Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At 5/31/09 06:38 PM, Krbyfan1 wrote: A small but reworkable list yes, but I'm tired of seeing these minial effort, zero originality shops go unchecked.

The photoshops aren't as important as the actual base picture, imo.

But yeah, I agree.

As i said here come on it's a good idea

At 5/31/09 06:11 PM, Complete wrote: As far as I know, users weren't protesting or complaining to have a story ban on the BBS, so why was it made into a rule?

I remember a fair share of people asking for them to be banned, mostly because as Zerok said earlier in this thread, that although some of them were great, they were overshadowed by the amount of poorly-written, poorly-thought out creations, often consisting of something along the lines of bigbadron raising an alien army to fight Eric Bauman. Even today, I've seen one or two posts that wish for an alternative place to put gumOnShoe's monthly writing contests, but they don't get in the way while they try to browse General.

I've toyed around with the idea of a specialised Literature forum with myself and others before. It's a nice idea, I think, but it has its own issues. Primarily, the problems would be related to regulation, I think, as in it's hard to say one sort of story/poem/script, etc. is allowed, while the other is not. Formatting would need to be enforced, and as Rucklo once brought up, it would require more people to check for big-rule breaking spam, which could be arguably hidden easier in a block of seemingly inoocuous text. What's more is that I'm very much aware there has already been a significant amount of debate on it amongst the higher-ups, and decisions have been made that I or anyone else can't comment on.

The literature ban is not something is completely agree with, I've made that clear many times. However, go back a few pages to where I briefly talk with Zerok about it; I also think there is a point to it. I'm just going to stay hopeful in regards to the Literature Portal for now, and enjoy the contests as much as I can. The apparent closeness of the Literature Portal's release is another down point for a Literature Forum.

I am not going to look through profiles daily to find stories, it much more time consuming.

I know what you mean, and it's not ideal as many users point out. I remember Jercurpac made a story advertisement thread to answer this argument, but I haven't seen it in a long time, and I believe it's dead. I also believe I saw someone try to ressurect the idea, but I think it was locked.

I suppose the best thing to do is stay positive and await the Literature Portal. Obviously, it's not a priority for the staff, which is understandable; Newgrounds isn't a literature website. I'm thinking it'll be here when it's ready though.

A part of me thinks you're probably already aware of them, but check out the NG-Library for a back-catalogue of BBS stories from before the ban and the far-too-brief (but still appreciated) Story Library if you haven't already. Some day I'd like to work on putting together a more active archive of Newgrounds literature, that's complete as possible. For now, I think that might be all there is, but look around if you find those sort of things useful.

Honestly, i believe the BBS really needs a relaxation of some of the common practices. Relax on the bans, and the deletions. Honestly, locking a topic is more of an obvious thing: we can still see what actions caused the topic to go by the wayside, and the same topic won't pop up in two hours. Also, Mods maybe making posts other than official BBS business once in a while is a good thing. Most mods on here were chosen for their intelligence, fairness, and wit. We see the fairness (sometimes) and the intelligence (sometimes), but the wit? Seriously, lighten up. Don't hold back on a joke just cause you're a mod. I hardly see anything mods post making me laugh (then again, all humor on the BBS is dwindling) we need more humor, more joke threads. Spam about pointless unfunny things is one thing. Parodies are another.

At 5/31/09 06:38 PM, Krbyfan1 wrote: I partake in some and see many others do great work only to see the following-
4 Bedns

how can you hate the bedn

A lot of good suggestions have been made so far. Keep up the good work people.
I would like to add this though.
In my experience most 'heavy handed' Mods will discuss with you why you got banned and later on the same 'heavy handed' Mods level out.
In 2007 I used to butt heads with Zerok, Jade, aviewaskewed and bigbadron but after talking with Zerok and aviewaskiewed they've largely left me alone.
They became in essence "Lurker Mods" the best kind of Mods there can be.
They don't just jump up and search for reasons to ban people but actually give you detailed reasons for WHY you got banned and that.
Bigbadron never ever ever ever tried to help any user avoid getting in trouble and that's why he was so hated.
Poozy is gradually headed down that path, just give it a few years if his behavior goes unchanged.
Dryice in my view was very ban heavy on new users. I talked to him about it in '08 and he too became a 'Lurker Mod', very helpful and witty.
Jonas got on my nerves by just being an asshole moderator and even laughing at people who wrongfully got penalized in '07 "Rage's Gift to you" but he's matured and we've even talked in '08 but I totally fucked up and missed the Michigan Meetup.

Now Jade on the other hand does lock funny threads for no other reason that she's just Jade.
And Malachy needs to stop being an opinionated prick.
I left General and went to Wi/Ht and politics but in the politics forum it seems that Mal deletes well written responses that argue his views.
Talk about a Nazi mod. "Disagree with me and I'll make you go away"
I'm trying to do 15+ things at once right now so this might not make much sense. Sorry.

Shits not important, nothing needs to be changed.

If you're banned, deal with it.

It makes me sick seeing the forums taken somewhat seriously,it's supposed to be fun, not life. Anything that happens here is 99.99% of the time inconsequential to real life.

Figure it out.

teh edn

At 5/31/09 07:43 PM, cast wrote: it's supposed to be fun, not life.

That's true. Very true, actually.

However, there are some days that something on the BBS will put me in a good mood, or a bad mood, and that has an effect to me IRL, so i'd at least like to see some minor helpful changes, to make the rainy days on the BBS go away.

At 5/31/09 06:38 PM, Krbyfan1 wrote: I'm sure theres been stuff said about the topic already but I have to get this off my mind; Photoshop Threads.
etc.

I know exactly what you mean. It makes it all the more annoying to the people that actually enjoy doing decent photoshops when you see the thread flooded with shitty MSPaint cut/paste jobs, filters and overused memes. What's worse is when the thread is locked due to the aforementioned reasons just before you get a chance to post your image...

At 5/31/09 07:51 PM, Elios wrote:

At 5/31/09 07:43 PM, cast wrote: it's supposed to be fun, not life.

That's true. Very true, actually.

Read my buddy Jamoke's post.

:)

First, let me say that most of the mods are doing an excellent job, but there are a couple that I have noticed that are walking on thin ice.

I agree with most of the things that have already been said here about mods laying off bans and how sometimes we can't tell if a spam topic is a spam topic. Some mods will consider a topic that is questionably spammy a spam topic just because they think not enough discussion will arouse from it, but it really depends. With every little discussion, a bigger discussion can awaken from it. Mods should give some topics a change before locking it. And if mods don't consider that opinion, then at least give a warning instead of banning. Such as, whena mod bans a user, whenever that user tries to post, it says: "ERROR YOU HAVE BEEN BANNED for x amount of days for x reason." Instead of that, mods should have the option to write a warning page, such as: "You did this and this is your warning." and users can confirm the warning and go ahead and make the post.

I don't post much in General these days as I used to. I'm actually pretty frightened of this place because one little mistake I make can result me in a 3 day ban. I usually go in the BBS to post in the last.fm club because I know I can be pretty safe there because most of the things I will discuss are music related and I can be mature when it comes to such subject (i.e. discussing why screamo is still a genre and how people have their own opinions.) But my point is that regulars such as myself have been here for quite a while. We know the rules. Mods don't need to remind us by banning us every time we fault unless it becomes excessive. I think a mature mod would be one that would report to Wade if they saw that another mod was completely abusing his/her power, but no one likes to be the tattle-tale.

The biggest problem I have noticed is what I have described above. Whilst I know others complain about the BBS being too "unoriginal", I really think that's been the bottom of the turmoil since mid 08. Sometimes there will be a new topic about something that is going on in the news lately, which is as a matter of fact how I know what's going on in the world currently. Joke (and I don't literally mean joke jokes, but more as something quite funny that mods would sometimes consider spam topics) should be allowed because it adds spark and rainbows to the forum and lets everyone enjoy it.

TL:DR ; Mods need to chill the fuck out.

Meh... I don't really hate any of you guys. I hated Poozy at one point, but I was just holding a grudge and being butthurt because He gave me a one week ban. I don't remember what it was for, but I knew I deserved it and I knew I was being a brat. Poozy's all right. He know how to have fun. The same with every other mod. I guess I've gotten past my grudge-holding phase of being a kid.

The only thing I remember was Gumonshoe banning me for saying "Lol." I really felt that was uncalled for, because I wasn't breaking any rules (It was the only one word post I made) and I didn't say anything offensive. I confronted him on it (Nicely, don't worry) But he didn't care. That was kinda stupid, because it was just a "Because I can" kind of ban.

And Transformer and UltraBear don't do anything with their responsibility, but I have no gripes with them.

Other than that, I'd say you guys do a really solid job of keeping this place in check.

Being banned for backseat modding and for posting in a spam thread, not starting one, are two completely unnecessary reasons for receiving a ban, no matter how short lived the ban is.

At 5/31/09 07:58 PM, Sk8erGirl14 wrote: TL:DR ; Mods need to chill the fuck out.

This is the bottom line, really.

At 5/31/09 11:07 AM, yhar wrote: the moderators here suck, because they all have a sense of "I'm better than you" over the regular users. This is fine if you actually contributed to the site, but you don't. Seriously, people like poozy annoy the fuck out of me, not that I don't deserve banning for spam but when they post bullshit reasons or sarcastic comments implying they're better than us normal users and they contribute fuck all to the site.

Hey, it's how they get their lulz. Why do you post spam threads? To get a good laugh (hopefully... if not then you're a moron)! Just because they are mods doesn't mean they can't have fun? Mods can't (or at least, shouldn't) post spam threads like you do, so they find other ways to have fun.

In my opinion we need more mods...

There are times where there is NO MOD online, this mostly happens at the night time hours of newgrounds, but there should be at least one mod on at all times.

At 5/31/09 06:38 PM, Krbyfan1 wrote: I'm sure theres been stuff said about the topic already but I have to get this off my mind; Photoshop Threads.

That's something I actually take care of when I'm on and when I see it happening. Its been pretty standard that if its a bad base picture (too blury, uninteresting), the thread gets locked and then we go through and delete anything thats unredeemable or just bringing down the mood (I made you ugly etc). And threads like that turn around pretty quickly, but I'm not always on and I don't always catch them. Feel free to send links to me (and I know there are other mods that do this too), if a ps thread needs a cleaning.

I think that the mods should pm us on wat we did and why were being ban and give the names out because most of the bans ppl be pming me says they dont how who ban them and when i got ban i only saw mal name and i mailed him and told what happen and why it started and he acceted it so what im trying to say is to warn us wtf we did or just delete the post and if the problem get badder just ban tht fag that whould inprove the system and more ppl would be on this site.

There's a few things I'd like to address here -

First, please don't suggest / complain about something without either explaining exactly what it is or providing a good example, or both. I'm sure a lot of you are posting just for the hell of it and you're just jumping on the bandwagon of repeating whatever you've heard someone else say.

There's only a few instances of people doing it in this thread, which is nice because this thread is bloody huge. If your post / suggestion gets ignored, it's probably because we don't know what you're actually talking about.

_____________________________

Second, the 4chan thing.

A lot of us Moderators are knocking around in the deepest darkest corners of the internet. Being moderators here doesn't make us all stiff and boring like many of you seem to think it does. I'm not gonna dwell on it because that's not the point I'm trying to make, I just want people to realise that this is not 4chan.

The main difference between this forum and 4chan (particularly the NSFW boards) is that 4chan has much more lenient rules and /b/ specifically moves much much faster than the General section of Newgrounds.

What this means is that on /b/ you're encouraged to drop the Nbomb and post quick, short, offensive one-liners to keep up with the flow of the boards. When you attempt to bring this mentality over to Newgrounds, you're breaking the rules.

These are different forums, and I know you love to share the jokes you find on 4chan with everyone else you know on the Internet, but what you're actually doing is breaking the rules and usually just posting recycled overdone jokes with no real merit.

None of us have any problem with you guys browsing 4chan, but please don't bring it back here.

________________________________

Third and final point is that a lot of you don't understand how it feels to be a moderator. It's perfectly understandable because obviously a lot of you aren't moderators (duh). What you have to realise is that banning someone takes a very small amount of time. It's utterly insignificant when someone gets banned in the eyes of a moderator because we ban tons of users in an active day.

Asking us to write an essay every time we have to ban someone for being stupid and not following the rules is really just asking too much.

THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH DOES NOT REPRESENT ANY OTHER FORUM MODERATOR - ONLY ME
If it's so insignificant for me to ban one of you for 3 days, it's also extremely trivial to reduce your ban by 2 of those 3 days. Depending on the nature of your ban and your attitude when you approach me about it, it's not that rare that I'll just clear a ban entirely because you asked nicely.

Also, if banning people for breaking the rules is such a short and trivial process for the moderators, you should realise that it's equally as easy not to get banned by simply not being an idiot.

___________________________

Things I'd like to see implemented in terms of moderator tools are the ability to flag posts which got someone banned (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST - sound familiar?). It would only last as long as the post remains (posts which get people banned usually end up deleted) and maybe even a way to see an explanation of the ban.

Well, the people who USE the BBS can make better threads. It's the General Discussion Forum but still, some have little to no meaning.

At 5/31/09 08:28 PM, Dry-Ice wrote: If it's so insignificant for me to ban one of you for 3 days, it's also extremely trivial to reduce your ban by 2 of those 3 days. Depending on the nature of your ban and your attitude when you approach me about it, it's not that rare that I'll just clear a ban entirely because you asked nicely.

Surely that agrees with the uselessness of a ban. Why bother banning them if you're willing to unban them if they're polite? Seems redundant to me. A ban, as it stands now, is a punishment for breaking the rules, why should it be removed? This agrees with my thoughts on moderators taking bans too lightly, which causes us users to see them as insignificant. If it wasn't the norm to get constantly banned then maybe users would take them more seriously, It's a rarity to find people here who don't get banned often.

At 5/31/09 08:18 PM, RKthrilla wrote: In my opinion we need more mods...

There are times where there is NO MOD online, this mostly happens at the night time hours of newgrounds, but there should be at least one mod on at all times.

I've noticed this recently too. I've always thought Elios would make a good mod, because I see him on a lot during the night when I'm on.

I think a good system that could be implemented would the one that the Explosm.net uses for it's forums. Example pic below.

I'm not much of a fan of the destroy option, since everyone has their own opinion of what is considered a spam thread or not. I have fallen victim to this ban a few times while I was not a forum moderator and most of the time I was either unaware another mod thought it was spam or just trying to help someone else who might have had a legitimate question or comment within the offending thread.

As far as my personal modding style goes, I don't anticipate changing it much. I consider myself to be one of the more lenient mods. Does this mean I won't ban you? No! If you act like a complete moron and blatantly break the rules then don't be surprised when I take away your posting privleges for a few days. Common sense should be common on here.

At 5/31/09 07:57 PM, cast wrote: Read my buddy Jamoke's post.

)

Some very good points there. Not all of the problems are directly caused by the mods, but the ever expanding amount of teenagers that show up here. And i think instead of shunning them, and blaming them for the EVERYTHING, we as a community should set good examples on how to act and NOT get into trouble / flame wars / habits of posting nonsense.

At 5/31/09 08:40 PM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: I think a good system that could be implemented would the one that the Explosm.net uses for it's forums. Example pic below.

That's pretty cool, but how long does a "time out" last? I remember a while ago, i got a 1 day ban at 11 pm, and it lasted 4 hours. Not much of a ban, but i definitely learned my lesson. So that might work eventually...

At 5/31/09 08:04 PM, LBRocker wrote: The only thing I remember was Gumonshoe banning me for saying "Lol." I really felt that was uncalled for, because I wasn't breaking any rules (It was the only one word post I made) and I didn't say anything offensive. I confronted him on it (Nicely, don't worry) But he didn't care. That was kinda stupid, because it was just a "Because I can" kind of ban.

I had a bit of an issue with that kind of stuff at the end of last summer and I've moved away from it. I still would have sent a warning, deleted the post or given you a one day ban (which btw is what it should have been if anything, instead of the 4 I seemed to have slap you with). I was certainly burnt out, and I was in the wrong, but I can't honestly say I remember all the details and I may have been reacting due to the way other users were reacting to me (which doesn't justify what I did).

Anyway, best I can do now is offer an apology and point out that frequent short posts of that nature get to me for reasons discussed earlier in this thread. They aren't part of the discussion. Jonas made a nice point about it earlier. Try to add a little more than hahahaha next time?

You know when I think about it, the funny thing is that apart from me moving my life away from this site, and even during the time I've been here, I don't get banned a lot. Honestly, the mods don't seem that harsh, not like I remember at least. I see a thread titled "negros get out" and bam its gone the next time I open the page. I see "catholics fuck off" and wham, the thread starter is deleted for posting "hate dem jews". Of course, there's obviously been a LOT of new mods coming in and out since I was last a regular here, what with BB and Maus gone and probably a few couple of others I forgot about too.

The real problem would be like what you said, getting a mod for every time zone in case of spam.

Bring back ¥!

But seriously, I think the main things that bothered me before I stopped posting regularly were:

- Mods with an elitist attitude
- Mods who broke or bent the rules to suit themselves
- Mods who acted like they were part of some exclusive club complete with boring inside jokes and fancy parties (I.E. mod meet-ups)
- Mods who ban users for pet-peeve offenses that have nothing to do with the official rules (which need re-written by the way)

At 5/31/09 11:00 AM, Jonas wrote: What can moderators be doing better? Is there something that annoys you about how things happen, or is there something you would like to see happen?

To make this BBS open discussion short. The mods should give out more warnings to the new users. I am sure many mods have linked new users to the rules page. I would encourage the mods to be more involved with other users. Other than being on the NG chat. It is disappointing too see some mods only show up maybe once or twice every other week. I rather see more active mods than no mod activity alone.

Sure I may see a lot of crap on the general forum. Once I keep seeing it pile up, I just want to leave the forum completely. I tired of seeing 4-chan related stuff, hi and bye threads, internet memes, and other crappy MS paint threads, and attention threads as well. That is why I do not post as much on the general forums anymore. I rather be in the flash section, or Clubs n Crews, video games, or politics forum.

However, there are annoying users which can make the BBS far much worse than it is. I still encourage banning by having a REASON to ban him/her. I been here for a long time, I have seen much change. I have seen many good changes since the years I have browsed here. Overall, newgrounds bbs is just having a slow season at the moment. There has been no exciting news lately, that's all.

After reading THEJamoke remarks he does make a solid point that "If anything it has become less fun because of the influx of posters who disregard the rules, thereby forcing the mods to enforce the rules more often, not more strictly." Some people just will not obey the rules, so be it. You got a ban button. Use that button well mods.

Lastly, do not alter your banning habits mods. Unless you got a reason to ban. Like I wrote earlier, do not click on the BAN button without having a proper REASON to ban.

Peace.

You know, I hate to sound like the immature weasel in this, but I'm intrigued and I hope it tempts others.

Where are Tom and Wade on this? Or are there lives over Newgrounds Offices too busy to deal with "customer services" anymore?

At 5/31/09 11:00 AM, Jonas wrote: What can be improved on the BBS?

Stop deleting threads and saying "It should be in your blog." Everyone knows nobody reads them, unless you're a very famous/popular user.

That "posting in a spam thread" rule is a bit iffy. There's no definate way to tell if it's spam. I think you should just lock/delete the thread, ban the OP for 3-5 days for making a spam topic, and let the other users slide- let the lost post be their punishment.

MODs need to follow the rules themselves. It's really annoying when you see a MOD ban you for something, and then they turn around and do it themselves.

Yeah- basically all of that's already been said but I thought I'd contribute.