I completely agree that some sort of forum structure is needed. For one, I think a better organization of the forum sub-categories could definitely help in the long run. I think its fine currently since there isn’t a huge amount of traffic coming in, but that seems to be changing.
A general forum FAQ or even simply a Sticky topic outlining some basic forum etiquette could go a long way. I’m also all for more moderation which right now, seems non-existent. I’m not saying we need some sort of forum police cracking down on everyone but, just “some” regulation. There is definitely many threads made that are simply spam, where people post lists or what not. Its completely useless and all it serves to do is up people’s post counts. Really, none of this is a problem yet in my opinion, but it will become one once more people start to join and the forum starts to get flooded.
With that said though, overall I’m actually more then impressed with basically everyone here I’ve met even those I never seem to agree with. I’d easily take some of the worst people I’ve met here over the best anywhere else I’ve lurked in the past.
OK.
Completely agree with Bob… When I first joined I was overjoyed that there was finally a forum to talk film and film production with intellegent people. No posting of “that movie sucks cuz it just does”… Ugh! Argument without conviction is inane and for the most part arguments on this site are constructive, with merit and valid. A few have popped thru and I for one would like to see some regulation on the threads in so much as catagorization. I love talking film with you guys and have learned valuable information and been turned on to some really great films and I thank you for that… Still in agreement with Bob, let’s keep it civil. Cheers!
I agree, a more conventional ‘laundry list’ approach would be nice, for finding your way around in the topics.
While we are at it, perhaps we can have a bigger font size or a way to change the view individually; I surely can’t be the only one running my PC in 1280/1024 resolution these days, and the text is just miniscule. I realize this makes me sound like I am 80, but I am 48, no glasses, and this text size gets tiresome after a while.
I agree, but let’s not encourage people to send hate mail through the private message boxes. If we can’t eradicate the occasional overpsill of bile, I’d rather be in public so others can help to pass judgment on it and, Greek-chorus-like, help to steer the hater back to the right course.
Claus you can could just zoom in depending on what browser you are using. Though 12px is hardly small, I’m on 1600/1200 on a 18inch and I see no problem. I’m guessing your browser may be rendering the site smaller then it should, or as i said…you could just zoom in.
Justin: Right on, as usual, re the suggestion to keep it all public. Let’s follow Justin here, and ignore what I said about it in my intial post. Also, if we see our own rants publically, it might shame us into being a little more circumspect the next time. That works for me, anyway! Messages to fellow members should ALWAYS be friendly. Thanks for pointing this out, Justin.
I agree with other posters that the site has so many good people and discussions, that it just needs the fine tuning to make it even better. I also realize we are still a work-in-progress – beta mode. If you search past threads, you can find other examples of threads discussing all this – for example, How To Make the Autuers Truly Awesome – or some such title. Cheers to all. Keep those posts coming, guys.
Crap Monster,
Thanks, you made my day; found the zoom, and it’s now as it should be.
I thought "T"’s reposts in several of the David Lynch threads about this very matter were very articulate and inspiring. Rather than reposting them here without his/her permission, I’ll just urge folks to check them out in the NO MORE DAVID LYNCH thread…begin with:
“Personal crusades against perceived stupidity aside, I have to point out a couple of things.”
Ben: Absolutely – T. lays it all on the line, better than I have, on the Lynch post. If you haven’t read his comments, go there and read. For new forum members, T. is the person organizing the Garage project and one of the orginal forum members. His insights are always worth reading. I have learned much from him since being on this site, and so will you.
Another attempt to revive this topic, which co-incides with Rich Uncle Skeleton’s. Please post to either thread and try to keep this going until we reach some resolution or consensus. If you are happy with things exactly as they are, no need to respond. But I am afraid that meaningful discussion is getting lost and buried in the way threads currently work. This is not a condemantion or rebuke for anyone posting a new topic or thread, just a comment on the current posting mechanism. Thanks – please be honest and give us your opinion.
Well, after all the spurious threads this Saturday (June 13 – maybe that number tells us something), I, for one, am glad that new posts get lost very quickly. I won’t complain of it again! Just bumping this to say let’s keep the threads disappearing and fast. I no longer mind certain threads going. We really need a mechanism to ELIMINATE threads that serve no purpose.
Welcome back Bob. I was just commenting on the events of last night. My suggestion is to have an ignore function. I don’t believe that eliminating threads or even user accounts will work, as demonstrated by Sinkmeaner’s hijacking of other users’ names and creation of multiple accounts. Someone who is as determined as he obviously is to wreak havoc will not be stopped by anything but a blanket enacting of really draconian measures enforced on everyone – something I’m sure most users here wouldn’t want. If, however anyone annoyed by him could hit the ‘ignore user’ button then they would no longer see his posts. He could carry on posting as much as he wanted and it wouldn’t interfere with the boards at large because no-one would know he was posting after they hit the button.
I really applaud your post Bob and the follow up comments. I think compartmentalising the various types of discussion/debate into discrete areas would solve a lot of the problems mentioned. I’d even go one step further and enable user administrated groups which could vet interested parties based on profile and past record on the site and could caution and ultimately exclude members with attitude/etiquette issues.
Bob, I thought you left? But then, you’ve been leaving for a while.
As for eliminating threads that don’t serve a purpose…
It’s a damn internet forum about movies, no threads serve a purpose, it’s all just fluff.
Other sites have vigilant moderators that do not allow vile, idiotic threads and responses to remain for long. This forum needs that! I am surprised it doesn’t have it already. Along with closing threads the moderator also has the power to block postings by repeated violators through ISP addresses.>:(
Nice cleanup on the forum
RUncleS,
The “purpose” of a forum about movies is to discuss movies. not to perpetuate some juvenile pseudo-Situationalist art project.
RUS: Yes, I am still here – ha! Just call me an attention seeking film geek who got carried away. Sorry for getting personal and apologies to all for over-reacting to what is obviously going to keep happening from time to time. I got my perspective back and sense of levity, too. Amazingly, the auteurs forum seemed to clam down after last week-end and return to sanity – and so did I – and I am sure it will survive this weekend’s spamming, too. I am now keeping cold beer in the fridge to help me get over any future ‘rough patches’ on the site. I am just letting things happen without getting too excited about it.
Well, I’m glad you’re staying, Bob. I want to know there’s something worth picking through the spam threads for. DIamonds in the rough. Your threads and comments, for one.
OK . . . I’m now just going to assume that everyone that has < 50 posts is a troll.
That’s right, I for one am a rehabiliated troll doing my public service work. Only 5,000 posts to go!
“STOP THE NEGATIVITY & THIS WILL BE THE BEST SITE FOR FILM ANYWHERE.”
This is the internet, don’t kid yourself.
Justin and everyone on this thread. Some asshole is using my name and writing some pretty fucked up stuff. Click on my name and then click on the other Daniel Purcell and it is two different profiles. This crap has to end!
The same thing happened to Bob Stutsman and to me last weekend, I think.
Daniel: I think we need to let the auteurs know that it is not acceptable for people to use a pre-existing username – see the ‘Feedback’ thread – or post to the auteurs directly re your concerns. We need someone from the auteurs to speak on this issue. Justin and I have had it happen, so it is possible for anyone to steal another’s identity now, keep constantly changing usernames, and posting completely inane posts/threads, etc. This is a serious problem that must be dealth with asap.
It happened to me yesterday, albeit briefly. Serious is a gentle euphemism for how I felt about this issue. Nothing has made me that angry in some time. You feel violated. For those of us who post under our real names, that’s where we live.
The above Eli Goodspeed is another ID theft example. Any of us could have our identity taken at any moment on this site. There is a completely malevolent group of posters at work trying desparately to discredit and demean this site. If we are to survive, this must be brought under control. If the site is unable to, much as I love and support the site, I don’t think it will be worth constantly wading through all the junk threads, where the posters might be impersonations. We need to take the site back from those bent on destroying it.
It seems rather ridiculous to me that such a violation as taking an already existing identity is even possible.
I’m speaking as a dilettante, knowing nothing about forum design, but this strikes me as a quite elementary issue that should not have presented itself beyond a beta version of the site.
But the other absurd fact of our situation is this: we apparently do not even know who to contact about these issues. We are just whining alone in a forum with no noticeable presence of any authority figure from theauteurs.com. There are some threads inviting recommendations for how to improve the site, but from what I can see there is no explicit identification of who serves administrative functions here.
Who, exactly, are the forum’s Administrators? Why are we not aware of who these individuals are? Why is there not an easily accessible means of reaching them? I’m sorry if I sound like a brat, but these are BASIC issues of establishing and maintaining a web forum.
If this forum were decently managed along the lines that I have suggested in other posts, I would likely be a much more frequent and enthusiastic participant. But frankly the current management on the forum is a strong disincentive to put much effort into posting here. If it is a matter of manpower, then let moderators be appointed: I nominate Justin Vicari, kenji, and T.
This forum could very well be a wonderful conversational medium for everyone, but it clearly is not. The administration on this forum at present is not poor: it is NONEXISTANT.
Bob Stutsman
We all know that the current thread posting mechanism means that threads come and go with increasing regularity. I had no intention of posting another new thread, until the Forum came up with a better method for posting new threads and organizing old ones. I hear it is coming from the auteurs, but don’t know when or what shape it will take. Until we do start to organize threads, good threads die quickly often, and some great discussion topics are lost. Yes, we can now search threads, but I think we need to organize them along certain lines so that new topics don’t automatically bump everything else. We have so many threads now, that no one is going to go through them all, especially new posters. Here are some suggestions, and anyone is welcomed to jump in:
1. Threads should be organized, as many forums do, by subject and type of thread on the initial page – not just currency, with the latest thread posting always first.
2. We could put topics for subject Talent, (which already exists) for example, that also included directors not named in the available list, actors, cinematographers – basically, anyone involved with film production.
3. We could have a separate subject for Lists and/or Comparisons – any type of list and/or greatest/worst, over-rated/under-rated, etc.
4. We could have a separate topics heading for anything that discussed film-related topics and a separate one for all else – Film Discussion, Other Topic Discussion.
5. New topics would either need to fit into a pre-existing category or could just be thrown into a catch-all “New Topics” thread, where they would stay for a set period.
This subject organization would eliminate threads automatically being bumped by new threads or new postings to a thread.
Some of us like to discuss a topic in depth, and that should be allowed on discussion threads. Some like to post lists. Some like to discuss greatest/worst or over-rated/under-rated – comparison type of threads. If we organized threads by broad subject headings, there would not be so much duplicate posting.
As regard forum etiquette – that is a much touchier subject. All of us on this forum have strong opinions about directors, films, or any topic in general. I have been on this site for a long time. I have seen heated debates turn into rather ugly cyber shouting matches and name callings, and have even participated in a few, myself. I think we have to first realize the intelligence of everyone on site and that really all points of view are valid. We have a great many wits on site and people who will point out any weakness in our argument or point of view. This is well and good, as long as we treat each other with civility and acknowledge that everyone is entilted to his or her opinion. Name calling is out of place and detrimental to the well-being of the forum. If you really are ticked-off at someone or something, take that person out into the forum parking lot, and send them a message. That way, threads aren’t clogged up with abusive name calling and hectoring.
It is OK to lecture, as long as you respect the other person’s intelligence and recognize their own position is valid for them. There are no right and wrong answers. We can be as silly, profound, expansive, or short in our comments as we want to be. You are free to do what you want, but the golden forum rule is, don’t encroach on the rights or feelings of others by getting nasty. Testy is OK, as long as you can work it out. If we learn to respect one another, we can all get along and have a good time. If we dish criticism out, we need to be able to accept it back – it works both ways. Lighten up everybody, as this is just a site to talk films with like-minded individuals. We are all coming at this from different age groups, levels of expertise, and different interests. One thing we share is a love of film and the desire to have a good time on this great site. Let’s enjoy and enrich each other’s lives, so that we can all get back to watching the next film and come here to discuss it. Share the enthusiasm and keep the sarcasm on a humourous level, guys.