Bizzaro Lounge? Never again

[krimhorn]

WhiteKnight[/url]":1unl3olj]

The "funny" was that the camera on a cooking show was tracking her boobs. You couldn't even see the food (or her face). Hence the "still can't cook", which wasn't Sp@nky "quipping", but him mentioning the name of the thing as he found it.

Does it remain funny when it gets pointed out that was the result of the gif creator's cropping of the video?

 

[JamesW]

dracusoara[/url]":z1phha9e]The graffiti on the picture makes fun of the rather absurd visual on a dating ad. That's not sexist or objectifying.

Yet photoshopping paedobear on an unintentionally dubious image is verboten.

 

[GopherMobile]

I'd be a lot less annoyed by the PC moderation of the Lounge if it didn't seem like overall posting volume was going down there so much. That goes back to what I was mentioning that maybe there's not much to be done for a paywalled forum and trying to increase membership with all the other online alternatives today.

It reminds me of this old story of the guy that busted into his neighbor's apartment, sword in hand, thinking he was going to rescue the damsel in distress. Only the damsell turns out to be a porn video. I know moderating the sexism out is the "right" thing to do, but it seems like a pyrrhic victory as I don't think there's going to be some big influx of women onto the board because of its squeaky clean environment. We just end up with a squeaky clean, no-character environment.

Anyhow, I'm just venting my geek angst, sounds like Ars' position is clear. I just wish there was more activity in those forums!

 

[ScruffyNerf]

GopherMobile[/url]":50mqngqd]I'd be a lot less annoyed by the PC moderation of the Lounge if it didn't seem like overall posting volume was going down there so much. That goes back to what I was mentioning that maybe there's not much to be done for a paywalled forum and trying to increase membership with all the other online alternatives today.

It reminds me of this old story of the guy that busted into his neighbor's apartment, sword in hand, thinking he was going to rescue the damsel in distress. Only the damsell turns out to be a porn video. I know moderating the sexism out is the "right" thing to do, but it seems like a pyrrhic victory as I don't think there's going to be some big influx of women onto the board because of its squeaky clean environment. We just end up with a squeaky clean, no-character environment.

Anyhow, I'm just venting my geek angst, sounds like Ars' position is clear. I just wish there was more activity in those forums!

People were leaving the forums well before the crackdown on rape jokes. The two are not conflated. And, I don't believe that this is the thread to re-hash the same drivel that happened in the last two threads on this.

I still contend that the bigger issue facing forums activity there is that it is behind a paywall. A low paywall, granted, but a paywall none the less.

I'd be curious as to how much activity went up in the Soapbox since that forum was moved out of the paywall.

 

[Beef Supreme]

ScruffyNerf[/url]":yfyfasvt]

People were leaving the forums well before the crackdown on rape jokes. The two are not conflated. And, I don't believe that this is the thread to re-hash the same drivel that happened in the last two threads on this.

I still contend that the bigger issue facing forums activity there is that it is behind a paywall. A low paywall, granted, but a paywall none the less.

I'd be curious as to how much activity went up in the Soapbox since that forum was moved out of the paywall.

I'm not saying that having a rapey place is going to drive more traffic (because it won't), but when a forum dries up to being not much more than perpetual TV/cooking/car/weapon threads and a thread of kitten pictures, is that really going to be a motivation for people to open their wallets?

I know I have already said that a new open/bizarro lounge isn't a good idea due to the new assertive moderation, but maybe it would, just to wake up the community here because the lounge is just getting boring. I actually read the SB more than the lounge now, simply because it's simply more interesting than the lounge. The topics are more interesting, the opinions are more interesting, and the _personalities_ are far more interesting. If this keeps up, I may end up going to the Battlefront more as well, and that is a scary proposition.

edit: Just did a rough tally of the first page of the lounge.
37 non-stickied, non-moved topics.
8 threads have "Perpetual" in them.
5 more perpetual threads that don't have perpetual in them. (IE: musings, netflix threads)
A handful of annual threads (2014 Tax, NFL, comic con)

I just thought the ratio was rather high and thought it was worth sharing.

I think it may just be a case of the regulars here both getting old and less interesting. Or maybe I am just becoming one of those people for whom forums are just not an effective medium for socializing any longer. Good for information and reasonable for non-real time public debates, but grossly inadequate to me for what the lounge has become. It's like that pub that you never really have a good time at anymore, but you still go because you know that the same people are going to be there, whether you like them or not.

 

[Aurich]

The Lounge is down because of Twitter/Google+/Facebook/Tumblr/whatever. It's just not hard like it used to be to communicate with likeminded geeks. I still maintain that forums are cooler than all of those, the community is just better, but that's just reality. It's not 2001 anymore.

I'm not saying "hey, let's roll over and die!", but don't conflate those facts with the recent "crackdown" which really hasn't happened.

 

[DarkReality]

Aurich[/url]":3q8oxaqq]The Lounge is down because of Twitter/Google+/Facebook/Tumblr/whatever. It's just not hard like it used to be to communicate with likeminded geeks. I still maintain that forums are cooler than all of those, the community is just better, but that's just reality. It's not 2001 anymore.

I'm not saying "hey, let's roll over and die!", but don't conflate those facts with the recent "crackdown" which really hasn't happened.

I have always felt, and still do, that forums are cooler than social networks. However, I've never believed in paying for forum use. There's no justification. Google+ is a great way to connect with, not only like-minded geeks, but geeks who have and use the same gear. I gain nothing from an Android vs iOS debate, and neither does the iOS user. We just spin our wheels and accomplish nothing. But you join an Android community, you can learn so much from these guys, and newbies can learn from you. It's a good thing.

One thing social networks are really driving is real names. I've been Dark Reality since 1992, and I know some of these cats around here are older. I still use the name, but when I got on MySpace, and then Facebook, and now G+, I use my real name. While real names are an option on forums, they're generally not used, and because people hide behind usernames, they act up.

Forums have a place in the modern age, but all those networks you mentioned? They have apps that make them easy to use on mobile devices. There is an app for forums, and I know well your position on it, but forums that support it have a place alongside social networks on mobile devices. In fact, if you are active on multiple forums that support said app, you can check your participated topics in all of them very quickly, and take actions as necessary. It makes the things that make forums different from the social networks, accessible on a mobile device. And that's really the only thing pushing forums out, if they're being pushed out at all (I don't think so). The idea that, okay, I want to write this well-thought-out, grammatically and punctuation perfect reply, but I have to wait to get to a computer because the forum doesn't render well on a small screen.

As for the 'crackdown,' you make a decision you think is right, and you're a dictator to everyone who disagrees with it. That's just how it goes. You can't please everyone. I tried, with a much smaller group. I failed.

 

[alohadave]

and because people hide behind usernames, they act up.

No, assholes act up. Normal people act normal. If facebook has proven anything, people who are troublemakers are not concerned with people knowing that they are assholes.

 

[DarkReality]

alohadave[/url]":1rfqfxfi]

and because people hide behind usernames, they act up.

No, assholes act up. Normal people act normal. If facebook has proven anything, people who are troublemakers are not concerned with people knowing that they are assholes.

I don't think you're wrong, but my experience has shown me that people are far bolder behind a mask of partial, or in my case perceived (Google will get you my real name, since I've been using the DR handle so long), anonymity. It's like the quote about a man who will lie, but behind a mask he will tell you the truth. People definitely let their asses show on Facebook, even with their real name, but I think there's something to be said about putting your real name on something. Makes it more genuine. And by reciprocation, the web handle less genuine, if only a little.

 

[Aurich]

People are also sometimes a lot more open an honest when they don't use their real name, cuts both ways.

Shrug, since I post under my real name at Ars.

 

[ShuggyCoUk]

Shrug, since I post under my real name at Ars.

I assumed it was professing your love for Lower Saxony. Or your parents were evil[1].

1. Or creative, but that's practically a synonym

 

[DarkReality]

Aurich[/url]":3l8h14q6]People are also sometimes a lot more open an honest when they don't use their real name, cuts both ways.

Open and honest yes, and more forthcoming with their prejudices and flaws, which is what I was driving at. Implying that if we were all using our real names, first and last, like we do (or are supposed to do) on Facebook and G+, we would be more reserved with controversial opinions, and more civil to one another, as if fearing reprisal somehow.

Aurich[/url]":3l8h14q6]Shrug, since I post under my real name at Ars.

Then your parents were more creative than mine. (I like names that are farther down the list of Top Boys'/Girls' names. Especially if they sound foreign or exotic.) I imagine you got teased for it, but it's a cool name.