11 replies to this topic

[TroyLoney]

A few recent posts and threads have made me realize how inaccessible this place is to new members and how elitist it has become and I thought it was worth pointing out in a hope that things will change.

Let’s say someone heard the news that Teemu was coming back to the Ducks and they decided to log onto a Ducks message board so that they could discuss it with other Ducks fans. They come across AllDucks and register and what do they find? A single thread about Teemu that is 250 pages long and which begins back on June 7th and which had nothing to do with Scott Niedermayer. Yet, this thread is now the exclusive home for all Scott Niedermayer retirement and/or comeback discussion.

So, all this person has to do in order to get up to speed is read through 3,739 posts of things that vary from “Man My typing Sucks ” to mulitple rants from DarkKnight about why he thinks Scott Niedermayer is a selfish, classless jerk that is holding the team hostage.

When they get done with that they can head over to discuss the injury to Samuel Pahlsson and when he might be back on the ice. All they have to do is click on the Wounded Ducks thread and read through 118 pages (1,762 posts) to get caught up!

Now, for those that say they don’t have to read through everything to get to the information they want, not true. Remember, DropThePuck and DarkKnight are omnipresent to make sure that people don’t post something that has already been said or put something in a place it doesn’t belong. After all, who among us has not gotten the dreaded from DarkKnight after he points out how stupid you are to have posted something that was stated 18 pages earlier?

But the best may be if a new person wants to see what the latest rumor is regarding the Ducks and whether or not they will be making a trade before the deadline. Well, new member, you’re in luck! We’ve got ONE thread for that and it dates all the way back to May of 2006 where you can hear rumors about Joe Sakic coming to the Ducks and once you’ve read through all 593 pages and all 8,883 posts you’ll be up to date!

Should a person that joins the board today really have to go to page 241 of a 250 page thread to get the latest news? Why not just send each new member a message that says:

"Hey, welcome to AllDucks! Hope you like to read! We’ve got threads that are hundreds of pages long with thousands of posts for you to browse. If you want to jump right into the discussion I hope you’ve got a thick skin because you’re in for a lot of criticism for posting things that have already been said or for putting things in the wrong place. See you on the boards!"

My point is, this place seems to be designed so that the same 20 people can have the same five or six discussions about the Ducks forever. New people are not welcomed or encouraged and that's why, despite the Ducks fan base growing and the team having great success, this board does not grow nearly as fast as it should. We should have hundreds of people on here every day discussing the Ducks but instead we have the same 20 people discussing the same five or six topics.

I’m sure I’ll get the typical “If you don’t like the way it’s run just leave” posts, or the advice that I should go back to the Official Message Board even though I have never been a member over there - hell, this post might even get deleted like some of my previous posts have - but I’d like to remind you all of a few things. First, this forum is for discussion of the boards and that’s why I put it here. You don’t want to read it, click on another thread. Second, I am not violating any rules of the board I am simply stating my mind and I would hope that would be encouraged on this board. If you attack me or my character you are violating the rules of the board. The very first rule is: “Do not post any messages that harass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest” so please keep that in mind.

I lurked here for a LONG time before I registered and I think this place has gotten worse over the last year or so. One way to reverse that trend would be to stop merging every thread into one that already exists. Why couldn’t Scott Niedermayer’s potential retirement have had its own thread? Why couldn’t Teemu Selanne’s potential retirement have had its own thread? Yes, they were both considering retirement but they are two different people with two completely different set of circumstances. If two different Ducks are in scoring slump do we have to merge their threads into one thread titled "Scoring Slump"? Why doesn’t the discussion of Samuel Pahlsson’s injury have its own thread? Is Pahlsson's injury really relevant to the previous discussion of Bertuzzi's injury? I don't think it is, so why should they be in the same thread? Each are their own topics and yes, some are similar, but then again all of our topics are similar in the sense that they discuss the Ducks so why not just have one thread titled “Ducks discussion”?

If you’re worried about threads being brought up well after they are relevant or in threads getting too far off topic (as though the Giguere/Selanne discussion which is now titled “Selanne & Scott Niedermayer (BOTH BACK)” didn’t get off topic) then close them. And no, I don’t want 18 different threads that are all discussing Teemu’s return but there’s a happy medium to be found between that and what we have here.

Thanks to the 12 people that took the time to read this and I wish I could convince myself that this would serve any purpose other than me venting, but I can’t. I guess those that run this place should ask themselves what kind of board they want – one that encourages free discussion and is open to new members or one that is more like a gathering of old friends who are going over the same discussions time and time again? I hope it’s the former.

TroyLoney

[LightItUp4126]

This has nothing to do with new members and is the same rant you always give about how you hate that we merge threads. Well I tell you what, if you think that you can do better, go right ahead. Until then, we have plenty of our own moderators and the board is thriving with 2,472 members currently.

Also, attacks on people who are so integral on this board and who help to keep it running such as Dark Knight and DTP aren't constructive at all. If you have things to say to them, however, feel free to do so via the boards' PM system. Otherwise, I think you've already made your point three times, and this thread is entirely unnecessary.

In the end, even if I'm alone, I've decided that you are an annoyance and you don't know what it is you're talking about.

[BritDuck]

A few recent posts and threads have made me realize how inaccessible this place is to new members and how elitist it has become and I thought it was worth pointing out in a hope that things will change.

Yeah, you're really making our board so much friendlier.

How elitist it has become? You've been here, what, 2 months? And in that time all you've done is bitch and moan about how we run our fan-funded board. You whine about being "attacked" and yet you do nothing but attack our hard-working mods who give up a lot of their time to help maintain this board.

As LIU said, if you don't like it, go somewhere else. If you think you can do better, go design, run and pay for your own board. No one is making you stay here or read our long topics.

I guess those that run this place should ask themselves what kind of board they want – one that encourages free discussion and is open to new members or one that is more like a gathering of old friends who are going over the same discussions time and time again? I hope it’s the former.

We know what kind of board we want, which is why we all come back here time and time again. And yes, I consider many, many people on this board to be my friends, most of whom I have never met in person. To many of us, this board is like a second home, something you don't seem to understand. This is our board, this is how we like it. New members are always welcome, but as with anything, if you come aboard and don't like it, perhaps you should find yourself a new home.

[QuacksMeUp]

If you click on the link entitled "View New Posts" in the orange strip at the top, you will receive a gift of all of the threads in all of the forums on this site that are being discussed. They will have a dot on the left of each thread that you can then click on to get you to the very last post in the thread that you visited. If you want to just see the most current post in a thread, you can just click on the the number of the last page that is also presented next to the name of the thread.

Use these board features and all will be right with your world.

[Duckbill]

A few recent posts and threads have made me realize how inaccessible this place is to new members and how elitist it has become and I thought it was worth pointing out in a hope that things will change.

This place was absolutely GREAT to me when I signed up. I want you to name ONE instance of elitism. Name one time where someone has been given preferential treatment over another here due to their board history. If you feel the red carpet should have been rolled out for you, I got bad news for you. If you think DK being a dick to you means he's elitist, then you'd be wrong again. (He's a dick to everyone, but he's also right normally about 85-90% of the time). If you think that because your ideas regarding the moderating rules get shot down every time it's because the mods or other posters are "elitist" then grow some stones.

Let’s say someone heard the news that Teemu was coming back to the Ducks and they decided to log onto a Ducks message board so that they could discuss it with other Ducks fans. They come across AllDucks and register and what do they find? A single thread about Teemu that is 250 pages long and which begins back on June 7th and which had nothing to do with Scott Niedermayer. Yet, this thread is now the exclusive home for all Scott Niedermayer retirement and/or comeback discussion.

Odd considering you're the guy who wants everything merged or moved in a specific way. We don't need eighty five threads saying the same thing with the same rumors. Scotty's retirement discussion was added to that thread to keep things simple and because we didn't think he was going to be considering retirement like Teemu was on June 7th. Let's also remember that Scotty has been back for over a month now and you're bringing up this NOW.

So, all this person has to do in order to get up to speed is read through 3,739 posts of things that vary from “Man My typing Sucks ” to mulitple rants from DarkKnight about why he thinks Scott Niedermayer is a selfish, classless jerk that is holding the team hostage.

When they get done with that they can head over to discuss the injury to Samuel Pahlsson and when he might be back on the ice. All they have to do is click on the Wounded Ducks thread and read through 118 pages (1,762 posts) to get caught up!

Recent posts are towards the front, you have to scroll through maybe one or two of the most recent pages in the thread to get the newest information. There is also a search function.

Now, for those that say they don’t have to read through everything to get to the information they want, not true. Remember, DropThePuck and DarkKnight are omnipresent to make sure that people don’t post something that has already been said or put something in a place it doesn’t belong. After all, who among us has not gotten the dreaded from DarkKnight after he points out how stupid you are to have posted something that was stated 18 pages earlier?

So you've basically been picked on by DK, and you're using his behavior as a way to call out the entire board? If you've got a problem with someone like that you do it in private, via PMs with moderators or Admins. You DON'T make it a public whine-fest like you're doing now.

But the best may be if a new person wants to see what the latest rumor is regarding the Ducks and whether or not they will be making a trade before the deadline. Well, new member, you’re in luck! We’ve got ONE thread for that and it dates all the way back to May of 2006 where you can hear rumors about Joe Sakic coming to the Ducks and once you’ve read through all 593 pages and all 8,883 posts you’ll be up to date!

Should a person that joins the board today really have to go to page 241 of a 250 page thread to get the latest news? Why not just send each new member a message that says:

Asked and answered. If you're too dumb to comprehend that the newest posts in the thread are going to be the latest news, then you need serious help.

"Hey, welcome to AllDucks! Hope you like to read! We’ve got threads that are hundreds of pages long with thousands of posts for you to browse. If you want to jump right into the discussion I hope you’ve got a thick skin because you’re in for a lot of criticism for posting things that have already been said or for putting things in the wrong place. See you on the boards!"

If you don't like it, you can always register elsewhere or not post here. Better yet, you could start your own forum and run it the way you like.

My point is, this place seems to be designed so that the same 20 people can have the same five or six discussions about the Ducks forever. New people are not welcomed or encouraged and that's why, despite the Ducks fan base growing and the team having great success, this board does not grow nearly as fast as it should. We should have hundreds of people on here every day discussing the Ducks but instead we have the same 20 people discussing the same five or six topics.

You're so full of crap it's coming out of your ears. This board does encourage and welcome new members quite well. The problem comes when one new member (yourself) takes it upon himself to start a board wide crusade about how things should be done around here. The biggest problem we have with you is that instead of being constructive in your approach to "solving" these problems you see, you post big threads where you whine and cry and then follow up that crying with more crying about how Dark Knight isn't nice to you.

And DropThePuck is an exceptional moderator, who treats everyone quite well unless they are a j*a* such as yourself.

[Duckbill]

I’m sure I’ll get the typical “If you don’t like the way it’s run just leave” posts, or the advice that I should go back to the Official Message Board even though I have never been a member over there - hell, this post might even get deleted like some of my previous posts have - but I’d like to remind you all of a few things.

First, this forum is for discussion of the boards and that’s why I put it here. You don’t want to read it, click on another thread. Second, I am not violating any rules of the board I am simply stating my mind and I would hope that would be encouraged on this board. If you attack me or my character you are violating the rules of the board. The very first rule is: “Do not post any messages that harass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest” so please keep that in mind.

It's typical because it is the truth. George Carlin said it best about television, but the same message can be applied here. He said that if you see something on TV that there are two knobs on the set that fix the problem. One knob changes the channel, and the other one turns the set off. You've been granted a lot of tolerance around here because aside from your obvious nitpicking you aren't really that much of a troll or anything.

And I wanted to read this thread, because with you it's sort of a morbid curiosity I have about what stupid things you're going to say next. This is one of the few times i'm going to openly flout the rules around here. But really the only way to describe you is as a complete whackjob. This thread is just another drama of you up on a soapbox clamoring about what is wrong with the board when you could be doing this just as easily in private messages. There's a term for someone like you, "attention-whore". Plenty of us on here are just sick and tired of it.

I lurked here for a LONG time before I registered and I think this place has gotten worse over the last year or so.
*Snip useless boring rant*

Thanks to the 12 people that took the time to read this and I wish I could convince myself that this would serve any purpose other than me venting, but I can’t.

I guess those that run this place should ask themselves what kind of board they want – one that encourages free discussion and is open to new members or one that is more like a gathering of old friends who are going over the same discussions time and time again? I hope it’s the former.

TroyLoney

If venting is what this is all about, then this really isn't the place for you to be posting it now is there? You lurked here for so long and knew what you were coming into but still registered anyway? You might as well buy a brand of beer, knowing full well how much you hate it, and then complain about the taste afterwards.

The world's smallest violin plays just for you. Tell me, do you also walk into a restaurant, complain loudly to the manager in front of everyone else in the store and complain about the decor and the menu loudly and harass your aitress but still come back each week for a meal?

The heart of the matter is that, even if you had valid points to your case and could come up with evidence other than "DK WUZ MEAN TO ME!" then you still would be out of luck because of the ignorant and obnoxious way you have prosecuted your case.

[Reb]

Troy Loney, I wonder why it is that you are the only one that takes these kind of issues up with our board.
Few others, if any, seem to have too much problem navigating around and joining in the discussion when they want to.
Further, one does not have to wade through all four hundred thirty-seven pages of a thread to read the latest thoughts.

[Itlan]

Troy Loney, I wonder why it is that you are the only one that takes these kind of issues up with our board.
Few others, if any, seem to have too much problem navigating around and joining in the discussion when they want to.
Further, one does not have to wade through all four hundred thirty-seven pages of a thread to read the latest thoughts.

He's not the only one.

I think news about Teemu returning should be the first thread shown on the main page... is it not important enough? Instead it is buried in a thread with over 250 pages, and just to find the first announcement of his return you have to skip back to page 240 or so... (depending on your board settings)

You guys run the board as you wish, but it's probably better to just take note of people's complaints instead of berating them as DuckBill and others have just done.

[Duckbill]

You guys run the board as you wish, but it's probably better to just take note of people's complaints instead of berating them as DuckBill and others have just done.

I don't have a problem with the complaints, what I have a problem with is when people start huge grandstanding threads when they have been told time and again that the issue could be better resolved through direct contact with admins and moderators. Then, when the guy decides that in order to further his own cause, he's going to start launching unwarranted criticisms of the moderators, I felt it was time for him to hear my opinion of the situation, from someone who isn't one of the oldest members on the board and who had a completely different experience from him.

Yes there are some points TroyLoney brings up that might be worth discussing, but not by posting a huge rant about how this board is elitist and unwelcoming and targeting that message to new members of AllDucks. I haven't seen him propose ONE constructive thing in his "argument."

Itlan, if a situation comes up in the future where you are unsatisfied with how the board is run, are you going to take your case publicly to the front of the board and try to get everyone to look at you by causing a big scene, or are you going to discuss it rationally with a moderator or admin. You're a reasonable guy, so i'd expect that you would do the right thing and have a discussion with someone, and not just whine and complain in the board discussion forum, while admittedly including your own "venting" in with it.

[Marshy]

I don't condone this type of activity but I will share my thoughts and opinion.

Now let me start off by saying that this is coming from experience with working on online communities by building them and moderating throughout the years.

This place has become too strict on the rules. There are some rules that are enforced by regular members that are just plain stupid. They were never put into effect by staff members or thought of when this community was started. One of them being the "let's stick a broad topic into one thread" which I believe the user who started this is saying.

I don't bother looking at the team news that much anymore because I don't want to go through all those posts that have NOTHING to do with the original topic. As said, the topic in question has 250 pages of blabbering and even as a staff member, I don't want to bother. How do you think a new member feels?

Now I am all for sticking to one topic and keeping it there. One great example of this is the recent fundraiser that we did for Haili Todrick. Jason started a thread about a particular story and everyone talks about it and I started a thread about the actual fundraiser. The two topics went hand in hand and worked.

They were about two different topics (the fundraiser and her progress) but shared a common bond: Haili.

I am sure that the staff here would like to hear suggestions on how to make this forum better for ALL involved; new members and veterans. I know MT would like to make this site the best that it can be.

I am not sure where we lost our way of striving to be the best and became stagnant but perhaps this is something the staff and the community should work on.

Just my two cents.

[DucksSnip]

my 2 cents...i have been coming to this site for about 2 years and started posting hear about a year ago...i know that when i first posted here i was welcomed on to the board and felt very comfortable posting. this is the first board i have ever posted on...i absolutely love this board and my fellow DUCKS FANS... i PERSONALLY dont mind how everything is set up here, but could be that i have spent some time on here and know how and where to go to talk about/look for anything that i want to... also i know that if you are new you should feel free and open to discuss(which i believe they do)...but IMO if your new you should also understand that there are ways things are ran and if you cross those lines and get called on it, dont take it as a shot against you... i respect EVERYBODY on here even if they have 1 post or 30000 post...with that said i appreciate the time people put into this site to make it what it is, since i get so much enjoyment out of it and its free...how can you complain with that?...although there is always room for improvement...me i have no complaints..and it is for the people who run this site to determine....sorry if i offended anyone, and sorry this is long

[Duckbill]

Let me make a proposal. Open a thread within the Board discussion forum where Board users can make proposals or discuss Board-related ideas. Those ideas would then be considered by the site Staff, who would than accept or reject as they saw fit. It's not a democracy, but it doesn't leave people out.

The catch is that once the Staff decides on something, the book is closed and not up for any further discussion. This way people like Troy Loney can submit their ideas and suggestions for discussion, and then afterwards once that idea is either acepted or dismissed the discussion ends there. Ideas are exchanged, and after things are settled they remain settled with no grandstanding and complaining months later.

It doesn't matter how good the idea is. I could have the greatest idea in the world for a movie but if I run into the studio executives office and take a dump on his desk that's not going to get me any consideration now is it?

Yes thats an exaggeration for humor's sake. This thread is crying out for some levity.