Otaku Lounge R.E.J.U.V.E.N.A.T.I.O.N

[Zidargh]

[size=1] Don't bother asking me what the acronym stands for, because I don't know either. I used it for effect.

Now, I'm sure you've all noticed, but Otaku Lounge's quality of threads has completely sunken like a ship in a stormy Bemuda Triangle. I do not usually go in there, simply because nothing really interests me in there anymore, but after I finished reading through the election thread posts, I clicked back on my browser, and was suddenly gobsmacked. "Why were you gobsmacked?" You ask? Well, I'll tell you.

It seems to have spawned something that a member has infected it with. Thread after thread (With the odd exception of a gap in the pattern here and there), it states that our glorious 'ChibiHorseWoman' has been the creator. And yes, I'm singling people out, because quite frankly, it's getting out of hand.

I understand that that forum is literally General Discussion, and we are going to get the odd thread that makes you do this, 'o_0', but I'm sorry, the sheer lack of quality of not only discussion, but topic, is ridiculous in these threads.

It seems that the intelligence level in that forum has dropped significantly, and don't get me wrong, alot of you very intelligent people still post in that forum, so that's all well and good, but I feel the stupidity of her threads outweighs the actual intelligent ones.

Yes, we're going to get the odd member here and there that does the same, but the amount of 'What was your most embarrassing date?' threads or something else is swarming. Quite frankly, no quality 'general discussion' is coming of them.

If these 'threads' were written with some clear meaning/discussion/acceptable humor in mind, then I'd be all for them, but something needs to be done. (And don't get me wrong, there's quite a few very mature/excellent threads here. None by Miss. Chibi Centaur).

I tried to write this to be as less insulting as possible, but if any of you take offense to this, I don't particularily care. As I'm not alone in saying this.


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[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

I actually had noticed the same trend in the Otaku Lounge as of late, though realistically this sort of things has been going of for quite a while. To be honest I agree with Zidargh on this though I don't blame Chibihorsewoman completely, although she does start a fair share of these threads. Often I relish the chance to take part in a discussion that doesn't involve Gay Marriage/Abortion/American Politics/Thread about general nonsense/etc. I don't really know what the cure is to this, as long as there are people who will post in these threads, I admit I do but I always put effort and meaning into what I write, they will always exist. I expect someone to say we could ban Chibihorsewoman but honestly I don't think that will solve the problems. People will banter about everyday crap, they do it in real life, they'll do it on OB.[/SIZE]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]I don't understand what it is you're asking for. All I see here is a general witch-hunt, which frankly annoys me far more than any state of particular topics. You're talking about ChibiHorsewoman as if she isn't even a real person, and that I find to be more offensive. I know I would be if I were her.

If you don't like a topic, there's no obligation for you to post in it or even read it. Nobody's forcing you to do anything like that. And there's nothing to stop people from starting their own topics if they think what's there is insufficient.[/color]

[Zidargh]

[size=1] After a couple of hours, I've re-re-read my post, and I'd like to apologise for the tone it gave off. It was a very cruel post when I look back at it, and yes I can see how it gave off the impression of a witch-hunt, so I apologise for that ChibiHorseWoman.

Yet my point still remains. Even though I myself do not feel obligated to post in these kinds of threads (And Id like to state another apology for putting you completely to blame), they definitely give off an atmosphere around that forum, and to be honest, I really am not encouraged to post in any thread in there because quite frankly, they make the forum seem as if that's all it consist of.

I ask if it were possible to create more well thought-out threads. I respect the fact that these are social message boards, but there needs to be a limit to these kinds of threads. Because, excluding the minority of the very intelligent threads in there, that's all the forum seems to be pumping out!

[b]Edit:[/b] Credit goes to Shy for this. He has made a very valid point that the OL has always been of very poor quality. And he is right that her presence is reflected alot because of her heavy activity within the forum, so admittedly, I am wrong in my one-sided opinion.

But something needs to be done.

[b][Z][/b][/size]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Well I wasn't blaming Chibihorsewoman for the way the Otaku Lounge is at the moment, if it sounds that way then I apologise to her for that. I merely stated that people will discuss everyday life stuff that seems boring after it's been put in threat form for the hundredth time. As I said I'd love to get in a thread that wasn't boring or controversial, something which rarely happens in the Lounge nowadays. I'd say what Zidargh meant was that of these everyday threads it happens to be Chibihorsewoman that makes a fair amount of them. I'm not saying that's bad I'm just stating reality. Again I?m not saying anything against Chibihorsewoman I?m just stating facts.[/SIZE]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]As you said in echoing Shy's comments, Zidargh, the Otaku Lounge isn't somewhere I frequent particularly, if only because I can discuss every day life in things like MyO. The debates I do actively take part in there I enjoy, generally because it's the matters of more serious interest that I pay attention to (e.g. elections, love, philosophy and drugs).

But even the Anime Lounge isn't free from what you might call more 'trivial' threads: 'Who is your favourite character?', 'Which is the best anime of ____ genre?'. If it's the post quality itself that's getting poor, then that's a matter for the particular forum Moderators to deal with. These kind of threads will always be around because they're the questions that people always want to ask. And sometimes you can get decent answers to it, even though they don't always allow for 'discussion' as such, more rather a 'general listing of people's unrelated opinions'.

I think it lies more in how people reply than what the thread's about in the first place. If you can put imagination into something there's no reason why a thread can't be interesting, popular and successful without being controversial or dumbed-down. Considering the age range of all the members of the Boards you can't expect to have perfect discussions each time, although I'll admit that sifting through to find ones I want to reply to can get rather trying at times, especially if you've seen things pop up more than once before. My post rate's gone down quite substantially in recent months because there's little I've been interested in talking about, my RPGs aren't working or I've not got access to all the new animes that people are raving about. So sometimes a thread that requires less brainpower to read and answer can be welcoming to someone like me because it gives me somewhere to post without feeling it's contrived, and keeps me tied to the forum I moderate. Otherwise I can't help but feel a little detached from it all.[/COLOR]

[James]

[color=#667F84]Complaining about quality in Otaku Lounge is a bit like complaining that the sky is blue; it always has been and it always will be.

The fact is, Otaku Lounge is an off-topic, general discussion forum.

I would ask you to do one simple, simple thing. Go back to the very oldest page of Otaku Lounge and take a look. Compare that to the most recent couple of pages.

What you'll find is that Otaku Lounge has steadily [i]increased[/i] its quality over the years.

Now, I realize that isn't saying much for many of you, but as Solo accurately points out, there is [i]no[/i] obligation involved at OtakuBoards; you don't have to post or read anything in Otaku Lounge if you don't want to.

I don't buy the concept that the forum gives off an "atmosphere". Don't be silly. It's a forum and it's a forum that, if you don't visit it, may as well not even be there.

You'll find that there are members on OB who only visit one or two forums. Those people often don't even know what's going on at other parts of the site; it doesn't matter to them, because they've made a choice about what they want to see and do here. I think the same goes for you, or for anyone else. If you don't like Otaku Lounge, simply don't participate in it.[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Conversely, I've found there to be some pretty good threads going on in the OL right now, and the activity has picked up a lot. Of course there will always be a thread that you've seen before hanging around. It's because a lot of the big issues have been covered. And covered. And covered. But arguing over them is still enjoyable. The thing is, those kind of topics will always keep cropping up. And I agree with Solo over the initial 'witch-hunt' feel of this thread. I think that CHW is actually a pretty good poster, and contributes a lot to the OL. If you'll check my post background, you'll see that I do my best to start decent threads, that are new and will generate discussion.

If you would like to see better threads in the OL, I'd suggest something remarkable; make them yourself.

And if you can't think of a single, quality, uncovered topic, then maybe you've reached the impasse most people have.[/size]

[Epitome]

[QUOTE=Baron Samedi][size=1]Conversely, I've found there to be some pretty good threads going on in the OL right now, and the activity has picked up a lot. Of course there will always be a thread that you've seen before hanging around. It's because a lot of the big issues have been covered. And covered. And covered. But arguing over them is still enjoyable. The thing is, those kind of topics will always keep cropping up. And I agree with Solo over the initial 'witch-hunt' feel of this thread. I think that CHW is actually a pretty good poster, and contributes a lot to the OL. If you'll check my post background, you'll see that I do my best to start decent threads, that are new and will generate discussion.

If you would like to see better threads in the OL, I'd suggest something remarkable; make them yourself.

And if you can't think of a single, quality, uncovered topic, then maybe you've reached the impasse most people have.[/size][/QUOTE]
[size=1][color=SeaGreen]I have to agree with Baron. Even though you may not like the way or what CHW posts, other might. So all you really have to do is just ignore it. If you really want a topic that sounds good to you and dont think its low quality, bad topic, etc., make up one.

I know I have posted some really bad topics at points and I have increased my level of posting I think. So if I can become a more mature, better poster, Im sure others will too. Just let time do its work.[/size][/color]

[Gavin]

[QUOTE=Baron Samedi][size=1]If you would like to see better threads in the OL, I'd suggest something remarkable; make them yourself.

And if you can't think of a single, quality, uncovered topic, then maybe you've reached the impasse most people have.[/size][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]Heh you've got a point there Baron it's actually the controversial threads that often get me in the mood to post. To be honest though what I was talking about was the fact that even if threads have got better in terms of quality it's still the same stuff that's being discussed in them. Stuff like the Gay Marriage threads people's opinions of them never change so realistically people might as well just Copy & Paste previous responses because it's always the same. I'm just using Gay Marriage as an example though.[/SIZE]