Amphitheatre Reform Proposal

i]Second, there has to be fewer comments that appear much like this:
"Go away. This thread is wrong for the Amphitheater. Jesus Christ, why don't you read the forum rules for cripe's sake? Take it to Community. Oh yeah, and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Buh-bye."/i]

Exactly, I got into an argument with some one over PMs about that. I didn't understand how difficult it could be to try and explain the rules or to try and help some one make their post "worthy" for the Ampitheatre.

 

Yeah, that's why I put that in there. Even though a thread may be better off in a different forum, a helpful member would simply redirect it and keep it at that. It seems, however, that some feel that there's a need for smugness.

 

I suppose what annoys me most is the users who aren't necessarily rude, per se, but just not polite. Even if a thread is blatantly a JCC topic, I post in there saying that it looks like a JCC topic to me - after all, I'm not a mod, so I can't make that decision. It's my opinion, and I express it as such. It irritates me to no end when someone comes in and declares that it's in the wrong forum when it's not his responsibility to make that decision. I can't help but think that the attitudes of some, who have set themselves up as the Amphitheatre police, have contributed to the low traffic in the forum - goodness knows that if I were a newbie, I wouldn't want to start a thread for fear of someone lunging at my throat because he thinks it should be in the JCC.

Civility goes a long way.

Mel

EDITS: Blasted keyboard.

 

Good points all, Melyanna. Being rude, or "not polite" as you say it, to new posters in the Amphitheater is a huge mistake and will only drive away potential frequent visitors. There has to be stiffer penalties for that.

 

Well, I'm always polite when I redirect posts. It may not be my responsibility, but it's better to redirect a post than to wait until someone flames the poster .

 

This is probably just me - I'm a rhetoric major, so I can be incredibly picky about semantics - but I still get annoyed by a perfectly polite statement like "This belongs in the YJCC." I'm not sure what it is about that statement that bothers me. It's probably just that it's not my place to make that decision, which is why I say, "I think this would be better in the JCC." It's a small difference in phrasing, but I think the latter looks... less arrogant, less assuming, I guess. *shrugs* Like I said, I'm incredibly picky about word choice and syntax.

Mel

 

Hehe, I see what you mean Mel, but I guess it's difficult for everyone to word things perfectly. I try my hardest to be polite, I really do .

But all this could mean that a small solution would be to update the informational threads and make them 'sticky'. That way we could avoid the whole redirection of off-topic threads altogether, because visitors would see the 'Amphitheatre FAQ - Everyone read' or something like that.

 

I think both phrases you proposed work and are helpful. As long as it's not "I don't see what this has to do with the arts. This doesn't belong in the Amphitheater at all. Read the rules next time after you re-post this in Community."

 

Yeah. Fortunately I haven't seen any of that in the Amphitheatre yet.

 

True, there hasn't been anything ban-worthy, but there have been some very rude and smug comments when redirecting topics.

 

I'm afraid sticky topics might not be as useful as everyone thought they'd be - granted, they're great, but some people just don't get it at all. We've had sticky topics in the fan fiction boards for a few weeks now, but we still get people posting in incorrect forums and posting stuff that doesn't belong in fan activities at all - and over there it's a lot less subjective as to what is and what is not appropriate. Sticky topics and links at the top of the page don't do any good if people don't read those pages and follow the instructions therein. After all, if people always did that, there would be no need for moderation whatsoever.

Mel

 

Yep sticky topics and search features, the two things that were going to forever rid the JC of redundancy and rule breaking.


The amphitheatre is the only place that I've seen such rude re-directing (and AOTC and 3SA can get pretty ugly). I think it was all atributable to one user too

I agree that is a large part of keeping new people from coming in, if I saw that on my first post there I would never come back.

 

Y'know I'll admit I was rough with a few there, but it was hard not to be rude when the same person would start another thread!(and that has happened many times)

We had more threads yesterday, either today or tomorrow I will be creating an "Amphitheatre Better guide to posting".

 

Why not let a mod do that when he sees fit to do so, unless you were asked to do so by a mod? It's going to be better received from a mod than from a regular user.

Mel

 

Gandolf said to go ahead and do it, though you're right, it would be better for him to do it. I talked to him and he said he was to busy.

 

I'd talk to KW about it too - I think he's away from home at the moment, but when he gets back, he could probably work on it. It's not like we're at the point of a dire emergency. Right now, it can wait for a while.

Mel