gotta agree Dain
it's an aspect of a growing community and its good to talk about it and work on it while its still controllable

Honestly I never let the BS bother me,too bad it has seemed to force so many other cool people to stop posting on here more often.I do agree with the "take no shit" policy it should have been that way from the beginning.Great job Dain.

Well said Dain, I completely agree.

I actually felt this way a while ago, i was absent on the boards for quite a while and only a few months ago got back into it. Then when I was here again i was wondering where the hell all the old members were...

I noticed immediately that posts were few and far in between for Will, Dain, Tusk, Qix, mark, burdger etc... I was wondering what the reason was. Now I know.

Hear hear! Bans all around to celebrate!


Levity

I think this is great Dain......clean up the mess and bring the family back together.

I agree with everything said! Thanks Dain

Thanks, Dain. I appreciate everything you've done (along with the other mods) to keep this place as great as it is. Thanks for the the continued effort. I may not post very much, but I spend at least a few minutes a day visiting the site. I was just today thinking how very cool it is that this place exists - there are not too many other sites out there with such a good core community - all with a shared interest in (addiction to) nintendo

I've certainly spent more time and written more words in PM over the last few weeks, than I've posted. And it hasn't been making deals - it's been trying to settle disputes. It's really just sad.

I'm still willing to help settle any and all problems, and they will arise. But I'm hopeful that many members here will be willing to meet the mods/admins halfway, having read the reactions in this thread.

I fully support this site and every civil-minded individual who posts here. I really don't know any of you, I missed the damn expo... but there are a number of people here whose opinions and knowledge I respect greatly.

Perhaps we can all stand to be a little more active in discouraging negativity when we do see it instead of just ignoring those threads and letting it get to the point where they spill over into other threads, etc. People who poke a bear with a stick are guilty of degrading the thread, but in a way so is everyone who turns the other cheek and allow the flames get out of control.

After all, WE as users are ultimately responsible for the content of these forums... not the admins. They're just there to handle the things we can't handle ourselves... and it sounds like we as a community have been giving them too much work.

The community itself promises to be far more effective than any FAQ or TOS could. We need to self-regulate as much as possible so the admins can spend more time working on the actual resources here.

It's really up to everyone to keep a neighborhood watch. I don't think any of us need to be horribly anal or sensitive, but I think we all know once a thread has gone to the dark side. We should all be a bit more direct with each other regarding the negativity and how turned off we are when we see it.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this site, including those without official titles who just love Nintendo so much that it automatically makes this place better by virtue of their presense.

Also, a user FAQ does exist...somewhere. I've no idea where it got to. Dain, can we make it part of the new user welcome email, perhaps?

Modusco that was a great post and very true. The community as a whole is indeed the driving force behind any site. I think we have a great community and we all have just become a little lax about certain things. We ALL need to work together to make this a better place for us all to enjoy.
~~NGD

I would agree, Modusco expressed my thoughts better than i could! I love this place

Bans are something that have to happen. It's something that unfortunately comes with growing larger. DP used to be a great site when it was smaller. It's just the odds. When you have 200 members you may have say 2 people that are disturbers. When you have 2000 members you may have 20. When you hit 10,000, you may have 100. It may be a small proportion, but those few bad seeds can still make a big impact towards the feel of a site.

Well said, all. Some of you may have noticed that even I have slowed my posting (I was almost up to 6 posts a day, and now I'm down to a shade over 5). Hopefully we can finally get back to enjoying ourselves here...for a while, it looked like rain in paradise.

i read this when it was first posted, but didn't have time to reply.

excellent post dain and i fully agree. I haven't been on here long and this is an amazing site, but I get tired of reading soap operas in these threads all from people who I'm sure can act like adults. I bet, as a community, we can definitely improve.

Jone, I think originally you had alot of problems, not because you were new, but because the way you presented yourself. When I first came here, no one was my friend right away, but no one disliked me (that I know of). I have made friends here over time though. I came here probly knowing alot less than you. All I had at the time was a handfull of carts, and an FC twin system. The only knowledge I had was from my childhood. Everything I know, I learned here. All of my original posts were mostly questions, and inquiries. I think the problem was.. no one knew who you were, but you seemed to have a comment or opinion about everything and everyone. You have kind of a brash boastfull personality. I think your %100 right though, you have improved ten fold, and I think alot of us, including myself, are begining to enjoy your presence.

Apparently I thrive on the conflict, as my post average is nearing a whopping 2 per day (where it once sat around 0.5). I've been here about 2 months shy of a year now, and I absolutely dig the place. Going to the expo and actually meeting so many of the people behind the forum was fantastic.

Dain, your post was spot on. No reason to keep people around that are just out to cause trouble. This is a great community and I'm pumped to be a (small) part of it. I can honestly say NA resparked my desire to collect and the enjoyment it brings me. I love the weekly finds in the wild thread especially, being able to say, "hey, I picked up a complete Hogan's Alley for $3" and have people 1)know how cool it is and 2)not think you're a fool for buying 20 year old electronics is awesome.

I guess I didn't see all the hostility going on here, but with my recent job change my activity here has dropped. Most people who know me, know that I am not a NES collector first, but I am here because I still enjoy the system and more importantly this community.

Let's not have a great community slip away from us guys, take care of it like it's your family.

As you can tell by my post count, I'm more of a reader than I am a contributor, but it doesn't mean I don't have an opinion. I joined DP in '03 and like many others said, it was a great site when smaller. I joined NA in '07 (thanks to Jason and Erik) and I noticed right away how everybody was super friendly and nice. These past couple months have reminded me of what DP gradually became with a growing user base, and I'm glad Dain is doing something promptly to nip it in the bud, or at least control it effectively. I'm all for it 100%. We can still have fun and be civil at the same time, right?

It'd be pretty cool if ONCE someone signed up they would ONLY be able to access a TOS page/thread that has to be read and agreed to somehow (I know NOOOOOTHING! about web design) before they can start posting.

I agree completely. I admit that sometimes I make some negative "jab" posts but I guess it's because I too have noticed this community slowly getting worse compared to what it used to be. It is still a great place and perhaps I am sometimes negative because I see it going down the same road as Digital Press. I really like this place and I am glad to see this thread. Kudos to Dain for doing something about it. Get ban happy! I know if I were webmaster, I'd give out 24 hour probations like it was water (To myself even, as i'd deserve a lot of them ).

Group hug!!!!

I move for the installation of a global filter to search and replace the word "douche" sitewide and replace it with "really great guy".

Seriously, I predict the word "douche" will the one of Merriam-Webster's words of the year for 2009. I swear. I can't swing a dead cat anymore without hearing that word... like "hey douche, stop swinging that dead cat! you're such a really great guy."

I really havent noticed that many negative posts. Most of them I saw were towards Jonas unfortunately who I thought stayed pretty calm for the most part. It takes alot for me to make a negative post but if I feel like someone deserves it thay usually do and Im not alone. But, the negativity doesnt really bother me and most times its laughable. If any of you ever met me, you would see that I laugh at pretty much anything. This is still the best forum I have ever been a member of and Im sure it always will.

My fraternity had a forum, for staying in touch over the summer, back when I was in school.

The guy running the site made all vulgar/obscene words get exchanged with other euphemisms.  It was hilarious.

Calling somebody a pussy, for instance, was relabeled as "female mystery hole".  There were quite a few other clever ones...but that one was particularly memorable.

I've made a few negative posts, towards Jonas, and a few other people (who will go unnamed). You know who you are. I'm generally not afraid to call somebody out. I really should cool it. Whether they deserve it or not I know that I need to learn to control myself. I still have a lot to learn.

I also feel disconnected from everybody. There are so many new people (n00bs, heh) that I can't even keep track of anybody anymore. Even if there was no negativity whatsoever I would still feel disconnected due to the sheer volume of users that are here now. It's impossible to keep track of everybody. Some people talk about how great it is that this site is growing... 2000 users blah blah blah. Growth certainly is a good thing, but with growth comes a loss of the "personal" touch that the site used to have. I used to know what everybody did for a living, their wives, children, what game they were currently playing, etc. Now I know jack shit about everybody. I don't even call most people by their first names anymore. I shouldn't complain because it's just the way it is and there's nothing that can really be done about it. It is what it is I guess.

Dain, try to imagine what this site would be like if it had 40,000 users, and prepare the site for that.