Sorry, brief break in the action, I had to do some work.Before I respond to your most recent post, some things I would've said three hours ago, but I had to briefly go to work.Survivor, if you and lava don't agree on whether fanfic, art and the like should be posted in General Discussion, you can hardly expect members to know the appropriate venue. Members were talking about art in that thread,
until a mod came in to change the subject to the appropriateness of the thread-placement (moving it would've been just as beneficial as talking about it). At that point, members responded to lava's comment about moving the thread to Off-Topic. The fact that then became the new subject of conversation should not be cause for great consternation, as a mod had already changed the subject, not the members. Members responding to a mod is seen as some sort of insubordination, not to be tolerated, when in fact people will sometimes be simply expressing that
the policy isn't clear.
Also, if you meant to bifurcate the thread at the point where the subject changed, I would think you would've started with lava's post, or at least the first response to it. Instead you choose to split off a suggestion offered to ameliorate the us vs. them situation, and then rename the new thread "Another 'Bad Moderation' Thread", subtly suggesting that I was complaining about moderation when I was in fact pointing out the lack of a clear policy, (if that is what you contend members should adhere to).
Again, if you can't agree among yourselves what the proper sub-forum is, I should think you would realize how that might affect the average member's view of the consistency of your approach.
I have to again object to your "aw, shucks" characterization of yourself as "just a member" when your immediate response to the suggestion was based on your
experiences as a moderator. It simply doesn't wash. You're wearing the badge. You can't be "just one of the fellas". You ain't just "plain folks". You're the man. You talk the talk and you walk the walk. You're opinion is informed by your experience as a mod. Please don't insult the intelligence of the membership-at-large by suggesting otherwise. I'm sorry, Survivor, but you're overqualified to be "just a rank-and-file member, speaking in an unofficial capacity". You can't wear it like a cape and then expect not to be considered a cop. That's hardly the tone of the initial response, and still is not the tenor of your replies (look at what you renamed this chunk of the thread that you split off, and at your entire perception of the matter being discussed: Mods questioned - Survivor smash!)
If the Strategies and Tactics and Mapping sub-forums are fairly useful, have you considered that it might be as much through the restraint of the members as through any actions of the moderators? (I for one, rarely post there, out of respect for those sub-forums. Off-Topic, however is another matter entirely). A Community or Fanboy or Look-What-I-Made-Which-Has-To-Do-with-Tremulous sub-forum could be likewise well-moderated, and well-respected (although you will get a great deal of inevitable "u suXXorz", you'll also get a surprising amount of "how kewl"). And my main point,
it would give creative types a place to congregate, a nexus, if you will, of creative juices flowing around Tremulous-inspired fanstuff, a place to center the energy of the membership and community around creating Tremulous-related art, fiction, videos, t-shirts, flash games, server browsers and the like.
You seem so much more concerned with the possible down-side than enthused by the probable up-side of the idea, that I must reiterate my earlier contention that you are speaking as a mod. You can't separate yourself from what you are.
I also get the feeling that you either haven't been a member of many other gaming websites, (in that you somehow think that the Off-Topic sub-forum won't be the one wild patch in your otherwise well-tended little garden), or perhaps you think that Tremulous is somehow sacrosanct, and that players of a deep, involved FPS-RTS-asymmetrical ranged vs. melee game like Tremulous don't need a place to have some fun.
You're all stick, son, and no carrot. The Off-Topic sub-forum should have lots of locked topics, a good bit of spam, and some truly entertaing flaming. That's why it exists, not just to pan and pooh-pooh that which others find entertaining.
As much as I enjoy a good typefest, other people come to the forum for other reasons. One is to be entertained, and mess around with some Tremulous people. Some (most) people won't even read these long point-counterpoint posts. You seem to expect a level of discourse which is beyond the "give-a-shit" tolerance of the average gamer.
Lastly, I think you're mostly afraid that most of the fanstuff produced by the current community won't be the way the Old Guard of Trem.net wants to be perceived (as possibly amateurish, inept and n00bly). That's the general sense I get.
I'll play quote-for-quote with you later.
GG/GTG/AFK/BBL/CYA/l8zDinnertime, and spouse maintenance commencing.Caveman, you're after the reply to the quotewar.Cheers!
Surv, btw, thx 4 first post, I got to rename it and add a poll. I considered calling it 'Survivor doesn't like me or my ideas' but that was as silly as your topic name. I mock w/ <3.Hafta typefight tomorrow, time to curl up with a good book.We were derailing a thread about a drawing so I split it up, nothing out of context with that. And if you keep up those remarks I won't even consider this worth discussing.
In America, that's known as "taking my kickball and going home".ps - a thread about a drawing that had already been derailed by a mod calling said drawing "nonsense", and suggesting it be posted elsewhere (somehow that part escaped your usually impeccable scrutiny)