Improving Gamingforce

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Sounds to me like you're suggesting a GFF mixer. But dragging the Concert Hall people into the rest of the forums might be difficult.

Actually, I have an idea for this.

We do have a Ventrilo server put up now, so what we can do, is have a music bot running in there. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but there is a way for a user in vent to broadcast/run a playlist of tunes to vent and it will just be like listening to someone else's iTunes on random mixer.

more minute details of examples...:

You can come in at anytime and listen, and if someone happens to be doing the same, you can start up a conversation if you like, and if it gets too distracting, you can create a ghost of yourself in the music channel just to listen to the music but not disrupt anyone else listening to it.

For example, it'd look something like this:

It may not be much but I had a feeling if something similar to what the FTP exchanges were available, the musically inclined group and the community-based group would have a chance to mingle together.

Like for example, have some of the CH people volunteer to broadcast music in there (it's like the radio! what a concept! You can't listen to what you want exactly, but what they play is actually pretty good and you may not haven't heard of it!)--if people randomly show up to listen and get a chance to meet and greet, great. If not, who cares. The server is still there for anyone to use.

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Originally Posted by Sassafrass

Sometimes, the way some people get treated on here really discourages others from posting. I know I've avoided certain topics or replying in certain threads just because I don't want to get trolled, yelled at, ridiculed, ee tee see.

Yeah... I don't think I made a Welcome, Welcome post for myself back when I first joined in 2003, but I'm amazed I didn't get trolled/flamed for the username I had then. People were quite civil. (I think I may have gotten the occasional Yamanamana annoyance in some thread somewhere along the lines, but nothing compared to the hostility we show to every new blood that seems to show up nowadays.)

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Well, let's review some rules/guidelines, shall we?
Spoilers have been used to cut out rule-details to make this post simple and to the point.

Originally Posted by taken from Political Palace

1. Use the Search Feature:

At the top of the page, you will see a number of things to click on. One of them is the Search feature. When you want to make a new thread, please use it first. If there is already a thread about the topic you want to make, don't. This is to cut down on the number of duplicate threads, which will be closed.

New threads about a subject can be created if the thread's last reply is three months old or more.

2. Don't bump old threads:

Since you have been given clearence to make new threads on a subject if the thread discussing it has been dead for three months, don't revive threads that old or older. There is some leeway in this, especially concerning post quality. There's nothing quite like, and nothing aggrivating in quite the same way, seeing a thread from over a year ago being brought back to life with a one-word post.

3. Stay reasonably on topic:

This forum is about debate, and over the course of a debate the topic can drift; that's to be expected. However, there are limits. If a thread is discussing Wal-Mart, for instance, we do not want you to enlighten us about what a horrible person George W. Bush is, complete with a list of the 42 men to hold the office of President of the United States ranked from best to worst.

4. Don't troll, flame or spam:

Basic forum rules there, but worth mentioning anyway. Just as topics can drift, tempers can also flare. However, don't come in here and start flaming without provocation.

Similarly, make any posts you make contribute something to the debate at hand; that's a big part of what spam is or not. If you can make a relevant point with only one sentence, then by all means, post that one sentence and don't worry about dressing it up with lots of extra words. If you need those extra words, don't just post one sentence.

4a. When making a thread, make a worthwhile opening post.:

This goes along with the don't spam criterion. When you make a thread, make sure your opening post is well-written and clear. Including a news article or something similar is good, but not required. If you don't, be sure to fully and explain your position and what you want to discuss in the thread. Something like this is not what we're looking for.

5. Don't rant:

If you want to make a thread about how something sucks and expound on that point, a simple guideline: don't. It is for things like that that you have a Chocojournal, and can use it to express your feelings about the current situation without cluttering up the forum page with it.

6. Don't member moderate:

We have moderators. It's their job to tell troublemakers to knock it off, not yours.

7. No homosexual marriage threads. Ever.:

Pretty self-explanatory. We've had plenty of gay marriage threads in past board iterations, and they've all ended badly. We'd like to avoid things like this in the future.

8. Use common sense:

If you know you shouldn't do something, then don't do it.

Follow these rules and we'll get along just fine.

Reviewing the current state of GFF where the next thread down from the top most hasn't been updated in like 2 months, Number 1 and 2 seem to conflict (not just in Political Palace but overall across the board). It's true the same exact conversation topics shouldn't be made into new threads, but at the current activity rate, it almost makes sense to start over again. The general rule-of-thumb about old threads when this place was getting multiple threads in sub-forums on a daily basis was that 3 months since the last post or couple pages within the sub-forum view. Since new threads are sparse and we're looking at an activity level equivalent to seismic activity/Earthquakes in North Dakota, we may want to review it and see if there's a reasonable compromise.
Number 7 seems like it's a blatant NO on political discussion on the topic, which in the year 2010, seems like it's doing the community no good to keep around this rule. There's been plenty of good, healthy, sane and civil conversations regarding the topic so I don't see why prohibiting people from talking about it openly can lead to something harmful to the community in general. (My two cents, nothing against Styphon or the decision made by admins/mods at the time of inauguration of said rules.)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

I like the old two-tone blue.

(Can I keep it as a setting somewhere.)

Someone mentioned customizable skins for the newer version of vBulletin. Couldn't that be incorporated as a style? i.e., New and Improved look, Old School GFF look, etc.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The difference between .com and .org has always been negligible to most of us humble users as long as the majority of people who made GFF what it was, were also there.

Moving the forum to gamingforce.com once you guys have figured out the vB4 and design and stuff seems like a working idea. I guess once the full transition of the forums happen, you can close/lock down the forums and all the journals but keep it accessible so that people can go back and look at it for nostalgia sakes.

I was speaking idiomatically.