Message Boards Vs. Structured Forums: How far have we come?

[CrystalLight]

I've never been involved with message boards, but I've seen the layout and the remains of a few.

It literally looked like a war zone. Just crap laying about, it being otherwise deserted except for a few stray hopefuls.

This is a genuine community, not people up in arms 24/7.

I suppose if message boards were so spectacular, there'd be more folks making an honest effort at 'bringing them back'.

 

[McNoodle]

I never really understood the newsgroups back in the day. I always had a hard time accessing them. Then of course once I did it was a mess of spam and fighting. Now a coupla clicks and I am right where I wanna be. I'll take this format any day!

 

[CrystalLight]

It could use a better layout, though. 😎

 

[heyoka]

It could use a better layout, though. 😎

The TMF could use a better layout? I don't think it would really take us OT. So, I'll ask. What specific changes would you make if you were calling the shots? Just curious.

I'd likely make one or two as well, though nothing really major. I liked the idea of an intro/welcome section and would still like to see that come about. So, I'd add that. Other ideas I have are simply personal preferences, but wouldn't necessarily be of benefit to the community. So, I won't bother mentioning them.

 

[CrystalLight]

The layout of this forum is basically Vbulletin out of the box. Basic blues, greys and whites.

Although simple and effective, it'd be neat to have a new color set.

There's also options of having a drop bar menu for those to switch from layout to layout as they can stick with one they prefer.

 

[heyoka]

Cool. So, nothing really new content wise. Just a bit of a facelift. That's cool too. Although, I must admit that the current color scheme is one I find relaxing to the eyes. 🙂

Speaking of relaxing... Time to go do some of that.

 

[CrystalLight]

Cool. So, nothing really new content wise.

Yes. In that statement I was not referring to content.

As far as relaxing on the eyes; Many do. Hence the drop bar selection that is available with forums and CSS stylings. 🙂

😉

 

[DLazarus]

I can't believe this needs explaining, but clearly it does.

First of all, cute, friendly girls get attention. I'm not just talking about the hypothetical one that you've chosen to fixate on in a really immature and disturbing way. I'm talking about all of the ones here who get special treatment, extra praise, and are more popular. If you really can't handle that, I don't know how you've made it this far in life.

Secondly, Myriads pointed out recently that ten years ago, every guy here would have sold their soul to have cute young girls actively participating at the level they are now. You're pretty much all alone on your island of resenting that.

And this idea that there's some clique that gets special treatment is bullshit and insulting. We run the TMF with a really remarkable degree of fairness. You won't find a more even-handed forum on the Internet. For example, I don't like you, and I wish you would go away. But I don't throw you out, even though I could.

The bottom line is that what we do is, we keep bullies from picking on people, and since you're a bully, you resent that.

As you probably know, I am still fairley new here and was not here in the early years of the Tickling forums.

But I like the way you handle and run this forum. Everyone has been nice to me and I am beginning to make friends here and I am enjoying it very much.

I have learned to be myself and to respect others. I feel that in time I will have made some lasting friendships and I will be a better person because of it. 😀

 

[Dussicar]

I wasn't on the internet until '98, so I have no idea about how bad unmoderated forums can be, but considering what I have heard about it, I definately prefer moderated forums.

I like how this forum is structured and I like the moderation.

I have been to sites where the mods are pretty much in the full-blown god syndrome and have a tendency to make visiting a particular site worse than if it was unmoderated...Due to this experience, I can say that the TMF is a very welcome change. As a matter of fact, the tickling community at large (the TMF, TT, and the UKTF) are in a better moderating position than most so-called "free" sites I have frequented.

I guess the closest thing to a pre-moderated site would be YOUTUBE. Though my dial-up is barely able to handle most of the vids they play, the subsequent "comments" shine a pathetic light on the average user there.

Really, if you think about it, Youtube is technically the equivelant( sp?) of a pre-moderated forum.

If you think about it more, without moderation here, most of the "Youtube-esque" conversations around here would go something like:

yes. thats right. i lik 2 c grls tid ant tikld until tehy peed ther pants ant then tickld until tey died. tehy desrv 2 b tortured until tey dye. that iz soooo cooool LOL. if u don lik it then u can go ant die 2! i am sic and tird uv bein pissed on by fags who bust my massive balls who are 2 pansy 2 deal with tis cool shit.!
I have the right 2 be who i want ant 2 be what kind of person i choos cuz i have freedom 2 be who i want 2 be and dont want 2 be shit on because i have teh constitutional right 2 be who i want 2 be u retarded jew fags!

 

[Bugman]

yes. thats right. i lik 2 c grls tid ant tikld until tehy peed ther pants ant then tickld until tey died. tehy desrv 2 b tortured until tey dye. that iz soooo cooool LOL. if u don lik it then u can go ant die 2! i am sic and tird uv bein pissed on by fags who bust my massive balls who are 2 pansy 2 deal with tis cool shit.!
I have the right 2 be who i want ant 2 be what kind of person i choos cuz i have freedom 2 be who i want 2 be and dont want 2 be shit on because i have teh constitutional right 2 be who i want 2 be u retarded jew fags!

LMAO. You got that right my friend.And the mods here do a fantastic job.

 

[TMF Jeff]

I guess the closest thing to a pre-moderated site would be YOUTUBE. Though my dial-up is barely able to handle most of the vids they play, the subsequent "comments" shine a pathetic light on the average user there.

Really, if you think about it, Youtube is technically the equivelant( sp?) of a pre-moderated forum.

I think that's a really accurate comparison. I often look at youtube comments and just wince, and I can't imagine trying to participate in a community among that sort of thing.

 

[MaxSpeer]

I was there at the very beginning of alt.fetish.tickling, ABMET and later AMT. I was one of the few that was in on the conception of this amazing Forum. I just want you to know I was there at the beginning of all the stuff, reaching out and contacting people as far back as 1978.

In my opinion you should be f*cking grateful for a moderated forum with all this content and over 40, 000 members, many of which are female who are alive and amazing. I have met a good deal of the active participants and they are wonderful people.

If freedom of speech is what you want then you can f*ckin leave as far as I'm concerned and feel free to complain and insult people all you want on the dead-ass islands that still exist on the internet with something like, 20 people who do nothing but bitch and moan about everyone else.

I am sick to death of people who have no appreciation for the immense work and countless dollars that people like Jeff have put out of their own pockets just to make your life miserable because you can't say what you want.

I am not singling out any one person because I had my ass flamed on a daily basis on the newsgroups despite the countless stories and posts I put up there every week. So, anyone who feels that the TMF is anything short of a Miracle, you can all kiss my ass.

I am thankful every day of the year for Jeff and Myriads and everyone else who participates and contributes to make our fantasies a reality.

 

[MaxSpeer]

As for commenting negatively about stories, posts or videos, I believe that is perfectly acceptable as long as you use some tact and not just a 1 or 2 word "snipe". There are far too many snipers on the internet who's words are spoken abrasively because they believe they are not accountable.

If you treat this forum as if it were a live community gathering hall, where you are face to face with people, you will understand the dynamic of needing to use tact when you are expressing something negative or even just dumping your feelings onto a friend.

Treat others as you would treat yourself. If you don't like someone, just like in real life, avoid them, ignore them, say what you want off line. But here, on the TMF, everything is face to face so you have to express yourselves and act like grown-ups.

Happy Christmas

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

As for commenting negatively about stories, posts or videos, I believe that is perfectly acceptable as long as you use some tact and not just a 1 or 2 word "snipe". There are far too many snipers on the internet who's words are spoken abrasively because they believe they are not accountable.

If you treat this forum as if it were a live community gathering hall, where you are face to face with people, you will understand the dynamic of needing to use tact when you are expressing something negative or even just dumping your feelings onto a friend.

Treat others as you would treat yourself. If you don't like someone, just like in real life, avoid them, ignore them, say what you want off line. But here, on the TMF, everything is face to face so you have to express yourselves and act like grown-ups.

Happy Christmas

This post, and the one Max put up behind it just says it all. Words we should all take to heart. If the TMF were a federal building or court house, I'd have the last paragraph engraved above the front doors.


Drew

 

[ikaiyoo]

OK I would like to put my two cents on this...

BTW I stopped reading after the Jeff's first retort to whoever about their comment. I didn't want to lose my thought.

The Internet (Moderated Forums particularly) have honestly come full circle. Krazie said that the newsgroups were the "wild west" of the Internet. And he couldn't be more correct. I remember when I dialed into and Ran a BBS in the late 80's early 90's. It was heavily moderated, you had sysops and staff members (Moderator's) and basically their word was law, not unlike now. Then the Internet became a lot more accessible and people ventured out to IRC and Newsgroups. It was like helicoptering 100,000 preachers kids to the middle of nowhere and saying have fun good luck and there are no rules. Things got a little wild and crazy. People who had to watch their words because they could be kicked off the BBS no longer had to worry about that. And with no rules and no structure we see what happened.

Then people got tired of this and as the Internet evolved we got forums which is basically a BBS. Why is this? Because there has to be some kind of order. People cannot self govern themselves. They just can't, this has been proved time and time again.

Now for the important question. Which is better? That boils down to personal preference. I myself believe that we need order, which means we need moderators. I enjoy this Board, yes I call it a board the same as I call all of user names handles and still call private messages whispers. I enjoy not having to wade through oceans of shit and flame posts to get to something worthwhile.

Now to address the concerns of other people in this thread.

Yes, it does suck that we cannot speak our minds and voice opinions about people and what not. Though I have not ever had the inclination to do so because I honestly do not care enough to. I believe it is healthy to see all the viewpoints so that you can see if you are stepping over boundaries and what not. But "knocking them down a level" or what ever you said is just starting a flame war. And that has no beneficial purpose at all.

Do a lot of people (women in particular) get preferential treatment on here? Yes absolutely. Is it wrong to have moderators or what not give that preferential treatment and not be totally unbiased? Yes absolutely. Do I blame the moderators for doing this? No I do not. I was a sysop for a long time and I gave preferential treat meant to any woman i didn't care if they were young, old, pretty or ugly. Why? the same reason clubs and bars have ladies night. If there are no women, then there would be no men either. Would you be on this board if there were no women? honestly?

I understand your frustrations about there being a "double standard" if you will. Though I think that is a little extreme to call it that. But it is like that everywhere how many times have you been pulled over and gotten a ticket when you knew if you didn't have a penis and had boobs you more then likely could talk your way out of it like I hear women do all the time. This place is no different.

But if you feel that strongly about it the only thing I can say is to either start your own forum and try to find someone people to help you run it with the moral fortitude to not be biased to anyone and see everything as black and white. Or accept this is how it is and in the greater scheme of things, the hypothetical "people" that are the center of attention or whatnot really do not matter enough for you to acknowledge their existence with, much less feed their attention deficiency in the real world. Nor have they earned the right for you to waste your time on such high school popularity bullshit.

 

[chicago]

Freedom of speech is great, but once people start fighting, the thread kinda spirals into retarded online insult flinging instead of discussing the original point.

I like it here where when that happens, the mods kinda kick us back on topic.

And as corny as it sounds, having to remember to word my posts in such a way where I'm expressing my opinion without necessarily offending anyone, has paid off in real life too.