FOFC Posting Activity (Other Discussions Merged)

[Galaril]

Wait so Daddy Torgo is gone? What happened do he have meltdown about the deflate gate stuff and quit the forum or was he given a forum death penalty ban?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

On the other hand, even the minor occasional stress of trying to parse out "oh dear, what bit of honesty might set some mod off today" simply reached the point to where it's not really worth it to me to post that much any more.
.

This.

I think a lot of people got tired of looking over their shoulders every time they posted.

[Dodgerchick]

40 and too much to do.

[Dodgerchick]

What DT is banned?

[Radii]

DT is not banned (I don't think, I am not a mod so I am not 100% sure, but I have heard that he made the choice not to return). Before the super bowl DT called someone a douchebag who made a comment about the patriots cheating. That person responded calling DT an asshat. Both were suspended for 2 weeks. DT apparently decided not to return.

The funny thing is, reading the thread, at the time, everyone seemed to think it was funny. There were calls to "let him out for the super bowl thread to entertain us", but I dont' see a single post calling it an unfair ban, to the best of my knowledge there wasn't a single thread started about it.

Now though, Skydog has killed the community!

[MizzouRah]

video killed the radio star..

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by Radii

DT is not banned (I don't think, I am not a mod so I am not 100% sure, but I have heard that he made the choice not to return). Before the super bowl DT called someone a douchebag who made a comment about the patriots cheating. That person responded calling DT an asshat. Both were suspended for 2 weeks. DT apparently decided not to return.

The funny thing is, reading the thread, at the time, everyone seemed to think it was funny. There were calls to "let him out for the super bowl thread to entertain us", but I dont' see a single post calling it an unfair ban, to the best of my knowledge there wasn't a single thread started about it.

Now though, Skydog has killed the community!

Ahh thats too bad, I like Daddytorgo.

[EagleFan]

I blame the Royals. This board was much better when they sucked and weren't throwing at people.

[Edward64]

IMO, 3 things

1. Not allowing softcore in the images thread
2. Slowdown of FOF games (and lack of new traffic)
3. Life

[Noop]

I think things are a little to strict around here because people shouldn't be getting banned for jawing at each other.

[Young Drachma]

Old age + social media is what's slowing things now, not the fear of offending.

[Young Drachma]

I checked the Ben one to be funny. But the reality is...real life. This place will always mean a lot and it's not so much a place you "stop going" as much as you visit less. But much like the fishing buddy you only see when you go fishing and never hang out with otherwise, this place has that kind of resonance. And life would be a lot less interesting without the collection of characters we've amassed. But hey, everything doesn't last forever. It's been a solid run and I don't think all of the juice is squeezed from this one yet.

Also, I think without the Operation Sports lifeline, things wouldn't have lasted as long as they have.

[TCY Junkie]

Used to have asshats on here, fofc would mostly come together to play with them. But with people realizing more and more they aren't protected online from their identity coming out they stopped expressing their radical opinions as much and stopped joining sites.

[BYU 14]

There are some things that bother me, like the sexy, but tasteful pic thing. If it is not what is considered porn, it shouldn't be an issue.

I think some posters get more leeway than others based on history, but that is to be expected if there are those that poke the bear a lot.

As a whole, I think there is still more leeway here than a lot of sites I go to for people to get a bit more aggressive towards each other in threads.

End of the day though, it's a message board and really nothing anyone posts here should have a profound affect in the life of others they don't interact with regularly on a personal level, when it comes to debating certain topics.

People will always disagree and that should be allowed as it stimulates great discussion as long as certain lines aren't crossed. Personally I am MUCH more likely now to just avoid a thread that conjures up negative feelings/anger in me. I would assume others feel that way more and more and that can be a reason posts are declining.

That and the lack of TCY 2

[molson]

Originally Posted by Radii

DT is not banned (I don't think, I am not a mod so I am not 100% sure, but I have heard that he made the choice not to return). Before the super bowl DT called someone a douchebag who made a comment about the patriots cheating. That person responded calling DT an asshat. Both were suspended for 2 weeks. DT apparently decided not to return.

The funny thing is, reading the thread, at the time, everyone seemed to think it was funny. There were calls to "let him out for the super bowl thread to entertain us", but I dont' see a single post calling it an unfair ban, to the best of my knowledge there wasn't a single thread started about it.

Now though, Skydog has killed the community!

It had nothing to do with the Patriots, DT and Blacklader were boxed along with JIMGA for getting into an argument in a political thread. DT said on reddit he probably wasn't going to bother coming back, Blacklader made one more post implying he was leaving, and JIMGA came back after the two weeks. It looks like those posts have now been deleted for some reason. There were definitely talk about the boxings being unfair, and later there were jokes about how the FOFC was being penalized for not being able to experience DT in the run-up the super-bowl, which just happened to be around that same time.

So ya, they weren't permanently banned, but modding decisions did ultimately result is those posters not being here anymore. And other modding decisions resulted in driving other posters away. Again, for what gain? How did we benefit from the boxings? That's what always bewilders me. Are there 40-year old men here who had their feelings hurt so badly that they needed the mods to protect them and make them feel better for 2 weeks? The mod actions were pointless, created hostility, and ultimately made the board worse, all for absolutely zero gain, aside from whatever weird personal satisfaction the mods get from doing stuff like. And let's remember, Ben is on record expressing his general disdain for the OT board. He expresses that by blowing things up every so often and randomly boxing people whose posts aren't really any huge deviation from the norm.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by molson

So ya, they weren't permanently banned, but modding decisions did ultimately result is those posters not being here anymore.

Eh, a couple of posters being babies about it and flouncing out is what made them not around anymore. Ben hurt their fee fees. Ain't care. Every time someone goes to SportsDigs or reddit or skydoglicksmyass.com all bent out of shape because oh no, oppressive rules I roll my eyes. I mean, grow up and gain a little perspective.

IMO, there's a large board contingent that just isn't entertained by the idiocy of others anymore. So there's no need to engage.

But also what folks like YD say. There are so many more outlets out there, other means for interaction. A lot of people have found groups that better suit them at this stage of their lives and given their current interests (of which FOF is typically not one). Oh yeah, and families/kids and all that jazz.

[SplitPersonality1]

As others have said, I think life has 'killed' this board. I know that I went from a daily multi-poster to a very occasional lurker over the past 14 years due to work, kids etc. I highly doubt that any posters are 'looking over their shoulders' That seems silly to me.

14years? Damn.

[molson]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Eh, a couple of posters being babies about it and flouncing out is what made them not around anymore. Ben hurt their fee fees. Ain't care. Every time someone goes to SportsDigs or reddit or skydoglicksmyass.com all bent out of shape because oh no, oppressive rules I roll my eyes. I mean, grow up and gain a little perspective.

IMO, there's a large board contingent that just isn't entertained by the idiocy of others anymore. So there's no need to engage.

But what's the purpose of the boxing to begin with? If there's "no need to engage" why do you need Ben to protect you from DT and others? Who is really the baby in that scenario?

[PineTar]

bring back STIX!

[Radii]

Originally Posted by molson

It had nothing to do with the Patriots, DT and Blacklader were boxed along with JIMGA for getting into an argument in a political thread.

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Super Bowl XLIX

I can't link the original posts b/c I have DT on ignore so the board won't let me lol.

I know DT has been boxed multiple times for potlical threads too. He absolutely LOSES HIS MIND in those political threads at times.


But anyway, go into that super bowl thread, look at the responses after. No one thought anything of it at the time. /shrug.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by molson

But what's the purpose of the boxing to begin with? If there's "no need to engage" why do you need Ben to protect you from DT and others? Who is really the baby in that scenario?

Again my impression of all of this, I'm not a mod and surely don't speak for anyone else but me.

Ad hominem attacks are against the rules and always risk a suspension. Posters know this is the case, so why are some incapable of avoiding this on a repeated basis?

And I would once again point out that almost every time someone gets suspended around here someone starts a thread about the mods or says something. What appears to have happened in this thread in my eyes:

1) DT and NobodyHere got two weeks in January.
2) No one had a problem with it.
3) DT decides not to return to the board
4) Now, well after the fact, even though no one had a problem with it at the time, people have a problem with it.

I dunno, I don't get it.



I promise I'm not linking these because you replied to DT. I am not taking him off ignore to post this, so posting the replies to him instead :P

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - U.S. Congresswoman Shot

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - U.S. Congresswoman Shot

Honestly, this is, to me, the defining characteristic of who DaddyTorgo is as a person, because we've seen this side of him so damn often. I don't know how many times he has been suspsended, but over the last 10 years or so, I am assuming he has been suspended more than anyone else on the board. But he's still allowed back. He's just asked to take a break when he gets like this. Why are we not ok with these being the rules on the board?


I think you're asking the wrong question, to be 100% honest in DT's case. Not "why do you need Ben to protect you from DT and others?", but rather, "why are we so upset at the expectation that adults behave like civil adults towards one another".


And again, I'm sticking by my ... confusion isn't the right word, but I''m going to keep hammering at the point that people have gone crazy on this board over suspensions countless times, no one is afraid of doing so here. No one thought to do so this last time he got suspened, because there was absolutely nothing special at all about it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SplitPersonality1

I highly doubt that any posters are 'looking over their shoulders'

Umm ... you doubt that despite the fact that several people in this thread have said pretty much just that? And that it wasn't exactly an uncommon sentiment expressed by some of the departed?

I'd say you're welcome to disagree with those of us that feel that way but, uh, denying our very existence seems a bit much.

[thesloppy]

To put this on the mods ignores the fact that this place has an inordinate amount of regular old posters who are corrective, confrontational doofuses as well. On the one hand while it may seem that anybody interesting, wacky, and hard-to-control was forced out in the interest of peace and harmony, but it seems worth pointing out that the only kind of communication that's actively encouraged here anymore (outside of video games) is contentious bickering over sports or politics. Conflict seems to be encouraged under the surface, while on the surface folks are seemingly randomly punished for toeing lines that have never been clearly defined. I don't think it's a concerted conspiracy, so much as like minded mods and posters combined to reject anything other than what fit their narrow view of what this place should be.

An incident that has long stuck in my craw: I remember someone starting a thread on some unremembered topic a couple years ago, and the first immediate response was an insistent "This should be in the random posts thread." Seems innocuous enough, but that kind of sums up what I think this place has become, as it managed to shame the poster for daring to communicate outside of FOFC's nebulously defined rules, and discouraged others from posting. Even posting something you think is random, funny, and worthless might draw a rebuke in this place, which has a bunch of folks just frothing to correct something/somebody, and/or be offended, at any and all times, and it's not all the mods (though they can surely share in the blame).

[molson]

Originally Posted by Radii

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Super Bowl XLIX

I can't link the original posts b/c I have DT on ignore so the board won't let me lol.

I know DT has been boxed multiple times for potlical threads too. He absolutely LOSES HIS MIND in those political threads at times.

But anyway, go into that super bowl thread, look at the responses after. No one thought anything of it at the time. /shrug.

I must have gotten some of those combined in my head, there seems to be a random stretch of a few days every so often when different posters across a couple of different threads are boxed. This was the political one from around that time, with a bunch of posters expressing bewilderment over the boxings. (Mostly just me and SirFozzie at first, but then others chiming in on the later pages).

The Obama Presidency - 2008 & 2012 - Page 497 - Front Office Football Central

(And if you take DT at face value, THAT is the exchange that led him to leaving, but he may have just been venting over the the separate Patriots thing. Which is always amusing because in those kind of threads multiple posters TRY to get a reaction out of DT. That was the goal. Then he responds, get boxed, and everybody laughed at him.)

I get that DT wasn't everyone's favorite. And there's definitely one or two posters who I'm glad have mostly left after mod drama. And there's a few others I wouldn't mind to see leave just because they seem to have a problem with me (though I've stopped posting in those certain topics where I felt I was being trolled - an amazing thing that as an adult, i was able to do myself without needing mods to protect me with boxings of the scary bullies). Still, I think the mods should be encouraging and not discouraging posting activity at this stage in the board's existence. Nobody has argued that the board is better now. The boxings have made the board worse and more boring, and not better, and I don't see anybody really arguing to the contrary of that. And I don't think anybody's really given a good answer as to how the boxings have protected us or made the board better in any way.

[digamma]

Thanks Schmidty. Happy Memorial Day.

For everyone else the data on boxings just doesn't match the perception. But carry on.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I'm still in the bottom rung of the top 50.

Lol, I thought I was hot stuff sitting at 103 after all these years.

[Edward64]

Checking member list "last visit", there still seems to be a ton of visitors today.

[bbor]

Whatever happened to JeeberD?!

[Suicane75]

In jail for stalking Laura Preppon.

[Antmeister]

Yeah I still visit here, but it is more sporadic. A few days in between. Still my favorite place to lurk just to learn of stories of the people here. But I don't post as much due to other life things as well. However, with that said, I wouldn't be surprised if I go through another stretch where I am posting a lot more.

[bbor]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

In jail for stalking Laura Preppon.

Can't be true....i would have been with him.

[stevew]

I understand the need to keep things all porn free and not wanting the site to get blacklisted with maxim type pics, but these seem like all pre-smartphone rules. I have no real idea how things actually work in an office, but I would assume that office computer is for office work, smart phone and LTE are for casual non-work browsing.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by bbor

Can't be true....i would have been with him.

I'd totally go clear for that girl. Sail away with her for the next billion years

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

That and the lack of TCY 2

Bingo.


(Also, I don't even remember posting this thread, as my wife and kid are at a wedding this weekend)

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by bbor

Whatever happened to JeeberD?!

He seems to be doing well and has a great family.

Wait...was I supposed to be serious.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

To put this on the mods ignores the fact that this place has an inordinate amount of regular old posters who are corrective, confrontational doofuses as well.

Absolutely.

[FBPro]

+1=Trout

[albionmoonlight]

I agree with the life/demographic thing.

I am a bit surprised that FOF getting on Steam didn't bring a bunch of new young random folks on.

Also, the few boards I frequent have heavy-handed moderation. I know that it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but since almost all of the internet is everything-goes, I like having a few places where some-things-go.

YMMV

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by stevew

I understand the need to keep things all porn free and not wanting the site to get blacklisted with maxim type pics, but these seem like all pre-smartphone rules. I have no real idea how things actually work in an office, but I would assume that office computer is for office work, smart phone and LTE are for casual non-work browsing.

You would be wrong.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

On the other hand, even the minor occasional stress of trying to parse out "oh dear, what bit of honesty might set some mod off today" simply reached the point to where it's not really worth it to me to post that much any more.

may very well be the most relevant post. ever.

[Toddzilla]

I, for one, think this place went straight to crap when wignasty left us.

[IlliniCub]

We need another Hornsmaniac style heel.

[molson]

Originally Posted by IlliniCub

We need another Hornsmaniac style heel.

He or Hell Atlantic would last 5 minutes on the board now.

I'd settle for a jbmagic-style goofball.

[molson]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I am a bit surprised that FOF getting on Steam didn't bring a bunch of new young random folks on.

I remember being told for years that the issue with the decline of the board wasn't modding, it was that there hadn't been a new game for a while. Before the new game came out and forum activity kept declining.

You'd think a lively OT forum with long-time posters would be a good thing for a product like FOFC - those posters would always be in the loop, always aware of new games, they probably had some loyalty that made it more likely they would buy a game. Which makes the gradual tightening of the rules and member purges all the more weird. (And the rules HAVE been tightened, just think about the kind of posters we used to have compared to the kind of things that have gotten people boxed in the last few years).

[Desnudo]

A FOF that looked and played like a game from 2014 would have found a bigger audience.

[Ben E Lou]

Merged into appropriate thread. *shurg*

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I am a bit surprised that FOF getting on Steam didn't bring a bunch of new young random folks on.

It did bring a bunch of new people--the biggest influx of new members in nearly a decade. (Some specific numbers are somewhere in the FOF7 forum. Don't have time to look them up.) But overall, post counts are up. New members are up. The number of "active members" (number of unique users who log in per day/week/month) is up. Just not in the place where some people want them to be up. The vast majority of the new people probably just don't come to OT. That's most likely due to the fact that it's 2015, and therefore by now it's very likely that virtually all of the new members already have internet forums where they talk about the same stuff that's in OT.

[EagleFan]

There was some good discussion in Schmidty's thread (mixed in with other stuff) but I can't seem to find that thread any more (or I just dreamed up the entire thing; I don't remember seeing anyone coming out of the shower).

It is a fact that FOFC activity is down dramatically from what it once was. What are the contributing factors? What can be done to potentially reverse the decline?


I'll take a first crack at identifying some of the possible issues (in no particular order, numbered just to give the issues an identity).


1) Lack of new FOF games prior to FOF 7.

2) Many other options for online activity (Twitter, Steam, Facebook, etc...).

3) Younger generation doesn't have the same love for (or attention span for) text sims that we had.

4) Steam release is great to see but won't really increase activity here as Steam has its own forum for the game.

5) Aging group of forum members don't have the same time (or patience) for the board.

6) Moderator restrictions have ruined some of the fun (probably two part: banning and censoring). Does the number of mods influence this as well?

7) Board layout. Does it help or harm the board that we have so many sub forums? Many people never (or rarely) look at Off Topic anymore.


Thoughts?????

[cartman]

It was merged into the posting activity thread

[Suicane75]

If it's sick, I'm willing to donate one of my livers.

[Fidatelo]

8) Everyone around here is so old that we make (and understand) Bobby Ewing jokes, thus preventing anyone under 35 from ever wanting to hang out with us