Scratch

I don't think we should give in to his blackmail.
Because that's sort of what it is.
He's saying that unless we do what he wants, he'll quit.
Sorry if that sounded mean, I just don't think he should patronise people like that.

Delete Miscellaneous. Problem solved.

pikachu1337 wrote:

fg123 wrote:

Delete Miscellaneous. Problem solved.

Yeah.
Or we could actually do some work to try and fix it.
I pick 2.

rufflebee wrote:

Let's give in to his blackmail!

I see you misunderstood in the same way that redrocker did.
Allow me.
I simply think that the forums are turning a bit unsavory.
PW and Bob agree that it can be fixed with some work.
We'll also get some users back if it gets good enough.
So why not?

Last edited by pikachu1337 (2012-01-01 14:31:04)

fungirl123 wrote:

Okay.
Might I ask how we are going to "fix" Miscellaneous?

I think what we need to do is create a more friendly environment.
People may feel threatened by the amount of topics that need to have "Discuss ____" at the end because the discussion point is unclear.
We also need more polls.
Not having to hand-tailor a response to a topic and simply state your opinion on something can make noobs feel more welcome and therefore become akin to us as opposed to not doing so.  This will make it more likely for them to stay and bring in new discussion points.
It will also give older users something to do and talk about
And newer users a stronger userbase so that they don't feel like the only noobs.

pikachu1337 wrote:

fungirl123 wrote:

Okay.
Might I ask how we are going to "fix" Miscellaneous?

I think what we need to do is create a more friendly environment.
People may feel threatened by the amount of topics that need to have "Discuss ____" at the end because the discussion point is unclear.
We also need more polls.
Not having to hand-tailor a response to a topic and simply state your opinion on something can make noobs feel more welcome and therefore become akin to us as opposed to not doing so.  This will make it more likely for them to stay and bring in new discussion points.
It will also give older users something to do and talk about
And newer users a stronger userbase so that they don't feel like the only noobs.

Polls? We can't ask for more of them- people only post them if they want to know the answers. Don't just post them so there's more of them.

werdna123 wrote:

pikachu1337 wrote:

fungirl123 wrote:

Okay.
Might I ask how we are going to "fix" Miscellaneous?

I think what we need to do is create a more friendly environment.
People may feel threatened by the amount of topics that need to have "Discuss ____" at the end because the discussion point is unclear.
We also need more polls.
Not having to hand-tailor a response to a topic and simply state your opinion on something can make noobs feel more welcome and therefore become akin to us as opposed to not doing so.  This will make it more likely for them to stay and bring in new discussion points.
It will also give older users something to do and talk about
And newer users a stronger userbase so that they don't feel like the only noobs.

Polls? We can't ask for more of them- people only post them if they want to know the answers. Don't just post them so there's more of them.

It was just a suggestion.
We can do basically anything that helps noobs feel happy here that ISN'T self-degrading.

Well, one of the issues I'm encountering is that some older kids dislike the fact that the website is a bit more restrictive than other some other websites and they complain about how they're are too many kids here - but yet the website is open to all ages. Sometimes this results in users going against the guidelines even if they're fully aware of what they are. I think that's something that has to change.

While I do believe that Miscellaneous can do with some improvements, I also believe that people leave the forums for different reasons - maybe they want a place with a more looser guideline, maybe they just find the community boring, maybe they just want to move onto something else bigger than Scratch. And frankly, I think if a user wants to leave the forums because of those reasons, we should just respect their decision to leave instead of forcing them to stay around here and having them remain unhappy (save for a few cases).

pikachu1337 wrote:

Food for thought;  Age restricted topics.
What happens here is:

Below title and above post, when you create a topic there would be a line of fields where you could input an age and level of restriction.  The stated age would show up directly to the right of the topic's name.
If you're below the age stated, it could do one of four things.

One;  Let you pass without trouble.  This is the lowest level of warning, leaving any restriction to your subconscious.

Two;  Lead you through an extra page.  This page would warn you that this topic is recommended for users above your age.  You could click "Okay" to be directed to the topic or "Take me back" to go back to the forum's page.

Three;  Block you from the topic.  It would appear, but even if you click on it, it would not allow you access to the topic, instead showing a page that states "You are too young to visit this topic".

Four;  Make the topic invisible to you.  Self explanitory;  If you are below the age stated the topic would not appear to you on the list of topics.
If you aren't logged in, it would treat you as too young for anything.

This would allow more mature users to talk of more mature matters (Still nothing obscene, but it would make it more flexible to older users.)


...This may not be original but now that the forums need some attention it might be taken more seriously.

The forums have always needed attention.    That's why we have so many moderators!

As to the idea: it works well on paper (er, on the monitor), but in practice it makes people feel left out. We'd rather have an open, friendly website than a closed, hostile one.

• only "Trusted" users may post images

Miscellaneous is just fine. Go away if you don't like it. We don't need 10 topics about this in one week.

I agree but there have been multiple topics about this already. All the interesting topics that make misc "civilized" are being buried in these ones.