Flame Board?

[FoxDemonSoavi]

A board where people can complain about what irks them and link to what irks them. Being able to get out frustratiosn where everyone can see them is catharetic for some people. Also people can be told to make topics there with links to posts they want to flame. I have seen this cut down on the flames on the main sections, on other forums.

 

[Lene]

I've seen that in action and frankly, I think that it is a bad idea that will cause more problems than solve them.

I think flame forums build elitist attitudes with the people who choose to participate in those kidns of discussion. In the end people get so caught up in talking trash about other people and things, they forget why the joined the community in the first place.

Also, flame forums tend to be ruled by a mob mentality. Once the forum starts going and a popular sentiment, it's very hard for someone who had an opposing opinion to get into the discussion. For the most part their opinions are rejected and the member themselves are ostracized from the group participating in the flame forum.

I think there are alternatives, you can easily set up a livejournal, make a website, or donate to the site and get a blog on RMXP.org and do the same exact thing. You can put your frustrations in a more objective forum and post in the RMXP Discussions, or try to fix the problem by making a tutorial.

 

[FoxDemonSoavi]

I would not use it but I just figured it might clean things up a bit. Though, I did not think about the mob rule and elitest attitudes. That would be detrimental to the whole idea of a flame board :/ oh well.

 

[Kest]

Pitts (as the flame board in another forum I go to is called) are not very healthy places. The interesting threads in them would fit just as well in another part of the forums, which leaves the matter of the junk...

 

[Lene]

I would not use it but I just figured it might clean things up a bit. Though, I did not think about the mob rule and elitest attitudes. That would be detrimental to the whole idea of a flame board :/ oh well.

I was thinking about it, and maybe not calling it a flame board would be better. I see the word "flame" board and then immediately I start thinking that it's a board where people can call each other out. That's a bad idea. And yes there are communities that allow that to happen...which is sad.

Maybe instead you could call it a Rant board (for lack of a better word). Ranting about something that irks you is a lot different than trashing other members. Now that, I think could work as long as the rules of the forums are left intact--no personal attacks.

 

[FoxDemonSoavi]

Yes, I think that is a better idea. You can complain about TYPES of tpoics people make but not actualy say WHO.

 

[FoxDemonSoavi]

However, Lene's suggestion of a RANT board would not be divisive

 

[Scribblette]

Right, but people ranting can easily be targeted at someone without being specific, and that target can know it's them and still be greatly distressed by it. I personally figure the best way to crack down on people flaming and being generally destructive twits or bullies looking to dish out pain is to just lock them down and shut them up. Let them visit a board but not post, or something, and be on probation when they do post for a period afterwards. Or something like that.

Really, the current system here is pretty good. I've seen a few mean statements said by people, but they don't have that attitude the entire time, so the off occasions can be attributed to them having a worse day than usual and just being of a slightly more aggressive personality.

Still, it's a worthwhile suggestion to bring up and debate. If half the folk in here were flaming and you had to crack down on them, a real crack down, you could then direct them to the rant board, etc. But yeah, doesn't seem to be needed (thankfully).

 

[PK8]

A rant forum would be pretty cool to have in here.

 

[Anonymous]

A rant forum isn't a bad idea per se, but I'm fairly certain it would boil down into flames and people would abuse it and it would turn into shit, so I'm not enthused about it. To each his own, though!

 

[ryanwh]

There are about a million other places to rant like a jackass, why do you need one here?