Be Excellent To Each Other

Ironically, we've been discussing this in the Bits and Bobs thread.

Oh indeed, the ironing.

I have made *such* a faux pas. I shall not be able to show my face at the Golf Club for weeks.

Of course - the poll will only reflect the views of the minority who post here regularly, so.... Oh.

Heavens! This is complicated stuff. The mods must need super-huge brains to deal with it all.

I thought we were already doing #3

3 the golden mean

Wo, wo, wo! Slow down Einstein!
Are we really having a 2 page arguement whether to have a thread to discuss crap in? Almost every thread degenerates into crap, and if it is a "serious" thread, it (de)generates a second split thread, as the first four posts are split from it as being off topic!

I don't like the bits and bobs thread because it contains interesting thread worthy stuff that I miss because I'm not constantly checking it.

This forum is bits and bobs. We don't need a meta-forum-within-a-forum going on.

I don't lose sleep over it though.

EDIT: So I went for the last option. Despite preferring it not exist.

Can I vote for somewhere in between options 3 and 4 (cos I'm awkward, like)? Although I do agree that if an interesting discussion comes out of BnB it should be split out, a mod is not always going to be around (or available to trawl through BnB to look for them). Perhaps if this happens and no one's around to split it, perhaps someone could take the initiative and create a thread for it? We should all be working to make this an interesting place to read together.

I LIKE IT WHEN SMALL PUPPIES WALK CLOSE TO RIVERS AND THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME AS IT MEANS LUNCH AND WITHOUT BITS AND BOBS I AM HOMELESS, YOU HEARTLESS COCKFAGS FROM THE 6TH WANKBOTTOM OF HELL

I really hate general chit-chat kind of threads. My "regular" forum has one of these, it has run to 717 pages I believe and while there is some legendary stuff within it, it's just too much work to follow what is going on, and I am one of the regulars... I only ever read it when somebody links to it from elsewhere on the board. If you've got something to say, just make a thread ffs, even if it probably isn't worth it. Where's the harm?

Oh, and if you really must have a thread of this sort, don't call it something so camp as "bits and bobs" kthx. "Bits and bobs" is the domain of pottering middle-aged housewives and senile old women.

Because people already complain the front page moves too fast. If you start a thread for every little thing like "I just made a cake!" or "I bought a PS2!" then it'll move at 20 pages a day and the topics that actually do require debate/replies like the Forza one or the "I need help with" ones will never be seen by their intended targets.

If you lose B+B+ all that'll happen is that a lot of the little community enhanced life posts and one shot jokes will simply jsut not get posted and we'll all lose out, for a tiny questionable rise in things to talk about on the main page.

And the polar bear pictures, man.

A fair point, but as I understand it BnB is intended for "things worth saying but not worth a thread", right? Well the "I made a cake" crap isn't worth saying, even in BnB, so if people are going to be bumsnoggers and insist on posting them as entire threads then we just cull them surely?

In your opinion. An 'I just made a cake post' in B & B led to a topic split of recipies. This is to be encourged not discouraged.

You never know if what you post is going to turn into a long conversation, but that can never be helped and happens even in themed threads. Hell, it's one of the things that people love about these boards!

So the BEEX threads aren't to your liking, the BEEX posts aren't to your liking and the BEEX poker game isn't to your liking?

Ever think this place might not be quite your thing?

Hey Mimi, how's things?

Heya hon - things are great - trying to enjoy the few last days of summer, even though they are freezing cold and rainy.

I am starting to write a new book, I am just at the planning stage now, but I hope to get going properly in a week or so.

Are you well?

Chippper.

Very chipper.

And dapper.

Yeah, all's good, thanks.

So I hear - shall I send you some Biggles type goggles?

Heh.

That would be amusing.

EDIT: Clicking SUBMIT when I wanted a carriage return is not a good idea.

I now need a 1930's style motorcycle as well.

Except it's not at all at the moment. Which was the whole point of the suspension.

I'm not sure how forcing people to make threads to make the place look busier was ever going to do anything about the problem of not enough people posting.

I'm surprised by you of all people, Mimi. At a time when this place could use an injection of fresh blood you are dropping hints that perhaps people should leave? Now, I don't want to stick up for Beano Boy as he's big and ugly enough to speak for himself, but all he's done is constructively criticised. I can't see any negativity for its own sake - just a fresh pair of eyes on a problem that most forums (except for the largest and most popular ones) experience at times.

I'll give him a slap for wading into the poker thread without reading as to why we've chosen to play how and where we do, though.

Are we walking on our hind legs yet?

I don't see why so surprised, to be honest. I wasn't suggesting anyone should leave, but genuinely wondering why it seems when someone apparently dislikes a way a place operates that they keep coming back.

There's a pub nearby that serves awful beer, the staff are rude and unfriendly, it's overpriced and full of undesirables. I don't go there, because that's not the kind of place I like to go to - I go somewhere that has the kind of staff I like, nice beer and good crisps, I just wondered why it was so different on the net

I just worry that a newcomer's opinions aren't taken as well as someone who's been around for a while. Both are valid, in different ways. I don't think he's outright said "this place is shit" (or is even thinking it), it's just easier to critique when you haven't been involved in places from the start.

However, I might be wrong. He might think we're a bunch of cockends.

Your choice of moderators sucks too.

But srsly, I only said that "general gubbins" type threads are shit... most other internet messageboards have them too, so how this can be construed as a slight against BEEX in particular I'm not really sure.

I'm not sure which BEEX threads I criticised.

And I criticised the Pokerroom website as being clunky and rubbish, not the BEEX poker game itself. That's rather like me saying the color scheme of this site is lousy and you taking it as a criticism of the content.

I don't mind being told to leave though, it's how I know that people are listening to me

Matt> we all know newcomers' opinions don't count for anything, no point pretending otherwise or people will just scoff at you for being naive. This is why I'm trying to boost my post count ASAP.

If you're saying you would have waded through 5 separate threads made up mostly of people saying why they can or can't play poker that particular week in the hunt for an explanation of something you are only vaguely curious about, then either you're lying or living with a girl has changed you...

No-one told you to leave. Do you not like reading either?

Nah, I was only saying it in an off-hand way. I even used a Dimlie in the original post to push this home, but I think Myoptika was just being sweet and protective of you. Are you Myoptika's girlfriend?

So what do you do about these people to stop them moaning?

The bit about "being told to leave" was a response to what Matt said to you really, it didn't really stem from your original post... I almost put it after the "Matt>" bit when I typed it but then didn't, I probably should have done. I didn't really think you were telling me to leave.


I wish! Then I'd have cracking great norks and everything!

I think HE is telling you to leave and using me as a shield for this. He is sneaky this way.

I have just remembered that Myoptikas girlfriend is someone completely different, but I blame the half Guinness I have drunk and will now fall over for a bit.

I could do without it to be honest. I never bother to read it, and haven't posted there since we got used to the new board. Well, except for the other day, but I wouldn't have minded if I hadn't been able to post that.

I think you should both leave as I hate you equally.

I thought Stu was right to ban bits+bobs threads. If it's worth looking at, it's worth a thread.

I don't, which is why I stress that we had no intention of getting rid of it permanently. The problem is that 'worth looking at' is a sliding scale.

So...

Day Time Posters - We love Bits & Bobs!

Evening Posters - We hate Bits & Bobs!

Gross generalisations ahoy!

Probably not that inaccurate though.

I just ate a biscuit... yum yum!!!

Now we have two BnB threads. *kills self*

Except it isn't. You'd have a front page full of "Hmm, I actually quite like this new Kylie" song type threads all with 1 or 2 replies, which would be shit.

B+B fulfils that, it doesn't take content away from the front page, it provides extra and frequently the kind of stuff that tells me more about people here. Without B+B you just wouldn't get those posts, I know I wouldn't post them because an entire thread is madness. hell, people occasionally drop "updated blog" type notes in there, some generate discussion, most don't really but I assume you're not proposing I post a thread every time I write some bollocks about the Daily Mail?

If you're not regular and don't "care" about the actual people here (and that's certainly true for me at places like Atlas F1) then it's not for you, just read the threads. But when you've passed through "Anonymous internet ppl" to just "ppl" it becomes very useful.

I thought the updated blog posts went in the 'Pimp Your Blog' thread? Same with Grim... wanting to post about Spore in BnB - there's already a dedicated Spore thread.

Madness.

How strange... that is my point exactly, and yet we are voting at opposite extremes of the spectrum

That is what I got the impression the mods WERE doing, but then somebody said "Oi Hitlers, can't we toast marshmallows round the campfire and chat about it?" and what was meant to be no more than a trial turned into a drama-filled debate over the whole future of off topic conversation on the board.