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Official Suggestions Thread

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
Keith;883698[/B said:
- This is the big problem. Some people don't understand that even the most heated debates don't need to become personal, and are based on logic above feelings for the other person. I don't mean to say that someone on ZD has this problem, but I have seen it on websites like Reddit where a debate devolves into ad hominems and other impolite actions. You can't call someone a goat ****er for being against drone strikes in Yemen, but you can debate against the person's reasoning. I'll give an example. Me and Batman have debated plenty of times, but each time, when it inevitably ends in a stalemate, we never have hard feelings for each other. This is because neither of us see the debate as a personal attack, and don't treat it as such. We simply put our logic forward, and rebut the other's points.

These are the two main problems. When people follow the rules and don't make jokes out of threads/take debates seriously, the forum is awesome. It's when people take the discussions to heart or turn a serious discussion into a joke that you see the dark side of it. It isn't the forum that is at fault, it's members who abuse it that are.
I honestly think this is one of the main problems that comes with any mature discussion. The whole reason for the section is to maintain that level of maturity when replying and debating. However things turn sour fast and all it takes is that one comment and the thread enters a state of disarray, so to say. I'll agree that some topics draw such posts more than others, but if everyone just maintained that level of maturity and respect, then I'm pretty sure the majority of arguments and personal vendettas that arise from heated debates would stop.
 
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I say we crush the Zelda forums. I feel all this section has done is create pointless arguments over motion controls and let JuicieJ mindlessly praise Skyward Sword while berating everyone who is not himself. It's unhealthy for the forums, and I truly believe it should be removed until actual discussion that is not <JuicieJ> I disagree can occur.
 

Jamie

Till the roof comes off, till the lights go out...
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I say we crush the Mature Discussion section. I feel that all this section has done is create senseless arguments and break apart the community. It's unhealthy for the forums, and I truly believe it should be removed until mature discussion can actually take place.

You are barely ever even there. How is the MD any worse than any other board? Are you actually saying the discussion that goes on in boards like the main Zelda board and the Zelda theories subforum and the GD is better? The issue is you guys think that no good discussion ever goes on, without ever having participated. People like Batman, Johnny, Kitsu, Zorth, myself, and many others have provided very good discussion in both the serious and non-serious threads. Also, the non-serious threads can easily be defended when you realize the ridiculous viewpoints people present in the OPs are real or at least only semi-exaggerated opinions for some people. It's satire, and it generates good discussion. Why don't you just ignore it? I love having good discussion with people who are informed on subjects that interest me.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Surely the rules of MD just need to actually be enforced so that mature discussion does indeed take place, as you said should be the case? Removing MD would just have the threads that would be in MD go into General Discussion anyway and without the additional rules that come along with it which attempt to stop mindless arguments and promote healthy discussion. So removing it I don't see would solve any issue, and there's still good discussions that have been had in there with reasonable arguments and no insults flying.

MD just needs to have rules enforced properly, new ZD staff seem so much softer and more lenient in regards to it than old ZD staff and shouldn't be.

Yes. Yes. Yes. I think that perhaps it is time to reintroduce sectional mods. It seems to me that it is much more effective to have some mods that direct their focus to specific areas instead of trying to be all over the place at once. This is especially aimed at the Mature Discussion section wherein threads and posts can turn nasty real fast and require immediate attention. All in all, the rules in the MD need not only to be enforced but become stricter as well; I'm talking a three strikes rule—the works.
 
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Yes. Yes. Yes. I think that perhaps it is time to reintroduce sectional mods. It seems to me that it is much more effective to have some mods that direct their focus to specific areas instead of trying to be all over the place at once. This is especially aimed at the Mature Discussion section wherein threads and posts can turn nasty real fast and require immediate attention. All in all, the rules in the MD need not only to be enforced but become stricter as well; I'm talking a three strikes rule—the works.

That's a terrible idea. A strikes system would be heavily abused, and the rules are actually strict enough as it is. More rules does not mean better discussion. In practice, there's an inverse correlation between the two. Having a few, well-enforced rules always works better. If people feel too restricted they will either not post or intentionally rebel against the arbitrary rules that really server no purpose other than to satisfy some people's egos. All the MD really needs is the same rules as the rest of the forum. There's absolutely no need to differentiate the MD from the rest of the boards in this respect. Just enforce the same rules of treating people equally and not flaming/attacking others.
 
Joined
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That's a terrible idea. A strikes system would be heavily abused, and the rules are actually strict enough as it is. More rules does not mean better discussion. In practice, there's an inverse correlation between the two. Having a few, well-enforced rules always works better. If people feel too restricted they will either not post or intentionally rebel against the arbitrary rules that really server no purpose other than to satisfy some people's egos. All the MD really needs is the same rules as the rest of the forum. There's absolutely no need to differentiate the MD from the rest of the boards in this respect. Just enforce the same rules of treating people equally and not flaming/attacking others.

Okay. I just based my idea on similar forum I visit on which it seemed to work well. But what is your opinion on reintroducing some sectional mods—at least for areas such as the MD?
 

*M i d n a*

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I have a few suggestions, which I think would be good for the competition forum.

Sigh. Everything in that place is crowded and messy. As a former Administrator, I'd suggest adding some subforums and divide the competition categories so everything can be well organized and easy to find for both members and contest organizers. So, please? Can we? Pretty please? :)
 

Justac00lguy

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Yes. Yes. Yes. I think that perhaps it is time to reintroduce sectional mods. It seems to me that it is much more effective to have some mods that direct their focus to specific areas instead of trying to be all over the place at once. This is especially aimed at the Mature Discussion section wherein threads and posts can turn nasty real fast and require immediate attention. All in all, the rules in the MD need not only to be enforced but become stricter as well; I'm talking a three strikes rule—the works.
While I do agree with the sectional mods, it seems the MD is the most controversial part of the site and I feel one mod overlooking would lead to bias. I don't think it's intentional bias, but think about it, in most of the MD threads you either strongly agree with one point or the other, so naturally one of the mods would be bias towards one side and that could (I'm saying could, not would) influence said mod's decision.

Due to the problems in that section currently, I feel it would be beneficial to have two mods, who fall on different ends of the spectrum, looking over the section to cancel out any potential bias.
 

Justac00lguy

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This just sounds chaotic. If a mod makes a decision it should be based on forum rules. Any action based outside of those rules and on personal agenda or topical disagreement would be an abuse of their power. An abuse that they should be made to answer for by the forum mods in general, not one single other mod of whom we already know will disagree with them on a lot of topics.

We already have calls of foul-play despite having numerous mods of differing political, religious and ethical opinions. Having two solely dedicated to the MD isn't going to alleviate such calls and may well end up dividing the MD into a game of "Which mod do you side with?".
Yeah it "should" be, thing is it very easy for a mod to, even subconsciously, make a biased decision and this is a way to prevent that from ever happening. Plus the fact that there have been biased decisions made before. Not saying this is on purpose, I think I would make based decisions too as we all have that trait within us.

I get that this isn't ideal, but I think MD matters are very subject to "which side does a person take". Something needs to be done about the MD regardless and my suggestion is not something that has to be taken into consideration, I'm merely trying to combat a big problem that is obviously present. I think all I'm saying is, having one sole mod handling such a controversial section, where most arguments do take place, isn't very effective in my eyes and I only seeing the current problems popping up again and again.

I'm curious though, what would your solution be?
 

Ganondork

goo
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
I have a few suggestions, which I think would be good for the competition forum.

Sigh. Everything in that place is crowded and messy. As a former Administrator, I'd suggest adding some subforums and divide the competition categories so everything can be well organized and easy to find for both members and contest organizers. So, please? Can we? Pretty please? :)

I don't see how it's crowded. A quick glance at the forum shows that your competition, the Graphic Competition, and the Music Competition are the only competitions that are around right now. That isn't a lot. Another quick glance shows that you are taking an unnecessary step in the competition process - a sign up thread. There is no need for that and people should simply submit when the theme is voted on and you post a deadline. That may be a cause of some of the clutter that you are seeing.

Adding sub forums to it is entirely unnecessary. It reminds me of when we had a Sign-Ups sub forum in Fan Works, which was never very active because only a small circle of writers ever use sign ups. There's no point to separating the different competitions when

  1. There aren't many active competitions
  2. Past competitions are buried fairly quickly
  3. There are distinctions between which thread is covering which competition

As a former administrator, you should remember the KISS method - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Adding more forums than are necessary is a bad idea, because then there are too many forums with too little discussion. Spreading out discussion when needed is good, but when a forum isn't particularly active - like the Competition Forum - there's no need for it.
 

*M i d n a*

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I don't see how it's crowded. A quick glance at the forum shows that your competition, the Graphic Competition, and the Music Competition are the only competitions that are around right now. That isn't a lot. Another quick glance shows that you are taking an unnecessary step in the competition process - a sign up thread. There is no need for that and people should simply submit when the theme is voted on and you post a deadline. That may be a cause of some of the clutter that you are seeing.

Adding sub forums to it is entirely unnecessary. It reminds me of when we had a Sign-Ups sub forum in Fan Works, which was never very active because only a small circle of writers ever use sign ups. There's no point to separating the different competitions when

  1. There aren't many active competitions
  2. Past competitions are buried fairly quickly
  3. There are distinctions between which thread is covering which competition

As a former administrator, you should remember the KISS method - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Adding more forums than are necessary is a bad idea, because then there are too many forums with too little discussion. Spreading out discussion when needed is good, but when a forum isn't particularly active - like the Competition Forum - there's no need for it.

Ok, well how about making me a mod? lol :cool:

I only say that because the ones ZD currently has do not have enough time, it seems, to do their jobs. Jobs as simple as sticking threads that should be stickied, closing threads, etc. I could be great help. I already spoke to Vee about it, btw.

I think the sign ups are good since competitors know who they are going up against. :P But I can also just stop using them and just post the competition info. Thanks, btw.

Oh, btw, did you call me stupid? I only ask because I got warned for using that silly word.
 

Salem

SICK
Joined
May 18, 2013
I would also like to know this. Actually, I think we should have "Vain" for likes, and "Pain" for dislikes. Then, we you get an equal amount of both, you get the PAIN IN VAIN achievement.
Good idea, I'm gonna yeah it. I mean vain it.
 

Sydney

The Good Samaritan
Joined
Mar 20, 2012
Location
Canberra, Australia
wth is this, miiverse?

CAN THE YEAH'S HAVE LIKE EMOTION IN THEM LIKE

YEAH!
YEAH?
YEAH!?!
yeah.
yeah...
YEeeeEeEEEAEEeaeeaaahhhHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????//////1

But tbh I have no idea what Locke is doing.
 

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