Personal pages, social groups and the like

[caravel]

Before vBulletin was last updated, we didn't even have these groups/features. IMHO they are not needed and should be totally disabled. We hadn't needed these before and I very much doubt that we need them now either. As a TW forum, I don't see the addition of this pseudo social networking layer as beneficial in any way. Those that want to form such groups/cliques can do so off site using the vast array of tools/sites available.

Post content is best presented in the main forums where it is supposed to be. This gives the largest possible audience where all can benefit and contribute. Omanes is correct in that the social groups and profile visitor pages mainly take the form of spam/chat. The "friends" system is also a flawed one as it encourages cliques and groups to form. and I feel that this is not what the .org is all about.

[Lemur]

Given how some of our members have helpfully demonstrated the abuse potential of both social groups and personal page comments, I agree that both should be disabled.

[Strike For The South]

Disable. The ORG don't need that bad pub.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Agreed. I just don't see the need.

[seireikhaan]

I actually rather like the profile pages. However, the social groups are pretty much pointless.

[Lemur]

I actually rather like the profile pages.

Nobody's saying we should disable profile pages, but abuse of the comments section of profile pages has been rampant with some Orgahs. Disabling the comments would be helpful and wise.

[Gregoshi]

I'm for shutting them down. I always felt uneasy about the "underground" culture it promoted and the nightmare it must cause to even try to moderate it. Besides, Warman's profile background nearly destroyed my sight.

[KukriKhan]

It's not that it's allowed or even condoned. I suggest every member cleans his own conversation pages and social group pages from all such material. It has to be done by Thursday this week.

The law - and the deadline, has been stated.

Reasonably.

"I suggest every member..." is politely reminding us all to be responsible, accountable, upstanding org citizens. Let us show that we have no need of coversations about piracy, pr0n, or the personal denigration of other members.

We are allowed to talk about anything on our profiles. I talked about torrents and illegally...

...Finally, moderators will never visit your profile unless you entice them yourself by PM-ing or Visitor Messaging them, which is what Meth and I did to attract those mods. It is as if it is against the moderator's unwritten rules to visit other profiles.

The author misunderstands benign tolerance of minor infractions, with the Org's thrust: we don't allow such coversations, because they are illegal, and WE DON'T NEED THEM. And don't want them.

In this place, this Org, we rely on personal honor and individual integrity; our opponents on the virtual battlefield CAN BE TRUSTED to not use cheats, go-rounds, or red-zone movements.

A victory here is more a matter of well thought-out strategy, than 'net-informed quick tactical move. And we all endure both victories, and defeats. And learn from both.

Hence, the org "way". Our bushido. Our enthusisatic welcoming of newcomers, our encouragement of member 'product': be it game-mod, playing tip, hardware trick, or political outlook. Every member's contribution is valued.

Which puts the onus of value on the contributor, I think. In this free place of honor, we must insure that our contributions are worthwhile. Valuable to our broader audience. Helpful to someone.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Before vBulletin was last updated, we didn't even have these groups/features. IMHO they are not needed and should be totally disabled. We hadn't needed these before and I very much doubt that we need them now either. As a TW forum, I don't see the addition of this pseudo social networking layer as beneficial in any way. Those that want to form such groups/cliques can do so off site using the vast array of tools/sites available.

Post content is best presented in the main forums where it is supposed to be. This gives the largest possible audience where all can benefit and contribute. Omanes is correct in that the social groups and profile visitor pages mainly take the form of spam/chat. The "friends" system is also a flawed one as it encourages cliques and groups to form. and I feel that this is not what the .org is all about.

That, for the social groups, IMO, would actually be the most ideal solution - I was trying to compromise a little, but, since it seems that widespread public support is against rather than for, I don't really need to do that any more.

As you have said, the friends list is also rather pointless, but it functions as an extension of v3.5/3.6's buddy list (highlighting those you want to see when on line and giving you a quick list to PM from) and is henceforth fairly harmless. Maybe the visibility of whose friends with who could be dropped - we couldn't see who was on each others buddy list under the old system. I'm not sure about the possibility of this though - I haven't read the vBulletin manual since v3.7 was released.

I'm less certain about profile pages. This probably sounds ridiculous, but it feels more socially acceptable to chat there fairly pointlessly if only just to say hi, ask what the owner's up to, what they are doing at the weekend e.c.t.

To resolve the idea that its a world hidden from the watchful eyes of the moderators, I'd probably say that self-moderation should be in place there - the member looks after the page in accordance with the rules. If somebody breaks the rules, the offender is punished and the page owner is warned that it is their responsibility to keep their page clean (in PM rather than WP format). For the sake of fairness, the page owner probably should only be "told off" if they've been active since the message was first sited. As well as all this, it could be a good idea to allow AMs to moderate pages to increase the number of staff able to watch them (as far as I know, I, at least, cannot do that).

On another note, themes on some profile pages are definitely irritating, but that can be easily fixed by flicking a switch (button is found slightly to the left of the centre on profile pages with customisations enabled - below the user rank, Member for example. You can click that again to turn it back on).

[Noir]

Both are not needed in my view - i wouldnt shed a single tear if they were botched.

Groups and cliques that form around activities that are relevant to the org but not taking place at the org can stay where they happen. Grouping trends although perfectly normal can be potentially harmful under certain conditions.

Noir

[Tribesman]

Get rid of them, the forum was fine without them

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Keep them. If members abuse it, give them warning points. I don't see why Mods can't check out the social groups and that. It's not un-common for Moderator's today to have to Moderate 2-4 different sub-forums, so it should not be a big deal spending a few minutes checking out the Social Groups. Profiles on the other hand, are different.


Greg, I know, I killed a lot of eyes with my profile

[Tribesman]

Block them entirely , if only to stop that silly child warman from being a prick so often

[Rhyfelwyr]

I like the profile pages at least, it makes it a lot easier when you have to contact a lot of people regularly for IH's or whatever.

Although I suppose a lot of the social groups are a bit spamtastic.