New forum idea: Water Cooler / Laundry Room for drama threads.

[MannDude]

Well, I had a real long post typed up that explained this better but when I added the poll all hell broke loose and the damn thing was lost. So now I get to re-write this, shorter, and anger behind each keystroke as I relieve the stress of just losing a well written post.

So, trying to please everyone is an impossible task. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't when it comes to certain things. I enjoy keeping things lax, unbiased and uncensored here and I believe it's one of the qualities that makes this a genuinely attractive community. I'll admit, there are certain subjects and threads that even myself get tired of seeing sometimes. But what's a man to do? Do I just lock them because I am tired of them? Do I try to discourage them? Do I got the LET route and sink, lock, censor or alter them? I do not think these are appealing solutions to the complaints of some respected and quality members and I'd like to keep the floor open to unbiased discussion of horrible and shady practices in this industry to be available to the public. These 'drama' threads, while often times long and sometimes repetitive do reveal the true nature of certain businesses and serve the purpose to educate others. A lot of facts have been learned in these in the past. Though, there are those who simply do not wish to see them and would rather create and discuss more quality topics, which I myself prefer as well.

In the past, I have requested those who have complained to simply scroll beyond the threads they do not wish to see. The 'View New Content' link shows these threads in their feed, and I thought the simplest solution was to utilize the ignore feature or to.. y'know, not click on these threads. This has proven difficult for some, so I am proposing a new solution in a continued effort to please everyone as best as possible.

How about a forum dedicated solely to these threads? This forum isn't for encouraging more of these, rather simply a home for all past threads and new threads to be moved to where they will not appear in the 'View New Content' link. The threads will still be indexed, viewable to guests, non-hidden or unavailable. Instead they'll simply be organized in it's own forum for discussing such things. You can then opt-out of having new threads or responses to those from within this forum from appearing in your New Content feed.

Does this sound appealing to you? Do you have a better suggestion? Let's hear it.

 

[Francisco]

Personally I think the section is needed.

It'll allow users that are signed in the ability to hide the section from their 'new content' pages if they deem so.

Francisco

 

[serverian]

Why not change the name of the site to dramaboard.com and remove other forums and be done with it?

 

[MannDude]

Why not change the name of the site to dramaboard.com and remove other forums and be done with it?

That isn't what I want this place to be. This is a place to discuss virtual servers, first. Discussing the bad, illegal, shady or horrible practices of Virtual Server companies comes somewhere after that.

 

[drmike]

all past threads and new threads to be moved to where they will not appear in the 'View New Content' link

I was with you until that point...    

View New Content is for new content, period.... until this exception.... as proposed.

It's not like the homepage Recent Topics box which I could see being filtered of such.  Hell, I think the offers should be filtered from the Recent Topics box as sometimes folks go on posting 3 offers and someone else does another and we are nearing 1/2 of that box with ads from two providers.

I am all for centralizing the data though   So the scoundrels and those who tip toe around shadiness aren't benefiting from the data being stashed in an otherwise gray heap of posts in other categories.

This is a place to discuss virtual servers, first. 

Yeah, but that focus is totally shoe-horning you into the VPS ghetto and limiting broader appeal (dedicated servers, colo, shared hosting, etc.)....

I'd love to see more expansion and conversation around those topics.  +1

Discussing the bad, illegal, shady or horrible practices of Virtual Server companies comes somewhere after that.

It happens as they stand up and require some proper slapping.   No ratio of other content to that...  wish there was....

Mind you lately, I've been busy and generally could give a crap less about the industry.   Everyone enjoying the vacation from the public lashings?

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

View New Posts is a wonderful feature.  Some of the drama threads get a quick glance... if I don't find them interesting I don't comment or follow on them.  If there happens to be a thread of relevance, I'm not missing out on it because I didn't have to check section-by-section from it not appearing in the New Content list.

I suppose I'm just not seeing the point of making an inconvenience for the majority to satisfy a handful of complainers.  It takes all of 15 seconds to figure out if one has interest in a thread - if they don't want to read it, maybe they should exercise a bit of common sense and NOT READ IT instead of bitching for bitching's sake.

 

[NodeWest-Dan]

I feel like the drama threads are still too few to have a serious impact on my reading.  I remember what to skip and what to grab the popcorn for.

 

[DomainBop]

In the past, I have requested those who have complained to simply scroll beyond the threads they do not wish to see. ... This has proven difficult for some,

my advice to them would be to cancel the solus/whmcs subscriptions and not give up the day job if they can't deal with a minor thing like seeing a forum thread on a topic they don't like

disclaimer: snow storm on the way, I'm allowed to be an asshole tonight

This is a place to discuss virtual servers, first.

I like 'em big this week

xm list
Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
Domain-0                                     0  3069     8     r-----  13180.2
xxxxxxxx                                     2  6144     8     -b----  12314.8
xxxxx                                        1 16384     8     -b----  24648.6
xxxxx                                        4  6144     8     -b----     58.8

 

[kaniini]

I think that drama threads should just be locked down to begin with.  Be the alternative to LET and WHT through positive reinforcement.

The mainstream hosting industry is cut-throat, these threads are a celebration of that fact.  Why should we celebrate being a part of one of the most cut-throat industries in the world?

But more importantly, what is the point of an alternative to X if it's the exact same as X?

 

[Dylan]

Yeah, but that focus is totally shoe-horning you into the VPS ghetto and limiting broader appeal (dedicated servers, colo, shared hosting, etc.)....

I would hope VPSes would be the focus on vpsBoard.

 

[Hxxx]

Sorry but without the drama there is not much to read. The A+ content about VPS and hosting is extinct here. 

If drama were to be diminished or evaded, then you guys might start creating either tutorials and quality content. 

All I see here is drama, not even once a thread about something useful and interesting related to VPS.

Here is why: Ex Slabbing 

One user could create a Slabbing post related to performance, giving tips how to improve, what to do, what not to do, and subsequent users follow the same idea.

For instance (in reality) a user create a post about Slabbing, stating "Who is doing it" basically who confess? Go and bash whoever do this practice, etc. Then a few trolls following feeding premium. LOL

VPSBoard is the new LET, that's the trend that is causing the traffic, is good for you, you sells more ads, etc. Enjoy it.

 

[MannDude]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Keep them coming. 

 

[MannDude]

Also, it should be noted that for users who don't mind the content, nothing would change for you. By default, unless there is a way to change this, the way this would be setup is that the threads would still display to you. You do not need to 'opt in', they'll just be there as they are now, regardless of the forum they're in.

The new forum would allow those who do not want to read these topics the ability to to opt-out. This can be done with a few clicks.

 

[DomainBop]

 Be the alternative to LET and WHT through positive reinforcement.

In many ways VPSboard is a refreshing alternative to both those forums.  On any given day you at LET you can always count on 'view new topics'  being full of helpful new thread titles like "where to host my white power site???" and "which host allows illegal downloads???".  WHT's new posts page is usually heavily populated with SEO/SEM discussions "how to get high Google search results for my no content crap site" topics.

But more importantly, what is the point of an alternative to X if it's the exact same as X?

Redundancy.  Think of it as RAID-F(orum)

 

[peterw]

I like the reviews and the tutorials. Some people here add value with their posts. I like the discussions started by tutorials and people post new findings. But I hate each of the days in the past when the first page of new content only displayed rants and accusations.

I did not want to show this place to my fellows because I did not want to be connected with this type of content. My brother said it was going from bad to worse compared to WHT. The new deposit for haters.

This discussion is too late. People left this place and the members which are still here do not care or want this drama.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

I like the reviews and the tutorials. Some people here add value with their posts. I like the discussions started by tutorials and people post new findings. But I hate each of the days in the past when the first page of new content only displayed rants and accusations.

I did not want to show this place to my fellows because I did not want to be connected with this type of content. My brother said it was going from bad to worse compared to WHT. The new deposit for haters.

This discussion is too late. People left this place and the members which are still here do not care or want this drama.

See the issue is though is that you also rant about "not enough good content" but you're also part of the problem (in your own argument).  No-one's stopping you from doing this but I find this a little bit hypocritical that you take this stance and yet don't do anything about it except add on to the problem.  

I'd say lead by example

 

[tchen]

The only people who lose out are the drama queens. They'll lose more than half of their potential audience according to the current polls. Has anyone thought about their rights? Opt out is censorship of freespeech!

 

[joepie91]

Locking down / changing / removing / hiding critical ("drama") threads: Not acceptable. A hugbox does nobody a favour, in the long run.

Having these threads in a separate subforum: Probably a good idea.

Hiding these threads from "View new content": Only if opt-out and visible by default (but I gathered that that was already the idea anyway).

My primary concern would be that, over time, some of the complainers would realize that they've gotten the finger, and try to "get the hand too" by demanding that there be absolutely no mention of "drama" whatsoever, outside of threads in the drama category.  While it's good to have these threads in one place (and I'd suggest calling it the "Laundry Room" rather than the "Water Cooler" since it makes more clear what it's for), you won't ever be able to stop overflow into other threads entirely without hindering discussion - minor topic overflow is just a natural feature of any discussion venue, and trying to prevent that would make the situation unsustainable.

A good example of this going wrong, would be the "go discuss that in the Cest Pit" response to anything vaguely off-topic on LET, that went around for a while. Rather than moving things to the Cest Pit, it would basically kill off discussion, because you had to walk on eggshells not go to "too far off-topic". That trend seems to have more or less disappeared on LET, but it's likely to occur for something like this as well.

I'd have recommended Lazarus for recovering lost posts, but of course that doesn't work with IPB, and IPB doesn't seem to have auto-draft-saving either.

 

[tchen]

Being serious here for a moment:

When other community peers bother to suggest 'go discuss that in the Cest Pit' obviously something is wrong...  or would you rather seriously entertain the notion that they're all just power-tripping entitled brats.  Sure, mob mentality takes hold sometimes and it might be the cool phrase of the day, but just maybe... just maybe...

People have different opinions.  People have different priorities, but the minimum bit of decorum should suggest that you NOT try to derail a thread.  That doesn't mean you have to walk on egg-shells, nor that you can't push the boundaries at times.  But seriously, if someone else asks you to stop derailing or take it elsewhere - show some respect (and possibly empathy) instead of narcissism. 

• Branch off another topic.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Tag it into the appropriate forum.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Keep posting in the original topic.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Be a dick and ignore your fellow community members by labeling them as forum-nazis and continue going off into lalaland?.  You're allowed to do that.  But you're still a dick.

You've no doubt used github issue trackers.  Think of it the same way... duplicates get closed.  Irrelevant comments / mixed bugs get branched into their own issues.  You respect it when people suggest that it's actually a different bug you're seeing.  What is so different with a forum that suddenly the same on-topic tracking suddenly becomes personal?

/rant

 

[joepie91]

Being serious here for a moment:

When other community peers bother to suggest 'go discuss that in the Cest Pit' obviously something is wrong...  or would you rather seriously entertain the notion that they're all just power-tripping entitled brats.  Sure, mob mentality takes hold sometimes and it might be the cool phrase of the day, but just maybe... just maybe...

People have different opinions.  People have different priorities, but the minimum bit of decorum should suggest that you NOT try to derail a thread.  That doesn't mean you have to walk on egg-shells, nor that you can't push the boundaries at times.  But seriously, if someone else asks you to stop derailing or take it elsewhere - show some respect (and possibly empathy) instead of narcissism. 

• Branch off another topic.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Tag it into the appropriate forum.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Keep posting in the original topic.  You're allowed to do that. 
• Be a dick and ignore your fellow community members by labeling them as forum-nazis and continue going off into lalaland?.  You're allowed to do that.  But you're still a dick.

You've no doubt used github issue trackers.  Think of it the same way... duplicates get closed.  Irrelevant comments / mixed bugs get branched into their own issues.  You respect it when people suggest that it's actually a different bug you're seeing.  What is so different with a forum that suddenly the same on-topic tracking suddenly becomes personal?

/rant

Read what I said again. I was specifically refering to the overuse of the "go to the Cest Pit" for anything vaguely off-topic (or anything somebody didn't like, for that matter). You're arguing against a point I never made to begin with.

EDIT: And no, "somebody tells you to so there's probably a reason" is not any more valid reasoning, than assuming that anybody who complains is wrong.