Attention ALL FTR members

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[Molinero]

I agree whole-heartedly with Rippy.

The territorial bullcrap, the one-upsmanship, the chickenshit bickering, and the "he started" nonsense are killing this place. Lately the tone of this community forum has degenerated into, as Rippy suggested, a shallow web community populated by immature trolls with nothing meaningful to say.

All of you are experienced enough with the internet to know the best response to flaming and trollish behavior: IGNORE IT. If someone offends you, your beef is with them, and it makes the rest of us look like fools when people come to check us out.

With regards to the quality of the posts, I agree again. If you don't have something thoughtful to say in response to someone's question or comment, why respond at all? If your motivation for responding is a) to make the other guy look silly, b) to show off your superior understanding or intellect, or c) to bait someone, then keep it to yourself.

I know a lot of teenagers frequent the boards here, so I hope they don't take offense to this, but we all need to act like adults with a common purpose: getting better at poker, and helping those who need help doing so.

Sorry if I rehashed Rippy's message, btw.

[STIdrivr]

Ya we all should be a member to get better at poker and help people.

[arkana]

Nice post Ripptyde, I totally agree.

[LeFou]

I looked it up last week and I was member # 150-somethiing. Wow. Times have certainly changed. More forums, all sorts of extras like Vent and IRC, and it's like pulling teeth trying to squish a Gauntlet nowadays.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to have a designated place for people to hurl insults at each other and at each others' girlfriends. Here's my idea:

Teh trunk of my fucking car. That's where that belongs.

This is a moderated board. The only internet boards I've ever become attached to are moderated, and there's a reason. Unmoderated boards turn to shite after a couple hundred members. I imagine the community's the toughest thing to moderate, since it's all the OT stuff.

If you see something that's just outright rude, PM the moderator about it. If the poster has a history of this sort of thing, expect a warning, then a ban.

Aside from that, I think the quality of strat posts remains pretty high. We're seeing too much "me too" type stuff. If you ALSO think that the n00b should've folded preflop, consider that message received loud and clear. If you're deliberately setting aside some time to dish out advice, great. Try the posts with only 1 or 2 replies so far.

There are some Very Big Name Pros indeed who know about us. Braceleteers aplenty. That's not to say they're constantly lurking, but you never know. I had forgotten about that. Gives me pause...

[Fnord]

There is a reason I rarely post in the Beginner's forum and stay out of IRC (just what is it about IRC that brings out the WORST in people, Battlenet is horrible in this reguard.)

Anyway, we've been here before and I don't need to write that post a third time...

[UG]

Very nice post, Rippy.

I've already let my feelings be known on this topic, as recently yesterday in the IRC thread. I won't post a direct link to it (much of it has to do with the IRC, and not FTR as a whole), but I will leave a quote from that post.

Back to my original point. I care about FTR. This place can be (and is) a great asset to everyone here. Slowly but surely I'm starting to see a trend, though, where some of the annoying things that were happening in IRC are starting to occur here. I don't want that to happen. I want FTR to remain a great place for people to come and learn about the game. I don't want somebody to show up on their first day and see a post like this, think that this place is stupid, and then they never get hooked on the game (or hooked on making money).

That's how I feel, and pretty much how I'll always feel, as far as this topic is concerned.

[Fnord]

This is certainly the best written of the "FTR is going downhill" posts. Rippy might not have to lay low for a week unlike the last three people to post something like this

EVERY community goes through stuff like this.

[elipsesjeff]

There is a reason I rarely post in the Beginner's forum and stay out of IRC (just what is it about IRC that brings out the WORST in people, Battlenet is horrible in this reguard.)

Anyway, we've been here before and I don't need to write that post a third time...

I pretty much stay to my respected circle and rarely venture out of the LHE and MHLHE forums. I dont ever seeing myself going on IRC again, but I will continue to be on vent on a daily basis.

You missed a good convo last night with koolmoe Fnord.

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[Fnord]

You missed a good convo last night with koolmoe Fnord.

DOH!

[Lukie]

Can we get a sticky?

[™]

The problem is that FTR is not what it was back when it started. Now I came here back before it was this huge, but i didnt (and still dont) post a whole hell of a lot, and yes things were nice and peaceful but you cant expect it to stay the same. You have to adapt to it and make more rules as well as enforce them. If we want it to go to the way it was when it first started there need to be mods who will delete posts that are of flamming, trolling, sarcastic, ect nature. Maybe then things will start to shift in the right direction...

just my 2c

[Eric]

Ripptyde brings up some good points. We should all try to focus on the positive and stay away from personal attacks.
Yes, some growing pain problems are unavoidable but we should all do our part to try and keep the peace.

[Xianti]

{Stickied}


Thank you, Rippy.

I have to admit, I have some maturing to do as well. You've seen me blow up and use some foul language to get my point across. Some issues really get under my skin because I care deeply about maintaining the integrity of this forum community.

I've been a manager at work for over a year now. But I certainly don't blow steam at my colleagues like I have here. It's something to do with the fact that we're sitting at our computers, typing away, knowing that the people reading your messages are not physically in the room with you. I think we've all experienced those moments of saying some rotten things in these forums that we wouldn't say in the same way if you're speaking to these people in person.

But that's no excuse. We (myself included) must remember that what we write in these forums are real words... as real as speaking to a live audience.

To everyone, I sincerely apologize for my recent tirades. I vow to try harder to maintain my composure and keep a professional attitude when dealing with problems.

[biondino]

A inevitability about communities like this is that the regulars start of being excited, keen to contribute and relate to like-minded people. But after a certain amount of time, most of what's to be said has been said, and the things that annoy people about each other come to the fore more. It's pretty comparable to a relationship really

At this stage, the moderators need to be active and consistent in their duties, and the senior posters have a responsibility to keep the good aspects of the boards going and to help police people who abuse the site and its members. And if the senior members lose the ability to do this with patience and good humour, then we're fucked.

[TanO]

Agreed, I am not a long-time member of these forums, but its important to remember what brought me here, and made it feel like a place where I felt safe to post a stupid play and get constructive advice on it rather than useless comments. I hope the forum stays fresh and informative.

Each one of the members here has a responsibility to try and keep it that way.

[TLR]

Great post Rippy, I think every member of PFT has to take this post to heart.

We all should count to 10 and relax a bit before we fire off our replies.

That being said, FTR is still a great place to lurk in.

One of the things I do like about FTR is that even when people post annoying stuff there is always someone to set them straight, and eventually they calm down or leave (for example ScubaChuck in the Sng forum).

I do not think the moderators have to babysit us all, we are all mature people that should be able to provide replies and critisim in a positive way, and also to be able to recieve critisim in a constructive way