For us to fix GTP, it'd have to be broken.
In all honesty, I agree with Small_Fryz. Hence why I clicked his red check. I'd love to see GTP like it was three years ago. There was a heirarchy of fast guys, learning guys and guys that didn't play. We all knew each other, and we all could drop a personal PM to each other.
My first post was about how I shunted cars off the track with the F1 and blasted by all the others as I rampaged around the track slaughtering the comp by multiple laps. A thread like that would get closed in a heartbeat today.
Here is a prime example: "In before the Lock."
Considering the members 2 years ago, we never saw those. Noone was likely to post one, we didn't have to think why. Now, it is the latest internet fad. Something we don't need or want here.
I feel that GTPlanet is teetering on a steep slope. If the staff cracks down any harder than we already are, many of the strong contributors will leave. We'll only have posters
like this. If we relax and let the threads run wild, we end up with chaos, and the strong contributors leave, landing us in the same position. Neither answer is acceptable in my eyes. First scenario, is the better of the two. We keep the screws tightened, and less than bright posters become bored and leave town, at which point we can loosen up a bit.
Lets start with the first paragraph. Closing of threads which some would like to see stay open. The tall girl thread wasn't too bad. It was however beginning to denegrate down into something that was bad. We can reference back to the first scenario and see why that thread had to be closed. Unfortunately, we have to close threads that will degenerate, likely before their time, as it has a higher chance of getting worse than it is. Mainly due to the members thinking it is acceptable to post like that. We never would before because we all knew the difference.
BTW, there are 17 mods, three of which are leaving. There are only 3 admins. For a total of 17 staff members.
Second paragraph. Yes, GTPlanet.net evolved. It did so as a community, not as a direction by Jordan or the staff. The members themselves became different and forced change upon us all. I've noticed it and many others have as well. I'd personally love it the way it was when I joined. Some of what was tolerated way back when, cannot be tolerated now. Some of our members don't respect our community as much as other do, and it is because of them that we are in this situation. Hence, why I have very little patience for some new posters, and why I swing the hammer harder.
Third paragraph. Flame fests. These are not tolerated on GTP, and that is why it seems like the staff clamps down so tight. One flame fest will contribute to others. In the older days, people could argue and disagree and ***** about it, but ultimately they worked through it. Now, they decide that they'll piss all over the staircase, instead of talking to a staff member. Again, it was a small enough community that everyone really knew each other on a daily basis.
Last paragraph. The return to the older and respected days is a tough road, something that each of us has a hand in making happen. Something I'd like to see happen in a post haste manner. Each one of us has to offer the guidance to newer members and the discussion with older members. We can't accept half a step.
You either help the person posting, or you keep your fingers off the keyboard.
Now, for my input and thoughts. The moderating staff is faced with a daunting task each day. The advertisers that flood in here, the continutally banned and rebanned members, the whining from people that simply can't use a
READ THIS thread.
We have a handful of members who have been banned multiple times, asked forgiveness, been granted it, banned again, IP banned, and IP banned again, only to reappear, and taunt the staff. They contributed nothing to GTP other than aggravation. We have members that get banned, whine about it, and fire off a DDoS on GTP. We have members that are banned and reregister simply to spam the board. This is our task.
So overall, I think that the Staff has been doing their job as it is designated by the community, and we will continue to do that. It is very unfortunate and I am certainly looking forward to the end of it. There will be a time someday when we won't have as much noise on the forum, and there will be a bit of fun to be found.
What really irks me, is that I've been a member about as much time as MistaX has, and I have no clue who he is. I've never had the time to drop him a PM and introduce myself, nor has he.
) but when he needs to be a boss, he is.. That is what I think one of the numerous problems is, the staff are moderators first and friends second. Quite often I see mods being friends with only people they want, when they should be open to the whole community.
. If the number of new members increases linearly, then the amount of locked threads and the work for the mods will increase exponentially [the way the forum currently operates anyhow]
