Man These Forums Are Great

[Spartan336]

Why didn't I use them years back? FML! 

[Archistopheles]

I know, right?

 

Edit: Oh wait. I did.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Archistopheles
I actually did

[AgentSkye]

Oh. I thought the title was sarcastic and was expecting complaints about various forum design flaws.

Not disagreeing, but can you elaborate? What do you find great about it?

[Voltage]

My issue with the forums is that the person who posts first gets seen. It isn't logically structured ala reddit, so people usually just rep farm first few comments and the real juicy stuff is 2nd page. I wish the forums would get restructured to push the stupid memes and comments to the bottom and the valid discussion to the top. One can dream...

EDIT because @Tesseract7777 made a great point and I want to add it. Forum reputation and post count should be invisible or have an option to hide/show it :).

EDIT 2: I didn't even notice the first comment until now  

Edited August 26, 2017 by --Q--Voltage

[Tesseract7777]

22 minutes ago, --Q--Voltage said:

My issue with the forums is that the person who posts first gets seen. It isn't logically structured ala reddit, so people usually just rep farm first few comments and the real juicy stuff is 2nd page. I wish the forums would get restructured to push the stupid memes and comments to the bottom and the valid discussion to the top. One can dream...

I don't really use Reddit much, so I'm not really too familiar with how it works. How would they change it to make it more like that here? 

I think rep and post count should be removed entirely (partly because I find my own rep and post count embarrassing lol), and rep could instead just be a way of deciding which posts are seen first, but I'm not sure how that would work. If it was just whichever posts had the most upvotes get moved up to be seen, then the first few will probably still have the most and remain on top, but I am probably missing a lot, I rarely go to Reddit for anything. 

I have even had people give my opinion extra weight because of my post count and or rep, and I strongly discourage that. I think rep shouldn't be here at all, it causes people to give more value to opinions then they should. People's feelings about my opinions should be based entirely on thinking about what I said and deciding whether they think it makes sense -- my rep should have nothing to do with it. When it comes to veterans, I am not sure I would call my skills or gear anything beyond "average". Giving extra weight to my opinion just because of my name couldn't be more of a mistake. 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Tesseract7777

[Unus]

As a fellow who's only ability to determine whether an idea I have is good or not is based on upvoted content, unless there is some manner of replacement system, I'm not sure if I'd like to see it removed completely. Without that system the way my "Pit" functions, it would remove a level of convenience for my readers that is absolutely irreplaceable. Of course, given my extreme "niche" in the community, my opinion counts largely for peanuts as opposed to those with more normal mindsets.

 

That said, I wouldn't mind a system that would let the true flowers of creativity blossom and all the gags and "weirdness" get pushed down a little quicker.

[Tesseract7777]

Just now, Unus said:

As a fellow who's only ability to determine whether an idea I have is good or not is based on upvoted content, unless there is some manner of replacement system, I'm not sure if I'd like to see it removed completely. Without that system the way my "Pit" functions, it would remove a level of convenience for my readers that is absolutely irreplaceable. Of course, given my extreme "niche" in the community, my opinion counts largely for peanuts as opposed to those with more normal mindsets.

 

That said, I wouldn't mind a system that would let the true flowers of creativity blossom and all the gags and "weirdness" get pushed down a little quicker.

When I say remove it, I mean from people's profiles. Like in my perfect world, if I upvoted your post it would still show up as an upvote on your post, but it wouldn't add anything to profiles. People shouldn't feel like they should give more weight to an opinion like mine, just because they take a look to the left and see a high rep count or post count. I would prefer to have zero rep or post count, those things shouldn't even be counted imo. 

[Unus]

1 minute ago, Tesseract7777 said:

When I say remove it, I mean from people's profiles. Like in my perfect world, if I upvoted your post it would still show up as an upvote on your post, but it wouldn't add anything to profiles. People shouldn't feel like they should give more weight to an opinion like mine, just because they take a look to the left and see a high rep count or post count. I would prefer to have zero rep or post count, those things shouldn't even be counted imo. 

A record that only exists if one looks at their own profile perhaps? Although, I wonder how the modern ""pecking order" would show itself then.

[MagPrime]

1 minute ago, Unus said:

A record that only exists if one looks at their own profile perhaps? Although, I wonder how the modern ""pecking order" would show itself then.

Ideally, there wouldn't be one.  The post would stand on it's own merits and slightly on the reputation of the poster, depending on how well known they are.

I agree with Tesseract though.  Rep and post count should be invisible.  I've had people defer, flat out say they defer, to me because of those two numbers, and people that try to mock me for one or both being high.

[Voltage]

24 minutes ago, Tesseract7777 said:

I don't really use Reddit much, so I'm not really too familiar with how it works. How would they change it to make it more like that here? 

I think rep and post count should be removed entirely (partly because I find my own rep and post count embarrassing lol), and rep could instead just be a way of deciding which posts are seen first, but I'm not sure how that would work. If it was just whichever posts had the most upvotes get moved up to be seen, then the first few will probably still have the most and remain on top, but I am probably missing a lot, I rarely go to Reddit for anything. 

I have even had people give my opinion extra weight because of my post count and or rep, and I strongly discourage that. I think rep shouldn't be here at all, it causes people to give more value to opinions then they should. People's feelings about my opinions should be based entirely on thinking about what I said and deciding whether they think it makes sense -- my rep should have nothing to do with it. When it comes to veterans, I am not sure I would call my skills or gear anything beyond "average". Giving extra weight to my opinion just because of my name couldn't be more of a mistake. 

I totally agree +1.

To answer your question, upvoted content moves to the top and the discussion behind it. This makes the more relevent discussion get pushed to the top even if the commentor made it on 2nd page when they added it. This helps to reduce stupid comments from becoming the top comment.

Reddit also has down votes which in my opinion should be on this forum, but people disagree.

Basically reddit has a platform that brings the best comments to the top and puts the bad jokes at the bottom.

Edited August 26, 2017 by --Q--Voltage

[MagPrime]

Just now, --Q--Voltage said:

Reddit also has down votes which in my opinion should be on this forum, but people disagree.

My only complaint against downvotes is that people wont expand on why they disagree.

We already have this going on; I made a suggestion that I thought was pretty clear and yet, someone left the "confused" reaction and I have no idea why or even who, so I can't get feedback on what the issue is, so I can't fix anything.

[Voltage]

3 minutes ago, MagPrime said:

My only complaint against downvotes is that people wont expand on why they disagree.

We already have this going on; I made a suggestion that I thought was pretty clear and yet, someone left the "confused" reaction and I have no idea why or even who, so I can't get feedback on what the issue is, so I can't fix anything.

I think the best solution is to have someone downvote you and it sends you a forum notification with something like a sticky note with what you said and the persons issue with it. 

Usually people jump on the "it would be abused" thing, but it is easy for the moderation to see when 5 people from the same group all downvote one person and send them a written warning. 

I would love to get downvoted when someone has an opposing view and hearing their side. I could care less about that green number next to my name tbh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited August 26, 2017 by --Q--Voltage
I added the confused reaction MagPrime because I felt like it.

[Kaotyke]

6 minutes ago, Unus said:

 Although, I wonder how the modern ""pecking order" would show itself then.

It would still be:

Spoiler

 

 

[MagPrime]

1 minute ago, --Q--Voltage said:

I think the best solution is to have someone downvote you and it sends you a forum notification with something like a sticky note with what you said and the persons issue with it. 

Usually people jump on the "it would be abused" thing, but it is easy for the moderation to see when 5 people from the same group all downvote one person and send them a written warning. 

I would love to get downvoted when someone has an opposing view and hearing their side. I could care less about that green number next to my name tbh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If they had to provide a reason for the downvote, I can get behind such a feature.  Just not when you're given no explanation as to why your post was downvoted is what I can't support.

And agreed.  We should have the ability to hide it, at the very least.  I've already seen someone try to use "my upvotes say otherwise" and "I'll let my rep do the talking" which is just...stupid.

[(XBOX)YoungGunn82]

Lol. 

Yayy confused face is fun, although meaningless like the rest of the faces we can make at each other.. 

Edited August 26, 2017 by (XB1)FCastle74

[MagPrime]

16 minutes ago, (Xbox One)FCastle74 said:

Lol. 

Yayy confused face is fun, although meaningless like the rest of the faces we can make at each other.. 

I was about to get upset when I saw the confused and sad faces but, then I saw your comment lol

[Unus]

50 minutes ago, Kaotyke said:

It would still be:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Is. . . Sam, is that you?

 

One of these days, I'd love to try to expand my Pit onto Reddit, but I've heard that anything you post only lasts a fleeting amount of time before it is drowned out in the endless cacophony. Is that an exaggeration?

[(XBOX)Cotton Tail]

8 hours ago, Tesseract7777 said:

I don't really use Reddit much, so I'm not really too familiar with how it works. How would they change it to make it more like that here? 

I think rep and post count should be removed entirely (partly because I find my own rep and post count embarrassing lol), and rep could instead just be a way of deciding which posts are seen first, but I'm not sure how that would work. If it was just whichever posts had the most upvotes get moved up to be seen, then the first few will probably still have the most and remain on top, but I am probably missing a lot, I rarely go to Reddit for anything. 

I have even had people give my opinion extra weight because of my post count and or rep, and I strongly discourage that. I think rep shouldn't be here at all, it causes people to give more value to opinions then they should. People's feelings about my opinions should be based entirely on thinking about what I said and deciding whether they think it makes sense -- my rep should have nothing to do with it. When it comes to veterans, I am not sure I would call my skills or gear anything beyond "average". Giving extra weight to my opinion just because of my name couldn't be more of a mistake. 

To counter this I have to admit I find Reddit difficult and awkward to use; moving posts around based on reputation, upvotes or another popularity metric breaks up any flow of conversation or discussion and leads to a fragmented mess IMO. I'd much prefer posts to appear in chronological order.

 

But to join in with the OP - the forums are great! I love browsing them but just wish the login/logout problems could be fixed

[Lost_Cartographer]

10 hours ago, --Q--Voltage said:

I totally agree +1.

To answer your question, upvoted content moves to the top and the discussion behind it. This makes the more relevent discussion get pushed to the top even if the commentor made it on 2nd page when they added it. This helps to reduce stupid comments from becoming the top comment.

Reddit also has down votes which in my opinion should be on this forum, but people disagree.

Basically reddit has a platform that brings the best comments to the top and puts the bad jokes at the bottom.

Downvotes are meant to be used to remove/hide irrelevant discussion from the topic.

Unfortunately, people use it literally to mean "I disagree" which turns down voting into a form of public censorship when it grants power over a post, and ridicule when it doesn't.  It just doesn't foster positive discussion what-so-ever, and assuming it will be treated any differently here is just being naive.  The Overwatch forums have a downvote feature that can fade and hide posts - it really doesn't contribute anything to a discussion - 500+ can downvote, but there may only be 5 posts in the thread - but people will still defend the option to the death because they're not on the receiving end of their post being near deleted for being an unpopular opinion (or hell, FACT.)

Edited August 26, 2017 by Littleman88

[TheErebus.]

It was better prior to the forum update. 

Edited August 26, 2017 by TheErebus.

[(PSN)watt4hem]

*guy says he enjoys the forum*

*people arguing about if reps are good or not*

[DeadScream]

14 hours ago, Tesseract7777 said:

I have even had people give my opinion extra weight because of my post count and or rep, and I strongly discourage that. I think rep shouldn't be here at all, it causes people to give more value to opinions then they should. People's feelings about my opinions should be based entirely on thinking about what I said and deciding whether they think it makes sense -- my rep should have nothing to do with it. When it comes to veterans, I am not sure I would call my skills or gear anything beyond "average". Giving extra weight to my opinion just because of my name couldn't be more of a mistake. 

with such a wise vision you can be sure I will give you way too much credit for whatever you will post in the future haha

 

I never thought about the reputation system in this way before, but now I will start feeling weird about it (even if it doesn't influence my opinions in general, I think) 

 

back to OP : I love these forums too, I spend more time here than actually playin the game

[Spartan336]

17 hours ago, AgentSkye said:

Oh. I thought the title was sarcastic and was expecting complaints about various forum design flaws.

Not disagreeing, but can you elaborate? What do you find great about it?

I love these forums because it combines one of the least toxic fandom's around with general discussion. 

[MagPrime]

5 hours ago, TheErebus. said:

It was better prior to the forum update. 

Agreed.

 

38 minutes ago, Spartan336 said:

I love these forums because it combines one of the least toxic fandom's around with general discussion. 

DE is pretty serious about maintaining a respectful and communicative community.  Of all the boards I've been on and moderated, this is one of the best, even when it was at its worst.

[AzureTerra]

They are great when they work, which recently is a patchy thing.