Should there be a limit to the number of social threads in Community?

No, I don't think so. Many of the social threads new users try to create now don't recieve a backing because they're new and the users that want to be involved in a social thread are all ready most likely all ready involved in one.

Long sentence, whew.

 

And in defense of my thread, I had four members of the Gooey side of the force, it was only the first day of having established that order, so of course it wasn't off the ground yet, and finally it is different then the other orders in that the order is a lot more silly and funny, I thought it would be fun to have another order, there are only 2, light and dark. Whats wrong with having a 3rd?

 

I do think the restriction on those should stand. Two of them are plenty, and any new threads aren't likely to go in a new directions.

Why are two plenty? What criteria are used to establish that these should be the only threads allowed to exist?

Also, out of personal curiosity, what is the difference between the Lightsiders and the Dark Lords?

Plus, the thread wasn't going anywhere. It was mostly people having a laugh at the title.

How do you know that it wasn't going anywhere? Wasn't the BYS established on a goof (thats not meant to be offensive BYSers)?

It probably would have only lasted as long as it was entertaining, and then dropped.

So, if it was going to drop, then what is the purpose of locking it? There was no reason not to let it die a natural death. Instead of locking these threads, perhaps they should just be monitored so that useless "hi", "bye", and "I'm here" posts are not allowed page after page. Another mod that has off-hour availability would do wonders in the JCC.

 

You're correct, DOT. The BYS was founded on several goofy posts by chewycharmy. However, it was never the intention that a social thread would be started. It happened by accident.

 

How do you know that it wasn't going anywhere? Wasn't the BYS established on a goof (thats not meant to be offensive BYSers)?

Wasn't the BYS established by a troll?

¤Night

 

Troll is such a subjective term.

 

Since we can no longer direct people to the JCC reform evaluation thread (and since I'm lazy), I would like to post just a few of my thoughts on this issue from that thread, if you'll indulge me.

What is the big deal about the number of threads?

Seriously I don't get it. Who cares? Why are people so insanely uptight about this? Do you honestly feel like you're being forced out of the JCC because out of the first 50 topics only two interest you? You know what I think? I think that's the case for pretty much everyone of us. And guess what, we all have our two threads... two threads that catch our attention, that entertain us for that moment, until we cycle to the next thread. I have never once been bothered by the number of threads that don't interest me. Yes, sometimes when I get here I can't even find a single topic that sparks my interest on the first page. So you know what I do? I go look on the second. Move aside silly social threads and LOTR RPGs, I'm on the hunt! It's kind of fun actually.

(The one exception to this is of course the redundant thread. I can understand trying to keep all the discussion of, The Matrix for instance, in one place. Likewise, we don't need 50 threads called Jobo's Treehouse.)

Look folks, the point is this: if people are having fun, LET THEM! Let's put the fewest restictions, rules, and limits on this as possible. Let's encourage all of the incredibly creative minds who post here to be creative and not to worry about what's "spam" and what isn't, or what might arbitrarily fit into some category that the administration for some reason decided to put a cap on.

I don't resent the people who constantly post in one social thread, I'm happy for them. These people have found a niche here, they've found a group of people that they really get along with, and most importantly, they HAVE FUN! So who are we to say, "Well these people over here have found their niches, but that's quite enough thank you. You newbies will just have to make yourselves fit into one of the pre-existing groups". It's just silly. Are we honestly afraid that the JC will be just social threads? Is that really the only thing we would do? I know it wouldn't be for me, that's ridiculous.

So if someone can explain to me what the big deal is about the "number of threads", I would really appreciate it.


This summer got to be insane with the number of social and chat threads that were popping up (probably three or four new ones per day at least), but I swear to you it was just a phase.

Let's take a moment to reflect on that time period, the time period that was apparently the inspiration for this whole "JCC reform". What we are talking about is the weeks immediately before, and the months immediately after the release of AOTC. The newbie influx was enormous, activity was at an all-time high, and yes the place was permeated by a sort of "w00t" mentality. We had tons of fans just discovering this place for the first time, and they were excited to make friends and have fun with their fellow fans. This set off a trend that I agree got to be quite ridiculous, everybody wanted their own social thread so that the newest "beach blanket poolside backyard hot tub shindig" became an hourly occurance. But I ask you, how many of these threads actually "stuck"? Can you remember? Was it ever so bad that discussion became impossible? I think you guys are blowing it way out of proportion. I know that a lot of oldbies felt put out by all of these fanatical newbies "spamming up their board", but I just honestly can't believe that anyone was actually "forced out", or that any 99ers left the JC forums because there were "too many social threads". The very notion strikes me as utterly ridiculous.

Just like this board, the people who post here come and go in phases. Some leave because they outgrow this place, others leave because this place outgrows them. I think for many it's the latter, what I see oldbies missing more than anything is the intimacy that existed when the board was much smaller, the fee

 

Look folks, the point is this: if people are having fun, LET THEM! Let's put the fewest restictions, rules, and limits on this as possible. Let's encourage all of the incredibly creative minds who post here to be creative and not to worry about what's "spam" and what isn't, or what might arbitrarily fit into some category that the administration for some reason decided to put a cap on.

I think that would solve 99% of the JCC issues.

 

However, it was never the intention that a social thread would be started. It happened by accident.

Right, and thats fine by me. What I have a problem with is instituting a policy that allows threads to be social, but does not allow social threads. And my distaste for that is compounded by the fact that some social threads that currently exist are allowed to remain, while other threads are locked. I personally don't care if all social threads are banned, but at the same time I don't care if they are all allowed. So from that objective viewpoint, I think its simply going to be a lose-lose situation. There is no numerical limit that we can choose that will make it fair to the users. Its simply better to just let them have it, with simply a little more moderation (read: we need at least one more mod).

 

I think it's an "all or nothing" situation too. Either way you slice it, you're going to have people that are pissed off about it. I prefer the "all" option and let the chips fall where they may.

 

I prefer the "none" option. I guarantee that more people would be mad at ending social threads forever than in keeping them

 

Most social threads and groups have their own boards so I doubt there would be that much of an outcry. People would be angry at first but they would just start posting at their own boards instead of in a JC thread after a while.

 

Which is just saying that closing social threads would push the users to different forums.

 

Not necessarily. Most people prefer posting here but they post at offsite locations too. If you eliminated the social threads, posting at offsite locations would increase, but those people wouldn't leave the JC completely.

 

No, perhaps not, but it would take them one step closer to leaving completely

 

I don't think it would cause any more people to leave than other circumstances that may arise here at the JC.

 

Such as new rules? Look, the more rules they come up with, the more users will go post somewhere else, you can't deny this. they might not leave right away, but eventually they might.

 

That's true, but most people don't announce they're leaving. I didn't post from May 1999 until May 2002. Nobody had a clue who I was when I left or when I came back. More rules may cause some people to leave, but I don't think it would be the reason MOST people leave. I think most people leave for the simple fact they lose interest in this place.

 

Yes, but why make rules that would just make rediculous complainers happy, and push other people away? Is that fair?

 

I think it's tough to choose one group of people over the other and I don't envy the Mods that are going to have to make that decision. What's fair to one group may be unfair to another group. Achieving balance is a tricky business.

 

I think deltron_zero has the right of it up there ^

 

Yeah, I think you and I are in agreement on this issue dormir. I would also would like to post what ended up being my final post in the reform evaluation thread, as I've yet to see it contested by anyone. Again if you'll indulge me...

I think I have a pretty good perspective on this place and it's "importance" in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it's because I'm a bit older than the majority of the people who post here, maybe it's because I have a beautiful wife and beautiful children at home, maybe it's just because I've been able to find a very comfortable balance between my posting here and my "real life" activities. I really don't know why, but whatever the reason is, things that seem to drive a lot of you absolutely nuts don't really bother me at all.

But I really don't think that it's just me. I think that those of you who allow yourselves to be driven nuts by things such as the number of (insert thread type here) threads are at least partially to blame for your own insanity, and this is what I've been driving at all along. What you've done is you've somehow blown the importance of social threads, RPGs, WUL threads, appreciation threads... whatever, WAY out of proportion. We're not talking about things that make the forums fun for some people and ABSOLUTE HELL for everyone else. We're talking about things that are quiite fun for some people and a minor annoyance, an embarrassing nuisance at worst, for the rest of us.

Everyone who posts here for a while is going to develop some pet peeves... types of threads and types of posters that get on our nerves. We all have them, and that's fine and normal. But it seems to me that this "reform" (that I unfortunately missed) is a case of peoples' pet peeves being mistaken for something that is inherently wrong or "bad" for the forum as a whole.

You know, social threads are on my list of pet peeves as well. Really they are. So you might say, "Well this guy obviously doesn't even believe in what he's defending, he's just playing devil's advocate" and thus discount my entire argument. But I want you to know that's not what I'm doing at all. You see, for me the greatness of this forum, the fun, the quality of discussion, the reason this place could be the best place on the internet for Star Wars fans to hang out has nothing to do with the number of members or the types of threads that they post in, rather it has everything to do with the energy and vitality of the people who post here. This place is at it's best when it's moving fast, when everyone has something to do, or something to discuss, when everyone is actively contributing rather than clicking "refresh" and waiting for something fun to happen. This is why any rules that take the life out of this place for any one of it's posters need to be eliminated immediately.

Like I said before, if you can show me one instance where one person's way of having fun here actually impedes the right or ability of another poster to do the same then I'll gladly change my stance on issue. But until then get over your pet peeves, and stop with the silly rules. Please.

EDITS: stupid markups.

 

The problem is that la number of the people who advocate less restrictions only want more freedom for the threads they like, not threads as a whole. There are always exceptions, but it's a pattern I have noticed.


For example, the mods decided that they wouldn't allow 20 social threads, and people complained that they wanted to be free to post whatever they want and have as many threads as people wanted to post in.

But then there are 3 "good-bye threads" and people throw a fit that there should be a policy to ban them, and some even advocate banning those who post them.

What is the difference? Both kinds of threads annoy people. Both kinds of threads were trends for a while, and YJCC was saturated with them. And for both kinds of threads, there were people who came to Communications to demand that the mods restrict them. Some of the same people that complained about the social threads and asked for restrictions back in September are now demanding there be fewer restrictions. What changed? My guess is that now the mods are considering restricting the threads they like. It's different when you are on the other side of the fence, of course. But the mods have to look at it objectively. I believe they did just that when they created the reform and the policies set were sound. Enough people were frustrated, the socializing was allowed to continue in mod-created theme threads, and everyone won a little.


They went over all the reasons then why social threads should and shouldn't be restricted (why 2 or 3 organized social threads with rosters and rules is plenty and why threads that become social threads unintentionally are allowed) in the Reform Proposal Discussion thread and in the explanatory post made by JMT. I'm sure the participants said it much better than I could.

But I think the rules made sense, they were the right decision for the forum, and they should stick to them. The "Official Theme Threads" seemed to be fairly popular, and those could be restarted for those who are looking for more social threads. The restrictions on WUL and User Appreciation threads were very much needed and have worked out well. Hell, JMT even addressed "good-bye" threads in the reform, and her reasoning is still applicable and solid.

"'I'm leaving/back' threads - If the mods tried to put time limits on this, we will look petty and no one will pay attention anyway. So, again, we just decided to use good judgment. If the thread is serious, let it go. If it is "I'm leaving.......to take out the garbage", we will lock it and warn the author for spamming."


I think a lot of good things came out of that Reform, and I think it was so successful because the mods came to the forum and asked it's visitors what they would like to see done. But some of the stuff depended on the users to regulate their own behavior. Maybe the forum (regs and mods both) needs to be reminded of the policies. JMT mentioned in her closing thoughts that she had planned to open a new discussion thread in JCC to talk about which policies were working and which ones weren't. Maybe this is a good time for that.


EDIT: Just corrected the last part.

 

JMT mentioned in the opening of her post that she had planned to open a new discussion thread in JCC to talk about which policies were working and which ones weren't. Maybe this is a good time for that.

I understand that you have been gone for a little while, Gaylen, but there was a discussion appraising the success of the JCC reform found here. Its a bit of a long read, but I think a quick summary of the sentiments was that it was flawed. Now whether it was flawed in design or implementation...well, I would say it was a little of both. There was a general feeling of inconsistency by the moderation and that most people didn't see a problem with social threads.

 

Alright, so everyone has beaten me to that step.
Cheers to Erik for remembering JMT's plan for readdressing the reform before I did.


But did any concrete decisions come out of that? Or could we assume, by the current enforcement of some of the rules from the reform, that it was decided by the mods that the flaw lay in being lax in implementaion?

EDIT 2: A jump to the end of the thread shows the mods promised to announce a policy at a later date. Perhaps that announcement is coming in tomorrows update. *shrug*

But it does seem like the reform's rules are still being enforced and haven't been discarded. Until the mods say otherwise, I guess it stands that way. And since the discussion about the reform policies has already taken place, does that make this thread redundant?