Off topic forum only visible for members

[Gumballs]

I know I'm not a huge member of this forum, but I really don't understand the point of splicing the forums and hiding part of it. I guess in my opinion if these types of topics are really that sensitive then they should have been discussed over personal messages, not on a public forum viewed by (most likely) hundreds of people a day. If you are that concerned with 'randoms' viewing your personal issues, etc. then don't post them online in a such a manner.

Now, I don't want that to appear I am being rude or sarcastic with my opinion, since I know tone is hard to tell over the internet. I just think if everyone really was that concerned about privacy, these topics wouldn't be posted publicly to begin with and rather discussed via private messages/skype/msn/what have you.

So I don't really understand the purpose of hiding the off topics, but I'm not against it. Not for it either, so I guess I'm kind of neutral. Whatever happens will be fine by me.

[GormanGhaste]

For most of us interested in this, it doesn't have anything to do with privacy. It's all about the impression that is made on first-time and/or casual visitors to the site. By only displaying wow specific forums to non-members, it would emphasize our community's focus.

[Chimera]

^ exactly!! 8D make people come to the site because they are interested in relevant topics not to have small chat

[Lisaara]

^ exactly!! 8D make people come to the site because they are interested in relevant topics not to have small chat

QFT

[Azunara]

For most of us interested in this, it doesn't have anything to do with privacy. It's all about the impression that is made on first-time and/or casual visitors to the site. By only displaying wow specific forums to non-members, it would emphasize our community's focus.

I would think that the name, the mascot, and the whole giant first board you see being devoted to hunter pets would be enough. :\

But no, I'm leaning more towards what Gumballs said. It just seems like a lot of work. Petopia has been just fine for the last year, year and a half without it. Why the sudden, "HIDE EVERYTHING!!!" attitude?

[GormanGhaste]

Why the sudden, "HIDE EVERYTHING!!!" attitude?

I don't think anyone's taking an all-caps approach--as you say, it's been like this the whole time and working just fine. We're just talking over an interesting idea that has been used to good effect on other forums and could possibly be used here as well.

[Lisaara]

For most of us interested in this, it doesn't have anything to do with privacy. It's all about the impression that is made on first-time and/or casual visitors to the site. By only displaying wow specific forums to non-members, it would emphasize our community's focus.

I would think that the name, the mascot, and the whole giant first board you see being devoted to hunter pets would be enough. :\

But no, I'm leaning more towards what Gumballs said. It just seems like a lot of work. Petopia has been just fine for the last year, year and a half without it. Why the sudden, "HIDE EVERYTHING!!!" attitude?

No it hasn't. As the original topic posted, someone ruined a DC drop that never joined the forums til AFTER they ninja'd the egg on purpose. Had that been hidden, such a horrible thing would've never happened.

[Azunara]

For most of us interested in this, it doesn't have anything to do with privacy. It's all about the impression that is made on first-time and/or casual visitors to the site. By only displaying wow specific forums to non-members, it would emphasize our community's focus.

I would think that the name, the mascot, and the whole giant first board you see being devoted to hunter pets would be enough. :\

But no, I'm leaning more towards what Gumballs said. It just seems like a lot of work. Petopia has been just fine for the last year, year and a half without it. Why the sudden, "HIDE EVERYTHING!!!" attitude?

No it hasn't. As the original topic posted, someone ruined a DC drop that never joined the forums til AFTER they ninja'd the egg on purpose. Had that been hidden, such a horrible thing would've never happened.

First off: I know Lurker personally, and they never meant to cause any sort of trouble. They saw an egg, they misunderstood the rules and thought it was open to all. They took the egg, especially as it was rare. They gave it back when people wanted to know where it was, -despite- the fact that they were fully capable of never speaking up.

Second off: Really? Hide everything for one small incident? That the guilty party apologized for? Ignoring the fact that the DC thread has already had its fair share of drama without outside influences, if it all really comes down to that (And you can justify it with all the nonsense about community focus you want), then it's a bit silly to hide a huge chunk of the forum for one thing.

Wasn't the very concept of Petopia to remain open and share information and be welcoming? Hiding about half the forum seems contradictory.

[Zuilu]

I'm on the fence about this. On one hand, I understand the DC incident was annoying and could make future "Petopia only" things a worry, but on the other hand..if you're not comfortable with hundreds of people reading your posts, you probably shouldn't be posting them here anyways. What ever happens I'm okay with, but I don't think either side has very strong arguments. :p Lurkers don't really have a reason to browse off topic that has nothing to do with WoW, but we don't really have a reason to restrict it, either.

[Lupis]

Okay. I'm going to try and put my opinion on this entire mess in simple terms.

This is completely, utterly ridiculous.

Someone doesn't understand the rules of a game. Suddenly...

Had that been hidden, such a horrible thing would've never happened.

Dear god, the world is ending. Look. It was ONE EGG. It was promptly returned. This is one of those things that happens, and people apologize for the inconvenience, and life goes on.
But apparently not, apparently this silly, everyday mistake is enough to hide a huge part of this forum.

I just don't understand how this is such a big deal. Someone give me one good reason for a simple misunderstanding to change the forums. Why are we not completely over this? Is this really that big a deal?

If it is, I'm severely disappointed. I thought this community over that kind of thing.

[Lisaara]

It's to prevent misunderstanding and anons doing these things on purpose. Petopia is meant to be a resource guide. If they wanna be apart of the social bit, they can join and do whatever the hell they want. We're not here to supply off topic stuff for them. We're here to supply Hunter Help.

(And go figure it's gonna be MY post that everyone nitpicks even though people said that same thing before I did.....fml. Don't think I'm gonna bother after this if its always me that is gonna get nitpicked....meh...in a bad mood anyways.)

[Chimera]

What we're trying to say is that we want people coming here because they have similar interests, not so they can chat it up with small talk. I know this thread arose because of that DC drop incident but this thread isnt so much about that one incident as it is a request to make this site a true community. The site wasnt created to cater to peoples need to talk, it was created to cater to people who want to converse to eachother about Beasts and Hunters.

People who come here just to have conversations out in the open in the off-topic threads arent benefiting the community. That should be taken to private messages cause its irrelevant to the sites purpose. If you know someone here, go ahead and make an account and converse with them. Even if you post in the off-topic stuff, at least you know someone here and is thus part of the community.

The sarcasm is uncalled for. Extremely uncalled for. It seems that theres some people here who cant get past the fact this thread was made because of one incident when it has much more purpose then that. This is a small forum, it doesnt have a lot of topics. By size, yes, its half the forum in hiding but its not an important half. Its not a half that is going to send people running because its hidden. Its not going to kill our population of lurkers because they cant stalk what we say thats off-topic anymore. The whole off-topic board is irrelevant to the sites purpose.

But.

Its 1) Not hard to split topics up and create a new board for those split topics to go. Its 2) Not going to kill us. Its 3) Going to attract more people interested with the sites purpose. Its 4) Not going to be the entire off-topic board if the Mod does decide to split it up. If its split up, the things to move to another board that will be free to view would be the fan art and roleplay most likley.

And if you notice, despite this one incident, in the past and now people have posted and continue to post things that might be suggestive to others and never once has anyone complained about 'privacy' issues. This thread was created because of one incident but when you think about the big picture and not focus on that single event, its not about privacy but rather what you want people to see as a first impression upon the site. This site is a hunter community site.

If your so concerned with privacy then dont post anything that might refer to personal or real life matters. Its as easy as that. The deeper desires of the people who are supporting this thread, by my impression, want this act to go into effect to promote the site as a WoW Hunter Community site, not a place to sit and read news about whats going on in peoples lives or to chat with total strangers as if your having an msn conversation. We're all strangers to eachother when you first join and dont know anyone but joining and posting because you have something to say thats relevant to the threads that are open to viewing or because you are interested in the forum and wish to become part of the community, that changes the whole scenario.

If you want random strangers to talk to, go to Tumblr or something. Apparently you can have some killer hilarious conversations on that site from some PrintScreen screenies ive seen posted over on Magistream.


TL;DR Its not so much anymore a thread desiring privacy but rather a thread asking to hide the non RP/Fan Art off-topic threads so that we can attract future community members rather then people who desire random conversations and absolutley no interest in the WoW related or RP/Fan Art topics that can just as easily find better means of random conversations via MSN or Skype or Tumblr or whatever.

ps: ive never been on Tumblr myself so i dont know much about it 'sides the occassional tumblr referenced conversations on magistream so im not completely sure how tumblr works.

edit: wrote 'boar' instead of 'board in one of the paragraphs

[cowmuflage]

I don't think we need to do this thruthfully. It's fine as it is.

[Lisaara]

What we're trying to say is that we want people coming here because they have similar interests, not so they can chat it up with small talk. I know this thread arose because of that DC drop incident but this thread isnt so much about that one incident as it is a request to make this site a true community. The site wasnt created to cater to peoples need to talk, it was created to cater to people who want to converse to eachother about Beasts and Hunters.

People who come here just to have conversations out in the open in the off-topic threads arent benefiting the community. That should be taken to private messages cause its irrelevant to the sites purpose. If you know someone here, go ahead and make an account and converse with them. Even if you post in the off-topic stuff, at least you know someone here and is thus part of the community.

The sarcasm is uncalled for. Extremely uncalled for. It seems that theres some people here who cant get past the fact this thread was made because of one incident when it has much more purpose then that. This is a small forum, it doesnt have a lot of topics. By size, yes, its half the forum in hiding but its not an important half. Its not a half that is going to send people running because its hidden. Its not going to kill our population of lurkers because they cant stalk what we say thats off-topic anymore. The whole off-topic boar is irrelevant to the sites purpose.

But.

Its 1) Not hard to split topics up and create a new board for those split topics to go. Its 2) Not going to kill us. Its 3) Going to attract more people interested with the sites purpose. Its 4) Not going to be the entire off-topic board if the Mod does decide to split it up. If its split up, the things to move to another board that will be free to view would be the fan art and roleplay most likley.

And if you notice, despite this one incident, in the past and now people have posted and continue to post things that might be suggestive to others and never once has anyone complained about 'privacy' issues. This thread was created because of one incident but when you think about the big picture and not focus on that single event, its not about privacy but rather what you want people to see as a first impression upon the site. This site is a hunter community site.

If your so concerned with privacy then dont post anything that might refer to personal or real life matters. Its as easy as that. The deeper desires of the people who are supporting this thread, by my impression, want this act to go into effect to promote the site as a WoW Hunter Community site, not a place to sit and read news about whats going on in peoples lives or to chat with total strangers as if your having an msn conversation. We're all strangers to eachother when you first join and dont know anyone but joining and posting because you have something to say thats relevant to the threads that are open to viewing or because you are interested in the forum and wish to become part of the community, that changes the whole scenario.

If you want random strangers to talk to, go to Tumblr or something. Apparently you can have some killer hilarious conversations on that site from some PrintScreen screenies ive seen posted over on Magistream.


TL;DR Its not so much anymore a thread desiring privacy but rather a thread asking to hide the non RP/Fan Art off-topic threads so that we can attract future community members rather then people who desire random conversations and absolutley no interest in the WoW related or RP/Fan Art topics that can just as easily find better means of random conversations via MSN or Skype or Tumblr or whatever.

ps: ive never been on Tumblr myself so i dont know much about it 'sides the occassional tumblr referenced conversations on magistream so im not completely sure how tumblr works.

You said it very well

Also dont feel bad. I know nothin about Tumblr. XD

[Chimera]

I just realized, the lightness of the box the quote sits in makes it a lot easier for me to read what is on my screen (im using the silver coloration variant the forum has for appearance, the green bugs my eyes out) and i wrote 'the whole off-topic BOAR is irrelevant to the sites purpose' editing it so it properly says 'board' XD

[Lisaara]

*giggles* Oh god I just caught that....I failed at spellcheck and somehow I must've translated it as Board. XD Grunter is pleased!

[Azunara]

Well alright then. By your logic, let's just get rid of it altogether. After all, we're a hunter-centric community, then let's keep that pure. See how silly that sounds? Cause that's essentially what you're proposing. Would I want to join a forum that's only about hunters and there's absolutely no other aspect? Not really. I personally joined not because of the hunter aspect, but because I saw people converse and enjoy each other's company and got a feel for the forum in the OOC aspect.

But obivously that's a bad thing. Whoops.

I don't see how suddenly closing it all off makes any difference. You're right, they all see it for the hunter aspect. But don't they see it that way anyways? You obviously are going for the, "This will add more to the community!" Well, good job. You've just shut out all the people who might have also wanted to get a feel for the community and join because they're nice, not because they're obsessed with hunters. I know if this board was just hunter stuff, I probably wouldn't join. Not that I'm a big part of Petopia. but still. I personally would've gone, "Oh...They seem to a bit...borning and uninteresting." I mean, hell. I'm not really as interesting in hunters or WoW as much. But I'm still here because I like the OOC chat. And the community.

[Lisaara]

Azu, you're blowing this WAY out of proportion. That's not what anyones saying at all. Two little forum sections to be hidden from those who don't want to join. That's all. We're not hiding the whole forum. Roleplay can still be viewed. Fanart and stuff can still be viewed. It's the more personal ones that are being hidden, aka Off Topic and Real Life Pets.

[Atalanta]

Yeah, this has gone way out of control in here. Obviously you're upset about this Azu because Lurker is your friend, but because of this incident the DC drop thread was asked to be closed and the fun was ruined for everyone. However, my main concern was that people would come here to just have a snoop around in the picture thread or through anything else somewhat personal that members have posted. (Seen quite a lot of self help topics...)

Please tell me what's informative and sharing about personal things in off topic for those interested in joining the forum? They should be joining for the interest in Hunters and pets.

I posted this request with the safety of members in mind. As I already stated on the first page, every single forum I'm a part of (and it's way over 20) has their member and other discussions topics hidden from those not a part of the community. I can't really see why people don't mind it staying open. I know it's the internet and everyone is a stranger, but it kinda doesn't feel like we're Petopians. I feel extremely exposed when I post anything in off topic now, knowing that anyone can just be looking there. And it's not requesting to 'HIDE EVERYTHING!!!!' because of one small incident. It's considering a move which will avoid future screw ups like that one.

Sigh, didn't want it to end up like this. It's the admins call, anyway. Please don't argue anymore guys, I don't want this to be closed and the problem unsolved. ><

[Nili]

Well alright then. By your logic, let's just get rid of it altogether. After all, we're a hunter-centric community, then let's keep that pure. See how silly that sounds? Cause that's essentially what you're proposing. Would I want to join a forum that's only about hunters and there's absolutely no other aspect? Not really. I personally joined not because of the hunter aspect, but because I saw people converse and enjoy each other's company and got a feel for the forum in the OOC aspect.

But obivously that's a bad thing. Whoops.

I don't see how suddenly closing it all off makes any difference. You're right, they all see it for the hunter aspect. But don't they see it that way anyways? You obviously are going for the, "This will add more to the community!" Well, good job. You've just shut out all the people who might have also wanted to get a feel for the community and join because they're nice, not because they're obsessed with hunters. I know if this board was just hunter stuff, I probably wouldn't join. Not that I'm a big part of Petopia. but still. I personally would've gone, "Oh...They seem to a bit...borning and uninteresting." I mean, hell. I'm not really as interesting in hunters or WoW as much. But I'm still here because I like the OOC chat. And the community.

Considering you have a colored name, most new members naturally look up to you and your comments on this forum. But here..damn girl I can literally see your sarcasm dripping. Reel it in and try to be a bit more respectful, yeah?