|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hate to bring this back up, but the only difference I have have seen is that with less GD posts all the wrong board/repeat questions are more obvious now. The daily questions on the GD AR board about NFA stuff, custom builds, optics is quite obvious. I do not know if they are just trying to up their post count or just have no clue how the forum works, but it seems there are more of this happening than before.
Probably stating the obvious, but this is because so much of the "noise" comes from GD. Less newbies posting there = less traffic there in general = less temptation for established members to post = less drama and childish bullshit.
and while I have noticed an increase in POSTS in the other areas I would not say that they have been of a garbage or "+1" nature. It's summertime and the tenor of all forums changes with the seasons.
From our POV, it is still working well. The majority of bannings, warnings and fights were in the GD forum started by new members. The number of warnings and bannings has dropped greatly even though our new member base continues to grow.
If you see a thread in the technical forums that appears to be out of line, contact a mod or staff member about it.
Im not saying there is anything out of line in the technical forums, like should deserve a ban, but the amount of threads needing to be moved seems rather high. Maybe I just didnt see the amount of threads being moved before.
Frankly, I've been impressed by a lot of the new members. Many(although not all,) seem to understand the intent of the site, and those who don't have seemed quite willing to learn.
Clearly things like that go in cycles and I'm sure before long I'll see something that makes me want to scream...but all in all I think the relatively small steps have worked quite well.
It does sometimes strike me as funny when some of the loudest complaints about the existence of GD come from people with as many as one half of their posts there.
I think this is exactly it. With less bullshit in GD to see you're just noticing the (lesser, IMHO) issues in tech sections. Yeah, there are currently at least 3 threads started on the mid-length MOE handguards from Magpul, and if they had used the new google search feature they could have avoided this, but I'll take that over "boohoo they want the gulf coast people to work for a living" threads anyday.![]()
I know it's helped diminish my esteem for the site and has kept me from participating in discussions that I previously would have been able to post in.
I know that I had planned on becoming a site sponsor but will not now because I disagree with the change (vote with your dollars, right?).
I like M4C. I like the knowledge housed and shared here. I like the people who post here. But I am not HSLD, LEO, Mil or former, or someone who spends thousands a year on training, and I'm not an armorer and haven't owned two of every make and model of military firearm. I'm just a recreational shooter who wants to learn as much as possible. So for all of the 2,000-post, "OMG a '+1' post" people who are pleased with the change, there's many more of us who have difficulty perceiving it only as another example of the elitist attitude that pervades the site. I would rather not see this become any more of a good-ol' boys' club that shuts out those of us who don't have the experience to solve every technical issue and whose questions have already been answered by "use the search" replies.
Restricting GD creates a barrier for entry to the technical forums. Sure people can come here and read the stickies and get the majority of what they need. But in order to thrive (and get clicks on those sponsor links), the site needs new blood. Without GD, new folks who aren't SME's and can't contribute much to the technical threads will have nowhere to personally interact with other members and become comfortable with posting in an environment hostile to inexperience. Instead of discovering the richness to the forum, they will move on to another site more welcoming of new members.
Further, it needlessly restricts those of us who know how to behave and contribute reasonably, only because some others can't.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't care much. I don't cry every time I forget and try to reply to a thread in GD and can't. I won't quit posting where I can and asking questions if I can't find the answers on my own, and I make it a point to click on sponsor links when I go shopping. I hesitate even to state my opinion on the matter given that I'm not part of the club, but I like the site enough to want to see it improve and grow. And it won't improve and grow if new members are immediately tagged as suspect and must prove their worth to participate.
“All falsehood is a mask, and however well made the mask may be, with a little attention we may always distinguish it from the true face.”
State of Franklin Training Group
Bookmarks