great, just great

go ahead and close this one too

i would have posted this opinion in croockedlines thread but, oh my, it's closed. what a shame, now i'm gonna have to start this completely uselsess topic just to say my silly lil' remark

Complain away. But its true, leaving/returning threads really are a waste of space.

and what space is that? the forum is dead, there are no new topics or anything. i would have agreed with you if this forum was running like it used to. but nowdays, the first page of the forum still has topics from a month ago.

so yes, closing these kind of topics IS necessary in a running forum
but ours is pretty dead anyway. so no need to close anything really unless its offensive or something of that kind.

"Waste of space" is just an expression meaning no good.
Threads like that are part of the reason why the Harbour is quiet, it drives new posters away. During the crackdown there were a good few decent posts/threads and the other forums got more posts too. The less threads like that there are, the more chance there is of attracting new posters.

Threads like that are part of the reason why the Harbour is quiet, it drives new posters away.


nope.. it depends on the thread.. but it drives noone away.. believe me. the closure of this thread drives others away.. ( .. :rolleyes: )


During the crackdown there were a good few decent posts/threads and the other forums got more posts too. The less threads like that there are, the more chance there is of attracting new posters.


nope again..

NOW are even more people gone ..
:xp:

again.. it's the harbor.. NOT the general discussion. :dozey:

Actually, I can list dozens of people who don't post here anymore thanks to the Harbor.

Originally posted by RemiO
Actually, I can list dozens of people who don't post here anymore thanks to the Harbor.

what do you mean..? thanks to the harbor after the "big closure" or before???

okay, then, who left thanks to the harbor?

i don't really think that welcome back threads are making people leave the harbor, it's just welcoming somebody back onto the forum. are you saying that niko and frenchyd's welcome back threads for themselves were making people leave the harbor?

like ray said, you closing the threads is making people leave. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if it was discouraging newbies from coming into the harbor and introducing themselves, because they probably think that they're going to have their threads closed all the time.

i don't think that a forum of "spammy" nature really turns people away from it...aresen is a huge spam factory and a lot of people go there, including myself. i think that you're actually being waaaay too strict and half the stuff that you're closing is completely unnecessary to close. unless it has something inappropriate or offensive in it, then it doesn't need to be closed and it's as simple as that. an "i'm back" thread? :rolleyes:

well, that's all i have to say, this is one thread that i'll check up on for sure.

Originally posted by RayJones
what do you mean..? thanks to the harbor after the "big closure" or before???

Before. People like DJG said it was worth reading again after we "cracked down" on it, but seeing how the Harbor pretty much reverted back to it old self again, I doubt the long term effect pulled anybody back.

i don't think that a forum of "spammy" nature really turns people away from it...

It does.

People dont post on or visit these forums entirely because of the harbour. Its not a case of people leaving, its of people not joining. Milegend would have merged its forums with these were it not for the harbour. People who posted pre-merge wont anymore and people who might have posted here wont because this is seen as a somewhat lame forum.

These forums are not like arsen and never will be. This is a MI forum with an off-topic forum as a bonus, not the other way round. No-one has closed a thread for a good while and its about time really, we were getting lazy.

Leaving and returning threads are completely unnecessary, they are the ultimate pointless thread.
"I'm leaving!" - "bye", "I'm back!" -"Wb".

It does.

umm...okay...and how can you be so sure? did you poll everybody at lucasforums and ask whether forums of spammy nature turn them away from it? i serously doubt it. and i know that i said forums of a spammy nature don't turn people away from it, but the difference is that i said:

i don't think that a forum of "spammy" nature really turns people away from it...

notice how i said the word "think", while you said "does". so you can't tell me "how can you be sure, either?", i want an actual answer, not some cocky, b.s. answer that is always given when it comes to these kinds of topics like "because if you look closely, less people come :¬:". that kind of answer is total crap because you're not keeping track on a piece of paper how many people are coming, nor do you have some kind of meter that counts the amount of people entering the harbor per day. if you really did poll people and have some kind of device that counts users going into the harbor on a daily basis, then i'm badly mistaken, but i'm pretty sure i'm not.

and bgbennyboy- leaving threads and returning threads aren't the ultimate useless threads or whatever. you wouldn't just expect people to know that you're gone for a month when you're just gone one day. and i know that you can post it in one thread that you're going to leave, but not everybody reads every single thread. you want to make it known to everybody and then it'll be like an actual good-bye because people actually bid you farewell, not just "okay i'm leaving bye." in one post and then people say goodbye and it's next to pointless and then that counts as spam and all this other crap. i don't see why they're pointless, and maybe you don't understand the meaning of pointless. let me dissect this for you, here:

point- meaning there is a reason for something
-less- lacking something

therefore, pointless means that it is literally pointless, it has no reason. an example would be "duck." as a post, that's pointless. not "hey, i'm back. i was gone for a while because i was on vacation and didn't have access to a computer. so, what's been going on?", okay?

you know what? this is it. i'm leaving the harbor for good. you've got me so pissed off that it's not even funny. i'll come back to look at things, but i will not post and until you get your s*** together and realize how arrogant you guys are being, i'm not coming back.


bye.

Das Mole, stop behaving like a ten year old brat. The Monkey Island forums have been around since '96 or '97, and you've been around for what? A year? You don't think I know who used to post on these boards years before there was any LucasForums? Don't you think I know why they don't post here anymore? You are badly mistaken in your assumptions, which are just that - assumptions.

this is it. i'm leaving the harbor for good.

Smartest thing you've done since you got here.

Originally posted by bgbennyboy
People dont post on or visit these forums entirely because of the harbour. Its not a case of people leaving, its of people not joining.


wrong benny wrong..

i came here BECAUSE of the harbor.. and many other people did..

But really people, but this is a forum for Monkey Island, not Super Star Wars Racing 3. :¬: Most of the community is mature and non-lame, coinciding with how fans of a well written series of games swaying more on the intellectual side should be like.

Personally, I'm getting a little tired from hearing about these petty little arguments against the mods. If someone has closed your thread and you don't think it was justified, then just think about why they might have closed it and try to stop it happening again in the future.

but gabez.. we all DID discuss monkey island on the discussion forum .. and after a hard discussing day..
it WAS nice to:


Set down the anchor, pull up a bar stool, relax and discuss just about anything with fellow MI gamers.

:dozey:

Oh goodie, another arguement. It's strange but The Harbor seems like the only forum with civil wars.

Personally, the idea of a poll sounds decent. I also think that hello and goodbye threads are useful. If people just up and left, well it would be confusing. Idle chat is what the Harbor is for. If I walked up to you and said I was leavng, would you stop listening to me and close the subject in you mind? I think you would say goodbye. Yes, It's a lot more normal to saw "ciao" over ignoring.

I support mods do what they think is right, I'm not fighting them. But moderator need to find the inner-members inside of them. They should think whether or not it might become popular. Like, a child buys a new toy, it's a bit like his other toys. But If the child uses it and enjoys it, no need to take it away. Plus, If you stop the child from using the toy, and the toy isnt being used, it's a waste of space.

Translation = closed threads are a waste of space if they could be used right.

bgbennyboy didn't provide a reasonable response until his third post in this thread. That makes his first two posts classic examples of
Superfluous, Pointless, Asinine Messages.

RemiO hasn't said anything resonable yet. All I see from him is a lot of assumption without providing evidence. I guess he doesn't know about critical thinking yet. His offerings are quite obviously SPAM. He wouldn't last in a real forum.

When the moderators SPAM their own forums, how can they expect anything more of their members? You have only yourselves to blame, bois. Garbage In: Garbage Out.

For the record, I only ever visited MI because of the Harbor. And I left because of the crackdown. *(Shrugs.)*

Why does the moderation team always seem to get drawn into petty arguments and slanging matches? haway guys, there's no need to insult people, no matter how justified you feel. You're there to set us deviants a good example remember. :)

Instead of just 'cracking down' on posts, why don't we have an open discussion about how to improve 'The Harbor' and it's structure and content. I'm 100% sure we can improve things in this way.....

....in fact I'm going to start a post off right now......

Originally posted by Zoom Rabbit
For the record, I only ever visited MI because of the Harbor. And I left because of the crackdown. *(Shrugs.)*

Proof that the crackdown is working.

Originally posted by RemiO
The Monkey Island forums have been around since '96 or '97, and you've been around for what? A year? You don't think I know who used to post on these boards years before there was any LucasForums? Don't you think I know why they don't post here anymore?


yeah? well what about me then? I was here from the very begining, before lucasforums. heck, i was even a moderator on these forums. dont you think I know who used to post on these boards years before there was any LucasForums? dont you think I know why they dont post here anymore?

Lets see you handle your own crap.

Originally posted by RemiO
Smartest thing you've done since you got here.

Oh, how mature.
no wonder you'r a supermoderator with that witty yet mature mind of yours.
*clap* *clap*

I told myself I wasn't going to get involved this time, but...
Originally posted by Gabez
But really people, but this is a forum for Monkey Island, not Super Star Wars Racing 3. :¬: Most of the community is mature and non-lame, coinciding with how fans of a well written series of games swaying more on the intellectual side should be like.

All right... First: Are you saying that people who haven't played this particular game shouldn't be visiting the forum? I can see where this might be a problem if people were popping up at random in threads in a forum specifically devoted to game discussion or technical problem resolving, but I always thought that the "Everything and Anything/ Off-Topic" forums here were set aside for discussion about anything BUT the game in question. I have always noticed that if someone tries to start a game-oriented thread in an "Anything..." area, it usually gets moved to the appropriate game-centric forum.
So, as I have always believed that since you're not supposed to talk about the game itself there, I have always seen the "Off-Topic" forums as open to all comers, even those not familiar with the game the area is devoted to, and are a good way to get aquanted with other gamers with different intrests than you that maybe you might not encounter too often otherwise.

Second: Wasn't the point of "Networking" all the various LucasGames Forums to encourage interaction between members of the various nodes? At least that was the explination I heard at the time.
And it has worked for me: I have checked out and enjoyed a bunch of Lucasarts games that I may not have otherwise (Grim Fandango, Sam and Max, Jedi Knight II...) based on the rabid devotion and word-of-mouth I saw around those games. I happen to like Star Wars based action games, but I am open to expanding my admittedly somewhat narrow field-of-view and branching out to other great games.

Third: It seems silly to me to create segregation over not only what type of video-games you like to play... but over what type of video-games you like to play that are published by the same company! After all, we all still look like equal nerds and geeks to someone on the outside...

They are all still just vid games. I don't believe for a second that preferring one over the other automatically makes you a better person.

Originally posted by Carl Shutt
Proof that the crackdown is working.

*(Kicks Carl.)* I'm here, aren't I...? :D

Hear, hear, Edlib. To support your argument, I'll go briefly into my own reasons for not frequenting the Harbor. Frankly, I was perceiving a strong bias against us 'Star Wars' forum crowd. Reading what Gabez has written here, I can safely say that this bias is still in place, and even fluttering proudly on the flagpole.

Why?

When I see the Mixnmojo forums in my 'forum jump' menu, I consider it an invitation to jump on in and participate. Because I haven't played in particular Monkey Island or Sam and Max, I do courteously restrain my interaction to the off-topic forums. Yet in the Harbor I am unwelcome for not staying to the game topic at hand?!? :dozey: The logic of this argument escapes me.

So the big problem I'm hearing is: the old members are leaving because of the Harbor, and the Star Wars crowd drifting in doesn't help. Allow me to propose another theory: your forums are growing old, just like the Rogue Squadron (Aresen) and X-Wing Alliance forums. We too see traffic drifting away as new games come out, and long-term members (frankly) get bored and sail off for a new interest in life other than posting on an electronic bulletin board in cyberspace. This, as I understand it anyway, is one reason why the LFN forums have all been consolidated into one website in the first place. Not surprisingly, if you look at the postings count on the forums page, most activity is taking place in the off-topic forums (where an odd sense of online community has evolved) rather than those specific to games.

Most of these games have been talked to death (unless they're revived by the release of sequels.) Here in the off-topic forums, we talk about all sorts of other things...even, on occasion, the all-too-frequently seen *I'm back* or *i"m leaving* thread. I think they're silly, too, guys...but it's a part of the online sense of community that some of us obviously enjoy. Moderators in the other forums allow these threads to stay open, because they don't want to kill that sense of community.

But this is your forum, your rules. ;) I'm just here to offer feedback, and a suggestion: you could be nicer.

This is why Jesus invented shooting people in the face with shotguns.

Yeah, like that. :D

See, 'being nice' isn't so hard...

..

being hard can be nice too.. ;)

Originally posted by RayJones
..

being hard can be nice too.. ;)

......here's where Ray reverts to his German porn star mode.....

Originally posted by undesired
bgbennyboy didn't provide a reasonable response until his third post in this thread. That makes his first two posts classic examples of
Superfluous, Pointless, Asinine Messages.
Dude! Did you come up with that all by yourself!? Because let me tell you, that is clever. To take a pre-existing term, and make it into an acronym! It must take an exceptional mind to create such a biting putdown. I'm off to go do some critical thinking, in the hopes that one day my mind will be vastly superior to everyone elses too!

Originally posted by scabb
I'm off to go do some critical thinking, in the hopes that one day my mind will be vastly superior to everyone elses too!
Perhaps you should, since you quite spectacularly failed to address the issue of spamming moderators. I noticed that rather than address the issue themselves, they simply banned me. Well, my IP is always changing, so you won't get far with this tactic.

Take a look at this
Oh, how mature.
no wonder you'r a supermoderator with that witty yet mature mind of yours.
*clap* *clap*

The proportions of this criticism are correct. the moderators are childish and cowardly. They deserve criticism.

Originally posted by unrelenting
the moderators are childish and cowardly. They deserve criticism.

Of course, the moderators on other Monkey Island forums are neither childish nor cowardly. For instance, I'm sure that raVeN_iMaG3 - a delightful character from the WorldofMI boards - would never evade a ban on another forum, sign up under an alias or two, and proceed to post incredibly pointless criticisms.

I'm glad that you went to the effort of registering another username for me, though - and don't worry about that variable IP of yours, the administrators can ban host masks ;-

I actually banned you for what you said to Bill Tiller. I'm banning you for ban-evasion now though. Its pathetic Raven, if you are going to flame, at least have the courage to do it under your own name.

There's no monkey island game out at the moment, so there's nothing to talk about. Most people have played the game, but a lot of us were/are really good friends and use the harbor of a way of keeping in touch with those people who had made friends.

What would you rather people talk about? the weather? Come on this is off topic, as it has been said before off-topic is off-topic.

Originally posted by bgbennyboy
I actually banned you for what you said to Bill Tiller. I'm banning you for ban-evasion now though. Its pathetic Raven, if you are going to flame, at least have the courage to do it under your own name.

Man....I have no problem with you personally - but it's this sort of thing that loses you respect......yeah this guy might be pathetic for not having the balls to post under his real ID, but why be dragged down to the level of calling him 'pathetic' where everyone can see it?? Simply banning him, editing the post and ignoring it, would cause far less damage and would avoid adding fuel to the fire......

Bottom line is that the MI Mods are losing respect.....

....what are you going to do to win back the respect?? Don't tell me "I don't need the respect" or "I've done nothing wrong", 'cause that's just a cop out......you guys want to get people back on side.......

Originally posted by RoyTordesLegend
Man....I have no problem with you personally - but it's this sort of thing that loses you respect......yeah this guy might be pathetic for not having the balls to post under his real ID, but why be dragged down to the level of calling him 'pathetic' where everyone can see it??

Because it's the truth. Raven is a known troll, who is resorting to ban evasion in order to indulge some juvenile vendetta. Why you are so bothered by seeing this moron called out on his bull**** is beyond me.

Originally posted by Carl Shutt
Because it's the truth. Raven is a known troll, who is resorting to ban evasion in order to indulge some juvenile vendetta. Why you are so bothered by seeing this moron called out on his bull**** is beyond me.

I thought that was obvious!!? Am I missing something?!?

Why encourage bad behaviour by getting in involved in public slanging matches?

He's a troll. He doesn't need encouragement to act like a dip****.

RayJones, dude, I'm not saying you have to discuss Monkey Island here - quite the opposite in fact.

Edlib and ZoomRabbit - you're complete and utter hippo burgers. I'm not being biased; I'm not segregating people according to game, "Hitler" style. All I was saying was that for a witty series of puzzle games we've got a surprising amount of idiots here.


Also, guess what? I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. I've lost my bottle. You can quote me on this and campaign for fairer rights for posters but at the end of the day this is just a Monkey Island discussion board, and we are the mods, and you've got to live with this or go away. Really. I don't give a **** anymore. I don't. I'm exhausted from reading your whiney posts.

I hate you all.

...sigh I give up!!

Whats with these moderator outbursts?! Dude don't take things so personally. Be a pro!!

i think the main problem is that us old escapemi.com forumers, who were here long before this was part of lucasforums, and we were all friends having fun, and now come all these mods we never even got to know as humans, and they seem so powerhungry and always looking for perfection. well we just dont feel very welcomed here knowing that every post that wont inerest the supermods, will get deleted or closed.

the members here arent such idiots as you claim them to be.
i participate in a korn forum at www.korntv.com...now) THERE you have your load of idiots. from playing games like "190000 bottles of beer on the wall" to posting stuff such as "YEA KORN RULLS!!!"
now THERE'S a place filled with idiots.

now, i resent the fact that you call us members idiots.
you forget that some people here are just kids. 12- 13 year old kids. some people are from other countries.
and some people just arent as uptight as you.
lighten up. you're running a forum, not a buisness, not a country..just a forum

You people drove me to that. ;

Originally posted by NiKo
i think the main problem is that us old escapemi.com forumers, who were here long before this was part of lucasforums, and we were all friends having fun, and now come all these mods we never even got to know as humans, and they seem so powerhungry and always looking for perfection. well we just dont feel very welcomed here knowing that every post that wont inerest the supermods, will get deleted or closed.

No, the problem is that you people are unable to accept that these aren't the Escapemi.com forums. These forums were meant to function as the forums for three different MI sites. Of course, you wouldn't think so to look at them, because the sheer inanity of the Harbour has driven most posters from the other sites away. That is the problem.

Why though? Nobody hurt you or your family physically did they?

The people didn't drive anyone to do anything - it seems to me the moderators here are very highly strung and self opinionated, and simply don't like being told - however politely (or not) that they're not always doing a great job....

Dude, for gods sake chill out and put things into perspective.....

I've never been to the Escapemi forums and I have a problem with the moderation here. It's inconsistent, very often unprofessional, and sometimes (although I admit rarely) even offensive....

Is a little professionalism and consistency too much to ask for, or do you people think that being a moderator should involve insulting people, emotional outbursts, reopening other moderaters closed threads, arguing amongst yourselves etc?

Excuse me Carl, but couldn't you at least please respect the fact that The Harbor at escapemi.com was already an established community before the merge? *sigh* oh well.

Hey, I got an idea for all you old escapemiers. How about if we all break away from the lucasforums and go back to escapmi.com? How does that sound?

Oh, and in case any of you wonder if I know anything about escapmi.com, I've been lurking there ever since someone posted the link to Mek's moon thread on #Monkey-Island. But let's not bring back unpleasant memories.

Originally posted by RoyTordesLegend
Why though? Nobody hurt you or your family physically did they?

The people didn't drive anyone to do anything - it seems to me the moderators here are very highly strung and self opinionated, and simply don't like being told - however politely (or not) that they're not always doing a great job....

Dude, for gods sake chill out and put things into perspective.....
Dude, I wasn't bashing on you! Neither did I ever say that I regard what some fudge-head on these forums as being more serious as someone hurting me or my family physically. :~ I was just annoyed at the response to my post and, well, the whole darn situation. :¬:

Originally posted by Scabb
I'm sure that raVeN_iMaG3 - a delightful character from the WorldofMI boards-

I would just like to note that there is a specific reason why this certain member of the mi community does not post here as much anymore, and it is quite simply because of the spam. plain and simple and he has told me this personally that he doen't like IM's because they lead to shortened words and crappy stuff whuich is never thought out and too short to bother with. For this same reason, he also doesn't like these forum. and a lot of other people whom i personally would like on these boards stay away because of similar reasons.

Okay dude, no worries.....

Since the Ray Jones saga, I've had an issue with being moderated by people (some not all) who clearly aren't as qualified as myself (and I don't consider myself to be qualified).

Anyway, peace bro.

Hm...the funny thing is, I mostly see

A) the escapemi'ers

B) the non-escapemi "rebels"

C) outraged XWA'ers

D) lots of happy fun witty and/or pissy supermods, mods, and Carl Shutt

A), B), and C) want D) to die painfully, and D) wants that at them right back.

Recipe for war? Yup.

Resolution in sight? Nope.

Y'see, I'd pipe up with my opinions too more, but somehow I just don't see how that's going to help. Unless I can find a way to puncture egos over the Internet...or in real life for that matter...*trails off in thought*

Not outraged Red,... just an interested semi-outsider.

I still think 90% of the issues here could have been avoided if someone had just spoken up a couple of months ago with a thread along these lines:

"Listen up! This is going to be a bit of a shock to most of you, but if we all work together on this we can make this transition go smoothly. There are going to be some big changes around here starting now. We feel the Harbor has gotten off-track as of late, and we really wish to correct this for the good of everybody.
Here's what's going to happen, what we want to see and not want to see in the future, and here's why were doing all this now...

... Any question, comments or suggestion? Feel free to contact us. We are warning you now so you won't be surprised, but in the very near future we will be closing some threads, as well as talking to some users in private about posting habits and styles in order to try to get everyone on the same page with this. Please do not take it personal or be offended if we close a thread you started or contact you by PM. We just want to do what we feel is best for the future of forum.
Thank you all for your understanding and co-operation in advance. OK, As you were. - The MI Mod-Squad."

Originally posted by bgbennyboy
I actually banned you for what you said to Bill Tiller. I'm banning you for ban-evasion now though.
And you still avoid my original point. I suggest that you encourage the very behavior that you claim to dispize by childish actions.

In a debate forum, silence is the same as acceptence. Unless you can somehow tell us why you are not a spammer, "wasting space" as you call it with your posts, we'll just consider that you conceed this argument, mmmmmmkay?