User Blogs is the cesspool of SmashBoards.

[momochuu]

I don't even know why my blog was moved here, lol. It's about an event in the Pokemon games.

Edit: Err...Thread* not blog.

 

[Serris]

Also, it doesn't help that every locked off-topic thread on every other board is directed to User Blogs!

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=240342
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=240109
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=238078

Saying that is like saying "User Blogs = Place your crap and bounce"

I don't even know why my blog was moved here, lol. It's about an event in the Pokemon games.

Edit: Err...Thread* not blog.

I couldn't agree more. It's not just the members that are contributing to User Blogs' downfall, it's also the staff that redirect threads here for no reason and invite more spam posts. This also needs to be cracked down on.

 

[Deleted member]

Yeah, the mods have been in this phase where instead of sending terrible threads to the Rubbish Bin, they send them to the blogs, because apparently "anything goes".

 

[finalark]

This all started when Kirby King decided that this room is "free-for-all, post anything, express your own stupid opinion". That invited the spam. This room didn't use to be like this.
"The Don'ts of Blogging" really needs to be brought back.

Saying that is like saying "User Blogs = Place your crap and bounce"

Meta-Kirby is absolutely right. Have you ever seen Gamefaqs' forums? That's what happens to a forum with little to no rules or structure and it's what the User Blogs are becoming. And as MK said, all of the spam is being redirected here. It's like taking all a group of people with some kind of terrible virus and letting them loose in Times Square.

And to put his final statement a big harsher: It's like saying that "User Blogs = Spam room."

EDIT: And another thing, as far as I'm concerned, if it should be considered spam anywhere else on the boards then it should be considered spam here too.

 

[Clownbot]

Could someone link me to "The Don'ts of Blogging", please? Thanks.

 

[momochuu]

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=223825

Ta-daaaa~

 

[finalark]

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=223825

Ta-daaaa~

I miss these guidelines.

Hmm... he even added in a new section devoted to that whole "Koth incident," nice touch.

 

[Clownbot]

After looking through Firus's thread...

It seems I've been really bad when it comes to User Blogs.

I guess I'm going to have to buckle down a lot more.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Yeah, the mods have been in this phase where instead of sending terrible threads to the Rubbish Bin, they send them to the blogs, because apparently "anything goes".

I was JUST about to say this before I saw your post.

It seems like most of the mods/admin other than a few have just given up on the User Blogs from my point of view, and if we want to improve our SWF community as a whole, we need a crackdown.

I suggest we make a new group, and make a new "Don'ts of blogging" or something of that nature, and enlist the help of a mod (Jam?) to get it stickied, and to help eliminate as much spam as is possible.

I hate seeing this happen to a room that was a good idea, and was a refreshing new place to go when implemented, and now that I look back at some of my posts here, I'm a bit ashamed for contributing to the spam (except for the Bad Language blog, that was necessary in my mind), and I'll do what I can to help clean this place up.

 

[Clownbot]

And, I, as well.

Giving back to a community you aided in the destruction of FTW. Not joking there, I'd really like to make a contribution.

 

[Funen1]

Now I don't go reading through everything in the User Blogs section to be completely overloaded with bad threads, but in my short time here I have definitely seen a "progression" like how Serris described. And I agree, it sucks here now. When I first discovered this section, there existed in me some deep, underlying respect for it, and I tried to contribute some decent blogs to what, at first, seemed like a good place to chronicle what was happening to me as I played Smash. But with what is going on now, I'd love to join any movement to reverse the situation.

 

[Jam Stunna]

When I first became the moderator of this board, I was told that my approach to the room was too heavy-handed. So, I backed off, and I went too far in the other direction. For that, I apologize. Crackdown begins now.

 

[bobson]

Anyone who replies with this one-liner to a blog REALLY ought to get a 1-week (or longer) ban from the User Blogs.

cool story bro

You clearly have not been here since day one and stuck with it, or you would've known that it temporarily stopped being a spam room. It hasn't ALWAYS been a spam room.

No, it's always been a spam room. It just gets better and worse at different periods in time.

If people didn't find it amusing to spam and not care for any intelligence on the forum, it wouldn't have to be a spam forum.

Welcome to the internet. Hell, welcome to humanity. This is and has always been what happens when you invite a huge group of people to talk about whatever they want.

They're both bad because asking what you should have for lunch is inconsequential, and there's a sticky in the Light House for asking for game/console purchasing advice?

"Inconsequential" defines 90% of everything posted here.

When we had rules I don't think it was ruined.

We had rules for, what, a week? Two weeks? Certainly not long enough to indicate long-term consequences, and people didn't really pay attention to them anyway.

If you're saying it to express the fact that you dislike Final Fantasy, it's not trolling.

Unless you do it specifically because you just want to annoy people, you aren't trolling.

But how do you, not being me, know which is which? I only said I believed it, not that I wasn't making it to annoy people.


If you guys want "structured" general discussion, we have the Pool Room already. I really don't see the positive side of making a uniquely "lawless" board like this into the same board we already have. The spam and trolling here annoys me, too, but at least it's better than threads with reply after reply of completely uninteresting bull**** that isn't technically rulebreaking so it gets to stay.

 

[Serris]

When I first became the moderator of this board, I was told that my approach to the room was too heavy-handed. So, I backed off, and I went too far in the other direction. For that, I apologize. Crackdown begins now.

Thank you, Jam. I apologize if my response to you was on the harsh side, but seeing the forum degenerate into troll haven was strongly irritating, to me. It's nice to see that this yielded positive results, and I am grateful for your effort to bring the spam to a halt. Good luck.

 

[Jam Stunna]

Thank you, Jam. I apologize if my response to you was on the harsh side, but seeing the forum degenerate into troll haven was strongly irritating, to me. It's nice to see that this yielded positive results, and I thank you for making the effort to bring the spam to a halt.

Honestly, you're absolutely right. I volunteered for this job because I thought UB was one of the best forums on the boards. Now I have to do my part to maintain that.

 

[Clownbot]

Well... *looks at people dedicated to making this forum a better place*

Looks like you're not alone, man.

 

[Firus]

I miss these guidelines.

Hmm... he even added in a new section devoted to that whole "Koth incident," nice touch.

Yes, I did. I added that, and I'd been planning to revamp it yet again and bump it (since an overhaul would legitimize a necro) when I was done. I'm still perfectly willing to do that, and I'm willing to take any suggestions.

cool story bro

Mature response bro.

No, it's always been a spam room. It just gets better and worse at different periods in time.

No, for the time that The Don'ts of Blogging was stickied it actually was pretty spam-less. The spam that did pop up was not tolerated.

Welcome to the internet. Hell, welcome to humanity. This is and has always been what happens when you invite a huge group of people to talk about whatever they want.

Welcome to a power system on the internet which can actually enforce rules and put an end to that at will. AKA the staff.

"Inconsequential" defines 90% of everything posted here.

Okay, VERY inconsequential.

We had rules for, what, a week? Two weeks? Certainly not long enough to indicate long-term consequences, and people didn't really pay attention to them anyway.

This kind of shows that you can't really legitimately argue how good/bad the blogs have always been.

"The Don'ts of Blogging" was stickied from March 1st to April 19th. That's more than a month and a half. Which is actually like, 6 weeks?

People paid a LOT more attention to them than you seem to think.

First of all, JAM STUNNA, THE MODERATOR OF THE FORUM, locked threads according to it.

Second of all, look at 90% of the locked threads during that time period. Someone generally came in to link or reference to it in some way, shape, or form.

But how do you, not being me, know which is which? I only said I believed it, not that I wasn't making it to annoy people.

And I said "UNLESS YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY DOING IT TO ANNOY PEOPLE".

If you guys want "structured" general discussion, we have the Pool Room already. I really don't see the positive side of making a uniquely "lawless" board like this into the same board we already have. The spam and trolling here annoys me, too, but at least it's better than threads with reply after reply of completely uninteresting bull**** that isn't technically rulebreaking so it gets to stay.

The Pool Room is for general discussion.

The User Blogs can be for rants, essays, complaints, memoirs, and the like. They don't have to be debate-worthy like with the Debate Hall (and you don't have to gain access first), they aren't being judged on writing style or analyzed like in Creative Minds. Blogs are for personal things.

My suggestion for you: leave the forum and never come back. You're really troll-ish, and you have the ideology that this forum sucks, is spammy, and that it's inevitable so it should either be accepted or the forum should be shut down anyways.

Don't come into a forum if you're not going to do anything more than crap on it.

Seriously, I think I want to add some "Do"s for "The Don'ts of Blogging", and I'd also like to take some suggestions. Hit me up on VM, PM, or start a social group or something. Even if they can't be officially enforced, if we can keep updating it and keep it from falling so far into the pile of threads as it is now, maybe it can still be a little better.

 

[Kirby King]

This all started when Kirby King decided that this room is "free-for-all, post anything, express your own stupid opinion".

Wow, I don't remember saying that. Could you remind me where I said that? Only 'cause you quoted me and all.

 

[Azua]

I think once Jam starts infracting the spammers and trolls, UB will improve again.

However, we should not be the thought police.
Giving people a blog tool, which is basically a personal journal of theirs, and then severely limiting what they can post is stupid. It defeats the entire purpose of the feature.
As long as it's not blatant spam and actually develops a relevant and neutral [I can't really think of the word here but it's the opposite of a flamefest] discussion, I don't think we should limit what kind of blogs you can make more than it already is.

Another thing is, nobody is forcing you to read everyone's blog. If someone posts a blog that you think is dumb, instead of replying to it telling them they're dumb, ignore them.
They get less attention every time the post is moved down.

Jam said himself that he hasn't been doing much discipline-wise, and the state of this room is no different from any of the other rooms that haven't seen much mod activity.

All this time people *****ed and moaned about how strict we were in the Pool Room, and now that the user blogs has basically the same rules that Proomers wanted, everyone is suddenly complaining about it.....I find that funny.

If you want a general discussion room that frowns upon one-liners, trolling, and flaming, go to the Proom. This place is supposed to be more relaxed, similar to a social room.

 

[Falconv1.0]

I don't think MOST of the 'rude' things I say are blatant flaming/troll posts. Am I wrong? I ask this because I reeeeeeaaaallly don't like infractions. =/

 

[Azua]

Oh I dunno, I've read quite a few of your posts and you're kind of a jerk needlessly. [I'm not really one to talk, I did custom infractions for Koth...] You'll learn, though.

 

[Jam Stunna]

I don't think MOST of the 'rude' things I say are blatant flaming/troll posts. Am I wrong? I ask this because I reeeeeeaaaallly don't like infractions. =/

Don't post one-liners or say "Haha I'm such a great troll" and you'll be fine.

 

[Serris]

I think once Jam starts infracting the spammers and trolls, UB will improve again.

However, we should not be the thought police.
Giving people a blog tool, which is basically a personal journal of theirs, and then severely limiting what they can post is stupid. It defeats the entire purpose of the feature.
As long as it's not blatant spam and actually develops a relevant and neutral [I can't really think of the word here but it's the opposite of a flamefest] discussion, I don't think we should limit what kind of blogs you can make more than it already is.

While I agree that SmashBoards shouldn't severely limit what people can post, it still needs to be moderated by the rules, just like every other section of this forum. The lack of clear guidelines and their nonexistent enforcement is what led to the initial degredation of User Blogs as a board. It's what made people start posting flame wars and spam, and it eventually made some moderators think it acceptable to dump their unwanted threads here. If we're going to make sure it doesn't happen again, there need to be limits, however strong they may be. It's unavoidable.

 

[Azua]

I'm still telling you what you're thinking of is called the Pool Room.

That's not to say that trolls and 10char spam and the like shouldn't be infracted.

 

[Firus]

The Pool Room may have the rules we're thinking of, but the User Blogs is a different type of general discussion than the Pool Room.

Or at least I think, I didn't think rants/memoirs/etc. were really meant for the Pool Room. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Azua]

Rants can go in the "something bothering you" topic, memoirs can be both depending on the subject matter and whether or not they're, well...discussable.

I'd like to have the Pool Room be more serious than "what kind of bug freaks you out" but I deal with what I have.
Feel free to improve the topic matter.

 

[Serris]

I'm still telling you what you're thinking of is called the Pool Room.

They may seem the same, but in actuality, they're quite different.

The Pool Room stresses group reaction to a pre-determined topic or question, say, "How many people are afraid of spiders?" User Blogs stresses one person's thoughts and opinions on any number of subjects, like "I don't like spiders, here's why." Like the Pool Room, people are free to comment and share their experiences, but the topic of conversation is mainly the person's opinion on the matter, rather than a general like or dislike of spiders.

Again, similar, but not quite the same.

 

[bobson]

No, for the time that The Don'ts of Blogging was stickied it actually was pretty spam-less. The spam that did pop up was not tolerated.

I'm guessing you and I have different definitions of spam, because the changes I've seen in this board (and I've been following it since it started up) have been minor at most.

This kind of shows that you can't really legitimately argue how good/bad the blogs have always been.

"The Don'ts of Blogging" was stickied from March 1st to April 19th. That's more than a month and a half. Which is actually like, 6 weeks?

People paid a LOT more attention to them than you seem to think.

First of all, JAM STUNNA, THE MODERATOR OF THE FORUM, locked threads according to it.

Second of all, look at 90% of the locked threads during that time period. Someone generally came in to link or reference to it in some way, shape, or form.

Wait, those were actually being enforced? Well, ****, I was wrong, then.
Wary of my opinion being flawed, I set the board to display posts by start time and checked around those dates. The general atmosphere of the board was unchanged; the only real notable change was the abundance of locked threads, but looking between what was locked then and now, it seems like almost all of those would've been locked now as well. This leaves me inclined to believe that the board was actually worse then, because there were plenty of those threads being made which aren't being made now.

Incidentally, I only saw three references to the Don'ts in all the threads I checked, one being made by yourself.

My suggestion for you: leave the forum and never come back. You're really troll-ish, and you have the ideology that this forum sucks, is spammy, and that it's inevitable so it should either be accepted or the forum should be shut down anyways.

Don't come into a forum if you're not going to do anything more than crap on it.

Thank you for illustrating so succinctly what I meant with my "Final Fantasy sucks" example.

 

[M.K]

Rants can go in the "something bothering you" topic, memoirs can be both depending on the subject matter and whether or not they're, well...discussable.

I'd like to have the Pool Room be more serious than "what kind of bug freaks you out" but I deal with what I have.
Feel free to improve the topic matter.

Well if that's true, then why do alot of the locked topics in the Pool Room get directed back to the User Blogs? Seems to me like the Pool Room would be the perfect place for them then.

 

[Teran]

I'm so glad I was away yesterday.
I'm also so glad that I'll be away until Monday.

There is no ****ing solution to this problem. The problem is all of us. Almost everyone here, myself included, are *****. ***** clash with other *****. Too many ***** in one place cause a giant ****storm.

Also Serris, this epic complaint has been made before, many a time. Basically, it's Jam's task to find a balance of moderation that people won't complain about.

Basically what I'm saying is, Jam has a task with the success rate of finding the universal cure for HIV.

So tbh, just be cool and learn to do what I do. Adapt to whatever you're faced with and appreciate the good aspects.

 

[Azua]

Well if that's true, then why do alot of the locked topics in the Pool Room get directed back to the User Blogs? Seems to me like the Pool Room would be the perfect place for them then.

Because I require Pool Room topics to have actual discussion [Cake or Pie doesn't exactly promote much more than one-line discussion], and before that I was trying to get Kenny to help improve User Blogs with actual interesting topics. Is that a crime? It's not my fault the UB trolls chased him off almost immediately.

Again, I'd like to reiterate that we should not be the thought police here. I agree that blatant trolling and spam should be locked, but again...there is no harm in someone posting a blog like "Do you prefer cake or pie?" with people replying "I like ___ more than ___, blahblahblah." Sure, it's one line, but User Blogs is modeled after Regional Social Rooms in regards to posting freedom.
Nobody is forcing you to read topics you don't like. Don't reply and bump them and they get less attention.

The issue we seem to be having right now is that we have the same amount of crappy blogs to good blogs ratio going on, but trolls automatically attack the good blogs because "lol u srs" and attack the bad blogs because "this blog is bad and you should feel bad."
I think once Jam gets these individuals under control, User Blogs will be a lot more organized.

I don't think actual bloggers are the problem here. Our problem is people being *****.

 

[|RK|]

Thank you, I completely and totally agree with this thread.

Compliments to its creator.

 

[Falconv1.0]

***** clash with other *****. Too many ***** in one place cause a

Oh gawd.

But in all seriousness, his post is basically 100% truth. =/

 

[M.K]

For the last time, anyone can post whatever they want here. If you don't think it's a good blog, DO NOT POST IN IT.

^This is what is wrong with the User Blogs. There is a freaking board for the blog that this is located in. This does not deserve to clog User Blogs when there is a perfectly good board for it (Brawl Videos and Other Media--General Videos).

The whole approach of "post whatever you want" is flawed and it has recently reared it's ugly head.

 

[momochuu]

I thought the same thing when I saw that. It's not that you guys were just being ***** and telling him to gtfo of user blogs it's just...the completely wrong place, lol. :x Mario boards/General video would have actually gotten him critiqued or whatever, and it would be in the appropriate place.

 

[Jam Stunna]

Like I said in the other thread, what is so hard to understand about the concept of blogging? So long as it doesn't violate Global Rules, you can put ANYTHING in your blog. That's what it's there for!

It's starting to look more and more like certain people want more than the leash pulled back on the spammers/trolls. They want UB to look how they think it should. That's not going to happen, so you may as well find somewhere else to hang out on the boards.

 

[Serris]

Like I said in the other thread, what is so hard to understand about the concept of blogging? So long as it doesn't violate Global Rules, you can put ANYTHING in your blog. That's what it's there for!

It's starting to look more and more like certain people want more than the leash pulled back on the spammers/trolls. They want UB to look how they think it should. That's not going to happen, so you may as well find somewhere else to hang out on the boards.

I was more implying that replies needed to be moderated and not the original posts. Sorry if it was taken that way.

 

[Azua]

I was more implying that replies needed to be moderated and not the original posts. Sorry if it was taken that way.

Now that you've clarified, I can say that I totally agree with you.


...and I guess we both suck at talking

 

[Serris]

Now that you've clarified. I can say that I totally agree with you.


...and I guess we both suck at talking

Amen to that, sister.

 

[REL38]

I think once Jam starts infracting the spammers and trolls, UB will improve again.

However, we should not be the thought police.
Giving people a blog tool, which is basically a personal journal of theirs, and then severely limiting what they can post is stupid. It defeats the entire purpose of the feature.
As long as it's not blatant spam and actually develops a relevant and neutral [I can't really think of the word here but it's the opposite of a flamefest] discussion, I don't think we should limit what kind of blogs you can make more than it already is.

Another thing is, nobody is forcing you to read everyone's blog. If someone posts a blog that you think is dumb, instead of replying to it telling them they're dumb, ignore them.
They get less attention every time the post is moved down.

Jam said himself that he hasn't been doing much discipline-wise, and the state of this room is no different from any of the other rooms that haven't seen much mod activity.

All this time people *****ed and moaned about how strict we were in the Pool Room, and now that the user blogs has basically the same rules that Proomers wanted, everyone is suddenly complaining about it.....I find that funny.

If you want a general discussion room that frowns upon one-liners, trolling, and flaming, go to the Proom. This place is supposed to be more relaxed, similar to a social room.

Yay, 1984 reference :D

If not, then . . . yeah.

The User Blogs section has grown to be my favourite part of the Boards during the time I've been here. But with some of the recent junk being posted here is rather sad to see.