The Swim Archive

[SwimOdin]

Not doing what I should be doing (research paper, procratinating) vs. having too much time on my hands are two very different things.

No offense taken, though

The state of the boards = Puerto Rico.

[Crimm]

    You too huh?

     Intelegent threads in Inco?  Not for months, have I seen such a thing.  I dont doubt the existance of such a thing, but I have a feeling that they have moved towards extinction.  Competition from their spam coutnerparts drove them from their habitat.
       Saddly, I think its best that Inco be more or less set aside for total idiocy.  We all know that once a thread gets deleted they come rant about it.  "My thread on the smartest cat was deleted!  It was really good!"   Somehow I doubt that. Inco has become a buffer from the craziness.  I have noticed a bit more idiocy in standard babbling... slightly concerning.
        What bothers me is that parts of the board are treated as if their diesease colonies.  (AS Action and Inco especially).  I wonder if their reputations are diserved.  If so can anything be done.  It doesnt seem healthy to deamonize entire folders... even tho I just did.  Are those sections really lost causes or can they be saved?  I would sure like to think so.

[Sunnysidez86]

no your right, Inco and Action Folder are basically (for me anyways) areas i do not wander into that much and when i do I rack my skull againest a cheese grater for more enjoyment.

I guess the level of stupidity for me in Inco i find to be more frustrating that actual enjoyment, the topics that go on are beyond me. I do remember when i first joined back in october thru december that good calm intelligent discussions actually occured there but for some reason that changed.

so i peek in there maybe 1 time a week to see if anything has changed but sadly that is not the case, and of course when i try to make a topic in that folder no one posts in it because thought would be needed to post

Message Edited by Sunnysidez86 on 03-29-2004 04:29 PM

[harryfrodo]

One good thing about the new forum - each section has its own page.

No longer do we have to put up with seeing how squirrels will take over the world from Incoherent Babbing, and InuYasha obsession of the Action folder.

[Crimm]

Zoid's lampooning Odins secret link with links of his own (I contributed a few cuz I really couldnt resist angering some FanBoys/girls).  And theres another Inu thread (misplaced mind you) that was atleast flame on. 

The horor I have heard about the Action has kept me out since the new format.  That worries me, what if there is good discussion being suffocated by all the crap? 

I always get annoyed when I try to post something of value and im forced off the main page by "Temple of the rainbow moon" and "Hi! How are you?".  But Im afraid that it seems theres no helping it.  I have seen tho, the mods have seemed to quash the chat threads...which is good.  And now that the Croc Shark maddnes is over perhaps we can get back on track.

On that note, Torrent, are there anymore event of a similar nature planned in the near future?  Or is the next backwash gonna be InuYasha's next time off the air?

[SwimTorrent]

I'm afraid I'm not allowed to say.

[MethoD_X]

Torrent I have a hard time calling you that, can I still call you Rahn please? lol I just cant get used to it!!!!

Anyway... I just wanted to say Im glad you guys love to be so involved with us... It really is a true pleasure and treat, but if you do decide to do something interactive like that again, please plan it better for the boards I think all of us daily members would agree with that simple suggestion.. Other than that you really are doing a great job, keep it up man I appreciate it

[ByteOfNarsil]

Incoherent Babbling isn't in the greatest of shapes.

First let's be clear.  It's never, since my stay began, been a haven for intelligent banter (though I can still give a couple links to threads that are terrifyingly intelligent, but I would rather not them get bumped, spammed and chatted, and then deleted).  It's always been a tad random, though not spammy random (the worst topics were generally "Now THIS is Incoherent Babbling" and usually it's just something about penguins and/or squirrels).

I generally see the Folder as a place where topics that might be less than worthy of an intelligent discussion would be. 

It's hard to really say when things went wrong down there though...

The problems seemed to erupt after the Board Switch.  With the new format, the only people in Incoherent Babbling are those who want to be there, as you have to make a conscious effort to click there.  Combined with all the new people rushing in, and new promotional things and the like, some have become accustomed to constantly making chat and party threads (which are all quite  boring and redundant, in the end). 

Will all the Incoherent Chatters realize that it's all quite stale down there?

I'm afraid that is probably unlikly.

When you stray down there, you'll notice that the registration dates on nearly everyone are quite new.  It's where a lot of the newer people (often with little to add) have been going.  The one's you see down there now will probably drift away in another month, but be replaced by new ones, who will stay a while, chat and 'party' until it gets old, then leave.  What a nice cycle.

So is there any real solution? 

I don't know. 

The only possible ways are to try to make drifters get bored of the chat and 'parties' faster by whatever means (but those threads have a tendancy to explode with hundreds of posts an hour, and are impossible to catch).  So it's hard to tell.

In the end, Incoherent Babbling isn't an intelligent place, and not a place to go when you're looking for it.

(just my thoughts though, as always)

EDIT: Agh, I didn't mean for this one to be a long one either :-)

Message Edited by ByteOfNarsil on 03-29-2004 07:14 PM

[Crimm]

So, if we write off IB as total lunacy by nature (which I see as fairly accurate) what about the other folders with bad raps.  I decided to investigate the Action folders and it was a lil spammy but it wasnt out and out IB terror. 

I think Action is too important to write off, its integral to the AS experiance.  So how do ya deal with the fact 3/4 threads are Inuspam, just write it off too?  I supose.  Im just not sure its good for the boards to have a sorta "shady neighboorhoods".

Oh and Torrent, thats what I expected ya to say.  Hmm perhaps I could ask it in a way that you could drop hints.   How was "Shark vs Croc" viewed around the HQ?  How do people feel about the successes or failures of the promotion.  I think we could assume that if they viewed it as a success (which if the goal was to make new board members it in the short term was) we could assume a follow-up promotion would be in order.

[Crimm]

Tis' an improvement, but it seems to have encouraged more insanity.

[ByteOfNarsil]

I don't think any of the folders are to be written off.

In Action, I had a good time posting a bit in a topic called  "The Spike Debate "SPOILER""

I can't resist a good Cowboy Bebop talk,and a new one or two just pop up now and then.  It is true that the Folder itself is plagued by quite a bit of spam, but there are still some good threads in there (and, unlike the Noise Folder, will constantly have new shows to discuss).  There's sure to be a new batch of interesting threads to post in when FLCL comes back on.  It's mostly a matter of not paying much mind to some of the less worthwhile threads.

Incoherent Babbling is similar.  There are still pretty worthwhile threads, you just have to do some digging sometimes.

And now on today's developments.  We had quite a surprise this evening.

For details on that...

"Welcome SwimMod_Isen and SwimMod_Bast!"

http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=hq_a
dultswim&message.id=27625&jump=true

It's unknown how these new developments will impact the Boards.  Now in the black, Mod-number-wise since the end of Prospero's time.  There's currently the welcome thread and whatnot.

General state is on the upside, I think.

[belle_mort]

i have to agree. even if action is one of the more cluttered folders, i think it's due to the amount of interest the action shows garner from viewers. personally, i first came to the boards to talk about the action block, and only later i ventured to other folders, excepting the noise folders that ive only visited a handful of times.

i agree that part of the problem with chatters and duplicate threads is directly linked to the fact that most of the posters never bother reading the new to the boards FAQ or even use the search button. in fact, i doubt that most board members even try to scan past the first page of each folder when trying to find a thread. i don't really have more suggestions apart from what have been said previously in this thread, but i agree that perhaps a stricter hand is needed to curb the insane chatting that has been speading like crazy in the boards.

for example, i am a faithful follower of witch hunter robin and have been posting to threads concerning it, but the last episode's thread was absolutely insane. in one night alone the thread generated more than 600 posts, most of which contains nothing but irrelevant chatter. since it was the thread floated by the mods, i thought that it would be the least likely to be deleted and so i wanted to discuss the episode events there. however, the sheer number of posts made it nearly impossible for me to dig out the great posts amongst the utter nonsense, and i only started posting after all the chatters left the thread in an attempt to bring the episode back into the conversation.

i think that kind of experience would definitely be detrimental to the [as] board experience for many viewers.

however, i do want to point out that there were some serious cleaning-up done by the mods in the action folders, and for that you guys (and girls) have my eternal gratitude. salute!

Message Edited by belle_mort on 03-31-2004 04:57 AM

[Crimm]

I agree that they SHOULDNT be written off, I just know quite a few members have.  People can only take so much garbage.  "Action section" I think people are refering to the entirity of Action.  So crazy in there.

Yes on to the new mods.
I missed that thread for a while because a certain Admin *cough* Torent *cough* put it in the wrong folder.  I still havent seen em in action, kinda like Beezo I guess, and taking the stelth mod approach.  LoL sad that they were on the third page of their own welcome thread.

Oh and dont spam the welcome thread, because none of those have ever been spam.  *note sarcasam*

[SwimOdin]

The old welcome threads used to be party threads, but those days have passed.  If I'm gonna crack down on crazy RP's in IB, why should something similar be allowed in .com?  I think the welcome threads from now on should be just that:  A way to let everyone know there are new mods and a way to say hey.  Not ride on a slip'n slide.

[Crimm]

Im not sure if I would call the spam (and ya it was spam) RP since the only role playing I saw was mods declairing themselves to be Swordfish II.  I guess there coulda been some.

I'm fine with the crack down on welcome threads, I just thought it was odd that this time it was suddenly not cool to spam em.  *shruggs*  Your rules my man.

Also, I have noticed the slow death of RP in Inco, so good job with that.  Im glad I dont have to see the stupid one about "Come be a rodent with me!"    Do you count the bar threads as RP, theres a bit of confusion there (dance/party threads?)

[Sarteck]

Well, here's my take on the current State of the Boards.

First off, we got two new Mods, so I won't be whining about moderation until I find out how effective their addition to the team is.  Heh.

Rants.  Rants, on some nights, are suprisingly coherant, well-thought, intelligent conversations, debating subjects of actual value.  Unfortuneately, this is most often not the case.  I think that many users feel that, since Rants is in the same folder with Babbling and Incoherant Babbling, it should share the same type of topics.  This, of course, should not be the case.

What can we do about Incoherant Rants?  Well, as users, we should refuse to post in those topics which truly should belong in Incoherant Babbling.  Maybe have one [one meaning a single, not plural] post telling them that "Excuse me, this topic should go in Incoherant Babbling.  We are trying to keep the forum folders organized, so please take this discussion there."  Maybe we could even explain to them further why their post should not be in Rants.

Also, we should realize that sometimes, we ourselves make this common mistake, and know when to end it.  We should ask the Mods to close or move a topic for us that really doesn't belong in Rants.

Further, we can help by posting intelligent topics in there, or even by reviving long dead topics that are intelligent.  This will show the new users what kind of topics ARE acceptable.  "Lead by example."

Babbling and Inco Babbling.  Well, Babbling is the catch all for someone who really does have a topic that they want answered, but their topic does not fit the other folder descriptions.  People often confuse this folder, however, with its brother, Incoherant Babbling.  I believe that Babbling also needs to be cleaned up, and the best way we can do that is by leading by example; we should post intelligent topics in there, or at the very least, not idiotic ones.

Incoherant Babbling is a haven for chatters, spammers, RPers, flamers, and other unsavoury sorts.  I tend to ignore this folder except when I am really bored or sleep deprived.  I also use it for testing against Lithium's code, and such.

IB would be the hardest to clean up, and I don't even know if we should try.  However, I DO think that it should be the last bastion for stupidity, and that we should confine such idiocy to that folder.  Perhaps most importantly, I do not think that we should hesitate to use the "Report Abuse" feature in the slightest.

Again, I admit that I am guilty of some of the idiocies mentioned above.

AdultSwim.com.  Okay, this is my favourite folder.  I like talking to other people about the website, and I enjoy helping out the users who truly do want help.  However, there are some idiots that post the same thing over and over, be it complaints against the system, attacking the ethics of the Mods, or just plain Inco Babbling.  I will mention names, too, so that you all understand what I am talking about:  NeonGenesis_InuRobin, feloniel3, and cravinmoorehead are prime examples from the past few days.  [I did try to report cravinmoorehead once, but the post that I was reporting him on was moved to IB before I finished typing a message to the Mods.]

These three are just a few examples.  While I can somewhat sympathize with some of the users, the plain and simple fact is that they all are breaking the rules.  Most times, nothing we can say will deter them from this path.  Therefore, with people such as these three, I suggest no hesitation when using the "Report Abuse" feature.  I don't want my favourite folder cluttered with meaningless and often derogatory posts.

This is not to say we can't joke around once in a while.  But let's try to keep those posts few, or at least put something in with those posts that is partially intelligent.  Mostly, let's not post the same thing over and over and over and over...  You get the idea.

I can't say much for the other folders.  I pretty much refuse to post anything in Action because of the clutter, and I'm not much into Comedy.  Heh.  Or, at least, I don't see the point of discussing it, at any rate.

I would like to see some new folders, just to organize some of the mess.  Maybe even sub-folders for the Action Discussion about each Action show that Adult Swim has.  That way, there aren't a dozen WHR topics, then 35 Inu topics, another WHR topic or two, then some Bebop topics, then fourty BigO discussions, then a FAQ on Inu... You get the idea.  ORGANIZATION IS KEY!

However, in the short time I've been here, I've seen many users learn more about the board rules and general posting etiquette, and more posters try to control their flaming.  I've seen posters that would normally tell someone to screw off actually listen when they are told they are spamming, and then actually apologize for it.  Users are learning all of the features about the board, and I think that many of the old Prospero users prefer this board to the old one.

To top it all off, we've got two new Mods that will help to clear this confusion I am talking about.

I'd have to agree with ByteOfNarsil:  The general state of the board is on the up-and-up.

[BigBear777]

I agree with Sarteck generally about the noise area of the board. With the addition of the crazed newbs seem to go there first.

Mods, I apoligize for making that thread (if it was read by any of you, bc one of you deleted it) the other night about thread abuse. It was rampant that night, and due to the lack of Mod overhead, it was tanking quickly.
I came back a few hours later, clear. Clean as a whistle. You took my thread with you, but it was a meager sacrifice for that mad clean sweep of the noise area. Mad Mod props.

the adultswim.com folder has gotten increasingly better in content. I actually like some of the activity going on here, as opposed to the mess/craziness that it used to be a while back. This also seems to be the House of Mod. Not complaining, it gets kept clean like the lobby of a nice, upper class-type business building. Not saying Mods are janitors, but the guards at the metal detector when you walk in.
Enough of that.

Action folder needs...something. One is never quite sure what you'll find in there. Kind of like sticking your hand into the mystery barrel, to see what the object is inside. It's insanity. God help those folders.
Comedy's cool. A little wacky and off-topic, but its still ok.

New Mods. You guys rock. You're doing a heck of a job, and while you're still new, you don't show it in the slightest. Good job guys.

One last thing. The older members, i.e. VIPS and stars, have been in some rough spots throughout the board. Not saying they start them, because mostly thats not the case, but rather that teir leadership isn't getting the recognition it should. Or the respect...any respect for that matter.
I appreciate what they do, and I'd like to denounce the crap they take for just being experienced. It's just wrong.

Too much hate. Can't do much about that now, can we?
[world piece] lmao...

[ByteOfNarsil]

Well it's been a tad crazy as of late, as I'm sure you are all aware. 

I thought this might be a good time to post since things finally seem to be settling down.  Hopefully yet another thing won't arise while I'm doing this (though that's unlikly at this our).  This is a long post, so heads up guys.  Now here we go...

Wow, just wow.

Two nights ago, there was an uptick in activity, seemingly due to a card about a cat.  There were many threads popping up with suggestions for a name, and were being put down.

This, however, was greatly overshadowed by the events of last night...

Alright, to cover the basics for anyone who missed.  Adult Swim, as an April Fools Prank, put little scribbled on mustaches and beards onto many of the characters and objects.  They were done in a fairly humourus way, to me at least.

There was a storm on the Boards though.  It peaked about an hour later than the usual peak, and stayed very high until the early hours.  This was the highest number I saw...

"There are currently 1221 members online and 894 guests   Recent users online:"

--1:21am EST 4/1/04

Amazing numbers, right?  Lithium seemed to experience some difficulties though during these, and the Boards behaved strangly for a bit.  They recovered though after some abnormaliies.

Now, all these Users on were up to something.  The Boards were overwhelmed last night with posts on the mustaches.  They were flooding AS.com, Action and Rants.  There ended up being nearly half a dozen Official threads in honour of this (mostly to divert the flow of users to the Official thread located in the Williams Street Culture Folder).  There was a thread floated to the top of each of the Noise folders, as well as a thread in Action, and the thread in Williams Street Culture.

This incident was handled well overall.

Some people were being very helpful throughout.  Giving links and whatnot to the people making new threads, and making it easier for the Mods (allowing them to simply close the thread, rather than taking the time to formulate a post to inform the poster where to go).  These people were commendable.

Other users however showed a far more unsavoury side.  I saw several instances of people saying 'Locked!' to threads that were likly to be closed, and not giving any links to help direct the new person where to go.  I'm afraid that sort of thing often does more harm than good.

For the sheer number of threads created, things seemed to go over quite well.  It wasn't as chaotic as it could have been, and I'm sure people being directed to the Official threads in each folder helped that a great deal.

I'm not sure of the long term effects of this though.  The number of Users on at any given time today seemed to be a bit higher, but that could have been my imagination (and it is a thursday night).  It's hard to say how many people, of those who joined up last night to voice an opinion, will stay.

As a whole though, I thought that it was handled very well by nearly everyone.  Good job guys.

Just my thoughts though, as always :-)

Message Edited by ByteOfNarsil on 04-02-2004 04:19 AM

[MethoD_X]

I was using my mod like speed to post links in every thread related to the April Fools jokes as possible (west coast time, didnt come on during east coast because I didnt want it spoiled) I must really say the mods handled it beautifully, not only locking the threads but posting comments in just about every one as well... Very good job.. I did see some unsavory attitude towards the people posting, surprisingly by some very respectful members, but I understand their frustrations. We were all hoping adult swim played a prank on us, and by virtue of that we should have all been prepared for the consequences. It was fun though

At 3:00 am West Coast time I noticed about 670 members on... somewhere around there atleast... Very impressive numbers.. I hope we really can keep some of those new members to add to our ever growing community..

I wanna end it by telling the MODs once again, you guys did great, thanks.

[Sarteck]

I don't like to make more than one monster post every couple days, so I'll make this brief.

Way to go, our two new Mods.  They contained the hell that was April Fools' Eve.  Even if one does like InuYaoi... ¬.¬

Well, we know the boards have to shut down somewhere around 1300-1500 users (or at least with so many posting at once).  Now that AdultSwim.com knows this, they might make preparations to allocate greater bandwidth when it appears our regular numbers will reach that high.

Lot more to say, but I'll wait a few days.

[lunarnoodle]

I posted a little bit about overzealous helpers in Luuv's harassment thread, but now that the topic has come up here:

I think it is a good idea for us to help out by posting some boardly advice when we see the need. Directing new members to the FAQ, answering technical questions about the board, and just being more understanding of people that don't know the rules.

But I have seen many of these helpers who are condescending and callous to people at every minor slip. As a poster it is annoying to see four posts after the start of the thread that all scream "This is the wrong folder!". I have seen ban warnings given by people who couldn't ban if they wanted to, and answers given to questions that are either wrong or that the posters really have no way of knowing.

These folks are as bad as the spammers and chatters. They are trolls, looking for infractions to correct.

We cannot move threads, we cannot delete threads, we cannot enforce any of the rules for that matter, so why then are there people who insist on declaring "This is gonna be deleted." as if they have the precognative ability to tell?

And then there are those who do not post unless it is to correct some error in board etiquette. Do the mods even do that?

I don't think helping is a bad thing. On occasion I will post some advice here and there, but the helpers on the board should be aware that not everyone knows all of the rules. If there are a hundred new posters grating on your nerves or just one, you should approach each with the same courtesy. If they don't know the ropes, all you have to do is tell them, then they will know. That simple. education. No yelling or "stupid n0ob" necessary.

And there is a line between helping out with advice and presuming you know what the mods are going to delete/move/ban, because only the mods know that.

So advice givers, a little advice.....chill out, be patient, and don't answer questions or repremand where you have no business doing so.

edit: after reading Sarteck's post, I had another thought. The report abuse feature is a very smart feature. It allows us to play mod by suggesting that threads be deleted or moved, and report really bad behavior. I forgot to include that, rather than posting "this is gonna get deleted" messages everywhere I go, I usually click this little baby. After that, it's the mods' problem. (no offense)

Message Edited by lunarnoodle on 04-02-2004 12:45 PM

[Sarteck]

Well, first off, I agree with you one-hundred percent...  Sometimes, though, some of us get ticked off, and take it out on these people posting in the wrong places, etc.  [Yes, I'm guilty of this. ]

And sometimes, when those same people [guilty again] give wrong advice, there are usually a hundred other people to tell them how wrong the advice was.  Admitting the mistake is all right, but I think it's equally all right just not to post a response, since the other's have corrected the mistake [so long as one learns by the experience].

Again, I would post more on the subject, but that's a discussion for a thread that I don't want to clutter. ~bows to the wisdom of the Moon Ramen~

[Sunnysidez86]

good lord. all this talk about board politics the what to do's and how to fix and nuiances that peeve people off is really getting..................tiring.

when i first started posting here I you could say board politics and i would be like "whaa?"

well after a few months time just like people change and i found myself caring a lil bit more about my online community so much so that my approach has changed a lil bit in how i post.

And with the advent of the shiny new boards questions about it arose quicker than it takes to down load 2 minutes of my favorite paris hilton video.

my point to this tanget is that since the inception of these new boards i REALLY did not notice anything about board politics until the inception of the new color loving format and of course i followed suit in discussing the hows and whys and what should be done etc etc etc. because i care

well its april.

And if its not an issue about new people its about the wrong folder a thread was in and if its not that its the shark vs croc spammers or musti threads stating unhappiness about there rerun looking a lil different.

every week its something new and that something somehow gets under our skin enough for us to make threads on board politics and how these wrongs can be righted.

and for me at least its getting kinda old.

There will ALWAYS be something of conversation on these boards that is for sure.  But with the catagorizing of certain folders and whats wrong with each folder and what should be done with said folder for me is too much. The majority of people who have participated on this thread know enough (and some too much) about each folder and suggestions for cleaning it up.

but how long are we going to do this?

We all know whats what, that is without a doubt. But even with all this talk has anything really been changed because of it?  No it hasn't and nor will a thread like this make any impact in the areas we have talked about because new people will be new, spammers will continue to make hormel proud and threads will be placed in wrong folders no matter how hard we try to align the planets to make this not so.

so to sum this up I am getting sick and fl*ppin tired of board politics, i did not come to this message board to talk about how people should post but within the last month or so I have found that i do talk about the politics of the board but thats all it is talk, we have all covered exactly what we want to say and how we should go about things but guys enough is enough.

we all know how we should act and be helpful towards new people and that i will do my best with.  but i am just done with the talking about "what needs to be done" to "preserve the integrity" of the boards.

*looks at dead horse, looks at hand holding a big stick*  " Well i got some time to kill might as well anyways."

[Sarteck]

I am going to have to disagree.  This 'State of the Boards' thread doesn't just address newbies, flamers, and spammers (and I agree that that aspect, while changing in content and feature, will always be there), but all aspects of the board.  And not just the negative ones, either.  Most importantly, this board expresses how we each feel about the boards.

I also disagree that things will never change.  I have changed many of my points of view by listening to the arguements presented by the posters in this thread, perspectives that I was very set in.  However, because people were willing to share their takes on those perspectives, and because I was willing to read with an open mind, I now think of some things more differntly.

Because I have changed my points of view, I treat others differently.  Therefore, this thread will afect how you deal with certain folders, how you treat certain types of people.

[ChokeUntilDead]

well........ i gotta agree that it is getting rather tiresome, surely there is something i can do to tone down the stupidity a bit...... and that's what drives me to try and make helpful suggestions and the like....... it's the only way i can really restrain myself from unloading a verbal nuke on some of the stupider people on here.....