GodlessAstronomer
Lifer
- Oct 27, 2007
- 17,009
- 5
- 0
Kyteland
Diamond Member
- Dec 30, 2002
- 5,747
- 1
- 81
I know I'm late to the game, but I wanted to throw my two cents in on this too. This place has been on life support for a long time. It's slowly bleeding out and it's almost not worth the effort to post here anymore. My usage certainly reflects that.
I've never been a heavy poster, but since my join date I've visited regularly (nearly every day) and still do. My average PPD maxed out at just over 4 in the middle of 2006, not terribly long after The Change of Culture (tm). As of today it is 2.5. That means in the 30 months since I've averaged about 4 posts a WEEK. It's no longer worth participating.
The explanation for that isn't that I've lost interest. I still visit nearly every day. I haven't gotten married or had kids. I have plenty of free time. NOTHING has changed for me. This place just ... kinda ... sucks now. The scary part is that I'm the target demographic for this place. I have a CS degree. I build my own computers. I use computers to do interesting things at my job. I've been known to play a PC game or twelve occasionally. I'm an out-and-out computer dork. And I'm not inclined to participate here anymore, not even in the On-Topic forums.
And that should concern you, because it's not just people like me who you're losing. You're losing everyone.
This thread is just a symptom of why that is happening.
Red Dawn
Elite Member
- Jun 4, 2001
- 57,529
- 3
- 0
Except we didn't make the rules. Personally I don't give a shit if there's Babe threads but the rules set forth by Derek and Anand state that they're not allowed.
As for Sub Forums, I think the Health and Fitness forum is a perfect example of how they work. Prior to that anytime there'd be a thread about Fitness you'd have to sift through all the bullshit to get any informative posts, now over in that forum the neffing and foolishness isn't allowed and it's a lot more informative, especially for those new to fitness.
Red Dawn
Elite Member
- Jun 4, 2001
- 57,529
- 3
- 0
This. The forums have become populated with self entitled little Wankers, can you blame him for not having the same passion for them?Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
That absolutely ridiculous. The forums maybe but not the site.Originally posted by: Barack Obama
It seems he lacks the passion for this site that he once had
mrSHEiK124
Lifer
- Mar 6, 2004
- 11,488
- 2
- 0
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
This. The forums have become populated with self entitled little Wankers, can you blame him for not having the same passion for them?Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
That absolutely ridiculous. The forums maybe but not the site.Originally posted by: Barack Obama
It seems he lacks the passion for this site that he once had
Yes, the forums certainly have become populated with such.
zinfamous
No Lifer
- Jul 12, 2006
- 111,857
- 31,346
- 146
Here's my $0.02, not that anyone asked:
I can appreciate that AT being one of the largest and most respected tech sites out there (wherever it is today compared to several years ago, I leave for debate; regardless, it's hard to argue that it isn't still considered one of the top 5 or so sites in this area), Anand & Derek would prefer to this site, and I'd assume the forums to remain professional.
That's not to say that general tomfoolery in OT isn't to be expected, and I'd say the rules have more than allowed that. I think it's obvious that babe pics and what not aren't completely frowned upon, as the thread is allowed in L&R, which, if memory serves, is not accessible to non-registered members. I think most of you that bitch and moan about lack of babe threads in OT can put these facts together and figure out why the proposed need to keep the forums separate and to maintain some sort of order over the dander that tends to pollute most other forums on the web.
Honestly, there's more important things out there than the need to bitch over a babe thread. i can understand that creating L&R has made OT far less interesting, what with the new lack of hilarious geek-fueled YAGTs--but I think that is another issue with separation of these forums, and why L&R is inaccessible to unregistered members: respecting the privacy of members. I could be wrong, but I'd assume L&R requiring registration remains relatively hidden to the Google. It's more than reasonable to assume that some of the topics addressed in L&R could be embarrassing, and perhaps damaging if an unintended non-member stumbled upon a particular topic through random searching, and recognized the particular situation. Sure, I tend to agree that what one is willing to divulge on the web, one should expect to be known by all; but I also appreciate the notion that the admins and mods *may indeed* desire to create a comfortable community for its members. Keeping L&R private achieves this goal by respecting the desires of members who may wish to divulge personal details, with some level of confidentiality, as well as maintaining the rather professional content of the website as a whole.
i've considered this thoroughly after all the broo-ha-ha over babe threads started a few months back, and I can't honestly think of a legitimate reason to complain about this situation being any other way. Do you guys really want this place to be a free-for-all and sink further into the depths of what /b and whatever that bodybuilding forum have become? it seems that there has been an influx of such influences at AT...and whatever stems the tide of mediocrity is A-OK in my book. Maybe it has become less fun, but I'm thinking it coiuld be much worse....
I can appreciate that AT being one of the largest and most respected tech sites out there (wherever it is today compared to several years ago, I leave for debate; regardless, it's hard to argue that it isn't still considered one of the top 5 or so sites in this area), Anand & Derek would prefer to this site, and I'd assume the forums to remain professional.
That's not to say that general tomfoolery in OT isn't to be expected, and I'd say the rules have more than allowed that. I think it's obvious that babe pics and what not aren't completely frowned upon, as the thread is allowed in L&R, which, if memory serves, is not accessible to non-registered members. I think most of you that bitch and moan about lack of babe threads in OT can put these facts together and figure out why the proposed need to keep the forums separate and to maintain some sort of order over the dander that tends to pollute most other forums on the web.
Honestly, there's more important things out there than the need to bitch over a babe thread. i can understand that creating L&R has made OT far less interesting, what with the new lack of hilarious geek-fueled YAGTs--but I think that is another issue with separation of these forums, and why L&R is inaccessible to unregistered members: respecting the privacy of members. I could be wrong, but I'd assume L&R requiring registration remains relatively hidden to the Google. It's more than reasonable to assume that some of the topics addressed in L&R could be embarrassing, and perhaps damaging if an unintended non-member stumbled upon a particular topic through random searching, and recognized the particular situation. Sure, I tend to agree that what one is willing to divulge on the web, one should expect to be known by all; but I also appreciate the notion that the admins and mods *may indeed* desire to create a comfortable community for its members. Keeping L&R private achieves this goal by respecting the desires of members who may wish to divulge personal details, with some level of confidentiality, as well as maintaining the rather professional content of the website as a whole.
i've considered this thoroughly after all the broo-ha-ha over babe threads started a few months back, and I can't honestly think of a legitimate reason to complain about this situation being any other way. Do you guys really want this place to be a free-for-all and sink further into the depths of what /b and whatever that bodybuilding forum have become? it seems that there has been an influx of such influences at AT...and whatever stems the tide of mediocrity is A-OK in my book. Maybe it has become less fun, but I'm thinking it coiuld be much worse....
I agree with this part 100%, I wouldn't have posted a thread in L&R recently if it wasn't for this.
That is actually a fairly good assessment of what we are going for on all fronts.
Where it falls short is that we are not necessarily opposed to you guys being "unprofessional". That's really not it ...
If you spent any time as a fly on the wall in our office, you'd know that Anand and I are very laid back and indulge in all the things normal 20-somethings will get into.
But we recognize that not everyone is the same. There are a lot of people in our community (hardware enthusiasts and tech industry professionals) who are just not the same way. We want our forums to be a comfortable environment for everyone who cares to come together to find out more about the people who make up the anandtech community (that's you guys by the way).
I know a lot of people like OT because of the variety, but separating L&R from OT not only protects the people who post in L&R from google and a wider spectrum of eyes, but it keeps stuff in L&R out of OT that might otherwise push people away from the forums altogether. As Barack indicated, this also helps make people more comfortable to post things they may otherwise not have posted at all ... which helps bring us closer.
We are always working on refining the guidelines and what we will allow, but the theme is balance ... we want everything, but we want to make it accessible in ways that people who want it can have it and people who want to avoid it don't have to try real hard to do so. We are always listening to feedback, and something will be tweaked after the vB move, but L&R and babe thread issues are not likely to be one of the things that changed very much right now.
I don't have a big issue with moving a general babe thread to L&R. I do disagree with:
Splitting up the OT forum into a bunch of little pieces. For reasons already stated, it seems counter productive. I think you are trying to cater to every interest, and in the process, have lost the personality of the forums. It's too company PC. If I was interested in that, I would talk to the braindead pc sycophants that populate my office.
Being too zealous with general threads that mention women. Sure if you want to prevent nude pics, make it a rule and enforce it. But if someone is talking about a female in general, IE an entertainer or someone in the public eye like Danica Patrick, then it's not neccessarily a babe thread. Some have said that you have done this to please the money that funds the site. If that is true, then that's great for the owners. But whenever a public forum does this, it loses what made it so unique and interesting in the first place. People figure that out and leave.
I don't begrudge anyone their money. I hope Anand becomes stinking rich and buys Trump Towers and takes perfume baths. But I will just never find this forum as interesting as it once was in the golden ages, and will therefore frequent less often. There is a price you pay for the money and success. Anand has made his choice. We'll all make ours independently as well.
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