NintendoAgers,

I really hope you'll all take a moment to read this, as I feel it's important as it relates to the community at NintendoAge as a whole.

But first things first: NintendoAge is a website for video gamers and collectors and friends, and not a place to be taken overly seriously. Seriously! This hobby should be fun, is fun, and if you're no longer having fun at it, consider selling out and move on to more important things. People do it all the time and there's nothing wrong with it. It takes immense dedication to commit more than a few years to this hobby.

For those of you who actually know me (that number is shrinking rapidly!), know that I don't post as much as I used to. And it's not because I'm not on the site as much -- I really am. In fact, I'm here all the time tinkering with something.

I was trying to internalize the other day just why it is I don't post much any more. Is it because of no free time? Not really -- I've never had much free time. Is it because I don't collect anymore or because my NES collection is almost complete? Not at all -- I collect more now than ever before and yet I find myself somewhat "disconnected" from the community I helped create.

The source of my disconnection is from a constant increase in negativity on the forums. More users = more personality conflicts = more flaming = more negativity. I used to pride myself on not needing to ban people, that we could somehow magically work things out and all get along. Things have changed now, and it's gotten to a level that's hard to manage by just "asking" people to be civilized, and frankly, none of the admins or moderators enjoy babysitting, least of all me. It's a distraction from doing other things on the site (like building new features).

From this point forward, if I get involved in mediation, I'm simply going to ban both users by IP, user name and email address. I'm not trying to be a tyrant, but it's simply easier to ban than to constantly remind certain users to "cut it out" (over and over and over again). We're tired of it, the rest of us are tired of reading it, so we're simply going to stop it.

Another thing I'm going to instruct moderators and admins to start doing is to simply delete "jab" posts. If a post is nothing more than to make a negative comment either about the site or another user, we're just going to remove it without warning. If the post is defaming another user directly (ie, calling them an asshole), there's a good chance that will be the name-caller's last post. We learned that name-calling was inconsiderate in the 2nd grade. In the 3rd grade, we learned that you can make your point without calling anyone a name, and it typically leads to better results.

Banning someone does not mean we'll never see that user crop up again. Sometimes we will. It's literally impossible to ban someone that is determined to come back. If that person comes back and we find out, we'll ban them again. And again. If they play nice, they will probably go unnoticed and everyone is happy again. Problem solved.

I think you all know that I try to be a fair kind of guy, I typically try to stay out of (most) conflicts, and I always listen to feedback to make this place a better community. That said, any constructive feedback regarding this is certainly welcome.

-Dain

I agree with you completely, thank you for making this site better for everyone and just thanks for making this site, it's amazing and Im glad you dont tolerate negativity, cause this should be a place for fun.

I have felt this same disconnection for some time now. Hopefully people will read this and react in a way that somehow brings back the "community" feel.

I actually just talked to Langenfeld about this the other day. He's been a member here a lot longer than I have, but I too got to a point where I was just tired of all the crap on the board. There was a period of a month or two where I stayed away from NA, because I just wasn't having fun with it.

I know that compared to other places on the net, this place is almost completely deviod of all of the BS, but when I look back even a short while to when I first joined up, it HAD gotten worse with the growth. I'm willing to accept the change in tone that people have around here though, because this is honestly my favorite little corner of the NET and when it hits 10,000 members, I'll be proud that I was part of the first few hundred.

I guess my biggest problem with things lately is that there are a few members who start arguments and problems on an almost daily basis, yet are still here every day, and are STILL being a problem. What makes it worse is the fact that a few of them have integrated themselves into the community in a productive way, so it seemingly makes it harder to discipline them.

I'm all for banning the problem users, even if it's only a 30 day ban to let them get their heads in the right place. I love it here, but I come here to relax and enjoy my hobby, not have my blood pressure rise.

*standing ovation*

Pretty much anything else I'd say on this topic would be redundant after Dain's post. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Agreed.

Strangely that is why i too was not posting/visiting for a while.... i found a resurgence in my love for this site with Jason's Happy Camper release and the ezines that are so delicately created. These two things are GREAT to keep the community alive!

I must say though, I completely agree with you Dain. It is very hard to keep ones mouth shut when they don't like what others are saying or they don't agree with said member. I think the losing some aspects of the community thing is inevitable, growth is inevitable and that's where the community turns into a city and so on, where no one knows anyone. I think it is important to weed out the shit so this place can still be a good place to come and have a good discussion about the things we all love.

Just be aware though, people do fall away and things slow down. DP isn't NEAR what it once was (in sheer volume of members, it is still a great site and I love it), but with NintendoAge, a specifically designed site to arguably the greatest video games ever made, is going to draw tons of people for years to come. I will still be here, no matter how shitty and unfriendly it may get, but hopefully people will understand your points above.

Regards
Josh

I think that this is (unfortunately) something that's needed to be done for some time now and I'm glad there is going to be zero tolerance for negativity here. We were a tight nit little group for a while and as this place just continues to grow, it would be nice to get that community positive vibe going again.

Thanks for all you've done to spark new interest in the hobby Dain, without this place I'm very doubtful I'd be in the game for as long as I have been.

Sounds like a plan. You're absolutely right that personal attacks and name-calling are totally unacceptable.

Though the occasional debate (in appropriate threads) is still welcome

I agree with this post and all replies 100%. As others have expressed, I too dissappeared from the boards for a few months there... just felt like I lost the connection I have had because a number of the guys on here I who I talked to the most weren't posting as much either. A lot of the petty crap just got to me to the point that I ignored my NES collection for awhile and got into arcades. Don't get me wrong, the same crap will happen everywhere but this site really is a special place to just goof around and be around others who understand this strange addiction we call a hobby. Thanks for the post Dain... I look forward to another fun year like I've had with the past year that I've been a member here.

(edit) As Josh said, it was really NGD's "Happy Camper" thread that got me back here more often... and now I have the Gameboy collecting bug so I'll probably stay around for awhile.

Major Dittos Dain!

I have only been a member here for a short peroid of time, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy this site. There are lots of good people on here that are very helpfull. So, I agree. Do what ever it takes to get rid of the negitivity.

Sounds like a right fine plan to me. <3 U Dain.

Justabum, Khan and I all had this conversation a couple of weeks ago. Funny how everyone seems to be talking about the same stuff.

Good call Dain, much respect for this decision.

I haven't been a part of this forum for very long and I'm glad to see that something is being done to control problematic users before I'm exposed to them. So far I think that this is a great forum with great members. I've had 4 successful transactions and I plan to make plenty more. With negative users begin banned and off the boards, I'll feel more comfortable buying, selling and trading here. Thanks Dain for this post!

I totally agree with everything said.

I too have not been posting a lot and wish I was posting more. I thought it was cause I was nearly done with my collection as well. But I guess it is due to a lot of the crap on here that I don't come here to see. I usually just don't read those posts at all. I don't like to argue on the interweb.

I do miss the days when NA was a peaceful place. I could leave my doors unlocked. etc.

This all started to go downhill after Hounder. I blame him.

Thanks for making this post Dain. Really is great to be a part of this community.

Thanks for all you do Dain to make this a better place. I hope to see the site continue to grow but still remain a friendly and postive place. I know this becomes harder to do as more and more people join but with some effort I think we can still make sure this is the best site on the net.

We (being the admins) have had quite a bit of discussions about a lot of stuff that has been going on for a while now. I couldn't agree more with Dain's entire post. All this negativity and bickering needs to stop. Some days we spend more time settling disputes than we do even posting or working on the site. We encourage you to contact the mods and admins if you have a problem with someone. If a mod can't solve it they will let one of the amdins step in. We have an amazing member base here, and have done some great stuff in the last couple years and I don't want to see us stray from that path.

I do want to thank Dain, Dan and all the other MODs, everyone does a great job in hard situations sometimes. Let's all stick together and make NA a great place for the next 2000 users
~~NGD

I couldn't have put it better myself. Some people need to take a step back and chill. The very reason I came here was to be around people who appreciate the hobby as I do. I have the angle that every user has a different path, but we all have this in common and it is supposed to be fun. The fond memories are what got me back collecting to begin with. The point of me posting here is to learn from others from all over the world and hopefully make a few friends along the way. I am for honest debate and in some instances, people will not agree. This should not stop people from being civil. I'm not saying let's all kiss ass, but let's be reasonable.

Well I'll just get in this thread now and say I accept the majority of the blame here, or maybe even all of it. I honestly think I've improved quite a bit in the past few months as I've adjusted to the cadence of these boards, but apparently not.

I do think it is great to make this public knowledge and establish an official policy. Part of the problem is that tension between members would mount across several threads and then come to a head in one thread. This public call-out should squash it completely.

May I suggest a stickied TOS (Terms of Service)? I've been a dedicated poster in about a dozen or so forums, and EVERY single one has always has a TOS. It could be stickied somewhere and cover certain NA policies like:

1. No negativity or personal attacks, instant ban.
2. If you are new, you are expected to ship first before payment on your first transaction.
3. No criticism of a seller's prices in their thread.
4. No posting completed auctions until after a week has passed.
Etc...

I know I violated #3 + #4 simply because I did not know better. I think the quality of new members would improve greatly if an actual set of rules and guidelines were established. There was probably no need for this originally, but you need rules when you have a large community.

I apologize for my role in any negativity on these boards, but from the get-go I never really felt "welcomed". It seemed like anytime I stated my opinion, it would be discredited because I "wasn't in the game long enough". While veterans possess a lot of historical knowledge that us new guys will never know (like the last selling prices of NWC golds for example), there shouldn't be any arguments over the value of a simple CIB that can be looked up on eBay.

I left for a while too because I got tired of the name calling. I have been checking in regularly the past week or so and am glad to be back. This is a great place to share the love of our hobby with each other. Anything we can do to make this place better, I am all for it.

Well this is a very clear statement, and it really gets the point across, nicely, but strictly at the same time. I totally agree, however I agree with Jone too in that there should be a TOS for NEW users specifically, so that they don't turn out to be someone bad or get banned, unless you want to keep directing them to this thread. Either way, great job and I can't wait for the bright-seeming future of NA.

Daino, you are the man! I will stand by you in whatever decisions you make. Keep up the awesome work!

I feel exactly the same way, actually. The past few months, I still read a LOT of the posts, but I hardly ever post. I don't even really know why I slowed down my posting, but I think I (as you described) felt disconnected from everybody.

It seems like a lot of people are feeling that way too. I'm all for everything that you suggested.

I don't think a TOS would really help anything. We haven't banned anyone without clearly warning them multiple times, and if you can't change your act even after being told directly, there is really no hope for you.

Like everyone else, I've felt a pretty big disconnection with the site. Tons of new people post every day, and I will never really know any of them. The 10 or so people that I truly care about I keep in touch with on AIM. But I love this site and will continue to contribute to the community as much as I can because it has been a part of my life for a pretty long time.

So thanks for being here and putting all this time into the site, Dain. It is the place I spend the most time at, posting or not.