to death" boot. It's ridiculous. Can we all just respect my opinions and move on towards the topic, perhaps Inverse Sky could post a new question or two to pull us out of this pit.

Again, the consensus idea seems to be that the Escapist is slowly heading downhill from what it once used to be, because of the huge jump in popularity and the massive amount of new members it inspires.

The idea of this thread is to create ideas which we can actually act upon, not just discuss to length and then nothing gets done. This is the time for action if we're going to stop the slow slide, rather than leaving it to late and we can't pull ourselves out of the quagmire.

 

[Handofpwn]

I have found the one redeeming merit of this thread. Everyone is finally saying exactly what they want to openly and without restraint. I am very hopeful that this will be cathartic for everyone and make the escapist somewhat more relaxed again.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

Firstly, nice dodging your ragequit. I was there and you were extremely rude to Xitel who had just joined in. You owe him an apology in my eyes.

Secondly, you still sound like a douche. You're saying that your 'help' is A) needed and B) valid, secondly, you're grouping all of the 'new' members together and implying that they need help, and, moreover that you're the person to give them help. That's a bit pretentious and I can understand them being a bit 'rude'.

Firstly, I feel I was less rude to xitel then he was to me, for chris' sake, Dirk, he told me to go to /b/, that's pretty much the worst insult you can use on The Escapist.

I didn't tell you to go to /b/. To quote, I said "If you want to just complain about repeat threads, look at /b/. That's all they do there." Then you told me to "fuck off", called me childish, and quit without letting me explain myself. I was saying that when all you do is complain that the new posters are ruining the site, and whine about reposted threads, it's extremely reminiscent of what I see whenever I look a /b/. I was not telling you to "go to /b/."

Even if that's what you meant, that's not how it came across, I still feel insulted, and feel that what you said was childish, but I issue a formal, public apology to you for my comments. And about the Ragequit, you did the same to me once, consider us even ;D

 

[Inverse Skies]

And with that, my contribution to this thread is over.

Wait, you don't even want to respond to the original questions? We're looking towards experienced members such as yourself in order to help give us ideas to help maintain the integrity of this site.