User Panel
Posted: 10/25/2001 7:28:29 AM EDT
Now that you're in here I want to first say this:
[b][red]CUT THE STUPID ASS POSTS ABOUT "SITE RUINED", "WELCOME TO MOD HELL", "GOATBOY BANGS SHEEP" (good topic actually), "I HAVE AN IDEA TO SAVE THE DAY", "YOU GUYS F'D THINGS UP!", AND SO ON...[/red][/b] There's like 20 topics, all basically doing the same damn thing... NOTHING, but stirring up trouble. We've reacted to person spamming, big deal it happens, we tighten our little asses up for a week and look at where [b]WE[/b] can improve things, then BLAMO, back to normal. A little secret I will let you all in on: There were already a number of discussions on how to best handle the forums/discussions/spam and so forth, so there are changes in the pipe and many talks going on with members, users, and staff about where to go and what to do. I don't claim to have all the answers (42!), that's why I ask people for their thoughts and advice. Here's a QUICK run down of the major thoughts which will most likely come to pass. 1) EE - Being rebuilt from the ground up. Has been delayed since I have been busy with the last of my outside work (sometimes I need to make money too!) and development will proceed shortly. (This is my #1 priority after problem solving.) The new EE will be a much larger system built simply for the EXCHANGE and SALE of EQUIPMENT. 2) Product Reviews - Engine needs a kick and we'll start rolling in a number of products for reviewing. My goal is that this section explodes with content since it's a VERY important thing to everyone. 3) Merchandise System - Online ordering/catalog of all AR15.Com merchandise along with simple ordering mechanism with Paypal, CC, and MO/Check ordering capabilities. NO ETA ON THIS ONE!!! 4) PROBLEM MANAGEMENT & FIXES!!! - Breaking up of the GD into 1 or more forums. This will help 2 things... the first being a split in the firearm and nonfirearm related discussions, the second being a split in the traffic so that topics aren't slammed to page 5 in a matter of minutes. - Upgraded spam counter which will limit the number of posts you can have (non members/staff only) within a 5 minute period. This should not effect the normal user and should only target people who post X number of items in that 5 minute window. This will be adjusted to fit the needs of the majority. - No more anonymous email accounts when you register. This means no more YAHOO, HOTMAIL, ETC accounts to be allowed. If you NEED to have it like this, then I'll deal with it on a case-by-case basis... THIS WONT EFFECT CURRENT USERS, ONLY NEW USERS. You will also still be able to HIDE/SHOW your email in your prefs, so you can keep your email address private. - REGISTRATION will be limited by time of day. This kinda sucks, but it's a necessary evil. The basic idea here is to allow new regs to be handled only from 8am EST to say 11pm EST - Rules update to reflect possible tweaks to them... (I just need to look them over and make sure they are clear.) - USERNAMES will be addressed in the next paragraph. The key here is no more offensive names like ASSHOLE, ASSMASTER, PHUCKOFF, etc. This will lead to autobanning... [b]CLARIFICATION OF USERNAMES[/b] If you have a username which is pushing the limits or boundaries of good taste, then change it NOW. We'll contact those who are on this line if we have to. If things are not changes, then we'll lock your account. The basic rule here is no PROFANITY, INSULTS, RACISM, etc in the name. |
|
You guys have fucked things up, and I have
and idea of how to save the day, but I'm getting the feeling for some odd reason that you don't want to hear it. [:D] edited to add: "There's always one..." |
|
The same rules that apply to user names will also apply to signature lines.
|
|
It's times like these I like to go lurk in the reloading forum.
|
|
Sounds like some decent plans GB, though that title of yours caught me a tad off guard...
|
|
I appreciate the work you guys put into the site. If changes in the rules are necessary, I'm okay with that. I don't live on here day and night enough to ever feel like things are over-moderated or whatever. I would have never seen or known about the Scatman thing if everybody else and their dog hadn't started posting topics about it.
One suggestion though--could you set a different precedent about misleading topic titles? I'm sure you could get everyone to read this by titling it "New Rules and Changes for AR15.com" or something like that rather than messing with everybody's mind with a deceptive title. That's really poor forum etiquette, and I expected better from the admin. |
|
Hmmm, is my name alright? It could be considered racist...[B)]
Da black eye be 4 da homies, word. |
|
Just trying to make sure things actually get viewed... am about to change the topic now...
The rules wont be changed as far as I can tell, just made more clear... I want it setup so that it's simple to read them, understand them, and reference them. This way if a topic violates policy, the mod can cut and past the violation and lock the thread. Done, case closed, no further discussion needed... And you're right it was a bit childish of a topic title for me, but you know what, after reading through 20+ posts about the same damn thing and dealing with a guy posting pics of people crapping on each other and working a full day to follow it up with another 6 hours of outside work... things get pretty crusty. |
|
[b]Hahahaha GB is a lil' B.[/b]
How about a gun review library? Collect articles on all firearms from various magazines and reviews, then have a section for comments on the guns. |
|
Quoted: The same rules that apply to user names will also apply to signature lines. View Quote Speaking of sig lines, would it be possible to increase the character size to, say, 150 ?? I have a great FF quote that is 130 chars. |
|
...things get pretty crusty. View Quote I think that's an inappropriate topic. [:D] |
|
No comment.......except that I try to mind my own bisness and try to help whenever I can. F-it, I will comment, I must say that I am baffeled by all the bullshit that goes on here. Some of these people need to get off the computer and get a life.
|
|
GB, that sounds like a very reasonable and rational approach to what happened.
|
|
[img]http://home.earthlink.net/~thegardenweasel/tbomb.jpg[/img]
|
|
Quoted: Quoted: The same rules that apply to user names will also apply to signature lines. View Quote Speaking of sig lines, would it be possible to increase the character size to, say, 150 ?? I have a great FF quote that is 130 chars. View Quote Spectre, that will have to be addressed by GB. He won't let me have the keys to the GoatCave. |
|
Quoted: GB, that sounds like a very reasonable and rational approach to what happened. View Quote I second that. I especially like the no-anony emails. One suggestion which may or may not exist, is put make a feature for staff to use that would allow them to temporarily halt registering for an hour or so. This would allow an immediate response to a troll. |
|
Quoted: One suggestion which may or may not exist, is put make a feature for staff to use that would allow them to temporarily halt registering for an hour or so. This would allow an immediate response to a troll. View Quote Good idea!! Also, I like SPECTRE's idea about the sig lines. Not very many FF quotations will fit in there. |
|
Quoted: Just trying to make sure things actually get viewed... am about to change the topic now... The rules wont be changed as far as I can tell, just made more clear... I want it setup so that it's simple to read them, understand them, and reference them. This way if a topic violates policy, the mod can cut and past the violation and lock the thread. Done, case closed, no further discussion needed... And you're right it was a bit childish of a topic title for me, but you know what, after reading through 20+ posts about the same damn thing and dealing with a guy posting pics of people crapping on each other and working a full day to follow it up with another 6 hours of outside work... things get pretty crusty. View Quote I don't blame you for feeling that way. The whole topic title thing's just a pet peeve of mine. Thanks for changing it. :) |
|
I love the idea of splittin the GD into two forums. Brilliant.
Also, don't let the bastards get you down. You're the only game in town. Just don't take your ball and go home. -that is all- |
|
Quoted: Speaking of sig lines, would it be possible to increase the character size to, say, 150 ?? I have a great FF quote that is 130 chars. View Quote That's a good idea. I tried a bunch of FF quotes but none of them were under the character limit, and paraphrasing just ain't right. |
|
Quoted: [b]Hahahaha GB is a lil' B.[/b] How about a gun review library? Collect articles on all firearms from various magazines and reviews, then have a section for comments on the guns. View Quote Copyright laws would probably be the biggest problem there. God Bless Texas |
|
I've been away for a week, so you can't blame me for anything!!![:D]
|
|
Quoted: View Quote [red]1) EE - Being rebuilt from the ground up. The new EE will be a much larger system built simply for the EXCHANGE and SALE of EQUIPMENT. [/red] [b] Good. I think the exchange is one of the best features of this site. If you can figure out a way to do it, a feedback system wouldn't hurt.[/b] [red]2) Product Reviews - Engine needs a kick and we'll start rolling in a number of products for reviewing. My goal is that this section explodes with content since it's a VERY important thing to everyone.[/red] [b]Yeah. Good idea.[/b] [red][b]4) PROBLEM MANAGEMENT & FIXES!!!- Breaking up of the GD into 1 or more forums. This will help 2 things... the first being a split in the firearm and nonfirearm related discussions, the second being a split in the traffic so that topics aren't slammed to page 5 in a matter of minutes.[/red][/b] [b]This is a good idea, and is overdue. Also, a forum header saying "THERE ARE MANY FORUMS TO DISCUSS STRICTLY AR15's ON THIS SITE~! THIS IS G-E-N-E-R-A-L DISCUSSION!" would be good.[/b] [red]- Upgraded spam counter which will limit the number of posts you can have (non members/staff only) within a 5 minute period.[/red] [b]This is a good and needed idea. There are some prety freaky utilities out there that could take advantage of any holes there to gnaw up B/W.[/b] [red]- No more anonymous email accounts when you register.[/red] [b]This has it's pros and cons.[/b] [red]- REGISTRATION will be limited by time of day. This kinda sucks, but it's a necessary evil. The basic idea here is to allow new regs to be handled only from 8am EST to say 11pm EST[/red] [b]Good idea.[/b] [red]CLARIFICATION OF USERNAMES[/b] If you have a username which is pushing the limits or boundaries of good taste, then change it NOW. We'll contact those who are on this line if we have to. If things are not changes, then we'll lock your account. The basic rule here is no PROFANITY, INSULTS, RACISM, etc in the name.[/red] Re: Racism- End all race discussion. Period. You can not allow people to run around praising minorities, or defending them, but then call anyone a "racist" who gives the sheep a good smackdown with the facts. People say [i]"race discussion is permitted, only so long as there is no use of deragatory terms"..[/i] ...which is total fucking BULLSHIT! All that happens is race discussion is permitted for those who are defending blacks, and whenever anyone points out the damn truth, it's called "racist", and the thread locked, the account banned- Look at when Striker banned me! That had to be the most pathetic piece of crap banning in the history of the net! (I'd gladly illustrate it to the members, but there has been enough disdain for the staff around here lately, so I won't) Look at OffRoads topic edited by LewTippie yesterday! He called that "racist"?!?!?! Bullshit. You won't permit "racial discussion"- you will permit a bucnh of fucking racial apologists to sing kum-bye-ya, and anyone who speaks to the contrary (usually, the damn truth) will be banned. You can't have a discussion with only one side of the story. You won't allow both sides, so don't allow any of it. |
|
Quoted: You can't have a discussion with only one side of the story. View Quote I am not a "racist" in any sense of the word, but Landon makes one helluva good point here. Kudos McUZI [beer] |
|
Many people who access the internet from work or a public library have not choice but hotmail type account.
I suggest you re-think this. |
|
It's been rethought actually to be a more controlled environment... More on this later.
(Most likely free emails WILL be allowed...) As for race discussions... I don't recall many "bless the blacks" or "puerto ricans rock beotch" threads posted on the boards... do you? If it were up to me there would be no race, religion, or sex (as in sexism) type topics... but then we'd limit ourselves and our topics. [=D] |
|
I would love a review feature. T90% of the gun mags aren't truthful because they are taking money from major gun company advertizers.
|
|
Golden Rule.........
[img]http://w1.511.telia.com/~u51102888/anims/cartoon6/dad_anm.gif[/img] ........him with the Gold [b]makes the rules[/b][devil] |
|
Guess that means me for the username (phukitalltohell)... I will change it.... I think I will call him.... Ben Dover.
Now... my $.02 worth... I have not been a member here for very long, but the one thing that attracted me to registering to the site was the sense of community. I was really moved by everyone's desire to do something for the members who were working at the WTC site. I also really appreciated the zany candidness. It's the non-firearm expressions that gave this site it's personality. I can learn technical specs from lots of places. I was on the fence about buying an AR vs AK. The technical knowledge I gleaned here pushed me towards popping my AR cherry (is that offensive?). I appreciated the candid humor blended with the gun talk. I would really hate to see that change with a mass exodus of some interesting personalities leaving the site. I run several community forums on proprietary software that I host on my own cluster (40MB pipe). I am a web application developer and I sell my off-the-shelf portal software systems to county governments and chambers of commerce. When I sell a county, I come in behind the chamber or muni gov and put up a public news/information/community site to link to the county/chamber portal for promotion. Most small towns have piss poor newspapers and their sites are even worse. They become very popular rather quickly. Across all my community sites, I serve up 35,000,000 pageviews a day from my server cluster and have over 4,000,000 registered users in towns you never heard of. I have a lot of experience in this arena. We have fairly conservative use policies (no porn, obscenities, hate language, the usual...) but we also have an "alert moderator" feature that gets embedded into every post and reply on the boards. That way the community becomes self-policing and sets a standard. If something is offensive or violates a use policy, a moderator can be alerted by clicking the link on the post message. This saves countless hours of trolling for garbage. Also, we do NOT permit our moderators to participate in discussions. It diminishes the credibility of a neutral forum and causes more problems than it creates (as you are experiencing). If someone wants to moderate, then they forfeit their right to participation in the forum. The tradeoff is the fact that they are the only ones who can promote a post to editorial content status in the articles section. Since the articles are all attached to a thread, they can "control" the topics that get started (kind of like Yahoo! news discussions). Our moderators seem to appreciate the tradeoff because it puts them in more of a journalism position. Something to consider GoatBoy because it goes a long way. Above all, listen to the majority users. 99.9% of them are reasonable people who want the same things that you all want. They will also make or break your community. Sell them what they ask for. |
|
Don't forget to change the signature line while you're at it.
|
|
Quoted: Many people who access the internet from work or a public library have not choice but hotmail type account. I suggest you re-think this. View Quote Ditto, I couldn't agree more. Bulldog OUT [soapbox] |
|
Quoted: Don't forget to change the signature line while you're at it. View Quote Okay. |
|
Quoted: Is my name too risqué? View Quote Even if it isn't now, eventually it will be as they stand more and more people "against the wall". |
|
What the hell did miss? [?][>:/]
Anyway, here's my thought on the changes: I don't think we need to GD's one for non-firearm and one for firearms. Doesn't seem right to me. Oh well...the other changes are fine. |
|
Quoted: What the hell did miss? [?][>:/] Anyway, here's my thought on the changes: I don't think we need to GD's one for non-firearm and one for firearms. Doesn't seem right to me. Oh well...the other changes are fine. View Quote Some immature buffoon went on a cyberrampage spamming the forums with scat porn pics (scat is a poop fetish for those who may not know). He got banned. People were on the rampage. The controversy apparently bubbled over and expanded to some personal rifts that were simmering anyway. GoatBoy implements changes. I thnk that is what happened anyway... I missed the scat. |
|
"You can't have a discussion with only one side of the story.
You won't allow both sides, so don't allow any of it." ILC is right on, apologists make me sick and most are phony as a three dollar bill. Their UNCHALLENGED STATUS, stifles meaningful dialog and mucks up the board with other copycat apologist's "love will bring us together crap." |
|
Quoted: but we also have an "alert moderator" feature that gets embedded into every post and reply on the boards. That way the community becomes self-policing and sets a standard. If something is offensive or violates a use policy, a moderator can be alerted by clicking the link on the post message. This saves countless hours of trolling for garbage. View Quote [b]EXCELLENT Idea ![/b] |
|
Suggestions from a lowly poster as to improvements to site.
I would prefer you regulated the member sign up policy moreso than regulating what members say. Open signup policy just asks for trolling. Require moderators take responsibility for any deletions, topics locked, accounts terminated, and etc, so that other moderators do not take the heat when they do not desirve it. When a moderator does something inappropriate and gets punished/reprimanded for it make it public so we as posters don't only see us getting spanked and we are left to assume that this site is unfair. We put up with this public spanking and think that it is only us in the spanking line. We need to see that site Staff is also subject to review of actions. I prefer a site which is not too touchy feely mamby pamby but I understand how this can go overboard either way. I like discussions about Race, Sexual Preference, Police and thier Ethics, and other controversial topics. If you spend to much time moderating the General Forum then if you Eye Offends you cut it out. We need gun related topics not the "My brothers mother's son is also my cousin advice what to do topic". I am all for a gun only related site, but if you are going to have a General Forum then let it be General with not such High stds. of moderation. Also telling people that they can play nice or leave limits the number of people willing to pop the money for support of the site cause they feel that at any given time they could be gone as a member. My check is on the way and we will see what we will see. Minimum I get to pick a cute ICON picture under my name. |
|
LOL.....I'm waiting to see this pic. I'm betting it's gonna have a cool Class III weapon in it.
|
|
I sent the funds via PayPal almost 15 sec ago.
Why is it taking so long to gain member status? I demand service. Don hopefully this gif file will be able to be sized properly for my membership picture. [img]http://www.cableone.net/uziforme/uzi2.gif[/img] |
|
Quoted: Just trying to make sure things actually get viewed... am about to change the topic now... The rules wont be changed as far as I can tell, just made more clear... I want it setup so that it's simple to read them, understand them, and reference them. This way if a topic violates policy, the mod can cut and past the violation and lock the thread. Done, case closed, no further discussion needed... And you're right it was a bit childish of a topic title for me, but you know what, after reading through 20+ posts about the same damn thing and dealing with a guy posting pics of people crapping on each other and working a full day to follow it up with another 6 hours of outside work... things get pretty crusty. View Quote [b]People crapping on each other??? WTF!!![/b] I briefly saw something about a "SCATMAN". Then, I see a bunch of Topics and bickering and all. Next, I see SteyrAUG is yankin' his POST...er, uh, let me rephrase that... Now, the Forum is a bit different. See what I get for working so much lately? I'm sure it will work out just fine, but, MAN-O-MAN, I came back to do the daily check-in and all hell had broken loose!!! I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! [:D] |
|
Quoted: [b]EXCELLENT Idea ![/b] View Quote You can see this at [url]http://www.eatonlink.com[/url] Go into the forums and look at the messages. |
|
Yeah that shpanky shniztztztzy dood has been at it for quite a while... his forums don't stand up very well to HIGH traffic though... (trust me on this one!)
]=) With my power DB on the back end this thing is fast as hell... (Just my $.223 on those forums! Heehee) When I have time I will add features which people want, such as instant messaging... for now I can easily add the "notify moderator" tool to the board. Expect that to hopefully make it in this weekend. I think the easier way to do this will be some sort of dynamic reporter which will show up for forum mods and staff when they're surfing ANYWHERE on the site... makes more sense than getting an instant message, email, or having to go somewhere to see a list of issues... ]=) |
|
Personally I think that splitting the forums was a bad idea, in that it was an over-reaction.
The occasional storm of trolls seems to happen regularly, and the forum ALWAYS recovers nicely, despite all the "sky is falling" rhetoric - but this really seems more about the events that all were triggered by the INEVITABLE locking of the BOTD thread. The way I see it, splitting the GD forum was unecessary and panders to the whiners and complainers. I never understood why the solution of having people follow the rules and getting banned if they don't (after a warning) doesn't work. I guess some people just insist on being whiny when everything doesn't go their way. I just hate to humor them, instead of ridiculing them, which I believe is the appropriate response. |
|
OK, I deleted my "Is this Site Dying" post. My whole point to it was that when tempers flare, it is much better to step back, go out have some fun shooting, and think it over. Don't let your pride make your decisions for you (it's hard enough being a guy and having your other head think for you on occasion).
As to the Anon E-mails: I registered under my "regular" name and e-mail at the old site. I now have moved to a terribly liberal city to go to school. I have to store all my guns (I only have a few that are "legal" here in the city anyway) out of the area so I don't have to register them. I don't need the additional hassles of posting under my real name. I don't kid myself about how easy it is to find out who I am, but I figure it is not (generally) worth their effort. I'm already on a couple of lists--I made 2 handgun purchases at the same time in both VA before I moved, and recently (my bad luck--the first gun got delayed, the second got here early), and old Mayor Dailey and his Firearms Gestapo (yes, he does have a Dedicated firearms enforcement unit) managed to get a liberal judge to release ALL the multiple handgun records from the ATF to them. As I said, I don't need additional hassles. I know I am a registered user, and wouldn't have to worry about the changes, but I know of at least one other user that is in the same boat as me, and it may drive off prospective users. As to anonymous e-mails, AOL is an anonymous e-mail anymore. Our very own "Combat_Kid" is still trying to rip people off (out of Dallas/Garland, TX)--the Python for a Beta-C mag trade, remember that one? He uses an AOL e-mail on occasion, and has posted on Buddy Hinton's Board using AOL access. Just a couple of thoughts. AFARR |
|
I wonder if they (BigBrother) are already watching some of y'alls posts and e-mails to see if you are suspected terrorists?
The "Golden Rule"...He who has all the gold makes the rules really does apply...GB an Ed have all the gold.[:D] I am glad they share some of it with us! In almost every post is something that would offend someone. SexualChocolate...It is only risque if you are not black.[:D] I have never heard of SexualVanilla though. Some people are offended by by "Old Glory" and to them I would say get out of The United States of America. Move somewhere where you can be "free". GoatBoy may say the same thing about the whining and complaining that goes on here sometimes! [soapbox] I think they do a pretty good job with [:K]. BigDozer66 [USA] |
|
Hineline became a paying member?
They must be wearing parkas in hell! [;)] That's a cool gif. I resized it and optimized it but with all the frame transitions I couldn't get it any any smaller than 67K, down from its 473K original size. You would have to remove some frames but then it would be choppy. Sig pics are limited to 25K. Sorry. |
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.