G'day boys and girls. At first, when I saw the word "spam", I would think of that little ham in a blue can with yellow letters (and also a funny Monty Python song) that some people eat. However, it was an acronym that has a technical definition: Sending Pointless and Annoying Messages. In my days of IRC (Internet Relay Chat/Communications), we call such lines of text "flooding". But enough of that, folks.
I have been briefed by a source on the situation that is surrounding this forum. While I am not at liberty to give out details (being a stickler for confidentiality), I can say that the mods are doing their job. These folks are the only people left in fighting for our home place to pass information and to have fun with one another as forum members. And you know what I mean by when I said that.
We all know the devs are not listening to us by way of doing things that contradicts our game play. And we all know that the higher ups (beyond the forum moderation team) are not hailing our calls, either, else things would get done. So what does this mean for us? Do we stand and fight, or do we just ignore like the rest and have our home (forums) taken away from us by these things called "spam bots"?
Let me put one thing straight that I am hoping people will get: do not badmouth the moderators/mentors as they are on our side in trying to make sure our point(s) is/are being submitted to them. When I say "them", I would mean the publisher employees at R2 Games and the developers who made the games we play. I had been in the field of moderation/administrating (from a different gaming company) to know how it is like and what moderators/admins go through to ensure the forums are clean in all aspects. Now, from my count, I believe there are 3-4 moderators and 2 mentors on this forum. That's a lot of load for just 6 people to handle, hence why there has been moderating/mentoring recruitment threads for people to join. The place I come from has anywhere from 15-20 people moderating to include 2 admins for a forum in size like this. Also, I would say that moderating is a voluntary task with possible minimal requirements.
I could be moderator for this forum, but there are three reasons on why I could not be: 1. because I have a bad mouth (finger) that I would speak my mind to include having to censor (on my own) various colorful words in my posts. 2. my time is limited as I do things in the real life (handle tech support calls, posts, run two networks, netcast to the world, and the occasional errand runs for provisions and other things) and spend time with my family that most of the time I am AFK in the game or just logged off completely. 3. I am a strict network security type of person that I only run the programs approved to be run to minimize the possibility of contracting a virus or a piece of malware on my network, and that I do my maintenance on the same day R2 does theirs. However, I could hand out my services as a consultant when it comes to testing and helping out in solving some questions that may come up.
Anyways, if you are going to ignore the spams, you can do so and no one is going to think bad of you. However, for the rest of us that want to fight for our home, I want you to listen up:
I have been briefed by a source on the situation that is surrounding this forum. While I am not at liberty to give out details (being a stickler for confidentiality), I can say that the mods are doing their job. These folks are the only people left in fighting for our home place to pass information and to have fun with one another as forum members. And you know what I mean by when I said that.
We all know the devs are not listening to us by way of doing things that contradicts our game play. And we all know that the higher ups (beyond the forum moderation team) are not hailing our calls, either, else things would get done. So what does this mean for us? Do we stand and fight, or do we just ignore like the rest and have our home (forums) taken away from us by these things called "spam bots"?
Let me put one thing straight that I am hoping people will get: do not badmouth the moderators/mentors as they are on our side in trying to make sure our point(s) is/are being submitted to them. When I say "them", I would mean the publisher employees at R2 Games and the developers who made the games we play. I had been in the field of moderation/administrating (from a different gaming company) to know how it is like and what moderators/admins go through to ensure the forums are clean in all aspects. Now, from my count, I believe there are 3-4 moderators and 2 mentors on this forum. That's a lot of load for just 6 people to handle, hence why there has been moderating/mentoring recruitment threads for people to join. The place I come from has anywhere from 15-20 people moderating to include 2 admins for a forum in size like this. Also, I would say that moderating is a voluntary task with possible minimal requirements.
I could be moderator for this forum, but there are three reasons on why I could not be: 1. because I have a bad mouth (finger) that I would speak my mind to include having to censor (on my own) various colorful words in my posts. 2. my time is limited as I do things in the real life (handle tech support calls, posts, run two networks, netcast to the world, and the occasional errand runs for provisions and other things) and spend time with my family that most of the time I am AFK in the game or just logged off completely. 3. I am a strict network security type of person that I only run the programs approved to be run to minimize the possibility of contracting a virus or a piece of malware on my network, and that I do my maintenance on the same day R2 does theirs. However, I could hand out my services as a consultant when it comes to testing and helping out in solving some questions that may come up.
Anyways, if you are going to ignore the spams, you can do so and no one is going to think bad of you. However, for the rest of us that want to fight for our home, I want you to listen up:
- We are their (moderators/mentors) hope. Keep sending in those tickets as requested. Let's pinpoint and "shoot" down those spam posts.
- For those of us that want to have a little fun with them, use a bit of caution. You can be creative in replying to said spam posts with something comical. The point is to get people to steer clear away from said site, laughing. I did the medicine man/bull joke on one of them (anti-aging cream) and it stopped them for a bit as I didn't see another post from them.
- Let the moderators work. We all know there is a problem, but kindly give them space as this is a big forum and they are spread thin. I've checked other gaming forums within the R2 Games realm to know of this.
- If you are well-versed in forum management, I am pretty sure the mods would like to hear from you.
- If you are wanting to help others, put in your app post in the mod/mentor threads.
- If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it!
- And above all, try not to get banned. There is a thin line of "having fun" and "really having fun" if you catch my meaning.