regarding off-topic threads

[cthulufhtagn]

this isn't explicitly about opeth, but the forum itself...so please at least give people a chance to read it before you delete it.... anyway...

the opeth forum is a place for people to come talk about opeth. personally i have no problem with threads getting a little off-topic (lyle lovett thread; thought that was great btw), but i can understand why such a thread would get axed. don't get mad at moonlapse, she doesn't make the rules... but it does seem to me that many threads get deleted that don't deserve it--and some don't that do deserve it.

that said, there's only so much explicitly opeth-related stuff we can possibly talk about. there are only so many "what do you think about steven wilson" threads i can stand before i want to put my fist through the screen. it's only natural that people start to deviate from the devout "EXPLICITLY OPETH ONLY" guidelines cuz otherwise the forum just gets boring.

the problem comes when people start acting like they own the forum..."this is the worst thread ever, you should just go kill yourself"...posts like that just beg the question "do you have a life?" why are you bothering to even read the thread in the first place? just because you spend every waking minute frantically scouring the opeth forum for threads that displease you doesn't mean you need to inflict your asshole opinions on everybody else. some people are taking this forum a little too seriously...a few people i can say with certainty have had something large and painful crawl up their ass and die.

we need to find a happy medium. if you want to post a thread that you know is going to be deleted, don't even bother posting it, it's just going to piss a lot of people off and stir up a whole bunch of needless debate. however, everyone needs to calm down just a little. if you see a thread you think is really off-topic, say something to the moderator, there's no need to be a douchebag about it. most threads end up going on for pages like "your a jerk", "no you is stoopid", "no this worst thread ever"...like cavemen hitting each other over the head with rocks. i don't think i'm the only one getting sick of it.

bottom line: some people really need to discover the world outside of the forum. there's lotsa stuff out there. you don't own the forum. go play mini golf or something.

 

[DE]

Partaining to the off topic matter*

 

[RavenousDaemon]

Moonlapse is a girl?

 

[Ermz]

Ah, yeah, I'm a guy. I think you may have got me confused with Opeth.com (Anna - Mikael's wife).

I mean she genuinely has the forum's best interests at heart, at least what I can discern from having spoken with her a few times. She always consults with the band whenever a big change is made, as after all, it IS their forum. And the state of things now springs directly from their wishes.

I understand what you're saying, cthulufhtagn. It's an arguement that's become a bit redundant on here as of late though, as alot of people have expressed these same views over and over again. And as I tell all of them: your best hope is to take the issue up with Opeth.com and try to get as many people as you can to support you in whatever change you want to see made.

I would personally like to see this place go off-topic to the point where all sorts of music talk is allowed again, not simply restricted to Opeth. Since, as you said, there's only so much that can be said about the band. I knew at the time that the board becoming strictly on-topic would make it stagnant and cause disrest - it was an issue I took up with Opeth.com, but she explicitly told me that the band themselves wanted the place to be strictly about the band.

On that note, there is always the UM Off-topic forum that you can frequent if you ever get tired of the discussion on here. I really think the choice that Opeth have made in regards to the forum, WILL (if it hasn't already) kill off a large amount of the online forumer base. I'd really like to see this place return to its former splendour. But simply said, it isn't up to me.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

worst thread ever

 

[Static]

Yeah, and your post really helped bring the standard up abcdefg...

*rolls eyes*

 

[Triste]

I would personally like to see this place go off-topic to the point where all sorts of music talk is allowed again, not simply restricted to Opeth.

It's interesting that you bring that up because it seems like you're not running as tight a ship as when you first started moderating...like more of the off-topic threads have lasted longer and not been closed or deleted...


Anyway...Opeth is paying for this forum and I can understand why they don't see the point in having to maintain something that doesn't pertain to them...especially when there is a place for people to goof off at (Seriously Off Topic). So what if the forum doesn't move very much or is boring? At least this is a place to get a lot of first hand information and that's something that I don't see very many users being grateful for...

 

[Katatonic]

this isn't explicitly about opeth, but the forum itself...so please at least give people a chance to read it before you delete it.... anyway...

the opeth forum is a place for people to come talk about opeth. personally i have no problem with threads getting a little off-topic (lyle lovett thread; thought that was great btw), but i can understand why such a thread would get axed. don't get mad at moonlapse, she doesn't make the rules... but it does seem to me that many threads get deleted that don't deserve it--and some don't that do deserve it.

that said, there's only so much explicitly opeth-related stuff we can possibly talk about. there are only so many "what do you think about steven wilson" threads i can stand before i want to put my fist through the screen. it's only natural that people start to deviate from the devout "EXPLICITLY OPETH ONLY" guidelines cuz otherwise the forum just gets boring.

the problem comes when people start acting like they own the forum..."this is the worst thread ever, you should just go kill yourself"...posts like that just beg the question "do you have a life?" why are you bothering to even read the thread in the first place? just because you spend every waking minute frantically scouring the opeth forum for threads that displease you doesn't mean you need to inflict your asshole opinions on everybody else. some people are taking this forum a little too seriously...a few people i can say with certainty have had something large and painful crawl up their ass and die.

we need to find a happy medium. if you want to post a thread that you know is going to be deleted, don't even bother posting it, it's just going to piss a lot of people off and stir up a whole bunch of needless debate. however, everyone needs to calm down just a little. if you see a thread you think is really off-topic, say something to the moderator, there's no need to be a douchebag about it. most threads end up going on for pages like "your a jerk", "no you is stoopid", "no this worst thread ever"...like cavemen hitting each other over the head with rocks. i don't think i'm the only one getting sick of it.

bottom line: some people really need to discover the world outside of the forum. there's lotsa stuff out there. you don't own the forum. go play mini golf or something.

Nice avatar dude. Kathe Kollwitz rocks my socks.

 

[Draehl]

I see this kind of thing alot on other message boards. There are specific forums for different topics. More often than not everyone has one specific "home board" where they spend most of their time, know people the best, etc.

Problems occur when these people want to talk about something NOT related to their forums main topic, but only really want to talk about it with the regulars of that forum.

For instance, I visit a set of forums at swirve.com. They have a general talk forum and a politics forums among others. I occasionally post something political in general talk because A) I want to talk to my friends in general talk, and B) The people in politics talk can be jerks and can talk politics over my head.

What to do? There has to be some sort of compromise between posting exactly on forum topic and having a clicke within that board you wanna talk to about other things.

As Moonlapse stated it makes a lot of sense to allow music talk on here because we all share a love for Opeth and might like music others on here like.

*shrugs*

 

[cthulufhtagn]

moonlapse: yeah sorry my bad, i did have you confused with opeth.com

bangadrian: i didn't mean specifically you getting mad at moonlapse, just people in general

katatonic: yeah i know!

i wrote this after i read bangadrian's threads; a lot of the posts there were really just stupid and out of line. i'm just trying to summarize our point of view i guess.

 

[Opeth.com]

Hello!
In some points I agree with you, "cthulufhtagn". We just have to have this strict rules because where would it end? If we allowed some “off-topic” threads and delete some, what message would it send to you, the users? Let me take an example if I should apply rules that are more “free”. You write a thread about Tool and discuss their latest album. I like Tool and because of that I could easily let it stay in the forum. But if it comes to a band let’s say Linkin park… I would immediately remove it. So my point is: Do you think the threads existance in the Opeth forum should depend on my taste of music, my mood of the day, the weather or what? This will be impossible for anyone else to moderate the forum, therefore I would like, with the band’s consent, continue to have these rules. The problem is as you write….

“…. comes when people start acting like they own the forum..."this is the worst thread ever, you should just go kill yourself"...posts like that just beg the question "do you have a life?" why are you bothering to even read the thread in the first place? just because you spend every waking minute frantically scouring the opeth forum for threads that displease you doesn't mean you need to inflict your asshole opinions on everybody else. some people are taking this forum a little too seriously...a few people i can say with certainty have had something large and painful crawl up their ass and die.

we need to find a happy medium. “

If you make a rule it has to be consistent, but of course there are no rules without exception. We are trying the best we can and Moonlapse is just doing his job.

//Anna

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

Hello!
In some points I agree with you, "cthulufhtagn". We just have to have this strict rules because where would it end? If we allowed some ?off-topic? threads and delete some, what message would it send to you, the users? Let me take an example if I should apply rules that are more ?free?. You write a thread about Tool and discuss their latest album. I like Tool and because of that I could easily let it stay in the forum. But if it comes to a band let?s say Linkin park? I would immediately remove it. So my point is: Do you think the threads existance in the Opeth forum should depend on my taste of music, my mood of the day, the weather or what? This will be impossible for anyone else to moderate the forum, therefore I would like, with the band?s consent, continue to have these rules. The problem is as you write?.

Maybe the threads could be judged by the quality of the posts, not by the taste of the moderator? A Linkin Park thread will most likely turn into spam much more easily than one about, well, the Swedish music scene for example, but hey, so does just about every thread about Opeth for now. Actually, the point of the moderating going by what people post seems so logical to me that I don't know why I'm even asking.
I mean, if for example music-related off-topic threads were allowed, you would delete a thread about Linkin Park? On what grounds (other than being the moderator )?

Like Moonlapse said, mail Opeth.com...Moonlapse is "only" enforcing the rules after all. Maybe she'll (Opeth.com) get tired of the spam (too).

 

[Ermz]

The thing is though, when a certain degree of freedom is given in regards to posting, it comes down even more heavily on the moderators' discretion. That's what Anna was reffering to above, I think. When it gets to such a point, how consistent can a moderator's decisions be from thread to thread... from post to post... That is certainly one of the beneifts of having all these rules in place... it makes our job alot easier.

I'm all for a greater degree of freedom however, but some sort of precedent has to be set, some kind of common ground where a moderator could safely do his/her job without having the entire forum condescend on them.

People constantly complain as it is that there is double standards, that some threads of some variety get deleted whilst others remain. cthulufhtagn was even stating above what he/she thought were indiscretions on my part, substantiated only by his/her own opinion.

So what that says is that there really needs to be solid groundwork for all of this to function.

 

[AjDeath]

No offense to anybody, here.


Fuck moderators. People telling me what I can and can't talk about is like putting me in the fucking corner when I did a "boo boo", I am twenty-two, and nobody backs baby into a corner. Seriously, what is this all about, we are all fans and have similar interests. I also like to laugh, and really, Opeth is not a luaghing matter. It's the communication between fans world wide that counts. Opeth, you know we love you because we are frigging here. LET MY PEOPLE GO!

 

[mysweetdeath]

People telling me what I can and can't talk about is like putting me in the fucking corner when I did a "boo boo", I am twenty-two, and nobody backs baby into a corner.

You can say what you want. There's not really much restriction on that. However, it may get deleted, and that's the debate.[/QUOTE]

Seriously, what is this all about, we are all fans and have similar interests. I also like to laugh, and really, Opeth is not a luaghing matter. It's the communication between fans world wide that counts. Opeth, you know we love you because we are frigging here. LET MY PEOPLE GO!

Much agreed. Forums are designed to meet different people and talk about many different things. Sure, it is an OPETH forum, but Opeth fans can't talk about things OPETH fans like without getting a thread deleted?


I agree with moderation, it keeps away trolls. Good job moonlapse.

Also, the guidelines are set (and to me, very clear.)
Why can't people accept that and follow them?
If you want to talk about something else, there is always the PM feature.

 

[{**9**}*CaptainQuark*]

I guess I'm as guilty as the next guy of drifting off-topic, but I do understand Anna's point of view (tjena Anna – hälsa Mikke!) I've been on "Seriously Off-Topic" and encountered some TOTAL assholes that have pissed me off no end. I'd rather be here, with the (relatively ) sane Opeth posse. And surely you don't want to chase the Opeth fans away?

We need to find a happy medium. Where is it, tho'? The one thing that the users of this forum have in common is Opeth. But until the next album/video/tour happens, there is only so much you can say before the forum stagnates and dies. Sure, Opeth are paying for this forum and want to keep it on-topic. But how would they feel about paying for a forum that doesn't get used? I suggested allowing just ONE off-topic thread, but that was deemed unacceptable.

O woe is me, o woe, o woe!

OK – lynch me now!