The Future of Off-Topic

[japanpimp]

For about a year now, the condition of this section of the Evony forum has been a constant topic of debate. It has also been the source of frustration, countless wasted hours trying to clean it up, rick-rolls, phishing links, more drama than the Hispanic channel's daytime television line-up, and the majority of all warnings/infractions/suspensions/bannings. In other words, it has become a garbage dump.

As we have now proven in the Seriously Off-Topic section, the On-Topic section, and every OTHER section of this forum, our members are quite capable of holding polite discussions, even on heated issues. We have some of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and genuinely humorous forum members I have seen in quite a long time. We even have a fondness for most of our chronic trolls.

The problem, of course, is that none of that addresses the rubbish continuing to accumulate in this section of the forum. You've seen the staff take a crack at all the other sections and clean them up. I believe it is OT's turn. Since more than any other forum section, the OT is a true community, I want to listen to what you all have to say about this. I will also be discussing with our moderating staff what their own suggestions and recommendations are. The final decision will be made by myself and Dawnseeker in conjunction with Evony's administrators.

Here are my personal recommendations at the moment (subject to change, and yes, I'm listening to what you have to say):

Retain the King's Bar and the General Announcements threads.
Retain the active games and continue to allow forum/chat games such as the Ban Game and others.
Allow one spam thread for pictures (aka Lolcatz) and one for conversations.
All other threads will be patrolled HEAVILY to ensure they have a viable topic, respect is shown by all members within the thread, and derailing and trolling will be dealt with sharply and rapidly.

If this leads to a whole lot more infractions, a lot of closures and deletions, and even some bannings, so be it. If we can actually manage to clean up the OT and make it a respectable part of the forum, we can merge it with the Seriously Off-Topic, opening up the more serious discussions to all members and creating a much more enjoyable environment for all.

I welcome your feedback on this.

P.S. I should add that by "viable topic" I don't mean to say there can be no silliness or fun. I am not trying to stifle anyone's enjoyment. I do believe that we are overloaded on spam, though.

As for trying to keep the threads on a tight train track, well, that is hard to do on any forum. I mean, that is alot of work.

We don't want to be patrolled by Evony Key Stone Cops and be bashed over the head with their Key Stone Cop night sticks and backhanded from here to Nantuckett and back again just because we are goofing off or trying to get a rise out of someone. You know, let us goof around. But yeah, Spam is not cool. Trolls on the other hand are necessary in any forum. Believe it or not. It's like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Not too many, but a few.

I am new to the OT section so I do not have a feel for the OT community yet. But since it is a community, how about we view it as "Closed Gate" community? That way nothing can tarnish Evony. Just make Off-Topic members only. And Off-Topic will have 2 membership groups. The tight train track membership group and the group for the rest of heathens. That way you can preserve the OT community which consists of trolls and baiters and derailers and funny people and sarcastic people and all kinds that have developed relationships here. And if they make a new friend in the Evony game they can tell that friend to apply to join one of the two Off-Topic Closed Gate Communities.
That way, your job will be simple. Put all the animals in a cage where nobody can see them and let them run amuck with the other animals they have grown to love. Hey, hardly no moderating needed. The only time you would need to check in on the animals would be if there was a large disturbance and all the other animals made an uproar loud enough for you to hear. Think of it as an animal preservation park.
(yes, I am laughing as I write this)
As for the other branch of the Closed Gate Off Topic, the more civilized posters can be in that cage. You already have it, Seriously Off Topic. So just make another one for the animals "Way Off Topic" and have it members only too. Then have all the animals join the Way Off Topic and delete the original Off Topic alltogether. Now we have 2 closed gate communities and the Original OT community has been preserved. I mean, you don't want to break apart the OT community. And by slowly banning members that community will die. So let the animals run wild. Just put them in a box so nobody can see. Out of sight, out of mind baby....

I guess what Im trying to say is, the public forums should be about the game, period. Any other forums or sections should be members only. (with no post count, I like the no post count idea someone brought up)