How to "save" the forums

I just posted this in another thread, but I figured I'd post it here for whatever reason.

If you want the forums to consist of higher-quality discussion, make higher-quality discussion in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more friendly and less hostile, be more friendly and less hostile in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more positive, don't focus on negative things in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more topical, be more topical in your posts.

If you want the forums to be a haven for elitist snobs who look down on anyone who thinks Metal Slug 2's Japanese insert actually looks better than its US insert, or who ream newbies for asking beginner questions, then act accordingly. But you'll be helping kill off the forums if you do.

I shall post my reply again:

I completely agree.

Members, new and old, can make the site what they want it to be by posting what they want to discuss. It's always been that way, but people sometimes forget.

If you like spamming, we have the War Room (only).

If you like stuff that isn't gaming, we got Unrelated.

Then we have plenty-o-gaming forums.

Nothing's changed.

[edit: I also agree with putting save in quotes. What needs saving? I still don't see much of a difference over the years]

The site's been the same for years now. i should know, I've been here for years.

All of my favourite guys still post. You know who you are.

I agree, ASP. Good post. We can't just tell people to make more quality posts - we have to lead by example.

Personally, I think we should make a forum called: "Your first crush" and it's dedicated to every member's youthful teen crushes.

Mine?

Cherish Plante- Brethren Christian Jr. High School, La Mirada, CA. 1987

She was a half Mexican, half French little thing with a gorgeous face. Didn't notice me in the least.

neobuyer said:

Personally, I think we should make a forum called: "Your first crush" and it's dedicated to every member's youthful teen crushes.

Mine?

Cherish Plante- Brethren Christian Jr. High School, La Mirada, CA. 1987

She was a half Mexican, half French little thing with a gorgeous face. Didn't notice me in the least.

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Mine was a goth chick named Natalie Stone in middle school. We hung alot at school, but I was too shy to ever tell her I liked her.

Rade Kuruc said:

The site's been the same for years now. i should know, I've been here for years.

All of my favourite guys still post. You know who you are.

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Well, change never hurt anyone, as a matter of fact, I think it will help this site more than anything.

The domain neo-geo.com is very reputable, and the first place people are going to look in to see the quality of this site is in the forums. When they see nothing but spam (and believe me, it's prevalent over relevant information), most people are repulsed and refuse to take part in these forums. The forums can be saved...and if it means boycotting the spammers, then so be it. Creat a more user-friendly environment, and you will get new people to join which will be ten times more productive to the site and even business transactions as well. Here are some suggestions which I can add to EX_Andy's list which I believe can really help the site/forums out. EX_Andy did a fantastic job outlining what the members need to do, here are some suggestions on what the moderators and administration can do:

Appearance - Lets face it, if a site is not visually appealing, it won't bring in the audience. You guys have excellent similies and great avatars and what not, but the actual look of the forum should be changed, if the black is what people like, then that's fine, at least though give it a bit of life with some gradiencies and what not, or better yet, offer a couple of skins and let the user choose which ever one they want. This is vBulletin, not a free forum, so the possibilities are endless.

Rules - I know there was a lot of controversy with this one, but there really should be some common rules set in stone, something for existing members and newcomers to abide by. At least this way the boundaries are drawn and it will be easier to pick out the bad seeds.

Mod Hierarchy - This should have been done a long time ago, have each category or each board certain mods assigned to them and keep it fixed. I see in the contact section the moderators are outlined somewhat but this should also apply to the actual permissions they get on the forums themselves...

Mod Interaction - This is a big one. Before making any major decisions, or even minor decisions, moderators should consult each other and consider the possibilities of any action they wish to take (unless its obvious common sense, and that's where the rules part comes in), and discuss the consequences of the actions and see if the goods outweigh the bads in short-term and long-term perspective.

these are some things that just popped into my head, I'll add more when I wake up tomorrow.

First crush.

Olivia Morgan (different last name now according to teh interweb since apparently she married some douche). Stratford High School 1991-95.

I had crushes before her, but they don't even count. If she came up to me tomorrow and demanded I leave my wife for her, it would be done...

EX_Andy said:

I just posted this in another thread, but I figured I'd post it here for whatever reason.

If you want the forums to consist of higher-quality discussion, make higher-quality discussion in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more friendly and less hostile, be more friendly and less hostile in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more positive, don't focus on negative things in your posts.

If you want the forums to be more topical, be more topical in your posts.

If you want the forums to be a haven for elitist snobs who look down on anyone who thinks Metal Slug 2's Japanese insert actually looks better than its US insert, or who ream newbies for asking beginner questions, then act accordingly. But you'll be helping kill off the forums if you do.

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A nice post that makes a lot of sense, but it will never happen (as proven by most of the replies in this thread about first crushes.)

my first crush was on a girl named Bahar back when I was 4. Unfortunately, toddlers are like rockstars, and don't have last names. At least, last names aren't important. I have no clue what happened to her.

Average Joe said:

A nice post that makes a lot of sense, but it will never happen (as proven by most of the replies in this thread about first crushes.)

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That's just how things go here. The thread's topic is really just a starting point for a converation that the thread becomes. Really no different than when you have a conversation with anyone. You start off bitching about traffic, 3 minutes later you're talking about baseball or what not.

Despite the high spam of the forum, overall I'd say there's no major problems here. Most threads about gameplay, tech help and matter of the sort stay on track pretty good on their own. Political threads or threads about touchy subjects are a given to go bad soon.

Abasuto said:

That's just how things go here.

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I've been hanging out at this place since like '01.

I know how it is and how it will always be.

Never said it was a bad thing, just that trying to change it would be a tireless and pointless effort.

I may not spam it up like I used to (well... I do when I'm at work -- like now), but that doesn't mean I still don't enjoy all the crazy shit that goes on here, because I do.

You're all fucking insane.

And I love [most of] you all.

wasabi said:

my first crush was on a girl named Bahar back when I was 4. Unfortunately, toddlers are like rockstars, and don't have last names. At least, last names aren't important. I have no clue what happened to her.

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Kidnapped, cut up, and thrown in the river encased in cement.

Nesagwa said:

Kidnapped, cut up, and thrown in the river encased in cement.

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I don't like here your direction, but not FTL; so you don't need not fool my first crush.

wasabi said:

I don't like here your direction, but not FTL; so you don't need not fool my first crush.

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I cant read that.

I DO think there's a change of pace on ng.com, and it's due to the site getting a broader user base. In the old days, I'd say two third of all members had a Neo (compared to the estimated 30-ish % of today) and came here to talk nothing but Neo, but now even those who spoke up against non-related forums can be seen reading and posting in the new Arcade and Shmups forums because there's plenty of good info and discussions in them.

Of course this also attracts ppl with a radically different gaming background, which seemed to be the reason for some petty fights because ppl didn't know (and didn't care for) what makes the other guy tick.

Other than that, I agree, if you want good threads, start good threads, as simple as that.