Let's talk about NEGATIVE ATTITUDES and CHANGE.
 

Okay, now, guys. As I've talked about before, the forum is going to undergo a lot of change in the coming months as we work to streamline the communication process, bring the look of the forums in line with the main site's redesign, and incorporate actual forum posts as the comments for the site's articles.

For those of you who still haven't clued in to this, let me put it in simpler terms - For the first time since i-mockery or its previous incarnations has existed, the forums will actually have something in common with the actual web site.

These changes are aimed at increasing the i-mockery visitor base and the i-mockery forum visitor base, which in turns means that we will have more registered 'members' posting 'here'. In the past, it has largely been tradition to hound these people (if they don't fall within certain standards of behavior) until they leave. Yes, the site is called I-Mockery, and yes, you can and should be able to mock people on the I-Mockery forums. On the one hand, I don't want the message forum to become yet another bastion for the Aspergers-afflicted residents of communities such as 4chan and YTMND. On the other hand, our boards have become pretty stagnant of late, and I attribute this largely to our reputation and attitude toward new members.

My solution for this situation is in two parts:

1. Appoint a dedicated moderator for each forum (there will be around 5 discussion forums and 3 site-related forums), and 2-3 moderators for the main discussion forum. I feel a moderator's primary task is to drive balanced community discussion and remove uncontributing factors (in less cryptic terms, these people need to work with posters as opposed to passing direct judgment on them - as that is the role of our Administrators - and should tidy their forum of spam and other crap). Each of these new forums will encompass more topics that our current ones, and as such will engender more discussion and eventually create their own subculture (as seen in the philosophy and forum events forums) that it will be a moderator's duty to maintain.

2. Ask each of you in earnest to work with new members, at least until it's clear that they have nothing to offer our community. If the latter becomes a reality, I would prefer that you all still make your jabs and whatnot, but not hound these people and follow them from thread to thread until they leave on their own - at this point, it will be acceptable for you to make your case to the moderator(s) of the forums they frequent, who in turn will speak to them and dismiss them if necessary. I often refer to these forums as 'internet rehab' for idiots, and I feel that we could do more in this area and grow a member base without lowering our collective IQ.

I'd like your thoughts on the things I've discussed here, and feel free to nominate who you feel would moderate each of our future forums best. At present, the new forum categories will be:

I-Mockery Discussion Forums
- General Blabber
- Philosophy, Politics, and News
- Media Extravaganza (Combining music and movies & television and readings)
- Gaming & Technology (Combining gaming & technophile)
- Art Shit

I-Mockery Site Forums
- Articles
- Forum Events
- Questions & Suggestions
- Archives

Also, if you have suggestions about this forum layout, this is also a good thread to talk about that. In.

I agree with the fact that I-mock could be more user-friendly, at least towards new users. Because it's somewhat sad to see some new members to be trolled from the very beginning without any good reason. After all It takes time from the new users to learn not to take every word seriously.

I'd still like to see mock threads in future. Could it be possible to keep the mock wars section? Or are mock threads doomed to happen during annual mock wars?

The new forum categories sound great though.

Uh, this whole "open" attitude just applies to idiots, right? Not freaks and furries?



I mean, I've been pretty tolerant of zbf on the whole, but that's about the limit of what I want to put up with

I'm not suggesting that we stop making fun of people, just that we do it more organized-like and let the admins ultimately decide who stays and goes. FOR EXAMPLE!

http://www.i-mockery.com/forum/showt...t=26233&page=5

Threads like this one where we make fun of Clement I think are important to our HERITAGE. But compare this to the harassment zeldasbiggestfan and Guitar Woman regularly receive from Gadzooks and Company, and I think the latter is an approach that turns people off from the forums. There's certainly no love lost between myself and ZBF, but I get annoyed watching the same people piss and fight in every thread. Mix it up, people.

I just completely ignore Guitar Woman, if Gadzooks and co do the same, you'll be left with a circle jerk.




Besides, Gadzook's PTA club is the greatest thing ever

i elect myself mod of everything :D

I'm all in for the more idea of being more tolerant, but lets face it. I'm pretty much the end result of a ZBF, or sports. I was looking back at the posts I was making 3 years ago when I first started on these forums I had an excellent laugh, I even started an "I'm not a character anymore" thread to buy some credibility. I'll admit it was a pretty disheartening time before the majority of the forums moved on from ragging on me and every post I made to the point of me being able to enjoy the community here. But again looking back I'm almost totally sure that most of the people who join the site are intimidated just how hostile a large majority of the board members are.

Again much of the boards hostility is probably from frustration due to the nature of i-mockery itself being a comedy site that isn't the now standard 4chan-ish humor. People show up with the idea that were all about the "random humor" when if you look at the site its largely more complex than posting a picture of an astronaut Whoopi Goldberg sodomizing a rhinoceros.

I would like to nominate myself for Moderator of the Around the Internet forum, if it continues to exist.

EDIT: does that layout mean no more Loveline board?

I nominate Blackflag & Liquid to moderate the media forum! I say all old posters should be a mod of something :o

i nominate noob3 for media, also :D

Somebody has to keep watch on the forums when you guys sleep, so how bout giving me some authority? :lol


But seriously talking, Kahljorn would make a great moderator.

I think MLE is the only real candidate for mod of Art Shit!

I like it!

I agree with this, too!

If she does mod art shit, she should also have to give crit & tips. :x

I think that should be a requirement to post there at all. :(

yeah but hers are the only ones that matter :x

I didn't realize that my friends and me were a THREAT to this board's future. I thought it was the kids who make threads one sentence long or suggest we have forum wars.

Give me a second to change all my previous posts into gibberish.

He's sayin' you gotta diversify

Zeldasbiggestfan threatened me with a gun. What should I do? :oneofthosedays

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OOXE6o35ftc :rock

I was waiting for this reply from you, so let's answer it! Yeah!

Currently very few people are hanging out or laughing, so at the moment it would appear to be NEITHER. I don't understand where you got product advertisement out of my post, but then again if I were you I would be very worried about my future here as well and probably lash out with nonsensical hyperbole and maybe toss the wife around or something.

Speaking of hyperbole GADZOOKS GOOD TO SEE YOU JOIN THE DISCUSSION now, if you could find it in your heart to look past my mention of your name in that 10 page block of text I dropped up there, I suggested that you and your INTERNET GANG do whatever you want, but in fewer threads, and that a moderator would then remove said twelve year old boys from the discussion, rather than have you engage them in terrible internet combat in every thread on the forum and make them actually post more than they would have done so otherwise!

Oh and would you faggots please refrain from nominating yourselves, thanks.

I would personally like to thank Kevin the Omnivore for diligently deleting every post I've made in his section over the last few months. I'm sure who ever takes over that section will be brimming with new philosophical insights.

I think the terrible is one sided, but WHAT DO I KNOW?

and it was two threads that my "Internet Gang" posted in would otherwise had more of THIS going on.

Thats what's fun about not knowing what the future holds.