Azrael
08-15-2005, 07:09 AM
Back when OP9 was just mine, I considered making a message board. I even asked about it on the front page, but got zero responses. ...Not that many people were reading back then. So now it's kind of strange to have a board, a fairly large board, with a lot of users and posts.
As the editorials started to get more popular, I noticed a lot of different emails in my inbox. Young kids reading...older people reading...parents showing the editorials to their kids. Etc. I then realized that I sometimes use a lot of bad fucking language, and talk about some vulgar/explicit stuff (Octopus, anyone?). For a while, I considered toning it down a bit, making things more family-friendly. Then, I decided against that. Despite all the hits, this is still my little corner of the web for me to do with as I please. If you don't like the gift wrapping or the present inside, you certainly don't have to stick around. Nor is it my responsibility to take care of other people's kids.
I actually get a lot of different requests. "Can you talk more/less about kancho?" "Can you tell us more about Japanese schools?" "Can you do more about Japanese society?" If I started bending to cater one group, I'd invariably make at least two other groups unhappy with the change. There is no way to please everyone.
I notice a lot of people who may be discontent with things at the forum saying "Now, at the other forum I go to..." ...But OP9 isn't the other forum you go to. I myself have another forum I visit frequently, SRK. But this place isn't SRK. I can't make it SRK, and it would be a mistake to try. Even at SRK things aren't perfect...there are some days when I'm hard pressed to find a thread I actually want to open. But when it's good, it's good. And I like the people, and would actually be willing to meet a fair share of them in real life given the opportunity. That's the kind of thing I'd hope for OP9.
But that's not really anything I can control. There is no "Environment" button in my control panel. I can enforce rules and make layout changes, that's about it. I suppose I could try to force people to talk about a certain kind of thing or not to make a certain kind of thread...but what's the fun in that?
You don't have to click on every thread. If there's a user you don't like, you don't have to read his/her posts (there's even an ignore button for this very thing). Sometimes, it's OK if 90% of the topics on the front page aren't really things you are interested in. You can still participate in the topics you want to. You can still make your own.
When I click on "Outpost Nine Forum", what do I expect to come to? Another SRK? Or something different? What do I want? And is it something I can ask the mods/admins (heh, me) to do for me? Or something I can do myself?
Just some thoughts.
As the editorials started to get more popular, I noticed a lot of different emails in my inbox. Young kids reading...older people reading...parents showing the editorials to their kids. Etc. I then realized that I sometimes use a lot of bad fucking language, and talk about some vulgar/explicit stuff (Octopus, anyone?). For a while, I considered toning it down a bit, making things more family-friendly. Then, I decided against that. Despite all the hits, this is still my little corner of the web for me to do with as I please. If you don't like the gift wrapping or the present inside, you certainly don't have to stick around. Nor is it my responsibility to take care of other people's kids.
I actually get a lot of different requests. "Can you talk more/less about kancho?" "Can you tell us more about Japanese schools?" "Can you do more about Japanese society?" If I started bending to cater one group, I'd invariably make at least two other groups unhappy with the change. There is no way to please everyone.
I notice a lot of people who may be discontent with things at the forum saying "Now, at the other forum I go to..." ...But OP9 isn't the other forum you go to. I myself have another forum I visit frequently, SRK. But this place isn't SRK. I can't make it SRK, and it would be a mistake to try. Even at SRK things aren't perfect...there are some days when I'm hard pressed to find a thread I actually want to open. But when it's good, it's good. And I like the people, and would actually be willing to meet a fair share of them in real life given the opportunity. That's the kind of thing I'd hope for OP9.
But that's not really anything I can control. There is no "Environment" button in my control panel. I can enforce rules and make layout changes, that's about it. I suppose I could try to force people to talk about a certain kind of thing or not to make a certain kind of thread...but what's the fun in that?
You don't have to click on every thread. If there's a user you don't like, you don't have to read his/her posts (there's even an ignore button for this very thing). Sometimes, it's OK if 90% of the topics on the front page aren't really things you are interested in. You can still participate in the topics you want to. You can still make your own.
When I click on "Outpost Nine Forum", what do I expect to come to? Another SRK? Or something different? What do I want? And is it something I can ask the mods/admins (heh, me) to do for me? Or something I can do myself?
Just some thoughts.