Something Awful

[FitScotGaymer]

Hey folks.

Just wondering what folk think about this...

I like Let's Plays, follow a few LPers on Youtube, have bookmarked the LP Archive, and read LPs on various forums including the something awful forums.

They r fun and entertaining to me.

Today i went back to the SA forums and tried to look at the threads on the LP forum and got the "you need to be a signed up member to view this thread" and it happened in the whole forum.

I pouted a wee bit but thought "okay ill sign up."

And got "Yes that will be ten dollars please" screen.

WTF?

I gotta pay a tenner to read a fricking forum? Are you kidding me?

Are things that bad financially for the admins of the SA forums that they gotta charge folk to join their elitist club?

I mean I didn't really WANT to join because ive been lurking there for a while now, and the main forums themselves seem pretty mean/bitchy to each other. And the "moderators" are really cavalier about handing out bans and "probationary" periods with little to no warning.
And I didn't really wanna get involved in that, didn't seem worth it when all I did was lurk reading the LPs.

And now they r locked.

Could be worse they could be asking for a subscription fee I guess. Ive just never come across this before; people locking their forums and asking people to pay for access.

Boggles my mind it does.

 

[DugMachine]

Only gone to SA for the Slender stuff but that's pretty fucked up if this is the case. Never heard of having to pay for forums.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

That's been their modus operandi for years. You pay ten bucks, you're in. Another ten gets you the archive function, ten bucks can buy you an unban, and other prices can buy you an avatar.

They do not give a shit who you are, unless you are a really reprehensible person. They want your money, and they will get it. But don't think that paying the fee makes you somehow entitled to be an ass. They will still ban your ass if you don't play by the rules.

And they don't care. Every stupid person who got banned, and then payed for an unban just helped them fund the forums. It costs a lot of money for the level of traffic they get daily, and SA doesn't have the same resources as google. So the users pay to use the place.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

When it comes to forums, I tend to stay in the comfertable warm embrace of the escapist. I originated from Gamespot and before that...err, Neopets. I started my forum life as a young one...

Yeah paying is pretty silly, although I have been thinking about becoming an escapist member, because they don't ask for much and I wish to support them. This is my second profile, I have actually been here since 2010. No my first wasn't banned, I can still log into it.

 

[hazabaza1]

Go to Voltron Army [http://www.voltronarmy.com/] if you want to see a Let's Play forum with no kind of sign up fee.
Every two bit retard with a camcorder who thinks Pewdiepie is funny hops onto it and posts their shit along with "dun fuggut 2 subscrib 4 mroe less paly sper meet boi no edting lolololol 1337".
While I'm not a member and doubt I ever will be the fee makes sure to keep that kind of person away and only provide (mostly) quality content.

 

[FitScotGaymer]

I just don't get it.

It wasnt locked before. I couldn't post but I could at least lurk n read the LPs... Now bugger all.

EDIT:
I know the website/forums are fairly toxic, and thats not the members causing it. It's the moderators.

Seriously, in the Skyrim LP someone posted asking what seemed to me to be an innocent question. And next time I look theres a giant "this user is banned" stamp over their post, and when I checked the infractions was "this user is a **** - banned." for the post asking a question.

I was like wtf?

It's horrible.

So I am not that bothered about not being able/willing to join. but seriously charging for people lurking?

 

[Erana]

Neopets.

Oh, old neopets. Know that feel. I still miss my Cerpull.


Still, the thing about Something Aweful is that it shouldn't be taken as a forum of fairness and srsface and whatever. Its a place for a certain sort of people to hang out. I know I probably wouldn't have a good time there, and have the Escapist as my internet forever home, but I kinda like having Something Aweful as a thing that exists. I like the LPs and other occasional content, but taking it seriously is a mistake.

And the price for admission is both a method of supporting the site and a vague way of helping to keep the age and accountability of the users a little more to their liking. In my experience, having some kind of requesite for joining a site (questionnaire, money, whatevs) can have an important impact on dictating the culture of the online community, so I file SA's methods as "to each their own."

Though if you're looking for Let's Plays, the LPArchive.org has tons of completed SA LP's available. Chip and Ironicus have their own site now, too.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

SA has been paygated for ages, man.

Keep the mutants and the ghouls out of Vault City and all that.

EDIT:

Go to Voltron Army [http://www.voltronarmy.com/] if you want to see a Let's Play forum with no kind of sign up fee.
Every two bit retard with a camcorder who thinks Pewdiepie is funny hops onto it and posts their shit along with "dun fuggut 2 subscrib 4 mroe less paly sper meet boi no edting lolololol 1337".
While I'm not a member and doubt I ever will be the fee makes sure to keep that kind of person away and only provide (mostly) quality content.

God damn, man. I've never heard of that place before, and decided to check it out just to see how bad it was. After pick an LP at random, I was greeted by some guy singing the text he saw on screen then mumbling incoherently at a barely-audible volume and fumbling to grasp the basic controls.

And a random jump cut a few minutes in for no discernible reason.

 

[Lionsfan]

When it comes to forums, I tend to stay in the comfertable warm embrace of the escapist.

You haven't been here long, apparently.

Neither have you man, how about easing off the newer guys?


Reading that story, that's something awful. I can't believe that they want you pay money to read their forums, or treat newbies like that

 

[Xanadu84]

I donno, if you have to pay money to post, then people will only join if they are serious, and there is a financial incentive to not act like an ass. Perfect, no, but that sounds like the breeding ground for a happy, functional forum. Its not for every forum, but it seems like a pretty interesting, and ultimately successful, experiment.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I just don't get it.

It wasnt locked before. I couldn't post but I could at least lurk n read the LPs... Now bugger all.

It seems to come and go, to be honest. A long time ago, I was able to read Thuryl's Might and Magic 2 LP there with no problem, then I was suddenly told I needed to buy the archive function to get back in. Just recently I was astonished to find I could go into SA and read Chocorojo's ongoing LP of Pokemon Black...until the most recent raising of the gates. I don't know what happened in between those two points, but we probably got lucky.

Well, there are at least two things to take consolation from this: the good SA LPs usually wind up in the LP Archive, and the Freelance Astronauts usually release their videos on Youtube.

 

[Lionsfan]

Reading that story, that's something awful. I can't believe that they want you pay money to read their forums, or treat newbies like that

It was a joke. The punchline was that this place was hostile and defensive. But I don't need to tell you, eh?

Makes sense....cause I was trying to make a joke about how my join date was only 1 day before yours, yet can act all "old-timer" because of it

 

[Rose and Thorn]

When it comes to forums, I tend to stay in the comfertable warm embrace of the escapist.

You haven't been here long, apparently.

This is my second profile. Been here since 2010. No my first wasn't banned.

 

[ElectroJosh]

I am an SA forum member. One thing about the $10 is that is does work as a bit of a quality control; also the forums have some strict rules which can get people banned/probated. The rule of thumb for all posts is:

1) Does this contribute to the discussion?

2) Is it funny?

Or

3) Is it interesting?

Also:

If you can't answer yes to those expect to get a probation.

If you reply with something like "lol" or an emoticon (but not content) expect a probation.

There are then specific rules for the sub-forums.

The only forum with its own set of rules is FYAD (which sort has a "only post if you post is making fun of other internet posts in an obscure, in-jokey way, which is only appreciated by those who hang out in this area") - never visit FYAD unless that sounded good to you.




Its been a pay system since forever - those of us who are members like the "gate-keeper" aspect and it makes us feel elitist about the whole thing.

I have been a member since 2005 (which is small fry compared to some forum users). The escapist is my second home in that regard but, as SA is blocked at work, I tend to post here in the day and use SA in the evening.

 

[FitScotGaymer]

@ElectroJosh

I don't particularily want to join the SA forums because no offence but I think Something Awful is a hugely appropriate name for it.

Not so much because of the users but because of the moderators. I have seen with my own eyes mods banning people for absolutely no reason.
Probably so those users will pay again to get back in.

Its appalling.

Demanding payment for folk to join is horribly elitist.

And I don't even want to join. I just wanna read the LPs.

I get locking out the LP archive forums, and maybe the off topic forums so that you have to be a "member" because those areas probably drain the bandwidth of the forums more than the other parts; and most of the archived LPs will probably be on the LP Archive site.

But the LP forum itself?

It just seems like with the increase in popularity of LPs and the fact that searching "let's play" returns The LP Archive site and the Something Awful LP forums at the very top of the search results, that the SA admins are money grubbing.

And I think, in the end that, it's actually self defeating.

 

[ElectroJosh]

@FitScotGaymer

I have never personally seen the ad hoc banning by mods - they usually can provide clear reasons and site forum rules (also most people are given a warning, followed by a short probation, a longer probation and then a ban for breaching them; it isn't usually straight to ban). The advice for any new SA user is always this: don't post on a forum until you know the rules and have lurked for a couple of weeks - they even tell this to new members and have guides to not getting banned. The total users banned for SA equates to a bit under 10% of the current user base (not the entire user base since it started) and a good amount of those were people who were banned multiple times until permabans were issued to IP addresses. So if the banning of members to force a re-register and collect revenue is the reason behind it; they don't do a very good job.

I never realized the LP forums had been open to the public; back when I joined no forums were available at all to non-members. So I am wondering if it was a sort of "advertising drive" and then a return to BAU.

Hey if you aren't happy about it; thats understandable. I don't like how the Onion now only allows me to read 5 articles a month and then blocks me if I don't become a paying member (which is what happened to all non-US-based users this year) - when you have something for free its anoying to have it taken away.

But here's the thing: that payment model has been SA's thing for well over a decade and it seems to work for them. Part of the reason it succeeds is because it is elitist - thats the appeal.