- Jan 21, 2002
- 3,701
- 0
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First, let me make one thing clear. I'm not a total forum junkie, i.e. I don't spend all day on them and I don't obsess over having a 70k post count. However, I am a member of several forums and usually just surf them when I'm at work to pass the time.
I was introduced to offtopic.com several months ago and since AT is a pretty large forum I figured that there are probably some members here.
I like the fact that there is an abundance of different subforums pertaining to different topics and interests, but what's with the hostility? For the most part, if you don't pay for an avatar and a subscription, you are treated like absolute dirt. It's good that the contributing members advocate supporting the site, but when you try to make a useful post and it's quoted and answered by "NO AV NO CARE" each time, it gets old. Rather than coaxing you to purchase a sub and support the site, it makes you want to quit coming there at all. Just for the record, I did purchase a sub there so I don't have that problem anymore, but it can certainly be discouraging for newbies. I've noticed that noobs here (and on virtually every other forum I've been to) get treated with much more respect as long as they aren't total assclowns. The thing is, even regular members on OT get flamed for little or no reason just for stating an opinion. I've seen some threads on AT get fairly nasty, but it's really nothing compared to the hate/racism/elitist prick attitudes that are present on OT.
Also, I thought AT moved at a brisk pace but OT's main forum moves so quickly that you can post a new topic and it'll be on the 2nd or 3rd page within a couple minutes. Usually by the time you hit "submit post," the thread you just posted in is at the middle or bottom of the first page. It's not uncommon to post in some threads, come back 8 or 10 hours later after you wake up, and the threads you posted in are now 40-50 pages deep. It can be frustrating and/or futile to keep up with that many topics. Which brings me to the subject of topic diversity--there are some gems but I'm constantly amazed at the utter stupidity of some threads. A good percentage of them are just bandwidth-wasting trash, and that's not me being anal...if you don't believe me, just browse thru the first few pages of threads on the main forum.
Another gripe I have is that the attention spans there are extremely short...if you post a thread consisting of more than a few sentences, everyone asks for "cliffs" because they refuse to read it all. Yet they have time to post a smiley in dozens of other threads just to accomplish post count +1.
So you're probably thinking "If you hate it that much, why do you go there?" and I've asked myself that same question, LOL. The fact is that there are some pretty cool members after you get a feel for the regular posters, and there are some threads/replies there that have made me laugh until my face hurt. I guess it's finding those occasional priceless replies that make it easier to overlook the raw sewage that makes up a large part of that forum.
I just wanted to say that overall, I'm pretty impressed with the fellowship here at AT...especially in the For Sale forum. A lot of members here genuinely care about each other, and even though AT has its share of obligatory flames and e-thugging where everyone claims to make $300k a year and have a 10" penis, I am glad to be a part of this community. I suppose I'm saying thanks to many of you and that it's nice to be able to post here and not wade through as much B.S. as some other forums. We still have our fair share, but I guarantee if you spend a couple months on OT, this place will seem like the most intellgent and caring place on the intarweb!
Cliffs: AT > OT.
I was introduced to offtopic.com several months ago and since AT is a pretty large forum I figured that there are probably some members here.
I like the fact that there is an abundance of different subforums pertaining to different topics and interests, but what's with the hostility? For the most part, if you don't pay for an avatar and a subscription, you are treated like absolute dirt. It's good that the contributing members advocate supporting the site, but when you try to make a useful post and it's quoted and answered by "NO AV NO CARE" each time, it gets old. Rather than coaxing you to purchase a sub and support the site, it makes you want to quit coming there at all. Just for the record, I did purchase a sub there so I don't have that problem anymore, but it can certainly be discouraging for newbies. I've noticed that noobs here (and on virtually every other forum I've been to) get treated with much more respect as long as they aren't total assclowns. The thing is, even regular members on OT get flamed for little or no reason just for stating an opinion. I've seen some threads on AT get fairly nasty, but it's really nothing compared to the hate/racism/elitist prick attitudes that are present on OT.
Also, I thought AT moved at a brisk pace but OT's main forum moves so quickly that you can post a new topic and it'll be on the 2nd or 3rd page within a couple minutes. Usually by the time you hit "submit post," the thread you just posted in is at the middle or bottom of the first page. It's not uncommon to post in some threads, come back 8 or 10 hours later after you wake up, and the threads you posted in are now 40-50 pages deep. It can be frustrating and/or futile to keep up with that many topics. Which brings me to the subject of topic diversity--there are some gems but I'm constantly amazed at the utter stupidity of some threads. A good percentage of them are just bandwidth-wasting trash, and that's not me being anal...if you don't believe me, just browse thru the first few pages of threads on the main forum.
Another gripe I have is that the attention spans there are extremely short...if you post a thread consisting of more than a few sentences, everyone asks for "cliffs" because they refuse to read it all. Yet they have time to post a smiley in dozens of other threads just to accomplish post count +1.
So you're probably thinking "If you hate it that much, why do you go there?" and I've asked myself that same question, LOL. The fact is that there are some pretty cool members after you get a feel for the regular posters, and there are some threads/replies there that have made me laugh until my face hurt. I guess it's finding those occasional priceless replies that make it easier to overlook the raw sewage that makes up a large part of that forum.
I just wanted to say that overall, I'm pretty impressed with the fellowship here at AT...especially in the For Sale forum. A lot of members here genuinely care about each other, and even though AT has its share of obligatory flames and e-thugging where everyone claims to make $300k a year and have a 10" penis, I am glad to be a part of this community. I suppose I'm saying thanks to many of you and that it's nice to be able to post here and not wade through as much B.S. as some other forums. We still have our fair share, but I guarantee if you spend a couple months on OT, this place will seem like the most intellgent and caring place on the intarweb!
Cliffs: AT > OT.
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