I agree...I've used the thread a few times, and no one really comments on anyone else's "should be"

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<By Bubble Black

Exactly. Maybe if people commented or put more substance, but really it's more of a game now.

That stinks. It could have been something with good conversation.

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Thank you for five-plus wonderful years of obsession, friendship and fun

Yes, this thread should be removed to the Misc. Randomness section and there's also a new thread multi-tasking where people post what they're all doing while being at A-U (I think that's also a bit pointless..)

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It seems to me that after the Revival of the forum and the stricter enforcement of rules, and especially the rule about relevant, "on-topic posts", a certain confusion has occured. It is debatable whether many old threads now belong in the right places, and there seem to be some moving around with them to fit them in. The members here are eager to adhere to the rules, which this thread proves well, but if this "trend" in pointing out individual threads go on, we will soon have all active threads moved to the Misc. Randomness section, or have members who refrain from posting because they feel limited or are afraid their posts will be too much "off-topic".

It is my impression that this is dealt with very individually and I think the staff need to take the general discussion on what to do with all this. Many old and long threads might have started out as relevant to their topic title, but may have changed or strayed over time, or were even started on the wrong board, but it is a delicate balance to judge whether a conversation has gone "off-topic" for a few posts and might come back "on-topic" again. Sometimes those comments even add to the topic-relevant discussion because people get a new perspective on things. So basically being strictly "on-topic" all the time could kill some interesting discussions before they even started.
Another thing is that many members come here because they can say what is on their minds - and sometimes that includes being random and silly. And after all even though this is a LotR forum it is clear that the Non-LotR section is way more active than the LotR related boards - which is natural and healthy.. it proves that people also have lives!!

Anyway, I am very satisfied with the Summer Revival and the new changes in general, and getting rid of one-word posts can only be a good thing in my opinion. But the subject on relevant posts is becoming an issue, however. In the perfect world there would be no need for rules or even guidelines as everybody would think alike and work for the common good, however, this would also be a very dull and uninspiring world because we would all have the same opinions. In the world we live in people have different understandings of things and it makes it a lot more interesting, but it does also require a little more work on a forum like this to make people walk the same road. The mods here are doing a great job in maintaining a nice and friendly atmosphere, and I'm sure they will work this out too!

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Very interesting points Eä, sorry for the quickish reply but it's nearly my bedtime

Basically the main criteria I, and I think at least some of the other mods, use is how interesting what people are posting seems to be to other people reading the thread. The easiest way to tell that a thread belongs in Misc Randomness is where nobody responds to anything anyone else has posted - basically people are only posting for the fun of it, it's not a discussion.

This same criteria is used for off topic posting too. If a discussion of something turns into and interesting discussion on something else we may well let it continue or else split the threads. However the kind of off topic posting we're mostly trying to prevent is where 2 or 3 people, who generally already know each other, use the topic for their own conversation. This basically kills the thread for anyone not in their wee group is very boring to read.

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I understand what you are saying Ea.

I feel the only trend that is starting is *lets get our posts counts up so we can choose our own title*. Now I'm not saying everyone is doing that but let's face it - on the Getting To Know You Topic the posts are usually a sentence and not one word so people think "good that's within the rules then" but they fail to grasp that really their post is usually pointless.

I don't think in this case it's about going off topic but really the questions are "is this a necessary thread" and "or is this just another excuse to post more". Off-topic is usually avoidable but sometimes it's actually Ok. The worse places for going off topic are places like the clubs and if they rules there are stricter well it will be for the best I'm sure.


If people wish to be randon and silly, there is an entire board dedicated to just that. Because so many people like to be random and post there such a lot the posts no longer count. As this was an easy waiy to gain posts I can't see a problem if threads that are *silly* (such as the GTKY) being to moved to a place where posting doesn't boost people's counts.

I also think it's proved what many people have said about *post-counters* that so many people do not post in the Misc Random board. Surely if people really liked being random they would not have abandoned the board or is it deep down to do with post counts?

^As if you can't tell the whole "post count" thing bugs me sometimes.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Some interesting points, Eä. I'm going off to think about them at present, I don't think I could produce an intelligent reply at the moment if my life depended on it...

I moved the "I should be" thread.

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I'm mostly in agreement with Eä. It is getting a tad bit confuzzling with all the threads moving around and posts not counting and such (though I am easily confuzzled at times, so it may just be me ). Don't get me wrong- I fully support all the changes and love most of what's been done. I guess I'm just a bit gun-shy about new post regulations at the moment because another forum I'm on (for PotC) has started getting ridiculously stringent about post relevancy and organization (like, to the point that if even one word of a post doesn't seem to relate to the topic of the thread, it gets deleted with no questions asked or reasons given). Not that I think A-U would ever get that bad, but most people are leaving that forum right now because we simply have no room to express ourselves, so you can see why I'm a bit touchy about that subject at the moment.
Right now, though, I have no problems with it. I just ask that we keep a close eye on just how organized we get.

Btw- I just have to add how much I appreciate A-U actually having a place for this kind of discussion. Several of us at the other forum have been trying to bring up the issues with the admin for some time now, only to get blown off without getting a word in edgewise. So I just thought I'd mention how truly awesome it is that y'all actually listen to us and let us voice our concerns. *huggleglomps A-U*

well I wont say we listen because we care because thats just tacky ^_^.

Arwen makes the rules, us mods enforce them, but really, the content on this forum all comes down to what you forum members post

All of you can express yourselves if the content is within the rules, or you can talk via pm.

I think alot of people need to come to realise when posting is 'is this post nesacary' 'am i bringing in a new point, validating another point or just stating that i agree'

Like in a discussion, you can say 'I agree with *member* but dont just leave it at that, add in why/why not.

My pet peeve is people posting simple posts of "Yeah I agree with *member*" Thats only half a thought I want to hear the rest of the thought, the reasons why and why not.

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I completely agree, Jo....





Okay, just kidding, I will expound Post quality is a pet peeve of mine as well; I hope my post didn't imply that it was the quality that was my issue. I work hard to make (most of) my quotes relevant and thought-out, though on some occasions I only get the thought-out part (oh, the curses of randomness ), so it does bug me when people make completely pointless posts just for the sake of making a post. Contribute to the conversation, or don't talk at all, as I see it. No, my only point (won't say complaint or issue, because it's neither) was that it can go too far if it's allowed to. I have complete faith in A-U, and I don't feel that our current setup/situation is at all like what I described the other forum as. I simply brought it up to show how bad it can get if the mods lose their focus. As long as the priority remains keeping everything fun and easy (as it is now), I see no problems.

^ I know what you're talking about, pirate. Even over on places like NarniaWeb, they'll lock threads for getting remotely off-topic. We're <i>trying</i> to keep things organized and content-full around here, but the most off-topic threads usually get is a nudge about staying on topic, unless they go off into no-point-whatsoever-land.

...that's not to say that it's <i>ok</i> to go off-topic; we appreciate threads that stay true to their original purposes, but we won't kill you if you say something a little tangential! Otherwise I would have killed myself by now...

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There's a time and a place for off-topic-ness... and it does relate to the members, I don't see that sort of thing as being completely moderator-influenced.

If the members will insist on going completely off-topic in every single thread, there's not a lot one can really do about it. Or rather, there's not much point. The forum is for the members and you need to cater to them as much as you can... or maybe that's just this forum I...

sorry, I'll stop going off on tangents. But I do agree with Arwen, we're not going to totally rule-out tangents, because that would be hypocritical of us.

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Thank you all for posting opinions on this topic.
I fully support the promoting of posts with relevant content. It should be a reasonable goal for members and staff to work towards and we're already on it. It might take some time but if we all push in that direction the whole forum will gradually turn to follow.
Concerning the issue on relevant and "on-topic" posts. We do have a lot of threads especially on the non-LotR boards talking about other thing than what the topic title implies, but after all I think it's hard to avoid that. After all it is about live in general! I agree fully with Elanor's definition of off-topicness when a couple of people go off talking about anything else but the relevant topic. But because so many people spend so much time around here, many people get to know many things about each other and the conversation can easily slip off.

And I still think there will come more suggestions to move more threads to the Misc. Randomness. The club forum is generally a big "off-topic" conversation, many threads in Misc. LotR are game threads with single quotes or one-word posts and this goes for many threads in the Your Life forum (not to mention the Test your signature board that was requested to be deleted *coughJocough*). So basically - and very generally speaking, if the AU forum should stay on-topic" all the time only the LotR related boards would remain... the rest would go in the Misc. Randomness section... *coughcough*


On a side-note: As Johnny's Fan points out post count plays a crucial part in this discussion. To some more than others the number of posts will always be a sport, working to gain a higher score... I don't think there's anything to do about it, other than take the post count thing away completely, but this would change the whole nature of the forum, so the Valar forbid that will happen!!

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