Aus Social could be the next Lounge....

[keystroke]

a quick skim over the last 4 pages of Bluelight reveals some really good topics, but I hear people constantly complaining about them saying we're becoming to much like The Lounge.....

here are some recent, silly examples of what is left open...

Home-made Super Heroes
somehow, during the course of tonight... > 1 2
Come on, own up.... Who posts sober? > 1 2
Who here prefers to be naked at home? > 1 2 3
come on... own up... who posts drunk?? > 1 2 3 4 5
coffee!!! > 1 2 3
if you could be any type of music what genre would you be?
i keep thinking i'm a midget... > 1 2
The Threadfather.
my concience... > 1 2
What Cheeses me ooooorrrrrrfffffffffff > 1 2
If you were an animal.... > 1 2 3 4 5
If you were a flower ... > 1 2 3
What I saw today
The "I love..." thread > 1 2 3 4 5
when you have kids, what will you name them?? > 1 2 3 4 5

now to me, a few of them are SOCIAL threads... and are not breaking any guidelines, but many people here seem to differ....
Who wants AUS SOCIAL to go back to being nazi-style and banning all silly/funny/entertaining posts and who wants it to continue the way it's going?

because I think the way it's going is fine (albeit remove a few rediculous posts)..... I'm amazed at how many people complain of some posts being "bad and rediculous" and others that obviously ARE rediculous and serve no purpose are fine ....



if you don't like a thread, it's not exactly rocket science now - don't bother posting in it.

 

[NickyJ]

I'm here for the humour most of the time so yeah.

My life is serious enough as it is. I don't want to be involved in "serious" discussions while escaping from reality into the world of BL (not all the time anyway)

 

[up all night]

teehee so much drama for a Friday night. Seriously keystroke, you have no control. Give it up.

 

[keystroke]

I have no control but it's stupid the amount of people that complain about it.

 

[josh_nexus]

Keystroke; The first step is admitting you have a problem. Then the healing can begin.

 

[NickyJ]

I think we are safe as long as Kemical Burn doesn't lead us astray He brings out the post whore in all of us

 

[up all night]

Well maybe take your own advice... just ignore the posts of people who don't like something. Seriously, don't you think it's ironic you're whinging about whingers?

 

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

Of those threads, there are four that I think were a bit fucking STUPID. But I try not to abuse my authority and close them, especially if they are appearing popular with the general majority.

Look - I *don't* want Aus Social to become the lounge. The Lounge is fucking SHITE, it's a bunch of brainless morons wasting time. One thing I love about Aus Social is that we talk about real issues; and the threads *don't* get hijacked by morons. I like that security, and it's the kind of moderating I carry on to SLR.

But, like in SLR, I like to have a bit of fun from time to time too. I allow certain threads to remain open, like "Create your perfect bluelight match" or similar, just because they're harmless and an outlet for fun.

But I think at the moment certain people are going overboard with their liberties in this forum. Anna was recently criticised heavily for her 'nazi' modding and recently I've noticed she's backed off to a major degree, leaving Raz and 1234 to be the bad cops (I don't blame her).

I love a bit of fun. But for god's sake, a balance is necessary. Some people are currently taking out their frustrations on perfectly fine threads... so let's put all the worries HERE, shall we?

 

[keystroke]

Well maybe take your own advice... just ignore the posts of people who don't like something. Seriously, don't you think it's ironic you're whinging about whingers?

I'm asking for everyones opinions on whingers, if you didn't get that already.


I don't want this to be The Lounge, cause that place is out of control.


but I also think a lot of people should settle down when hijacking a thread with

"THIS THREAD SUCKS ITS TURNING INTO THE LOUNGE"

and then it just ruins a perfectly fine piece of social discussion.

 

[Mean Girl]

The difference that I liked between Aus Social and the lounge was the standards of threads, and the intellectual conversations within them, and it is disappointing to see what once was, fading away.

I also don't want to see the australians fall victim to the americans any more than we already have politically, we do NOT want to follow in their steps and display such blatant stupidity. Have a look at the quality in the responses at some of these "useless threads" and they really are quite USELESS. It's social chit chat and banter that crosses a necessary line.

Now, if you were smart, you'd have read the Aus Social Forum Guidelines , and if you scroll down a little, you'd see this :

Here's what is not acceptable in this forum:

# Any form of drug dealing or soliciting
# Source requests for anything illegal (yes this includes pirated software and mp3’s)
# Any mention of possession of illicit substances or future drug use
# Personal attacks or flame wars
# Racism, sexism, homophobia or any other sort of discrimination
# Topics that are clearly going to be found offensive
# Topics below a certain level of maturity - an example of this is the Mu(x)ke vs Piglet thread.
# Topics that are considered to be below a certain level of usefulness.
# Annoying or malicious links (i.e. - a link that leads to never-ending window pop-ups) are not permitted and will be deleted.
# Threads that are created to blatantly plug a product/site - this forum is not an advertising resource.

Many of these threads that you've mentioned easily slide into this category.

Now yes, I agree, if you don't like some topics, just don't post, that's easy enough, but there has got to be a line drawn somewhere to filter out the total shit, hence why we have moderators who can use their DISCRETION to close certain threads. Your accusations of Nazi Style Moderation sound like you've just been burned because they closed your thread.

Postwhoring is a crock of shit, nobody really cares about the mindless shit you've got to say when you haven't put much thought into it. This mindless shit is what's turning Aus Social into the Lounge, and unless you want the Aus Social forums merged into the Lounge, then clearly we need to be displaying the difference to keep us seperate. Also, we should just follow a very simple rule :

Think Before You Post!

 

[NickyJ]

I love a bit of fun. But for god's sake, a balance is necessary. Some people are currently taking out their frustrations on perfectly fine threads... so let's put all the worries HERE, shall we?

Word

But I can't help feel like I have gone over board with my liberties in this forum

 

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

I think I'll keep this thread open to discuss this issue, but I've taken in what you've said Mean Girl. I do agree - I (and I probably speak for all the mods in this forum too) want to keep the quality that typifies Aus Social. I guess we just don't want to ostracise those who want to have fun with aussies, not americans (because that's what you have to put up with in the lounge )... perhaps a compromise can be reached by leaving certain threads open for general off-topic chat, but being careful about the creation of new threads.

 

[Mean Girl]

^^Which is what spurs the "nazi style mods" comments, when we try to find the fine line of what is acceptably off topic and what is not, hence why anna! started getting burned just because she wanted to filter the crap. Subjectivity is certainly difficult, but getting users to accept that a moderator has made a decision and accepting and getting over themselves is harder still....

Also, what nobody has mentioned here yet, is BLUELIGHT IRC. <--- this is where all the mindless banter can go, without clogging up the forums. It's run by the people for the people!

 

[NickyJ]

Were you replying to my post? I don't get it.

 

[keystroke]

I pasted that quote of threads because in the last 4 pages of Bluelight that is some of the most rediculous crap I've seen and they are left open...


while genuine threads get hijacked and/or closed....

 

[Mean Girl]

Moderators can close and open threads at their discretion, which of these genuine threads that got closed are you referring to?

 

[keystroke]

Your accusations of Nazi Style Moderation sound like you've just been burned because they closed your thread.

I said "do we want to resort back the old ways where it was moderated with a nazi-style approach...."


as I said, I was asking what other Bluelighters thought as of tonight I seem to of found a strong issue at hand within the group of Australian bluelighters and perhaps have provided an outlet for everyone to speak their mind and say what they believe.

Moderators can close and open threads at their discretion, which of these genuine threads that got closed are you referring to?

what originally got me thinking this was that you joined a thread inwhich you had no interest in tonight and said basically in so many words "THIS IS CRAP THIS IS TURNING INTO THE LOUNGE" and yadda yadda yadda...

you're not the only one that does this lately though, there's been an abundance of Bluelighters to do this and I felt strongly that it was an opinion that no one had really bothered talking about.


I think it's socially obvious that people have strong opinions on the matter and therefore warranted such a thread.

 

[up all night]

I think, essentially, we're all arguing the same point. We all know the Lounge is full of useless shit that people post in when they're bored at work and need to kill some time. No-one is saying there should be no fun, inane threads but they should at least be kept to a bare minimum.

keystroke, if you were a mod what threads would you close and what would you re-open. I'm interested to see what you see as 'worthwhile'.

 

[diegoblunt]

considering the guidelines were quoted .. i will do the same:

The Australia/Asia/Middle East Social Forum is a social forum, almost any topic that people can contribute to is acceptable. These guidelines are written to help make your Bluelight experience better.

This forum is for everyone and whilst we don’t expect you to be boring, serious and politically correct, we do expect you to be reasonable.

hmmm, doesnt sounds like the way things operate to me.

in my opinion .. the fake intellectual discussions that occur in this forum are no better or worthy of server space than humorous threads that are started .. enjoyed briefly .. then closed.

a prime example being Breakabeat's punch in the face thread .. funny, popular, closed.

i dont post in aus social anymore because there is no longer a need .. the forum is now just an australian version of CE+P, S.O and Film and Television.

*yawn*

 

[keystroke]

I'll offer one example (the main reason for such a post as this tonight).....

there was a thread started about "talk yourself up" in so many words... where you had to post about what you think you are REALLY good at..... which a few people participated in followed shortly by a group of angry "we-hate-the-lounge" Bluelighters.

we all hate the lounge for it's simplicity and slack ruling, but is it necessary to post in every thread which doesn't suit said person that we hate the way it's going?