Poll: Why is this happening to the Escapist Magazine forums?

[Aethonic]

I like how there's the occasional discussion on game mechanics, but the social stuff seems to get out of hand here. It's the same userbase, so using that as a control, it must be something else causing - or allowing - it to happen.

I will be frank, though, the only material on this site that's worth my time is Yahtzee, but only for entertainment purposes. I think a lot of people feel the same way. So really, there is no other cohesive force between the people who come here besides videogames in general, so all the social stuff is to be expected.

 

[Space Spoons]

I like how there's the occasional discussion on game mechanics, but the social stuff seems to get out of hand here. It's the same userbase, so using that as a control, it must be something else causing - or allowing - it to happen.

I will be frank, though, the only material on this site that's worth my time is Yahtzee, but only for entertainment purposes. I think a lot of people feel the same way. So really, there is no other cohesive force between the people who come here besides videogames in general, so all the social stuff is to be expected.

If you really think that Yahtzee is the only reason to come to the Escapist, I can't help but wonder if you've ever looked beyond Yahtzee's videos and the forums.

On topic, it's relatively new site that's gaining popularity rapidly. It's natural to think the community as a whole is getting dumber, but it's really not; there's just more of us now, so when someone does something stupid, it's a lot more obvious. It's true that the forums tend to attract the kinds of posters that we dislike most, but I agree with the sentiment that the moderators do their jobs very well.

 

[Adfest]

Having someone post the exact same topic as you with a different title can be aggitating, true, but why only allow one topic on one subject at a time? Different topic creators bring in different ideas and things to talk about. Granted, when there are 10 topics complaining about one particular game, a line gets crossed and it becomes annoying.

Yes, it's a shame that everyone doesn't bother thinking before creating a topic, but this is the internet... All the stickies in the world can't stop pointless topics.

If the topic is pointless and over done, just let it die. If it's been done before, but is still giving users something to talk about, who is it hurting? Let it be. If you shoot down every topic that has been done before just out of some sense of misguided elitism, this place would get boring very quickly.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

You tell others to stop whining and yet your whining yourself.

 

[jebussaves88]

Meh to be honest the mix is a lot more diluted than it was, but i havent seen a religous flame war in a while. Actually while I'm here "there is no god, and you can't disprove me."

Yeah I can. Here [holds out evidence of Flying Spaghetti Monster]

 

[Bagaloo]

If a thread has been done before, just leave it alone, don't needlessly bump it with your often very arrogant "Learn to use the search function / this was done 6 months ago, go necro that thread" attitudes.

As for problems on the Escapist, it sounds like a lot of people feel threatened that the Escapist is growing in popularity, because obviously new people are greatly inferior to the Escapist veterans, right?

As for the sticky idea, it would just annoy me, I hate scrolling past half a dozen stickied topics to get to the new stuff. Call me lazy or whatever, it just ruins forum presentation for me.

 

[caz105]

Meh to be honest the mix is a lot more diluted than it was, but i havent seen a religous flame war in a while. Actually while I'm here "there is no god, and you can't disprove me."

Yeah I can. Here [holds out evidence of Flying Spaghetti Monster]

That argument is so hilarious and it makes sense too.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

The threads that are driving me nuts are list threads. It feels like 75% of the threads are just lists with no back and forth.

 

[lizards]

dont care and as someone said earlier GOD DOESNT EXIST the quote thing wasnt working for some reason so i cant quote him (tears up)

 

[Doug]

The least we can do is encourage rational debate and reasoning. And we can keep our English a bit tidier than that of numerous other forums. I rather enjoy seeing fellow Escapists writing at least somewhat well-formed sentences. It's quite the pleasant discourse from being on the Gamespot forums.

Indeed, its pleasant to see well written posts...

dont care and as someone said earlier GOD DOESNT EXIST the quote thing wasnt working for some reason so i cant quote him (tears up)

Well, most of the time anywho.

 

[Rodger]

I voted no, but it makes no difference. Go ahead and post your sticky and watch in agony as its outright ignored. If the forums had a pop-up with big, glowing, neon arrows all pointing to the sticky in question then people MIGHT pay attention to it.

 

[bad rider]

Meh to be honest the mix is a lot more diluted than it was, but i havent seen a religous flame war in a while. Actually while I'm here "there is no god, and you can't disprove me."

Yeah I can. Here [holds out evidence of Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Damn, you win.

 

[stompythebeast]

You tell others to stop whining and yet your whining yourself.

Yes, and? I brought it up, with the hopes of getting intelligent replies, the trend was great until you posted your useless reply. Thanks.

And on a serious note, thank you guys, im sorry i did not get to read your replies until now, since as someone replied before, the thread got buried in " dude, my school banned my hair" threads and "why is this achievement so homosexual" rants. I was not ranting, i was simply stating my opinion, since when i wrote it i was enjoying a nice double shot cappuccino.
The replies are great, and you convinced me that there is no point in writing the stickies, they will simply be ignored. Although if the mods do write it, and if posts comes up on the same topic, it will give them an excuse to use the ban hammer, and who does not like to bring down righteous fury?

 

[SimuLord]

Meh to be honest the mix is a lot more diluted than it was, but i havent seen a religous flame war in a while. Actually while I'm here "there is no god, and you can't disprove me."

If the staff were to decide to make religious/political pissing contests an instant two-week suspension for anyone who doesn't understand that you can't change people's minds by shouting from the rooftops unless the people whose minds you are changing are idiots, I would be completely on board.

 

[JakubK666]

Oh noes! Parasites in mah Galt's Gulch.

Really, 90% of you so-called "veterans", me included, wouldn't even be here if Yahtzee didn't make this site popular. If you weren't here before September 07, you shouldn't complain and rather be grateful that for every 70% of newfags, the other 30% will grown into well-respected users and that your idea of a "flamewar" is a 30 pages long discussion on gun control/gay rights rather than a giant dick waving competition about who's console is best.

 

[stompythebeast]

September 07, 2007? thats almost a year and a half. I was brought here because of Zero Punctuation by a friend, your right. I still remember it was on the third episode, but i actually never made a forum account until a few months later when i lurked the forums and saw a lot of interesting topics.

Oh noes! Parasites in mah Galt's Gulch.

Really, 90% of you so-called "veterans", me included, wouldn't even be here if Yahtzee didn't make this site popular. If you weren't here before September 07, you shouldn't complain and rather be grateful that for every 70% of newfags, the other 30% will grown into well-respected users and that your idea of a "flamewar" is a 30 pages long discussion on gun control/gay rights rather than a giant dick waving competition about who's console is best.

if you put it that way, yes, we should be grateful.