We NEED an introduction forum!

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I know O.B has good reasons for not having an introduction forum. I know it was scrapped in the past because of "spam".

But I really think O.B should have one again. Otaku Lounge has become a haven for introduction threads. The situation is getting riduculous. There seems to be an introduction thread everyday! Sometimes more! And now Dagger's job seems to be for the sole purpose of closing these threads (okay so I'm exaggerating a bit).

I know "quality" is important to O.B. But it's time we made a small sacrifice and have one potentially "spammy" forum than to be haunted by:

"No Intorduction Forum? Anyway, I'm new... " ..........

"*waves meekly* Hello... " ............

"Hi, I'm new!" ..........

"I'm new" ..........

"Im a Newbie^_^ " ...........

"Guess What!~ I'm back!~ -cheers- " .............

"Hello..I'm new here" ...........


....and so forth.[/COLOR]

[James]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I don't really think that we need to compromise with something like this. If we have an introduction forum, we'll then get people who say that we need a "testing forum" and that it wouldn't hurt because it'd give people a place to put their spam.

Basically, it's no big challenge for Moderators to remove intro threads. It takes a second to kill each one off. I hire Moderators for that specific purpose - to moderate. What else would they be doing, really? If they aren't moderating...then they aren't Moderators. lol

I am usually willing to offer a compromise in certain areas, but I don't think it's necessary to have an intro forum. Having one would probably be detrimental. I mean, think about it - that's the first place new members visit. If all they see is crap, they will think that posting crap all over the site is acceptable. You know?

I'd rather that the first thing they see is clear, coherent posts site-wide. That gives an infinitely better impression. And it lets them know what they're in for, so that they can choose whether or not they'd like to stay.[/color][/font]

[Ryo the Tactician]

Well, Chabichou definetly has a point. Some people are used to introducing themselves, and feel the urge to start the thread in a "general" forum.

However, for a forum like Otakuboards that prides itself on the literacy of its members, an introduction forum just isn't right. I have one on my forum, and it's everything you said it was. And that's okay for me, but I guess for otakuboards it's not. Plus, it's fun to just jump right into the interactive conversations all around you. I don't think I even introduced myself, just posted my opinion in a thread and kept on going ^^.

My advice is if you're not going to have an intro forum, you need to put why in the rules.

~RtT

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Well, okay. I see what you mean James. But then, I think it needs to be made CLEAR that introduction threads aren't allowed. Reading the [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]rules[/URL], introduction threads aren't even mentioned. They should be included under what you consider is
"spam".[/COLOR]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#95005E][SIZE=1]^ Seconded.

Perhaps a special section about introduction threads on sticky status in Otaku Lounge or, at the very least, space in the FAQ/Rules (under "Spam List")?[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

[font=Trebuchet MS]I'll second the request for either a rules amendment or an O Lounge Sticky. For some reason there's been a massive increase in intro threads recently, and I ended up embarrassing myself by saying 'you'll see in the rules that we don't allow intro threads', only to re-read said rules and discover that they weren't mentioned. :animeswea[/font]

[Aura_Star]

Second that. I think the rules need to be updated with a part about not allowing intro threads. Unless an offical introdution thread is created and pinned. Though this suggestion may not be considered because of how OB would much rather have better posting quatily over post count, which I agree with.

[Chaos]

[QUOTE=James][color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]...Having one would probably be detrimental. I mean, think about it - that's the first place new members visit. If all they see is crap, they will think that posting crap all over the site is acceptable. You know?

I'd rather that the first thing they see is clear, coherent posts site-wide. That gives an infinitely better impression. And it lets them know what they're in for, so that they can choose whether or not they'd like to stay.[/color][/font][/QUOTE]


I'd like to point out that that IS the case, and yet people still do it, so that point is a bit moot. Sure, not ever member randomly clicks off the "New Topic" button and give us an obligatory "Jullo i r teh knew," but those that do obviously see the lack of such posts and still go ahead with it.

Just making a point. *shrug*

EDIT: On a more to-the-point note, why not combine all of the little individual forums' rules into a list and red flag it on the main page? Sure, it's on the sidebar, but I think people would notice it a) more if they had to scroll past it, and b) if it was 'freshened up' so to speak.

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]I second that ammendment to the rules.

Honest to god, I thought that that was clearly stated in the rules. I even remember reading that at one point, but now it's not there anymore.

Survey says: clearly stating that introduction threads are not okay should be added to the rules, as it's quite a necessity.[/color]

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f][quote name='MistressRoxie][color=#9933ff']Honest to god, I thought that that was clearly stated in the rules. I even remember reading that at one point, but now it's not there anymore.[/color][/quote]I thought I read it in the rules too. But I guess we only think so because people have brought this topic up before so many times.

I only noticed that it wasn't in the rules when I checked it after noticing the sudden burst of introduction threads in the otaku lounge.[/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

I second the secondness of the seconding. This should be stated in the rules.

OR

There could be a sticky thread in the Otaku Lounge where people post their introductions. That way it wpuold be orderly and contained, and the rest of the great posts in Otaku Lounge would be there as an example.

[James]

[QUOTE=Chaos]I'd like to point out that that IS the case, and yet people still do it, so that point is a bit moot. Sure, not ever member randomly clicks off the "New Topic" button and give us an obligatory "Jullo i r teh knew," but those that do obviously see the lack of such posts and still go ahead with it.

Just making a point. *shrug*[/quote]
[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's not at all a moot point. The amount of introduction threads we get is minimal - it's rare to see even two together in the same day. So, clearly, most people are seeing proper discussions and that is important.

Yes, people will always try to make these threads. But there are plenty of people who also won't read the rules. That doesn't mean we should remove the rules altogether, to somehow make life easier because people are going to do it anyway.[/color][/font]

[quote]
EDIT: On a more to-the-point note, why not combine all of the little individual forums' rules into a list and red flag it on the main page? Sure, it's on the sidebar, but I think people would notice it a) more if they had to scroll past it, and b) if it was 'freshened up' so to speak.[/QUOTE]
[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]The main reason that we don't have that stuff unified is because, historically, people don't read it. By having stuff in each forum, we have a better chance of it being visually prominent.

In future updates to OB, I would like to visually flag rules more prominently, but this is something I simply cannot do right now on my own. It requires fundamental re-coding of the site, which only Justin is capable of doing. As a result, my hands are a little tied there, because both Justin and I are busy with working on other sites at the present time.

The same point is true when it comes to updating rules, even. I can't update them, because we don't have an automated form system to deal with that - it's all done manually in code. I have explained to Justin that for the future, I want all of that to be handled by a useable CP, so that myself (or even others) can update it without needing to look at code.

So, I think I should make it clear that all of these things are on the agenda. The problem is mostly a question of time and availability. I rely on Justin for many of these things and while both of us are working on other things primarily, they just won't happen. In the meantime, I have to rely on good moderation to keep things sorted out.

Having said that, I do understand if there's some confusion at times. That's why I am trying to keep Moderators as active as possible, to keep everyone in the loop. When time can be made for OtakuBoards, all of this stuff will be done as a broader cumulative update. I apologize for not having this stuff corrected sooner, but it's impossible at the moment.[/color][/font]

[Valen]

What about Barra? You've seen the site lol. He's good at making the CPs and such, so maybe you could talk to him about something like that... he might do it.

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

It may be my bad memory playing up again but didn't we actually have an introduction forum at one stage ? many years ago. If not then I'll just go back to my corner and ramble on in senility, if so then I seem to recall that it was nothing more than a spam hole for people who wanted to build up a few posts quickly.

Introduction forums just tend to breed spam at an alarmingly large rate, as there is often little good grammar or spelling involved, as well as the dreaded use of substituting numbers in the place of proper letters. And besides since we get relatively few of these "[I]New Member saying Hello[/I]" threads there's no real justification for having a forum for them.[/SIZE]

[ArunueShekamari]

Just so I can add my two cents in on Introduction forums, The OB is not the type of board that would have an introduction forum. The introduction forum is extreamly amature-ish and makes the board look like it's run by little kids. As well, it's ussually helpfull on smaller boards. The OB is a huge community and there would be no way that someone would feel the need is suficed if we had one.
It Should be stated clearly that introduction topics are offlimits. One of the first rules introduced when a new member's reading them over should be that we do not have an introduction forum and we do not aproove of spamming other forums with introduction topics.
Not to mention that amature-ish look I mentioned earlier is bound to atract immature members that insist on spam. People who are stuborn and do not wish to realize that we have pretty damned high standards.
Speaking of high standards, I'm impressed with not only the moderation and administration keeping up with those standards, but with their ability to calmly deal with new members still getting used to them.
Back to the introduction forum, if we let in to some blasphemous argument and added one it would severely lower the OBs standards, not to mention alot of other members respect for this board and it's staff.

[Goodbye, Face]

I'll post my opinions on both sides, lol.

My first post was in the Introduction forum several years ago (Under my Cloud Strife00 / Axel--Ignition sn). I've always though of it as a great place for a new member and a spamhole for an accomplished member. I've seen new members come onto the boards now, post an introduction in the Lounge, get "ridiculed" by it, then quit OB right after that post and move on to a forum that'll accept them better.

On the other hand (my stronger hand, I guess), I have to agree with most of the others here. It seemed like about a year after I originally joined, all of these inside jokes started appearing in replies to new members. There was something about a green bee, lots of smilies, and a reference to the Mod Rod in almost every reply. No new member would understand this, I didn't even understand it. The introduction forum was just an area for members to "have fun" and look for an excuse to spam... you know, after the test forum got boring.

[Retribution]

[SIZE=1]When you step back and think about it, it wouldn't do anything if we had a spam, I mean, introduction forum. New members would all post the same thing, "Hey, I'm new here," or more properly "lolwtf yo im new eher... i <3 flcl n inuyasha (kagome roxx!!)... kthnxbai1!" And what purpose would it serve? No one would actually recognize that they had signed up on the Boards, unless they were willing to sift through all the spammy, noob intros and find a civilized one.

Besides, it's a waste of space and time for OB. DOWN WITH THE INTRODUCTION FORUM!!1!!

[I][B]kthnxbai[/B][/I][/SIZE]

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=blue]I still think the idea of an introduction forum would deflect off a lot of useless and redundant threads and keep the other forums in a much more impressive state than they are in now.

I think people are looking at the introduction forums the wrong way, though. It's not like the introduction forum is going to be excluded from the rules of OB and people can just spam. Instead, a person can introduce himself, and not just in the stereotypical way people believe.

Rather, his/her thread should introduce any urge he/she has to make threads like "favorites," "How did I find OB?" "What my username means," "I'm pro-gay, why aren't you?" "Bakura is SO HOT!" "I wonder why Inuyasha was taken off Adult Swim?" and so forth. And so you have a person truly introducing him/herself. Just as a sampling: [QUOTE]Hey OtakuBoards! I'm AzureWolf and I love .hack! I came across this forum while searching for .hack-related material, and I really liked your discussions! I'm AzureWolf because my favorite animals are wolves, and my favorite color is blue. I also dress up with my friends and howl at the moon when it's full!

I wanted to be gay when I grew up but that didn't pan out since free will doesn't exist. However, I still find Bakura to be very hot since he looks so much like a girl! And why doesn't Inuyasha just get with Kagome already?! It makes me so angry! :mad: [/QUOTE] From this made-up example (well, mostly made-up), we learn a lot about the member. How he found OB ([strike]how did you find OB?[/strike] thread), why he picked his name ([strike]what does your username mean?[/strike]), his disposition towards gays ([strike]should gay marriage be legal?[/strike]), whether or not he believes in free will ([strike]free will vs determinism[/strike]) what his favorite anime and animal is ([strike]favorite anime?[/strike]), and so forth. Also, he clearly has issues, and needs to learn to stop one or two sentences before his thoughts do.

And by looking at other new people's threads, new members might pair up or feel more comfortable. People who joined in the month of - say - April 2005 would be the Apr2005 members and easing into OB with other newbies will be easier.

Just tossing out ideas.[/COLOR]

[Charles]

[quote name='AzureWolf][COLOR=blue']And by looking at other new people's threads, new members might pair up or feel more comfortable. People who joined in the month of - say - April 2005 would be the Apr2005 members and easing into OB with other newbies will be easier.Just tossing out ideas.[/COLOR][/quote]

But right now no one is really pigeonholed. People just befriend those they find interesting or share something in common with. Say you're enrolled in a new school or hired for a new job; you're not just automatically filtered into a special group of new students or employees to make friends. You meet people and develop bonds based on personality and your experiences together.

Also, isn't it kind of boring when you're forced to give an obligatory speech that essentially dissects your personality? The whole concept seems really robotic. Isn't it more natural to learn about a person based on their posting in various discussions as opposed to having them feed you their autobiography in an introduction thread? In any case, most people wouldn't put in that effort to begin with whether they were required to or not; most introduction threads aren't very informative at all--which is a Catch 22 I've always found funny.

Ah well, there's no point going on though. An introduction forum has appeared on the forum listing today despite these faults. It seems that Azure is the only member who won't be able to see it though. Tough break!

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]If it worked that way, the forum would probably still exist. Unfortunately, in reality, we'd probably end up needing to prune a good 90% of what goes on in there.

So in the end it becomes a place that requires high Moderator activity, but really yields very little - I mean, it's high maintenance for little ultimate value. In comparison it's easier to just enforce the rules and remove the odd introduction threads that we get.

But I'm definitely interested to see people discuss/debate the issue. You never know, sometimes ideas come out of these things that end up being used, it's certainly happened before.

Edit: I just posted at the same times as Charles... ~_^[/font]

[Box Hoy]

I have to agree with Arunue. An introduction forum is nothing more than an area for spam. It's for self glory which isn't what the OB is about. I've seen tons of introduction threads in my time on forums. Barely ever do you see anything really signifigant come from an introduction forum.

In a large community like this an introduction thread would be swept away easily. The OB gets new members daily. You're going to get n00bs who0 want to keep their thread active and keep reviving it.

The moderators are doing an awesome job right now. Sure it's been pretty annoying but I think it's really up to them to decide if it's time to add an introduction forum. If and when that day ever comes I hope the seriously think about it and it's consequences and deal appropriatly.

[2010DigitalBoy]

:animecry: what about my idea of a sticky thread in the anime lounge? :animeswea

Also, Charles, if the introductory threads we get here at OB aren't very informative, then why not put them somewhere where that doesn't matter?

Yes it is true that there aren't THAT many intro threads, and they aren't THAT hard to delete, but I think we're scaring the new guys away by telling them the very first thing they've done after joining is break the rules.

They should at least have the chance to learn what its like to be on OB. They join up, post in the intro thread, and now that people know who they are, they go out and read some posts in a thread, realise how awesome our post quality is, and either go away, or post like we do.

[Charles]

[quote name='Box Hoy']The moderators are doing an awesome job right now. Sure it's been pretty annoying.[/quote]

It's not really annoying. They usually close a couple introduction threads a day. I've done it before obviously; it doesn't take long. No one has to visit these threads. So, the complaint that these occasional threads are annoying doesn't hold weight. No one has to click them.

[quote]Also, Charles, if the introductory threads we get here at OB aren't very informative, then why not put them somewhere where that doesn't matter?[/quote]

Yeah, visit a new member's myOtaku site. Hasn't anyone noticed that myOtaku is essentially a blog integrated into the forums? Let's put two-and-two together here.

The spam forum you're suggesting apparently isn't desirable; its concept has been turned down numerous times (even in this very thread). Because, really, you're concerned about new members' first impressions--and yet you want to expose them first to an area that's nothing like the rest of the site? So that they can post like that elsewhere on the boards and cause more problems? This is compared to what? Moderators kindly saying "Welcome to OtakuBoards. We don't allow introduction threads but we encourage you to introduce yourself through various discussions. Thanks for joining the community and have fun. Private message a staff member if you have any questions or concerns." Yes, I'm sure that'll have them running for the hills. lol

Having said that, it's obvious that James is one-hundred percent against the idea of introductions for new members. Someone should just think of a creative and feesible way for it to be implemented and I'm sure he'd consider it. Usually when people suggest this idea it's not exactly tailored for the community.

[Horendithas]

An introduction forum would be wasted on a high quality-posting site like this one. It would not guarantee that introduction threads wouldn't be posted. It would also run the risk of encouraging the attitude that one needs to create such threads or must post in them first to get approval from the other members in order to join the current topics being discussed.

What I find most endearing about this site is that you can join a discussion without the need to introduce yourself. As most introduction threads mainly consist of spamming, adding one would be like taking a step backwards for this place instead of improving it. The current atmosphere of anyone can step right in and feel welcome far outweighs the small problem of closing the occasional ?I?m new? thread that pops up.

[Semjaza]

The last two posts pretty much say it all I think. On a place like OB, there isn't a section that "doesn't matter" and there logically shouldn't be. Adding one would be pointless.

If people think new members need that much help, maybe they should go about setting up some sort of buddy system. Established members that want to help or say hi to these people can PM them themselves and talk about whatever needs to be discussed so they understand this place and feel "welcome". If not, then whatever lol.

I still side with the idea that just posting in threads right away is the best way to go about it. Most forums don't work like this one and I don't see an issue with random introduction threads popping up from time to time. It doesn't mean this place NEEDS anything.