70 replies to this topic

[SoulBlazer]

What's up with the mods suddenly going all control freak and locking a bunch of long lasting and fun threads?  One thread I can see locking as it mostly turned into a +1 fest, but the others were still fun and well handled threads, with people posting replies that fit into the theme of what was going on.  It seems like the mods are trying to take away all the fun here and getting a bit heavy handed in the process.  Just what did we do wrong and why can't we have warnings if something is going on?

[bomberpunk]

i predict this thread gets locked.

[Chuck D. Head]

It MAY be only one doing it. As you say, how about a warning with some specifics about what is wrong? Just 'cause a thread has a bunch of +1 action doesnt mean it is created for that reason; maybe it is chock full of awesome. I know it is hard to see that with a stick blocking your vision, but at least communicate for god's sake.

[jetset]

I would mention the fact that there is some serious power tripping going on, but last time I did that I was put on double secret probation. I was told I had been warned via PM but wasn't, and was put on a three day ban.
I seriously don't know what happened to this website. No doubt this discussion will be locked as well before long.

[CPUWIZ]

It is an outrage.

[CPUWIZ]

jetset, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:45 AM, said:

I would mention the fact that there is some serious power tripping going on, but last time I did that I was put on double secret probation. I was told I had been warned via PM but wasn't, and was put on a three day ban.
I seriously don't know what happened to this website. No doubt this discussion will be locked as well before long.

Dude, wasn't that a long time ago?  Wasn't that done by a now banned mod?  I may be remembering this wrong, but didn't you just get a mod-preview treatment, or was that on top of being kicked out for 3 days?  I am not locking this, but I locked that dumbass +1 thread that ended up only having about 3-4 people involved that didn't even change their avatars.  Go whine to Al, I am sure he'll unlock it for your pleasure to expand his database with more nonsense.  You're not the one paying for the server fees, so who cares, right?

[jetset]

CPUWIZ, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:54 AM, said:

jetset, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:45 AM, said:

I would mention the fact that there is some serious power tripping going on, but last time I did that I was put on double secret probation. I was told I had been warned via PM but wasn't, and was put on a three day ban.
I seriously don't know what happened to this website. No doubt this discussion will be locked as well before long.

Dude, wasn't that a long time ago?  Wasn't that done by a now banned mod?  I may be remembering this wrong, but didn't you just get a mod-preview treatment, or was that on top of being kicked out for 3 days?  I am not locking this, but I locked that dumbass +1 thread that ended up only having about 3-4 people involved that didn't even change their avatars.  Go whine to Al, I am sure he'll unlock it for your pleasure to expand his database with more nonsense.  You're not the one paying for the server fees, so who cares, right?

Wasn't that long ago, and no it was not done by a mod who'd gotten banned. I was banned for pointing out that said mod was being power trippy, and putting a link to a ten second Star Wars scene in my status update. As far as the "dumbass" thread, a warning could have been issued instead, but you know that. That tone you're taking shows you're not going to listen and will do what you want anyway.
And my apologies to Al for the extra dough he has to spend for what you consider nonsense. I used to gladly shell out the $$ to be a subscriber to help out with those costs, but I don't anymore. Stuff like this happening is a huge reason why.

[CPUWIZ]

Cheap shot, since you know exactly what I am talking about and I have no idea who it was then, I thought it was Chickybaby, who disciplined you.  Maybe you should respond with a 1MB Shatner picture attachment now?  They don't add up, it all just magically gets stored in the cloud and it's FREEEEEE!

[jetset]

CPUWIZ, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:24 AM, said:

Cheap shot, since you know exactly what I am talking about and I have no idea who it was then, I thought it was Chickybaby, who disciplined you.  Maybe you should respond with a 1MB Shatner picture attachment now?  They don't add up, it all just magically gets stored in the cloud and it's FREEEEEE!

I didn't mean for it to be a cheap shot. Not my m.o.  I've always thought of you as one of the "good guys", but can you not see how intense you're getting?

[CPUWIZ]

Sure, I can see how intense I get sometimes, but do you see how many tool-bags are around these days, that don't have any tools in them?  And I am not even talking about just AA, just look around you, are you scared yet, or just buying more guns?

[SoulBlazer]

CPUWIZ, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:54 AM, said:

jetset, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:45 AM, said:

I would mention the fact that there is some serious power tripping going on, but last time I did that I was put on double secret probation. I was told I had been warned via PM but wasn't, and was put on a three day ban.
I seriously don't know what happened to this website. No doubt this discussion will be locked as well before long.

Dude, wasn't that a long time ago? Wasn't that done by a now banned mod? I may be remembering this wrong, but didn't you just get a mod-preview treatment, or was that on top of being kicked out for 3 days? I am not locking this, but I locked that dumbass +1 thread that ended up only having about 3-4 people involved that didn't even change their avatars. Go whine to Al, I am sure he'll unlock it for your pleasure to expand his database with more nonsense. You're not the one paying for the server fees, so who cares, right?

Like I said, CPUWIZ, I can understand that one thread being locked -- but what about the other three?

[Emehr]

There's a fine line between harmless fun and inanity.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Guys, seriously?

This is AtariAge, not "Twenty Seven pages of nothing but pictures of William Shatner-Age". Nor is it "Eighty-seven pages of basically only 4 people posting the same crap over and over-Age". I don't mean any offense, but this website isn't Facebook. It isn't Twitter, and it isn't 4chan or some other inane garbage. There does come a point when certain things go past the pale and turn into nonsense that really only takes up server space. One of the points of being moderators is to basically be janitors and clean up material that does exactly that -- uselessly utilizes bandwidth. We're pretty lenient about it, to be frank, and generally allow most everything to go unnoticed or unlocked. But certain threads get to the point where they're doing our community a disservice.

I'm going to go off on my own whine here, and it's personal, not as a mod -- remember when we actually used to talk about Atari? Those days have been gone for a while, actually, and the website has frankly, in my opinion, started to get filled with junk threads. As a mod, 99.9% of the time I ignore them, as users have the right to post what they want provided it's within the guidelines of the AtariAge rules, but there does come a point when things start to go beyond the scope of "conversation" and into the realm of "waste of server space".

That's why those threads got locked. I locked the others because as was brought to my attention, it's pointless to lock only one if the others remain. It was a measure to remain consistent, so I removed the other 2 or 3 threads that were basically the same thing, just with a different subject line. If the "avatar" thread needed to go, the "signature" thread needed to go too, because it was essentially the same thing, only not as large, and the "my new life" thread was seriously nothing more than 27 pages of William Shatner, so it falls under the same scrutiny. At least we're being consistent in it instead of picking on one single thread.

[SoulBlazer]

Cebus, I can understand where you're coming from, but please look at it from my point of view -- when a few threads which I have taken part in and are basicaly harmless fun suddenly and without warning get locked all within the span of a few hours from each other, while two OTHER +1 fest threads are allowed to stay open.....you can see how that looks very suspecious.

It just doesn't seem like it's being applied fairly, and a warning post in the thread -- heck, ANY explanation in the thread -- would be awsome next time so we're not all wondering what happened.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Understood and taken to note. I have to say I do agree that a simple post prior to locking would have alleviated the situation significantly, especially with users such as you, who simply posted in said threads maybe once or twice. It's always easier to explain immediately and make a decision than to have to back-pedal when questions are asked, albeit in a simple manner such as a thread like this one, and communication would certainly have helped the situation. We'll be a bit more informative in the future, and I honestly do thank you for that feedback and explanation, it makes more sense to me now.

[the.golden.ax]

...keeping out of it.



~William Wallace

[jetset]

Cebus Capucinis, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:25 AM, said:

Since it's already out there (and honestly, God knows why it's out there, as it's completely unnecessary and frankly rude), I'm the one that three-day banned jetset. This thread is not the "let's bring up personal beefs in a conversation that has nothing to do with it" thread, and I find it funny that you're saying that "cheap shots" isn't your "m.o." That was a pretty cheap shot, dude. Bringing that into a thread that has absolutely NOTHING to do with it, and essentially publicly calling me out ONCE AGAIN? You can't say that's not a cheap shot. You got a beef with me, take it up with Al, plain and simple. Don't shit-post in a thread that's about something entirely different just because you can't get over yourself. You want a warning? You get one. Bring that up again and you're on permanent mod preview, I'm not tolerating that crap a SECOND time -- or, to be honest, if we want to keep count, I believe this is FOUR times now. Get over it, move on, it's not like I'm sending you harassing e-mails and watching from your bushes or something.

I don't recall naming anyone. In fact, I specifically did NOT mention names to ANYONE. So, go ahead and threaten, but whether or not you choose to believe it, I've kept this civil and private whereas you have decided not to.

[Cebus Capucinis]

jetset, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:01 AM, said:

Cebus Capucinis, on Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:25 AM, said:

Since it's already out there (and honestly, God knows why it's out there, as it's completely unnecessary and frankly rude), I'm the one that three-day banned jetset. This thread is not the "let's bring up personal beefs in a conversation that has nothing to do with it" thread, and I find it funny that you're saying that "cheap shots" isn't your "m.o." That was a pretty cheap shot, dude. Bringing that into a thread that has absolutely NOTHING to do with it, and essentially publicly calling me out ONCE AGAIN? You can't say that's not a cheap shot. You got a beef with me, take it up with Al, plain and simple. Don't shit-post in a thread that's about something entirely different just because you can't get over yourself. You want a warning? You get one. Bring that up again and you're on permanent mod preview, I'm not tolerating that crap a SECOND time -- or, to be honest, if we want to keep count, I believe this is FOUR times now. Get over it, move on, it's not like I'm sending you harassing e-mails and watching from your bushes or something.

I don't recall naming anyone. In fact, I specifically did NOT mention names to ANYONE. So, go ahead and threaten, but whether or not you choose to believe it, I've kept this civil and private whereas you have decided not to.

Posting in a public thread viewable by every member of AtariAge is keeping it "private"? Huh? That logic makes no sense whatsoever.

[jetset]

I don't suppose asking where Cebus' profanity laced rant and attack on me or my civilized reply asking where I called him out will make the cut. Nice.

[Emehr]

This is silly. C'mon guys, they weren't exactly the best "fun" threads we've had around here. Are they seriously going to be missed? They were about as vapid as someone posting "I farted" over and over and over again. I'd like to think our collective version of fun is more cerebral than that. Let's move on.

[Cebus Capucinis]

There you go, jetset -- it's back. Whatever makes you happy. I see a single swear word in that post, so I think saying it's "profanity-laced" is going a bit far there. No offense. However, since you were warned and specifically told that continuing would put you on mod preview, and still continue to argue, you are now on indefinite mod preview.

[Chuck D. Head]

Thanks for the explanation. If we are not saying that fun, off-topic threads are disallowed altogether, I am fine as long as an explanation is given when one is locked. Server space is not infinite; got it. Some of these were fun and popular threads at one time, they are not currently.

As a side note, this IS Facebook to me and these are the people I would like to have vapid off-topic interactions with, so I guess I will first put my money where my mouth is, and subscribe, so I am not such a drain on resources. As a side note to the side note, when a thread I am actively involved in gets locked, I feel I am being told that I did something wrong and being punished. If you dont explain it, I feel I am being punished and my punisher has no interest in helping me avoid future punishment. I think an explanatory post before locking would go a long way towards people understanding how Al wants the forum to be run.

Also, I do not agree that you have to "be fair" and lock all silly time-wasting threads if you are locking one. It's called judgement and it's not a bad word. If you are in a leadership position (like a mod) you better be able to grow a set and have judgement skills, or you will wind up like the stereotypical high-school principle suspending a kid because they drew a picture of a gun and that violates the "zero tolerance" policy.

Edited by Chuck D. Head, Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:34 PM.

[jaybird3rd]

I like frivolous fun-loving threads as much as anyone, within certain limits; I've participated in a few of them myself.  But in the case of the locked threads, I frankly think it was past time for them to go, so I'm in agreement with the decision to lock them.

We members have to remember that, in order for the community to cohere, it has to be prevented from branching out into directions which have nothing to do with its original purpose, or which are likely to create friction (hence the blanket prohibition against political and religious discussion).  The mods are the ones who have to decide on a case by case basis if those lines have been crossed, in addition to everything else they do, and they're not getting paid for any of it.  Again, I'm not against anyone amusing themselves, but if it's being done at someone else's expense (which is what happens when a thread turns into a free-for-all), it's only appropriate for Albert and the mods to take steps.  In the end, this is their house, not ours.  It's better to see a few out-of-control threads put down than to see the entire site begin to degenerate.

[Liduario]

It's very hard to make rules to the general talk, so we really need Moderators to judge.

Yes I was a bit upset when CPUWIZ closed the Amoeba Forum but he left some explanation and that's really important.
But IMHO I think he closed that thread too early.

On the other side, even posting in the 2 avatars thread one time for each thread, I agree they went too long.

At the end I can sumarize my opinion that way: Any talk that isn't against the forum rules are welcome in general talk if it makes people happy somewhat.
But, since we have server's limit and we want to make things somewhat linked to gaming here, Moderators should post in long wasting threads some warning advice and locking the thread when it becomes a disservice.

Maybe something beyond 5 pages could be a good limit. After that Moderators could check if the thread is going on with the same thing on and on or if only a few of us is taking benefit of that thread.
This 5 pages (or another) limit is to prevent locking threads that could enjoy some people for a reasonable time.
---
That's it. No more editing from me. I only clicked too early and posted before I'm done

[Liduario]

Oh, my bad. CPUWIZ didn't close the Amoeba Thread, it was Tempest. As you see I don't keep things personally. That was Tempest decision as a Moderator and I'm fine with it.