Here vs There

[Queen Asuka]

[color=royalblue][size=1]I hope this topic is perfectly legal. I thought I would give it a go.

Alright, during the time that transpired while I was in Otaku Big Brother, I joined a different message board. Now, there were a FEW people from the Otaku Boards on there, but it was just one of the most horrible places I've ever visited. And it's really weird, but when I joined the OB I was immediately accepted and I made friends quickly. There, I could barely even be noticed.

The board was pretty similar to our own, except for they had a huge staff that was practically worshipped.

And during that week or two, I realized that the Otaku Boards it a really awesome place. People may complain about how strict the rules are and so forth, but we have, for the most part, a really friendly user community.

Please give me your thoughts on this topic.[/color][/size]

[Schrat]

[size=1]I totally agree with you Asuka( May I call you that?).

Before Otaku, I was at another boards, sometimes two. A few people there said that those boards ( Will remain unnamed, unless someone askes...) were'nt that good, and they should be more like OB. So I was wondering how good this place was, so I signed up and was immediatly addicted.

I tried going back there, but it just wasnt the same. Otaku will always be the best, It is truely special...[/size]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=deeppink][size=1]I don't mind being called Asuka at all. Everyone else does it, so feel free.

Well this board was one that someone from HERE, I don't even remember who, introduced me to. I swear, I tried so HARD to get people on there to notice me, but they were so rude. I hated it. And the post quality was shameful, too.

I always loved Otaku Boards becuase almost everyone makes a good post. Notice [i]almost[/i], though. There are still a few who must learn.[/color][/size]

[eleanor]

Otakuboards IS one of the best boards I've been to. (Even though I don't hang around here much) I've visited other boards, and they DO worship their staff sometimes, like they're lives depend on being on that boards! Other boards also don't have rules like Otaku, leaving people to run wild with threads and leave spam all over the place. The grammar in some places are HORRIBLE and so is their staff.

[wrist cutter]

I prefer the other messageboard I frequent, but this place certainly isn't too bad. Otakuboards has its pros and cons, but the sheer size of it is what makes me come here...

[Yu Yu Hakusho!]

There's another?
What's the website?
I know of a [url]www.otakuboard.com[/url] but that's about it.

[Kittcat]

[color=crimson]I've been to a lot of other boards, and the rules here aren't strict at all. O.o; Its a welcome change, in my opinion, to have a little flexibility within the laws of a board. At the other boards, well... on 2 no one knows me. On the other one, a lot of people know me. I'd give you guys this, though... Otaku Board is the biggest message board I've seen. Although, I am rather new, so I can't say anything about the friendships you get at this point.[/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Hmm. I've been at other message boards that were simliar to OtakuBoards community wise, IE you were accepted easily; everyone was friendly; good staff/posts, but they were not as large as OB was. I'd have to say that OB is one of the best Message Boards i've been to..[/color]

[Yu Yu Hakusho!]

Our message boards are what I'd call very sucessful. otakuboard.com has only like 300 or so members.
I really like our place.

[Rhys Mayiessen]

[color=navy]Well this is the first website I've ever been to but Darkmoon's message board is the second...its not that big because she just started it.[/color]

[Genkai]

Some boards have about 30,000 members(what's that gaming board?) and to be recognized you need to post about 70 times per day and have about 10,000 posts. Sometimes, if you makke a thread, by the time it loads it has about 10 replies, and ten minutes later it's been bumped to the bottom of the page. so my friend says.

I'm a casual member to 1 other board, megatokyo.com , which has 17216 members. It's nice, but hard to get recognized..

Also, wrist cutter introduced me to another board today..HUGE avatars there..

[liamc2]

I remember all the times when otaku was down, and all the other message boards I went to...

*twitch*

Let us never speak of my traitorous past.

~~~~~~~~~

I've got to agree with you. There isn't another place like otakuboards. It's just a really friendly place. I actually enjoy the 'PG' atmosphere.

I much prefer posts that make sense and actually don't involve an insult/derogatory comment about race or sexual preference/or recommendation to a 'hottie'

If you haven't guessed yet, I do prefer clean conversation and yes I take offence at being called 'queer'

[Ryan]

[size=1][color=red]

Yes, I have been to quite a lot of message boards. Even administered some. But most of them a moderator. Otaku is by far the best in terms of rule inforcement and friendliness. I have been to some where there is nothing but immature spammers going off every second. Very ugly and unprofessional. Some where there are no rules inforced whatsoever. This leads to boredom and loss of interest because it does get tiring of spamming all day long. But, I have been to some where the rules are inforced in a friendly and proper manner and users communicate in a well behaved way. Otakuboards is definetly one of these forums. And it wouldn't be if we didn't have people like James and Adam and all of the moderators who strive to keep Otakuboards this way. They are the people who keep this board together. But the population ,which won't stop growing, of Otakuboards is because of the members who take time from their daily lives to post and keep the boards lively. They are the ones that reccomend the forum to friends and family and Otakuboards wouldn't have survived for this long if it wasn't for them. I have been here for almost two years and I have never made as much friends in real life then the ones I have made here. I am truly proud to call myself a member of Otakuboards![/size][/color]

[ZeroBlade]

Genkai I know of a message boards that is EXACTLY how you just described it. It was also the first message board I ever signed up for. I never did liked message boards to begin with and the one I just mentioned was full of some of the worst people you can find on the net. I asked simple questions and get back nothing but flame after flame. I'll be lucky to get at least one friendly reply. Then Rick Hunter told me about this place. I was wary to accept his invite and eventually accepted. OB is definitely one place where you can just have good chats with many people and led me to search for any other message boards that are similar. (And found several, I post something or two in each of them but I'm not well known in any of them which just explains why my current posts hasn't hit 500 yet.) As for that gaming boards. After being with them for a year, I'm still not widely known but I often give respected posts and warn any newbies to be careful around there. I'll respect those who give their thoughts they just talk about the subject at hand. But if they flame me or someone who's giving their opinion, I'll make them look like a fool. Thankfully OB and the other boards I go to have been nothing like that and immediately ban those who do. However though, that flame infested message board I speak of has members perhaps in the hundreds of thousands which is likely why so much flaming goes around...

[Spikey]

[COLOR=royalblue]I think this board is better than many other boards. All of the other boards, everybody would spam. It's better to be strict because then if you weren't, then the board would just be way to sloppy.

This board is better than all the boards that I know. A lot of people might not, but if they would relize that it is actually better, and more friendly. All the other boards just don't have any friendly members.[/color]

[Semjaza]

It varies from board to board. I don't know how well liked or accepted I am in general here, but I have made some good friends I'd say. I came here rather late compared to most of the regulars here though (and a good deal of the mods).

When you go to an already established board that already has all it's cliques and stuff set up, it's really hard to just break in. People that have been here a while might not realize that, but like you said, when you go to another board it's a challenge I suppose. Sometimes it seems like the only way to get noticed at those places is to go severely against the grain.

I only post on two boards anymore... Here and Gaming Age. OB is comparatively smaller (GA sometimes has 250 users on at once, plus a few hundred guests), and I'm sure that's what makes it easier to fall into and make yourself heard.

[Chaos]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Queen Asuka [/i]
[B][color=deeppink][size=1]I don't mind being called Asuka at all. Everyone else does it, so feel free.
[/color][/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

Well, I call you Tori, so HAH!



[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by DeathKnight [/i]
[B][color=crimson]Hmm. I've been at other message boards that were simliar to OtakuBoards community wise, IE you were accepted easily; everyone was friendly; good staff/posts, but they were not as large as OB was. I'd have to say that OB is one of the best Message Boards i've been to..[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]


I'm hoping you're not forgetting JVF...


In any case, Otaku is very close-knit, and is usually open to new and mostly good changes. I suppose that it could be better, and let carefree newbies run around with more slack in their choke chains, but then it wouldn't be as cool. I've been to quite a few forums, and I've found this is the best community that I didn't create...

[ZeroBlade]

Thats exactly why. The size. I think things are normal here because there is a good number of mods to handle all the members and most of us already know the rules so they can be trusted more. Like you said, in Gaming Age they have WAY more members and guests and the only thing I can think of to keep peace is have an army of mods. The message boards I spoke of doesn't even tell you who is a mod and has someone flaming another like every 30 seconds. Its crazy.

[Charles]

I can't really comment about other boards; I don't visit them. I have made this place my home as far as online forums are concerned. I don't really feel like starting over where everything is foreign to me. Plus, I don't want to spread myself out too thin. I'd rather spend generous time at one place and be able to take my time and enjoy myself, rather than make rounds around the internet.

Occasionally I browse GameFaqs, but I would never dream of becoming an active member. There's too much idiocy there, like flaming and the worst post quality I've seen this side of Kuja.

I've really grown a lot here, built up some nice memories and met some genuinely cool people. The poetry and gaming forums are a little slow, but the quality kind of makes up for it. Plus, I like the atmosphere. I mean, this is a cool place to relax, where prejudice is tossed aside and everyone's accepted. I'm not saying that there aren't other forums where people are treated respectfully, but this is it for me, lol. I doubt I can go anywhere else and join a fight club or be another man's husband. O.o;;

You can take the otaku out of the white boy but you can't take the white boy out of the otaku.

[Rain]

[color=blue][size=1]I signed up to another message board that time when OB was down for about a month. I've only posted there once, partly because I'm lazy, but mostly because I just didn't feel as welcome as I do when I'm on OB. Like QA said, it was really hard to get noticed. They had twice as many memebers as OB. Now, I didn't make any close friends on OB for a while, but I still felt welcome, even though I didn't know you guys very well. If/when OB shuts down, I don't think I'll go to another message board. It just won't be the same. lol ^^.[/size][/color]

[James]

[color=#507AAC]Thanks for the kind words everyone. It's really nice to know that everyone still enjoys OB after all this time.

I'm not much of a forums person myself. I visit very few forums. The only other forums I visit are N-Sider forums and Gaming-Age. But I visit both of those maybe once every week or so. So I wouldn't say that I frequent them.

I think that if we had no rules or enforcement, we'd be a lot larger. Maybe two or three times larger. But you'll often find that very large boards have more difficulty when it comes to keeping tabs on everyone's behavior. The more members you have, the more Mods you need...and eventually it gets too overcrowded. Think IGNboards and you will see what I mean.

Even though this site isn't perfect (and let's face it, none are), I think we've somehow struck the right formula over time. A combination of rules and "culture" work really well together. I've always known people here to be friendly and accepting -- especially of new members. And that's a really strong asset.

I also notice that many members here become friends over time, which is also a really nice thing. Also, OtakuBoards must do something right; there are numerous forums/boards out there who replicate everything from our rules to forum structure. I don't see this as a bad thing at all -- as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To that end, I think OtakuBoards has kind of established a benchmark in its "genre" (by that I mean, anime forums specifically).

Still, at the end of the day it comes down to the people. The staff who make the site run smoothly and the members who contribute to the positive atmosphere. Afterall, a forum is worthless without the right people participating.

Anyway, at the very least...I'm really glad that the work I do (and the work of the other staff) is appreciated. I'm sure it makes what we do a whole lot more worthwhile.[/color]

[Sara]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by James [/i]
[B][color=#507AAC]Anyway, at the very least...I'm really glad that the work I do (and the work of the other staff) is appreciated. I'm sure it makes what we do a whole lot more worthwhile.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Indeed, cheers to y'all. You deserve it, heh.

I go to other messageboards, on and off. [Mostly off, on account of losing passwords, usernames, and patience. After spending so much time with the luxurious average post quality of OB, it's rather painful to venture out into the big scary online world.]

Frankly, though, it's the people who keep me here. Where else would I find wrist cutter's sarcastic remarks, Juu's sweetness, James' strained patience, and Piro's..um..Piro-ness? :toothy:

I keep in touch with several people by other means, but it's really great to have a good-sized active 'core group' that I can interact with [or quietly observe] at OB.

*waves*[/SIZE]

[Mnemolth]

This messageboard is actually quite good at what it tries to achieve. James does well. But its not for everyone. I think each Board has its own style and culture. This Board doesn't fit very comfortably with me, but there are things and people here I find ... interesting ....

And someone mentioned OtakuBoard.com? Heheheh. Its more new than this Board. I believe its about a yr and a half old, or thereabouts. Its also run differently. By admins who are family members. And the staff and regulars are generally over 18, so the attitude is different.

I bring OtakuBoard.com up only because it has the honor of being the only forum to have ever banned me. ;)

What's so notable about that you might say. Well, nothing, except that I've been online for a good part of a decade, and I've visited forums from the ancient dial-up BBS to the modern MessageBoard and I have never ever been banned before. So the first is always memorable. :D

But I guess its a good thing. After all, if I hadn't been kicked out I would have never found this place... and then you commoners would not have been blessed with my glorious presence. :D :D :D

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]Yeah, I saw your erm.. [i]banned[/i] status there, at otakuboard, with no S. Just joined yesterday, don't think I'll beh coming back. O.o

I'd have to say that OB is a wonderful place on the net, and Through a series of events, I've made some very good friends on here. You know who you are ;)

OB is my second board ever, and I've grown a lot under these boards. Though, some scars never fade...

My first message board was a Harry Potter one. Quite large. They had a forum called the Department of International Magical Co-operation, where you could post stuff about countries other than America, because a large chunk of the members were American. You'd see threads about Stereotypes of countries, who's from (insert country here)?, etc. Well, the time I was there, was right around the time after Sept. 11th happened. Naturally there were quite a few threads about that topic. Most of them were basically, "What's your opinion, did we deserve it?" type of things. Of course, I'd be the "American" and stand up for my country. The essence of my posts in there were basically "Yes, we have done some wrong things, but no country deserves that to happen to them(This is my opinion, and was used for purposes of telling my story. Please don't get worked up about it, and if you really need to say something about it, either PM me, or start a new thread, but please, let's not get off-topic here, before a mod tells us to stay on track.)." of course people disagreed with me, and basically the whole thread turned into a flame war. The moderator of the forum was, actually one of my favorites, which says something, because she didn't do anything about the flame wars.

Two people stick out in my mind, that flamed me and my opinion. They were ugandabend and beevanthemusical (you could not have any spaces or caps in your name. Just numbers and letters). Okay, so what if they flamed me? I should be over it, with my personality, right? Well, not quite. BOTH of them were moderators. They flamed me, they flamed my opinion, and THEY WERE MODERATORS OF MY FIRST MB. THAT is why I have scars, and to this day, I'm still a bit afraid of moderators. You guys are really nice and all, but it's just imbedded in me to be afraid of you guys. So, if you ever see something attached to the end of my post like "this is just my opinion. You don't have to agree with it. Please, don't kill me," you'll know why.

OB is so friendly here. I remember posting something in a thread just like the one on the Harry Potter place, only with more intelligent discussion. I believe I totally lost my temper with Ravenstorture, and basically screamed at her, which was NOT the most brilliant thing to do. The next day, when I went to look at the thread, I was dreading it because I expected half the mods to be yelling at me, all the members to hate me, and wasn't sure if James had banned me yet. When I looked at the thread, I was amazed, at how ravenstorture took it. She was actually quite nice, defending her points well against my... erm... screaming. I believe I did apologize, though. ^_^;;;

The point of my story is, You guys are really, really nice. *huggles everyone* *huggles James and the mods again* ^______^[/color]

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]I remember joining a Zelda forum a while back and posted there for a while until I got sick of their newbie-flaming. All they did was ***** about new members, blah blah blah. I really liked the structure and content of that forum, so it's too bad that the other members were such bad sports.

I have trouble remembering much of the years 1999-2001 [odd, isn't it?], so my memories from the first few days that I joined here aren't very clear. However, I remember people were always nice to me and no one made me feel unwelcome. That tempts me to launch into OB history, so I guess I should stop while I can :D[/color]