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Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards
Roleplay Community Forums for the Atlantic Shard
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Cear Dallben ZOG
Moderator
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Posts: 2495
Location: Blackrock, Isle of the Avatar
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 Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:12 pm Post subject: Ugly things |
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This is a very pretty board we have here
for one reason or another theres been a rise in pissed of people/drama most of us cant explain. But i really cannot stree how disgusted i am to see locked posts. and if i see a post that has the word drama and its locked. i near vomit. if i see 4 post lock in a row all pretaining to the same thing and an addittional post has been al together deleted. i projectile bloodspew all over my badass 22 inch monitor.
can we have like...a trash can, or a stygian abyss forum where all lock and ugly posts go so people dont have to see them? I cant stress enough how important first impressions of an RP community are. especially since we have no idea when a possible player stops by the boards.
small examle idea would be a sticky in the mod's corner with a link to the forum (only way of knowing it exists and only way it can be reached) where all locked post go. yaaaaay
oh and go to stratics uhall and represent my force trammle players to fellucca post. later guys.
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Arcana
Crazed Zealot
Joined: 29 Dec 2003
Posts: 3385
Location: lost in the wilds
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| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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An example of the only way these forums will ever be a happy place:
http://elitistjerks.com/forums.php
Yea, its a WoW forum. But, I reference it as an example of one way to do things because they maintain order there with an iron fist, and in my observation it has been really effective in maintaining a sense of quality and respect on their forums for their general community.
I happen to take go completely hardcore forum-nazi or do nothing view of forum management, though. In between is no fun. |
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Gabriel Sruentus
Visitor
Joined: 29 Nov 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: First impressions |
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I'll just add to this post as I guess I'm one of those people that it would target. First, for the record, I love roleplay in most of it's forms, be it personal storylines, huge inter-guild political plots or just fantasy debates about magic that cannot possibly be effected by current game machanics. That's the reason that even before I had finished reinstalling UO on my system, I was googling every roleplayers name I could remember from when I used to play, thankfully Molly's name brought me here.
I do want to say this though, I'm generally light hearted in RL and accepting of differences in playstyle as long as there is respect, but the amount of hinted at complaints I've seen these last two weeks make me truly apprehensive about roleplaying with anyone in the community. Not out of some snobism (is that a real word?) but because I do not want to offend anyone which apparently seems to be easy to do.
Now, realise I've not actually seen or heard any complaints. Either they are deleted before I see them or they are all in pms. Either way, this is the honest first impression I got from this forum.
I hope my impressions are wrong and this has just been a bad week with christmas stress or something.
Signed,
Stephan, player of Gabriel and Jadis
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Halister Marner
Site Programmer
Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 2217
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| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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It's actually been a fairly bad week, they come in spurts, usually around holidays or school breaks. I wouldn't worry about offending anyone, most of the arguments are pre-established, or there is a long history of tension between the participants in the arguments.
But I agree entirely, there's been too many locks and not enough moves to the Bonfire, having those posts displayed after they have been resolved probably isn't the best for attracting new members.
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"There are those who dream to escape reality, and there are those who dream to change it." |
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Cear Dallben ZOG
Moderator
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Posts: 2495
Location: Blackrock, Isle of the Avatar
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| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: First impressions |
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| Gabriel_Sruentus wrote: | I'll just add to this post as I guess I'm one of those people that it would target. First, for the record, I love roleplay in most of it's forms, be it personal storylines, huge inter-guild political plots or just fantasy debates about magic that cannot possibly be effected by current game machanics. That's the reason that even before I had finished reinstalling UO on my system, I was googling every roleplayers name I could remember from when I used to play, thankfully Molly's name brought me here.
I do want to say this though, I'm generally light hearted in RL and accepting of differences in playstyle as long as there is respect, but the amount of hinted at complaints I've seen these last two weeks make me truly apprehensive about roleplaying with anyone in the community. Not out of some snobism (is that a real word?) but because I do not want to offend anyone which apparently seems to be easy to do.
Now, realise I've not actually seen or heard any complaints. Either they are deleted before I see them or they are all in pms. Either way, this is the honest first impression I got from this forum.
I hope my impressions are wrong and this has just been a bad week with christmas stress or something.
Signed,
Stephan, player of Gabriel and Jadis |
Be cure to google Cear Dallben and The Zog Cabal and fill out an application to join my guild for you are awesome sir. I would say this is normally an awesome board will little -heated- disputes. as for it being easy to tick someone off, perhpas, i say its more random/acidental and people take it the wrong way. not always easy to communicate on the internet. much less think you actually know someone at all. wich usually happens and adds to the dispute and breeds future ones in relation to said person you think you know. Join the zog cabal on your main, and tell no one oyu did it (applies to all of you)
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Tia-Setri
Sage
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 544
Location: Akoris, Outside Skara Brea
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| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:31 pm Post subject: |
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Cear you're shameless....
I think taking them down was good.
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Halister Marner
Site Programmer
Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 2217
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: |
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| Arcana wrote: | An example of the only way these forums will ever be a happy place:
http://elitistjerks.com/forums.php
Yea, its a WoW forum. But, I reference it as an example of one way to do things because they maintain order there with an iron fist, and in my observation it has been really effective in maintaining a sense of quality and respect on their forums for their general community.
I happen to take go completely hardcore forum-nazi or do nothing view of forum management, though. In between is no fun. |
They actually aren't doing that well. WoW's subscriber base is 10,000,000 as of recent numbers, and their membership isn't even half a percent of that.
Comparatively, our board, which is centered on Atlantic specifically would have a potential 4 year user base of around, lets be optimistic, 30,000. That would return just short of 4%, which in subscriber comparison, makes us about 8x as large. Even if we compared all of Ultima Online at it's peak, we'd be ahead. We are actually the largest roleplay board for Ultima Online in it's history, both in ranking, views and hit counts.
So to get to my point, the nazi mod route is a horrible way to go, especially for small communities. If airtight policies and extreme moderation are put into practice, when the dust settles, all the free thinkers and high confidence posters will be gone, and you will be left with low esteem rule drones, this will create a relatively respectful atmosphere, but ultimately not a progressive one. Even though we have flames and arguments, thats part of life and social interaction, and while I don't encourage those things, it's an inevitability when you have people from different backgrounds, cultures, religions and lifestyles all communicating anonymously.
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Arcana
Crazed Zealot
Joined: 29 Dec 2003
Posts: 3385
Location: lost in the wilds
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think a percentage based comparison is really valid when you consider that for most of its history, the ARPC/TIP boards were the only board for Atlantic RP, whereas there are hundreds of WoW discussion forums out there to choose from. The EJ boards are among those that are well-respected for the quality of the information they have about the game, and I think that their rules work and are necessary for what they are trying to do.
I believe that most of your "free thinkers and high confidence posters" have already long since gone or stopped posting their thoughts because this forum sinks to the lowest common denominator. I see virtually no free/novel thoughts around here taken seriously or discussed in a meaningful way, although I do grant that is probably more community than forum driven.
There is absolutely nothing progressive about this place. Its been stuck in the same old rut for a long time. Any truly controvertial thread usually devolves into drama or gets locked at someone's request rather than reaching any kind of conclusion or closure. |
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Tia-Setri
Sage
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 544
Location: Akoris, Outside Skara Brea
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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OOC bs under the guise of IC is bad form and tacky as well...
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Halister Marner
Site Programmer
Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 2217
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Arcana wrote: | | I don't think a percentage based comparison is really valid when you consider that for most of its history, the ARPC/TIP boards were the only board for Atlantic RP, whereas there are hundreds of WoW discussion forums out there to choose from. The EJ boards are among those that are well-respected for the quality of the information they have about the game, and I think that their rules work and are necessary for what they are trying to do. |
If you want to go that route and compare more extended statistics, we are also a roleplay only forum, which would drop us down to around 5,000 or so potential members. Even though theres multiple WoW boards, many users don't stick to just one board. Just doing a quick search, they have a lot of coverage (20,000 results), however their membership doesn't reflect that either. There are far too many warning signs when looking at a board like that.
| Arcana wrote: | | I believe that most of your "free thinkers and high confidence posters" have already long since gone or stopped posting their thoughts because this forum sinks to the lowest common denominator. I see virtually no free/novel thoughts around here taken seriously or discussed in a meaningful way, although I do grant that is probably more community than forum driven. |
Most of us that currently play Ultima Online do use these forums to advance current plots and work out ideas. Perhaps you are paying attention to the general drama on the GA, which is in no way representative of the vast majority of what is posted here. As for the free thinkers and high confidence posters, we have many, that's why there are so many conflicts here. Lack of these posters leads to a stale and monotone state of community, which for a small community would inevitably cause activity to drop to nothing.
| Quote: | | There is absolutely nothing progressive about this place. Its been stuck in the same old rut for a long time. Any truly controvertial thread usually devolves into drama or gets locked at someone's request rather than reaching any kind of conclusion or closure. |
Let's say that point is valid, which I don't believe it is. The forums you linked lock posts for grammar errors and warn posters for exactly that. They also lock threads far quicker and without resolution than we do. If you are looking for resolution, strict moderating won't allow that, however hands off moderating will, and while that form of moderating does open up more venues for membership, there are many other sacrifices by going that direction.
If these boards went to either one of those extremes, we would die. That is a simple fact. As I acknowledged there are flames and drama, but banning or restricting things too much causes most posters to leave, which would essentially kill both the good and the bad activity here, which is not a sacrifice any administrator would be willing to make.
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Isk
Honored Member
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 1667
Location: -=Magincia=-
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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Arcana y u r teh negative? I see lots of constructive posts out here and on the Summit and the Grand Senate but then you have to play UO and be a GM in this community to view those....
As for progressive posts its up to posters to make posts, if no one makes progressive posts it might just mean that things are pretty good 
(Everyone knows that the progress is made in the Summit / Grand Senate by GMs)
Also can I get a link to a Warcraft RP community forum I'd love to see how those are run...  |
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Tia-Setri
Sage
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 544
Location: Akoris, Outside Skara Brea
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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It's really hard to RP in WoW. I'm all for getting rid of the bs and the crap but stifling creativity and sweepings issues under a rug won't help make anything move forward.
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Cear Dallben ZOG
Moderator
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Posts: 2495
Location: Blackrock, Isle of the Avatar
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Arcana
Crazed Zealot
Joined: 29 Dec 2003
Posts: 3385
Location: lost in the wilds
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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Eh, I have no desire to get into statistics Halliser, that's all you. There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. My suggestion is don't get bogged down in numbers, because its really beside the point. I linked a site as a comparison not to suggest anyone copy the entire thing and be exactly like them, but that elements of it might be useful and it illustrates another way of doing things. It has generated discussion, which is all I really hoped for, and that's a good thing. 
| Quote: | | OOC bs under the guise of IC is bad form and tacky as well... |
I totally agree, and I think forum moderation should come down very, very hard on that kind of thing when it occurs. It will really only go away when the community publicly shames people for being petty like that.
Yea, Isk I see what you did there However, I keep sticking my head in around here because I used to love this game, and I used to love this community. Call it nostalgia, if you will. What I see, unfortunately, is that all the things that made me become hopelessly frustrated are still here in spades.
There is a pervasive mentality of "oh everything is fine, we're better than ever" that just doesn't seem to acknowledge a problem, ever. I think more people who have left the community would seriously consider returning were there to be some sign of real change. Don't forget I have been behind the scenes in the past as a GM, and it was primarily my experiences there that caused me to quit UO. Its hard to believe that things are all suddenly rosy and productive there. I just think that most of the people who disagreed with the way things are done just threw their hands up in the air and left. So I come back here to check things out two years later, and I still see Regency drama going on... that was pretty amazing, and incredibly discouraging to me.
| Quote: | | Also can I get a link to a Warcraft RP community forum I'd love to see how those are run... |
RP in WoW is a myth. But, you might Google for RP on the US sever called Steamwheedle Cartel. I haven't played there myself, but one of my former guildmates rerolled Horde over there supposedly because there is an active RP community.
| Quote: | | I'm all for getting rid of the bs and the crap but stifling creativity and sweepings issues under a rug won't help make anything move forward. |
Personally, I think this is what happens now. What I am advocating that is that people who routinely start the bs or overreact be dealt with so that there can actually be some productive discussion. What exactly consitutes bs, is of course in the eye of the beholder, but I wish that more people would speak up and call it out when they see it. |
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Ceinwyn ab'Arawn
Transcendent Spammer
Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5017
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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This is BS. You want to see a forum run perfectly with no drama?
http://com3.runboard.com/brealmofumbra
Know why there is no drama? I rule it like the tight iron fisted nazi I am.
Probably also because it's only one guild. I have never analyzed why my forum kicks so much ass compared to other guild forums. Halister, i welcome you to analyze what I'm doing right ^_^ I want some awesome stats! |
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