Status of sciforums

T

Tyler

Registered Senior Member
Okay I just spent 20 minutes writing a thread and lost it. bloody internet.

To sum it up the important part........

What is sciforums now? I've begun to notice for a while the slow degression of sciforums from what it use to be. When I joined it seemed to be about intelligent debate and respect for one another and actually a debate forum. Now, it's something different.

There seems to be a large number of threads lacking any debate. There seems to be a larger number of members who do an even more useless form of what I use to do (that is; back-patting, acting like an idiot, using a thread to just turn into some flirty-esque joke section...). I'm not going to mention any names but I've even seen members who I once saw as incredibly mature and valuable make tiny two-sentance posts in the middle of an actual debate just to make a joke or look funny or cute.

So my question is, what is sciforums? Is sciforums a serious, intellectual debate forum? Or a conversation hole for whomever stumbles upon it? Or if somewhere in between, leaning to what side? And why? And is it good or bad for the forum?

By the way, I'm fully ready to admitt that the changes in sciforums have largely come, in my view, to more youth on the site. And I don't mean for the positive. If I could retract everything (valuable or useless) that I initially posted from sciforums I would, solely so that no one would get the idea that it was an aid to the site.
 
First of all, welcome back.

Second... Yeah, it's been like that lately. I've been prowling news sites more to post interesting stories, hoping it will pick up again.

That reminds me, time to check the nas stes...
 
unfortunately you are right.
I hope I'm not in your list:eek:
however , for now I see no solution


actually I thought of an idea.
the seniour members would place a banner inside the thread which is stupid or smth. (banner- only for low IQ individuals", or smth like that).
all the other "not in your list" persons would note it and maybe ignore.
or smth like that

what do you think of that?
 
You know, i dont agree with you so much. Which section of the forum are you referring to? I find actually some really interesting topics have come up, and some quite intellegent thoughts have been made. are you suggesting the opposite is happening? what type of things do you expect to see ? I have learnt things here, that i dont think i would have normally learnt plotting about everyday life... without directly attcking you, I think is the quest of each of us to post some thought provoking ideas. Maybe its just that a hot topic hasnt been around in a while... maybe you could find one? :)

cheers,
Cara
 
you're quite new here Agent@5
Tyler was speaking of what it was like, befor you came
 
What are you referring to Tyler? Free Thoughts? Or the Philosophy section too..?
 
Right you are Avatar. Agent, what I'm talking about, the change started coming just a short while after you came (not to say it was related to you). You would have had to have been around a while before to really notice it.


Banshee - Free thoughts, general philosophy, religion even, ethics, social studies, human sciences are the ones I'm most thinking about. World Politics seemed to drop off for a while, but is back nicely I believe; though not like it once was. I mean, come on. That foxie guy would have been banned by this many posts in 3 months ago.

"HEY I LIKE JIMMY NEUTRON ANYONE WHO DOESNT IS AN IDIOT LALALALA" I think he alone drags this site down.
 
I can do nothing but agree with you in the case of this Foxie - moron, yes...
 
the funny thing is that I don't even know who this JIMMY NEUTRON is.
And don't you dare to inform me on this!
 
Just look down the threads in Free Thoughts. You can't miss it. How the hell did you manage to miss it..? :p
 
I have to agree with you Tyler. When I first came to exosci it was a different site altogether. There were current news posts, mainly written by Porfiry in all of the forum topics. I know that consumed a huge amount of his time. It got to be to much of a load for him to do.

It changed with the upgrade of VBBulletin that the site got. At that time people were more serious, more on topic, more considerate, and far less vulgarity and BS.

We, at sciforums can not control the quatily of members that register and stay. At lot of the topics that have been started have for various reasons been hijacked off into directions that have little to do with the purpose of the thread and subject.

With the summer, we have seen a lot of new members that seem to have nothing else to do and are not willing to research to find info to bring to the table. Some of the older members do that on a regular basis. One in particular is kmguru. While not a member who has been here for years, another is goofyfish.

Add to it that we seem to have collected a few that think that multiple identities that can be used for bs topics, (I won't name them here) have basically lowered the standards for the rest.

I will say that there has been some discussion behind the scenes on this problem and it may result in changes in the near future over these habits. That remains to be seen.

It has however been noted...
 
I don't post because I want to debate. I post because I want to have fun. Being in a debate can be fun, so is fooling around, so is flaming people who insult me. I believe in being yourself. I am being myself. I am acting exactly the same way I would with friends. I have participated in a lot discussions and I also have a lot of bad jokes and fooling around. If you only want to have debates only that is fine. Intelligent discussion shouldn't just limit to debates but jokes as well, if it is clever. Some people just don't like to be serious all the time, and people here have to tolerant people with different personalities.

The only thing I am against is acting irresponsibly. I noticed a lot of sockpuppets lately. People hide behind different screen names and post to provoke reactions.
 
Free thoughts is just that. There has not been much moderating done here because of it.

However some of the other forums are laid out by topic because that is what they are for. Not for fooling around. They are there to bring those that are interested in them together to discuss those topics.

When one line quips come through and hijacks occur the thread goes tangent to where it was to head. That benefits no one. There are other places for just fooling around.

Now I do not mean to sound like a stiff board. We do have rules that are meant to be followed for the site to function as it should.

I guess in this sense I am as guilty as anyone about getting off topic. I shall in the future watch this more closely. I am sure that I can add to the value of the topic without having to get off topic to do it.
 
People who need to hide behind different screen names have something to hide then maybe.

I do not see why it is that people feel the urge to cover themselves up behind different screen names. I think it's rather ridiculous to do so.

As for being off topic, well, everbody knows the "rules" for that by now. It always occured though. It was not in the same way, now it seems like people are trying to overscream eachother (by lack of a better word in English). The general mentality has changed and not for the better.

It is a whole lot different on Sciforums than when I joined in here. I agree that it is less and less "fun", posting here, the way it is now...
 
how can i complain about what sciforums is now?

after all one of its member just saved my life using a thread in site feedback to do it
 
Over the time I have been here at sciforums I have seen all kinds of things that have happened. I can not help but wonder what some of the older members have seen here.

A life saving is a first. I don't think anyone will complain about where it was posted or how it happened to be. I certainly won't.

I am happy things worked out the way it did.

Most of our posts here are not life threating or life aiding (some will probably argue this one though, if they could just get their hands on the disagreeing poster). :D

However as was mentioned by another member this is "Daveland" and his rules are the only ones that count.
 
Originally posted by Banshee
People who need to hide behind different screen names have something to hide then maybe.

I do not see why it is that people feel the urge to cover themselves up behind different screen names. I think it's rather ridiculous to do so.
Click to expand...

It is ridiculous but that doesn't mean people don't do it.

If I have dynamically allocated IP, I could have used a different screen name and call you a stupid cow or some other names and you wouldn't even know who I am.
 
Mayhaps Joeman, mayhaps.

It is rather low to do so.

Asguard, I didn't mean it personally and not to all newbies on Sciforums. It happens every so often, that does not mean that everybody does so. Luckily not...:)
 
Well, as you can see, I'm new here, but I've been elsewhere, and this seems to be the normal life-cycle of forums, any forums:

Stage 1: A bunch of sincere types gather around and have good and serious discussions and honorable fun. In this stage people mostly post if they have something to say, most threads stay on topic, smilies and such are few and well-placed, the atmosphere is friendly and polite. I have only ever seen one forum that managed to stay in this phase.

Stage 2: The site gets popular, lots of new people arrive, including pranksters, trolls, morons, and, occasionally, really sick heads. In this stage threads may diverge wildly off topic, plenty of posts are essentially empty of content, smilies, fancy avatars, big signature pics abound, the atmosphere is insincere, sometimes nasty, personal attacks occur here and there.

Stage 3: Depending on forum leadership (forum leadership is both moderators and some of the important members) stage 3 will be one of the following:

a) Chaos

b) Pranksters and trolls are chased off in various ways, and the forum is back to a little dedicated flock having serious discussions and honorable fun

c) The forum manages to stay on the fine edge of still having seroius threads while allowing also for the more shallow chatter

The a version will, surprisingly enough, soon chase off the trolls. That is probably because its only fun to troll nice people. Unfortunately the nice people will also leave, so the forum will more or less die. I've seen this happen in a matter of weeks.

The b version seems attractive at first sight, but it leads to a slow death, because a small group of people who know eash other well tend to run out of things to talk about. The forum can linger on indeterminately, but its a shadow life

The c developement is what I find ideal; diversity exists, new blod arrives, there is continued life. But it has to be constantly maintained, and there is no sure receipe. It is my experience, however, that the best defense against trolls and morons is to ignore them; they'll soon get bored and go elsewhere.

;)

Hans
 
A late welcome to sciforums, MRC_Hans.

Aways I am glad to see new members for truely it is the life blood of a forum. Without them, as you state the site becomes stale. It is no longer an interesting site to visit. I do my personal best to take the time for each new member that I can say "come and be welcome" for that very reason. I would have no member believe that because they are new they have nothing to contibute to the forums. Nor would I have them believe that because they are new no one would take the time to talk to them.

We see a few trolls come through. Luckily there are not that many. Sometimes in their own fashion they do provide a sort of humour in the process.

Thank you also for your insights.
 
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