Free voice thread.. say anything you want.

Discussion in 'Site Help and Suggestions' started by ASSEMbler, May 5, 2006.

  1. retro

    retro Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    10,336
    Likes Received:
    311
    Just quickly, as I don't want this to drag on...

    Yup, tone is hard to detect in text. Nothing meant maliciously, it's all just stated as fact.

    Yup, mods should know the rules. Hex - you're a buffoon :p lol

    You're never going to agree with me on this, are you? You say you're not trying to profit in one breath, then that you need to cover your time as an expense in another - also known as... PROFITING! (Oh look, excessive use of "caps lock" to highlight ONE word... ok, two ;) hehe).

    I never said bootlegs are worthless. I said they are, by and large, low value. You were talking about $10 games = low value, NOT worthless. Why not buy them for your collection, dump them for free, and have everyone be eternally grateful? Because you want to be paid for it - right? My suggestion helps alleviate that, though - get together with collectors and all of you dump. It takes less time, it costs less, the costs for the initial games are split... and you all end up with nice collections that you bought yourself.

    Likewise, no hard feelings - I appreciate what you were trying to do, but you got off to a bad start by not being upfront about it. Had you been, ASSEMbler would have told you that's not how fundraisers work here. As I said in your thread that you demanded be deleted, the site wants to disassociate itself with the operation, but accepts that there's nothing shady happening here, everyone's money has been put to the intended purpose and we're sure you will get the dumps to donators. Nobody worry, please!

    In the spirit of the openness you request, here is your message to Kevin, verbatim:

    So, as I said before, you told Kev you HAD some games (not had them on hold and haven't paid for them... and want to go on buying indefinitely) and want to cover the cost of the games you possess (that's how it's worded) and a dumper that you didn't yet have.

    My comment that it's your doing if you came off looking bad was not meant out of malice - it was a statement of fact that you asked to cover the cost of games you owned, then posted a differently worded fundraiser. Regardless of how you see it, people will see this as funding your collection - of course, that's their right and they have every right not to donate as a result.

    Sorry if you feel it's unprofessional of me to donate hours of my time FOR FREE to helping to moderate this site. Considering this isn't my profession, why do you expect me to be professional, exactly? Yup, I donate my time for free and ask for nothing in return, as do all the moderators. Imagine that! ;) What I do try to be is fair and considerate of both sides in a dispute - which was done in your case, leaving your thread undeleted pending an investigation and making it clear to any donators that their money wasn't in jeopardy.

    My friendly advice is that you be upfront with people about your intentions and start a community project to do this. I do wish you the best of luck with it. I'm sure that other dumping groups will show an interest, maybe even offer you a sounding board that will far greater suit your purpose than we ever would have. And hopefully teach you how to dump Gameboy games... as they shouldn't take 5 hours!

    Anyway, as per you, that's me done with this ;)

    *EDIT*

    I guess I don't do quick very well :p
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2015
  2. HEX1GON

    HEX1GON 2997cc Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2011
    Messages:
    9,681
    Likes Received:
    507
    YOU WOT?!
     
  3. retro

    retro Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    10,336
    Likes Received:
    311
    Lol, I was kidding ;) Glad yer paying attention, though ;)
     
  4. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    7,087
    Likes Received:
    280
    What are you even talking about?

    First of all, pretty sure I have never tried to get someone banned. Maybe saying they should be banned? sure, probably said that and unless you are talking about amiga1200, I dont even know who you are talking about, but if it was amiga1200 - I dont think hes a good example to bring up of how awesome the leniency is nor that is was because I "disliked him" - he was a racist and a complete clown and eventually got banned for it, nothing to do with my preference for him and completely about him being a plague on this forum - as many will agree. But you make it sound like I sent PM's and such to try and get someone banned, which is nonsense and I take offense at implying such a thing in public.

    Secondly, you seem to imply what ever you are talking about bares some reflection on how I see the moderation of this forum - when I clearly said its how things have been since you got promoted and have seemingly gotten worse over time, to the point where I made a comment about it. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Anyway, you seem to have changed since given a position of power and now much the forum has had threads locked for little reason (Lyth one actually has nothing to do with this comment FYI).

    TL;DR - what ever you say. This place has gone massively down hill in the last year, hence my massive decline in participation - so its not like it even matters what you guys do here.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
  5. mairsil

    mairsil Officer at Arms

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2005
    Messages:
    3,370
    Likes Received:
    55
    I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I am just not seeing any of this conflict you guys are bitching about. Aside from the guy wanting people to pay for him to pirate bootlegs, can someone point out some examples?
     
  6. HEX1GON

    HEX1GON 2997cc Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2011
    Messages:
    9,681
    Likes Received:
    507
    The new moderators haven't been moderators for a year. Sure it's getting close, few months. But I don't like to be call out saying I'm locking everything. Which I'm not, unless you're not saying I am in particular. Can you be a bit clearer and which threads have bothered you to be locked? Only one I've really locked was the 'Wii without fan'. It was turning into a troll fest, perhaps I should've just left it open and make the forums look like Gamespot?
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2015
  7. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    7,087
    Likes Received:
    280
    See my previous comments about being pedantic.

    There have been plenty of threads where someones posted and its been locked - for what ever reason. Be it a bump of an older thread (why is this a problem if its on topic? why make another thread and then split the information over 2, making it harder to find later?) or what ever else. There have been more locked threads in the last year (10 months, what ever) than ever before and most of them are not needed.

    Sure, some stuff needs locking and I am not disagreeing with that. But locking because someones asked an on topic question in an already existing thread? We have rules in the market place not to post multiple WTB or sales threads, to make it easier to navigate - but for some reason, this doesnt apply to the rest of the forum with important things like information?

    Because the forum was just like gamespot before, right?
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2015
  8. retro

    retro Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    10,336
    Likes Received:
    311
    No thread has ever been locked for being bumped ON TOPIC. In fact, if you'd care to have a look, you'll see that I personally have constantly said that we're fine with bumps so long as they add something to the thread.

    As per Hex, would you care to give an example of a topic that was locked when someone asked an on-topic question? Yes, I've locked sales threads that have been somewhere between 3-7 years old and a new user has signed up specifically to ask whether the item is still for sale, when the OP is often long gone. Said threads are no longer within the rules as they don't have the required validation photo. The item has probably long gone. And the OP isn't around to fix that problem. In all these cases, I've said OP - please PM me if you still want to sell this. By locking the thread, which was needlessly bumped, it shows people that there's no reason to click on the thread and waste your time. £10 SNES?! Yes plea... oh, it's from 2005. Thanks a lot, Ibuyjoorgamez123. To be fair, I'm not one for locking sales threads when done, nor clearing everything out of it, but the amount of users who ask that a mod lock their thread once sold HAS increased of late. And they get locked. I'd just like to say here - NEVER BY ME!! lol ;)

    The latest sales thread to be locked was from 2011 and the OP hadn't touched it since January 2012... and there are zero photos. Actually, looking back it was a new user saying he could SELL or swap his games, posting pics. The OP wasn't asking for swaps, and it wasn't a WTB thread - so it was a bad bump. Admittedly, I didn't point out to the OP that I'd reopen it if corrected. However, the next one back, I did that (effectively an abandoned thread as the seller hasn't logged in since November and is uncontactable).

    Yup, I'm talking about amiga and many members' extreme intolerance from the word go. Racism isn't tolerated and that's what got him kicked out. And, to be honest with you, a lot of us wanted him gone and Kev was saying - no, he's got special needs, let's be patient. So we tried... and it didn't work. At least we tried, though. The intolerance of some people here was quite disgusting, though. And actually, the least tolerant was wheelaa - apologies, I may have slightly confused you with him, there! I never said you PMed - you voiced your opinion in public though, if I remember rightly. And lots and lots of people reported his posts - whether you did, I don't remember - but I wouldn't blame you, to be honest! Nor did I say you tried to get him banned - I said SINCE (as in you didn't seem to have an issue before that point) we refused to ban him. (Incidentally, I banned his second account and asked Kev to ban his IP.) It was a difficult situation and Kev had his reasons for not instabanning, which we respected.

    [​IMG]

    I find it amusing that someone with such an obstinate signature as "Your comments are noted. Nothing will change" wants to criticize my moderation style ! :) However, if you're going to read into things too deeply and take offence to something in a manner which I never intended, I find it offensive that you compare my moderation to the Nationalist Social party - one of the worst bunch of racists ever. Don't you find the use of the word Nazi out of context as puerile as the teen penchant for using gay in a derogatory fashion?

    Anyway, I think you'll find I haven't changed at all, actually. Far from it. I'm still as stubborn as ever - just as yourself! ;) I keep an open mind with my moderation, but my first consideration is - does this fit in with the rules? You do have to go into automated mode sometimes, or you'd never be able to moderate everything. As I'm sure you yourself know as you often talk about forum admin, do you not, there's a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes that users don't see.

    Oh great... another PM spam bot. Expect many more reports, moderators - as nobody reads the notifications! ;)
     
  9. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    7,087
    Likes Received:
    280
    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...-anything-you-want/page52&p=766610#post766610

    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...thing-you-want&p=766685&viewfull=1#post766685

    And I am not talking about sales threads. But I dont care enough to go find all the threads. Why, if I have been here since 2011 and never mentioned it before, would I start now if its not happened?

    Edit:
    I was thinking about this part of your post quite a bit while driving around today and you are quite right. To be honest, I dont even recall which threads/posts specifically got my back up - but its hardly worth arguing about for arguing sake.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
  10. 7Force

    7Force Guardian of the Forum

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2009
    Messages:
    4,558
    Likes Received:
    92
    Wait, what do you mean by "extreme intolerance" and "special needs"? I assumed the guy was just a huge asshole, but that makes it sound like there was something else behind the leniency he was shown here – which I'm pretty sure didn't come up once when he was still posting here.
     
  11. wheelaa

    wheelaa FM Towns / MD Addict Site Supporter 2010-2015

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2005
    Messages:
    1,879
    Likes Received:
    33
    Retro

    Yeah, I wasn't overly nice to Amiga1200, but iirc I wasn't an absolute monster as you make out. I have checked my old posts and can't see anything overly bad. Perhaps it is a perspective thing, perhaps my posts, or the threads concerned, were deleted? I can't check that of course.

    We also argued in chat a couple of times (albeit I can't check that either), but we also kissed and made up iirc.

    Indeed, from checking my posts, I have found....

    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...siting-Brazil)&p=747226&viewfull=1#post747226 - refers to a quote cyantist added to his sig where Amiga had said in chat that his (cynatist's) attitude was such that it would make him (amiga) sympathise with terrorists or bombers or some such awful persons.

    https://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?52144-World-Cup-2014-Thread&p=753482#post753482 - lamenting his return after one or other ban.

    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...embers-serious&p=763100&viewfull=1#post763100 - yeah, I'm clearly referring to Amiga there, but doesn't seem overly monstrous to me. ??

    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...embers-serious&p=763114&viewfull=1#post763114 - kissing and making up

    https://www.assemblergames.com/foru...ts-improvising&p=766869&viewfull=1#post766869 - a legitimate query regarding a racially, let's say sensitive, term in his profile location.


    If I have missed any I sincerely apologise. I only went as far back as mid 2012 which is around the time I think amiga joined, albeit iirc he was an okish and very infrequent poster until 2014. (Actually he may have been very active in 2013 but I hardly dropped by here that year as my one 2013 post attests.) I also did not read every full single post of mine in that time, often I just looked at the visible bit as displayed by the search function results, as well as the title of the thread I posted in, so if there is a lot of bile towards Amiga in my woeful World Cup predictions or A'can WTB thread for example, well see prior apology and stick it here too.


    As to this pm, the awful, monstrous, heinous one (ok, my words not yours hahaha, bit of levity needed I think) that you claimed / didn't claim (I'm a bit lost tbh) Bad_Ad sent, which I actually sent...well the text is below. I don't have the know-how (sad I know) to post a screencap, but please do check your old pms if they go back that far, if not, please do log into my account (pm me for the password if you need Retro) and check my sent items, so that there are no claims of me editing history on this in any way.


    Sent to HEX1GON, retro and Yakumo on 17 September 2014

    Title: Amiga1200

    Howdy Mods

    Sorry to bother you three, but you are the most active it seems and I have a personally important query that perhaps you can help with.

    I was just wondering why Amiga1200 was allowed back? Is there anything you can say?

    I would have thought being banned, twice no less, constant attitude, racism etc, would have meant a permaban but it seems not.

    I was therefore also wondering why he seems to get special treatment over other previously and still banned members? Why such a divisive person is seemingly welcomed no matter what / who he upsets.

    Regards

    Adrian


    Doesn't seem overly harsh to me? More inquisitive? Or is it a perspective thing again? Also, do I ask for a ban? Seems like I am asking for an explanation, as at the time, I had a renewed love for this place and was feeling angry and upset at the commotion his presence was having on the forum.


    To add, all three of you replied, in very cordial terms I might add, thanks for that (and indeed I thanked you all at the time). I won't post HEX1GON's or Yakumo's reply as they did not bring this up, but I will post yours as you have brought this pm issue into the open so to speak.


    Sent by Retro to me in direct response to the above pm, again on 17 September 2014

    Title: Re: Amiga1200

    Short answer - Kev's decision ;)

    He was never permanently banned - people jumped to that conclusion for some reason.

    If you noticed his thread on medications, he was supposed to be on some but stopped taking them. I think he's unhinged.

    It's in hand, but everyone needs to bear in mind he's probably a few sandwiches short of a picnic and act appropriately. Perhaps straight-out ignoring him would be best. Although I somehow doubt everyone will do that.

    You can always put him on your ignore list ;)

    As for the other people banned, they were just twats, not ill! ;)

    Best wishes,


    The only edit I have made to your reply to me above is removing your name after 'Best wishes,' as I don't know whether everyone knows that or not. Again I would entreat you to check your pms, or indeed mine so you can see I am not editing history here in any way.


    Perhaps you're confusing this situation with my general arseholeness and love for drama? I thought at the time, and do still now, that I was being very restrained, for me at least, and I certainly don't recall casting the first stone. I don't need to rise to it of course, and I certainly feel I didn't as much as I wanted to - you should have seen the posts I typed but didn't submit. Yes, even a fucking piece of shit scum of the earth waste of oxygen carbon hydrogen nitrogen calcium phosphorus and numerous trace elements monster can learn to take a breath before hitting submit on occasion. ;)

    But perhaps you'll find a load of deleted posts / threads / chat logs that completely crap on all I have typed here (as well as give me huge concern for the state of my memory). Or maybe the above really is shocking by me and I'm too blind to see it.

    This could likely drag on and on as stubborn is word familiar to many of us ;)
     
  12. MBMM

    MBMM Forum Watchdog & Site Supporter 2015

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2013
    Messages:
    1,960
    Likes Received:
    252
    I tried to be nice to amiga1200, even going as far as befriending him on here, but it just ended up being not worth it. He would be fine one second and the next he would rile people up for no reason in particular it seemed. Now that I know he had some mental/social dysfunctions it explains a lot. Hopefully he gets all that sorted out.
     
  13. retro

    retro Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    10,336
    Likes Received:
    311
    I'll just do a generic reply to the above as I don't want to litter the post with quotes, and I'm going to try and be brief. Brief for me, that is ;-)

    To both Bad_Ad and Wheelaa, my memory is, quite frankly, shit! I fully admit I probably remember things in a certain light, maybe not the whole picture. I do recall far worse conversations in the past, often fuelled by NG members. As I constantly say, I like and respect the pair of you... yup, you're part of the "old bunch" and it wouldn't be the same around here without your input. Wheelaa, you're right... I'm sure we did settle our differences at the time. Your initial message was perfectly reasonable... maybe it's some kind of gestalt entity I've created - an amalgamation of several users! There were so many bloody complaints, heh! And yes, you pointed out when he started being deliberately offensive and I think that was the final straw for the staff. So yes... it was just a statement, not intended to offend or question your characters, certainly - so profuse apologies if it didn't come across quite right!

    It's quite hard to have to moderate people you consider friends and equals since long before I was on the staff. The staff have an additional role of responsibility, keeping things tidy and people in check every now and then, but they are first and foremost old fogies of the community. I know that several of us are stubborn, dramatic arseholes as wheelaa so delicately put it, heh - that doesn't always help. I think all the mods can be opinionated on a subject - it's great that we can sound off each other on issues and often get a fresh perspective. Like one person saying - oh he's a twat, let's ban him... then someone else points out maybe there's evidence of autism. We all get angry and frustrated sometimes. I know looking back at some of my moderated posts I think wow, I must have been having a bad day - "this bumped thread would need pictures to be in line with current rules - closing but OP... sort pics and PM me if you want it reopened" one one day becomes "CLOSED!!! DOES NOT COMPLY!!" another! Oops!

    I have always been proud of this community for, by and large, being mature enough to know that there's a human on the other side of the keyboard and not having the immature name-calling seen on other forums... whilst at the same time the staff are able to appreciate a joke and, I would hope, don't over-moderate. I was once a member of a forum where you weren't allowed to mention eBay, trying to skirt around the issue by saying fleabay or that big auction site was even worse, and I don't really remember any joke going down well. Yes, it was a technically-minded forum, but the people could be quite unhelpful. There were nice members... but a lot of them got banned for petty reasons.... usually saying they find the moderation approach rather harsh! We would never penalize that... although repeated, purposeful disrespect of staff doesn't go down well.

    For the most part, and perhaps it's the subject matter here being on a slightly more technical level than your average gaming forum, we do seem capable of intelligent conversation, respecting other members and indeed resolving issues. Look at us here in this very thread, discussing issues that irk us rationally! Can you imagine that happening on NG? ;) It's great that this thread is here, and has sometimes been used to settle differences. ;)

    I am chucking at wheelaa saying I AM NOT A MONSTER.... when his avatar is Bela Lugosi! :D

    You can only try so much for some people, sadly. It's really hard trying to moderate someone who is repeatedly riling everyone up, but obviously needs a certain amount of patience and is clearly frustrated. You want to show understanding where perhaps the rest of the community aren't so much... it's an international forum, we have members whose English isn't so good because it's not their first language, or due to learning difficulties. I think we're all fairly tolerant of those barriers. It's just quite hard when you're trying to be nice to the person, but at the same time have to tell them they can't keep using that language, or whatever they're doing wrong. You end up looking like The Big Bad Wolf to them, rather than a sympathetic middleman. I don't want to compare us to medical professionals - they're a marvellous bunch with far more important jobs, but you can sometimes empathize with nurses who are stuck between trying to care for patients and the red tape, rules and regulations that prevent them from doing their job. Sometimes, you just have to be the bad man... and grin and bear it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
  14. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    7,087
    Likes Received:
    280
    Tried to give you a thumbs up, but now realise we have no emoticons
     
  15. retro

    retro Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2004
    Messages:
    10,336
    Likes Received:
    311
    Everything's bloody broken! To be fair, Kev partially broke them at least 5 years ago lol
     
  16. Cyantist

    Cyantist Site Supporter 2012,2013,2014,2015

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2008
    Messages:
    4,178
    Likes Received:
    16
    Amiga was a nobhead and anybody who thinks withdrawal symptoms or mental issues, whatever you want to say he had justifies some of the shit he said needs to take a step back and just shut up. The Bradistan comment alone when given context should have been enough.

    As a matter of fact what started the entire Amiga saga was somebody pointed out that his signature was gigantic and when combined with the problems we STILL have with avatar/user titles being gigantic and making you have to scroll for days he flipped out and when people backed the other user up the whole elitist crap came up.

    The Amiga thing is just a footnote in the way Assemblergames has gone the past few years, users like Amiga would have been given the boot, instead he got months and months of chances because you'd rather have a high volume of users as opposed to fewer quality ones.
     
  17. MBMM

    MBMM Forum Watchdog & Site Supporter 2015

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2013
    Messages:
    1,960
    Likes Received:
    252
    I mean, that certainly didn't justify his behavior. He acted pretty reprehensible. It just explains how wildly sporadic his behavior was. I also was surprised by how long his behavior was tolerated.

    EDIT: Speaking of which, I should probably adjust the size of my avatar as well.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
  18. 7Force

    7Force Guardian of the Forum

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2009
    Messages:
    4,558
    Likes Received:
    92
    I'm pretty sure he didn't change his location to that until after he was banned, making it pretty pointless to call attention to it in the first place.
     
  19. rso

    rso Familiar Face

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2010
    Messages:
    1,162
    Likes Received:
    39
    I for one didn't have much of a problem with amiga, tbh, at least not for long. Took, like, two or three posts of his to make it onto my ignore list*, next to some other shitheads - done.

    * That thing is awesome, a bit like being your own mod. Y'all should give it a try some time!
     
  20. HEX1GON

    HEX1GON 2997cc Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2011
    Messages:
    9,681
    Likes Received:
    507
    I've even redesigned the post count images, PM'd them to Kev and never heard back. I understand he's going through a lot too, maybe they'll change.

    We need another Admin, but I doubt blame him for being very skeptical and wanting to be the only driver here.
     

Share This Page