American Badass was one of the greatest posters who ever lived, we should at some point have a balls to the wall wake for him, in which we toast his memory with cans of beer held high.

I loved his stuff.

As for banning, I have seen people get banned where they really weren't being dicks, it's easier than it looks.

Otherwise though, I'm glad it's back up.  Having it there is no loss to anyone who doesn't post there and is good for those who do, so hurrah.

Quote from: Kester PelagiusEnhance your calm citizen.

I've been on the boards a while.  From the sound of it perhaps a wee bit longer than you.  So I may be referencing things that happened before you joined the forums.
...

Sorry for my overreaction to your earlier post.  I'm aware of some of the things you alluded to, but resented the implication that I was in any way involved with them.  Anyway, I was in a foul mood.  My apologies.

Quote from: el diablo robotico... Oh and PS - Akrasia is one of the best posters over there. Maybe it's cuz he like the old-school stuff like I do.

Thanks! :cheers:

One of the things I like about RPGnet is that there are so many people there who dig 'old school' stuff.  It's rather reassuring to see that many other gamers today also dig the Rules Cyclopedia version of D&D (pity that that fact irritates J Arcane and Hackmastergeneral so much).

Calithena, Melan, Fiendish Doc Samsara, grubman, Melan, Araquel, and many others, generally have cool stuff to say about RPGs (whether about 'older' D&D, JG, Rolemaster, or whatever).

Quote from: BalbinusOh, for the record, generally I like Kiero and find his posts interesting.

I never paid attention to his Wushu threads (since I never had an interest in that), but what he's had to say about C&C has been rather interesting.  It's not my style, but I've enjoyed reading his posts on it.

Quote from: el diablo roboticoTrue to the dogpiling. But not true to the banning, unless you subsequently become a cockmunch as a result of the dogpiling (which isn't hard to do if you get pissed off enough at the dogpilers).

That's more or less part of the plan.  I've seen many threads at RPGnet where a group of posters gang up on one and start insulting him.  Usually the mods get involved, often Topher (in his "non-mod" guise) or Darren, and help fling the poo.  Then, when the poster gets fed up and starts saying the same kinds of things that his attackers are, Cessna or Curt sweep in and swing the banstick.  Every once in a while one of the baiters will use the banstick, but usually Cessna or Curt does it to keep up the illusion of "fairness."

They've been doing the bait-and-ban for years now, and have become very predictable about it.

Quote from: AkrasiaCalithena, Melan, Fiendish Doc Samsara, grubman, Melan, Araquel, and many others, generally have cool stuff to say about RPGs (whether about 'older' D&D, JG, Rolemaster, or whatever).

Double the contribution, double the pleasure!

Quote from: GabrielThat's more or less part of the plan.  I've seen many threads at RPGnet where a group of posters gang up on one and start insulting him.  Usually the mods get involved, often Topher (in his "non-mod" guise) or Darren, and help fling the poo.  Then, when the poster gets fed up and starts saying the same kinds of things that his attackers are, Cessna or Curt sweep in and swing the banstick.  Every once in a while one of the baiters will use the banstick, but usually Cessna or Curt does it to keep up the illusion of "fairness."

They've been doing the bait-and-ban for years now, and have become very predictable about it.

It's not as systematic as you make it sound.

I really believe they aren't doing it on purpose. At least, most times. But yeah, the end result that you described tends to happen once in a while. In any event, whether they do it on purpose or not, it still sucks when it happens.

Someday someone these mods fuck over on a board is going to be strutting around at a con and someone he fucked over will walk up to him and spit in his face, or at least call him an asshole to his face.

I really look forward to that. Hell, I'd do it if I ever caught a certain mod at a con.

I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet

Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm amazed it hasn't happened yet

That would be because most people are more rational than you are.

Quote from: Consonant DudeThat would be because most people are more rational than you are.

Not to mention it's a lot easier to be a fucktard on the internet than it is in real life.

Quote from: AkrasiaSorry for my overreaction to your earlier post.  I'm aware of some of the things you alluded to, but resented the implication that I was in any way involved with them.  Anyway, I was in a foul mood.  My apologies.

Never meant to imply anything of the sort.

On an unrelated note, just to show there's no hard feelings, you'll know when I decide to take the dive into the deep-end of hell bent for leather as I'll come flying off the ropes with blood soaked sweat flying in all directions shouting imbecilic tirades with face all afluster while calling you something like a scum sucking knuckles dragging on the bottom of the sea squidbilly with delusions of being a three-penny whore, or something really over-the-top silly, all the while denouncing your name with strategic precision as the Exorcist you hired flees into that special place where his mind used to be as you marvel at the inanity of the run-on-sentence and. . .  Well.  It'll probably be without bothering to use punctuation.  Or a spell checker.    

If someone didn't get a chuckle out of that then that was the better part of three minutes wasted.

Quote from: MelanDouble the contribution, double the pleasure!

No, no ... I was also referring to the other Melan ... :DRUNKANI:

Quote from: Tom BRPGnet is back up, btw...

Did they end up recovering all/most of the posts that might have been lost?

I looked briefly, but didn't see anything to indicate either way.

Edit:  Ok, looks like some posts were lost... not sure about any details, though, anybody else got some info?

Jared Sorensen is a funny cunt! I'm going to buy him a beer if I ever meet him.

Quote from: JimBobOzAnd I feel regret, because it's a waste of potential. They've got 30,000 members, at least a thousand of whom post at least once a week. They could be any kind of site they wanted to. With that number of members, whatever their moderation policy or site focus they'd keep a good level of conversation going. They could have been anything. They chose to be less than they could be.

I don't disagree with your general sentiment - too often in life we are faced with the waste of potential that frustrates.

But I'm curious if they would have 30,000 if they were as, well, focused, as you imply in other posts.  In other words, if they were to hold to a more "we're here to talk about RPG's" approach, would they keep those 30,000 members or get a post a week from 1,000 or more?  I'm not asking in the rhetorical "I don't think so" sense - honestly curious.

And the other thing that strikes me is the last line here.  I'm not sure they didn't choose to be exactly what they wanted to be.  That fact that you or I or anyone else might think that's less than they could be, they might honestly think they are headed for a place better than they were.

It's especially true if it's a business venture as organizations will often build a focused clientele and then attempt to use that as a springboard into a broader customer base. That often leads to the kind of disagreements and consequences you see in this case - the old users feel a sense of remorse and longing for the way things were; the new users don't understand what the problem is with their approach; and the people trying to implement the change are either jerks, or labeled as such.

Such is the way of the world...

Well, they built themselves up on the strength of rpg stuff. People signed up just to comment, "wow" on the Creepy Gamer thread in Roleplaying Open; no-one signed up to comment "wow" on the h4wt chixxorz cosplay thread on Tangency Open. Certainly some people signed up to join cliques on Tangency, and those people post a lot; but they post non-gaming stuff.

There's also the question of quality and quantity. You've ultimately got to ask yourself, "what's this place for?" Is it just a place to get a zillion posts about nothing in particular? They used that approach, and as a result this week their whole forum crashed. Or is it a place to get a thousand posts about some particular topic?

If I want to read about topic X, which is better - 1,000 random books from the bookstore, or 4 carefully selected books?  Of course, that assumes I'm interested in topic X.

You also have to ask yourself, "what are the people joining expecting?" Given that the poll I posted, "are your games any fun?" revealed that 93% of respondents were playing in an rpg group, and 5 or 6% of the remaining 7% wanted to (1 or 2% didn't want to), I'd say, "the people joining rpg.net are expecting to talk about rpgs."

I've no doubt that rpg.net - or, the mods and the most influential posters - chose for it to be a general discussion site. I don't think they drifted there by accident, it was entirely their choice. But so what? You could get a genius mathematician choose to be a janitor - but it's still a waste of potential.

I'm speaking in extremes here of quality and quantity, and of course reality isn't that clear and simple, or extreme; I'm just expressing it that way for clarity. I mean, however you moderate an rpg site you're not going to find that every post is as good and interesting as (say) Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering. But it could be a bit closer to that than "daily drivel and whinging." There's a lot of room on that scale.