This past year has seen this forum turn to ass.
Off Topic has been ass for years.
The rest of the forum is fine.
Different strokes and all.
so then maybe leave off topic alone… just saying.
Hard to argue things weren’t more enjoyable here when off topic was unmoderated and we were allowed to have silly fun threads without fear of an admin locking them for seemingly no reason other than he can’t handle some joking criticism.
Unmoderated Off Topic was a caustic shithole that turned new members away.
You guys lived and breathed it for so long that you didn’t see it.
Right, moderated off topic is now incredibly inviting to new members.
The only “new member” who’s had difficulty recently is Collipso, and it should be obvious why.
You can point the finger at me all you want; it doesn’t erase the fact that for years you guys ran Off Topic like it was your private club and membership was based on your approval. That ended a while back and some of you have been salty ever since.
I actually wasn’t much of a frequent poster in off topic until around the time it became moderated, but when I was new here I always appreciated the goofiness that populated the section. So you lumping me in with this nefarious “you guys” generalization is not just condescending, but inaccurate. Not to mention most of the “hazing” you’re talking about was limited to the myspleen thread, which you locked anyway. But you’re free to make up whatever you like to justify your reasoning, it’s your site of course.
I’m not making things up. The overall behavior in Off Topic when it was unmoderated was poor. Your characterization of that behavior being limited to a few threads is inaccurate.
If you didn’t actively participate in that behavior, you have my apologies. I don’t have a running catalog in my brain of every post by every member.
As respectfully as I can say so, I don’t have a problem with the fact that you don’t have a perfect memory of the forum, but perhaps the generalizing demonizations is the exact kind of attitude that you could try to move beyond if you really do want this place to seem welcoming and to avoid more public flame out “fuck you Jay” posts.
As I said, I shouldn’t have generalized and I apologize for doing so. If you say you’re innocent, I’m not going to rifle through thousands of old posts in an attempt to prove otherwise.
Those who flamed out yesterday were part of the caustic environment I spoke of and I have no apologies to offer them. They can stay gone.
It also isn’t just people in Off-Topic that have felt threatened by your attitude. People that only frequent the General Star Wars Discussion forum have pointed out in the toxic fandom thread and, I believe, in the politics and diversity thread (which you created and also deleted) that they felt uncomfortable engaging with you due to a combination of your hostility and your administrative powers.
I find this criticism interesting coming from a member I’d say has one of the most hostile attitudes on the forum, but okay, it’s based in reality because I do get hostile sometimes when discussing politics and people are freaked out by the admin badge, so fair play.
I created the forum because I wanted to have a place to talk about Star Wars and other nerd stuff, but I’ve struggled with the balance between meaningful participation and administrative responsibility. I don’t feel I should have to hold back in order to accommodate someone else’s sensibilities, but I understand why my admin status would cause some to feel intimidated. That’s not a feeling rooted in reality, however. I don’t ban people for disagreeing with me, even vehemently. Never have.
I’ve absolutely used my admin status to come down hard on members who don’t contribute meaningfully to a political discussion, and I’ll continue that without reservation if the politics threads are restored to active status. Some people are as threatened by a strong opinion from the opposite side of the debate as they are of the admin badge, and I think the admin badge provides a convenient way out when things start to get heated. Note that this accusation of “you’re an admin so this isn’t fair” has only happened in the various political discussions as far as I’m aware.
After years of minimal participation, I started posting again because maintaining the forum isn’t terribly satisfying by itself and I have no idea why I’d keep the doors open if my participation was only that of administrator. I zoned out for years in that support role and only responded to technical issues when they came up. The site would go down for days because of the hosting service we used at the time, and I just didn’t care because I felt no connection to the community.
I don’t know what I’m going to do to resolve this conflict between contributor and admin, but I know it’s something I need to address.