Re: Maturity and Internet Forums


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Re: Maturity and Internet Forums

Posted By: Forrest of B.org Date: 10/10/06 10:24 p.m.
In Response To: Re: Maturity and Internet Forums (RyokoTK)

: In especially large forums that use systems like these (like Something
: Awful), avatars (and to a much more annoying extent, image-based
: signatures) are a much more effective way of distinguishing users than
: just a name.
It's really the image-based signatures that bug me. Avatars are unnecessary but I can still deal with them.
And how is it hard at all to distinguish people by name, vs avatar? Especially when on many forums people can *change* their avatars.
: Okay, thanks a bunch, Karl Marx [intentional misuse of philosopher and
: idealist], but that wasn't really necessary.
Not sure where you get a comparison to Marx from, since he favored extremely populist politics achieved through the use of centralized force, which are the two positions I was just attacking.
Also, I cannot seem to parse your bracketed statement. Please restate?
: 1. Subforums are almost a requirement for more active forums than, say, this
: one. To be fair, this entire message board is "theoretically" a
: subforum on Marathon's story. The fact that it's branched away is not the
: intent of the design, really. Because the Pfhorums itself is intended to
: encompass the entire scope of Marathon, subforums are needed just for
: simplicity's sake.
I guess I can see a place for subforums when they're logical categories like "story", "mapmaking", etc. But I see many phpBB-style (inaccurate name I know, but I lack a better one) forums that have separate subforums for what are essentially popular thread topics. It'd be like if, in addition to the Story Forum (were this a multi-topic forum system here), we also had a "Is The Player The 10th Mjolnir Mk V Cyborg?" forum. That's the kind of crap that bugs me. (Mind you, I don't read the Pfhorums at all, so I don't know where they in particular fall on this issue. I'm just talking that style of forum in general).
: 2. Get your "fuck the system" attitude toward topic organization
: out of here, it's so stupid. The flow of a particular topic changes
: anyway, whether or not you can immediately distinguish between any post in
: the topic. Again, it's a necessity of more active boards.
I'm not quite following your point here. What attitude of mine are you complaining about? What's a necessity of more active boards?
: Or, because any topic on any phpBB forum only takes up one slot on the list,
: it doesn't really matter if the original message is re-presented to the
: users at large? Anyone still interested in the current topic of discussion
: within said thread can participate; anyone who is interested in the flow
: of discourse within the topic can view it; anyone who doesn't care can
: just leave; unrelated topics can be relegated to a new thread. It really
: makes a lot less mess. But then again, I'd much rather make a mess. Fuck
: the system. */me skateboards through the house and kick-flips to indy
: grind on his cat*
What bothers me about single-threaded forums (i.e. forums where threads are linear arrangements of messages with no branching) is that:
(A) if the topic drifts over time, and someone comes back and wants to respond to something that was said earlier in the conversation, their reply to that appears in the middle of a bunch of posts about whatever the topic has drifted to, since the linear threading means there's only really one topic in the thread at a time. Multithreading allows conversations to diverge in different directions; one subthread can go off on one tangent and then a latecomer (e.g. someone who only reads the forums every other day or such, as opposed to all day every day like some people) can respond to an earlier part of that thread, which is still new to them, and then *another* branch of conversation can continue off of that, instead of interrupting the "current" branch. Both branches are concurrent; there's no interruption and thus no perception of impropriety on anyone's part. (I've seen forums where people get upset that someone's not "up" with the current focus of a thread, who drags up something from a few days earlier in that same thread).
(B) To a lesser extent, there's a somewhat opposite problem. I'm annoyed that it drags up the first post in a thread every time someone "bumps" that thread. That is, when you click a thread, you see the first message there first. For someone who's not constantly active reading everything in a forum, but just dropping by every now and then, this makes it hard to see what is really currently being discussed; you've got to click the most current thread, page through to the end of it, and then page backwards until the point where the current subject of that thread was established. This bugs me whenever I go to the Bungie.net forums just to see what's up; I can't quickly get a hold of what the current discussion is, but instead the first thing I see are the first posts of the threads which are presently most popular, which for very long threads often has little to do with what's currently being discussed in those threads.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

yota part 4-6 goran 10/9/06 1:41 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 Johannes Gunnar 10/10/06 11:08 a.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 goran 10/10/06 12:11 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 RyokoTK 10/10/06 12:32 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 Forrest of B.org 10/10/06 2:39 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 goran 10/10/06 3:07 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 RyokoTK 10/10/06 3:36 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 Johannes Gunnar 10/10/06 10:45 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 Forrest of B.org 10/11/06 7:28 p.m.

i'll drop by at psyjnir later today :) *NM* Johannes Gunnar 10/12/06 3:10 a.m.

Is psyjnir down? *NM* Document 10/19/06 8:43 a.m.

the hotline server is up at the moment... *NM* Johannes Gunnar 10/19/06 10:07 a.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 Adam Ashwell 10/10/06 4:03 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 mitchellan 10/10/06 5:24 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 RyokoTK 10/10/06 5:44 p.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 RyokoTK 10/10/06 5:47 p.m.

viva la story forum! *NM* Johannes Gunnar 10/10/06 10:47 p.m.

Maturity and Internet Forums Forrest of B.org 10/10/06 8:04 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums RyokoTK 10/10/06 8:33 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Forrest of B.org 10/10/06 10:24 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums RyokoTK 10/11/06 4:23 a.m.

Addendum RyokoTK 10/11/06 4:27 a.m.

Re: Addendum Document 10/11/06 7:43 a.m.

Re: Addendum Callie21V 10/11/06 6:58 p.m.

That took you way too long, man. *NM* RyokoTK 10/11/06 7:14 p.m.

ROFLCOPTER down! No LOL left behind! *NM* *NM* Forrest of B.org 10/11/06 7:30 p.m.

Re: Addendum Document 10/11/06 7:32 p.m.

L.O.L! *NM* Johannes Gunnar 10/12/06 3:12 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums goran 10/11/06 12:30 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aachim 10/11/06 2:48 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums RyokoTK 10/11/06 4:25 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums *LINK* goran 10/11/06 6:33 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Forrest of B.org 10/11/06 10:43 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 12:16 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Forrest of B.org 10/11/06 1:49 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 4:09 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums goran 10/11/06 11:56 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/12/06 6:44 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums goran 10/11/06 3:02 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 4:11 p.m.

Social evolution Forrest of B.org 10/11/06 4:37 p.m.

Re: Social evolution Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 5:34 p.m.

Re: Social evolution goran 10/11/06 11:49 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums xyfbzi 10/15/06 2:50 p.m.

Is this a movie quote? *NM* Document 10/11/06 5:44 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums D-M.A. 10/11/06 4:51 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums RyokoTK 10/11/06 5:04 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums D-M.A. 10/11/06 7:19 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums treellama 10/11/06 8:43 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums D-M.A. 10/11/06 9:05 a.m.

*looks at thread* What have I unleashed!? *NM* Adam Ashwell 10/11/06 3:27 p.m.

Re: *looks at thread* What have I unleashed!? Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 3:45 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 3:43 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums treellama 10/11/06 4:36 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Aaron Sikes 10/11/06 9:26 a.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Tycho 10/11/06 4:55 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums RyokoTK 10/11/06 5:16 p.m.

I wasn't arguing your point, I agreed with it. *NM* Tycho 10/11/06 5:24 p.m.

Oops. *NM* RyokoTK 10/11/06 5:30 p.m.

Re: Maturity and Internet Forums Nicholai 10/11/06 9:19 a.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 D-M.A. 10/11/06 4:53 a.m.

Re: yota part 4-6 RyokoTK 10/11/06 5:26 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Your Name:
Your E-Mail Address:
Subject:
Message:
: It's really the image-based signatures that bug me. Avatars are unnecessary : but I can still deal with them. : And how is it hard at all to distinguish people by name, vs avatar? : Especially when on many forums people can *change* their avatars. : Not sure where you get a comparison to Marx from, since he favored extremely : populist politics achieved through the use of centralized force, which are : the two positions I was just attacking. : Also, I cannot seem to parse your bracketed statement. Please restate? : I guess I can see a place for subforums when they're logical categories like : "story", "mapmaking", etc. But I see many phpBB-style : (inaccurate name I know, but I lack a better one) forums that have : separate subforums for what are essentially popular thread topics. It'd be : like if, in addition to the Story Forum (were this a multi-topic forum : system here), we also had a "Is The Player The 10th Mjolnir Mk V : Cyborg?" forum. That's the kind of crap that bugs me. (Mind you, I : don't read the Pfhorums at all, so I don't know where they in particular : fall on this issue. I'm just talking that style of forum in general). : I'm not quite following your point here. What attitude of mine are you : complaining about? What's a necessity of more active boards? : What bothers me about single-threaded forums (i.e. forums where threads are : linear arrangements of messages with no branching) is that: (A) if the : topic drifts over time, and someone comes back and wants to respond to : something that was said earlier in the conversation, their reply to that : appears in the middle of a bunch of posts about whatever the topic has : drifted to, since the linear threading means there's only really one topic : in the thread at a time. Multithreading allows conversations to diverge in : different directions; one subthread can go off on one tangent and then a : latecomer (e.g. someone who only reads the forums every other day or such, : as opposed to all day every day like some people) can respond to an : earlier part of that thread, which is still new to them, and then : *another* branch of conversation can continue off of that, instead of : interrupting the "current" branch. Both branches are concurrent; : there's no interruption and thus no perception of impropriety on anyone's : part. (I've seen forums where people get upset that someone's not : "up" with the current focus of a thread, who drags up something : from a few days earlier in that same thread). : (B) To a lesser extent, there's a somewhat opposite problem. I'm annoyed that : it drags up the first post in a thread every time someone : "bumps" that thread. That is, when you click a thread, you see : the first message there first. For someone who's not constantly active : reading everything in a forum, but just dropping by every now and then, : this makes it hard to see what is really currently being discussed; you've : got to click the most current thread, page through to the end of it, and : then page backwards until the point where the current subject of that : thread was established. This bugs me whenever I go to the Bungie.net : forums just to see what's up; I can't quickly get a hold of what the : current discussion is, but instead the first thing I see are the first : posts of the threads which are presently most popular, which for very long : threads often has little to do with what's currently being discussed in : those threads.

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yota part 4-6	goran	10/9/06 1:41 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	Johannes Gunnar	10/10/06 11:08 a.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	goran	10/10/06 12:11 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	RyokoTK	10/10/06 12:32 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	Forrest of B.org	10/10/06 2:39 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	goran	10/10/06 3:07 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	RyokoTK	10/10/06 3:36 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	Johannes Gunnar	10/10/06 10:45 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	Forrest of B.org	10/11/06 7:28 p.m.
i'll drop by at psyjnir later today :) NM	Johannes Gunnar	10/12/06 3:10 a.m.
Is psyjnir down? NM	Document	10/19/06 8:43 a.m.
the hotline server is up at the moment... NM	Johannes Gunnar	10/19/06 10:07 a.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	Adam Ashwell	10/10/06 4:03 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	mitchellan	10/10/06 5:24 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	RyokoTK	10/10/06 5:44 p.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	RyokoTK	10/10/06 5:47 p.m.
viva la story forum! NM	Johannes Gunnar	10/10/06 10:47 p.m.
Maturity and Internet Forums	Forrest of B.org	10/10/06 8:04 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	RyokoTK	10/10/06 8:33 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Forrest of B.org	10/10/06 10:24 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	RyokoTK	10/11/06 4:23 a.m.
Addendum	RyokoTK	10/11/06 4:27 a.m.
Re: Addendum	Document	10/11/06 7:43 a.m.
Re: Addendum	Callie21V	10/11/06 6:58 p.m.
That took you way too long, man. NM	RyokoTK	10/11/06 7:14 p.m.
ROFLCOPTER down! No LOL left behind! NM NM	Forrest of B.org	10/11/06 7:30 p.m.
Re: Addendum	Document	10/11/06 7:32 p.m.
L.O.L! NM	Johannes Gunnar	10/12/06 3:12 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	goran	10/11/06 12:30 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aachim	10/11/06 2:48 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	RyokoTK	10/11/06 4:25 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums LINK	goran	10/11/06 6:33 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Forrest of B.org	10/11/06 10:43 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 12:16 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Forrest of B.org	10/11/06 1:49 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 4:09 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	goran	10/11/06 11:56 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/12/06 6:44 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	goran	10/11/06 3:02 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 4:11 p.m.
Social evolution	Forrest of B.org	10/11/06 4:37 p.m.
Re: Social evolution	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 5:34 p.m.
Re: Social evolution	goran	10/11/06 11:49 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	xyfbzi	10/15/06 2:50 p.m.
Is this a movie quote? NM	Document	10/11/06 5:44 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	D-M.A.	10/11/06 4:51 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	RyokoTK	10/11/06 5:04 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	D-M.A.	10/11/06 7:19 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	treellama	10/11/06 8:43 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	D-M.A.	10/11/06 9:05 a.m.
looks at thread What have I unleashed!? NM	Adam Ashwell	10/11/06 3:27 p.m.
Re: looks at thread What have I unleashed!?	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 3:45 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 3:43 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	treellama	10/11/06 4:36 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Aaron Sikes	10/11/06 9:26 a.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Tycho	10/11/06 4:55 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	RyokoTK	10/11/06 5:16 p.m.
I wasn't arguing your point, I agreed with it. NM	Tycho	10/11/06 5:24 p.m.
Oops. NM	RyokoTK	10/11/06 5:30 p.m.
Re: Maturity and Internet Forums	Nicholai	10/11/06 9:19 a.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	D-M.A.	10/11/06 4:53 a.m.
Re: yota part 4-6	RyokoTK	10/11/06 5:26 a.m.



	Your Name:
	Your E-Mail Address:
	Subject:
	Message: : It's really the image-based signatures that bug me. Avatars are unnecessary : but I can still deal with them. : And how is it hard at all to distinguish people by name, vs avatar? : Especially when on many forums people can change their avatars. : Not sure where you get a comparison to Marx from, since he favored extremely : populist politics achieved through the use of centralized force, which are : the two positions I was just attacking. : Also, I cannot seem to parse your bracketed statement. Please restate? : I guess I can see a place for subforums when they're logical categories like : "story", "mapmaking", etc. But I see many phpBB-style : (inaccurate name I know, but I lack a better one) forums that have : separate subforums for what are essentially popular thread topics. It'd be : like if, in addition to the Story Forum (were this a multi-topic forum : system here), we also had a "Is The Player The 10th Mjolnir Mk V : Cyborg?" forum. That's the kind of crap that bugs me. (Mind you, I : don't read the Pfhorums at all, so I don't know where they in particular : fall on this issue. I'm just talking that style of forum in general). : I'm not quite following your point here. What attitude of mine are you : complaining about? What's a necessity of more active boards? : What bothers me about single-threaded forums (i.e. forums where threads are : linear arrangements of messages with no branching) is that: (A) if the : topic drifts over time, and someone comes back and wants to respond to : something that was said earlier in the conversation, their reply to that : appears in the middle of a bunch of posts about whatever the topic has : drifted to, since the linear threading means there's only really one topic : in the thread at a time. Multithreading allows conversations to diverge in : different directions; one subthread can go off on one tangent and then a : latecomer (e.g. someone who only reads the forums every other day or such, : as opposed to all day every day like some people) can respond to an : earlier part of that thread, which is still new to them, and then : another branch of conversation can continue off of that, instead of : interrupting the "current" branch. Both branches are concurrent; : there's no interruption and thus no perception of impropriety on anyone's : part. (I've seen forums where people get upset that someone's not : "up" with the current focus of a thread, who drags up something : from a few days earlier in that same thread). : (B) To a lesser extent, there's a somewhat opposite problem. I'm annoyed that : it drags up the first post in a thread every time someone : "bumps" that thread. That is, when you click a thread, you see : the first message there first. For someone who's not constantly active : reading everything in a forum, but just dropping by every now and then, : this makes it hard to see what is really currently being discussed; you've : got to click the most current thread, page through to the end of it, and : then page backwards until the point where the current subject of that : thread was established. This bugs me whenever I go to the Bungie.net : forums just to see what's up; I can't quickly get a hold of what the : current discussion is, but instead the first thing I see are the first : posts of the threads which are presently most popular, which for very long : threads often has little to do with what's currently being discussed in : those threads.
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