:tup:
I agree too… I think you hit the nail on the head with this.
I do not see this happening at all. Well, leghumping newman is true because everybody needs a leg to hump. However, nothing is stopping members (or yourself) from doing a very labor-intensive 30-second search for posts that interest them. Is this happening? No. Why is it not happening? Members don’t want to. How do you make them want to? Beats me. Figure out what members are interested in? General auto is pretty vague so it has an inherent informality associated with it.
That’s sort of a microscopic view of why this forum is so informal. What I’m suggesting is that this forum is a conglomerate of different people (for instance, autox people, mustang people, honda people, dsm people, vw people, motorsport people, detailing people, auto history people, race-me-from-a-dig people blah blah blah blah…) and sometimes they’re just not all interested in what other people have to say unless it has some type of drama or joke in poor taste associated with it. Enter thread derailment.
I can tell you providing an “incentive” such as posting privileges isn’t going to make people interested in threads that they are already not interested in. Or post good threads. Maybe they will post something they think is good, but once they can whore up off-topic they are not going to bother with things that interest them less.
I can also tell you that no forum needs an asshole moderator.
I can also tell you that no forum needs an asshole moderator.
I can also tell you that no forum needs an asshole moderator.
There, I said it thrice. Out of the forums I have been on, the boards that are most useful are the ones where the moderators just clean up the forum and participate in discussion like regular members. It keeps them from feeling like they’re the members’ mothers and it keeps discussions from going offtopic. However these forums already have members that
- seek answers
- have members willing to help answer questions
- members that readily discuss new things, old things, anything
- mature posters
- formal atmosphere
I can tell you that there are reposts (jesus fucking christ how many times can “what is the best wax?” be asked) but these posts don’t burn in hell, they just fall of the face of the earth naturally. Actually if somebody is really interested in the subject that person answers and makes the new member feel welcome, which in return makes them feel warm and fuzzy because they helped.
How do you get members that want to contribute in a positive way? Why, you interest them! People are signing up to this forum because there’s a hell of a lot of offtopic postings. And I’ll be damned if I didn’t admit that it is really entertaining! However this isn’t the entire crowd you want to attract. Interesed members make interesting posters. JOY!
I’m sure some of this makes absolute no sense or repeats, but I have these dialating drops in my eyes right now because I had an eye exam today. The monitor is burning my retinas. 
i almost dont understand why, that at one point i didnt like reading your posts.
i think that if everyone thought a little more like you, we wouldnt have this thread.
fuggginn…OT is fine…its the off-topic section on a forum on the internet, relax…u guys act like ur ruling an important country…if its classifieds or something that needs to be moderated…then continue what you are doing a fine job at, other than that…chill.
Wow, go RedGoober!
The only problem is, the immaturity can’t be “controlled.” I think people with high post count averages should be closely monitored for post quality. If they post a bunch of “:word;” replies, and other junk like that, then they should be limited to 5 posts per day. Let them think twice before they post junk. The cool people should have low post counts, with high post quality.
There are people who post every stupid thought that comes to mind for EVERY thread they read. They proverbally puke on the keyboard and the results are what has caused this whole proposed NYSpeed makeover. Most people think twice before they press the “Post Quick Reply” button. Before I post, I usually think “what does this do for anyone?”
Does anyone really care if you agree with other people in a thread? Do you really need to add your 2 cents? These 2 or 3 word replies are really useless.
I have under 40 posts and the main forums I browse are classifieds and gen auto, and technical. It’s kinda hard to work up a post count in an off-topic based forum, when you mainly look at those 3 things. Suprisingly, a decent amount of my posts actually may be in off-topic, but if you read what I post, you may also realize it’s mainly quality posting as well. Quantity IMO means nothing. Quality is everything. For example, there are Honda-tech members with over 10,000 posts who don’t their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to knowledge when working on Hondas or any other car in general. Some of the most quality members to automotive forums are people who post the least. But when they do post, it’s very worth the read.
my current post count on HR.com is 303, and i have 437 ACTUAL posts there
of my last 100 posts on here, 53 are in general auto alone …
i would LOVE it if post count here ignored off topic, it owuld be even better if there was a hack that allowed you to do a fraction
using my HR.com post as an example, the fraction would be 303/437 because that would seperate the men from the total post whores
:word:
either would work, although I think the non fraction is easier to implement
exactly what we need…if you get a certain karma rating you gain the right to OT so its not all gayed up with noobs who dont even own cars yet
You know what…normally I wouldn’t take the time to post a how-to on this forum…but since I’ve listened to stealth bitch about this for 4 years now… I now present the “hack” of how to turn off Off Topic so you no longer view it:
You know what…normally I wouldn’t take the time to post a how-to on this forum…but since I’ve listened to stealth bitch about this for 4 years now… I now present the “hack” of how to turn off Off Topic so you no longer view it…OMG:
Joe joe joe…as smart as you are :roll: we were talking about how to eliminate off topic from coming up under a new post search.
next time, read the thread.
LOL… I agree with Pumice and Goober.
I barely moderate buffaloscooby anymore. I did for awhile, and it just caused more drama, and it did nothing for the forum.
I Added a “shoutbox” which pretty much keeps all the meaningless offtopic poo off of the forums, and in a chat type enviroment.
What I have found is that people are staying on the board longer, they are posting more meaningful threads and replies, and overall the quality is just better.
Like goober said… this forum is a melting pot of all of the different people from all the different specific car areas coming together. Its going to be hard to get me to post a subaru based thread here, rather than post it on Buffaloscooby. Or post a VW thread on here instead of DITB. Hell, almost all of Zerodaze’s posts on his passat were on DITB. Why? because they would know a lot more than anyone here would!
This basically will ALWAYS be an offtopic forum for all of the specific car areas, with some general auto information, usually only non-specific info.
I think it functions best as a way for all car enthusiasts to just be friends, talk about things that are relevant between us, meet up, go offtopic, etc etc etc.
You cannot make this something it is not.
again, nobodys saying to get rid of OT, just place the focus on automotive. This is the point of making the “new posts” only show automotive threads. You can still get to OT if you need to, but it wont show unless you INTENTIONALLY click on it 
Also those who post in OT for attention will not be getting it from those who only care about cars. so the real loosers who are a pain in the ass, might get bored and leave when nobody responds to them.
Also, as far as i’m concerned, there is already an OT forum…its called UBRF. I’d rather this one be about more about cars.
Actually… UBRF has really been much more automotive based than anything lately.
I read the thread, and decided to post that anyway…If you dont’ like OT stop reading shit that’s in it. Stop going to new posts, click individual forums
mother fucking no edit…
There is a hack to do it BTW…
Do you want to know how to make the OT less of a draw??
Change the name of the site. Because this is a regionalized forum, there are lots of people here who already know eachother so there is a lot of off topic chatter.
If you look at any national car forum, people are there because they have 1 thing in common, cars. The conversation naturally gravitates towards that single interest and as time passes and the members get to know each other they start branching into OT.
Another thing is that this forum is too broad. (Yeah I know, I was saying its too specific a second ago and now its too broad, but in terms of subject matter, it is too broad in subject and too narrow in reach) Perhaps sectioning the auto forums off into different kinds of cars. Perhaps it can be as simple as Imports and Domestics, or you can go as far as the major manufacturers on the board.
I get the feeling that this is a board that was created with very little direction (not to offend anyone) and the gravitation towards OT is indicative of that.
im in for the option, but not for removing OT from new posts button.