@BelgarathMTH I hope you aren't implying that anyone with a lot of forum points is intentionally forming a clique or think themselves as somehow better than other posters. In fact, I have a lot of words as to how forum reactions here have directly lead to me being more social than I ever have before, even irl. But I don't want to derail the thread. Can a mod please split this off into its own discussion?
“Every once in a while, I start to perceive the high points-getters of the forum as a kind of social clique, almost like you might see among middle school kids, and you're either part of the in-crowd or you're not.”
I kinda want to disagree with this somewhat (even if it is a biased opinion). Majority of the top 10 (eleven) have got there from valuable contributions to the community over the years: @Bengoshi and @Dee were/are community leads, who made sure this place is a fun and safe environment @elminster and @semiticgod have helped countless people with the games. Elmo on the technical side and Semi on the how-to-exploit and do solo runs side. @Buttercheese has shared amazing art for these games and others @LadyRhian has held 3(?) amazing forum PnP RP sessions that are amazing reads (biased opinion of course) @deltago (humbly) started a community magazine to not only promote Beamdog’s games, but this community’s talents. (Seriously, the only reason why I am top ten is this and I won’t be top ten for much longer with the return of LR) That leaves @booinyoureyes, @Anduin@mlnevese and @Shandyr. Boo rarely post any more, but if I recall, most of what he did post was often insightful and thought provoking. Shandyr’s post were always emotional and personal. His post thanking Gaider is still my favourite thing I have ever read on this forum. Andy’s personality keeps the place light, fun and amusing offering forum games and role playing in all corners and discussions. And our local alien is not only part of the moderating team, but a person who also keeps the discussion light and fun in certain corners of the forum (meme thread).
Each of these members have brought something unique and fun to this place we all enjoy and the points they have accumulated over the years disquinishes that IMHO.
I think it's normal for a forum to have a small number of posters who spend lots of time on the forum and make posts, a large numbers of "lurkers" who seldom post comments, and a lot of people in between those two extremes. I think all three groups are vital to the community: the first group posts content for the enjoyment of the second group, and the third group adds variety by making posts that the first group wouldn't think of. Some people just like posting more; others just come here to read stuff.
I don't really think about who exactly belongs in which vaguely-defined, unnamed group, and I don't attach any importance to it. I do have a special attachment to certain forumites, but that has more to do with their personalities rather than their strictly game-related posts.
I haven't really noticed a decrease in traffic lately. Looking at the stats, we have a dip in traffic for this month, but this month is only 2/3 over.
I've been in this forum since the beginning and I have never noticed newcomers being ignored. A higher level of interaction between frequent posters is to be expected exactly because they post often, are very active and are likely to interact in most threads.
When I joined it took me around 3 or 4 months to make my first post. And the way the veterans received me made me go on posting... this was some 8500 posts and nearly 7 years ago.
This situation is not different from a shy person deciding to go to a party and then not trying to join the ongoing conversations or starting some. If you don't express your opinions you can't expect people to discuss them.
My level of activity greatly decreased after I had two kids but I still read most of the forum when I have time or the kids are sleeping, which amounts to the same nowadays, dropping a comment here or there, either to explain something or defuse a conflict before I have to take action as a moderator.
I only post when I've got something worth sharing to say, so that's why despite having been here for as long as the old guard "clique," I've got a post count that they could make in just six months or less. I log on here every day just to check out what's going on, though.
I have an unorthodox solo no-reload run of LoB I've been wanting to start for the better part of the year, but modded XCOM 2 has thoroughly engrossed me recently. Long War 2 really scratches the turn-based-strategy itch something fierce.
I know how mine got so high, this is the only place where I feel comfortable being so open with my words. I'm practically a hermit irl, and the friends I've had, have been very few and far between.
@ThacoBell I agree, the forums are usually a friendly environment and helped me a lot when Dad was dying. I also would have never gotten anywhere with my character Zaram if it wasn't for the forums.
It's also where I met @DJKajuru and his wonderful artwork which can be seen in my profile picture.
Going back to the on topic/off topic point... I have lots of points because i post multiple times per day in the roleplaying, off topic and fan creations fora (mostly in rp where I am currently running a game), but I also did a thread on the badges and what you get for them that has gotten quite a bit of reactions on it.
I'm not a point whore (sorry for the french there, so to speak). Points don't do much for me IRL. I don't point to them to say how wonderful or popular or anything else I am. For me, they are just there. They always have been.
But then, I'm 51, and that sort of stuff doesn't matter much to my conception of who I am or what sort of person I am. To some people maybe it does. To me, it's like a "experience posting in these forums" tally.
We're afraid not, @Balrog99. The moderating team only makes decisions unanimously, the decisions are never done without intensive discussion beforehand (in this case, months of it), and moderator decisions, as the Site Rules themselves state, are final and not up for appeal or discussion.
We're afraid not, @Balrog99. The moderating team only makes decisions unanimously, the decisions are never done without intensive discussion beforehand (in this case, months of it), and moderator decisions, as the Site Rules themselves state, are final and not up for appeal or discussion.
Sorry, @semiticgod. I'm sure you had your reasons. I must be missing something.
897) When you're trying to watch a show you DVR'd a week ago but keep having to rewind it because you can't help checking the forum to see if anybody replied to your last post. Seriously, I've watched the same damn scene 4 times now!
Yep. We are the Learnean Hydra of Moderating teams.
Hail Hydra!
I refrained from posting in this discussion because I didn't want to derail it further from the thread's topic, but I think these discussions are great and I give you all my applauds for being so excellent.
I'll add my 2 cents as well now, just because I can; I don't care about points and likes, but I do care about being noticed and noticing others. For me the reactions are a way to signal to the writer that I've read what they say and appreciate it. If they make me laugh or just generally contribute to the forum in a good way, even if I don't agree, they get a like. If they write something clever, smart or hand out tips I agree with, I give them an agree (obviously), and if they write something interesting, new for me, insightful or if I can see they put a lot of effort into a post, I give out an insightful. It's not for points, its my way of giving recognition that I SEE you.
At the same time I cannot deny that I want the same back. I want ppl to read what I write, to see me and acknowledge it. I have to admit I am nowadays posting less thoughtful and lenghty advice on the games themselves just because it seems noone reads it. Maybe they do, but I never know of it since those posts get so few reactions. The tipping-point for me was some time ago (last winter or spring, IIRC) and I wrote a very lenghty post offering advice about profiency points for a paladin or similar. I probably spent 45 minutes writing that one post and IIRC it got zero reactions. No one replied to it, not even the OP. I felt that I had just wasted much of my time for nothing and I kinda started to stop doing that. I'm not saying my advice was the best in the world, it was just my subjective views after all, but it would have felt nice to at least have been seen. I also started a very, very extensive playthrough. Super-RP heavy, with many screenshots and long written stories. It had 10 views and 8 of those were my own checking in to see if anyone had read it. @Rik_Kirtaniya was the only one that gave it a read and I am very grateful for that. After a week or slightly more and one more update, each posts took probably 4 hours of combined gaming, screenshotting and writing to compose, I gave up and deleted everything. It just wasn't worth it. Again, I want to reiterate, that it was not the points I was after, I just wanted to contribute the way I've seen others do who got a lot of readers and comments. After this I posted like a picture of cat and got 10 reactions. I even joked about it in the activity page afterwards stating something about just this; the best way to get reactions from the community is posting cats. That post got another 10 reactions, heh.. It was paradoxal in a way.
Anyways, just my thoughts on the subject. And please don't feel you have to react to this post now because of what I wrote. This time I write for my own benefit because I just wanted to "lighten my heart", as we say in Sweden (though direct translations are seldom good).
One last comment, @BelgarathMTH, we are probably very different as persons, but I always like what you write and consider you a great contributor to the very heart and soul of this community. Your gentle persona and "LG" traits are everything I would like to be, but seldom are.
EDIT: One last observation, I do see that certain ppl get reactions just because they are who they are. I don't think this is wrong in any way, they have all earned their spots as prominent figures in this community, but it's obvious that certain ppl get bucketloads of reactions. I really like Buttercheese, but sometimes I am amazed at the amount of reactions she get just be being here. She is just one example, so I mean absolutely no offense to her personally. I have also realized that I give out reactions more frequently to the ppl I care more for, especially my new comrades in our RP adventure. I want to give them credit for the way they make my day better by sharing an adventure with me. Some of us, including myself, end up high on the "top list" because of this internal trading of reactions. I don't think any of us do this because of points, we just get along so good together. Ok, now I'll stop my ramblings. Thank you if your read all of this.
Comments
I kinda want to disagree with this somewhat (even if it is a biased opinion). Majority of the top 10 (eleven) have got there from valuable contributions to the community over the years:
@Bengoshi and @Dee were/are community leads, who made sure this place is a fun and safe environment
@elminster and @semiticgod have helped countless people with the games. Elmo on the technical side and Semi on the how-to-exploit and do solo runs side.
@Buttercheese has shared amazing art for these games and others
@LadyRhian has held 3(?) amazing forum PnP RP sessions that are amazing reads (biased opinion of course)
@deltago (humbly) started a community magazine to not only promote Beamdog’s games, but this community’s talents. (Seriously, the only reason why I am top ten is this and I won’t be top ten for much longer with the return of LR)
That leaves @booinyoureyes, @Anduin @mlnevese and @Shandyr. Boo rarely post any more, but if I recall, most of what he did post was often insightful and thought provoking. Shandyr’s post were always emotional and personal. His post thanking Gaider is still my favourite thing I have ever read on this forum. Andy’s personality keeps the place light, fun and amusing offering forum games and role playing in all corners and discussions. And our local alien is not only part of the moderating team, but a person who also keeps the discussion light and fun in certain corners of the forum (meme thread).
Each of these members have brought something unique and fun to this place we all enjoy and the points they have accumulated over the years disquinishes that IMHO.
I don't really think about who exactly belongs in which vaguely-defined, unnamed group, and I don't attach any importance to it. I do have a special attachment to certain forumites, but that has more to do with their personalities rather than their strictly game-related posts.
I haven't really noticed a decrease in traffic lately. Looking at the stats, we have a dip in traffic for this month, but this month is only 2/3 over.
When I joined it took me around 3 or 4 months to make my first post. And the way the veterans received me made me go on posting... this was some 8500 posts and nearly 7 years ago.
This situation is not different from a shy person deciding to go to a party and then not trying to join the ongoing conversations or starting some. If you don't express your opinions you can't expect people to discuss them.
My level of activity greatly decreased after I had two kids but I still read most of the forum when I have time or the kids are sleeping, which amounts to the same nowadays, dropping a comment here or there, either to explain something or defuse a conflict before I have to take action as a moderator.
I have an unorthodox solo no-reload run of LoB I've been wanting to start for the better part of the year, but modded XCOM 2 has thoroughly engrossed me recently. Long War 2 really scratches the turn-based-strategy itch something fierce.
I agree, the forums are usually a friendly environment and helped me a lot when Dad was dying. I also would have never gotten anywhere with my character Zaram if it wasn't for the forums.
It's also where I met @DJKajuru and his wonderful artwork which can be seen in my profile picture.
I'm not a point whore (sorry for the french there, so to speak). Points don't do much for me IRL. I don't point to them to say how wonderful or popular or anything else I am. For me, they are just there. They always have been.
But then, I'm 51, and that sort of stuff doesn't matter much to my conception of who I am or what sort of person I am. To some people maybe it does. To me, it's like a "experience posting in these forums" tally.
*Ahem*
@Minion
@Minion
@Minion
There let's see if it works now
I refrained from posting in this discussion because I didn't want to derail it further from the thread's topic, but I think these discussions are great and I give you all my applauds for being so excellent.
I'll add my 2 cents as well now, just because I can; I don't care about points and likes, but I do care about being noticed and noticing others. For me the reactions are a way to signal to the writer that I've read what they say and appreciate it. If they make me laugh or just generally contribute to the forum in a good way, even if I don't agree, they get a like. If they write something clever, smart or hand out tips I agree with, I give them an agree (obviously), and if they write something interesting, new for me, insightful or if I can see they put a lot of effort into a post, I give out an insightful. It's not for points, its my way of giving recognition that I SEE you.
At the same time I cannot deny that I want the same back. I want ppl to read what I write, to see me and acknowledge it. I have to admit I am nowadays posting less thoughtful and lenghty advice on the games themselves just because it seems noone reads it. Maybe they do, but I never know of it since those posts get so few reactions. The tipping-point for me was some time ago (last winter or spring, IIRC) and I wrote a very lenghty post offering advice about profiency points for a paladin or similar. I probably spent 45 minutes writing that one post and IIRC it got zero reactions. No one replied to it, not even the OP. I felt that I had just wasted much of my time for nothing and I kinda started to stop doing that. I'm not saying my advice was the best in the world, it was just my subjective views after all, but it would have felt nice to at least have been seen. I also started a very, very extensive playthrough. Super-RP heavy, with many screenshots and long written stories. It had 10 views and 8 of those were my own checking in to see if anyone had read it. @Rik_Kirtaniya was the only one that gave it a read and I am very grateful for that. After a week or slightly more and one more update, each posts took probably 4 hours of combined gaming, screenshotting and writing to compose, I gave up and deleted everything. It just wasn't worth it. Again, I want to reiterate, that it was not the points I was after, I just wanted to contribute the way I've seen others do who got a lot of readers and comments. After this I posted like a picture of cat and got 10 reactions. I even joked about it in the activity page afterwards stating something about just this; the best way to get reactions from the community is posting cats. That post got another 10 reactions, heh.. It was paradoxal in a way.
Anyways, just my thoughts on the subject. And please don't feel you have to react to this post now because of what I wrote. This time I write for my own benefit because I just wanted to "lighten my heart", as we say in Sweden (though direct translations are seldom good).
One last comment, @BelgarathMTH, we are probably very different as persons, but I always like what you write and consider you a great contributor to the very heart and soul of this community. Your gentle persona and "LG" traits are everything I would like to be, but seldom are.
EDIT: One last observation, I do see that certain ppl get reactions just because they are who they are. I don't think this is wrong in any way, they have all earned their spots as prominent figures in this community, but it's obvious that certain ppl get bucketloads of reactions. I really like Buttercheese, but sometimes I am amazed at the amount of reactions she get just be being here. She is just one example, so I mean absolutely no offense to her personally. I have also realized that I give out reactions more frequently to the ppl I care more for, especially my new comrades in our RP adventure. I want to give them credit for the way they make my day better by sharing an adventure with me. Some of us, including myself, end up high on the "top list" because of this internal trading of reactions. I don't think any of us do this because of points, we just get along so good together. Ok, now I'll stop my ramblings. Thank you if your read all of this.