Why do you still come to the Escapist forums?

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Well, I made this new account a few days ago (The email linked to my old account was lost looooong ago.), so I've skulked around since about 2010. The original reason for me returning was for content, but in 2013 I was stuck in an "alternative high school" at a computer for several hours a day, and since I often finished my work early I'd come on the forums to post a bit.

Honestly, it's the only community I participate in actively (relatively actively I should add). It's nice to have a place to throw my opinion out there, even if it hardly gets noticed.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

I dunno. I guess the Escapist is what it is because of the forum rules and moderation. Not everywhere online where you can find decent discussions and counter-points on things without devolving into plain shit slinging and name calling. But I guess it's habit as well. Always been more of a lurker than a poster, but I do appreciate all the kinds of people on here, as quiet as this place may seem these days.

I'd probably post a lot more if not for the whole different time zone thing, but I still enjoy seeing what comes on here. Yeah, it did go through a very rough phase with all the Gamer Gate, of which I avoided like the plague because people were coming up with some frightfully ridiculous claims and stereotyping on both sides.

But probably a big factor is that I just don't have any friends who are into games as much as me anymore (from a POV of an older poster, I'm nearly 35), so it's nice to come in and see the passion still alive and not feel like a total child for enjoying my favorite hobby.

 

[Falling_v1legacy]

I honestly don't know sometimes.
I arrived on Escapist via Shamus Young. I enjoyed a bunch of the content by creators that are all no longer here. I still follow Shamus, but he still posts his stuff on his own website, so...
I occasionally poke into the forums, but it must be force of habit or something.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Im a New guy here. From Gametrailers.com which is just shut down. both have same format so i might stick here.

 

[Barbas]

Huh, look at that. We actually got a few new people joining to post in this thread. I like it when that happens.

Im a New guy here. From Gametrailers.com which is just shut down. both have same format so i might stick here.

Ouch, just saw the news. That's not a nice thing to have sprung on you. Welcome and have a look at the user groups - there's sure to be something to suit your tastes!

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Huh, look at that. We actually got a few new people joining to post in this thread. I like it when that happens.

Im a New guy here. From Gametrailers.com which is just shut down. both have same format so i might stick here.

Ouch, just saw the news. That's not a nice thing to have sprung on you. Welcome and have a look at the user groups - there's sure to be something to suit your tastes!

Thankyou my friend. I just hope im not bored here. Gametrailers was my fav website and im long time member there. hopefully more GT members join here.

 

[n0e]

But that's what I'm getting at. The way to get a lot of new people to come to the site is to once again make Zero Punctuation exclusive to the Escapist again (or at least a timed exclusive with the episodes being uploaded to Youtube several months after being uploaded at the Escapist.)

People will come here to watch Zero Punctuation, and once they're here a good number of them will sign up to comment on the videos, and then once they're signed up a good number will also be drawn into the rest of the discussion on the forums. Actually, Facebook comments should probably be removed from the site too. Over 80% of the user base on this site came here because they had to if they wanted to watch Zero Punctuation. But as long as people can watch Zero Punctuation on Youtube, they won't have any reason to actually come to the Escapist at all.

Don't forget the Jim Sterling adblock debacle, where a content creator was told he could make a video on adblock, users were told they could discuss the video on adblock, then there were mass warnings and bans because discussing adblock is against the CoC.

Also, I'm pretty sure a few users are still bitter about that whole Extra Credits mess too.

Zero Punctuation: I'll keep this in mind and bring it up in a meeting with my boss. If anything so I can find out what's up and see if there's any possibility of that happening. I doubt anything will come of it as I'm sure it was a corporate decision, but I'll at least try.

Facebook Comments: I feel the same way you do. I'd love for the comments on the front page to be attached to the forums.

JB Adblock: This is a Code of Conduct enforcement issue. I'm already on that one.

Personally, I feel that the site had some really good things going a while ago when it advertised interviews with forum members on the front page, perhaps that could return? Or maybe a "Best threads of the week" article to pull new blood off of the front page and into the forum's content? Because I think that's the main thing that needs to be done, the forums need a rush of fresh, new, blood (and not specifically from one site or another or grouped by some variety of political persuasion) to boost posting rates and make it work better here.

It's the small things that seem to help the most. I have a few ideas and you gave a few as well that we can look into implementing in the future.

There's also attrition due to the way that the moderation health bar works here but that's a somewhat separate issue and one that I know a lot of people both feel strongly about and have done a lot of work to analyze on so I'll just leave it there.

CoC enforcement. Working on it.

Welcome to the job btw, I promise our hazing rituals for new CMs aren't THAT bad, mostly just autoplaying videos of Darude Sandstorm.

Thanks for the welcome. ffronw was supposed to write up my intro but he said he "didn't have the time yet". Him and his "I've got 12 hours of work in a 2 hour window" excuses. MY INTRO IS IMPORTANT! or something...

But I'm sure I'll get along with all of you quite well.

Im a New guy here. From Gametrailers.com which is just shut down. both have same format so i might stick here.

Don't worry, I'm new here too and I'm running the place!

It sucks to see GT die. I remember meeting those guys and they were good people. I hope they have a new home already.

 

[Leg End]

Spoiler: Shitposting

:^)

But really, just popping in here to see anything that remotely interests me or looking at other discussions.

Im a New guy here. From Gametrailers.com which is just shut down. both have same format so i might stick here.

I almost can't believe that happened but I'm staring at the news.
Welcome to the forums, grab a blanket and we'll re-patriatehome you immediately.

 

[SolidState]

This is a Code of Conduct enforcement issue. I'm already on that one.

Just wondering, what do you mean when you say it's an "enforcement issue"? Because CoC enforcement has been problematic for quite a while. And none of the previous people in your role seemed to be interested in tackling it.

The CoC doesn't match the way this forum is moderated. There's a clear mismatch there, that becomes obvious from observing things for a while.

Fix that, and you'll be okay in my book.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Out of habit and watching people flaming each other in stupid bait-threads. It's hillarious.

Other than that i'm basically only visting for Erin and Yathzee. The rest of the people i watched left, so that's that. And nothing of interest to me joined.

The MTG part is cute, but there's so much better quality out there for MTG if you're actually interested in it.

 

[Yuuki]

I only come here for the gender/race/etc controversy threads because they are somewhat entertaining. Most stuff in the politics & religion forum is pretty funny.

Oh and Zero Punctuation (obviously).

...and yeah, those are the only reasons I still come here.

 

[Alssadar]

So this will be the second post I've made since leaving the site in 2013 (my other post was in a history thread a few minutes ago). It's kinda strange that I can still recognize the avatars of big names that ignored me while I posted from 2011 to 2103.
To be honest, I never really felt like I was part of any community here. Underneath 10k+ post usernames, I was always another voice in the crowd to be ignored, really, maybe a reply once a month or so to a bad pun. The only reason I'm here today is because I had to block 4chan from my browser because I wasted too much time there and I have exams coming up.
I lost interest in the content that was made here, and it was mostly controversy threads in forums at the time (Gamergate and all that), and so I just migrated away, closing the pinned tab and never really feeling any draw back. 4chan, however, has developed this strange draw to me, as I've wasted 4+ years on countless shitty threads now.
The community has a sense of development that seems to lack here, whether it's shitposting with Smug Anime Girls, CIA/Bane, or, recently, making a few Pachas regarding Mario 64 Parallel Universes. The fact that everyone's anonymous means that everyone's given an equal chance and representation of their posting, regardless of their post count (though you should really lurk more). People with different interests bring different things to the table, and having a site purely focused around video games brings a limit to discussion. And that's why /v/ hates talking about video games and would rather talk about classic YouTube poops from '08.
Comparing the two sites, I would say that the fact that the front page of the Escapist forum is where all the discussion happens and the remaining pages are either a few people arguing without any success, or people offering input to up their post count. /v/ can get constant replies late in a thread because people don't bother responding to hour old content.
I don't know, I guess consider this a retrospect. I'll still be thankful for my Escapist memories, but I don't see much draw back here. It just seems like another online forum, to be honest, and I can't really remember any specific cultural ideas (memes, as they are called) that would linger with me besides Yahtzee and LRR.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Yahtzee, and occasionally a topic of conversation crops up that isn't tainted by original sin so I like to throw in my two bob worth. I'd also be lying if I didn't think the continual back and forth shit-posting that goes on wasn't good for a laugh now and then.

Seriously though, the instant they lose Zero Punctuation, my attendance will probably drop to nil.

 

[Piorn]

I've never been a particularly active poster, but I just like to come here every once in a while.
It's like a part of my childhood.

 

[SeanSeanston]

I assume my reason is the same as most...

I come to The Escapist purely to watch Zero Punctuation every Wednesday, then I get sucked into the forums by clickbait topic titles ;p

 

[boag]

Let's be frank, these forums are not what they once were. I mean look, this is what the forums were like in 2010.

This happens in all online communities, new people slowly trickle in that have other views and interests and the old guard move on to other places, ive seen it happen in at least 10 forums.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Zero Punctuation: I'll keep this in mind and bring it up in a meeting with my boss. If anything so I can find out what's up and see if there's any possibility of that happening. I doubt anything will come of it as I'm sure it was a corporate decision, but I'll at least try.

Well, trying is all I can ask for, I guess.

 

[Battenberg]

Snip

What a baffling and unnecessarily hostile comment. I genuinely haven't a clue what point you're trying to make or what specific changes you're actually after here. You just seem to be having a go at n0e for daring to disagree with you as opposed to making any kind of helpful or constructive suggestions.

They've been in the community manager spot for what, 3 days? To use your own analogy what you're doing is shouting at the first officer of a sinking ship (which they are not responsible for sinking) instead of trying to help keep said ship afloat.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

-Snip-

I'd prefer you didn't use me as some sort of ammo.
Unpaid? Yes. That's how voluntary work works. I do a lot of other things in life without getting paid.
Overworked? Hardly. I'm not forced to do a set amount of moderating or more. In fact, I even made an agreement before coming back as a mod, so that I don't have to wade through the R&P stuff. I was just griping about it because there are so many reports from that sub-forum, and it's not uncommon for all other reports to be swiftly dealt with, leaving me with little or nothing to do.
Downtrodden? I've never been treated badly by the admin team. In fact, back in the day, I used to get along with Spinwhiz fairly well. We used to have a laugh. Any distance to the current admin team, community manager or otherwise, is my own fault.