Okay, so…there’s no more dancing around the issue. We’ve got a spam problem here, plain and simple. I wish I could kind of put it a little more lightly, but there’s a bunch of people here who just don’t know how to have some good discussion. And granted, that’s kind of our fault. We didn’t have huge rules about spam because we weren’t quite sure how to draw those lines. Also, a lot of you guys came here from our YouTube comments, which isn’t really known as the greatest environment to foster discussion in.
Well, here at TTV, we’re all about discussion. Seriously, that’s just about 90% of the stuff we do. So we want our forums to be centered around discussion. Naturally, that means some more ground rules.
So, let’s reiterate some common sense stuff that you all should know:
Stay On Topic
It should be self-explanatory, so much so that I shouldn’t have to write it…but I guess the fact that this topic exists at all means that I do. All topics are created generally with a topic to talk about. What you talk about should be about this topic. There’s literally a button to create a new topic off of any post you want to. We’ve made it extremely easy to make a new topic that references the old one. Please use this.
Chatrooms are for Chatrooms
We at TTV are no strangers to the chatroom culture. Heck, most of the original guys met in a Bionicle-themed chatroom. We know the draw to them, we know the advantages to them. And our forums try to bridge the gap between forums and chatrooms, what with no pages and posts being updated live.
That being said, what we are aiming for is chatroom accessibility with forum-worthy discussion. We have been a part of many great forums, and we thoroughly enjoyed the discussion we’ve had with members therein. That isn’t evident here. I really hate to say it, but there’s not as great of a discussion going on here in many of our topics. That’s a fact. So we’re changing that.
Add to the Discussion
Obviously enough, it’s hard to draw the line between what goes into a chatroom and what goes into a forum. I mean, it’s all well and good to just say “add to the discussion”, but what adds to the discussion and what doesn’t? There’s no hard rules, but generally speaking, you should always take a step back and see 1. How informal what you’re saying is and 2. If this reply is only going to benefit the person you’re replying to.
Our software makes it quick and easy for you to streamline this! If no one else reading your post will benefit from it, chances are it belongs in a PM. If you’re saying “cool!” or “agreed!”, you can just click the like button. There’s no need to take up a post with it.
Making good discussion is basically how we will solve this problem. We can delete all the spam we want, but unless intelligent discussion takes the place of it, we can’t fix the problem at hand. In that line of work, we can only depend on you guys.
Please Flag Stuff For Us
We have a button that looks like a flag at the end of every post. You seriously help us out by using it. If enough users flag a post as spam, the post will get deleted. Obviously, we the staff can look through it and see if it actually is spam, but what this means is that you the community act as our curators. Doing this kind of thing is the fastest way to become a permanent part of the Mod Squad; it’s how @Chronicler got on and it’s how we’ll be judging people like that in the future.
We’ve completely simplified the flagging process: you just click the button, select what kind of error you think it is and hit send. It’s two clicks, but it means the world to us. It’s hard for us to be everywhere. If you see anything that could be considered spam, please flag it and either the forum software or the staff can and will deal with it. We would definitely appreciate it.
I Hate These Word Crimes
I realize that there is some overlap with the YouTube community…but some of you really do not know how to properly use English! There’s a bunch of spelling errors, capitalization errors, punctuation errors, grammar errors…I see way too many errors for people who I assume go or have gone to school. Please realize that not paying proper attention to spelling and grammar is one of the easiest ways for your post to get flagged and/or deleted. Nothing shows that you actually have a worthwhile opinion like proper spelling and grammar.
Memes Get Old
I’m excited for Bionicle 2015. You’re excited for Bionicle 2015. That’s really, really great.
Memes get old really quickly.
I get that we do a lot of jokes on the podcast that have become regulars. Mardi Gra, the Hype Train, Omega Tahu, etc. That’s fine. We get that you guys want to be in on the joke. That’s part of being a community. But it is just getting way, way too overdone.
Please pull back on this. If your post on the latest Bionicle news is how much the Hype Train can’t be stopped…please don’t post it. And if you see such a post in a topic…please flag it. It’s just getting so far out of hand.
Now, if you have something to add to the joke, like @MaximumWarp’s drawings of Omega Tahu or whatnot, that’s great! We love seeing that kind of thing! Just don’t quote the joke in your post. That’s the quickest way to kill it.
In Closing
A lot of you guys are here because you enjoy our videos, and we seriously appreciate that! We always will. We’re very lucky to be where we’re at in the Bionicle fandom. But we also made this forum with the idea to foster the same kind of discussion with our fans that we would want to see ourselves. It was a more personable place to be than the YouTube comments.
Unfortunately, this place has basically turned into the YouTube comments, with some very select jewels in between. For those that contribute well to the discussion, we seriously thank you. And to those who realize that they might have done some stuff listed here, don’t worry!
Especially if you’re a younger member and have only really been on YouTube, it is a step up to participate in actual, well thought out discussion. We’re outlining this not to point fingers at you guys, but so that you have a better idea of what should and shouldn’t be a part of this forum and how to improve. It takes time to grow, but if you earnestly want to do it, you’ll pick it up in no time.
This is also a learning process for us as admins too! We literally just started up this place just a month or two ago. So we’re in the same boat as far as growing as a forum goes. If you guys do your part, we’ll try our best to do ours.
Feel free to discuss in the comments below, and add or talk about anything you see here.