Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: New Amiga site?  (Read 4480 times)

Description:

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

  • Guest
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #29 from previous page: October 05, 2004, 04:49:00 PM »
With respect, this has exactly what to do with the topic of building a new Amiga-specific site?

@JJ

I do not intend to offend anyone by the deletion of your message(s).  I simply need to make a point about staying on topic.  This thread is wandering off on it's own and I just need to get it back to being productive.  Otherwise, we should just scrap all forums and just start one big "talk about whatever the hell you feel like" forum, but that would make us another Moobunny.

@everyone,

This site is about the Amiga.  Let's stay on topic please.

Wayne
 

Offline xeron

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2002
  • Posts: 2533
    • Show only replies by xeron
    • http://www.petergordon.org.uk
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #30 on: October 05, 2004, 05:13:38 PM »
Quote

Wayne wrote:
... and the community has been taken over by a group of people whose attitudes and agendas are in direct opposition to the way the Amiga community used to be..  It feels less about the Amiga than a war room for sycophants and discussion of sexual/political preferences.


The fact of the matter is that its only a minority of people who constantly argue, troll, {bleep} and moan. The majority of people use Amigas old and new, or clones, because they enjoy it and its a nice hobby. When you get a group of Amiga fans together for a show or other real life face-to-face meetings, the community of old is still present; people get along fine and have a beer. Morphoseans, AROSeans and Amigans all get along fine face to face, on the whole.

I think the cold nature of textual communication, combined with people who actually just like stirring up arguments have damaged the appearance of the Amiga community to anyone whos only contact with it is via the internet, and that is what I think is really sad.

I honestly think if the internet was expensive and geeky like in the old days, we'd have a healthier usergroup scene and you'd feel a whole lot better about the state of the "community", i'm sure. The internet is a double edged sword in this instance.

What can we do about it? *sigh* Thats the $64,000 question alright... But I think things will get better. Either:

1) One, two or all of OS4, AROS or MorphOS will become moderately successful and bring in an infusion of new blood, and a new community will form as the ratio of idiots to normal people on Amiga forums gets better.

2) All the Amiga companies die. This would be horrible from my POV, as I would really like to see the Amiga continue commercially in some form, and speaking personally, I *really* like OS4. But even if this happened, the arguments would die down, and we'd probably become like the C64 online community; one that is friendly, and content with the fact that their favourite computers chance has come and gone.

Either way, it CAN only get better...
Playstation Network ID: xeron6
 

  • Guest
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #31 on: October 05, 2004, 05:20:38 PM »
xeron,

I know that people get along in real life, otherwise, we'd refer to the AmiWest shows as "blood bowls".  I also know that it's only a few rotten apples which are spoiling the fun, but short of becoming strongarmed and banning those particular smegheads en masse, there is no real solution...

- Banning them creates discontent, besides, who draws the line, and where is it drawn?

- Deleting the Politics forum solves most of the problem, but also runs off a large portion of the site's visitors, which -- in all frankness, makes it impossible for the site to survive (financially).

- Trying to put some type of leash on the political forums ends up with the typical crybabies screaming "censorship" (like they have a single clue what real censorship is).

- turning a blind eye and letting people say and do whatever the heck they want only makes things worse.

So where's the solution.

Wayne
 

Offline bloodline

  • Master Sock Abuser
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2002
  • Posts: 12113
    • Show only replies by bloodline
    • http://www.troubled-mind.com
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #32 on: October 05, 2004, 05:51:54 PM »
Has anyonr actually ever tred to have a special Flame fest forum? Maybe one where you have to specially register in order to enter... in there one can troll away to your hearts content?

  • Guest
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #33 on: October 05, 2004, 05:57:53 PM »
What would be the point?  We had the DMZ, now we have Coffee House forums.  Pretty much the same results.  A few kids insulting everyone and running off the more intelligent posters.

Wayne
 

Offline seer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 1453
    • Show only replies by seer
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #34 on: October 05, 2004, 07:29:14 PM »
- Banning them creates discontent, besides, who draws the line, and where is it drawn?

You do, doen't matter if we like it or not. Honestly, if anybody doen't like your site they wouldn't come if they kept finding themselves deleted or banned (Except 1 certain person).


As for the domains.. I honestly don't know why you would want to spent even more time in another forum site, and just a plain info site wouldn't be much fun. And we've got plenty of files serving sites as wel, so I don't think that's the way to go either.

Sorry, no help from me I'm afraid to make a decision.
~
Everything you say will be misquoted and used against you.
~
 

  • Guest
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #35 on: October 05, 2004, 07:47:00 PM »
Quote

seer wrote:
- Banning them creates discontent, besides, who draws the line, and where is it drawn?

You do, doen't matter if we like it or not. Honestly, if anybody doen't like your site they wouldn't come if they kept finding themselves deleted or banned (Except 1 certain person).


Thanks!  That's what I had thought, but every time I have to take an action, I'm compared to the anti-christ...
:-)

In the end, all I want is for people to come here and be able to enjoy each other's company (in text form anyway) while providing a service to the Amiga community.  Lately -- due to the aforementioned malcontents -- I've felt like the majority of the discussions here are being railroaded by a few rabid people who refuse to accept that theirs is not the only possible correct opinion in the world.  

Apparently I'm not alone I've gotten PM's from four different former regulars this morning (people whom I miss posting) alone who said essentially;

"Long time, no write.  Hope you remember me.  I used to love the site and come here all the time, but because of some of the kiddie idiots I eventually felt like I was no longer welcome and went somewhere else.  In regards to the new site thread, I sincerely wish you luck."

edit : Most of them mentioned how much nicer visitors used to be to one another, even a few years ago...

Quote

Sorry, no help from me I'm afraid to make a decision.
Open communication always helps.
 

Offline x56h34

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Sep 2003
  • Posts: 2921
    • Show only replies by x56h34
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #36 on: October 05, 2004, 07:55:22 PM »
This site is great. It offers a wealth of information about Amiga in general, however, I have noticed quite a few users with 1000+ posts which have (most likely) never posted an Amiga related post. :-)
 

Offline seer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 1453
    • Show only replies by seer
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #37 on: October 05, 2004, 08:00:52 PM »
Thanks! That's what I had thought, but every time I have to take an action, I'm compared to the anti-christ...

You're welcome. I kinda like the moderation here (and on aw.net)

Apparently I'm not alone I've gotten PM's from four different former regulars this morning (people whom I miss posting) alone who said essentially;

Like I said, if certain people spoil it for others it's your decision on what to do (and in part your staff).

Open communication always helps.

Another good reason for this site.

 :-)
~
Everything you say will be misquoted and used against you.
~
 

Offline Abraxis

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2004
  • Posts: 10
    • Show only replies by Abraxis
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #38 on: October 05, 2004, 11:11:48 PM »
Throw the domains away, don't waste your money.
 

Offline The_Editor

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 1863
    • Show only replies by The_Editor
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #39 on: October 05, 2004, 11:50:57 PM »
Wayne.

Follow your heart.

Build it and they will come !!




Best Wishes

Paul.
The Reluctant Pom
 

Offline AndrewKorn

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2002
  • Posts: 38
    • Show only replies by AndrewKorn
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #40 on: October 06, 2004, 02:15:30 AM »
If you allow people to discuss politics/religion etc., you'll get arguments. That's the nature of the beast. There's no easy way of moderating opinion, because what seems to one person like a valid comment might seem like rabid trolling to another.

The coffee house / DMZ solution is probably the only sensible approach, although it could make a lot of sense to increase the differentiation between that and the rest of the site. I know that's something that a.org has always tried to do, but if it's still a problem then make the differentiation stricter.

I believe that the best approach to moderation is to make it very clear to everyone that you will be extremely strict. Explain that you will terrorise them, rule them with an iron rod, and crush any dissent. Then go easy on them. If people expect strict moderation, they're generally less likely to be shocked when it happens to them, and when they find out that you're letting them get away with just a little bit more than they thought -- why then suddenly you're the good guy rather than the bad guy. ;-) Of course to make this work it would probably be necessary to use a system of permissions that makes posting rights for the DMZ and the rest of the board entirely separate, so that people get the clear sense that there are two separate strands of moderation going on. It should be relatively easy for a troll to get banned from the "main" boards if they start annoying people, but considerably harder to get banned from the DMZ, where annoying at least some people is pretty much bound to happen whether you're trolling or not.

I'd say go with the alternative sites simply because it gives you a way of starting fresh, but there's no reason for a totally clean start - the URLs could point to a.org subsites so that people specifically interested in that subsite can hop straight there via the URL and others can wander in for a look from the main page if they wish.

Part of the problem with all the Amiga sites is that people tend to behave according to what they perceive as being the social norm in the environment they find themselves. Over the years the online Amiga community has become rather twisted and self-loathing, and it's hard to enforce a change to better behaviour.  I think it would make a lot of sense to build a new site slowly - don't invest too much into it until you know it's going to work - and keep it in "closed beta" for a while, inviting a small number of trusted people at a time to join in. Hopefully that way, by the time it's ready to go live, you'll have already built up a community with a more friendly and constructive pre-existing social norm that will make it less likely people will drop into the same hyper-dogmatic & trollish modes that are all too common 'round this neighbourhood these days.
 

Offline Dalamar

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Dec 2003
  • Posts: 190
    • Show only replies by Dalamar
Re: New Amiga site?
« Reply #41 on: October 06, 2004, 04:09:06 AM »
@Wayne,

I don't post frequently, but when I do it's usually just techie talk.  I'm a relative newcomer here and I stay out of the Coffee house forums because I just don't have that kind of time nor do I see the point.  I would say a new site for Amiga is a bit premature based on what I've seen.  Until something happens the most you could hope to do is plan something in your head.  I agree with some other posts about following your heart/passion and just keep it in the back of your head.  I was out of the Amiga community for 15 years so I haven't the background to talk heavily about all of this, but it would seem that it's at a make or break point.  I'd wait to see what happens before investing a lot of work in a new site.  Perhaps renewing them for one more year and deciding if nothing is there by then, letting them go.

Just random thoughts, I hope you find them useful.

-Dal
[color=993300]\\"Stop blowing holes in my ship!!\\"[/color]
--------------------------------------------------------------
...
- A500/4000/3000