The all new: Ask a moderator about the forum & rules

[Placebo 29]

Old thread (for reference)

So new forums, new things to ask about I guess, no bitching, no whining, ask sensible questions, get sensible answers, assuming we haven't drunk all the gin before replying.

Please Note:

If you want your username changed then post here.

If you have feedback/complaints/bugs to report about the new forums then post here.

[sparks50 0]

First question.

Will you be banning the spamming guy over me? :D

Edited April 18, 2009 by sparks50

[Placebo 29]

Naaah won't be banned, have you seen the way W0lle looks at camels? ;)

[echo1 0]

In the past few weeks, there seems to have been a billion new threads (okay, maybe slightly less) in the ArmA 2 General section about hardware specifications. I'd suggest a sticky for this purpose to prevent the board getting clogged up with dozens of new people asking whether or not their computer can run ArmA 2 :D

[.kju 3244]

Can you please rename this thread from

PROPER R Clutter SAP Everon - 2009-04-24 is out to PROPER R Clutter SAP Everon.

Thanks. :bounce3:

[raedor 8]

Sure.

[Placebo 29]

Can you please rename this thread from

PROPER R Clutter SAP Everon - 2009-04-24 is out to PROPER R Clutter SAP Everon.

Thanks. :bounce3:

Not exactly what this thread is for, better to use the "report post" function for that.

[.kju 3244]

Report post says:

Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Feel free to use report post function for thread renaming requests aswell, until we manage to change that line to include thread renaming. :)

Another good course of action is to PM the moderators with such requests.

[Placebo 29]

Exactly, ease off with the obtuseness please Kju, this isn't the first thread you've been like that recently, you've been around our forums for 8 years so I'm sure you've come across people using report post for things like closing threads, renaming threads etc. etc. and us not having any problem with that.

[mr burns 132]

Can my usertitle be OFP Slut again?

[dmakatra 1]

What's with the BI Forums policy of having mean mods? Take a look at this thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=72474

The guy is new. Maybe he has very little experience with online forums, only being exposed to less serious forums. And he's greeted with a condescending post by the moderator and a lock. And this happens over and over again, more or less every day.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't lock threads like this one. I generally like the moderation policies that the BI Forums have. It's the tone of a lot of the moderators I don't like. Not only is it contra-productive, because instead of setting the poster straight it'll scare or piss them off, but it's also idiotic in a marketing perspective as BI alienates a lot of potential customers.

Is it really that hard to be NICE when you're locking a thread?

[W0lle 1050]

@burns

Username / Usertitle change request thread ;)

@dmakatra

Thanks for your opinion, however it might have been smarter you PM the moderator in question (in this case me) with your concerns instead discussing or questioning the way the forums are moderated in public.

[dmakatra 1]

Hey W0lle,

I understand. I thought I'd bring it up here since it is no way a single moderator in which this behaviour is common, so I really don't want you to think of it as a personal attack against you. Sorry if it came out that way.

[W0lle 1050]

No worries mate, I will survive it and haven't seen it as a personal attack at all.

I sent the guy a PM explaining why the thread was closed and even answered his question there. :)

[Scrub 0]

Hi all,

Just been noticing some new faces around here recently. Thought a bit about how they handle themselves, I understand they're new, but still, posting things that are obviously spam (E.G. easily answerable questions if they just skim some threads/arma2.com). I know I've bumped into several on Youtube, BF2/BF2PR, OFP:DR, COD and other sites and forums.

My point of this thread:

I'm wondering, besides just the workload involved, is there any benefit - societal, fanbase kinetics, informational - to the forum owner, game or mod developer, in allowing a looser set of rules?

OFP:DR for one, has many members posting new threads that rehash old news. Everyone either repeats these, or quotes incorrectly and gets corrected. It's busy as if there WAS a new release of info, which would be considered major spamming here (and rightly so). BF2 used to be that way, and CoD forums are most definitely that way... Won't even get into Youtube, as that is another grotesque beast of posting altogether.

So, again, I don't expect this thread to take a lot of time to get to the meat of the matter. Just want to see a general view on the differences good/bad. :)

My take is it is much more difficult to get hard info from such chaos, and can't see a solid benefit to it.. Other than it becomes a text-based playground that keeps it's kinetics artificially high.

Thanks

[NeMeSiS 11]

I remember the bungee forums before the Halo2 release, and it was the biggest bunch of crap i have ever seen. Everyone just seemed to make the same 10 topics over and over again, yelling at eachother and having completely pointless and endless flamewars. It was impossible to use the forum in a decent way because every piece of usefull information was buried in 30 pages of bullshit.

I am very glad with the BI forums, they may be overly strict at times, but in the end these forums are 100% userfriendly.

[Placebo 29]

Quick answer, no we won't start being looser about the rules.

Long answer we're working on an FAQ to be pinned in ArmA2 General.

This could and should have been raised in the Ask a Mod thread. Moving the posts to there.

[Scrub 0]

Ah, Sorry about that. The intent was not how these forums are run, but the difference in the others society, and what the other BIS members found to be beneficial or not in the other forums style. I prefer BISs' more regimented forums, and can't see (other than workload) what bonus, if any, the others would have for how chaotic they are.

Ahh, NeMeSiS (I find typing OFPForum MUCH easier, lol) Yes, my point exactly. Is that used to keep the energy up on those forums in the absence of hard info? Or could it simply be lack of moderator number, time, care, to reign in? I know, is now wrong thread for such discussion..

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Scrub
clairity

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Well, from my point of view, discussing one topic on fifteen threads isn't really benefiting anyone, and it makes it easier to search for info without having to look in those fifteen different places. Having pointless spam-threads isn't contributing to the forums or it's community in any way.

As for the workload, there's a few good things about this community, amongst many other qualities, there's the self-policing () and lack of tolerance for bull. Having active community which doesn't appreciate such posts and frequents the use of the report button makes our jobs that much easier.

On the other hand most people that create threads about questions that have been answered to death before are the ones who are too lazy to use the search function. The spam thread starters will either learn and adapt to the community, or play the "OMG DEMOCRACY! FREEDOM OF SPEECH! I can say whatever crap I want and then defend myself by accusing the moderators to be the oppressors!" card until they get themselves banned or get bored when they realise that nobody gives a damn.

[Placebo 29]

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

There was none, you raised a very good point and I always appreciate such feedback from people, reading my reply to you the lack of smileys makes me seem a little "aggressive" perhaps in reply, apologies for that, it was a good, valid suggestion that hopefully we will partially address in the form of the pinned FAQ :)

[mr burns 132]

@burns

Username / Usertitle change request thread ;)

Umm yeah. You´ve read my request already .. :confused:

If you wanna make me beg for it, then say so.

Well, from my point of view, discussing one topic on fifteen threads isn't really benefiting anyone..

[Raphier 0]

can I ask a moderator to ask a moderator for 'ask a moderator'?

PS. I couldn't resist... :=

[W0lle 1050]

I couldn't resist either to use our shiny new infraction system on you.

@burns

If I could, I would have done it. There is a reason why I pointed you at that thread. ;)

[Raphier 0]

I couldn't resist either to use our shiny new infraction system on you.

@burns

If I could, I would have done it. There is a reason why I pointed you at that thread. ;)

so that's what it looks like? I want mine have some nice decorate next time...

bte, I do have a real question too: Wasn't there supposed to be a red-colored layout of BIS forums? I though we could choose the color ourselves :j:

whatever happened to it.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Raphier