How do we fix AO?

[Kevmaster]

Ok. its late, and Im going to ramble for a while. Sorry...but I am

I'll repost or edit this later.

Heres what I see as the problem. I stay on AO now, even though I've played TWICE in the last two years (both of those were at AO events), because of the PEOPLE who I know and call my friends. I don't stay here so I can see ****fests erupt in the FC and people start *****in to others about some crap. These arn't just names on the internet...these guys are true friends. if something happened to Phil, i would care. Not because hes some mod dude on AO, but because he's a great guy and he's gone out of his way to help me. Phil is a great, standup, person.

What are the only posts I look at now adays on AO? Meet & Greet posts so I know where I can go to play ball with great people and IAO related posts...so I can hang out with great people. And the reason I pay $250 for airfare, $100 for a hotel, $100 for paint and entry and $50 for food ($500) isn't so I can play ball...shoot..i would go to an AO event and not play ball (done that twice). Hell, I drove down to AOSE for the night before the event just to hang out with the AOers who were there. Great guys. I didn't care one lick about playing paintball...I drove back home to NC before the first game started. Never made it to the field. Why? because i wanted to be with the people who were at AOSE. Guys like Thor. Guys like Phil. Guys like Jason. Gals like Clare and Trina. Fantastic people who happen to play paintball.

And on the thorums stuff...not to beat a dead horse, because i know i am (and i dont know EVERYTHING that went on behind the scenes)... but to kill his like seems a little much to me. between allowing people to say f'in on AO and having the HOT CHICK THREAD, thorums ain't but a hop skip and a jump away from that. Besides, to get into the 'boobie' section, Thor has to give you permission.

On Caveman's point about illegal activities being disallowed...Tell that to some moderators here and AGD staff members who have knowingly given me (only 20 years old) liquor and beer at AO events. I mean...WTF? I'm not unhappy about it, it just seems hypocritical. I don't see them as villians nor do Isee caveman as a bad guy.

What do I want out of AO? I want it to be so that I WANT to go tothe IAO...just to listen to Tom talk and to hang oout with AOers for a day. ONE DAY! AO ain't givin me that now. I think if we can ever get to the point where NEW, YOUNG members want to go hang out with everyone and can be mature about it, we will have one hell of an AO again. I certainly hope that happens. Because, if it doesn't we're gunna have a PBN replica here on AO. And NOBODY wants that.

[Buff]

I think what was different back in the day was that this forum was a group of old-timer automag users who liked fiddling with their mech guns.........

now its got a bunch of 13-16 yo's in it........

what can be expected?

[Ov3rmind]

I see it as a "things change over time" issue. AO will never be like it was before. A lot of posters who have been around for a while wont accept this and will try to challenge it. Then you'll have the newer members answer their challenge with some drama. We're past the point of no return. You'll see this happen with every forum on the web (look at how much PBN changed from it's inception in 2001 to present).

The only thing I have a problem with is sometimes I'll see rules selectively applied to members. I'm not going to say names, but this does annoy me.

[Dubstar112]

I would really like to see a PB forum (doesn't have to be here, but that would be nice) which is invitation only, for just the discussion of ideas (both techincal and philosophical), without the need to be so guarded.

thats the way it used to be

In a Nut Shell:

The forum was best when the gun was more popular than the forum,now it's the other way around.

Theres people who dont know what a mag is on here. Somewhere

I too will only post where I can answer somones question I guess, to its fullest extent.

[Mango]

I wonder how a message board is supposed to survive when a majority of the members are afraid to post for fear of being banned.

[spantol]

There'a another message board that I frequent that is orders of magnitude larger than AO. They get by, and have done so for years, with one simple, overriding rule: Don't be a jerk. Jerkitude is judged at the discretion of the moderators, though users have some input through the "Report this post" function. There's a simple tiered discipline system in place--A public warning, a private warning, a temp ban. Then, a public warning, a private warning, a permenant ban. There's also more or less full disclosure when it comes to bannings--if there's a strong public reaction to a ban, they're as forthcoming as they can be in explaining the rationale, which goes a long way towards minimizing drama.

[PBX Ronin 23]

I agree with you in regards to the need of full disclosure when giving out perm bans. But perhaps there are things also that are better left undisclosed. Being a mod is a thankless job and I'm sure they really don't enjoy doing what they sometimes have to do.

[Albinonewt]

I say screw it, why bother "fixing" AO? Sure we loved it, but all things change and evolve. Sometimes change is good for some and not others. If the older guys don't like the new ignorant child friendly AO then it is time for them to move on. I like posting here, and I generally like the people (if we hadn't hired some smart MIS people I'd still be on for 30+ posts a day). But I can go to other forums and talk to other strangers without my life being ruined. I'd say I have 10 or 12 pretty good friends that i met through AO and I'm not going to through out their phone numbers because we don't all post here anymore.

[fcpchop]

I wonder how a message board is supposed to survive when a majority of the members are afraid to post for fear of being banned.

I think everyone is blowing that WAY out of proportion. I never have to worry about gettin banned when i post, I'm never afraid to speak my mind on a subject just because I will get banned. Thats because I dont complain about the mods and I follow the rules, well most atleast People act as if anything thing they post will get them banned and its really not that way at all, just dont do anything stupid and keep it mature.

[jwren00]

I wonder how a message board is supposed to survive when a majority of the members are afraid to post for fear of being banned.

^ Those are the kind of people that don't belong here. However, i really don't think that the "majority" of AOers are afraid to post for fear of being banned. Do you honestly feel the possibility of getting banned with every post that you make? Did you ever stop to think that maybe the problem lies within your posts, and not with the moderators??? You, and everyone else on this forum that shares your problem, don't belong here. Period.

[Kevmaster]

^ Those are the kind of people that don't belong here. However, i really don't think that the "majority" of AOers are afraid to post for fear of being banned. Do you honestly feel the possibility of getting banned with every post that you make? Did you ever stop to think that maybe the problem lies within your posts, and not with the moderators??? You, and everyone else on this forum that shares your problem, don't belong here. Period.

I held back in my post in posting TRUTHFUL information about some people/things because I knew if I did it wouldn't go well at all. Banned? maybe. Deleted? Surely. None of it would have been speculation, all factual that I know happened. There are a lot of us who could expose the truth and decline because of what would happen. Its just not worth it

[sneakyhacker420]

as soon as the pie revolution died, it seemed that overnight, AO grew from a friendly community and accepting of others, to a cruel party of a**holes, not tolerant of anything

people from pie simply got banned for being a part of it, when our bans expired, we asked for an explanation of why it happened - we got banned again for starting a thread looking for answers

and we still havent gotten answers yet, not that we even care anymore

AO needs to just reform like all hell - i heard about the s***storm that happened recently, and i'm not too happy about it

AO has taken a turn for the worst - with personalities of every member, including the what used to be "elite" moderators chiming in on the action

AO has commited genocide against itself, and its not gonna stop - it just needs to flat out die

as soon as TK retired, i knew that AGD was going straight down the crapper, and AO is one large sign of it - being the largest individual company forum on the net - it should be able to stand for itself, but apparently, its fallen faster than most could ever concieve

[1stdeadeye]

How to fix AO?

Porn thread





Lighten up everybody. It is the internet, not real life. If this is your real life, then that's just sad.

I have become a lurker because I just don't see much worthwhile anymore.

[Yogster]

Keep up the Good Work

It's funny you are saying what you are Miscue. I have been to many paintball forums and I would have to say this is one of the best.You can post almost anything and expect a decent reply without flamming.Alot of local forums I visit on a regular bases are not moderated like this one.Even though I haven't been part of the AO community for long but I have been here as a guest for many years and plan on more.

The popularity of paintball has grown a great deal and of course there is going to be more traffic.

Keep up the good work your doing a awesome job.

[Muzikman]

Ok, I have not read all three pages but here are my suggestions, thoughts and ideas.


Is it really broken, or just a matter of things changing over time?

Both. Things change over time, you can't help that. People do not like change, so people think that things got worse. Now, yes, AO has changed, AO has grown, and in many ways got worse.

What made AO good?

The feeling of family. Not just on the forums but in person too.

What still makes it good?

The AO events and the people that go to them. If it wasn't for the fact that there are a select group of people that I know would be at events, I doubt I would be on AO or go to the events.

What has changed?

The forums grew. Rules and additudes did not change or grow with it. What use to be run by a select few who were shooting from the hip turned into a group that do not have a good set of rules to guide them.

Also, I think the industry has alot to do with the additudes of the users. AO "was" a user group. Designed for people who owned, shot and liked the line of products that AGD made. We now have a lot of people who use a bunch of different guns and some don't even like AGD. I think this causes a lot of arguements.

Now, with more dealers, you now have more people asking which one is better. You then end up with person A saying dealer B sucks and use dealer C and then that gets into an argument (and some times between dealers).

These are just a few things I see wrong.

How do we improve it?

• Rewrite the rules. Start with an entirely clean slate.

• Remove file attachments.

• Keep the place PG (not PG-13). This means scrap the "Hot Chick Thread"

• Revamp the cuss filter add some words, define some words better, and take out some words.

• Cut down the number of mods, or, assign different forums for each to moderate. They can not stray from that forum

• Revamp the forums. Remove some, rearrange others and add some. They do not flow right, the groups they are in don't make sense, etc...

• Find a forum crack that will lock threads older than a certain date. This way really old threads can not be resurrected

• For a small yearly fee give each dealer his own forum under the "dealers" forum. The dealer mods this forum and can post anything within the rules in it.

• For dealers who do not want to pay this fee, the dealer forum has restrictions, such as one thread for all their products, only new threads would be for specials. This would have to be thought through some more.

And finally (for now), have a zero tolorance policy.