This I will never understand. What sort of boring forums do you visit, that you think Massassi is chaotic? This forum is downright lethargic.

It doesn't matter why it was done; it only matters why we think it was done.

Also we have way too many mods.

Were you not here for the first four years of this forum's life?

How long ago did the first four years end? I agree with JM.

God, that left an awful taste in my mouth.

I honestly think the main problem with the Insanity Ward is that it was called the Insanity Ward.
Upon reading IW I automatically assumed that it was there for the completely random kind of crap.
I was very annoyed when threads with any kind of humor got moved into it, thinking they weren't random and nonsensical enough.

You can talk about forum activity, peoples sense of humour or freedom impeachment. I really do think IW's main problem was bad press. People read the name and immediately assumed the worst.


But anyway.


As far as what changes I would make, I'm a big fan of the if it aint broke don't fix it mantra. So I doubt I would make many changes at all.
Maybe have some kind of competition for new banners and that kind of thing (the prize being something like: you get to choose your user title).
You know, just a few things to make the place look more refreshed without actually changing anything.
The illusion of new often beats actual new.

Number of new posts per day for the last month:

December 09, 2008 340
December 10, 2008 291
December 11, 2008 294
December 12, 2008 331
December 13, 2008 187
December 14, 2008 241
December 15, 2008 308
December 16, 2008 386
December 17, 2008 281
December 18, 2008 281
December 19, 2008 232
December 20, 2008 228
December 21, 2008 227
December 22, 2008 233
December 23, 2008 397
December 24, 2008 249
December 25, 2008 135
December 26, 2008 134
December 27, 2008 215
December 28, 2008 162
December 29, 2008 211
December 30, 2008 260
December 31, 2008 228
January 01, 2009 169
January 02, 2009 325
January 03, 2009 231
January 04, 2009 227
January 05, 2009 254
January 06, 2009 206
January 07, 2009 314

Number of new threads per day for the last month:

December 09, 2008 32
December 10, 2008 28
December 11, 2008 27
December 12, 2008 28
December 13, 2008 20
December 14, 2008 21
December 15, 2008 27
December 16, 2008 25
December 17, 2008 19
December 18, 2008 25
December 19, 2008 23
December 20, 2008 22
December 21, 2008 28
December 22, 2008 21
December 23, 2008 51
December 24, 2008 26
December 25, 2008 20
December 26, 2008 20
December 27, 2008 35
December 28, 2008 22
December 29, 2008 25
December 30, 2008 26
December 31, 2008 20
January 01, 2009 27
January 02, 2009 25
January 03, 2009 24
January 04, 2009 26
January 05, 2009 21
January 06, 2009 24
January 07, 2009 22

In my opinion, I wouldn't exactly call that "lethargic." I personally do think that there could be a benefit to some (at least slightly) improved organization. I agree that adding new forums is not that way to do it though.

I also like Deadman's ideas- I was thinking that one thing we could do would be to have an emoticon contest. Emoticons are simple and easy to make, even in MSPaint, so a lot of people could be involved. We could create our own unique set of smilies and get rid of the default VB and the something awful ones.

You can just use IMG tags

I could really get behind Massassian-themed emotes. :fgr:

I don't think you get the point

Around 20 to 30 threads a day? Seriously? Are you sure about that? That doesn't seem right.

Are you sure that "improved organization" is seriously needed for small little Massassi? Or is it just to cloud the issue that Massassi is still a small community?

I don't really see any point to change anything, I mean look at the front page! who cares about the forums

That does seem high. Is there a way to get the same statistic for the discussion forum(the only one that actually matters)?

I don't think anything really needs to change, but I'd really love it if the forums allowed TeX formatting.

I also fail to see the need to re-org the forums.

I would delete Music Discussion and Showcase and relegate those threads to the main Discussion Forum and the Showcase Forum. There's no good reason for music to be segregated away from the general forums, especially now that Massassi is so far off topic.

I would delete all of the editing forums. It's really time for Massassi to crap or get off the pot on this one. Other sites have the editing angle covered much better, especially for JK. Massassi no longer offers significant value to people editing these games and unless this changes the members of the community would be served much better by being redirected to sites that still care (i.e. jkhub).

I would re-create the Insanity Ward in the main forum index and merge all of the secret shame forums (Massassi At War) into it. We need a den for fakeposting and, frankly, the community isn't large enough to sustain the four I'm aware of let alone any other hidden expressions of utter stupidity.

I would move the Game Room to the main forum index, to draw more attention.

I completely agree on the Music Discussion and Showcase. There just aren't enough threads there to warrant regular visitation, and the threads would get more input if they were just in the Discussion Forum.

As for Massassi at War, get rid of FoTS, FoB, and maybe FoL. Then there is one good place left for stupid posts.

There are just too many forums around here for a community of this size.

Edit: And make the remaining Massassi at War forum blue again!

I just noticed that vB already has the icons thing DS/Yecti and I were talking about and that they're just disabled here (they're active in some other forums).

yeahhhhh....

No, for Christ's sake. BrianL deleted that "one good place" for a lot of damn good reasons: because it was horrible, lame, and the people who posted there were breaking the forums and generally being ****wits. It was bad enough when there were enough people visiting there to warrant calling them a "council," but it's just pathetic now that it's maybe 2 or 3 people slaveringly mashing F5 with a cheeto-encrusted digit to see who else was smart enough to join their super secret circlejerk that appears on the main forum index any time someone posts there.

The point of a fakeposting forum is so everybody can get in on the action. It needs to be visible and the rest of them need to get deleted. Justin isn't around anymore, not even in the community he went to when he was sick of you people. Bradsh isn't around anymore. Love isn't around anymore and as far as I'm concerned it never has been. Tofu isn't even around anymore, and he sucks. And FotS is really technically my forum so when I say it should be deleted I'm not just saying it for laughs.

Personally I'd keep the Music Forum but I'm probably one of the few that still go there. Unfortunately I've not got any idea on how to improve traffic to that particular forum but most of the stickies in there are nifty.

I feel left out, I had no idea those forums existed :s

I believe minimizing the number of forums, and then using simple tags would greatly benefit massassi.

Media
Discuss music, video games, books, movies, and news.

Talk
Discuss general topics here.

Editing
Discuss editing assets for any games. Tags would be highly utilized here to distinguish between editing major supported games like JK, JO, and JA, and other games.

Interactive Story Board
Geb's Forum.

Showcase
Show off your own work.

I think anything else is distracting and spreads the place too thin, and distinguishing between talk and media would help separate threads that are easy to consume (media) and threads that might be more involved and interactive (talk).

This.

There are some of us who still download things from time to time.





As for the organization part, I don't think theres enough people here anymore to organize it in anything more then one category, really. If we experienced some mass return of old members or a massassi renaissance, then it might be considerable. Now IF JK source wasn't a hoax, I think that would certainly bring this site back to life. The other option is adding a slew of Old republic MMO materials to the site, but the drawback there is the problem of MMO morons joining up and ruining the egocentric atmosphere we so carefully keep in balance here.

I'll fix the levels search this weekend, promise.

Keep the suggestions going :p

I feel that as long as the ISB was kept seperate this could actually be a very good way to reorganise the forums at the time being.

I think sometimes people hear the word "Reorganization" and they assume it means we're trying to add more forums. By "reorganizing," I'm acutally advocating the opposite- I'm asking how we should go about consolidating and removing forums. I agree that the community is way to small to have forums for each and every conceivable topic at this point.

I also agree with Kirby's idea. And, I also agree that because the ISB has a very dedicated following, even if it isn't a large following, that is still enough to warrant its own forum.

I'd agree with Kirby, but then go and say "have media and Talk as the same forum. And keep the ISB separate."

It seems pointless to segregate topics when there isn't enough volume to do so.

And it means I have to hit Refresh constantly on more than one page, and that simply wouldn't do.

Sorry, I didn't forget the ISB, I just don't really think of it as a forum like I do the others. It's more of a lifestyle. Edit: I added the ISB.

As I said before, separating those two will allow more casual browsers to get more out of the site. Tags would also help towards that point, as a user wouldn't have to read a significant amount to find out the general topic of a thread. Ultimately, it'd make the site easier for everyone to use, as well as allow new users an easier time to adjust to our very very very in-crowd. Anyone can post on a news thread, and almost no one new can post on a Wookie vs JediKirby vs JM thread. Not that the Talk forum would encourage flames or anything (I think what we call flames is a well formulated post on another forum), but it would isolate the cliques.

Also, the order I put them in is actually important. I don't really care about the names or descriptions, but the order helps target our weakest asset, the editing forum. Most sites have media and/or discussion forums, and then the forum dedicated to that site's "mission." Our mission isn't showcase, it's editing, and having that come after your default forums shows its importance. Showcase's traffic isn't as nearly dependent on visibility (since the involvement includes looking at pictures, oftentimes), and can certainly handle being last on the list.

Kirby: I've now quoted you in my signature. ^_^

I would like to figure out how to get more visibility to non-NeS threads on the ISB without dissolving the board itself, but I'm not sure how besides what I already do now with my signature and such. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the forum stuff, most solutions require a larger community to work with to, you know, make a larger community.

With the exception of the Interactive Story Board that's a pretty blatant and disgusting web 2.0-ism. Honestly, if people aren't literate enough to figure out that 'general discussion' means 'talk about stuff here' I think they're probably too busy catching supper in the bayou to read our highly important views on subjects we know absolutely nothing about.

I also disagree strongly with some of your choices. Editing is not something Massassi does anymore. Because of our media-driven culture the distinction between 'media discussion' and 'general discussion' is typically ambiguous, so there would be absolutely no standard for where a particular discussion should be posted. And honestly we need a forum where you, specifically, feel unwelcome.

You sound like an old man afraid of change.

Look, I thought people wanted to make editing the main part of Massassi again, that's why I tried to make that the resource.

And I think there's a major difference between media and normal discussion. Normal discussion is Sarn getting married. Normal discussion is philosophical questions or math topics. Jokes and ideas. The media forum would have cool links, webcomics, movies, music, videogame ideas, Massassi achievements, etc.

The only other addition I might make is forum games (like geb's), but some people might mistaken that for troll forums.

But majority of discussion IS related to media of some sorts.

I'll bet there's a healthy equality in what we get in the forums. I'll go through the main page right now and organize them.

Edit: Here they are. I've * the ones that are ambiguous.

Media
[GAME] Name That Game FOREVER
*[MASS] 46 "Achievements" for the Massassian people to earn.
[SHOW] Parkour Showreel - please vote up!
*[DEAL] Cheap DVDs
[PS3][HELP] Help me Massassi! (PS3 question)
[SPORT] 2008 BCS Championship (college football)
[VIDG] Worst FPS you've ever played
[SW] I watched Episode II again tonight
[COMIC] In Bad Taste?
[MOV] Horrorfest
[360] I've just done a BAD thing... [360]
[MAC][TECH] MacBook Wheel + CES thread

Talk
[MASS] If you were in charge of the forums, how would you reorganize them?
[BEER] C'est la fin du monde tel que nous le connaissons (beer thread)
[POL] dumbest **** ever
[DEAL] recent purchases thread
[TALK] Time to own up, Massassi...
[TECH] MD5 encryption hacked
[HELP] pink and green display (tech)
[POL] Barack Obama is my favorite black president
[HELP] What's a generic host process win32?
[MASS] Which Massassians would you like to meet in person?
*[GAME] Little Known Animal Facts! (It's supposed to be a joke thread, but he might not label it as such, so this one's the hardest to identify. It might just not be labeled, and posted here.)
[HLTH] Minor Fruit Allergy
[PHIL] Answer me THIS, Massassi... [srs pplz only plz kthx]
[TALK] 2009 is awesome
[MASS] How many Massassians have you met in person?
[GAME] Riddle me this, riddle me that, are you wiser than a half-eaten wombat?
[MASS] Road trip! (I'm going to Florida)
[MASS] Camhoez (talk about the pages = ban)
[MASS] Suggest a title for the person above you: THE THREAD
[POLL] Fruit

We have a lot more discussion than media right now, so you're super-wrong. I'll bet separating them would bring more richness to both. Also, tags should be somewhat ambiguous and nonspecific, and tags shouldn't be required, but highly suggested.

I think it would be wonderful if Massassi became more editing-centric again, but at the same time I know for a fact that it will never happen because nobody here cares.

QUICK! Let's form a committee to discuss the changes in detail so if people dislike them nobody has to take personal responsibility for the decisions! And then nominate someone to make the changes and appoint someone else to supervise that person so when nothing happens it's mysteriously nobody's fault!

That amount of detail wasn't necessary. -DSettahr
I disagree, but even if you object to the wording of my message I refuse to be denied the opportunity to express the spirit of it. -Jon`C

You sound like you are obsessed with lame Web 2.0 trends that nobody cares about anymore.

How does a parkour video that one of our members created qualify as "media"? If nothing else it should belong in showcase, but he wants people in the community to help him so shouldn't it belong in discussion?

By the same standard, shouldn't the Camhoes thread go in media because it's a thread full of media?

Why would the thread about xkcd belong in media? The thread itself could go in a lot of directions - it could talk about, for example, Apple covering up Steve Jobs' pancreatic cancer complications to protect their stock value. Or it could become a thread full of comments made in poor taste. If the thread becomes a discussion should it be moved to the correct forum?

Why should a discussion about where to find cheap DVDs belong in the media forum? What if I posted a thread asking where I can find cheap DVD-Rs? Should the thread go in media even if I'm burning a Linux ISO to it? By the same note, why should a thread about recent purchases belong in discussion? What if most people bought media? Should it be moved?

Why should questions about video game hardware (PS3, Xbox 360) automatically be considered a media discussion? Is it because they can, perhaps, use media in some ephemeral sense?

Why should sports belong in media? It is because you, personally, are forced to have no involvement with sports that does not involve media, while for the rest of us the role of media in the event is entirely peripheral?

Why should a thread about the MD5 hashing algorithm belong in discussion? Shouldn't it belong in media with the discussions about BD+, CSS and AACS? How about AES and RSA, which are used to securely deliver media?


You don't even know what half of the "mathematical and philosophical" discussions are about, let alone being competently able to tell if they belong in media or discussion. Don't even pretend. You know this is ambiguous and the distinction is strongly based on personal preference.


Edit: Also, I think this obsession with thread tagging is disgusting. Thread tags work when there are large numbers of highly specific tags being driven by massive amounts of highly specific threads. You are acting like it's some sort of decoration but the point of the feature is so you can filter based on subject. Massassi simply does not have enough volume to either warrant or utilize this feature, period. We'll end up with "GAMES," "MOVIES" and "OTHER" which sure won't help you if you want to find a C++ thread, nosireebob!

Changing Massassi into some sort of gross Something Awful clone won't change the fact that Something Awful hates you. At least draw the line at emoticons, which don't actively detract from the forums and also aren't a lot of work to add.

Hey, I was only giving my opinion. I don't think there's a very definitive "right" way to do any of this, but maybe you can give us your organization plan instead of being catty?

What about tags serving as direction of intent by the original poster, oh rage-filled Jon`C?

let's go back to the old forums

I already did. Maybe I should have tagged it???

While you threw that out as a joke, if it were possible to tag posts as well, it might be possible to have some sort of system like so:

1) Original poster tags their thread as they intend for the direction of their thread to be (ex. "media").

2) Posters who then post in that thread could choose to tag their threads differently (ex. "talk"). The default though would be the original poster's.

3) The thread would then be tagged by what the majority of the posts are tagged as.

This is keeping in mind that such a tag system would be more for searches than for "organizing" the forum community. *shrug*

For graph fans, here's that data visualised! The second one looks interference fringe pattern, heh.