Someone had to do it...
WTF happened to the post counts? <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
And bring back SAR! It couldn't have used much bandwidth at all, it gave AI a kind of sub-conscious, underground feel, that greatly added to the community.
I'm pretty sure I know who to suspect for the prudifying of AI, but we'll just leave it...
Anyway, post counts? yea or nay?
SAR? WTF? it was cool, now it's gone. Instead of meaningless tweaks to the forum, how about some research and work for the front page. Something to stir up disscussion?
And bring back SAR! It couldn't have used much bandwidth at all, it gave AI a kind of sub-conscious, underground feel, that greatly added to the community.
I'm pretty sure I know who to suspect for the prudifying of AI, but we'll just leave it...
Anyway, post counts? yea or nay?
SAR? WTF? it was cool, now it's gone. Instead of meaningless tweaks to the forum, how about some research and work for the front page. Something to stir up disscussion?
Comments
<strong>I agree on all points...</strong><hr></blockquote>
i am happy that SAR have disapear , no one talk me of this secret forum , dispite my 600 post i have make on the old AI, the same Apply for Anders ,who is one of the most interesting european member of AI.
<strong>
i am happy that SAR have disapear , no one talk me of this secret forum ...</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't know how others discovered it but I didn't find out about it from someone telling me. If you go to <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_daily"; target="_blank">this page</a>, you'll see listed today's active topics. When SAR was still around threads from that forum would show up here.
<strong>
I don't know how others discovered it but I didn't find out about it from someone telling me. If you go to <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_daily"; target="_blank">this page</a>, you'll see listed today's active topics. When SAR was still around threads from that forum would show up here.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thanks for the info. I never discover this page.
I feel like an idiot
[ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: powerdoc ]</p>
J
<strong>What the hell is SAR?
you know they really should just keep it up so people can browse SAR and keep posting off in that forum @ least then people would know what the stupid fuss is about...
On a related note, if you all are so convinced that post counts don't matter, then, well, why do they need to be attached to all your posts? They're still viewable on your profile. How does it decrease the content? If, as you say, content and intelligent discussion is why you come to the AI forums... It's just a test to see what happens. It's not the end of the world. It's a message board.
How does the removal of post counts from the thread pages have anything to do with so-called "prudification" of AI? I really don't see the link. Enlighten me, Matsu.
On the same notion, IÂ?m basically open to suggestion. Want image signatures? Tell me. Want avatars (if theyÂ?re allowed for in the normal UBB 6.1 code)? Tell me. I make changes for you guys. Want post counts back? Want member ratings? Tell me. I have been following the MacNN folksÂ? direction on this kind of stuff for too long, and, frankly, the forum should be shaped by the users, not by the administration
2. Silicon Alley Redux was a hidden forum that was a reincarnation (hence the Redux in the name) of a secret forum at the old AI. It, frankly, served no purpose except as a place for a token few (i.e. less than 25) members to spam aimlessly. Not to single anyone out, but many members had half of their post counts or more coming from worthless posts (e.g. a smilie or a single word) in Silicon Alley Redux.
Frankly, the elitism was stupid. There's no reason for a select few to get more privileged treatment or have access to secret forums than others here.
There was nothing in that forum that could not have been discussed in General Discussion or AppleOutsider. There exists a word association thread in AO. Spam your brains out in there. Start new games- there was a story thread a while back, but that seems to have fallen out of favor.
What follows is my personal opinions on the subject of AI in general. I may be jeopardizing my position as administrator here by saying this stuff, but someone has to do it, as the topic says. This is a problem that is deep-seeded and I say all of this only because I love AI and want it to become a better place.
3. The front page is not my department, or that of the moderators. That's MacNN. Write to the MacNN people if you want content on the front page.
I'll tell the truth here, I have nothing to hide. I had originally helped (at the rebirth of AI) with the few articles that we wrote and posted. Therefore, I know a little about the process of writing articles for the front page. Frankly, Adobe has a knife next to MacNN's neck, after that whole lawsuit thing years back. Also, there were a lot of times where an article would be in the process of being written (or being okayed by the MacNN hierarchy- don't get me started on that) and we'd watch stuff on the same software or tip or whatever go up simultaneously at ThinkSecret, MOSR, and The Register. Yeah, we got the G5 emails that The Reg got. However, we tried to check some facts (i.e. confirm that the person who said they were writing it as a Moto Employee was, in fact, a Moto Employee) so we wouldn't get laughed off the face of the web for posting fake stuff (much as SpyMac is going through right now.) There is a thread in Future Hardware right now discussing the efforts of various posters to send false information to MOSR and ThinkSecret. I know people who faked screenshots of PS6 and sent them to ThinkSecret. What's to stop people from doing the same to us, if we didn't check facts?
I don't know the status of the front page. Ask the guys that do. Last I heard, they were considering making it a forums-only site, due to the lack of attention being paid to the front page. Want to save the AI front page? I'm sure if a bunch of interested volunteers started a coalition to save AI- to do research, write articles, etcetera, IÂ?m almost positive that Monish/Gorgonzola/Nick/etcetera could be convinced to allow the posting of this stuff. I would be all for allowing forum members to post well-written stuff on the front page (much like ArsTechnica does from time to time)- but I donÂ?t have the passwords for the publisher system. My hands are a bit tied. However, if I have the support of the forums behind me, I am sure such access could be got.
There's a lot of indifference at MacNN towards AI. I have to ask for approval for just about anything that I want to do for/with the forums. Frankly, about all I can do is look up people's passwords and do stuff within the parameters of the normal UBB 6.1 control panel. I can't install hacks. I can't add more status levels. I've been told to keep the boards as 'stock' as I can, for ease of installing upgrades- thus fewer hacks would have to be applied when an upgrade was. Now that an upgrade's available, I can't get the MacNN guys to install it. I understand they're busy or whatever, but it doesn't seem right that people here that do care and do have the time to work on AI aren't allowed to.
So... it's in your hands guys...
Edit: I was just told that Nick and Monish have been discussing the AI issue and are debating what to do about the front page/etc... but want your input.
One possible plan is the elimination of an official 'front page' as it were, but adding a tabbed interface Ã* la MacNN to the top of the forums page (which would become the new default page) and allowing navigation to the chat and new 'Articles' page -- where user submissions would go -- .... but they want your input.
[ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: Jonathan ]</p>
Did I say removing post counts had anything to do with prudifying AI? I guess its a part of it: a kind of process of antagonizing the rest of the community in what can only be read as a kind of power trip.
Post counts, hidden.
Multiple personalities, discouraged.
SAR, dead.
Censorship, enabled, arbitrary, and slightly frivolous.
Front page, comatose.
Software... ?
Hardware... ?
Reviews... ?
Yeah the quality of discussion must the problem. The discussion is the ONLY good thing going here. Maybe it's not the best, but really, you're going to judge the quality of the discussion? HAHAHHAHAH!!! LOL... Every poster here has contributed more text to this site than any of the staff. When it went dead for months, the idea of the community that used post here brought this site back from the grave pretty fast. The traffic on these boards is a gift. You need do virtually nothing to keep it, but you want to criticise all of the posters here.
Now you can pretend to pick-up the slack by instituting a flurry of inane rules if you want to. You can pester people who were having a little fun untill they leave. You can even kick them out. But you can't blame them for the quality of the discussion. Some light flaming, now and again, and a few eccentrics are the types of personas that give life to a board and keep it going when rumors are thin, or real life is more important.
I knew a Jonathan once, I wonder if you could be the same fellow? So similar...
<strong>So touchy!
Did I say removing post counts had anything to do with prudifying AI? I guess its a part of it: a kind of process of antagonizing the rest of the community in what can only be read as a kind of power trip.
Post counts, hidden.
Multiple personalities, discouraged.
SAR, dead.
Censorship, enabled, arbitrary, and slightly frivolous.
Front page, comatose.
Software... ?
Hardware... ?
Reviews... ?
Yeah the quality of discussion must the problem. The discussion is the ONLY good thing going here. Maybe it's not the best, but really, you're going to judge the quality of the discussion? HAHAHHAHAH!!! LOL... Every poster here has contributed more text to this site than any of the staff. When it went dead for months, the idea of the community that used post here brought this site back from the grave pretty fast. The traffic on these boards is a gift. You need do virtually nothing to keep it, but you want to criticise all of the posters here.
Now you can pretend to pick-up the slack by instituting a flurry of inane rules if you want to. You can pester people who were having a little fun untill they leave. You can even kick them out. But you can't blame them for the quality of the discussion. Some light flaming, now and again, and a few eccentrics are the types of personas that give life to a board and keep it going when rumors are thin, or real life is more important.
I knew a Jonathan once, I wonder if you could be the same fellow? So similar...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Did you READ my post at all?
It answers your questions. Also, note the polls in Suggestions about a lot of this crap.
Multiple personalities? Go to town, just don't be annoying about it.
I turned off all the stupid censorship that gorgonzola turned back on. Stupid. People should be able to say what they want. I agree with the censorship of the one word I left on the censor - f---.
I'm not pestering. Since apparently I can't make a decision that you like --- no matter how it is... i've let it up to YOU people.
Want image sigs, say so.
There were valid reasons for the deletion of SAR. You did not read my post. Want me to copy the moderator forum discussion about it in here, Matsu?
Touchy? No. Angry when you come after me and accuse me of things I'm not responsible for? Yes.
[ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: Jonathan ]</p>
crappy connection.
Thanks for deleting it, Jonathan. There's no need for stuff like that here.
Concerning the post count, personaly it's not important for me now, because i had becoming fully addictive to this forum.
But it was not the case at the beginning , the post count and the reward (be a member) has encourage me to post more, and therefore to become a full member of AI.I know it's childish but it's the truth.
In lot of forums i have see, the post count exist, it's a good marketing way to have regular fellows. In other way it promote quantities versus qualities. If Apple insider was bornt without post count it will be a different matter, it will be more elitist , have fewer members and we do not know if he still exist. Quantitie is a bad thing when it's lead to poor qualitie but quantitie is necessary for the life of the board. When i hoppen the Forum i like to see new threads and new posts , if there is nothing new , i just leave, and if it happens many time, i willquit definitively.
I think that we all try to do the best post that we can.
One suggestion you can create , an orange prize for the best post of the day and a lemon one for the worst. It should be a collective prize given by the admin and mod togethers. I am sure that some here would be proud to have the maximum number of lemon prizes
I'll just said that i say Thank you to the admins and the mods and especially to Jonathan to spent so much time here on AI to try to make live this forums. When you are in charge, you are always submitted to critics, that's the unwritten law of responsabilitie.
[ 03-09-2002: Message edited by: powerdoc ]</p>
I think it's just the hazard