OOT, something sam brought up
 

I wanted to respond to this earlier but I got distracted by some POSiness instead.

I strongly agree with you Sam about you, NT and other OOT mods needing to come up with a new set of rules and guidelines based your vision of OOT.

the great thing about that forum is the culture is always changing, old problems are solved, new problems arise.

I also think doing so will set this current era of OOT apart from mine and atro's both of which were great at the time but which also I don't think suit the current forum.

I also agree that its important to differentiate OOT from BBV or El Diablo's forum so that its remains something fun and unique rather than just becoming the default forum.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

You both raise some good points. OOT really has its work cut out for it to separate itself from El Diablo forum. bbv/BBV4life has got the irreverent humor, El Diablo has highbrow and now OOT is caught in an identity crisis of sorts. Definitely going to be interesting over the next few months to see how these forums progress and feed off each other.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

the thing that's been bothering me with oot lately, and i mean only really recently:

we're seeing a return wave of the most frequently posted oot threads ever.

omg, a new post on how to shave your nuts! omg!

i think that i would read the forum more if i weren't disgusted to see the same damn thread over and over. i've reported like 2 of these to moderator, but then i got tired of it.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

citanul,

Are you saying that you are not looking forward to my "How much should I tip the florist for Valentine's Day" thread?


FWIW, I agree with you. OOT does go in cycles, but this rut is getting old.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

One need only to read the archives to see that basically 95% of OOT threads have already been done at some point or another. This was actually my biggest pet peeve, and the main reason I wanted to be a moderator was to try and help reduce repetitive/zero content threads. I try to lock the ones I can, but if we locked every thread that has already been done, we'd be locking 95% of the threads we get. I'd also suspect that the vast majority of threads in BBV4Life have also already been done in OOT. That's just the nature of the internet.

But the 5% of threads which are really original are what make OOT (and basically all of the similar "lifestyle" forums) worthwhile. My concern is with the plethora of similar forums, that "original" posters/threads will choose to post somewhere else instead of OOT. To prevent this from happening, we need to be more creative than the other guy in engaging our readership.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

to continue step one I think is to determine exactly what you see as the problems and what your vision of the forum is. this is critical

once you've done that, then its just matter of constructing rules to help create that environment. which also of course means reevaluating the current rules as well, if it involves scraping stuff I came up with then so be it, getting rid of * policy, or reexamining the train wreck rule. I don't think the current mods should be held back by the legacy of the past when its no longer appropriate.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

cit is right, there have been a lot of repeat threads lately. i'm never sure what the threshold should be for how recently a thread has been done. sometimes i think, oh, we did this last week, and it turns out it's actually been a few months and i'm just OLD SCHOOL.

i was just rereading the sticky and there was a lot of stuff i felt good about. i think it's overall a good sticky, could probably be shorter, take out some of the introductory crap, whittle it down a bit.

i'm a little ambivalent about articulating the 'niche' of OOT. OOT has for a long time been the sort of niche-less forum, and only recently have we started seeing a number of off-topic forums come into existence for specific demographics. BBV for the kids, Diablo for the grownups or those who like to think they are, The Lounge for... [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] awww i won't even do it.

it's a newish thing and i guess i'm saying i don't know exactly how we should or shouldn't respond. in some ways i think the new forums and demographic shifts should move us towards a LESS regulated OOT, because other forums are starting to (successfully, at last) fill the more 'mature' niche. but in other ways i know that OOT will continue to suck more and more if we let people keep posting the same utter dreck.

there's a sort of institutional mindset in OOT because it's got a large pre-existing base of users. makes it hard to spawn the kind of creativity and spontanaiety of BBV or Diablo's forum.

that's about all for now, i got class. just some stuff to chew on.

NT

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

Also, please note that I refuse to use "fora" in lieu of "forums".

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

[ QUOTE ]
o prevent this from happening, we need to be more creative than the other guy in engaging our readership.

[/ QUOTE ]

completely agree. I still think OOT has a valuable spot on 2p2 and there are some things which happen in that forum that will never be done as well in others.

on the subject of repeated topics, i've always thought the determining factor should be how much thought as the OP put into creating his/her thread

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

One other thing...we will likely need to find either an internal or external replacement for Nick B. He did a TON of mod dirty work, and his loss will be felt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he, NT!, and myself were basically the "active" mods in OOT. My work responsibilities essentially restrict the amount of time I can spend actively patrolling the forum, and to be honest, I am probably better suited for the bigger picture/overall quality realm than administrative duty. Somebody will have to step up and fill Nick B.'s shoes.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

sam,

Here's what I wrote in my About sticky and the ATF post. I think OOT is the best place for tons of stuff, including all of the stuff below. Run effectively, it should on an ongoing basis probably be about an order of magnitude busier than a forum like mine, or at least a significant multiple busier. I've suggested to many people (KBZ's rivalry thread, Dom's random poll) that they post them in OOT instead, because if the thread is gonna work it's gonna be based on a lot of people seeing it (and responding if it's interesting). That applies for all sorts of stuff, I think OOT just needs to articulate that better.

"threads (polls about stuff that doesn’t involve much discussion, or quick advice threads, or random threads for posting hot chick pics, for example) will do better and/or can be quickly addressed/answered by posting in high-volume OOT"

"Polls.

Contests.

Hot chick threads.

Weekly TV show reports.

General quick advice threads.

Things that you want tons of people to read and comment on.

I'm going to continue posting all of these things on OOT and I expect most everyone else will too, because these threads will get more exposure and responses there, and just overall do better."

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

[ QUOTE ]
Somebody will have to step up and fill Nick B.'s shoes.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you need someone to do just basic modding, I could do it. If you need someone thats going to be in OOT like all the time then I am not your guy. Let me know.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

El D,

only thing about that sticky is that we have a general 'no polltarding' policy in OOT - if a poll isn't interesting or doesn't have a good reason for being a poll, it can get trashed. so i'd be careful about implying that all polls go in OOT.

otherwise i think you've got it nailed pretty well as to the sorts of things which are best in OOT.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

FWIW-

mebenhoe was the first person I thought of as well. obv up to nt, sam and others though

man Mat, look how far we have come

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

MEbenhoe - I have no objections.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

you can have nick back if you want him and he wants to return, provided he's willing to be civil with his peers.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

[ QUOTE ]
Correct me if I'm wrong, but he, NT!, and myself were basically the "active" mods in OOT.

[/ QUOTE ]

sorry sam, you're wrong. how long have you even been at this?

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

[ QUOTE ]
you can have nick back if you want him and he wants to return, provided he's willing to be civil with his peers.

[/ QUOTE ]

this would be best, ty

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

i would love to get nick back. i gave my reasons pretty thoroughly in the other thread before it got locked.

if he doesn't wanna do it matt would be a good replacement.

sam - nick and daryn don't make a lot of mod-type posts in OOT but they handle quite a few notifications and sort of quietly deal with a lot of stuff. sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of who's doing what, but even before you came on i would say i got to less than half of the notifications before one of them did (or ryan i guess, i have no idea who is doing it sometimes).

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you can have nick back if you want him and he wants to return, provided he's willing to be civil with his peers.

[/ QUOTE ]

this would be best, ty

[/ QUOTE ]

sorry for the bump, but i was just speaking with Nick and he said that he is still interested in being a mod. I had actually thought that he had been remodded already, and totally forgot about the issue. What's the haps?

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

this reminds me i was going to work on a new OOT sticky

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

All,

I think Nick is an excellent mod. The site needs more smart mods like him, not less. Even if he is a dick sometimes.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

Mat said he was willing to let nick come back, so I'll talk to him.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

He's green again. Welcome back, Nick.

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

hot decision

Re: OOT, something sam brought up
 

well executed.