-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Why is this forum gradually turning into SA?
- Thread starter Willco
- Start date
- Status
VictimOfGrief
Banned
So says the Junior Member.... oh wait a minute....
Mike Works
Member
I won't, because there's a chance that GAF would become a pay site/forums. Hell, you could make a case for it right now. But it's not even being considered now, so no one should worry about that kind of thing, AND, if we ever DID do something like that, I'm fairly certain that we'd do it the same way as SA did, so that anyone who was already registered wouldn't have to pay a thing. When SA switched over to becoming a pay site, everyone who had been posting there didn't have to pay a thing.Socreges said:
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
From what I can see, it's not so much GAF turning into SA, but some of the more base-level "humor" that is popular with a certain age group on the Internet spreading. SA is somewhat famous (or infamous) for it, possibly due to the "front page" attitude they show to the casual viewer, and how some of their forums cliques behave. SA gets stereotyped a lot (though not totally without reason). Part of what stereotypes SA though, could be hoards of kids running around - on other forums, on livejournal, etc - imitating what they think is "cool" about SA in order to get attention and cause trouble. This is where you get forum and journal "invasions". You know, SA posts, say an awful site of the day or points at somebody's journal. Immediately 50 - 200 kids with no life run over and bomb it with crappy photoshop images or trolls culled from the generic SA list of over-used catchphrases.
Probably what's most annoying about Something Awful-like attitudes and behavior is the running of "jokes" into the ground. Like once a meme starts ("Your mission: HATE THIS THING FOR ALL IT'S WORTH TEH FUNNEH!!1"), people repeat it ad-nausuem at every chance they get across the 'net.
Really though, it's more of a general trend/meme thing or so it seems. Some people have dubbed it net.hipster culture. It's probably one of those things that in 10 or 20 years, sociologists will do papers on, studying the sweeping trends in behavior on the social space of the Internet, which at that time (now) was still relatively new and chaotic.
Probably what's most annoying about Something Awful-like attitudes and behavior is the running of "jokes" into the ground. Like once a meme starts ("Your mission: HATE THIS THING FOR ALL IT'S WORTH TEH FUNNEH!!1"), people repeat it ad-nausuem at every chance they get across the 'net.
Really though, it's more of a general trend/meme thing or so it seems. Some people have dubbed it net.hipster culture. It's probably one of those things that in 10 or 20 years, sociologists will do papers on, studying the sweeping trends in behavior on the social space of the Internet, which at that time (now) was still relatively new and chaotic.
Mike Works
Member
I hate the way a lot of people on SA harass sites that are linked (something which is frowned upon and bannable by the mods/admins), and the catchphrase thing too. When you have 30k, it should come as no surprise that a constent 200 or so leak out and do stupid shit like invasions.
The catchphrase thing is really bad, but thankfully they die off before they get a chance to get started now. Unfortunately this forum hasn't entered that phase yet, but we're better than we used to be at least.
As for:
The catchphrase thing is really bad, but thankfully they die off before they get a chance to get started now. Unfortunately this forum hasn't entered that phase yet, but we're better than we used to be at least.
As for:
I agree that sociologists will do papers on the internet in the future, but I don't really see what that has to do with SA. They'd be just as quick to do one about GA, or any of the countless other forums.
Mike Works said:
Yeah, a lot of people on SA get banned for repeating catchphrases and things like that. It isn't a walk in the park there if you like engaging in sheep-minded idiocy. The website harassment can get pretty out of hand sometimes (and at other times, it almost seems deserved), but I wholeheartedly support Propesting/Fauxtesting!
One item I can never understand is by breaking up a paragraph and responding to each individual sentence. It makes the entire response out of context. The whole paragraph builds from one point to another and if I wanted my response broken up into individual sentences I would have started a new paragraph.
I'm not going to get into the two forums again, but Mike you know exactly what I meant before you took my response and quoted it out of context in your retort. As for generializing, you would be guilty of the same thing as you tried to pin me on in your response.
Socrages, I like your style.
I'm not going to get into the two forums again, but Mike you know exactly what I meant before you took my response and quoted it out of context in your retort. As for generializing, you would be guilty of the same thing as you tried to pin me on in your response.
Socrages, I like your style.
drohne said:
I agree.
(The following is not a comment directed towards drohne; it's a general statement.)
That said, it seems a bit hypocritical to me, to generalize about the quality of the forum because of some usual monthly threads made (sales, reviews.) I enjoy the information contained in them (who isn't a news hound nowadays anyway,) and ocassionally enjoy the discussion that comes as part of debating the quality of a game (because it delves into the things that make games good.)
What I do think is proper to refer to is the way people address each other. This is what I think needs to get better. Granted, the lack of identity makes it nearly impossible for all people to become responsible about what they post and how they address each other. I can't see why there can't be quality posts or civil discussions about things that some see banal today (sales/reviews/etc.)
Then again, the ironic part of me enjoys the constant diatribe that occurs within.
In any case, it just seems hypocritical to be looking down upon the forum. As many faults as this forum might have, it's definitely enjoyable.
Edit: The many "attention whore" and "Live Journal/Blogging" quality posts that come often in the OT could definitely be reduced.
I dunno Mike it seems like you want to encourage the kind of posts you like and discourage the kind of posts you don't. Which is a dangerous road to walk down.
So you don't like the sales threads, that's great. You outgrew that phase, I did too, but is it so hard to avoid those threads or stop reading one when it degenerates to that? Because
a) other people still like discussing them
b) the discussions are harmless as they can be easily avoided
c) they're a part of the history of GAF dammit
d) crazy as it sounds sometimes sales charts are a valid thing to bring up especially if you want to talk about the possibility of a not so sucessful game getting a sequel, why some game did better in Japan and not here etc etc.
e) the posters who care about this crap are the ones that have the most entertaining breakdowns when big news hits
f) plenty of posters like to point and laugh
Because sales chart floods are annoying but they're closely related to the PIC WARZ that erupted here back in the PS2/DC days and I don't know about you mang but those are some of my most cherised memories of gaf. Pages and pages of identical pics of the latest racers with each side posting the worst possible screengrabs of the opposing side. I mean sure it got out of hand at the end (culminating when one of the developers of a DC racer was nice enough to post in one of those threads and was promptly lynched and run off by the screaming GAF hoardes. I laughed hard at that), but it can be controlled.
Plus it was the guys that obsessed over SEGA sales that were completely shattered when the DC death announcement was made and I wouldn't trade the laughs I got on that day (nay month) for anything.
So you don't like the sales threads, that's great. You outgrew that phase, I did too, but is it so hard to avoid those threads or stop reading one when it degenerates to that? Because
a) other people still like discussing them
b) the discussions are harmless as they can be easily avoided
c) they're a part of the history of GAF dammit
d) crazy as it sounds sometimes sales charts are a valid thing to bring up especially if you want to talk about the possibility of a not so sucessful game getting a sequel, why some game did better in Japan and not here etc etc.
e) the posters who care about this crap are the ones that have the most entertaining breakdowns when big news hits
f) plenty of posters like to point and laugh
Because sales chart floods are annoying but they're closely related to the PIC WARZ that erupted here back in the PS2/DC days and I don't know about you mang but those are some of my most cherised memories of gaf. Pages and pages of identical pics of the latest racers with each side posting the worst possible screengrabs of the opposing side. I mean sure it got out of hand at the end (culminating when one of the developers of a DC racer was nice enough to post in one of those threads and was promptly lynched and run off by the screaming GAF hoardes. I laughed hard at that), but it can be controlled.
Plus it was the guys that obsessed over SEGA sales that were completely shattered when the DC death announcement was made and I wouldn't trade the laughs I got on that day (nay month) for anything.
Sales threads in and of themselves are fine. Whatever.
It's the fucking idiot consolesexuals that ruin them. The people that cheer on their console and denounce the opposition like it was a date rapist, al-Qaeda member or maybe even Hitler. It's ok to have discussions about sales, but people who act like that should be put into a bag and drowned so they can't reproduce. I have a list of names, if anyone in power is interested...
It's the fucking idiot consolesexuals that ruin them. The people that cheer on their console and denounce the opposition like it was a date rapist, al-Qaeda member or maybe even Hitler. It's ok to have discussions about sales, but people who act like that should be put into a bag and drowned so they can't reproduce. I have a list of names, if anyone in power is interested...
I come in peace! Really! I figure that if a thread as meta as this is still open, it's inviting conversation.
I was reading an interesting blog entry by Teresa Nielsen Hayden the other day. I don't moderate anywhere, but I'm fascinated by the whole establishment of power it creates. I wouldn't be a good mod - I'm too vindictive, too sensitive; I hold too many grudges. I'm interested in the people that CAN moderate well and not have all of the traits I just mentioned. People like that are few and far between.
The ease of speaking to anyone about anything on the internet has given rise to a certain mindstate where people are constantly trying to 0WN one another. That kind of mindstate breeds contempt for any type of intelligent discourse, and yet, it's something that is welcomed at videogame forums throughout the 'net. Maybe it's because leetspeakers got tired of owning other people in FPS, and they took their (virtua) bloodlust to the 'boards? I don't know.
I'm probably not making any sense.
I was reading an interesting blog entry by Teresa Nielsen Hayden the other day. I don't moderate anywhere, but I'm fascinated by the whole establishment of power it creates. I wouldn't be a good mod - I'm too vindictive, too sensitive; I hold too many grudges. I'm interested in the people that CAN moderate well and not have all of the traits I just mentioned. People like that are few and far between.
The ease of speaking to anyone about anything on the internet has given rise to a certain mindstate where people are constantly trying to 0WN one another. That kind of mindstate breeds contempt for any type of intelligent discourse, and yet, it's something that is welcomed at videogame forums throughout the 'net. Maybe it's because leetspeakers got tired of owning other people in FPS, and they took their (virtua) bloodlust to the 'boards? I don't know.
I'm probably not making any sense.
Mike Works
Member
Hey, that's a great way to run from a conversation, I gotta remember that. Either point out where I took anything you said out of context, because I'm not aware that I did, or don't bother replying next time if you've got nothing to say.Mrbob said:
I've got to run off to work right now, but I'd just like to clarify that:Azih said:
1) I'm not banning sales threads
2) I don't have anything against sales threads in general, even if they do usually result in internet videogame company posturing
3) The entire reason I went nuts and banned sales threads a year or two ago was because there were multiple sales threads posted every day. Daily fucking sales threads, even when there weren't any noticeable releases whatsoever, people would post them. GAF used to be a lot worse, I'm sure you'll remember, in that area. But when I complain about sales threads now, today, that just falls under the general "arguing about videogame companies is stupid" mantra, not the mirror hate I harbored for them when they popped up like fucking bunnies.
Mike Works
Member
We're part of this forum. We're not Nintendo.
Even though signing up includes you into both forums, everyone tends to stick to one side or the other. And its still a matter of siding with your 'team' and denouncing the other side.
So if someone laughs at nintendo and calls them failures because the psp is beating the DS, their comments are inherently stupid. But if they own stock in sony or work for sony such that they are a part of sony the stupid is suddenly alleviated?
So if someone laughs at nintendo and calls them failures because the psp is beating the DS, their comments are inherently stupid. But if they own stock in sony or work for sony such that they are a part of sony the stupid is suddenly alleviated?
Mike Works
Member
Owning stock in Sony means nothing if you can't control the company. I help run GAF, and thus I find this discussion quite relevant. I think owning stock or especially working at Sony allows you the platform of expressing a more vested interest, but I somehow don't think too many people arguing in those stupid threads can check off either box.
Mike Works
Member
Doesn't the connotation of a question mark imply a valid question has been asked?
Mike Works
Member
Trakball, to answer your stupidity related question Trakball, yes, stupidity is subjective, Trakball.
Perhaps its just me, but I tend to isolate someone's arguments form the person. Just because a person is ignorant or stupid doesn't decrease the weight of their arguments. For all I know they accidentally said somethign smart. I forget the term (ad hominem?) but in logic, attacking the person or their standing/authority is not seen as decreasing the merit of their statements.
As such, at least to me, I don't see someone on the gaf forum running damage control for nintendo as stupid merely because they are not the president of nintendo themselves. One could attack the statement as stupid, but I don't think not being a 'part' of it or lacking a vested interest somehow alters the inherent stupidity of the written words.
So perhaps then, you aren't attacking their words but the peopel themselves for being interested enough to say them in the fisrt place. To which I would say, what people like is subjective. Sure, you can think your opinion or 'taste' in topics is somehow on a higher plane of existance, but thats merely because your interests differ from theirs. And though you think their discussion stupid as they might think yours, it doesn't make either discussion inherently worse than the other.
Though I suppose its understandable as mocking the taste of the non-elite is one of the main features of gaf.
As such, at least to me, I don't see someone on the gaf forum running damage control for nintendo as stupid merely because they are not the president of nintendo themselves. One could attack the statement as stupid, but I don't think not being a 'part' of it or lacking a vested interest somehow alters the inherent stupidity of the written words.
So perhaps then, you aren't attacking their words but the peopel themselves for being interested enough to say them in the fisrt place. To which I would say, what people like is subjective. Sure, you can think your opinion or 'taste' in topics is somehow on a higher plane of existance, but thats merely because your interests differ from theirs. And though you think their discussion stupid as they might think yours, it doesn't make either discussion inherently worse than the other.
Though I suppose its understandable as mocking the taste of the non-elite is one of the main features of gaf.
slayn said:
Well, although I agree with what you're saying in theory, I don't think the kind of mindless sales threads and console posturing that many like to indulge in has much to do with gaming, and what makes gaming fun. Here's a suggestion to the mods: maybe you could post a separate forum, or a sub-forum, with nothing but sales threads, for people who would be interested in such a thing?
I stopped posting in the gaming forum a while ago, because for one I was never interested in sales threads, and now I hardly have any time to play games. I still love games, so it's not really about saying that one forum is "better" than another in this case. It's just that many people those kind of threads do actually detract from their enjoyment of games, and can be quite laborious to read through.
Err, used to have the same stupid shit on the gaming forum before the split. The mods were just bigger dicks about it then. I love OT, and what the hell else is there to discuss here? I mean, we see a lot of themes repeat, but that's b/c it's what people want to talk about. I don't think this OT forum has to steer in a certain direction. I think it should take the form of its members. Sex, cars, drugs...whatever. If people want to talk about it, they should.
I'll say one thing, though. I'm tired of catch phrases being banned. I mean, it's the fucking internet. If I have to sift through a whole lot of junk posts, I'd like to at least enjoy a laugh or two when someone repeats one of those memorable catch phrases. It's a catch phrase b/c it's cool to say, so why fucking ban it? I think it's lame, and an example of GAF taking itself a bit too seriously. I mean, the It's all over mantra wasn't that bad, was it? Even now I have to worry about typing in that combination of words out of fear of being banned. Ultramegalame IMO. We don't need to go back to the days of The Rock or anything, but at least stop depriving us of some of life's simple pleasures. PEACE.
EDIT: BTW, the gaming forum is going to get about 10 times worse later this year. 98-00 was fanboy madness. OT will be a sanctuary from all the stupidity.
I'll say one thing, though. I'm tired of catch phrases being banned. I mean, it's the fucking internet. If I have to sift through a whole lot of junk posts, I'd like to at least enjoy a laugh or two when someone repeats one of those memorable catch phrases. It's a catch phrase b/c it's cool to say, so why fucking ban it? I think it's lame, and an example of GAF taking itself a bit too seriously. I mean, the It's all over mantra wasn't that bad, was it? Even now I have to worry about typing in that combination of words out of fear of being banned. Ultramegalame IMO. We don't need to go back to the days of The Rock or anything, but at least stop depriving us of some of life's simple pleasures. PEACE.
EDIT: BTW, the gaming forum is going to get about 10 times worse later this year. 98-00 was fanboy madness. OT will be a sanctuary from all the stupidity.
Mike Works
Member
That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm "attacking" the people who log onto GAF and go to the Gaming Forum to bitterly attack and defend certain companies and the sales of their games or systems. I'm not calling those people stupid or unintelligent. I'm saying what they do is stupid. I wouldn't consider myself to be a stupid person three years ago, yet I still did that sort of thing.slayn said:
It is subjective, which also allows my end of the spectrum: Finding it to be fucking retarded. If a bunch of guys started up a Dirt Forum where people logged on to argue over which kind of dirt is better, I would consider that and their act of arguing over fucking dirt to be fucking stupid. Now if these were archeologist's dispersing opinions over their preference of soil through intelligent discourse, I wouldn't have that opinion.
But that's not what we have here, at least that's not what I'm focusing on. I'm not talking about the people who are looking for intelligent discussion and debate in the business of videogames. I'm talking about the stupid fucking fanboys.
Yeah, except I'm not one of those people. A lot of people look down on me because I enjoy listening to Linkin Park, others criticize me for liking Radiohead a lot, or Sum 41, or Rage Against the Machine, or The Stills. I'm not mocking anyone's taste, that should've been evident from the get go. I'm declaring that the act of posturing over videogame companies that you have no stake in is fucking pointless and stupid.
Mike Works
Member
What? Banning catchphrases eliminates a fuckton of junk posts to begin with. I'm obviously not following your train of thought here.Pimpwerx said:
It's a catchphrase because it WAS cool to say, when it was first said. Catchphrases are only echoed by unoriginal people in an attempt to mirror the comedic aspiration or moment of the person who said it.
But who knows, maybe you're right, maybe it is Ultramegalame
PEACE
Mike Works said:
Don't look at me. I don't mod here. :lol
If it's not repeated a bunch of times afterwards, some people might not realize how funny it is.
I'm pretty much the authority on what's cool and what's lame, and this definitely gets my highest lame rating. ULTRAMEGALAME+1. PEACE.
Mike Works
Member
Guys, seriously, don't even bother announcing whether or not you'd support a subscription forum or not, as it's not being considered at all right now.Naked Shuriken said:
Mike Works said:
Then why don't you make the act of fanboy posturing a bannable offense? You've already taken care of the catchphrase syndrome in one fell swoop; go all the way with it. Otherwise, all people are doing is flexing their mod power to fuck with people that they don't agree with, and what is the point of all that - besides the obvious, if there is anything beyond that?
Wellington
BAAAALLLINNN'
Bogdan said:
:lol
:lol :lol
:lol :lol :lol!
I agree, thank you for saying that.
Mike Works
Member
Because banning a clearcut catchphrase is a LOT easier than banning "fanboyism", especially on a board of this size. From now on, in this thread and any other where you're discussing the state of the forum with me or anyone else, please THINK about your questions before you ask them. Liken your brain to Google, and ponder whether or not you can get your answer through it instead of having to post.Trakball said:
Drop this train of thought now. We went through this in the last thread, you got your answers, and you said you were dropping it. I'm not going to go through all this again, and I'd be very careful what you choose to put in your next post in this thread, should we have to endure one.Trakball said:
- Status