I used to like this forum but it's been going downhill for a while now and I've been trying to figure out why. Apart from the fact that most of the decent members have left, there are other reasons for this. The main difference between this and most other forums is that other forums have more of a family feel. I posted in the Technical section asking for help with the game not connecting properly and not one, not Daniel, no moderator and no other FOD member attempted to help. It's pathetic. I think it's a disgrace considering I've subscribed to you many times before and I've been a loyal member to this site for almost 5 years now. Consistancy with your moderators is also a major problem. I've always had my problem with them, a few exceptions of course, and I still do. Mainly because they can do what they like and not have to justify themselves. They can hide behind the fact that if you question them on another nickname, they will ban that, and so on and so forth. On other sites, you can question moderators without them immaturely running for that ban button. I'm doubting whether this will even be approved. Still, that's my next point. Discussion. That's what I come on a forum for. Heated debates are a good thing. I, and others, have them on other sites. Granted you want to keep this a family site but you do realise that most of the bad language comes from under-18s anyway. Let us swear, let us argue. It's good for the forum because it's fun. I actually could carry on but I'm very much doubting the approval. So I'll sit and wait to see if you will let my points be discussed. Do the sensible thing and delete inappropriate posts, not the whole thread. I would like to hear other people's views on this. It's also not a good thing when you have to plead with moderators to get your post put onto the forum in the first place. Ciao.
The problem with this forum
Posted in
General
The problem with this forum
Agreed with everything. I havn't been on FOD for long, late february, but i remember a MUCH MORE interesting time on the forum, numerous topics created a day, some enjoyable posts to be read. Nowadays it's kind of flat, with no regulars around except for a few exceptions. People who kept this forum alive have now left, in the true sense of the word this isn't particularly a
forum
at all, more of a place to occasionally read a technical question, or rant about poor moderation. What can anyone do? I don't really have a clue, maybe advertising the forum more? All this forum needs is a few regulars back (or even newer members that post regularly) to bring some kind of interest back to this place. cheers ;)
Oh and in addition, in terms of people not answering technical posts, I do my best to help :p along with others, people like Fear etc. Although it's hard to reply to every question. :)
I posted in the Technical section asking for help with the game not connecting properly and not one, not Daniel, no moderator and no other FOD member attempted to help. It's pathetic.
Many of the posts in the technical forum are simply repeats of previous posts. As such the use of the search facility by many members would reduce the number of repeat posts and garbage that some people like to post there. Additionally, most people who post in that section leave so little information it is impossible to give them any help. Posts such as "you server is <censored> i keep getting disconnected" etc serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever.
I've always had my problem with them, a few exceptions of course, and I still do. Mainly because they can do what they like and not have to justify themselves
Well...you certainly have had a lot of run-ins with various mods during your time here. As to justification...moderators have to justify their actions if requested by site admins, and have to follow a set of guidelines, which makes your statements untrue.
I'm doubting whether this will even be approved. Still, that's my next point. Discussion. That's what I come on a forum for. Heated debates are a good thing. I, and others, have them on other sites.
Posts that make their point without resorting to abuse etc should never have a problem being approved. This post was approved by me without a problem because of the fact you put forward your complaints in a sensible manner. Discussions (even heated ones) are not a problem as long as they do not break the rules and degenerate into name calling etc.
Granted you want to keep this a family site but you do realise that most of the bad language comes from under-18s anyway. Let us swear, let us argue. It's good for the forum because it's fun.
Your assumption that offenders are mostly under 18 is simply not true. I wish it was, but its not. Many of the repeat offenders on the site are of an age where they should know better, and certainly are in the 25+ age range.
Do the sensible thing and delete inappropriate posts, not the whole thread. I would like to hear other people's views on this.
In an ideal world...we would do, but the world isnt perfect and sometimes the time it would take to delete multiple individual replies outweighs the resulting impact on the site, so to save time-wasting deleting the individual posts, we may lock a topic, or delete it entirely. This forum isnt perfect...and i would love to see it updated with more flexible abilities, both for normal users and moderators, but that has not happened so we have to do the best we can with the tools available to us.
>Many of the posts in the technical forum are simply repeats of previous posts. As such the use of the search facility by many members would reduce the number of repeat posts and garbage that some people like to post there. It's sometimes difficult to search for a post which is identical or similar to your problem. The posts are so vague and the titles are similar for all problems. However, I tried to be as clear as I could. I don't mean to offend you Chris but I rarely see that many new posts in Technical so a pretty active should really have time to give an answer. It would just be good too to see more effort from members to help people. >Well...you certainly have had a lot of run-ins with various mods during your time here. I was hired to keep moderators on their toes. Didn't you know that? Still, my posts did still have some contribution to this forum. I may have gone over the top at times but it was in good fun at the end of the day. I still maintain most of my bannings were unfair. I don't know how many times I was banned for ban evasion when I didn't know I had a ban in the first place. Maybe that could an improvement? An automated system which sends an e-mail to you when you have a ban. I could have done with it. >As to justification...moderators have to justify their actions if requested by site admins, and have to follow a set of guidelines, which makes your statements untrue. Do all bannings get seen by site admins though? What I meant is that moderators never had to justify their bannings to the members they banned. And they should have to do that. I can give you some good examples where they should have but I can only do it in private. I have since learned that naming and shaming moderators on this forum gets you a one way to ticket to moderator prison. See, I've learning my lessons. Like a good boy. >Discussions (even heated ones) are not a problem as long as they do not break the rules and degenerate into name calling etc. When you consider how many members easily break out into name calling, it's no wonder there's very few good posts left. Heated debates are interesting and I would still like to see the attempt at deleting single posts, even if the deletion of the whole thread is easier for the moderators. Ok, so you have to work a little harder but it might keep an interesting thread going that keeps members on the forum. I miss Mr Bishi. Many moderators have made good attempts recently with their posts but they aren't a patch on Bishi. He had this forum in good order and FOD could do with a full time forum moderator. Also, finally, this forum could do with a Quote and an Edit button ;).
I'm glad this post has been made (it's one of the most interesting topics, i have to say, at the moment) As for the technical stuff, there's probably about 4-5 active people who try and answer stuff like that, normally i answer all the time, but on certain weekends i will not be online throughout so wouldnt be able to answer (by which time the problem may be obselete :p) I guess the fact few people have added to this post does create some kind of irony on the whole subject, would be nice if a few others got involved in what seems to be a good issue to debate :D Agreed on edit button, been asked for ages to have that in place. Quick question for Veriac: >This forum isnt perfect...and i would love to see it updated with more flexible abilities, both for normal users and moderators, but that has not happened so we have to do the best we can with the tools available to us. Is there no way you can in fact get in touch with the powers that be and maybe push a little forum tweaking into their minds? ;);)
Hey all, Chris u sed - "All this forum needs is a few regulars back (or even newer members that post regularly) to bring some kind of interest back to this place." Quick question: Do newer members even know bout the forum? I got to admit am kinda a newer member (here since september), but i jus found out that this site had a forum bout two weeks ago!!! So i don't know if thats jus me being me, and being totally clueless, or if that applies to any other members... Jus a thought... Btw i agree with the edit button... and the quote button... :) Stripey x
Very good point Stripey, i think in my original post i did say <maybe advertising the forum more? And as you have pointed out, you have just proven that in fact some newer members may not even know this forum exists. Some players play this game through other sites (linking directly to the games page etc) meaning that not once may someone see the Forum tab. Hey it may never work, but considering what we have at the moment, it's worth a try :)
I agree not many new people actually know there is a forum, when I first signed up it took me a few months till I actually realized this site had a forum. I also haven't been as active in the forum lately because I am dealing with school and work issues...but I also agree this forum has problems, and ultimately a lot of the problems could be handled with more moderators posting or even admin or the head guy himself.
Hey all, Sorry Chris.... as i sed am basically clueless... We need a cuple of people to randomly say in the lobby... "have you seen whats in the forum?"... or something cheesy like that.. or jus ask newbies out right... do you know theres a forum? How about that for advertising? lol Another suggestion for the forum as well as the editing button... is there any way that you can see more than jus the first post?? Cos that would save me having two windows open to read points i wanna reply to that happened in the most recent post.. know what i mean?? As for mods... i aint had any bother with them cos i b a good girl.. lol.. but i agree it would be better if they posted on here too... Stripey x
>Another suggestion for the forum as well as the editing button... is there any way that you can see more than jus the first post?? Cos that would save me having two windows open to read points i wanna reply to that happened in the most recent post.. know what i mean?? Wow I feel exactly the same about that :O There are any ways this forum could be improved to make things easier for people, whether or not they are being taken into consideration i do not know. What i don't understand is, i often see the OP posting in a topic (mostly technical). So does this mean he has more than likely read this topic, and if so why does he never reply :(
And did you think Veriac was the one approving all these posts? umm nope. Also there is nothing we as mods can do about forum changes.
Hey All,
Euan tottaly agree with you...
Can i ask another question....
It says at the top of ma screen when am replying -
"Please note, your reply will need to be approved by a moderator before it is posted in the forum."
So more than 1 mod must know that we're talking bout this and in a rounda bout way asking for feedback from them...
So ma question is... does only one mod moderate the posts on the forum and thats why weve only had one mods opinion? Or has more than one mod read our posts in reply to Euans first one, but just arent answering them for some reason??
Cos am questioning the mods i dont know if this post will be posted... but even if its not, please can the mod thats read this at least give us ur feedback on the topic??? Ta Muchos. :)
Stripey x
Hey All, Ladydie i dint think that veriac was the only mod approving these posts... am jus wonderin why it was only Veriac who was replying to them and why the other mods who approve these posts weren't?? Stripey x
>And did you think Veriac was the one approving all these posts? >umm nope. There's no need for the stating the obvious tone. I said that I thought Veriac would reply to this thread and I wasn't wrong. Approving the posts (although I still don't like how that even needs to be done but that isn't really an issue right now) is all good and dandy but your input would be much rather appreciated. It's a forum for goodness sake. >Also there is nothing we as mods can do about forum changes. I didn't say that moderators could do. I know that Daniel and Co. check these threads and there's no harm in making a suggestion. If you have no plans, how do you move forward? Thanks for your reply though.