Create an "Off Topic" Board

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nara~kavi

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hi nara squiggly kavi here with another great suggestion from monty and i

We believe that General Discussion used to be a much friendlier place where basically any sort of thread was allowed to be posted and discussed, within reason. There were mountains of threads discussing things like, what's your favorite movie, what's your favorite song, what's your favorite game, and threads discussing current events as well as other things.

These threads don't really exist anymore and when they're posted they're usually deleted or are overshadowed by drama threads or quickly buried by a mountain of boring Minecraft/market related stuff.

While we generally agree that this site is a market site and should be focused on that, many other large and successful market websites have lots of subforums dedicated to unrelated discussion, because this helps build a sense of community and friendship among the member-base, making them far more likely to return to the website often, thus making the owner of the market more money.

Here are just two random samples I took of the way things are now vs the way things were back in September, before Mick took over:



This change is fine, really, but ultimately Monty & I and a lot of other members feel that a lot has changed since Mick took over in a negative way and we think that the sense of community and friendship that was once on this site has largely died down. Nowadays most of the community ties are built via the Shoutbox but that shouldn't be the only place to do it and I don't think it goes far enough. People need to share in their interests and hobbies and have discussions about things and discover things about people that they like and dislike to build friendships. And those friendships are what build and hold this community together and create a place that all of us want to go each and every day.

Monty & I and many other formerly very active members feel like we can't post because if we post something in General Discussion that is slightly off-topic it will be deleted and we'll receive a warning for it. That isn't a fun atmosphere, or an enjoyable one, and when you create an atmosphere of fear rather than fun it makes people not want to come to this website.

So my suggestion is thus:

Remove General Discussion. Split it up into multiple boards like other forum websites do. Here are a few examples of the way other market websites do things:


Now, MC-Market isn't as big as these websites, so I don't think the boards should be split up quite so much. I suggest the following:

Minecraft Discussion - This section would be for discussing anything related to Minecraft and getting any sort of support or information related to the game, servers, plug-ins, and more.

Market Discussion - This section would be for discussing site-related issues, questions, and drama, and discussing things relating to the market, such as scammers, PayPal issues, OG accounts, and more.

Off-Topic Discussion - This section would be an "anything-goes" kind of section as long as it's appropriate for discussion. Rules against flaming and attacking other members would still apply here, but rules relating to low quality posts would not be enforced. Forum games should be moved to go in this section, and post counting for Off-Topic Discussion should be disabled.

This would accomplish condensing all of the low quality posts and shitposts in the forum all in one big section while allowing those people who want to engage in that sort of thing an outlet to do it in. People are going to shitpost no matter what, so you might as well give them a section to do it. This would improve quality of life for *everyone* because everyone who likes each specific aspect of the forum would have a place to go and they could ignore the other parts, rather than how it is currently with people who just want to see high-quality Minecraft related posts having to shift through murky waters of drama and other bullshit.

This would also make it so people new to the website wouldn't come here and immediately be exposed to all of our drama and infighting, as the first forum they'd be most likely to click would be Minecraft Discussion rather than Market Discussion.

It would also make it easier for our moderators to determine what does and what does not belong in General Discussion and would make the task of fighting/removing low quality posts much easier.

sorry for the length

tldr: split the general board into three, remove hobby discussion/forum games, have a Minecraft board, a Market board, and an Off-Topic board. Post counting disabled for off-topic.
 
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montyburly

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I think this is a fabulous idea and is way overdue. I don't see how these additions can do anything but good for the site.
 

Ajdin

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We've just discussed this amongst the staff team with some people and we have mixed opinions on what sections we exactly want. A split up is definitely needed in my opinion.

I've subscribed to this thread as I'm curious with the outcome.
 

Justis

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I made a 'similar' suggestion at the beginning of november...
It was brushed aside.
I'd like to see some more involvement in the community on this one.
Especially since it would directly effect them.

You made a point to highlight all the drama posts.
You and I both know these won't go away.
If you're going to be containing posts, I would think drama posts should be one of the first to get quarantined.
Otherwise you know what off-topic will become.

Very nice suggestion.
A lot of effort obviously went into this and it paid off.
I'll support this.

Maybe add a poll though?
I'd like to see what everyone else thinks; and so many people are just too lazy to make a reply.
 

nara~kavi

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I made a 'similar' suggestion at the beginning of november...
It was brushed aside.
I'd like to see some more involvement in the community on this one.
Especially since it would directly effect them.

You made a point to highlight all the drama posts.
You and I both know these won't go away.
If you're going to be containing posts, I would think drama posts should be one of the first to get quarantined.
Otherwise you know what off-topic will become.

Very nice suggestion.
A lot of effort obviously went into this and it paid off.
I'll support this.

Maybe add a poll though?
I'd like to see what everyone else thinks; and so many people are just too lazy to make a reply.

added
 

Errota

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Hello,

If anyone else has any suggestions regarding more areas to post feel free to comment them.

Kind regards,
Jamie J M
Host-atom.com
MC-Market Moderator
 

tjrgg

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I believe that as a team, we have decided that an Off-Topic forum is needed. So I think I can say for certainty that this will be a forum that will be created soon.

That being said, we are still contemplating whether or not other forums are needed beyond that.
 

Overlord

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I only had to see the thread title and the thread poster to make the decision to agree with the idea.

In addition, you need to move the general discussion forums BELOW the marketplace forums... This site is mostly a marketplace, that deserves priority. In a listing, relevant topics then off-topic stuff. And move your announcements forum down as well. The entire "MC-Market" category should be moved below "MC-Admin" and above "Support". Everything related to the forum and the niche first, off topic stuff and the lot after.

Small change? Yes. Big difference? Yes. More encouragement on marketplace activity & marketplace discussions, less on troll threads in general discussion and... weird... announcements.
 

nara~kavi

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I only had to see the thread title and the thread poster to make the decision to agree with the idea.

In addition, you need to move the general discussion forums BELOW the marketplace forums... This site is mostly a marketplace, that deserves priority. In a listing, relevant topics then off-topic stuff. And move your announcements forum down as well. The entire "MC-Market" category should be moved below "MC-Admin" and above "Support". Everything related to the forum and the niche first, off topic stuff and the lot after.

Small change? Yes. Big difference? Yes. More encouragement on marketplace activity & marketplace discussions, less on troll threads in general discussion and... weird... announcements.

I agree with this. That's how other big market sites seem to do it and considering they're more successful than this site, MC-Market should be aspiring to use them as examples.
 

tjrgg

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I only had to see the thread title and the thread poster to make the decision to agree with the idea.

In addition, you need to move the general discussion forums BELOW the marketplace forums... This site is mostly a marketplace, that deserves priority. In a listing, relevant topics then off-topic stuff. And move your announcements forum down as well. The entire "MC-Market" category should be moved below "MC-Admin" and above "Support". Everything related to the forum and the niche first, off topic stuff and the lot after.

Small change? Yes. Big difference? Yes. More encouragement on marketplace activity & marketplace discussions, less on troll threads in general discussion and... weird... announcements.
I agree with this, 100%. We were just making plans to rearrange the forum sections in a way that makes more sense for a marketplace forum. Thanks for weighing in!
 

Overlord

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I agree with this, 100%. We were just making plans to rearrange the forum sections in a way that makes more sense for a marketplace forum. Thanks for weighing in!
Plan your changes, look over them all, then release. Use Google Apps and create a document if you need to, or Evernote, or even JIRA/an issues system. Write ideas down, discuss, have 'stages' and then work from there. Then release in 'updates', not one feature then another at some other day. Release in batches, looks like more work and it's less overwhelming and more interesting.

Good luck.
 

PizzaPlaysMC

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Oh my god unbelievable, i just came to suggest an Off Topic forum, that's awesome that someone already did. I support it 100%
 
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