How OB Compares to Other Forums

[kalon]

I was not sure if this was better suited for PC/Mac, but I think goes better in Otaku Lounge. I have only been on the internet for a few months, so I have not joined very many forums. OB was the first forum I joined. A friend brought me into it, and now I'm hooked.

The community on OB is, in general, an intelligent bunch of posters with brains in full working order. Most of the time, members here can keep their replies respectful. There are a few rules that you have to follow, but they only better our responses.

I realized this when I went on another forum site for anime and manga. Post quality was horrible. Favorites threads abounded with everyone posting lists and no reasons. The mods were the worst. On that forum, the mods constantly spammed one word posts that went completely off-topic, and even though this site seemed to be aimed at young teens, this one mod had posted an array of explicit words that added up to a bunch of stupidity, violence, and sex jokes.

Have any of you ever been to a really stupid forum? How does OB compare to other sites you've been to?

[Nony]

I'll agree with you when you say that OB seems to have many intelligent posters and good topics. This is the best forum I've been to in awhile.

The first forum I joined, though it also mostly had intelligent people, they were very nasty. Basically people were just looking to get into an argument at that place.
The second forum I joined, I still like. Most people are nice on there, but there aren't many interesting topics. So I still visit, but don't post much.

I could name numerous other forums, ones that were started by my friends from other forums, but they were no good. Not enough good moderation, so I ended up never going back.

[Dagger]

I haven't had the awful forum experiences that some people here talk about. There are some forums I lurk at, some I visit occasionally and some I post at like mad, but I've stuck with all of them because they offer good discussions, information and whatever else I'm seeking from them.

While there are people who will undoubtedly cry foul about making distinctions based on age, I've noticed that out of the forums I go to, the ones with older (on average) member bases are the ones that can afford to have the most laid-back moderation. Granted, one of those forums has an absolute ban on religious & political topics, which probably helps a little, but it's not as if anime fans can't find plenty of other things to wrangle over.

That aside, I'm glad y'all are enjoying it here. But I'm sure you'll become disillusioned with us and go off to form ex-OB support groups sooner or later. ;)

~Dagger~

[SyrusMatrix]

I came from a gaming forum as my main spot to read and post not too long ago. I played the game Lineage 2, which has a "fan site" known as [url]http://www.l2blah.com[/url]. It's mainly full of angry, jealous and immature 14 year olds thinking they are cool on the internet spewing worthless crap in every post.

I'm taking a much better liking to the layout and level of maturity needed to even post on this forum, which is why I see myself posting here more and more as I get more comfortable with it. Plus, I love anime, and the people here are very intelligible on the subject. :)

[kalon]

[QUOTE=Dagger]That aside, I'm glad y'all are enjoying it here. But I'm sure you'll become disillusioned with us and go off to form ex-OB support groups sooner or later. ;)

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]
Wow. I'm disillusioned now. I must become the arch-enemy of all that is OtakuBoards. Fear the Anti-OB Federation of the Proud Country of Internetia.

Seriously, though, this forum I was on had a whole sub-forum called Green Eggs and Spam devoted to... guess what? Spam, of course. There was a thread for who could post the word "spam" the most. Every locked thread on OB would be considered a gem on that forum. It is like if OB had a Twilight Zone episode.

[Cat]

I know what silver_blade talking about. Out of the all the forum boards I have been to. This one is the best. 2 the other boards were to immature and gross. They both also had subjects that had nothing but spam and the mods did very little. One of the other forums i just joined and havn't given them a chance. The last one closed and I don't know why because it was alot like Otakuboards.

[Pumpkin]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=#333333]I think many people can agree with me on one thing, and that is Otakuboards has amazing posting quality and more mature members then most anime related forums. The funny thing about OB, seems to be that the Anime & Manga lounge are not even the most popular parts of the forum, instead most people seem to lean towards the other categories, such as The Arena, Art Studio or the Otaku Lounge. There are even people that I know, that are here that don't like anime. It really attracts a variety of people, therefore making it more interesting.

I use to post at places such as [COLOR=#CC3366][b]Minitokyo[/b][/COLOR] and [COLOR=#CC3366][b]AnimeOnline[/b][/COLOR] where I met lots of people, yet the conversation would go stale and the same boring topics like "Whats your favorite anime?" kept popping up and people were spamming for a post count. While I liked that you had a userpage at MT, I didn't like the forum and since I'm not that artistic it left me with little to do. AO was great, until the owner left and a new one replaced him, ever since then it was full of spam and people who couldn't even spell the word grammar. Ever since then, I came here and haven't been discouraged yet. I don't see OB going anywhere, anytime soon.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Persona]

[quote name='Pumpkin][SIZE=1][COLOR=#333333]I think many people can agree with me on one thing, and that is Otakuboards has amazing posting quality and more mature members then most anime related forums. The funny thing about OB, seems to be that the Anime & Manga lounge are not even the most popular parts of the forum, instead most people seem to lean towards the other categories, such as The Arena, Art Studio or the Otaku Lounge. There are even people that I know, that are here that don't like anime. It really attracts a variety of people, therefore making it more interesting.[/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote]

[COLOR=Sienna][SIZE=1]That statement is unquestionably true and sadly I can't say the same about other anime forums. Even though [B]OB[/B]'s main focus is anime, I have seen that its more about roleplay, art and general topics (Basically as stated above: The Arena, Art Studio/Request and The Otaku Lounge) and it's wonderful to see that its not all about the anime. This gives room to numerous discussions about important topics, great opportunities for members to show/share/discuss graphics and other types of art and last but not least [B]OB[/B] has the most organized Arena I've ever seen.

Now I've been in [B]OB[/B] for about two years maybe more (I'm not sure) and over those two years I have joined many forums that fail in comparison to [B]OB[/B]. Such as, MiniTokyo, Anime Online, Invisionfree forums (Can't forget those...there are too many), ectera and they all have one major detail in common...organization in general. Members are a mess, topics are the same and pointless (You can find a few good ones)and most of all moderators taking advantage. Here [B]OB[/B] is a peaceful community with lots of intellectual conversation. Yes there are times when arguements occur and such, but these sitautions get taken care of quickly due to great moderation teams. [B]OB[/B] is not all perfect, but heck its good enough!

P.S...how many times did I mention [B]OB[/B] and why did I mention it so much? That's, because I'm a proud member of [B]OB[/B] that's why! This was also my very first forum...I just wanted to say that. Also I do want to make clear that I mean no disrespect to other forums (It's just observation and opinion).[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Prons]

I have problems fitting in on any anime board.

Because I'm a self-prolcaimed Novice anime Historian, I live for classic (Robot) anime, and I'm a fansuber devoted to those kinds of shows. As you can imagine, after knowing so much about obscure 70's-80's robots, Classic Gundam, and legendary space operas normal anime fans don't even know about, it just kills me to see a thread where everyone is saying the Evangelions can beat Gundams in a fight, or a "Favorite Space anime" thread where everyone is posting "Outlaw Star."

Which in turn transforms me to what you would typicall call a "bitter ol' man" anime fan. Infact I'm shaking my fist at the screen right now yelling "COWBOY BEBOP? SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA!" I just need a beat up truck, a rocking chair, a porch, and a shotgun.

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

One of the things that particularly appeals to me about Otaku[b]Boards[/b] is despite it's Anime origins, it's actually a very diverse community, which is nice for those of us who no longer watch/enjoy Anime. Having set up shop in the Arena nearly five years ago, I became an RPG addict fairly quickly and that's really the only other kind of forums I visit on a regular basis, that and sci-fi forums really.

The one universal fact I've come across in my travels is despite how nice other sites look with their thirteen different styles to choose from, OB always has the substance to back up it's style. No other site I've come across have the same level of quality in their RPGs, or the same level of proper spelling, articulation and grammar in their discussions. It's really a trade off in the fact that BravoFleet's S.T.O.R.M.S. RPG segment, set in Enterprise era Star Trek, generally is fairly active but the level of quality isn't nearly as good compared to here. Which is why I'm trying to recruit people from OB into my ship to maybe up the quality calibre.

All jokes aside, OtakuBoards is the best board on the net.[/SIZE]

[Caine]

This board definitely has the most active (and thus most strict) mods. They are everywhere and they are very involoved. It's not massive, and people don't seem to post too often in the Otaku Lounge. I think the size is part of what allows the mods to keep an eye on everything, since some boards are literally too big for the mods to fully control. I don't mind the strict mods, though it takes getting used to. I'm used to more casual rules, and I usually am a very sloppy typer, so getting in the habit of using correct grammar and spelling is difficult.

[Dragon Warrior]

Believe it or not, OB used to be down in quality too. It's come a long way since it first began. I should know. When I first joined back in Version 1, I too spammed the crap out of the place like everyone else. One sentence posts were made, off-topic replies were present everywhere, and the topics lacked in both quality and meaning. It was still a step up from a lot of other forums online, but now James and the staff have definitely turned the place around. I haven't seen it that low since the earliest of Versions.

The rules help greatly to keep order, sure, but it's also the members and staff that set good examples and keep everything appropriate and proper that make the place safe for everyone. I think the general public of OB is what makes the place so great.

[Zen]

[color=dimgray][size=1]

The Otakuboards is the only message boards I visit online. Simply because I cannot find another place that displays my interest as such while also keeping a reasonable quality in how people post. It's a fun place to talk with other people while also providing me a place to practice my writing skills in the Adventure Arena. Now, I've been around since v6 and have seen quite a bit of change since, but the OBs is still the place for me.

I've tried other boards when I was temporarily unable to visit the OBs and even became a mod in an OB style RPG area that I suggested to the admins. Then the OBs opened back up for me and I never returned... Funny thing is, I had invited a few of the more intelligent members of that Board to the OBs and they stayed for quite some time.

I think it's safe to say that the OBs is the top-teer of online message boards.[/color][/size]

[PaganAngel]

What gives me the idea that this thread was inspired by a certain one of mine...? Speaking of, it seems for the first time I have a reputation in a forum, namely the overly stereotypical teenager. Oh goody.

But I've been around in big forums before and OB is a lot like one I was in a while back, even though it wasn't anime-based, as far as mod activity, rules, personalities, and whatnot. The difference here is the members for the most part avoid getting in trouble with the law a lot more... the members here just seem a lot more calm and don't get involved with flaming, spamming (with the exception of the occasional new member), and have generally high post quality (once again, there's the occasional newbie). Simply put, it's less chaotic here and a lot of fun.

[Panache]

I like it here....sometimes. Sometimes topics move rather..slow but besides that I have no major quips. The only reason other site's aren't as full of discussion as here is beacause they don't have as many moderators. Im pretty sure if the otaku boards didn't have as many mod's it wouldn't be the great site it is.

[Sara]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]The other place I bum around is the [url=http://www.threadless.com/blogs?from=verdana]blog forum[/url] over at Threadless. It hasn't got categories, which is the thing that bugs me the most. Lots of silly random posts, which can be fun, but it's frustrating to sort through all of them to find actual threads about artwork.[/size][/color]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=SeaGreen]When I first started looking at online forums one of my friends recommended I join OB. Since then, I have looked at other forums but so far I haven?t joined any of them. The biggest thing that keeps me here is the diversity. OB has so many different interests that you don?t have to be an anime fan to join and have fun.

Although I have looked at other forums, after looking around a bit I always come right back to OB. So far I?ve yet to find another forum that interests me enough to actually join. And to be frank one of the biggest turn offs is the poor quality posts and constant spaming. The other turn off is the huge signatures and avatars. I really hate looking through a thread that is 90% avatars and signatures along with a handful of one word or one line posts.

I?m sure there are other good forums to join, I just haven?t come across one yet. Besides if I went elsewhere then I couldn?t stalk Desbreko. ^_~[/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

Undeniably, this is the highest quality forum I've ever visited with many intelligent people, interesting topics, and tidy posts. I come here because one can have an in-depth and intelligent conversation or topic.

On the other hand, I prefer small, unrestricted forums because you can really make friends and get to know somebody how they really are. People don't usually talk in paragraghs or always about topics. Smaller forums are cool just for hangin out.

[Claire]

[FONT=Arial]I'll preface by saying that I've joined many other forums, but none of them have ever held me hostage as long as OtakuBoards has. All rise in the presence of OB!

But yeah, OB is definitely one of the best message boards that the interwebnet has to offer. I know I haven't been to every single message board available, but I don't care. OB is the best. That's reason enough. I love how intelligent everyone here is, and I love how involved all the mods are. I also love my own mod job, which is a pretty good reason to stick around. But I've hardly had any problems with anyone here, and the friendly nature of the boards is something that can be hard to find.

However, there's one other message board I like to go to, and they have no moderation or what seems to be any form of authority there at all. Regardless of that, everyone is amazingly witty and thoughtful. There's even a Random Thread in which you can talk about absolutely anything you want, and there's no spam there at all (except for the few bots that leak through the security system every now and then). It's probably just because it's the message board of a very obscure band, though.

Viva la OB =D[/FONT]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR=Sienna]OB was a surprise to me. When I first started joining forums I joined one that was run by a religious group in my area. It was suppose to be a way for anime fans of the same religion to get to know each other. I didn?t belong to the religion but I thought joining would be a good way to make friends in my area. It turned out to be a way for the parents of the same religion to keep tabs on their children. The result, endless spamming and flaming of any member that did not fit what the creators of the site wanted for their children.

Since I knew many of these people in real life, it got ugly. Utah is very anti-gay in any form and being a fan of yaoi/yuri anime did not sit well with the parents who ran the place. Not being a member of the said religion didn?t go over well either. I could spend hours describing the mess my joining that place caused. It?s one thing to get threatening letters online and yet another to get them in your actual mailbox.

Anyway, getting them to leave me alone was taken care of, but it turned me into a lurker. I would visit various sites, read threads, but I simply didn?t join any of them. I didn?t want to deal with the same nonsense again. I knew that other places weren?t like that, but I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the first time around. I stumbled across theOtaku and after lurking for many months I finally joined and started a myOtaku account.

I wandered over to OB when I had a small problem with a wallpaper and the professional manner in which I was helped by members really surprised me. So I kept coming back. The longer I was around the more I was impressed. Not only was it well run, but the basic post quality and interaction of other members was impressive. Although I was lurking at other sites, none of them had the sheer diversity that I?ve seen here at OB.

I was equally impressed with the level of moderation. That?s what kept me coming back, knowing I could express what I thought and that if another member had a problem, the moderators would put an end to any harassment. I never did get harassed, but it was nice knowing that such a thing would never be an issue. So far OB is one of the best places I?ve ever joined. I?ve yet to see another forum as well run as this one is or as diverse. I?m constantly impressed by the members here at OB they really do make it one of the best forums on the Internet.

I think the biggest surprise was being asked to be a moderator. I was already pretty addicted to the site and the thought of being asked never crossed my mind. So over all OB has been the nicest and best forum I?ve belonged to. And like Amelia mentioned the friendly nature of the boards is something that is hard to find. [/COLOR]