Babe threads.

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If I want content why shouldn't I pay for it? I seldom even click on advertiser banners here let alone shop thru them. Why should I or anybody else here leech bandwidth for years for free?

Because there's a million free forums and if you charge then some/most people will stay if the cost is nominal, others will just leave, and probably no one new will join because they'll just use a free forum. It's like the RIAA asking why people shouldn't pay $13 per cd. Because we don't have to. Market price right now for forum discussion is currently $0.00. Charging more than that is a bad business decision.

If you feel that Offtopic isn't worth paying for... that is your right , if enough people feel that Offtopic isn't worth paying for then perhaps Anand should simply end Offtopic. Why should he foot the bill for bandwidth for people who contribute nothing revenue wise to the site?

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If I want content why shouldn't I pay for it? I seldom even click on advertiser banners here let alone shop thru them. Why should I or anybody else here leech bandwidth for years for free?

So you think every website should be pay-to-access? How about you go ahead and start one up and let me know how it goes for you.

What I'm saying is that I've been a member here since 1999.. the membership here reminds me of that proverb "women want toasted ice".ATOT members want toasted ice.. they want gold star service but don't want to pay anything for it aside from hot air...generally emitted from both upper and lower orifices.

As it stands now, things are so big,so complex that Anand had to foist off the duty of managing this circus over to one of his tech staff.. Derek.. having Derek's focus taken away from the main point of their site...computer hardware can't be good for business nor is it fair to Derek.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If I want content why shouldn't I pay for it? I seldom even click on advertiser banners here let alone shop thru them. Why should I or anybody else here leech bandwidth for years for free?

So you think every website should be pay-to-access? How about you go ahead and start one up and let me know how it goes for you.

What I'm saying is that I've been a member here since 1999.. the membership here reminds me of that proverb "women want toasted ice".ATOT members want toasted ice.. they want gold star service but don't want to pay anything for it aside from hot air...generally emitted from both upper and lower orifices.

As it stands now, things are so big,so complex that Anand had to foist off the duty of managing this circus over to one of his tech staff.. Derek.. having Derek's focus taken away from the main point of their site...computer hardware can't be good for business nor is it fair to Derek.

Where the hell are you getting any of this?

I think most of us are making suggestions for how to improve the site. We see something broken, illogical rules and too much cracking down. Your suggestions seem designed to destroy the forum.

 

[dbk]

I think one major point that most people are overlooking is the fact that we are not able to embed any type of media into the thread.
Even if it is a "babe thread" there are no pictures actually in the thread - just urls.
Most people should have the common sense not to click on the link if the environment warrants so.

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: GeekbabeWhat I'm saying is that I've been a member here since 1999.. the membership here reminds me of that proverb "women want toasted ice".ATOT members want toasted ice.. they want gold star service but don't want to pay anything for it aside from hot air...generally emitted from both upper and lower orifices.

Miss Manners says we're not supposed to talk about hot air from the lower orifice.

i say, hot air from the lower orifice = personal experience with anaerobic composting.

at least this place has fewer ads than Tom's Hardware.

P.S. although this thread is labelled "babe threads", this thread is NOT
THE babe/hunk thread.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If I want content why shouldn't I pay for it? I seldom even click on advertiser banners here let alone shop thru them. Why should I or anybody else here leech bandwidth for years for free?

So you think every website should be pay-to-access? How about you go ahead and start one up and let me know how it goes for you.

What I'm saying is that I've been a member here since 1999.. the membership here reminds me of that proverb "women want toasted ice".ATOT members want toasted ice.. they want gold star service but don't want to pay anything for it aside from hot air...generally emitted from both upper and lower orifices.

As it stands now, things are so big,so complex that Anand had to foist off the duty of managing this circus over to one of his tech staff.. Derek.. having Derek's focus taken away from the main point of their site...computer hardware can't be good for business nor is it fair to Derek.

Where the hell are you getting any of this?

I think most of us are making suggestions for how to improve the site. We see something broken, illogical rules and too much cracking down. Your suggestions seem designed to destroy the forum.

And your "suggestions" put how many $$$ into the bank account that runs this site?

This site needs to become more user friendly to the sorts of people
who are going to read the reviews and click on banners and buy things
if this site is to generate meaningful ad revenue.

That upper middle class SUV driving mother in Wisconsin who wants
to surprise her husband with a new computer, that accountant
in North Caralina who wants to gift his elderly parents with a new
Home theater setup.. and countless other non-tech literate people
who need help,reviews in order to make informed purchasing choices.

A diverse user demographic who actually buy things from Ad sponsors
drive ad rates up, they generate income. I respectfully submit that the
current demographic does not.

There's no such thing as a free lunch that lasts forever, the only
ïmprovement the owners need to make are those that will help them
generate revenue. I am not privy to the numbers but I'd be willing
to bet the non-computing forums are a cash drain,not an income producer
at all.

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: NFS4
I agree, this is getting pretty ridiculous. It's getting to the point that if the thread involves a woman + a pic it gets locked. What the hell kind of crap is that? I miss the old AnandTech Off Topic forums. What exactly are the mods or anyone in power exactly trying to prove here? Are we against the female form in general? Do they think that women are being objectified? Can an attractive female not be talked about without fear of the thread getting locked?

Oh, but wait, we can weed through a 15-page thread in the L&R forum to post a simple picture of a woman who is wearing normal clothes (not even a bikini) and just happens to be attractive. :roll:

If I want to post a thread about Natalie Portman starring in a new movie and post a link/pic to her in the movie, I have to worry about the thread getting locked or I have to post it in the L&R babe thread? I mean, WTF?

And what the hell -- we're trying to protect people who are surfing at work? If your dumbass is surfing ATOT and clicking links in threads with women in it, you deserve everything you get. It shouldn't be AnandTech's job to protect someone using a work computer for anything other than work.

:thumbsup:

My interest in ATOT has waned over the years partly because of the way it's been moderated.

So what you're basically saying is that babe threads shouldn't be allowed because people at work may click on them, then further click on a link in said babe thread, and are surprised that they're viewing pictures that are NSFW? Give me a fvcking break. The bolded part is exactly how I feel.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

And your "suggestions" put how many $$$ into the bank account that runs this site?

This site needs to become more user friendly to the sorts of people
who are going to read the reviews and click on banners and buy things
if this site is to generate meaningful ad revenue.

That upper middle class SUV driving mother in Wisconsin who wants
to surprise her husband with a new computer, that accountant
in North Caralina who wants to gift his elderly parents with a new
Home theater setup.. and countless other non-tech literate people
who need help,reviews in order to make informed purchasing choices.

A diverse user demographic who actually buy things from Ad sponsors
drive ad rates up, they generate income. I respectfully submit that the
current demographic does not.

There's no such thing as a free lunch that lasts forever, the only
ïmprovement the owners need to make are those that will help them
generate revenue. I am not privy to the numbers but I'd be willing
to bet the non-computing forums are a cash drain,not an income producer
at all.

Those people just buy dells and bose. Have you looked at the articles on the front page? This site's base is enthusiasts who build their own, and that market has shrunk, or IT professionals.

I'm still not sure what any of this has to do with restoring some of the forum rules to how they were a few years ago. If you honestly believe that driving off the knowledgeable people who hang out on the forum and switching to a fee based forum is going to in any way help, I'm going to have to agree to strongly disagree.

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: Amused
I don't see the point in this rule at all. Not at all.

Furthermore, ALL the OT subforums have RUINED OT. OT used to be fun and busy.

If the mods don't want to deal with heavy traffic and lots of posts, maybe they shouldn't mod?

AT is a computer/tech site. ANY topic that is not computer/tech related should be allowed in OT. That's what OFF topic means. Maybe keep P&N separate, but that's it.

Breaking up the social forums reduces traffic to each post, and reduces interaction, thus KILLING the forums.

The forums ain't what they used to be and interaction in OT is only a tiny fraction of what it was back in the day. Traffic is what you need since you are an advertising supported site. And from what I see, OT traffic is WAY down. And it drops with every new rule and forum division. It's pretty damn insulting and annoying to post something in an OT forum and have it locked because it's not the CORRECT OT forum. WTF???

If killing the forums was your goal, you are succeeding wildly. Stop listening to the whiny little babies who bitch about nefs in their car/GF/babe post or crying about YOxx posts and realize that by giving in to every squeaky wheel you are limiting forum activity and destroying what brought people to OT in the first place.

Let's return to OFF TOPIC being anything that is not computer related and focus the mods attention to basic civility and keeping nude links off. Anything else is just killing this place. AT is feeling like a rude lesson in topic filing rather than a place to chat and share info. You've made a rule to cover just about every minor annoyance and whining, and in the process driven away a HUGE amount of traffic.

Well-said.

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: SlickSnake
Let's see. What posts most often devolve into babe threads? How about posts that involve ENTERTAINMENT.

ENTERTAINMENT would involve anyone who is in any way in the public limelight, from rock stars, to movie stars, to strippers, to cheerleaders to football players.

OT has for some time had a huge number of posts involving specifically ENTERTAINMENT.

If these types of posts are constantly devolving into babe threads, and they frequently do for obvious reasons (because butt ugly don't become famous usually in the first place) then these posts all need to be lumped into their own category.

Also every time a new movie comes out, we have multiple posts on the same movie sometimes occurring for weeks later, such as with Batman, and I think the spam in OT would be MUCH less if all of these ENTERTAINMENT posts were removed from this area. And it would also be much easier to look for a recent post on a new or old flick or a recent sports event if they were all in the same spot in the first place, and not buried under a thousand other posts in OT 1 day after posting.

While I also agree that too many sub forums are a bad idea, the purely ENTERTAINMENT forum has been needed around here since these forums started.

:roll:

This line of thinking is what has destroyed the forums. And how can you talk about something that's been needed since the start of the forums when you yourself have only been around a year and a half?

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

And your "suggestions" put how many $$$ into the bank account that runs this site?

This site needs to become more user friendly to the sorts of people
who are going to read the reviews and click on banners and buy things
if this site is to generate meaningful ad revenue.

That upper middle class SUV driving mother in Wisconsin who wants
to surprise her husband with a new computer, that accountant
in North Caralina who wants to gift his elderly parents with a new
Home theater setup.. and countless other non-tech literate people
who need help,reviews in order to make informed purchasing choices.

A diverse user demographic who actually buy things from Ad sponsors
drive ad rates up, they generate income. I respectfully submit that the
current demographic does not.

There's no such thing as a free lunch that lasts forever, the only
ïmprovement the owners need to make are those that will help them
generate revenue. I am not privy to the numbers but I'd be willing
to bet the non-computing forums are a cash drain,not an income producer
at all.

Those people just buy dells and bose. Have you looked at the articles on the front page? This site's base is enthusiasts who build their own, and that market has shrunk, or IT professionals.

I'm still not sure what any of this has to do with restoring some of the forum rules to how they were a few years ago. If you honestly believe that driving off the knowledgeable people who hang out on the forum and switching to a fee based forum is going to in any way help, I'm going to have to agree to strongly disagree.

The "knowledgeable people" who hang out in the Offtopic forums ? many of whom are NOT computing professionals and many of those who are regard end users as clueless dolts to heap scorn upon?

Computers USED to be these magical boxes that cost thousands of dollars, people who knew how to run and fix these boxes were elevated to the status of demi-gods. Computing has changed, perfectly good systems for home and small business use can be had for a song.The computer is just another appliance,it can be put to the curb when it breaks and replaced rather than upgraded when the need arises. The general non-tech population also has no use for techno-elitist snobs who think they're better than everybody else.

The Offtopic forums were a drain on Anand's resources several years ago, I highly doubt that situation has changed in our worsening economy.Anand has generously held open house here for years. If he loses 1,000 members who don't buy things from sponsors,who never click thru banner ads and who contribute nothing aside from caustic commentary and complaint,what has he lost? 1,000 bandwith leeches who were costing his company money.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
...

I dont think you could have missed the mark any further than you did.

I just refreshed this thread 3 times and got these 3 ads:

1. Antec Cases
2. DIY Gaming Notebooks
3. OCZ "ModXStream-Pro" gaming PSU

Not exactly layman's marketing going on here.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Read most posts, not going to respond to anything specific, just reflect on my history here and drop 2 cents...

You will never be able to stop the DHITB or equivalent comments. Ever. Too hard to define, too ingrained in the demographic that constitutes this site.
Not being able to embed images makes the forums worksafe, members need to exercise caution when clicking ANY eternal link, and the poster should be courteous enough to describe what it contains.
Ideal forum layout IMO would be HW/SW/OT/Programming/DC/L&R/P&N
Bans/vacations only for trolls, spammers, and people that link to inappropriate content

 

[Capt Caveman]

I find these type of posts more annoying than a babe thread - http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2260340&enterthread=y

 

[JohnCU]

look what i started ... or

and here i thought all babe threads from here on out were 1 week bans (atleast that's what my mod quote says).

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: rudeguy

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: CorCentral
If car people are in a car forum, no matter the traffic, your thread is more likely to get an honest answer....... Unlike if you post it here in OT, you'll get bulk/alternator jokes.

I probably know more about cars than 75% of the people in the car forums, but I don't visit. I'd gladly help people if they posted in OT but I can't be bothered with a separate car forum here.

<-- ex-mechanic, car enthusiast with experience building engines, gearboxes, brake systems, welding and much more.

Same for me with anything related to car electronics, home electronics or cellular. I can't say I have spent more than 5 minutes in any of those subforums.

Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...
When i want motherboard advice, i go to motherboards and not general hardware.
When I want HDTV advice, I go to Audio/Video & Home Theater , and If I'm looking to buy shit, I go to For Sale/Trade and Hot Deals...

SO... when I want car advice WHY should I go to Off Topic??

I dont go to the programming forum because I dont need hlep with programming... BUT I DO GO THERE TO SEE IF SOMEONE ELSE HAS QUESTIONS I CAN ASSIST WITH...

If you have an interest in helping people with car questions, then you can go to the garage. If you are too lazy to bother, then most people dont want your help anyways.


AFAIC, I would take a smaller membership base to weed out all the morons who dont contribute shit. I want people who want to participate by asking or answering questions or in some MEANINGFUL way add to the discussion.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: sao123
Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...

Well excuse me, but FUCK YOU. I'm not particularly interested in helping people with their car problems and that's why I don't visit any car forums. I'm certainly not interested enough to visit a separate forum. But if I happen to come across a thread that I can help with in my every day browsing then sure I'm happy to help.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: sao123
Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...

Well excuse me, but FUCK YOU. I'm not particularly interested in helping people with their car problems and that's why I don't visit any car forums. I'm certainly not interested enough to visit a separate forum. But if I happen to come across a thread that I can help with in my every day browsing then sure I'm happy to help.

Contradict yourself much?

I'll help you if I accidently stumble upon your problem, but not if I have to actually make an effort out of it...

Which brings me to my point exactly... I'd rather have no help... than half assed half hearted help from posters like you.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: sao123
Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...

Well excuse me, but FUCK YOU. I'm not particularly interested in helping people with their car problems and that's why I don't visit any car forums. I'm certainly not interested enough to visit a separate forum. But if I happen to come across a thread that I can help with in my every day browsing then sure I'm happy to help.

Contradict yourself much?

I'll help you if I accidently stumble upon your problem, but not if I have to actually make an effort out of it...

Which brings me to my point exactly... I'd rather have no help... than half assed half hearted help from posters like you.

How is that a contradiction?

 

[Acanthus]

I should read stickys

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: sao123
Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...

Well excuse me, but FUCK YOU. I'm not particularly interested in helping people with their car problems and that's why I don't visit any car forums. I'm certainly not interested enough to visit a separate forum. But if I happen to come across a thread that I can help with in my every day browsing then sure I'm happy to help.

Contradict yourself much?

I'll help you if I accidently stumble upon your problem, but not if I have to actually make an effort out of it...

Which brings me to my point exactly... I'd rather have no help... than half assed half hearted help from posters like you.

How is that a contradiction?

He doesn't understand that you won't go out of your way to go into another forum to find someone to help. This is the same reason people will post in OT quick questions about something that has its own forum, because OT has more traffic and will likely get some type of response faster than if put in the proper forum. Sure the thread will eventually get locked or moved but usually not before you get an answer. This is what happens when you have too specific of a forum. Some of the forums will take a week to get an answer, who's going to post in there if you can get an answer in minutes in OT.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
...back to the way things used to be... just the old rules back in place.

The rule used to be NO babe threads. The rule is now "one and only one babe thread." Besides, what do you know of how the place used to be? Your join date is well after the forums split.

Originally posted by: dbk
I think one major point that most people are overlooking is the fact that we are not able to embed any type of media into the thread.
Even if it is a "babe thread" there are no pictures actually in the thread - just urls.
Most people should have the common sense not to click on the link if the environment warrants so.

I believe embedded images will be possible after the switch to vbulletin (any day/week now). I haven't paid attention to that aspect; and I'm not sure if that will be turned on by default, only available in some of the forums, or what.

Originally posted by: NFS4
And what the hell -- we're trying to protect people who are surfing at work? If your dumbass is surfing ATOT and clicking links in threads with women in it, you deserve everything you get. It shouldn't be AnandTech's job to protect someone using a work computer for anything other than work.

Not just that, but a lot of places have filters in place. Is it really good business for a tech site to find itself being filtered as a result of one or two of it's sub forums?

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: sao123



Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...
When i want motherboard advice, i go to motherboards and not general hardware.
When I want HDTV advice, I go to Audio/Video & Home Theater , and If I'm looking to buy shit, I go to For Sale/Trade and Hot Deals...

SO... when I want car advice WHY should I go to Off Topic??

I dont go to the programming forum because I dont need hlep with programming... BUT I DO GO THERE TO SEE IF SOMEONE ELSE HAS QUESTIONS I CAN ASSIST WITH...

If you have an interest in helping people with car questions, then you can go to the garage. If you are too lazy to bother, then most people dont want your help anyways.


AFAIC, I would take a smaller membership base to weed out all the morons who dont contribute shit. I want people who want to participate by asking or answering questions or in some MEANINGFUL way add to the discussion.

Lazy? Probably. But I still help plenty of people via PM that post in OT with questions on things I can help with. I have always done this and always will as long as I can be helpful. I don't go into the subforums because I rarely get help when I post in them. That and I get confused as to which subforum I am supposed to post in. I had a question about Windows, so I posted in the Windows forum. I guess that was the wrong forum!

So I contain myself to OT, FS/FT and HD. Those were the forums I visited when I joined and those are the forums that keep me coming back. If the subforums disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't know.

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: rudeguy

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: CorCentral
If car people are in a car forum, no matter the traffic, your thread is more likely to get an honest answer....... Unlike if you post it here in OT, you'll get bulk/alternator jokes.

I probably know more about cars than 75% of the people in the car forums, but I don't visit. I'd gladly help people if they posted in OT but I can't be bothered with a separate car forum here.

<-- ex-mechanic, car enthusiast with experience building engines, gearboxes, brake systems, welding and much more.

Same for me with anything related to car electronics, home electronics or cellular. I can't say I have spent more than 5 minutes in any of those subforums.

Well both of you are just plain fucking lazy then...
When i want motherboard advice, i go to motherboards and not general hardware.
When I want HDTV advice, I go to Audio/Video & Home Theater , and If I'm looking to buy shit, I go to For Sale/Trade and Hot Deals...

SO... when I want car advice WHY should I go to Off Topic??

I dont go to the programming forum because I dont need hlep with programming... BUT I DO GO THERE TO SEE IF SOMEONE ELSE HAS QUESTIONS I CAN ASSIST WITH...

If you have an interest in helping people with car questions, then you can go to the garage. If you are too lazy to bother, then most people dont want your help anyways.


AFAIC, I would take a smaller membership base to weed out all the morons who dont contribute shit. I want people who want to participate by asking or answering questions or in some MEANINGFUL way add to the discussion.

I don't think it's that they're lazy, it's that back in the day you didn't used to HAVE to go to other forums, because there was only one OT, not 5. If they had joined AFTER the splitting, maybe they'd be used to having to go to separate forums.

This is first and foremost a computer forum. The fact that we've got x amount of OT forums now as opposed to the olden days of 1 makes no sense. I used to go into random car threads just to read about stuff I didn't know about because it was as readily available to me as a YAGT or sports thread or whatever else tickled my fancy at the time. Now I can't read YAGTs and get enjoyment out of them because I'd have to go into L&R where I'd be overloaded by them.

 

[robphelan]

if it's supposed to be safer for those of us at work, you may want to rein in the language.

at least with babe threads, i can usually tell what the topic is before i click into it.