Community is being overrun by spam.

Everyone throws rocks at each other instead of pillows?

 

Moderators should already be doing some version of what you're suggesting.

 

The forum does have a Rules thread stickied but it's not open for questions. Maybe a general 'New here? Or Have a Question?' thread like some of the other forums (Lit, SWC - for example) have?

 

Interesting thread. Was anything done about this?

I'm not gonna support or oppose any solutions involving using tags or policing/removing spam.

I will suggest that, if people really want this place to be a community, they need to step up and become more active in engaging with people and encouraging others to engage. That's all. Just put more effort into it.

When you see your neighbor, don't just walk on by and ignore each other as usual. Stop. Say hello. Try to talk with them. Engage with them. Learn about them. Let them learn about you.

When you see someone not engaging...ask questions. What did you think/like about X? How do you feel about X? Encourage the person to ask questions back. I see these +1 posts all the time and very rarely does anyone try to get anything out of the person who made them. There's just no effort. I'm guilty, too. I've tried to engage certain spammers in the past, to no avail, which has discouraged me. Maybe with some the effort will never produce any fruit. But with some, it will. You might find that some want to engage, if someone would just reach out and encourage them.

It may just be that we've gotten lazy, and perhaps, a little introverted. I'm guilty of this, too. There have been plenty of crazy/silly hijinks in my life over the years, and I've been reticent to share any of them. I mean, they might have made good threads, if I just clicked that "post new thread" button.

For those of you who are thinking, "nah, that ain't me"....when was the last time you opened a new thread? Surely there's something going on in your life, something you've seen, heard or are thinking about, that might get a few laughs, or provoke a few "deep" thoughts. Maybe it won't, maybe it'll suck and no one will care or respond. Maybe it will get a big donut under replies. But you'll never know if you don't try. If you have something on your mind, put it out there. Let's hear it. Be it silly or serious.

Absolutely. What happened to these threads? Where have you guys been? No, really. I know some of you guys are funny, so why aren't you posting funny threads? I know some of you are very intelligent and learned, you have a great deal of knowledge on a wide variety of interesting subjects, so why aren't you sharing that knowledge with everyone?

Like, why isn't tom rapping anymore? (just a fun example, tom. not meant to "call you out" or anything. you don't have to answer that.)

Where is darth boy to tell us about Palestine and Bruce Willis or whatever? (I know he's banned)

Why aren't you guys telling us how your lesbian girlfriend took you for $14,000? I know beezel isn't the only one who does dumb things and has something embarrassing happen to them.

I understand if people are just busy. Happens to all of us. But you have to make time, no? Someone does, anyway. You get out what you put in, right? You can't really complain about not getting anything out of the JCC if you're not putting anything in.

All it takes is one post to spark something, right? Someone just has to take the time and put the effort into trying to spark something.

Or, maybe some people (noobs, non-regs, lurkers and such) don't try because they're afraid. Afraid they'll create the next "fanboy is derogatory" thread and get run out of the forum. That might be part of the problem (I'm definitely not innocent here). Something to think about. Maybe we actually have something to learn from WNU. Maybe we could be a little more like them, in spirit. (though not in content, which I agree is non-existent) Maybe we need to be a little nicer to each other, especially to people who don't "get" the JCC.

I'm not saying the JCC is just soooo awful, just that it could be better. (myself included, for sure)

Boba Nekhbet

I did not know this. I assumed you simply weren't logging in, that you were simply busy doing something else. This is what I think of anyone I haven't seen in a while. "They're doing something else".

I'm not saying you don't put any effort in to the JCC, but maybe you could put in a little more? Maybe not give up so easily?

ASO, we don't know each other, but I think you're smart and funny. I've learned a lot from you, and you've made me laugh plenty. Say more things, so I can learn more things and laugh more. Please. Maybe I'll engage, maybe I won't. Maybe I don't have anything worth saying in response.

This goes for the rest of you JCCers. You're not innocent of the whole +1 thing. I've seen the best friends club. I know it was created with a huge tongue in cheek, but there's a lot of non-engagement going on in there. Some engagement, yes. But plenty of comments going ignored, too. If you don't agree with that example because of the nature of the thread, there are other examples.

A lot of you are funny and plenty smart. So teach the JCC something and make the JCC laugh.

I think maybe the JCC has fallen into a bit of a funk, maintained by bad habits. It's kinda lazy and repetitive, and falls into the same old thing. Looking to go "sexist/misogynist/racist/whateverist" in the Senate threads (me, too). Falling back on the same jokes. Even if you disagree, I think you can agree that there's not a lot of new blood, new ideas for threads, going around. It's the same old subjects always on the first page.

We've gotten used to not engaging with people. Look at Rogue1-and-a-half and his many reviews. Yeah, he sometimes gets responses and an actual discussion happens. But most of the time he gets crickets. "But his reviews are boring and I don't care", you say. Yeah, sometimes. But he talks about movies in that "last movie you saw thread", and I know many of you have seen the same movies. So why not engage? Force of habit, it seems. I'm sure many of you (I know for a fact that some do) don't even read his comments, you simply say "another Rogue1.5 review, I don't have time for that" and skip right over. Well, that's lazy. It's not Rogue1.5 that's failing to put in the effort. He's doing his part.

Darth Punk

This guy tries. He puts in the effort. He opens new threads. Some of them hit, some of them miss. But I appreciate the effort. Though, once again, I don't respond to them as much as I should. Not nearly enough. I don't give him the same effort in return.

Ghost is someone who tries. He swings and misses a lot, but he tries.

Some of you have wonderful personalities. If you put in as much effort as Darth Punk or Ghost, I think this place would be more much interesting.


I'm not saying ban the spammers and lock their threads. I'm saying if you don't want them to take over, then you need to up your game. Simple as that.

 

The fact of the matter is a lot of the people who used to regularly post here have simply grown up and moved on to other things in life. Posting on a SW message board isn't really high on the to-do list for them anymore.

On a slightly different note. Mods, is there a function that allows users to just hide threads? I mean, we have the ability to ignore users so can the same be done for threads? If I could just never see threads I know I'll never post in, like the majority of the ones mentioned here, it just might make the experience better.

 

I'll take that as a compliment At least someone noticed what I try to do.

I thought at least my "Understand Islam" thread would get more feedback, but it became like a blog or echo chamber, so I kind of stopped with so few people engaging in it, if at all.

 

I suspected as much.

But for the people who are here...

Well, I guess the JCC isn't what it used to be.

 

I just skimmed your post and saw no praise of me.

Disappointed.

 

There's a workaround of sorts that allows for it, but it's a bit of a blunt instrument. You have to ignore the person who started the thread. When you do that, any thread they started will disappear with it.

 

Speaking as a noob and having read this entire thread.

I think one of the biggest problems as a new comer is that no real sense of community exists.

You have a ton of different threads and no real direction aside from the "New User come here" style threads.

The people who built and started these forums have, as Boba_Fett_2001 stated a lot of people have 'grown up and moved on from Star Wars'. The type of people who are now entering the thread and looking for Star Wars related discussions are a different age. What follows with them is some silly stuff.

So the real question is how do you meld the old with the new? How do you keep the pristine feel while at the same time allowing the new blood to feel at home.

I feel like someone had the perfect idea of making a "noob moderator" position. Someone who a senior moderator guides through how/what to do and so that some young blood start to help.

I know I have just dived into some threads and got into some heated discussion over some political things :cough Ender Sai cough: however I am an outgoing type. Not everyone will be willing or capable of just diving in.

Sorry if my thoughts/advice aren't welcome. I think I am the only "youngling" to post here but I figured I would toss my two cents in since I want to become an active part of this entire community.

 

I feel a real sense of community here. I mean, it's an odd and twisted community, but I feel genuine affection for a lot of people here and there are even more that I like, even if maybe I wouldn't go so far as to say I have affection for them. Look, people are busier as they get older; there are days I don't have time to come here at all and more where I don't have time to do much but a very, very cursory skim of the first page.

But there are just so many running jokes around here and great memories . . . When I'm here and actually having a little time to read and also post in response, I feel connected to people. We have a lot of strong personalities and we give each other a lot of **** and it's pretty chaotic, but I still love this place and the people who post here. That's true even of some people that have been at my throat and I've been at theirs over the years. Still friends, still fun. I do wish we had some of the strong personalities of yester-year back, sure. I miss Zaz & Merlin & OZK & farraday & Skywalkernumbers & Revanchist. I disagreed with some of those people, I argued with some of those people, some of those people were just straight up jerks, but they were exciting to have around. But there are still plenty of great people here. I'm not going anywhere, I know that.

I guess the Community is always going to be offputting to some people. That's just a matter of the style and tone we have around here and I don't really know how to change that without changing the things that are great about this place. I try to encourage people via PM when it feels like they're getting kind of hammered or getting tired of Community, especially new users who just aren't totally comfortable with the vibe yet. But then there are others who just show up and it feels like they're just already totally on our wavelength and after a matter of days it kinda feels like they've been around forever. IATI was one of those; so was Zapdos. But then I also look at someone like Sarge; he came back after a long time away and he doesn't really fit the larger vibe of the Community in a lot of ways. He's relentlessly upbeat, never really sarcastic. But as different as he seems from a lot of the tone here, he fits perfectly in the group of friends here, at least as far as I'm concerned, and I think his absence would be very sad. So, there's certainly room for people with different personalities.

 

Oh man do I miss farraday too...

 

I think there's very much a sense of community here. But: you have to have been around here for awhile, and preferably a long while. There are many people here who started posting when they were teenagers and have multiple degrees to their name, sometimes families, a lot of life experiences, and so on. Many of those things have been shared with each other. If not here, than on Facebook and sometimes in person. I saw someone from here as recently as last year, when I met up with Rhonda and Mike. That's hard to come into if you're new. I've had this discussion with a few people in recent years, and part of it is that I think the JC is something close to a unique community. Not many message boards have been around for as long as the JC, which is old enough to vote in the U.S. in July of this year. Most of the people who have consistently posted at one point or another over the years have come and gone, but of course some remain.

It's hard to break into a new community that's been around for a long time, and it's more difficult still in this case because social media has gone from hardly being far enough along to call "infancy" in 1998 to being the massive, sprawling thing it is today. Because of that, message boards are sort of yesterday's thing. There's still things to be gained from here, and good discussions still happen. I just think a substantial amount of it comes from a center of gravity that has its roots in a time that was very different from today.

Also, farraday really does not belong in that group. He was much better than all of the rest you named, Rogue.

Rogue1-and-a-half

I think that's a great point you're making. If you make a positive and relatively unique contribution to the mix, you're probably going to fit in somehow.

 

Well, Zaz was co-mod with me for years in the Amp, so I'm not saying all of those people are jerks. And farraday didn't mind getting on people's nerves. But, sure, he was a more quality poster than some of those others. I mainly just spitballed that list off the top of my head, just people who came instantly to mind as people I missed. Some of those leapt to mind because they were fairly recent. God, you know what I really wish. TrainingForUtopia. Ethril. They were the damned Buckley & Vidal of the JCC for a while there. But this isn't my reminiscences thread.

 

Don't you worry about me thinking that you're calling Zaz a jerk. I'm more than glad to do that for you.

Do you have access to old saved threads, Rogue1-and-a-half? I don't go through them much, but I'm usually surprised by the number of people I haven't thought of in a long time, but who once seemed omnipresent around the JC.

 

I can't believe you forgot to mention Arlon.

 

Zaz was a much hated dude, but me and him were tight for a long time. I haven't looked at old threads in a long time. The watched user list used to kind of function as a walk down memory lane for me. I even started that thread where I was going through both of my WULs one person at a time and trying to reconnect with them or at least remember who they were and why they were there. It turned into a really bitter-sweet thread, being reminded of all the people I used to be really close with. Relationships are tenuous things and the internet has only heightened that. Relationships are more fragile now than ever before, I think, just in terms of how people can just disappear and then you just never, never, ever hear anything from them or about them again. The disappearance of the old WULs is kind of the thing I most mourn about the move to the new boards. And it's just kind of a thing I feel like people don't really do anymore like they did back on the old boards. I mean, I haven't gone anywhere near building up the kind of WUL I had back then and I don't think most people have. I think I actually saved my lists somewhere back when I was doing that thread; I need to see if I can find those. And you know who just came to mind? sacul-1138. That guy. Right? And Minacia_Brightstar.

EDIT: Oh, God, Arlon. Yes.





I will always want this person in my life.

 

It really sounds like you guys had a ton of fun back in the day and many memories were made. I feel the same way about the Star Wars Sim Forum from AOL which now barely has 19 members on it's boards. Thats why I came here, because I missed that.

All of that being said though the real question is does the team of mods want a direction of "We miss the old days and come to hang out with our friends" or do we foster the new blood to come in and eventually replace you? Do you want to see the forum outlive your tim on it or do you want to be with it to the end?

Social media has changed a lot of things and that makes it difficult to keep a forum running. Your team here has done a great job. Do you just want to keep the status quo? That's okay if you do! But if you don't you should slowly start to adapt and really bring in the fresh blood.

I see so many "Younglings" who just join and stop posting. I did that for awhile back in October however I decided to push forward. How do we get the rest to push forward? How do we as a community get the community to grow so new generations can have the same experiences you did? It is not impossible.

 

I was the same; my hiatuses were measured in years, my most recent being nearly 2. I feel like I made myself unwelcome in JCC when I was younger, and now I guess I'm too afraid to try and poke back there. I lurk a few threads now but mostly only contribute to the Doctor Who discussion and the NHL thread before heading back to the home I've made with my fellow fanfiction writers. And I am content with that. It was originally fanfiction that brought me to the JCF in the first place.

 

I don't think you ever made yourself unwelcome. I don't think anybody in the JCC hated you or wanted you gone. They were just having a laugh at you. Or, rather, your conspiracy theories. Which, I'm sure, probably didn't feel very welcoming.

You can come back and post pretty much like nothing ever happened. Even JCC regulars have done that, so I'm sure you can. They'll remember your conspiracy theories and perhaps give you a bit of grief now and then, but other than that, you'll be fine.

Some people feel like they have some sort of e-reputation, and, once destroyed, they can never show their face again. That's not true unless you've actually done something terrible. Even then, if it wasn't too bad, people can and will forgive you, because they simply don't care. That's the thing. Most people don't know you, and don't care what you say or do, so there's nothing to worry about.

Just...be prepared to receive more laughs if you share those conspiracy theories again.

 

Just the other day I was pointed out for necro-posting spaming. I forgot it existed in the rules. A moderator told me of my error & I apologized & reread the rules. I suggest if nobody posts on a thread in over a year it should get locked. I myself still feel like a "newbie" so I'm still learning JCF etiquette.

 

When we were hosted by the IGN boards threads that went 6 months automatically autolocked. However, that led to requests for them to be unlocked by the mods. There are some threads that can go awhile without posts - those related to annual sporting events, for example.