The Forums, they are a changin'

[RPGPundit]

Not for comparing, for repeatedly and harassingly claiming that I'm THE SAME as they are in moderation.

To me its really the same as if someone went to you and on thread after thread repeatedly claimed that you were no different from a neo-nazi.   Or that your not liking chicken made you no different than a member of PETA.

RPGPundit

[droog]

Well, the RPG.net mods are a little less arbitrary and there's a higher court of  appeal....

[RPGPundit]

I agree. Have I ever said otherwise? I do not believe so.

Also, your first article of your constitution is out of date and needs to be updated. There are currently forums that you cannot read or post to without registering.

Hmm, good catch, but I'm actually wondering if now that we've changed the name from Off-topic to something else, Brett isn't of the opinion that we could make it readable to the non-registered public again?

I always preferred it that way, but really Brett had advocated closing it from public viewing for mostly technical reasons, something to do with bots or spiders or trackers or some shit being attracted that way. That, and the Political threads possibly being negative to public perceptions.

Frankly, I was never totally sold on the latter argument, and the former one I can't understand but took Brett's word on it.

So we'll see if we can't open up the Media forum to the public again.

RPGPundit

[HinterWelt]

Hmm, good catch, but I'm actually wondering if now that we've changed the name from Off-topic to something else, Brett isn't of the opinion that we could make it readable to the non-registered public again?

I always preferred it that way, but really Brett had advocated closing it from public viewing for mostly technical reasons, something to do with bots or spiders or trackers or some shit being attracted that way. That, and the Political threads possibly being negative to public perceptions.

Frankly, I was never totally sold on the latter argument, and the former one I can't understand but took Brett's word on it.

So we'll see if we can't open up the Media forum to the public again.

RPGPundit

Or you could state...hmm, maybe that some forums may be closed for technical reasons...hmm, that is not elegant. There should be a way to phrase that. Maybe something like "Any content related tot he purpose of this site" ?

Yeah, the best solution would be to open up the forums again.

[Warthur]

Personally, I like the change in Off-Topic. There are a billion places on the internet to shoot off steam about politics and religion; people who seriously miss the discussion can go find one.

Or, even better, make their own "RPGsite Tangency" forum elsewhere (and link to it in their .sig files), so that those who enjoyed that sort of thing can construct LOLCats and goof around to their heart's content. The idea that the "community" of theRPGsite hinged on some flamewars about politics and religion and random posts about people's shoes or their love life or their favourite flavour of jam is, to my mind, ludicrous: we're an RPG forum, the community is in talking about RPGs and designing, playing, and marketing them together - see the various play-by-internet games arranged on the forums, see projects like FtA! which came about thanks to the Pundit hooking up with clash.

[Imperator]

Personally, I like the change in Off-Topic. There are a billion places on the internet to shoot off steam about politics and religion; people who seriously miss the discussion can go find one.

I am perfectly happy with OT going to hell and rot there. Frankly, if the focus of a site about RPGs ends being discussiong politics in US, something's fucked up.

[droog]

The real gall and bitterness is all in RPGs, anyway.

[Balbinus]

The real gall and bitterness is all in RPGs, anyway.

And that's how I like it.

[King of Old School]

Well, the RPG.net mods are a little less arbitrary and there's a higher court of  appeal....

Horseshit.  The RPGnet mods are every bit as arbitrary as Pundit, and the "higher court of appeal" is a fucking joke given that the admins will side with the mods as a matter of policy unless you can prove that the mods were in some way factually incorrect (e.g. attributing someone else's words to you due to an inability to competently parse the quote function... yes, at least one mod on RPGnet is that fuckwitted).

KoOS

[King of Old School]

But a forum is a community as much as it is a discussion board, and a community is built on more than just one subject. By destroying the space in which people can discuss issues that are important to them outside of the world of RPGs, you have destroyed any spirit of community this board may have had, outside of the context that you yourself choose to allow. Creating an Edwards-esque cult of personality that I would never have dreamed of seeing associated with your name.

This is a huge steaming turd of incorrectness.

First, a community can be built on just one subject... say, roleplaying games for instance.  It's right there in the title, even!  It's possible to develop a feeling of community by talking to fellow hobbyists about your hobby, and people can develop a sense of fondness or camaraderie for posters like Balbinus and Dr. Rotwang without reading or caring about their thoughts on politics or religion.  Hell, I find it easier to develop a sense of community with fellow hobbyists when I don't have to know that, despite sharing a common hobby with me, they're infected with retarded political or religious memes.

(Frex, I can think of at least one prominent RPGnet poster whose hobby-specific writings I enjoyed a whole lot more before I was burdened with the knowledge that he subscribes to political and religious ideologies I consider morally and intellectually bankrupt.  Likewise a couple of RPG authors.  That's just the way I'm wired.)

Second, the idea that limiting discussion on TheRPGSite to games (not just RPGs, but other games too) will somehow create a "cult of personality" is just so preposterous that I can't imagine where it comes from.  Just talking about games, hell even just talking about RPGs, doesn't necessarily mean that the discussion will be limited to or dominated by the perspective of Pundit and his fellow travellers.  There have always been, and continue to be, posters who are here first and last to talk RPGs, and who will happily tell Pundit that his Swine War is bullshit, full stop.

On topic, I like all of these changes.  Allowing political and religious discussion is a surefire ticket to the syphilitic cancer that is Tangency.  Well done!

KoOS

[RPGPundit]

I am perfectly happy with OT going to hell and rot there. Frankly, if the focus of a site about RPGs ends being discussiong politics in US, something's fucked up.

To be fair, that never actually came EVEN CLOSE to happening here. At no point in even the height of the US elections did the off-topic traffic even get to be one-half of what the main forum's traffic was.

RPGPundit

[droog]

Horseshit.

Debatable.

[Imperator]

To be fair, that never actually came EVEN CLOSE to happening here. At no point in even the height of the US elections did the off-topic traffic even get to be one-half of what the main forum's traffic was.

RPGPundit

Oh, I see your point, and that was never a concer of mine. But I feel that the best way to avoid becoming Tangency is not having that chance. There are plenty of places to discuss any topic out there. I prefer the discussions here to be about games, whatever classification is used on them.

[Spinachcat]

Working together, we can all be Super Friends!

I dub thee Gleek!

[Koltar]

By-the-way.....

Every time I see the title of thios thread I start hearing Bob Dylan's voice singing the words of his song altered like that.

 It must be the fact that I've saw WATCHMEN twice last week - and Dylan's song is featured prominently at the beginning of the movie.


- Ed C.