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Acedeck's Blog

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Posted on March 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM.

(8)

Let me start by saying, I love Operation Sports. I think it's so great to have such a large group of people who all love the same thing, sports video games. Yes, we bicker and moan a lot, but that's what makes a community a community. You're going to have your inconsiderate jerks, and you're going to have your mature contributors. When you weed through all the garbage, you find a lot of treasures. When it comes to the forums, the same is true.

Due to my love for this website, it pains me to see how the forums are handled. Imagine you were at the busiest party ever, all in a room, packed elbow to elbow. There is almost a white noise in the room due to all of the chatter. You can't make out any conversations, as they all blend together. It's like trying to find a chameleon resting on a green background. Where is this analogy going? Well, imagine that enormous room, packed full of people all talking, each conversation different from the one beside it, as being the OS "Impressions thread."

As soon as a single person even slightly makes a topic relating to the game that could *possibly*, maybe be related to an impression, it gets closed and the person is kicked back into the party room. This saddens me. That isn't what a forum is supposed to be. There's a reason forums have a "search" button. Is it the end of the world if there are 1000 threads versus 100? The popular threads will always rise to the top. I understand if the thread has already been made, but a general, 100 page long impressions thread is not what I constitute as a previous thread.

If you're reading this, you're probably thinking I recently had a thread closed; but, you'd be wrong. I am simply observing what is going on within the forums, and it bothers me as a fan of this site. Wading through the impressions thread is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, or it's like being stuck in the middle of a circle of 100 people all having different conversations. Either way, it's completely unnecessary to banish people to the impressions thread for every single topic. If it's the right approach, why don't we close the "Franchise issues" thread in the MLB forums since there's already a "Bugs" thread. I'll tell you why. Because a topic that big needs its own thread. There are many other fun topics that will never see the light of day on these forums, since they are permanently locked downstairs, in the basement, hidden from the masses.

I would try to bring this up in a thread that is being closed, but confronting a moderator around here, even in a mature, civil manner, is flirting with their ban button. I have never, in my internet roaming life, seen forums that censor and ban people as much as these forums. Perhaps it has to do with the immaturity, but it's still alarming.
/rant off

Comments

# 1 stlstudios189 @ Mar 10

I see both sides to this. The impressions threads really get long and off topic but to dig through 1000 threads gets cluttered

# 2 kingcrumb @ Mar 10

I have never seen a site that needs so many Mods.

# 3 malachijohn666 @ Mar 10

i agree, maybe what they should do is break up the "impressions" threads into volumes of 10 pages each. This way you wouldn't have to wade through a ton of pages. I never go there any more for that reason alone.

# 4 adayinthelife @ Mar 10

I agree, big time. It's the main reason I'm so off and on with this site and the forums.

It would nice to perhaps see an "impressions" sub forum for each game, rather than just one thread. I find myself very active in the forums prior to a game being released, but within a week of it coming out I just can't follow what's going on/have any form of conversation with anyone because it all gets packed into the single impressions thread.

It also makes it tough to get proper impressions, because there are multiple conversations going on at once. I know the mods police them routinely to stop such things from happening, but really, what's the point of the forums if you can't discuss anything?

# 5 Cubone_Jones @ Mar 11

This post is the truth!!!

# 6 Acedeck @ Mar 11

I agree, a sub-forum would be great for impressions. In order to avoid cluttering the main forum for the game (whatever game that may be), they could make the sub-forum for all the clutter. At least then, the clutter could be organized a bit into threads. In its current state, the forums are just a headache to even try to discuss a game that has just been released.

As you mentioned, dukebeatsuncagain, it doesn't help that its ridiculously easy to not only get a thread locked, but to get banned as well. Personally, I have only been warned in the past, but I can assure you, it wasn't for anything vulgar, hostile, or otherwise. I simply rubbed a mod the wrong way. One time, I believe I was warned for comparing two games, in a mature and civil manner. The very next day, OS's main page had a blog post comparing the *exact* two games I was warned for comparing.

Regardless of the banning/warning going on here, I can live with it. It's their site, and they can police it all they want, whether they choose to do it with city cops, or the national guard (all too often it feels like the national guard). However, the strict adherence to the impressions thread policy is becoming a huge turnoff.