i hope that playful needling wont be excluded....like when i said that anyone who thinks zelda 2 is better than 1 must be on good medication. (although even that comment i remember was taken literally on accident) or when i told tusk that i was better than him at absolutely everything in the world....
i know ive only been on here since november, but i think its great, and actually enjoyed the last 2 threads that got really ugly. im an ex-film school student though, and have a big affinity for a good villain.
ultimately, i'm on board with any change that will get dain posting again. i feel like i hardly know him.

Aww, you won't name me?  We're friends now!

I have been here for awhile, whether or not my post count agrees with that statement or not is neither here nor there. I have never really posted alot but have read through most of the posts, needless to say I'm on here alot. Anyways I have definately noticed the increase in negative posts, which is a given, anytime you have this many people in one place there are going to be a few that don't fit in. If it takes banning to clean it up a little so be it. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents and to thank Dain and all the mods for providing all of us with a great community.

alot of people dont like me here, so im told.... but its all good, im just here to talk, buy, trade ,like everyone else

It's all good Shaggy... still love my CIB toploader Game Genie I got from you.  Still hate you for beating me by one game in last year's bracketology! 

No doubt.

One of the reasons I opened the forums (no longer private) was to actually reduce the number of people who signed up just to lurk. It's working, as demonstrated by Jonebone's graph. I think the sheer number of users that join will go down, and only people who really want to participate in this community will join.

This certainly is a great community, I know I haven't been here very long and to be honest I haven't seen much 'hostility', but I'd hate to see this community turn 'sour'.

I'm more of a lurker than a poster but I do check the site everyday and I think I've become addicted. Anyway I always try to be as friendly as possible in any of my posts, with lots of . But if I ever become a bit of a "dick" or make a "douchebaggish" comment, please let me know.

Oh and thanks to Dain, for creating this site and to all the admins and mods. And thanks to all the friendly users.

I know it wasn't an easy decision for you to make, but it is one that will benefit the site as a whole.

Dain, you've always seemed so patient and caring, I know having to post this must have been hard for you. I hope this brings everyone back together and decreases the negative side of NA. I love this place and would hate to see it continue to be negative. I know how much time and effort you put into this site, or at least I think I do..
Thank you for everything that you do, I for one couldn't imagine what I'd do without NA. I met soo many wonderful people here that I now consider friends. This is truly the best website/forum I know of and hope that this topic keeps the negativity away.

I can't thank you and all who help keep NintendoAge running enough.. Thank you all...



P.S.. Dain, nice new user title...

Hmmm, I guess maybe I participated in this myself a bit, but with good reason! This won't be too easy to implement, though, as more people come here it's only natural you're going to find more conflict. It's going to take a lot of time and post wading to get this to work. The most important thing is for people to not take themselves too seriously and let things go instead of firing it up. If you try to sell a loose Duck Hunt for $350 on here, expect to get blasted, and if you do, screw 'em, if you respond you'll only fuel it and if you sell it good for you. Plus, come on guys, don't eliminate my comic fodder! I'll have to actually think of a plot!  So what kind of pain has been going on anyway?  I haven't noticed anything, but I generally only look around a bit and spend most of my time seeing how the ezine response is (not just for my comic) and looking for good deals in the trade section.

I'm very glad to hear this. Much to my dismay, just earler this week as much, as I hate to admit it, I considered using the foes section because I got sick of all the bickering and such. It ruins topics and it's great to hear a proactive step to prevent it.

Sounds great Dain!

I agree fully.

You should implement a point system only visible for the mods:

If someone makes a negative comment about someone/the site you give him 30 points
If they make comments on someone's prices: 10 points
A indirect "jab" to someone: 10 points
Posting a thread in the wrong section: 5 points
etc...

If they reach 30 points = banned for a day
If they reach 40 points = banned for a week
If they reach 50 points = perm ban

The points you get lasts for 6 month (or a year) or so.

That point system sounds like a cool idea. It shouldn't be too hard to put into the forum code or whatever I'd think. Moderators would, of course, have to be very active, but I know they are for the most part.

Great post Dain! I have been pretty distant from the forums for the past several months as well and placed it more under the umbrella of being busy, but looking back I agree that feeling disconnected from the community also had something to do with it. After all, being busy doesn't keep you from sending your mother a birthday card, it's all about priorities and interests and it's just easier to become disconnected when a community grows in size. I'm not sure if in my case it was due to any negativity since I usually try not to pay too much attention to it...but from the sound of it, there must've been a good deal of it recently. I'm all for clean forums & weeding out the "trash".. so I really think this is a great move forward and looking at everyone's replies, I think you definitely have the support of the community!

Okay, I know I've played a minor role in some of the more controversial comments and threads. I was warned once. It was about a joke which some found offensive. I didn't think so, but regardless, I took the warning I received to heart, and apologized to the mod. who sent it to me profusely. I do think it is great that we can have an "Everything Else" forum in which we can discuss a variety of topics, and I think that most of the active members here are intelligent and have insightful opinions. I know some times I may seem like an antagonist, but all is said in sarcasm and jest, tongue in cheek if you will. That is something that is hard to express over the web. NA is great because we can talk about almost anything, with the main focus being the hobby well all love. I have had many great transactions here with members, and hope to do more business here as I move more and more away from ebay. I have been able to participate here now from 3 continents, and in some demented way, I call it an achievement. I've even been able to meet 3 or 4 of the members here in person, just for transactions however, but still there is a deeper understanding here than the shmucks I meet from craigslist. I really hope everyone here is being sincere about their posts and those who are just reading too. I always think it's terrible when people think about and say they will do something and then just resort to their old ways. That's just showing you have no determination, no will. I'd like to maintain a playful attitude here and hope nobody gets too upset about anything. Since I've become a school teacher, I've had to resolve all sorts of conflicts between children. Some of the stuff that has gone around here has been childish. If you disagree with somebody so deeply, please just walk away. I know I will from now on. NA is great, let's keep it that way. Much love.

I think this would lead to problems as statements can be taken out of context. It is hard to show emotion through text and it would be easy to be reprimanded for something that is only meant to be disagreement, not disrespect.

I also think it would add unneccessary work for the mods.  

Here Here! This site was set up as a place for people who share an interest in video games and video game collecting to share ideas and possibly set up trades to further their collections.  Any measures that can be taken to ensure that the users of this site can do this in a safe and friendly manner can only be a good thing.  Although moderation is bound to involve a lot of work I believe that all the genuine users will benefit. 

Without the point system,  statements can also be taken out of context.

The policy isn't really 1 bad thing = instant ban and multiple little things is ok.

If someone has a bad day, says some things then comes back and apologises to the member they offended and the community then that would go a long way to having them keep their account and maintaining the respect of the community - we all have shitty days at times but we also have to remember that other members are people too.

If they kept disrupting things and expected the community to tollerate it then they have another thing coming to them.

If someone's an ass and is totally disrespectful to someone else with no remorse and no apology then that should be frowned upon by the community and a ban would be warranted.

I don't think a hard and fast points system would work, how about just some old fashioned common human decency as a general principle?

You're asking too much, James.

I agree with James. I don't think we need the point system per say. People aren't going to get banned for 1 little thing 1 time. We all screw up sometimes, we all make mistakes. We are talking about the people who are just down right disrespectful for no reason and continue to be an issue. We still welcome joking around and stuff, but we all know the difference when someone is joking and when someone is just being a jerk, and we don't want the Negative Nancy's ruining the board for everyone else.
~~NGD

i havent posted much in the past many months... except to be an adversary to one certain member whenever i got fed up with his antics. as he said, he did improve since the beginning, but it was getting gradually worse, and i was getting gradually worse, and the entire site was going in a big downward spiral, so i agree with dain and everyone else here.

i think the point system is a little over the top. all of us need to remember that the admins and mods do not get paid to be on this site. therefore, they dont have time to be giving points to everyone and tracking them and and and. its plain and simple... there really is only 1 rule here on the terms of service:

DONT ACT LIKE AN ASSHOLE!!!

haha, it's short and to the point, but honestly, that is what it all boils down to. we will all have bad days sometimes, but we dont need to act all tough and cool and treat people on here like shit.

aiight, ive put in my 2 cents! i would really like to see this site get back to what it was when i first joined a little over a year ago. the awesome community is what dragged my ass back into collecting and made me spend tons and tons and tons of money trying to finish off my set... actually, come to think of it... i hate all of you guys! you are the main reason i am broke!

Very interesting stuff. I thought I should wait a few days before I put some words in and read what others have to say first, since I don't post as much in the non-collecting side of the forums anymore. I'm excited for the new mods, as I mentioned in their welcoming thread. I hope they and the current regiment continue to help make this a vital and thriving community.

I only have one cent to throw in, and that's that I used to spend a lot more time in the Everything Else forums than I do now, and while some of it has to do with content I wasn't interested in, that was only the surface of it. Folk are a lot more aggressive and unpleasant in the E.E. threads, and it had a pretty nasty vibe there for a while. I used to sit in the labs at school for hours a week browsing the forums, but I noticed that the more involved in the non-NES threads I got, the more agitated I became with people's general attitudes. I'd leave my session feeling drained or annoyed, and it really took some of the fire out of my collecting for a bit.  So I backed out of posting there, or even really checking on what people were discussing. The only time I even open that forum now is if a thread catches my eye in the Lastest Posts tab, and even then I stick to that one topic (like the wonderful Cornerstone Contest).  I have very much noticed that in the last couple months the negativity has spread to other parts of the forum, and it was very disconcerting.

I enjoy a lot of people's opinions and knowledge around here for NES things, and I would never think of leaving, but there are definitely some bad apples that spread a bit of rot to everyone around them, and if banning is what it will take to weed them out, then bravo Dain and the mod squad for stepping up and giving them the boot. You guys put in too much time and effort to let a very small group of people spoil all your hard work.

Like the many that have posted already, you have my respect and gratitude for all you have done and continue to do. Thank you.

I agree that with the current amount of members, the point system isn't neccesary because all the mods read almost every post and use their common sense(and know if a member is again making trouble or just has a bad day)

But if the site keeps on growing so will the amount of posts. And eventually it will come to a point where the mods can't read every post.

- "Mod 1" read's 5 post of "member X" with "Jabs" - "Mod 2" read's 1 post with a insult - "Mod 3" read's 4 post with comments on other people's pricing

Then member X will not get banned (or warned or something) because none of the 3 mods has read all his bad post.

And I don't think it needs a lot off extra time to do. The mods just need to click the "report" button only visible to them and select the reason (or write 1 sentence). They don't need to go search for violations of the TOS. They just report them when they see them when reading threads.

Another option could be a system where user's report bad posts and the mods can decide if the report is justified (and give them points)

And another option is keeping it like it is now I'm just putting up some idea's to make it a better place.