Introducing the Insanity Ward!

The object of the forum is to separate the "lulz" from the "srs business". This forum is a trial, if people are unable to follow the very few rules contained within, or if it dies, it will be closed.

Anything silly, stupid, or "contentless" should be posted in the new forum. Stuff like:

1. Spam threads
2. Silly image threads
3. Weird articles.
4. Most youtube videos >.>
etc.

I will be moving some threads there to populate it. Enjoy!

This encompasses like 95% of my threads <_<

I thought we had FoJ etc. for this

I thought we had Massassi for this.

Haha, exactly

Shhh!!! They aren't supposed to know!

(That place gets like 2 posts a year now)



We're just trying to make it easier for people to find the serious business or the lulz, depending on what they are looking for. We're not trying to get rid of any content at all, or change the way you guys post, just make it a bit more organized.

Drunk posts go there yes? You need to make massassi require blowing in the breathalyzer in order to post, and posts that are being written with more than 0,5 permille of alcohol in your blood, go to that forum.

This is a dumb idea

How exactly does "weird articles" go into that forum? Sometimes said articles get some real discussion.

And secondly, it seems alot of these "insanity ward" threads aren't that different than what constitutes as a "normal" thread. In case of Massassi now, it's really a thin, thin line.

I think you should switch the Discussion and Insanity Forums so I could get to freakazoid stuff with just 2 clicks kthx

This

(Posts here do not contribute towards post count)

people here still care about their post count?

And what's wrong with "Post your---" threads?

And why is the Camhoez and NAME THAT GAME in there too?

I don't like this idea. I was assuming that Insanity Ward was for absolute crap or something. Why are valid threads in there too? Seems like a way to segment an already small forum.

Weird, meaning stuff that's likely not to produce serious discussion.

And secondly, I disagree completely. I think the line is pretty clear, based on the examples I produced above.




Who said there was anything wrong with them?

tbh this site seems really over-moderated for one with such a small userbase. having modded the Gmod forums for a while now it makes sense to come down hard when your userbase is thousands upon thousands of 14 year olds, because it's impossible to have a serious discussion otherwise.

but this board is the equivalent of a bunch of friends hanging out and the average age is pretty high, so stuff like this and the antiquated swearing rules seems unnecessary.

I've seen a lot of smallish forums where the mods try to moderate lightly and certain people blow them off, so they feel like their authority is threatened and come down harder and harder, provoking more and more people to complain and it turns into a vicious cycle. sometimes it seems like that's happening here. insecurity is a very bad trait in moderators.

If those certain threads are "examples" of Insanity Ward material, I would say it is a thin line.

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELED,GET IT OVER IT DAMMIT

i would have said the same before that particular debacle, though

NO LIE

You're being incredibly confusing. Insanity Ward is simply another area of the forums. It's not some trash bin where everything is thrown to be forgotten about. Post Your-- threads consistently have little to no discussion in them, resulting in "contentless" posts. It's not like the staff is going to come down on you for posting something in the discussion forum that may belong in the ward, or vice versa.



This has nothing to do with moderation. The rules weren't even made stricter, if anything they are now more open. This is an organizational move. Your entire post regarding the forum is completely off-base to the purpose of the Ward.

It all comes down to this:

If it invokes serious discussion, it goes in the discussion forum. If it's not, then it goes in the Ward. How is that "coming down" on people?

The problem is that THE MASSASSI TEMPLE is, to use your word, "contentless", so this "organization move" is meaningless.

By calling it the "insanity ward" and making posts there not increase post-count, you're not making a quality judgement? Come on. If this is anything but a transparent attempt to "clean up" the discussion forum then my name is mud.

And yes, creating new forums and rules and moving threads has everything to do with moderation

It's additional regulation! Big government!

The problem is, that is an opinion that much of the other members of Massassi don't share (except, of course, the ones complaining here).



It is merely an attempt to leave the Discussion Forum as a place of... shockingly enough, discussion. Some members, not just me, believe that Massassi still contains actual serious conversation in addition to the general trend of insanity.

I could have just as easily killed off all the insanity and tightened the belt on those being ridiculous. But I recognize the popularity of such things, and as long as it remains legal and clean, I don't really mind it.

Post counts are disabled because I have loosened the rules in that area by allowing free range "contentless posting" to take place. Things that would normally be deleted or stopped, such as endless quoting, XXXSHOCK, etc, can continue unrestrained there. If I didn't, we'd have people posting for no reason other than to boost post counts (See Also: FoJ).

Then I say there isn't a real point to the Insanity Ward. If isn't a place to put meaningless posts/threads away from the regular Discussion Forum, what it's purpose? We already have the FoJ, Forum of Love, Forum of tofu sucks, etc.

What I'm getting is that you also can just randomly spam in those threads, no? So it can easily become the trash bin, yes?

Seems unnecessary, especially with such a small user base. Nothing really falls under "serious discussion" at Massassi anymore so I'm thinking its a meaningless filter.

Atleast move back Camhoez and Christmas decoration threads.

I must've missed it when you took that survey.


Or, perhaps, Thrawn is correct, and you don't like being wrong (at least we know the second half is true)

I agree. But I don't see how a silly thread is any kind of threat to a serious thread right next to it. This kind of segregation will do nothing but A) cause people to worry more about posting their thread in the wrong forum and getting in trouble and B) repress the liquidity of your average forum discussion. It's not stated outright, but given that so many of our threads can go from silly to serious and back again repeatedly, it's not unreasonable to expect this kind of behavior to develop in mods:

STOP BEING SILLY THIS IS THE DISCUSSION FORUM NOT THE INSANITY WARD IF I SEE ONE MORE IMAGE MACRO I'M GONNA BAN U


Even bringing that up (like a threat? what?) is what I was referring to in my earlier post re: moderator insecurity.


Again, does anyone here actually do that?

Yes, because the vast majority of Massassi visits those locations (not). If anything I'd prefer to close them.



Let it go. You obsess over the location of threads far too much.





I must have missed it when you needed to be a part of that survey.



Or, perhaps, you don't even know what you're talking about, as this was a staff decision, contributed by another staff member, and agreed upon by more.

It's like you people want me to make more rigorous and strict rules. It drives me crazy.

I suppose my biggest problem is that you do things under the guise of "this is right" or "this is what the people want" or "this is what's needed", instead of just saying "my ball, my rules" like a third-grader.

We do understand, however, that this is your site (Vinny's ***-kissing reminded us of that when you "someone" canceled Christmas a few weeks ago). We know it's yours and we're guests, but just be honest. If you do something, just tell us it's the way you wanted it as owner of the site, and we'll know that's the end of it. We're intelligent. We're grownups. We can handle it.


EDITt:


Wow, how petty and childish. I didn't notice that before I posted, sorry. You kinda stole my thunder.

Again with the threats!

Listen, threatening your tiny userbase comprised of people you know is NOT EFFECTIVE! It's not scary. It's not impressive. It only makes you look petty and desperate.

You mean, actual moderation on Massassi?

Honestly, moderation has been fairly relaxed seeing that no real drama often happens on the forums. And people seem to know each other well here. What wrong with just simply just closing down pointless threads? If you are going to move them in the Insanity Ward yourself, that's still moderation.

You keep saying that Insanity Ward isn't a "trash bin" or similar repository of the pointless/spam but then what is it? A different "branch" of the forums is too ambiguous, and so is "a place for contentless posting". Just say it, it's a trash bin.

No, it's passive-aggressive posts like these that makes a big deal out of something that shouldn't be.

I get constantly badgered to loosen the rules on Massassi. I hear a good suggestion from another staff member, and I run with it, thinking that this will make you all happy, because it will allow you to do more of what many of you seem to enjoy.

And what is the response? I get nothing but trash talk, insults, ridiculous psychoanalysis, and more. I'm trying to help here! I'm not creating some stupid moderator regime, I am not coming down on anyone, and I am absolutely, positively, not threatening.

For Christ's sake, it's not even permanent! If you would give it a week and see how it turns out, let the test progress, instead of wasting your time here finding ways to tick me off, you may even find it to be a good idea!



I am not doing it under any guise.

I do things on Massassi for 3 reasons:

1. It's what Brian would have wanted, OR
2. It's what the community would have wanted, OR
3. It's in the best interest of keeping Massassi going.

This specific function would fall under 2. It was suggested by a massassian, supported by massassians, and it's a simple trial run. IF it turns out not working, there is NOTHING LOST.



If I ran Massassi the way I wanted to run it, Massassi would be a very different place. Let me make that clear right now. I have made numerous concessions, and I have neglected to impose numerous rules, and loosely enforce others, because I know that is simply what I would want, and not what the community wants, or needs.

There is times, on occassion, when I do things solely out of my own right as the owner. These times are incredibly rare. This is not even one of them.



There's nothing more petty and childish than thinking you are entitled to demand things. You are not the community, you are a small, small part of it.

This is not a democracy. We have established this. I, with the staff, make executive decisions. Whether we choose to include the community in that or not is up to us. I want to allow the community to put a voice in matters here, but simply put, not everything is up for debate.

Also, many things simply do not work with a "vote". This is a perfect example. If you don't like this new forum concept, then there is a simple way to demonstrate that. Stop using one of them. If a trend develops, as a few of you insist will, then let it do so. Once it becomes apparent that Massassi doesn't need separate forums, then I will merge them back. This could be decided in days, weeks, months. This is how you vote, how you put your word in.

Frankly, it's members like you that make me question why I adopted to run Massassi in the first place. It's not like I ask much. I don't expect to be glorified as the "almighty savior of massassi". I am only one of many capable of taking over. But I can't believe that it's so hard to even ask for a little respect and dignity?

I think I've said my piece on the matter. Let the cards play themselves out.

You haven't earned respect yet. You don't get to ask for it, you have to earn it. Hosting this site and letting us all post here bumped you up a bit, but you still have to earn it. It's like getting a new boss at work - yeah, he's the boss and he makes the decisions and you have to do what he says, but he still has to earn respect.

I shouldn't have to host a website to earn respect from Massassians. No, I get chewed out for trying to keep it running instead. There's no respect to be earned here. You can't play that card.

What? I don't understand. Please rephrase.


[Also, telling me "You can't play that card" goes right along with what I said earlier - who made you in charge of the "cards"?

I'm going to cast my vote for close it down and reconsolidate under the basis of, primarily, size:

A) We've pretty much faced the fact that we're an ever-shrinking community. It's no one's fault, that's just how it goes. We're down to the point where I pretty much know something about everyone who posts here regularly. There's no point in spreading discussion out over multiple boards, making the site seem even less active.

2) Along the same lines, now it's two places for me to check instead of one.*

IV) How do you treat a thread that starts serious, gets silly for a little bit, then gets serious again? And maybe it bounces back and forth a couple of times? If you're trying to keep discussion in the discussion board, that's fine, but I can definitely see a that three groups will emerge: The people who visit both, and people who visit primarily one or the other. If a serious discussion is going on and then it gets a bit silly, sending it to the IW will essentially kill it, as the people having the serious discussion aren't likely to continue it on the IW.

This isn't a huge deal, I'm not going to throw mud or start drama or hold grudges, I just wanted to throw my voice out there and say I think it should be reverted back to the way it was.

A1i (I mean really, pick a number scheme and stick with it! :gonk:). That's the one big reason to keep it together. But I also believe that the chance to allow more free posting will encourage others to post more. If it turns out that way, then that will be the nail in the coffin for the forum, and it will be remerged.



Boo hoo?



I have no intention of strictly policing threads. And just because something goes a little silly in a discussion thread is not going to cause it to be moved. The idea is that threads that provoke serious discussion stay in discussion. That's it. That's all. If some silliness occurs within, that's fine. And I don't expect to be banning anyone for misplacing threads either, unless it's an obvious attempt to break the rules or a repeat offender.

I'll be re-evaluating some threads tomorrow morning when I have a clear head, and things may be shuffled around a bit. I might change my mind about a few things. But I'll leave this sit for now, and see how it works for the night.

In closing, dud's post is the sort of post everyone should be making.

Huh?

What's wrong with listening to ideas? And discussing things about Massassi with Massassi? I mean, the community is what makes this site worth keeping. So working with the community wouldn't hurt, no?

Majority of people don't flat out hate you. People donated money to keep this site running, remember?

I can understand being the "host" or head hancho in running a community makes you a target when something goes wrong. But like mentioned over and over, Massassi is a very small community, and we all know each other and respective mannerisms fairly well. I honestly have a hard time seeing that you getting attacked left and right by Massassians on a daily basis because that's seems to go against the nature of the bunch.

But debating new ideas with you seem to bring on an air of hostility. Sorry if that seems harsh...

Hey guys

According to the Mayan calendar, the world ends in 2012, so none of this really matters.

Kroko, that post is contentless and goes in the INSANITY WARD

I'm not out to get you. I also don't see this as that big a deal (particularly since I probably won't be posting any threads in the next week, and if I do I'll probably post them in GD anyway). I'm offering some thoughts that I know probably aren't what you want to hear, but they were provoked by the aggressive response to people saying they didn't want this


I think strictness isn't a problem so much as inconsistency. On any given occasion, rule-breaking seems to incur far less mod-wrath than simple dissent. Like the Hellequin ban seemed fair to me, but the whole "shut up and stop complaining or you're gonna get banned too" thing was OTT

As for doing more of what I enjoy, I never felt that my ability to post dumb threads was in any way hampered or threatened. To this point at least.


When you make significant changes to the site, people are going to talk about them. It's not a big deal.

I mean, dismiss my posts as "ridiculous psychoanalysis" if you want, but do you really think we're all just "trying to find ways to tick you off?" Really really?

Matty's right, Thrawn, we should be showering him with adulation, praise, and respect, and give him lots of money and puppies and butt sex, instead of being civil and discussing a change that we see as unnecessary and unwise. How stupid of us.