This is not an official poll. This is just me, trying to gauge what you guys think of OB.

Please put down any thoughts you have about OB, be it good or bad, and maybe even about OB before 2004-05 if possible. Any opinion about OB that you feel should be heard by everyone, so that this place can improve as an experience.

A few of us, particularly the Admins and the Mods have spent years here in OB, and to a certain extent, grown up here in OB. We've seen members, good and bad, come and go. We all have our history.

But I also know we have to look forward and wonder how we can keep this place going, and making more intelligent people take part in posting on OB, therefore improving it.

A board is only as good as its members. The admins and moderators are also, at the core, only members.

So post what you think, or feel about OB, and it's current quality.

Thanks.

Ok - I find less topics I want to read or post about...

This has been the recent trend for me, I consistently post on only one thread which is the Gundam SEED topic...Then, I also check topics under the videogame and social boards that might catch my interest...Other than that, I rarely visit the H-boards nowadays, nor do I take the time anymore to make a post for each board whenever I logon...

On the positive side, I still visit OB everyday and I still look forward to reading replies to topics that are of interest to me... :ok:

I like the OB. A lot of other forums are out of control and they don't have good rules and they don't have good topics, or the whole forum is based one specific thing. This forum has a nice variety of people and topics.

I went on one forum and i saw this one guy had over 24,000 posts. That is insane, but that forum allowed double posting and more so there you go.

The only thing i don't like about this forum is i have to wait until i get 1,000 posts before i can make a title. But i'll just have to wait till then.

I know that I am fairly new here, but I do have strong feelings about OB. I love this board, I think the rules are great, the mods do an awesome job, I love the subject matter and topics, and many of the people here are wonderful.

However, I voted OK because I have recently noticed that I find myself actually coming here and posting less and less. It isn't because there aren't good topics...there are! And it isn't because there aren't intelligent people...there are! But it just feels to me as if, for a discussion board, there really isn't a lot of discussion going on.

My impression is that in general, people post some comments on a topic and then move on the next topic - never coming back to discuss topics they previously commented on further. Many of the ones that I'd previously seen carrying on discussions, seem to post here less frequently as well.

But that could be because, as a newer member, I am really coming to these topics "late". Everybody else has already discussed these subjects to their hearts content, and are bored of them. I could be feeling that the problem is the lack of enthusiastic discussion, but the problem may really be a lack of new and interesting topics that appeals to older members as well.

But regardless - I hold the OB dear to my heart. I'd like to get excited enough that I'd want to post here everyday again, and peek inside each and every active thread every day like I used to. Hopefully Elfboy, this thread will help you figure out how to turn me on again? :wink:

I haven't been here for a while, so my opinion may mean little to others but here it is for what it's worth.

I love this place, and I love most of the people here....but I have noticed that the posts are mainly by the same people so their is little differing opinions that I have noticed. I still stand by the OB and come back every so often to see if things have changed.

What I am trying to say here is that I come here to only find the same things being said by the same people. This is my humble opinion so please if I in anyway offended anyone please disregard this post because I haven't been here in months.

I'm voting for the average too.

I personally think it's about the majority of the members not having as much free time as they used to.

Also, well, it happens sometimes, the "I am so lazy today feeling" we could be experimenting it in a massive scale.

Another reason could be the lack of interest in Anime/Manga/Games being released lately.

Well, I have to admit that I find the OB as just not an average forum; but as a home. The people here are nice, I've met a lot of people here...which simply wouldn't occur if this was in real life. I've never had a problem here with anybody.

However, like most people stated here...the topics are sort of relevant to one another, but seemingly interesting. But, being honest here, I've seen topics like these or at least 95% of them.

But it's really the topics that seem well rounded and fun to post in anyway... (not for post counts only) It's at least interesting for me to come by most of the time. Nonetheless, there's always something to do here. It's simply fun overall...that's what makes the OB special. Everyone plays their own parts as an individual.

The only flaw are that most topics are 100% original. But That's not stopping the OB from being bland. Not at all.

I'll be honest...I'm having regrets returning to OB.

I see a lot of posts/topics that don't make sense, a lot of members that don't follow rules, and shades of the old power-grabbing behind the scenes that led me to leave OB and join HCP in the first place.

Elfboy is correct, the board is only as good as its members. The sad thing is I feel there are only a handful of members that can be considered "good" board citizens. Even sadder: most of these good guys have left the board.

Well, that's my opinion.

I'm sorry you feel that way Shunichi, as you are one of the members I hold above the rest. It would be truly great if the other oldies would return.

But truth is, the OB now is not the OB of old, when it was truly an internet party where you go and mingle with the legendary members and find whole pages worthy of your interest. Back then, I feel that each noteworthy post was considered and remembered and stuck to the member who said it. People would remember how you were jealous of your best friend, or that you once played "Sailor Moon X" in school. It doesn't feel like that to me, at least, anymore. I'm glad OB still feels like home to the new guys, as I do consider it my internet home.

I guess I feel abandoned. I used to blame Ragnarok Online, but I don't think I do anymore. I thought the recent EB or two would rekindle interest, but it sadly didn't.

I wonder if those oldies who used to see each other regularly still do. It's their fault. They didn't do anything wrong, but it's their fault.

EDIT: ofcourse I'm not out to pick fights, like always.

Yeah, it sounds like I'm bitter and that I hold myself as the victim here, and that's because I do, but I try not to. They're my feelings, and I don't hold them to be rational, but it's there. I don't mean to post like I've been waiting here for ages for people to come back, and I haven't because I take short sabbaticals. There was a time I only went to OB because I had nothing else to do online even.

I don't know what to suggest, but I hope this thread does more good than bad, elfboy. These negative feelings kinda magnified when I saw how other people felt the same way. I voted OK. We have some nice newbies, which is always good.

it is ragnarok online! :laugh:
that is the root cause of all the abandonment.

(and i think... it rilly is a very bad game, with marketing tactics luring kids to cut class and spend. :rolleyes: )

that...and that cos some people changed and matured/regressed. :biggrin: (notice the giant slash.)

I suppose then that some of us have gone on to other things...to be fair I will not describe them as either "better" or "worse" nor will I mention any specifics.

Kinda sad...I feel Kuni's sentiments. It's almost as if some of us have actually "outgrown" OB.

Maybe that's true Shun. But I can name posters here that I wish would "outgrow" OB as well. XD

Interesting poll.

Since I'm not even a week old let me put some objectivity to it.

Not often does a board grab my attention as OB did and still does.

Given as someone said "a board is only as good as its members" but that requires new blood now and then and old member will become a burden to any board unless they realise that its new blood that keeps a board going forward.

Some will stay some will fade away some will be "relative" intelligent some will not be, but being grumpy about it wont help anyone.

One thing i disklike is for example is "newbie42" post a topic about something he/she/it thought about, next thing to happen is 10 "old" members beating down telling he/she/it it's already been discussed several months ago with 1k answers already.

It's like going into a bar where everything is quiet cause everything worth or not worth saying has already been said and if you try talk everyone tells you to shut up.

Thats when the quality of the mods become important, they have to know when to enforce the rules or not.

Let me give you another example:

Again "newbie42" posts something, "oldie72" thinks "bha not again" but me "newbie101" thinks "ahh i never thought about that" 1st reply "oldie72" post is "bha use the search before posting something thats already been posted ( a 100 years ago)", then what about me "newbie101" is there a seach funktion for me on things "i never thought about" :smile:

Anyway,

A board is only as old as it's first page.

nice post, TON. Like I said, we have some great newbies. :cool:

and right, fire. I guess the mass exodus didn't sit well with me, whatever happened.

EDIT: I feel like I've posted enough. So I'm replying to nib's post in here.

It's not as if I'm griping and really angry, this is just psychiatric hour at Dr. elfboy's.. The newbies said it, it's a great place! People are nice here. I wouldn't have thought of it a second(or fifth) time until elfboy brought it up in public. I want OB, not checking out individual friggin blogs from the people I've come to know here. I don't really mean to blame the people who stopped going to OB, but really, there's not a good way of looking at the exodus. (again, not that they did something wrong)

and, it's nice to finally see nib in such a happy mood.

I might delete my posts here in a few days, or hours... :look: or edit it severely! :sweatface:

well, drastic changes notwithstanding...

I think the very fact that there's someone who made a thread like this, and that there are people who visit it, vote, and make relevant posts on it, says a lot of nice things about OB and its people :) Hence, enough reason to be happy, IMO :ok:

Besides, heck, I'm still here :wink: :biggrin:

(ok that should perk things up a bit :cheesy: )

OK, I'm gonna jump the gun. If people are just after the togetherness bit, it's awfully easy to bug/stalk someone you know (well, provided you're in more or less ok terms with people anyways :laugh: ). YM. Livejournal. E-mail. IRC. Whatever social butterflies use. You see, you shouldn't really blame anything or anyone because it's not like there's nothing you can do after what happened. I mean, ask yourself: are you just really going to gripe about what you think sucks when you could just lose yourself in trying to chat someone up whom you think would be well worth your time?

When you get to work on your social meter, everything follows. Even renewed drive in interests/hobbies/fads. It's not so much as there's nothing new to criticize/comment on, but really, just how much can you talk about one particular object of interest for any length of time? And come on, do you really go online just to prove how geeky you are? Ooops my bad, I might've hurt the pain-in-the-a$$ members who lurk and pounce at the opportunity of coming off as really infallible. Tsk.

No matter what you vote for, or whatever you say in here, your mere presence here defines OB. Heck even more so if you police the boards.

Fact is you can choose to make things interesting. Bring back something like the past perhaps. I dunno, but the way I see it a lot of things are still possible. Besides not like lamenting ever made things better :buck: (puts things in a pleasantly self-serving perspective though I'll confess ^^ )

Well anyways in case you guys eventually decide to host some sort of OB revival party, holler at me when everyone's drunk and nekkid :wink: :bounce:

OB's standard and quality of posta nd topics are okay.I've seen and read worse on other forums...much worse actually. :sweatface:

Like nib, I'm still here and will continue to stay here as long as
1)I'm still welcomed. :blush:
2)The boards still exist
3)The Net i still around.

I do admit that I havent been around much as of late....and the reasons are probably the same as most of the people that used to frequent OB; we're being swamped with stuff....job or personally-related stuff.In my case....I'm trying to look good and get absorbed as a permanent employee in my company here by staying at work late and doing extra work at home.
However....I do have to mention that some topics and members here are devaluing the quality of the posts and topics here in the OB forum boards as well so its a combination of things at work here.Anyhoo....OB's still a fine place so I'll just vote on GOOD. :cheesy:

i'm not as active as before but i always visit the boards. i would check out the topics first as a guest if i find something interesting i log - in to post.

my posting activity dwindled since i have a lot of things to do now and honestly, i just don't feel like posting most of the time. the topics are kind of...i don't know...not like before.

I voted Not Good. I feel no need to post right after "OMFG! Gundaym iz teh k00L roxx0rzzzzz!!!!1111 oneone" or after quoting "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"s. To add to that, I'm pretty annoyed at people who don't read good. Completely ignoring the past posts which are a few posts above or those that just ignore your statements and move on to sound redundant.

Though yes, I agree with Bluemaxx, there are worse out there.

I'm keeping this short for those special people.

The most fun I have in these boards is in the mod lounge. *evil grin*

Apart from that, it's true, I'm not the most active admin around. Well, not not active...I've always been seasonal around here, even back in the earlier days. I drop by every now and then, I monitor on a weekly basis, but I don't often post. I can all see what the remaining oldies mean. But to answer your question Kuni, yes, some of us still meet up from time to time outside the context of OB and RO...we still have other common interests after all, like books, film, slobbering all over Neil Gaiman and such.

I still remember when jcarro told me about OB. I really wanted to join and I did. I had fun reading and posting. It's good that there are others sharing my interests and humor. There was a time when I post almost 15+ everyday. I was really looking forward to other replies and what other people think...

Right now, I go to OB and just look at stuff. And I don't find the same energy in me that made me post so much before. I just read stuff and go without posting for I am kinda bored looking at others replying without even reading previous posts. The fun factor of OB has depleted over time due to absence of the fun and interaction of the members, which some have gone missing. There are fewer topics that seem to grab the members' attention. :sad:

I voted Not Good.

Eversince I joined OB 100 years ago I was and still, more of a reader than a poster. What was really cool back then was even if I can't relate to what is being dicsussed, for example an anime or a movie I haven't seen, I still enjoy reading the posts. But now, I dunno, maybe it's just some wierd phase. Or maybe some evil curse that was bestowed upon by Ragnarok Online to me and the other once active members of OB. :buck:

The fact that you guys posted here at all, shows that you still care about the place - as flawed, or boring, or annoying as it sometimes is.

What Type-O-Negative said struck me as very astute, and maybe even more relevant. Maybe us oldies slap down and merge new topics, to older ones. I think that we are in a way killing ourselves with our own history.

This can't go on, and T-O-N put it very well, boards like this need fresh blood flowing through it, and I think we have a tendency to assume that all posters must act like they're oldies, who know all the rules.

I think we have to allow members to make mistakes, before we correct them, and while it may get annoying, I think the moderators should be the ones who do the moderating and guide the new members correctly.

As much as Ghost Modding is sometimes appreciated, I think it does get a little out of hand, and I don't need 10 people telling me I did something wrong. I just need one clear and concise voice telling me what I did wrong.

But personally, I think the place is okay. It was an excellent place a few years ago, I hope that it'll go back to being a really excellent place, with everyone's help.

Still not fully recovered so I can't really stay long. Just had to take a peek.




I very much agree with this. While I understand the old members wanting the boards to be, in a way, the way it used to be...sadly, that isn't always the case. People change. Contrary to what some oldies might say about OB being dead, I beg to disagree. It may seem dead to you because you can't see some of the old people, but there are new people with bright and fresh ideas and we can't always have a stick up our asses and insist that this place is dead only because it doesn't seem like it used to be.

It's very much alive. Even when I only check back once every few days, I see it brimming with new active members and new topics being opened. I guess the good ol' OB is dead, but the good news is, the site meter says it's alive with new blood everyday.




Another point I may have to agree with. ALthough I don't really expect many of the oldies or mods to be nice to people all the time (hey, I don't want to cramp anyone's modding styles...I used to swoop down on rule breakers but now I just delete stuff cos I'm too tired xD), it doesn't kill to be at least civil or polite. Or just not be a big bully.

I think the reason for the "no redundant topics" rule have been missed. It's not that what you're saying isn't important, it's because: (1) it's hard to mod too many topics and you'd hate to repeat yourself all over again when the same question surfaces; (2) it kills my database cleaning; (3) people seem to have forgotten that the reason there are message boards is because people need INFORMATION. So instead of waiting ages for someone to answer a question that has been asked a gazillion times, you can simply do a search and find your answers right there -- in an existing thread. Of course, I suppose mods and a few concerned citizens should be able to point the newbie to the right direction without being caustic about it. And I'm happy that this does happen because I see it when I check the reports or the nice posts of some helpful oldie.

Going back to the topic of information: I didn't build OB for the sake of socializing. It was actually built because many of my emailers needed detailed information not found in my reviews so instead of answering them one by one (I used to answer around 300 emails a day), why not put up a board so I could direct people there for the answer? While it's nice to see the community has grown, I'm also happy to see that it hasn't lost sight of its original purpose and I'm not about to let anyone lose sight of it too.



If you notice, the real topics don't really reach 1K posts. It's because so many bright ideas get flushed down in a Random Thought Thread or What Have You Thread or some RTT similar threads. This is one reason why I want to do away with anime recommendations or random thought thread or video game recommendations and similar such topics.

I mean heck, there's one interesting conversation about Suikoden IV...and you won't see it in the Suikoden IV topic because it's in the Latest Video Games thread. If I were a newbie, I'd get awfully confused. You got an idea, or you're bored? Start a different topic. Don't slap it into some fad thread where your post will rot till it gets deleted by me, ne?

If you want your posts to be remembered because you are a good member of the boards, well, why not immortalize them through various topics?



Sorry to disagree, elfie-baby. Like I said, we merge topics because there are information that many people need to know that get buried somewhere. We may be resurrecting topics, but many of the topics we resurrect are actually helpful to newbies. It also teaches them to look for information and be familiar with the rules without cluttering up the place.

I think it's the way we deal with newbies that has got to change. Yes, OB is not a democracy. There's a pocket that OB needs to feed on and that pocket (or credit card) is mine. It still will follow what I say. But there's only one skysenshi in here and if there's anyone who should be doing the bullying, it should be me. But you don't see me bullying anyone in the past year, do you? :biggrin:

Whew...will anyone actually read through all that? @_@

I actually read through all of that. And boy am I glad I did.

Before I read it your reply Sky, I was honestly was beginning to feel bum. I was actually beginning to think, after reading some of the other replies on this thread, "Gee, this board loathes newbies after all, eh?" And being a newbie myself, this was honestly beginning to put a dark shadow around my heart.

I already felt like an outsider sometimes, because I'm new. And older. And not from the Phillipines. It kinda made me uncomfortable to feel like there was an in-crowd, and because I was new and far away I'd probably always be alienated.

But boy did my OB spirit need to read a post like yours, Skysenshi. Thank you, you are a mod of mods.

And P.S. If there is anything that I am doing or not doing as a newbie that is "reducing the value" of this board, I would hope that instead of just declaring that this place sucks and run away, that a mod would send me a PM and inform me of what I am doing wrong.

I do. Twice...Since i don't fully understand it the 1st time i read it. :sweatface:

I'm much agree with Sky-sama. Even though you don't see much old Obers nowaday, but OB still alive, living and breathing, healthily. Many newbies, good one and bad one, are here. Many newbies even already make their appearance noticed (Psuedo Blair and Bishoujo Ichi, for ex).

Well, you couldn't see that record breaking 40+ posts in a day nowaday, but you still can interact with other, right? Postcount is not everything in OB. If you've something cool, new, or great to share, or just wanna socialize, post it to Ob. Tell it to everyone.

And...It doesn't pain you to at least greet a newbie, right? We usualy have more poeple greeting newbie who come, so why don't we do it again now?

Well, as many of the veteran members know, unfortunate circumstances called for me dropping off of these forums. I was away from the forums for nearly 7 months (from October 2nd, 2003 to April 20th, 2004) but I am very thankful that I was not pruned out like many other inactive members were.

But when I came back from that long abscence, this place just changed so much. The members that I really had fun posting with are pretty much gone and new bonds were formed with entirely new members that I have never seen before. It became very hard for me to get back into posting. I was once on the inside the clique here. Even though the majority of the members here are thousands of miles away, I felt as if I was a part of them. but even though I'm a fairly ancient member in comparison to most here, I am now looking in. Most of the bonds I formed here are gone for good and the new blood has almost kept me out. It's why I have made 63 posts here in the last 15 months.

Now that I look here, there really isn't much for me to reply to anymore. I really don't know what it is but I really can't explain it well enough for anybody to understand. The change has been so drastic since I last regularly posted here. The major reason I come by is to let people know that I do in fact exist. That I am alive and well and I go back hoping that everybody else is also all well and good.

I may not be a frequent poster anymore but I still do care about the folks here at OB enough to come by every so often.

LOL. First of all, you can't be pruned because you haven't been absent for 2 years, and you have over 200 posts. Secondly, I dun prune members anymore. It gets disconcerting to see threads started by unregistered members. ^^;;; And I noticed, it's the threads themselves that affect the database size by a whole margin, not the registered members.