Has TFF gotten boring?

[Phantom]

Don't bite my head off, I'm just saying. TFF has gotten to the point that you even have to watch what you post in here or else the staff will either warn you or give you the banstick, believe I've seen the good and the bad of both. If a debating topic were to pop, even I have to not post for fear of getting a warning, but hey every debate topic on TFF is going to having people bickering at each other to prove a point they want to make, then when it goes over some kind of "limit" then the staff close the thread, but only to give rise to other new debate topics.



I say just let them debate it out and let people say what they want to say, after all that's our right, "freedom to Speech" even on an "Internet Forum". I keep hearing that the staff closes the topics to prevent spam, but honestly, I've never noticed any spam pouring into the forum, just in the topics, but even the staff can't close them all, people are still going to argue on here, and debate, and complain, this is a Internet forum people, no body knows anybody here in real life, well maybe some of you, but this is like a anonymous cafe site for teens and adults, I think everyone just needs to loosen up a bit. I can see if this was a real life issue, but this is the internet, let people have their rights to say whatever the heck they want. Another thing I remember is that they say that TFF is a family friendly site, Your kidding right? lol


Anyway, as for the topics on here. I feel that TFF has lost alot of it's old charm it used to have, like the drama, the topics that made us want to check it out and come back on later in the day and check in on that topic for the excitement, but nowaways these topics are so boring they make me want to leave the site for a awhile and lurk until a somewhat good topic appears. But all the excitement here is just bearly hanging on my a thread, the staff closes threads that could possiblity draw people here to view them and come back again to reply or view the comments, and it getting boring, at least to me.


People have gotten so uptight with rules, when they forget that this is the internet, have a little fun, post threads that draw people. I would love to make a topic, without the fear of a staff member sticking a banstick or warning up my ass, but these days, it just doesn't seem worth coming here except to lurk which is also losing it buzz.

Sorry if this seemed like a rant, but hey that's what I feel. What do you think?

[Tiffany]

I agree, drama does make things interesting. However... drama is also really stupid and why people work themselves up over internet stuff is beyond me. Well, beyond me now. I used to stir my own shit years ago.

Personally I'm not afraid of replying to topics for fear of getting warned/banned... mainly because I can get my point across without having to stoop to badgering, name calling and bullying. That's been the main thing that I've seen people warned/banned for... but then again I've been inactive for a seriously long time.

Have things changed that much?

[OceanEyes28]

No, things have not changed that much.

We're pretty fair. We let you come back early from a ban, Phantom. A ban that you got for flaming and harassing people. And the deal was that until May (when your ban would be lifted) you'd stick to Trivia topics and not post anywhere else, and certainly not make threads that could stir up trouble. But you have. And I and the rest of the staff have let it go.

And hey, if you have to be in a bitch fight with other people to have fun on the internet, it tells me and everyone else everything we need to know.

[Phantom]

No, things have not changed that much.

We're pretty fair. We let you come back early from a ban, Phantom. A ban that you got for flaming and harassing people. And the deal was that until May (when your ban would be lifted) you'd stick to Trivia topics and not post anywhere else, and certainly not make threads that could stir up trouble. But you have. And I and the rest of the staff have let it go.

And hey, if you have to be in a bitch fight with other people to have fun on the internet, it tells me and everyone else everything we need to know.

Once again, you overassume what I'm saying. I'm not saying I want to be in a bitch fight to have fun, I'm saying just we need to loosen up a bit. Oceaneyes, you and every one else on here think you know or think you have me figured out, but in reality you really don't, so don't assume I'm here to stir up trouble when you really have no prove that I do.

A ban that you got for flaming and harassing people.

And this is how my past topics got to the points of flaming, Oceaneyes. And yet you did nothing to those who started the issue which resulted in this, I rest my case.

And the deal was that until May (when your ban would be lifted) you'd stick to Trivia topics and not post anywhere else, and certainly not make threads that could stir up trouble.

And have I really caused trouble at all? Have I really "stirred up trouble" since then? I think I have not. And just stick to trivia? Umm, sticking to one thing... boring much? I'd rather be banned, then not have the right to post what I want without someone getting uptight or thinking I'm causing a upheavel. Back then if you recall, I never started these wars, I made threads regarding gay topics of which others started the agruements, I didn't but I replyed my concerns, I had no intention of hurting others, or causing so called trouble. Check the achives, whenever I started a topic, didn't do so to start trouble.

But you have. And I and the rest of the staff have let it go.


Have I? In that case, can you link me to the topics in which I have? Because I don't recall that I did. I think you and the other staff assume overmuch about this. But like I said, if your just going to stick me to just trivia each time I come on here, I'd rather be banned, it's the internet what do I care? But then again it would prove my point.


Now can we get back on topic please? I didn't make this topic to discuss me, of which YOU started not I.

[nix]

You were whiney maggot phantom from what ive seen in the past and were unable to take criticism, you have been better as of late though.

Prob a result of posting less gay threads...

meh..

TFF has its ups and downs, always the way it has been.

It's not just TFF, it's life

[Unknown Entity]

I don't think much has changed. Sure I don't post as much as I used to, but it's normal for forums to go on an up and on a down. I wouldn't even say TFF is on a down at the moment, but lingering somewhere in-between.

For TFF getting boring, I'd have to disagree. Topics... maybe some new good ones will be a pleasant change, but the people are the same, entertaining bunch from when I first joined. There are group MSN conversations, the CPC8 and PRK9, the Ball coming up soon...

Also, it's at a time of year when people are busy finishing up school work, visiting friends and relatives, playing new games that have come out (Broktobeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!)... this sort of thing. There won't be a lot of activity. Maybe it'll boom when the holiday kicks in, or comes to a finish, eh?

Personally I'm not afraid of replying to topics for fear of getting warned/banned... mainly because I can get my point across without having to stoop to badgering, name calling and bullying. That's been the main thing that I've seen people warned/banned for... but then again I've been inactive for a seriously long time.

Same. But you can always guarantee some bugger will come along and misinterpret something you said and turn it into a big deal. There are people on here who can only make their views heard by pissing people off, and I wish they didn't because then it drives people away, and we get threads like this.

People have gotten so uptight with rules, when they forget that this is the internet, have a little fun, post threads that draw people.

As for the rules... I only see people getting warned for double posting, silly one-liners (although people have gotten away with it every now and then), continuous flaming/trolling/harassment and posting "porno". So I wouldn't say they were that uptight.

[Dodie16]

I don't think TFF is boring by any means. Maybe I am just easily entertained, but I like logging onto the site and seeing what posts have gone on during the day. I also like reading up on threads (new and old) just to see what sort of things get talked about. I also happen to thing that TFF has some pretty awesome people, so if you don't like what's going on in the forums, just send some of them a VM and chat it up for a while.

Posted by Phantom
nowaways these topics are so boring they make me want to leave the site for a awhile and lurk until a somewhat good topic appears.

Wow... That's pretty harsh... I know that's your opinion, but jeez, cut some slack man. Maybe some people don't think they're boring, and that's why they start the thread. And if you think that these topics now are so boring, why don't you come up with some interesting ones yourself? However, there is the possibility that you can't because of your early come-back from your ban and you're on some sort of probabation or whatever (as pointed out by Oceaneyes), so that could be stopping you or something. Idk...

I wasn't going to say anything about this, but it's sort of bothering me. This isn't directed at Phantom, this is just in general. It sort of bothers me when older members are all like "HEY, remember back in the day when TFF was cool? Why isn't it like that now?" I don't understand where that sort of thinking is coming from. Maybe is was and maybe it wasn't, but reading posts like that give off the impression to me that older members don't really care for the contributions made by the newer members. Which is sort of sad...because the site can't survive when it's just the same people logging in and posting. You need new people to bring fresh ideas and a new take on topics. You think it's boring now? Try talking to the same people about the same stuff over and over and over again. Now THAT sounds boring to me.

Sorry if I came across as bitchy. It's just that I really don't think that TFF is boring.

To sum it up, here's a couple of nice quotes that I think deserves to be read again.

Posted by Nix
TFF has its ups and downs, always the way it has been.

It's not just TFF, it's life

Posted by Unknown Entity
Also, it's at a time of year when people are busy finishing up school work, visiting friends and relatives, playing new games that have come out (Broktobeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!)... this sort of thing. There won't be a lot of activity. Maybe it'll boom when the holiday kicks in, or comes to a finish, eh?

There is life outside of the internets.

[Phantom]

You were whiney maggot phantom from what ive seen in the past and were unable to take criticism, you have been better as of late though.

Prob a result of posting less gay threads...

meh..

TFF has its ups and downs, always the way it has been.

It's not just TFF, it's life

I admit, I do sometimes have problems with most people's criticism, but calling me a whiney maggot is uncalled for dude.


Prob a result of posting less gay threads...

So I'm being called a whiney maggot for posting topics of regarding gay issues and replying back to those who disagree? Maybe if some of the people of the forum wasn't so quick to judge and start most of the agruements in those topics then all that crap wouldn't have happened.


Wow... That's pretty harsh... I know that's your opinion, but jeez, cut some slack man. Maybe some people don't think they're boring, and that's why they start the thread. And if you think that these topics now are so boring, why don't you come up with some interesting ones yourself? However, there is the possibility that you can't because of your early come-back from your ban and you're on some sort of probabation or whatever (as pointed out by Oceaneyes), so that could be stopping you or something. Idk...


I should have the right to post whatever topic I want to post. And don't you think I've tried too? Most either go unnoticed and closed before it even got the chance.


Topics... maybe some new good ones will be a pleasant change,

I agree hun, maybe if some newer more exciting topics were to pop up, then maybe it could generate more life around here.

[DragonHeart]

Dodie, it's not that we (not to do the clique thing, but I have been here for awhile...) don't appreciate new members and their contributions, it's that the topics themselves are pretty stale. I've been here long enough that 95% of threads are about topics I've seen not just once but multiple times. It makes TFF rather repetitive when one is posting essentially the same answers over and over and over again. Back in "The Day", everything was fresh and shiny and new so it felt a lot more energetic and fun. It's more old hat now. I lurk a lot for that reason and others probably do the same for similar reasons.

Edit: Another thing to consider is that a lot of us older members are, well, older. I've been out of school for years and I know others are too, or are still in college. Real life has a way of taking up a lot of time and the internet becomes less interesting as a playground. So newer, often younger members come in and since the previous topics are all old, start all new ones about all the subjects us 'vets' talked about years ago.

~DragonHeart~

[Unknown Entity]

Same. But you can always guarantee some bugger will come along and misinterpret something you said and turn it into a big deal. There are people on here who can only make their views heard by pissing people off, and I wish they didn't because then it drives people away, and we get threads like this.

So I'm being called a whiney maggot for posting topics of regarding gay issues and replying back to those who disagree? Maybe if some of the people of the forum wasn't so quick to judge and start most of the agruements in those topics then all that crap wouldn't have happened.

I should have the right to post whatever topic I want to post. And don't you think I've tried too? Most either go unnoticed and closed before it even got the chance.

Also, people seem to think that the drama behind pissing someone off is entertaining. Whereas you might not thought that the people that were judging you was entertaining, they probably thought you were. Half the things they said was bullshit, and only said it for the lol because they knew it would piss you off. Don't feed teh trolls and take it with a pinch of salt. ;-;

I wasn't going to say anything about this, but it's sort of bothering me. This isn't directed at Phantom, this is just in general. It sort of bothers me when older members are all like "HEY, remember back in the day when TFF was cool? Why isn't it like that now?" I don't understand where that sort of thinking is coming from. Maybe is was and maybe it wasn't, but reading posts like that give off the impression to me that older members don't really care for the contributions made by the newer members. Which is sort of sad...because the site can't survive when it's just the same people logging in and posting. You need new people to bring fresh ideas and a new take on topics. You think it's boring now? Try talking to the same people about the same stuff over and over and over again. Now THAT sounds boring to me.

I was nodding reading that. And you didn't come across as bitchy at all in my opinion. But I also agree with DragonHeart that a lot of the newer topics have been discussed before. Or they're so badly put by total noobs that you're put off posting in them, but either way not everyone will be interested in a particular topic.

I also liked the hitting people up in a VM point Dodie made. If nothing is going on in the forums, talk via VMs or MSN and start talking. It'll help give ideas for newer topics. =]

[Pete]

Phantom, you really can't say anything about the matter. 99% of your posts are a variation of the same thing. It's like clockwork. Oh, first of the month, we should expect some kind of thread about gays. If it's not Prop 8, its Fred Phelps, or some random news story. You get the same responses from the same people. Expecting a different outcome is what Einstein would call insanity. People are either for it, against it, or don't care. You have the right to say whatever you want, just as much as you have the right to be told that nobody really wants to hear it. At the same time, as a member, have the right not to be flamed about it.

I also think that everyone here is pretty chill and good-natured. The only person who I really see getting uptight about anything is you.

Also, I think everyone knows that I'm not afraid to speak my mind about any subject. I don't think I've ever been warned unless it was for something warranted.

And both Dodie and Dragonheart are right. Yes, TFF can kind of get a little repetitive at times and we're all growing up, but at the same time, we've all gotta chip in and make this place fun. Bitching about the good ole days solves nothing, and I'll admit that sometimes I'm guilty of that. But I think we all try to make this place fun, moreso than just bitching. Otherwise, what's the point of even logging on?

[Tiffany]

I was guilty of saying that "Hey, WTF happened here?" when I came back. Tbh, I never meant it as a slight against the newer people, but I think DragonHeart summed it up best with this:

Another thing to consider is that a lot of us older members are, well, older. I've been out of school for years and I know others are too, or are still in college. Real life has a way of taking up a lot of time and the internet becomes less interesting as a playground. So newer, often younger members come in and since the previous topics are all old, start all new ones about all the subjects us 'vets' talked about years ago.

I'm 'old'. I'm turning 31 in February for chrissakes. Sometimes, some of the topics that are posted just make me feel ridiculous if I were going to post an answer in them. That doesn't mean all new members, just the younger members in general. Doesn't mean that I have anything against them either, but you have to admit... the mentality of a 30 year old generally is different than an 18 year old. Generally. Granted, I have met some incredibly mature 18 year olds and some very immature 30 year olds so it kind of averages out.

So yeah. I was more just confused because this place 5 years ago was new and shiny, and topics were new and hadn't been done to death. Again, not a slight on any of the newer members... just explaining my own actions with not participating in most of them. I can only do word games for so long, ya know?

I've been trying to think of new topics that I could have fun posting in... but the old grey mare just ain't what she used to be.

[Cheesevixen]

Another thing to consider is that a lot of us older members are, well, older. I've been out of school for years and I know others are too, or are still in college. Real life has a way of taking up a lot of time and the internet becomes less interesting as a playground. So newer, often younger members come in and since the previous topics are all old, start all new ones about all the subjects us 'vets' talked about years ago.

~DragonHeart~

I completely agree with this. I was an awesome poster before kid kingdom arrived. I could lay out post afert post after post. However two things happened.

1. I had kids, and kids seem to take me away from the internet quiet often. Whether it's cooking, cleaning, running errands, etc. I find it hard to actually sit down and type anything remotely resembling an intelligent post. So usually I give up and turn away from my post.

2. I have seen so many threads about gays, racism, drugs, and abortion that I feel no need to constantly repeat myself. So I let the newer people deck it out now. If I so happen to think of something new I post it, and if I see something I haven't I post, but a lot of the majority of posts are repeats.

This doesn't make TFF boring to me though. It just means most of us have grown up so much that we need to reinvent reasons for returning. I don't believe I will ever post like I used to, but that's ok.

Just a side not....I totally miss gifts. >>

[Sinister]

*marks yet another notch on the TFF wall*

Another one of these, eh? Very well. Get on with it then. Be sure to include how boring whiny threads are.

-Sin

[Jin]

I totally called this in the troublemakers thread a few weeks back.

[Govinda]

What do you mean, 'gotten'?

[LocoColt04]

There are too many things in this thread that I like to bother quoting.

I know Phantom cannot respond to this at this point in time, but I do hope he's reading.

TFF goes through cycles. One year, it's booming, the next it's slow, and the year after that it's booming again. The activity flows with the seasons, and each year is higher or lower on the scale than the year prior. I'm expecting, based on current trends and eight years worth of lurking, that 2010 will be one of those "up" years, where it's a touch more active all year long due to more fresh faces that actually stick around.

The "problem" with it being "boring" (insert other words I've seen - stale, etc.) isn't that it's boring at all. Tiffany and a couple others pointed out the repetition. It's not that the place is dead... we're all just looking at topics that we've answered five, six, eight times already.

TFF has a LOT of members who stay for a VERY long time. The obvious Fuzz and Merlin aside, there are quite a few active members who have been here for six...eight...nine years and have seen the same topics crop up over and over again. It isn't that we disapprove of the topics. It isn't that we don't have an opinion. It's just that the same topic that interested me eight years ago doesn't interest me now. It's not bad. I'm not going to close it because I don't want to post in it. I'm going to let those who are experiencing those things now have a hand in sharing their knowledge.

It's pretty obvious that whole paragraph was written without a specific example in mind.

Regardless, I don't find this place to be boring at all. I'm growing up. There are a lot of things to do aside from sit at a computer when I'm done with my homework. I don't have homework. I have a job. In management. In retail. During the holidays.

I'm not taking stabs at those of you who don't work, or aren't old enough to, or enjoy spending your free time here. I LOVE YOU GUYS. You are the ones that make this place tick. TFF has been around for (going on) thirteen years now. I've been here for over seven of them and even I look back on things that happened before I got here and say "wow, I wish I was here for that."

Us "veteran" members aren't ragging on the place because it isn't as cool as it used to be. Face it. We're all just old now. The drama and such doesn't appeal to us like it did "back in the day." Maybe it's boring. Maybe it's not. It's all personal opinion anyhow. I highly doubt most of our newer members feel that way. As someone else mentioned... all of this must seem shiny and new.

I'm using a lot of quotations in this post.

I do rather dislike when older members swing in and say things like "THIS PLACE SUCKS LOL IT'S NOT LIKE OLD DAYS AND THE STAFF IS TOO HARSH NOW" because... well, what message does that really send to our newer crowd? To me, I read that and see something to the tune of "TFF is a terrible place. Everyone is mean and the staff is too cruel and if you breathe wrong you get banned. There are no interesting topics and no one has anything of importance to say to anyone else."

Maybe the staff is a little more strict than it was in, say, 2003-2004, but I'd say we're a lot LESS strict than we were in 2005-2007. The rules are very... broad. It's a long read. It very well may be time to streamline that document again. The rules are very much a guideline, and an expectation of the behaviors we'd like to see from the members of our community.

One-liner posts are perfectly fine if it's at least a complete sentence and it's on topic. Quote me on it if you'd like. Unless you're in the ID forum, not every post requires a chapter of a novel. Maybe lots of short posts beget spam. Maybe they beget conversation. There is a fine line between the two, and YES, that is why we concern ourselves with it. I don't agree with certain staff members and even non-staff members jumping on a new person for posting a one-line post somewhere that it may be completely appropriate to do so. I don't like getting messages from members apologizing for being awful because so-and-so who isn't on staff told them in their welcome thread that they needed more than 30 words to express themselves.





As for the flaming or trolling or harassment or whatever... I'm not going to pick fights and I'm not going to make comments on whatever happened in the past. Phantom got banned for something whether he likes it or not, and we lightened his ban and then even let him break the terms for doing so. I'm not arguing with the re-banning, and fully support the decision of other staff members to re-apply said ban.

That's not what this thread is about.

[SOLDIER #819]

Most of these posts are so long now. I distinctly remember this thread being easier to read a while back.

I want some Clan Wars. School's ending. We can do it?

[Meier Link]

*marks yet another notch on the TFF wall*

Another one of these, eh? Very well. Get on with it then. Be sure to include how boring whiny threads are.

-Sin

QFT.

The one and only thing I am am going to say about this thread and it is directed twards anyone that feels like Phantom did. If you find it boring then get off your ass and do something about it instead of making a thread about how "dull" things have got.

[nix]

I admit, I do sometimes have problems with most people's criticism, but calling me a whiney maggot is uncalled for dude.


Prob a result of posting less gay threads...

So I'm being called a whiney maggot for posting topics of regarding gay issues and replying back to those who disagree? Maybe if some of the people of the forum wasn't so quick to judge and start most of the agruements in those topics then all that crap wouldn't have happened.


Wow... That's pretty harsh... I know that's your opinion, but jeez, cut some slack man. Maybe some people don't think they're boring, and that's why they start the thread. And if you think that these topics now are so boring, why don't you come up with some interesting ones yourself? However, there is the possibility that you can't because of your early come-back from your ban and you're on some sort of probabation or whatever (as pointed out by Oceaneyes), so that could be stopping you or something. Idk...


I should have the right to post whatever topic I want to post. And don't you think I've tried too? Most either go unnoticed and closed before it even got the chance.


Topics... maybe some new good ones will be a pleasant change,

I agree hun, maybe if some newer more exciting topics were to pop up, then maybe it could generate more life around here.

ROFLMFAO

I said you "were" not "are", i take it back now and change it back to "are"...




TFF isn't fun for you as your a bit of a dope, and we dont take kindly to dopes around here, so yes your experience here will prob never be good the way you go on, just go? go on! you know you want to! make a big drama about it too, ill put on some popcorn..

[Violet]

Okay, so what I've learned from this is.. don't make a thread ranting/speaking out about your inner feelings. I'm surprised it hasn't been closed yet o_O.

EDIT: I don't think TFF is boring, but I don't think it's exciting either. I see it as a place like Facebook where I can keep in touch with my pals.

[LocoColt04]

go on! you know you want to! make a big drama about it too, ill put on some popcorn..

That doesn't work on someone who's been banned from the forum.

The Phantom-prodding can stop now; there is actually a semi-decent topic at hand.

[Shan'do Spike]

Most of these posts are so long now. I distinctly remember this thread being easier to read a while back.

I want some Clan Wars. School's ending. We can do it?

Dude, S. I'm totally in. Remember that time I proposed a whole system and then Nightshade was like "no". Then I was like . And then we gave up. Oh well, at least we were better than Forum Wars.


Dragonheart's pretty much spot on. Heck, I was active for about two years, and then I've been in and out since then. I've still seen pretty much every thread that's been made. You've gotta get up pretty early to get me to post in a thread.

And if you think mods are bad now, you should have seen us in 02ish.

[Pete]

I remember my glorious spaminator avatar, and how I shut everything down. Man, we were dicks back then.

[Bleachfangirl]

TFF was boring for a while...and activity-less (I'll make up a word), but I think this site goes through phases like that every so often. It depends on what you're feeling about the whole site while you're skimming through the forums too. Things were pretty down and dead, but life has really picked up! There are actually members and posters around here, and a whole bunch of new threads and posts each day that we can read! That doesn't seem that boring to me.

There are a lot of repetitious threads and whatnot still, but there's always new input on old things that can be fun. After a certain point, every topic gets revisited, but that's the nature of all forums. Besides, all the new people dropping in are giving the forums some new spice that I think is quite nice.

And what's this about uptight? XD If anything, it feels like they've gotten looser around here! No one wants anymore flame-wars to start up (it felt like a lot of them were happening around last year), so for a time, everyone was being careful of not stepping one anyone's toes. But it looks like posters have loosened up again and there's joking and prodding again. It's all cool.

I are happy with the forumz!

[Walter Sobchak]

TFF is what you make it to be.

Sure, people change and come and go, but at the end of the day, it is still a place where people come to talk about a video game and stay to talk about other things. The most likely scenario is that you have changed, not the forum. I know that is why I am less active. I have no stake in the game and most of my forum friends have died or left (I assume they are dead because they do not contact me anymore, and why would you not want to speak to me?)

[nix]

I remember my glorious spaminator avatar, and how I shut everything down. Man, we were dicks back then.

lol

We did our jobs!!

And we done a good job of driving the likes of sissi away

[Maridia]

Can we keep Phantom banned now, instead of threatening a time out like a parent?...douche.

The site isn't dying or anything like that it's exactly as it's been since I got here. A smaller but tight knit community with people lasting forever. It's not gigantic like other FF sites. You know what you get when you come here though so people bitching is just silly. When has it ever been massive? As Cesar said we go up and down, but even so there's a core that always exists. So I just don't see the problem.

And Phantom brought up how people are nazi's about the rules here. Which I remember over a year ago Alisyn saying she wants to keep GC free flowing. Notice the amount of actual warnings given out here. It's not that many. And we let alot of threads go on with people bitching back and forth. Lots of locked threads, that's about it.

Is it so hard to be sensible? Evidently.

[Strong Bad]

TFF needs more boobs. Boobs make everything more entertaining.

[Meier Link]

Hey look at the post above me I just found a boob. Now that means he has to stick around because he himself said we need more of them. Just sucks he didn't specificly state that they had to be those of a woman.

Actually I think the woman / male ratio has almost evened out over the active users here. Odd.