OTS and Spamming
 

Right guys.. I'm going to make this simple for you all to understand.

There are far too many members who think the OT sections are for posting any old crap, this is generally ok, but the next member to report a post in the OT sections on a ridiculous basis (Shoonay, Keropi I'm looking at you two) will find themselves with a ban!

The OT sections are going to be changed hopefully and the amount of freedom to post any old ridiculous shit removed (yes this mean off-topic stupidity will go). EAB has become over-polluted with it and I for one have had enough!

This is not for discussion, it is simply a public warning to you all!

just an update I posted in a moderator only section that we think should be made public..

I've also opened this thread to allow you all to discuss it properly and like adults.. Anyone flaming, going off-topic, ranting or just being an idiot will cause me to close this thread.

I know. It was a metaphore (and TCD's words btw)
I was talkin about the not convincing argument that the action was taken to prevent worthy threads being spammed with "ghey", not reffering to where the action took place.

Sensi just mentioned interesting issue - grouping up against somebody (like in school)... It happens alot in OT ( and nobodys innocent here) - its always very funny until the wolfpack forms against you :)

Alright, there are two major points of discussion here.

• Justification/explanation of the OTS carpet spamming:
  
  Since some people don't seem to get that, it was not meant to be funny. All it was, was a wake up call and/or giving people a taste of what their own activities look like to some. Since we're on the subject of hypocrisy, if you're in favor of "anything goes in OTS", then you can hardly complain about this, "just because you don't like it".

• The purpose/current state of OT:
  
  I do believe that off-topic sections are a great and important part of every message board. It gives people with common interests a chance to chat about things unrelated to the main forum, which is nice because there's already some basic rapport between them.
  
  However, what we have here, in OTS, is an entirely different situation. It's a few people spamming away meaningless "content" that has nothing to do with this rapport. There are places for stuff like this, why not go there? This is a message board, not a country. You can visit more than one. Going somewhere else for this does not mean uprooting your family and leaving your home, it just means typing a different URL. Just because there is some (very small) overlap between users interested in the Amiga and related subjects and users interested in the content commonly found in OT these days, that doesn't mean the latter belongs on EAB.
  
  Can anyone seriously give me any good (!) reason for the few people who are interested in this stuff not to just take it elsewhere? There are big places (you know what and where they are), full of people who are into this stuff, so why not go there and share it with them instead?

Listen guys, there's disagreement and disagreement.
it's also my opinion that things could have been done better than they were carelessly carried out in the last couple of days.

there's no call though to start treating this discussion like a process about who did what and when: the center of the discussion is that this is a board, so a place where people talk. consider it like a pub, where you chat with your friends.

nobody of said friends is probably interested in judging other friends discussions, and if so, i spent the evening yesterday typing it, he should prolly draw some breath.

what's important is that in this pub you come for having a good time.

i believe that BippyM here states fairly a middle ground that is worthy for all to consider.

i believe, as i said in the other thread, that OT is everybody's: if many people is disaffected with the threads there, i hope they will post what they like, and i'm pretty confident they will not be bashed by immature spam, as i have never been.

just for the record, i believe that your first statement and the second are in contradiction, and this is the knot we are discussing here: you say OT is important but you would see it having a different content, suiting your taste. this is impossible.
btw, curious that your signature states that security is mortals' chiefest enemy

Yes BippyM does.

And if I go to a pub, and there are a group of loud people in the corner, spouting lude, base material for all to see/hear, when I go to the landlord and say "excuse me, those people are ruining my enjoyment" I don't expect him to just ignore it.

The people in the pub went into the pub for the very reason the pub exists, because it's a pub. Not to start enjoying it for something completely different.

I have been, so I havent posted there in a long time, other members have also said the same, not involved with the spud incident. Certain members want to keep it to themselves and exclude everyone else that doesnt think the same way. This clique was all about exclusion, superiority and anybody who went against them got spammed into oblivion. So a few did for one day what these same people did for over a year, even after it was brought to their attention not everyone liked it. And the results speak for themselves, they really didnt like it. There was toys being thrown out of prams left right and center. Retaliatory spam and reporting of posts.

Now you know how the rest of us feel. If we all cant co-exist there, shut OTS down. imo...

On the matter of the rest of OT, I would love to be able to say happy birthday to my forum chums without the mindless repetitive drivel every single time. Some say humour is subjective, I actually thought the potato spam was hilarious, who are you to tell me my sense of humour is wrong? At least we kept it in OTS.

Marco you can keep repeating the same points over and over, I just dont agree with you sorry.

You are the one who keeps going on about "my taste", but that's not what it is about. It's about content that's meaningful (to more than 5 EAB users; and don't you dare take that number literally) and much more importantly not disruptive to the OT section and/or EAB as a whole. This isn't about "taste", this is about the OT section being completely unusable.

To get back on track, and to stick with the pub analogy: Say I have 5 friends, we all go to the same pub regularly, but we also happen to like playing paint ball. By the logic by which OT(S) is used these days, we should be allowed to play paint ball in the pub, and since it has no explicit rule against that, nobody should complain.

A pub is for meeting, drinking, and talking. And yes, playing cards (which is general OT in this analogy) is perfectly fine. But playing paint ball (which is a disruptive activity) is not. Whether I like playing cards or not, it doesn't matter to me whether other people are playing cards in the pub, but it certainly does matter to me when I get paint on my jacket all the time. And what's a new guest going to think when they walk in and are hit by a paint ball?

So why not just take the paint ball to the paint ball course? And if you feel like playing cards (or drinking, or talking), by all means come to the pub afterwards.

Ok I have deleted all posts referring to kyon.. Keep on topic please

God damn it! Is this still being debated :rolleyes

OT is a good place to be, when the main board is quiet I generally land in OT. Most threads/posts are actually contained in OTS, so really I end up there. If someone wants to discuss something that deserves sensibility, then that's what should happen. I have very rarely, in the last 11 months of my time here, ever actually seen anything started in any other side of OT.

Maybe I landed at the wrong time, when people had decided to leave OT for certain reasons. I, however, joined into something that came across as being normal (for OT), thus I know no different :(

This whole saga has made me quite sad :sad Fun for one man is not necessarily fun for another, I agree, but we don't jump down each others throats regarding it and that's what has happened here. If you don't like what's being posted then don't post anything in that particular thread but start a new thread which suits your needs and others. I do, however, agree that some stuff was quite OTT and tended to filter outwards into other OT threads, this said, imho should not of happened and a gentle reminder to those responsible could of prevented this outrageous mess.

The pub storey is quite true, only in a pub though, voices *can* be heard and OTS can only be *read* which makes it easier to ignore, so long as it does not over offend any particular member/s.

OTS = fun for all and members should not discriminate others within the OT section nor should they spam one threads stupidity into others. Age has a difference too, my humour can be quite different to a member in there 20's, but I'm not going to condemn that person because of it, nor clash with personalities either.

I will not fall out with anybody here, that is my decision. I am deeply saddened by everything that has gone on these last 24hrs+ and the continuation of this subject, imho, is angering me to the point where I no longer feel I have the need to continue my time here.

You all are a great bunch of guys/girls, don't fall out over silly, stupid and non nonsensical threads, it's not worth it.

That would be a fair point if it wasn't for the sheer volume of let's say not-so-sensible content. It's nearly impossible to ignore this stuff without ignoring OT altogether. Cleaning up OT doesn't mean exclusion, it means inclusion.

While I kind of agree with you DH I have to say that the OTS section is just far to over-polluted with crap. It's also seen as an area where we can flame other members in a joking fashion, or express dislike to moderation in a similar vein.

The section also spills out into ALL other area's of the forum not just the OT sections.

I have also stated that moderating these posts is time consuming, and to be honest extremely boring, repetitive and annoying to say the least. I don't think any of the GMs like moderating and wading through so much kak!

I'm not saying we need to remove all the OT fun from the forums but come on... Guys go open another forum where you can meet and abuse each other!

Ok eLowar, you win due to the fact of the overwhelming quantity of OTS threads which have actually slackened off in the last couple of months. I still say I joined at the wrong time, I'm still waiting for some more sensible threads in other parts of OT (Except for Movies as this was established before I joined), 11 months is a long time to wait you know ;)

my last post here: this discussion is needless imo, those who spammed the most left the board (keropi), wont post anymore, only visit (me) or gonna have break (Shoonay) so there will be no more ghey, childish, cat s..t etc posts and replies in the future

Well maybe there will be more interesting and relevant OT posts once the stupidity has calmed down.

same for me :( sometimes ots was very harrashment :(

@Bippy
Why not ask someone to be a moderator just for the OT section? It could help to calm the storm.

DH are you offering?

I propose this Social Group to be canceled, as its obvious purpose is to encourage people to make provocative & annoying posts in OTS.

You have my vote guys with any new policies & restrictions that would make the place more open to newcomers. If it goes as far as removing the whole OTS section, well, so be it.

Also, when/if I report a post, I want to be notified of the possible (fair) consequences of that, aka I should not have to bother with such bs statements as "OTS will always remain what it is" "you're presumably too easily offended/too serious".

To me, the reporting of any of the potato post makes some sense, even if I myself didn't consider it was necessary to do so. And what's the purpose of that telling seasoned OTS members to go post elsewhere ? Who the f..k do you think you are ? Zetro is right on that one.

It can take some time and effort to try to be funny so instead of showing your discontent to some OTS jokes with such lack of consideration, why not use your brain to raise the bar by balancing ghey jokes with ones aimed at straight people, lol cat pictures with lol dog ones, and so on.

As much as I dislike the way half of the OTS threads were build up, I think it's all too easy to pick up a few members and accuse them of everything going wrong in OT for monthes.

Finally, too much moderation kills fair moderation, INMHO all these people with a mod status rushing in OTS lately should be ashamed of themselves; and if it was my forum, they would be temporary denied of perpetuating further similar "countermeasures" (when you hear the "when green turns to blue" chorus :nervous it will be too late :o , to make a good word out of a Rolling Stones song).