(shouting)

1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Topics of particular note that tickle the fancy of users and mods alike.
BTYM
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by BTYM »

Don Zanevsky wrote:You may notice I didn't respond to every point he made. That is because I agreed with them, you see!
You agree with his response to the verification question and him making more LPs? Cool, I can definitely see that you agree with him.
Don Zanevsky wrote:And yes, changes need to be made at the administrator level, but you must realize that everyone else needs to do stuff too (forums events, worthwhile threads, reasons for people to want to join and stay)
Right, that point has been made. Thanks for reiterating. I don't think I'm making it clear why I have a problem with him saying that, so I'm just going to drop it
ImageImage
Aposke
Banned
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Aposke »

About the new Talkhaus Mosts:

The forum will be unlocked some time today as soon as raocow's got some time to do it, and you'll be able to start posting right away!
(Hey, this actually happened sooner than expected, heh.)
User avatar
Thissa
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: BC, Canada

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Thissa »

Oh man, controversy!

Regarding raocow disabling comments on his videos:
I suggested this as a way to drive traffic to the talkhaus. That doesn't imply you're going to get quality traffic, or that you'll drive engagement once that traffic gets here. I'm of the opinion that the lower-quality commenters wouldn't bother to register accounts here anyway, and those who have something to contribute would. As for the engagement factor, well that's up to the talkhaus community. Give them a reason to make this forum their home, when there's so many other great forums out there.

Regarding the IRC
I recognize that it has a loyal following. The problem is, you're trying to get people to the talkhaus, and once they get here, now you're trying to get them to go elsewhere. You're fracturing the community. Fix the forums first, then worry about all the offshoots. There's a reason we don't officially endorse it.

Regarding Moderation
I didn't mean to imply that it was a problem, in my earlier post. In fact I think the mods here are doing a pretty good job. It was more of a "keep vigilant" kind of thing.

Regarding Account Approvals
To everyone who's suggesting reCAPTCHA, have you ever actually had to use it on a website? It's no better off than any other captcha, and is easily broken/targeted due to its' popularity. A challenge/response question/answer is a better approach, because to break it someone would have to build a custom bot to target out site specifically, rather than using one for any phpBB forum. I suggested raocow catchphrase questions because talkhaus' only traffic source (as far as I am aware) is from raocow fans watching his videos on youtube or elsewhere. Obviously if talkhaus starts getting a lot of traffic from non-raocow sources, we'd have to go with more generalized questions. But that's a problem for another day.

Regarding TLs4's activity
I think I came across as unfairly harsh towards him in my last post. Sorry buddy! And let it be known that I'm just as bad when it comes to getting things done, there were definitely a few times last year where he wanted to do a site update and I just didn't have the time! But yeah, don't blame the guy, he's got a pretty demanding day job AND pays for raocow.com out of his pocket (ever wonder why we don't mirror/backup all of raocow's videos here? because it would bankrupt him! also people who use adblock on this site are horrible monsters)
User avatar
Thissa
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: BC, Canada

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Thissa »

Alex wrote:It--it's a global sticky. I think that's a pretty glaring form of endorsement, if you ask me.
Pretty sure global mods can do that though. I was referring to the fact that we don't directly link it from raocow.com like we do with the talkhaus.
User avatar
Thissa
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: BC, Canada

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Thissa »

Alex wrote:You don't directly link to raocow's channel, either (no, I don't think his videos count under such circumstances).
We want people to watch his videos here rather than on YouTube because then users are exposed to both the ads within the videos as well as the ads on the site, it's an additional source of monetization. That being said each video on the site does have a link to watch it back on the video host that it came from if you prefer, and from there the channel is only an additional click away.
BTYM
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by BTYM »

Thissa wrote:
Alex wrote:You don't directly link to raocow's channel, either (no, I don't think his videos count under such circumstances).
We want people to watch his videos here rather than on YouTube because then users are exposed to both the ads within the videos as well as the ads on the site, it's an additional source of monetization. That being said each video on the site does have a link to watch it back on the video host that it came from if you prefer, and from there the channel is only an additional click away.
You don't seem to care that much about the viewers
ImageImage
Aposke
Banned
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Aposke »

Thissa wrote:We want people to watch his videos here rather than on YouTube because then users are exposed to both the ads within the videos as well as the ads on the site, it's an additional source of monetization. That being said each video on the site does have a link to watch it back on the video host that it came from if you prefer, and from there the channel is only an additional click away.
Yes I know website hosting costs money, potentially alot of money, but is that really necessary for that one ad right up there?

I'm 90% the Talkhaus frontpage actually gathers more daily visits than the raocow.com frontpage does, since - let's be honest here - most people don't even go on there to get their videos.
People subscribe to raocow on Youtube and will want to watch and comment his videos there. Simple as that. If you take away their ability to comment, do you really think they're going to move over to the Talkhaus to post on the LP threads here?
It's Youtube, man, they won't.
Even worse, some will unsubscribe because such behaviour of locking comments triggers the following thought in most people's head:
"Wow, what the heck's up with raocow? Does he not care about his viewers anymore? And I was just about to post my very witty remark/quote/other shit on this video, too!"
It's gonna scare people off, and has not yet worked for any famous LPer out there that I know.
limepie20
Posts: 0
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: Doesn't Matter

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by limepie20 »

Still disagree with disabling comments. Still disagree with crippling IRC. Everything else Thissa says is pretty accurate.
Dan
Posts: 0
Joined: 14 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Dan »

Thissa wrote:Regarding the IRC
I recognize that it has a loyal following. The problem is, you're trying to get people to the talkhaus, and once they get here, now you're trying to get them to go elsewhere. You're fracturing the community. Fix the forums first, then worry about all the offshoots. There's a reason we don't officially endorse it.
What the hell is this reasoning? Eliminate a part of the community to force them into the forums, lest things happen elsewhere? Pretty sure a lot of people in the IRC would just leave altogether if this happened.

And I still disagree with you on the mods. Sorry, mod*. I agree with you on pretty much everything else (don't have an opinion on the comments thing because I don't know how that would play out) but I don't think encouraging our moderation team (essentially once person) to stretch itself out even thinner by "staying vigilant" is a permanent, sustainable solution. Also, I know we joke and all, but I really hope nobody is actually blaming TLs4 for any of this.
User avatar
AUS
Toni#4796
Posts: 483
Joined: 14 years ago
First name: Toni
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: アース

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by AUS »

Disabling comments, killing the IRC, etc are bad ideas. Removing part of this community will do nothing else but that. It will not 'strengthen' anything.
Image
"oh no my best friend was replaced by a evil demon shadow monster"
"argh i am the evil shadow monster demon shadow"
Vip is pronounced "Beep"
nostalgic realtime nitroid let's play playlist
User avatar
ultratowel112
Posts: 22
Joined: 14 years ago
Pronouns: He/him

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by ultratowel112 »

Thissa wrote:Regarding Account Approvals
To everyone who's suggesting reCAPTCHA, have you ever actually had to use it on a website? It's no better off than any other captcha, and is easily broken/targeted due to its' popularity. A challenge/response question/answer is a better approach, because to break it someone would have to build a custom bot to target out site specifically, rather than using one for any phpBB forum. I suggested raocow catchphrase questions because talkhaus' only traffic source (as far as I am aware) is from raocow fans watching his videos on youtube or elsewhere. Obviously if talkhaus starts getting a lot of traffic from non-raocow sources, we'd have to go with more generalized questions. But that's a problem for another day.
I'm pretty sure this isn't the point to this thread, but since we are talking about it anyway...

I had to do one for another website recently. Instead of something like reCAPTCHA, I had to assemble a very simple image puzzle (it was two pieces and it showed the correct image beside it). I think this would work just as well, if not better, than the "challenge question". As a bonus, it is "generic", meaning we wouldn't have to change it up if/when we start getting traffic from non-raocow sources.

To make this post more relevant: Getting rid of stuff like the IRC or skypehaus isn't the answer - we would probably just make somewhere else to meet anyway and it would just anger the members. I agree with what AUS just said.

Pre-post edit: It is called Key Captcha.
Image
Image
Gamelun
Posts: 0
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: The herd

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Gamelun »

Dudes, literally everything about the talkhaus is intimidating. There's a reason I have less than five posts, even though I joined in 2010. However, reading these walls of text have given me motivation, and as such I will try to be more active. Ah man, dramatic stuff, dramatic stuff.
Image
The best mafia.
TheChrisD
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: Ireland

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by TheChrisD »

The only one thing I can suggest to aid all this is to use a plugin which checks off any new registrations against one of the global spam account databases, which should help curb their registration without hindering new users.

http://www.stopforumspam.com/contributions

Get a plugin from there, ditch all image tests.
Don Zanevsky wrote:has become a cynical shithole populated by a small number of regular users who scare off all prospective members.
Got to agree with that. it's kinda why I stopped coming here all the time...
limepie20
Posts: 0
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: Doesn't Matter

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by limepie20 »

TheChrisD wrote:The only one thing I can suggest to aid all this is to use a plugin which checks off any new registrations against one of the global spam account databases, which should help curb their registration without hindering new users.

http://www.stopforumspam.com/contributions

Get a plugin from there, ditch all image tests.
We aren't changing the user registration system. We don't have any problems with it.
User avatar
ano0maly
Discord User
Posts: 2945
Joined: 12 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by ano0maly »

We've been discussing some things in the chat and I compiled a list of suggestions to help organize the forums, so that they're more useful to members and potential newcomers.
  • The main thing I notice about talkhaus is that it's randomly organized, with a lot of particularly themed forums. I'm pretty sure phpbb supports diving forums into categories. How about having 2 or 3, with one category for collab/administration?
  • I suggested this before: merging ATXS and Art Showcase into a single forum would give the artists a well-defined section. This is consistent with Let's Play forum hosting people's LP threads (with raocow's pinned threads included), so why not do it with the arts also?
  • I realize that Romhack Shack hasn't been very active lately. So maybe we can re-theme it as "Game Shack" or something, focusing on perhaps indie games in general that are easy to share and talk about or LP. That way, other stuff like Asakura P and Distorted Travesty could also be discussed there. I've already seen Megaman: Day in the Limelight thread there, so it could work.
  • Bean's suggestion here, presumably about the Twitter thread.
  • It was suggested in the chat that we can have an IRC discussion thread in Gazebo and have it float around there instead, because people tend to skim over the global announcements. The current thread could be closed with a link to that discussion thread.
Also: strongly disagree with taking out IRC. IMO, talkhaus should refer to the whole community, rather than just this message board.

I also don't think disabling Youtube comments is a wise move. The Youtubers are their own thing and we should let them be, whether or not they're members here, rather than deny access to that site's users. The videos there really belong to raocow's channel on Youtube, first and foremost, rather than this site. The Youtube community needs to be able to access the videos by virtue of that channel.
Aposke
Banned
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Aposke »

Thank you, ano0maly, for bringing this discussion back up. I think it's sad that the whole thread kind of dwindled off into nothingness, except for two or three new threads being created because of them.
While I think re-structuring the forums in and of itself wouldn't do all that much, I agree that there should definitely be some sort of "Game Talk" forum, as you suggested. Turning the Romhack Shack into a Game Shack for discussion of all sorts of games might be a good way to revive it a little, seeing as there are active game discussions going on on stuff like The Binding of Isaac or just the general "What games are you playing?" thread.
If that was to be realized, I would also move the Touhou subforum to there, keeping it at the gazebo wouldn't make any sense in that case.

Hoping to get the discussion going for a bit again (if anybody even cares anymore), I'd like to re-state my point that we need more active members joining. By now, almost half a year after this thread has originally been opened, even the regulars are starting to leave one by one. If this continues, the talkhaus will eventually become smaller and smaller and the smaller it gets, the less people will have motivation to change anything about it, and the worse the problem will become.
I think what we need right now is a community project, something big, like making a new game together, or a contest, or anything.
Actually, what comes to mind is Bwarch's Let's Play Contest. If we could take something like that, advertise it properly (maybe raocow could even make a video promoting it or, heck, even join) and actually finish it, I'm sure it'll attract at least a few new members.
Whether they stay or not, that's a whole other can of worms, however.
User avatar
Argumentable
the biggest shit
Posts: 690
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: A butthole
Contact:
https://argu.talkhaus.com/

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Argumentable »

Aposke wrote: I think what we need right now is a community project, something big, like making a new game together
Hey guys lets make a romhack
I'm on Youtube andTwitter and Discord so say hi to me on there cause I don't really post here also I have sigs off so I can make my sig as ugly as I want and it won't bother me this is my sig btw
User avatar
AUS
Toni#4796
Posts: 483
Joined: 14 years ago
First name: Toni
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: アース

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by AUS »

Bartle don't worry, the mods will take away the IRC when they take away the Skypehaus...when they figure out how. [hint this is not actually possible..removing a link to the irc doesn't destroy it, they need some sorta DDOS system, and for skypehaus possibly some assassins.]
Image
"oh no my best friend was replaced by a evil demon shadow monster"
"argh i am the evil shadow monster demon shadow"
Vip is pronounced "Beep"
nostalgic realtime nitroid let's play playlist
User avatar
Bean
Yep.
Posts: 4581
Joined: 14 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Bean »

I'll just bring what I said in the IRC thread here:

How about we get a General Disucssion thread going in the Gazebo instead of keeping it stuck in the Forum Games sub-board (The Twitter thread)? I don't know how everyone feels about it, and that's why I'm asking. It just seems like we're splitting up a split user base as it is.
Aposke
Banned
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Aposke »

Bean wrote:How about we get a General Disucssion thread going in the Gazebo instead of keeping it stuck in the Forum Games sub-board (The Twitter thread)? I don't know how everyone feels about it, and that's why I'm asking. It just seems like we're splitting up a split user base as it is.
I agree with this.

@Bartle: I don't think removing the IRC was ever considered a real option for anyone but Thissa, so you shouldn't worry about that happening any time soon.
Also, when I suggested "making a game", I meant more like the thing WarioEagle and that other guy are working on. You know, the Radish Engine? They still need sprites, music, backgrounds, level ideas, etc. etc. I think once they get the basic engine down and a level editor out there, peeps are going to jump on the opportunity to contribute.
User avatar
Argumentable
the biggest shit
Posts: 690
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: A butthole
Contact:
https://argu.talkhaus.com/

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Argumentable »

So do something then. All this thread brought about last time was a bunch of complaints and then nobody actually did anything about them. Hint: If you want activity, you have to be active.

Here's addressing a couple things with more thought put into them than I probably should have cause I tend to be wrong, but it's an open discussion and I'm just one guy:

I don't really see moving topics and forums around doing anything. As was said, not enough discussion of anything is happening, and I don't understand how moving anything around would fix that. There's no reason you can't post about generally whatever you want now. Personally, as it stands we could just have one forum with no categories and it'd work out roughly the same. If you really think moving the twitter thread is gonna be a big deal I'll do that (if you're reading this I probably already have)

And I don't have a problem with IRC. I have a problem when IRC comes in here and trolls then whines when the forums aren't up to whatever their expectations were. I'd argue the opposite, that if you want feedback on something it'd have to be about coding or otherwise something moonpirate, wareng, or bartle are actually interested in. Then again, I haven't been in there for a while so I'm PROBABLY WRONG (emphasis), and this isn't about IRC anyway I don't know why it was brought up and I don't know why you think we wanna delete it.

Skypehaus, on the otherhand, is a cesspool of jerks and losers and I only say that cause it's full of people who I've either never heard of or never come here anymore. Am I serious in this statement? Who cares, someone will take it out of context anyway.

BUT just to go back to the most important part: YOU need to be active. Participate in contests, come up with your own. Hell, just make a topic about something you wanna talk about.
I'm on Youtube andTwitter and Discord so say hi to me on there cause I don't really post here also I have sigs off so I can make my sig as ugly as I want and it won't bother me this is my sig btw
Aposke
Banned
Posts: 0
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Aposke »

Argumentable wrote:Skypehaus, on the otherhand, is a cesspool of jerks and losers and I only say that cause it's full of people who I've either never heard of or never come here anymore. Am I serious in this statement? Who cares, someone will take it out of context anyway.
Aside from this being a joke, I never understood where the whole "Skypehaus is the black sheep of the Talkhaus" shit came from in the first place. I guess it was brought in by the IRC, but joking so extensively about the same topic over and over again in the end just leads people to actually believe what is written here. In fact, it'll most likely scare them off from even trying to join it.
Heck, maybe that's the IRC guys' goal. But there's been times when people have stayed connected to the Talkhaus simply because they were on Skypehaus. Heck, it even brought some new people in.
I just really don't see why there need to be so many bad jokes about it.
User avatar
Argumentable
the biggest shit
Posts: 690
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: A butthole
Contact:
https://argu.talkhaus.com/

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Argumentable »

My serious post about why I actually think Skypehaus is bad is that they seem even more cliquey and they have kicked people out of it for merely being there. Personally, I know Rikun and Punisher do not like me at all so there's also that factor for me. If someone manages to get in it and can enjoy it, more power to them, I've never tried to stop anyone from joining IRC or Skypehaus (I don't think???)
I'm on Youtube andTwitter and Discord so say hi to me on there cause I don't really post here also I have sigs off so I can make my sig as ugly as I want and it won't bother me this is my sig btw
Cup
Posts: 0
Joined: 14 years ago

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Cup »

Argumentable wrote:...if you want feedback on something it'd have to be about coding or otherwise something moonpirate, wareng, or bartle are actually interested in.
Well the interests and expertise of those three extend far beyond just coding, but if you're interesting in programming, you can definitely get some solid advice over there. Add in stuff like music and gaming from bwarch and paste, Spanish from OC, romhacking from leod and alex, and food from me (my actual profession), it becomes a great place for advice and discussion on a wide number of topics.

Hell if you came back and idled every now and then people could even ping about talkhaus questions on #talkhaus. Imagine that!

The point is, we miss you Argue. Come hang out.
User avatar
Argumentable
the biggest shit
Posts: 690
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: A butthole
Contact:
https://argu.talkhaus.com/

Re: 1% of the Users Control 43% of the Posts: Fixing the Forums

Post by Argumentable »

I was vaguely under the impression I was disliked in the IRC, too
I'm on Youtube andTwitter and Discord so say hi to me on there cause I don't really post here also I have sigs off so I can make my sig as ugly as I want and it won't bother me this is my sig btw
Locked