Lack of new people is killing the backroom and the entire forum

[PanzerJaeger]

Concerning the Backroom, it's true, discussion there is down quite a bit, perhaps this is also because AFAIK new members have to specifically apply to see the Backroom, maybe this should be changed so we get some stragglers to tear apart now and then.

I had no idea. It hasn't always been that way. Why was that put in place?

[Beskar]

I had no idea. It hasn't always been that way. Why was that put in place?

It was to protect children away from the area, as it isn't rated PG-13 and discusses controversial issues.

[Banquo's Ghost]

After going over a few threads regarding the impact of tribesman being banned and complaining about the state of the backroom it's obvious that this place is suffering from a reverse Eternal September (look it up). A lot of people in just the past two years have left. Older members have lives and the mods are too restrictive on the dialogue. There is a thread in the frontroom filled with names of people no longer here.

First of all, Tribesman was not banned. He left the forum of his own volition.

I don't know what the answer is, but I feel like this forum is going to have a problem this next year if new people are not coming in. Honestly, I would have to side with people arguing to bring back Tribesman. The backroom is very poor in terms of the discourse.

If the Backroom suffers poor discourse, then it is up to the members to improve it. Above, you consider us too restrictive but the rules are in place to encourage respect and higher standards of discussion. There are plenty of places on the internet where people can abuse one another and swear. This has never been one of them.

The biggest challenge facing this site is that fewer and fewer new members are signing up. I respectfully suggest that may have something to with the fact that the Totalwar games are not as compelling as they used to be.

We have a decent community in the off-topic fora, but I am fairly sure that it would disintegrate even faster should we loosen the rules. I really don't see what is so difficult about treating other people with respect and dignity.

I had no idea. It hasn't always been that way. Why was that put in place?

It was put in place for a couple of reasons. One, as Beskar noted, because the content was controversial and, in truth, a great many people on the site did not want to have a Backroom style forum or to be exposed to it.

Secondly, because some in the Backroom find it difficult to follow the rules, it makes it a lot easier to exclude those who repeatedly offend without them losing access to the rest of the Org - where they are very often highly valuable contributors.

[a completely inoffensive name]

First of all, Tribesman was not banned. He left the forum of his own volition.

Honest mistake, but thanks for riding my ***, obviously you think this is late 2008 and the EB tavern is going to make your internet life hell all over again before you even read what I say.

If the Backroom suffers poor discourse, then it is up to the members to improve it. Above, you consider us too restrictive but the rules are in place to encourage respect and higher standards of discussion. There are plenty of places on the internet where people can abuse one another and swear. This has never been one of them.

The biggest challenge facing this site is that fewer and fewer new members are signing up. I respectfully suggest that may have something to with the fact that the Totalwar games are not as compelling as they used to be.

We have a decent community in the off-topic fora, but I am fairly sure that it would disintegrate even faster should we loosen the rules. I really don't see what is so difficult about treating other people with respect and dignity.

1. Not asking for people to be able to swear. Did I say I wanted that? No, so good job making your self to be a fool who can't figure out where someone is coming from before posting. I am asking for more discussion and threads, and fresh blood bringing in new topics. The discourse is poor from the same people posting on the same issues. I already gave an example in a previous post, I'm talking about the discourse in that one of the backroom threads is "What is better then sex?", that's a terrible discourse we have if that is one of the most popular threads right now. China is showing off a new stealth bomber, where is the thread about it's implications?

2. Again you did not read anything of what I have been saying. Way to go. Good job mod. The whole point of what I have said was that there needs to be more people and the crappy total war games recently is what is causing the lack of membership. You repeating my entire point as if you just came up with it shows you do not even want to communicate on the same level as me.

3. Not asking for people not to treat each other with respect and dignity. As I said in my very first post "I don't know what the answer is but I feel like this forum is going to have a problem this next year if new people are not coming in." How is that, "hey guys I want to turn this place into 4chan."?

Long story short, you are a terrible mod if you are coming into a discussion with a preconceived notion of what someone is saying without even reading it properly.

[pevergreen]

And yet again ACIN, you show yourself to be a person who is pretty much just a :flower:head.

Is anyone going on about the EB tavern? We all moved past it, obviously you still hold bad blood about it?

Seriously, you're a self admitted troll, and to be honest, the forum would be better off without you.

[a completely inoffensive name]

...

[pevergreen]

Long story short, you are a terrible mod

Just responding to what you say a completely idiotic name.

That's cool that you have to jump in and directly insult me. I don't insult anyone unless I feel like they have done me wrong, in jest, or I am in a heated discussion about politics, but you know glad to see that a **** who insults people to their face thinks I should leave the forum.

Again, just responding. I don't care if you think you 'dont insult anyone unless they've done x or y', but your posting manner has remained the same, and sure, sometimes its funny, but a large percentage of it is pointless and annoying.

This is, of course, not including any gameroom stuff, as that can't count, nor backroom things, as I don't really read the backroom.

Your original point is true, yet you're being a pretty big douche about it.

[Lysimachus]

Come on guys, is it that hard to discuss something without throwing insults at each other? I mean, i've hardly been on this forum for long so i'm not familiar with what you're discussing right now, but surely you can be a bit more respectful.

Can anyone fill me in on this or is the topic merely what the thread says, in that the backroom doesn't have enough interesting topics and people?

[Ibn-Khaldun]

The lack of posts/threads in a OT subforum should not mean that the entire forum is dying.
Backroom is just a little subforum. Who cares if no one posts there?
The main point for this forum is to give people the chance to discuss over the Total War games.

And I agree with Lysimachus here. Don't you know how to discuss something without throwing insults at each other?

[pevergreen]

Ibn, over the last few years, you can't deny that the activity levels have dropped over the entire forums.

Most of the long time members are only here because of the non-total war sub-forums.

I came around the launch of M2TW. When that was released, the activity was huge. ETW and NTW, nothing compared to it. Even the pre-release of S2TW is less talk than the lead up to ETW.

Less people are coming here, I really do believe the largest influx of people in the last few years has been from other forums, to play mafia.

[drone]

New people would help a lot. One of the problems is that the old-timers are tired of having the same arguments over and over again. There are only so many times you can write a quality post to a gunbortion thread, and most members already know everyone else's talking points.

My on the Backroom decline:

Bush leaving office 1/20/09. His administration was worth at least one quality thread a day. His "wars" and the other proxy conflicts drove a lot of discussion. Not much hot going on right now, even though there is a lot of cold conflicts and maneuvering under the surface.

Obama taking office and the ensuing media lovefest. The liberal media took it easy on him (at least for a while), while for the most part the conservative media went on a continuous, ugly rant about socialism, with veiled racism on the side, instead of just blasting his policies with decent arguments and good reporting. USA-related Backroom threads at this point changed, with liberals (US version) on the defense while the conservatives went into attack mode, this generally doesn't make for good conversation. And to the last...

US-centricity. It's not that having a very large percentage of USians is a bad thing, but frankly our news media is craptastic and interesting, compelling storylines don't get much play over here. It's hard for us to start good topics if we aren't aware of them. One of the main draws for me in the "old days" was the threads about stuff the US media either ignores, hides, or is just plain incompetent about. AdrianII, Tribesman, etc. used to find stories with all kinds of cool slants to them.

So, yes, I blame the Backroom decline on Obama.