A/M/C Forum Changes - A Proposal (Update: 9/25)

[Uncle Kenny]

Update 9/25/2012: Update information can be found here

Hi everyone,

I wanted to take a few minutes and let you know about some changes that we're thinking about making to this forum. Since this is your home forum and the place you interact, we want to try and incorporate your opinions as much as our own ideas. So with that said, I've listed a couple of the major points we're looking into, below. Feel free to offer up your opinions on any or all of them. Your own suggestions are fully welcome here as well.

• Close down and merge subforums
  One of the bigger ideas we're looking into is the prospect of merging subforums. Now, there are a couple different avenues we've laid out for carrying this out so I'll present them all here.
  
  • First is a suggestion to merge the TV Anime and the Anime Series & Movies subforums into one, Anime subforum. This would remove the confusion of what classifies as a TV Anime and gives you a specific place to go talk about it.
    
  • Second is to close down the TV Anime and Anime Series & Movies subforums and just make the main forum the designated discussion area for all topics pertaining to any anime.
    
  • Third, we have the option of closing TV Anime, Anime Series & Movies, and Manga and again, just making the main forum the centralized place to discussion both anime and manga topics.
  
  
  
• Create a Recommend an Anime sticky
  Historically, this hasn't been implemented due to the time it would take us to properly maintain the thread and keep any running list updated. That said, if any user or group of users feels they are up to the task and wouldn't mind keeping the thread updated, this is definitely something we can look into. If you are interested, feel free to post in here letting us know so we can gauge the interest behind it.
  
  
• Create a What Is This Anime? sticky
  This one is probably one of the easier changes. In order to try and reduce the number of recurring threads, create a centralized place for everyone to post a random screenshot in the hopes of discovering which anime it's from.
  
  
• Revamp the Forum Rules
  The rules of the forum haven't had a good update in several years. There are quite possibly some things in there that are outdated and some policies that are too strict. In the interest of promoting discussion while also providing a location for fans to casually interact, what rules do you think should be eased up? Which do you think should be made tougher? How do you think they can be improved?
  
  
• More Mod Presence
  This is a tougher one due to the statistical facts of the Moderator team vs. the userbase. We do have a new round of Mods currently being trained up though so it's quite possible we will be able to add some more faces to this forum so that the reports get dealt with faster.
  

Like I said, these are the main areas we're currently looking at. Please take a few moments to let us know if you think these ideas are awesome, the worst thing you've ever heard of, could be better, etc. Also, feel free to give your own suggestions as we want to make this a place for all of you to relax and enjoy yourselves.

The Gaia Administration Team

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Firstly, I wanted to say tank you for making this.

I would love if they implimented the idea to close down the Tv anime, anime series and manga sub-forums since those really can be discussed in the main forum.

Also the idea of a recommend me an anime and “What show/character is this ‘ sticky is something else I ‘d like to see. Hopefully it would provide some help to the repeat threads that continously pop up here.

As for the forum rules, it would be nice if they added that just posting youtube videos /pictures is not appropriate and there needs to be discussion. Furthermore, perhaps something added to the what does not belong in the AMC forum that talks about abridged series not being appropriate since they are fanmade and not actually the anime series. The other rules I think are fine as they are.

More mods would also be nice since I see lots of rulebreaking threads here days after I reported them. Overall I think a lot of these ideas are good.

[The Fair Lady]

Quite nice to see at least someone trying to listening to users here to make the forums better, I guess I will try to return the favour as most as possible.

Quote:

Close down and merge subforums

I would lean on just closing down all anime-related and manga forums altogether and just merge everything into the main forum completely. That way we can see more discussion threads up and going which would more likely reduce the amount of unnecessary spam in the main forum. What I would love to see more are general threads discussing the series in great detail which makes participating in the forums a bit more fun. We don't necessarily want to determine whether a good discussion thread should be redirected to an anime forum or to a manga forum, I would rather have a series thread on the main forum discussing on both forms of media.

Quote:

Create a Recommend an Anime sticky/Create a What Is This Anime? sticky

I am delighted for you guys to implement this, but l am probably going to say that stickies are quite useless in a forum like this, as people new to the forum are more likely to ignore the sticky and post regardless, which does create quite a problem. Honestly, implementing a guide to access how they can find recommendations (by directing them to MAL or such) or finding the reverse engine tools (using Tineye) to find the particular image would be more useful as it encourages people to do everything by themselves and not bother most people who would want a discussion thread here. I think the "What is this anime from?" thread should be allowed to stay, providing they have use all of their resources from the major guide and can't find anything from it. A single thread will not cause any trouble, if people have already answered the question, then the thread will hopefully fall off the page by then.

Quote:

Revamp the Forum Rules

I would love to have rules that are really simple to understand and remove any rules that are completely vague. I think forum rules do contribute to the judgement of forum moderators here, since they do sometimes redirect threads with highly-detailed discussions to the Chatterbox/Recycle Bin in a few seconds while some spam/troll threads oddly remain for a few days. Basically, as long you can try create rules to somehow encourage good discussion threads to stay, it would be perfect.

Hopefully, threads that does not promote discussion and that only somehow only result in single line answers will be treated as 'spam'. Such as "What is your favorite anime' thread etc. in the sticky should just be merged into the rules section instead as again people generally avoid the sticky like the plague.

Quote:

More Mod Presence

More mods won't solve the problem. In fact having thousands of mods not doing the job perfectly is just as worse as a single mod not doing their job correctly. What matters is the quality of the mods, not the quantity of the mods. I want a moderator who can distinguish what thread could potentially create good discussion thread and let it stay in the forum while moving troll/spam threads or basically any thread that will incite pointless arguments and insults to the Recycle Bin. The A/M/C is particular slow as it is, would probably never need more mods, but actually have enough mods in different timezones which they can be highly active to monitor threads in the forum so that removing threads or banning inappropriate users can be faster.

And one more thing is that you can implement the option for users to post in the thread without actually bumping up the thread. One of the reasons why troll threads are successful is that people would actually bump the thread up on the front page which lets the thread to reel in more replies. If you can implement this option, this could prevent the thread popping up in the front page without more users being harassed heavily in return. It can also reduce the amount of reports sent to the mods, since this will make your jobs on your end a bit easier too. This is generally an idea, but you guys can work from there, if you want to make this place a safer and friendlier environment.

[MooMooJuice]

Great to hear from you guys!

I think closing/merging forums is a great idea. Most people just post in the main forum anyway, and subforums are often ignored. I think you should add the non-anime subforums to that list as well. We already have Homestuck topics floating around the main page. Why not just everything?

I think what the rules say about 'non-anime' threads could be changed a bit. I don't think "what do you think about [show]?" and topics like it are spam, because responders will show reason with their choices in such topics, and people enjoy seeing others opinions and responding to them.
Same with "Does anyone remember [show]?". Because people will reminisce and talk about what they liked/didn't like so on and so forth..

There will always be people who make one-line responses. Maybe you should be looking closer at the individuals and not always the topic itself?

I like the idea of a 'What's this series?" sticky.

Why not just make a recommendation subforum?

[MooMooJuice]

Tsundere Lori

And one more thing is that you can implement the option for users to post in the thread without actually bumping up the thread. One of the reasons why troll threads are successful is that people would actually bump the thread up on the front page which lets the thread to reel in more replies. If you can implement this option, this could prevent the thread popping up in the front page without more users being harassed heavily in return. It can also reduce the amount of reports sent to the mods, since this will make your jobs on your end a bit easier too. This is generally an idea, but you guys can work from there, if you want to make this place a safer and friendlier environment.

I don't think this would help, honestly.
I've seen people who will post and thumbs up a troll/spam topic because it's 'funny'. And surely the troll can just bump his own topic with every post he makes.

[Sunny Sanity]

Hoc cor mei metum atrum lacrimat...

Thanks for the suggestion topic. I wasn't expecting this when I woke up this morning.

Quote:

• Close down and merge subforums
  
  • Second is to close down the TV Anime and Anime Series & Movies subforums and just make the main forum the designated discussion area for all topics pertaining to any anime.

On the topic of closing down and merging subforums, closing down the TV Anime and the Anime Series & Movies subforums will promote more discussion on the main forum, as the topics in these subforums are already regularly discussed in the main forum.

However, I'm unsure about closing down the Manga subforum, as most of the users in the main forum do not read manga. Topics on manga that aren't popular will be largely ignored in the main forum. I also think that adding discussion about light novels to the Manga subforum will be beneficial to the forum as a whole. As of now, there's no designated location to discuss light novels. The manga forum's needed to prevent manga topics from being buried under the anime topics, like they are in 4chan's centralized /a/.

Quote:

Create a Recommend an Anime sticky

Create a What Is This Anime? sticky

I agree with most everything Tsundere Lori has to say on this. In the original post, you mentioned something about a running list for anime recommendations. Any running list would be impractical due to the massive amounts of anime and manga in existence. Creating a guide to finding recommendations and reverse image searching would be the most efficient method. There are certain cases in which reverse image searching doesn't produce any results. In these cases, the occasional "What is this anime?" topic is acceptable.

Quote:

Revamp the Forum Rules

I really have nothing to say on this. Maybe the other users can help.

Quote:

More Mod Presence

As Tsundere Lori said, more mods won't necessarily fix the problem. We just need a few quality mods (perhaps anime and manga fans) who are active in the forum and who can distinguish between topics that promote discussion, and topics that belong in the Recycle Bin. I've seen good topics moved to the Chatterbox or Recycle Bin while pointless or troll topics remain on the front page.

...atqui animus meus insaniam sanguinat albam.

[The Fair Lady]

MooMooJuice

Tsundere Lori

And one more thing is that you can implement the option for users to post in the thread without actually bumping up the thread. One of the reasons why troll threads are successful is that people would actually bump the thread up on the front page which lets the thread to reel in more replies. If you can implement this option, this could prevent the thread popping up in the front page without more users being harassed heavily in return. It can also reduce the amount of reports sent to the mods, since this will make your jobs on your end a bit easier too. This is generally an idea, but you guys can work from there, if you want to make this place a safer and friendlier environment.

I don't think this would help, honestly.
I've seen people who will post and thumbs up a troll/spam topic because it's 'funny'. And surely the troll can just bump his own topic with every post he makes.

I just hate those people with that kind of logic, they just love to make the forum worse.
I didn't realise about the troll bumping up his own topic could make it worse though, welp! But if there is a way that people start to ignore the troll thread and start using the report button instead, I think the troll would simply get bored because there he gets no replies since bumping to the page has no effect and it is just futile effort anyway. I vaguely remember a rule that is somehow like 'you should not post in troll threads and you should report the thread instead' and I believe that should be added/emphasised in the rules. Well anything goes really, as long there is a way that would stop people from acting more superior than the trolls and use their common sense at once.

[The Fair Lady]

Sunny Sanity

However, I'm unsure about closing down the Manga subforum, as most of the users in the main forum do not read manga. Topics on manga that aren't popular will be largely ignored in the main forum. I also think that adding discussion about light novels to the Manga subforum will be beneficial to the forum as a whole. As of now, there's no designated location to discuss light novels. The manga forum's needed to prevent manga topics from being buried under the anime topics, like they are in 4chan's centralized /a/.

This is quite true, it is unfortunate there are people who watch more frequently than reading. I do agree that finding a manga topic is quite hard, as having been on /a/, there is some good manga generals like TWGOK but due to their enthusiasm on watching new seasonal anime, closing down the manga subforum completely would probably block the creation of new threads that will have discussion on manga.

Having to consider it again, I think there should be a creation of a subforum where it involves the discussion of Japanese-made entertainment that involves reading; such as a Manga, Light Novel (which could be discussed here but people are less likely to post in it because they usually read other forms of literature) and a Visual Novel (also could be discussed on the Gaming Discussion but again, there is also people that would rather discuss popular games than focusing on a niche style that has Japanese people as their audience) subforum.

The A/M/C could be split into two parts, one main forum solely on discussing on the watching form of media and one main forum solely on discussing on the reading form of media. That way, either topics would not be easily ignored and more discussion threads can be easily be more generated. I am fine with everything merged together as it can remove the confusion of which thread topic should go where, but I am also fine with the manga subforum staying as well.

[Mugetsu Ookamiza]

merging the TV Anime and the Anime Series & Movies is a good idea. I've seen enough people who really are confused as to what goes where between those two.

however, I think removing both isn't the best idea. the main could better be used for stuff like general threads about stuff that has both an anime and manga adaption, while the anime forum specifically for discussions about the anime version or anime-only titles and the manga forum specifically for manga versions and manga-only titles.

and I applaud that there's something trying to be done about the mod situation here. it was getting bad enough I was almost starting to wish I could do something to help even tho my last stint modding someone (as an omnimod on another site) lead to one of the worst events in my life (which lead to several years being stalked by a former Marine who was discharged for psychological reasons with the help of a former best friend who he had turned against me as well because I didn't want to become an item with said nutty ex-Marine).

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

I like the idea of perhaps having a guide sticky instead of just a Recommend me an anime / What show/character is this ‘ sticky

[Gigadrax]

I don't know if I totally agree with merging TV anime and Anime series and movies. I just recently showed up here, and I wasn't really that confused. I just don't know if I want all those Inu Yasha, Yu-Gi-Oh and whatever threads mixing in with the general stuff I like.

I do like the idea for the stickies though.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Gigadrax

I don't know if I totally agree with merging TV anime and Anime series and movies. I just recently showed up here, and I wasn't really that confused. I just don't know if I want all those Inu Yasha, Yu-Gi-Oh and whatever threads mixing in with the general stuff I like.

I do like the idea for the stickies though.

It would make more sense though to merge those since they’re basically talking about the same things that can be talked about on the main forum. Plus its more for making the forum look nice not because of confusion..

[Gigadrax]

Tsuki_Kirkland

It would make more sense though to merge those since they’re basically talking about the same things that can be talked about on the main forum. Plus its more for making the forum look nice not because of confusion..

You're right that they are things that could just be talked about on the main forum, but I thought I might shout out my concerns of seeing too much... Erm, well TV anime, I guess is what you'd call it. xd I mean I'll probably live, but it doesn't hurt to point out what I'm not totally comfortable with.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Gigadrax

Tsuki_Kirkland

Gigadrax

I don't know if I totally agree with merging TV anime and Anime series and movies. I just recently showed up here, and I wasn't really that confused. I just don't know if I want all those Inu Yasha, Yu-Gi-Oh and whatever threads mixing in with the general stuff I like.

I do like the idea for the stickies though.

It would make more sense though to merge those since they’re basically talking about the same things that can be talked about on the main forum. Plus its more for making the forum look nice not because of confusion..

You're right that they are things that could just be talked about on the main forum, but I thought I might shout out my concerns of seeing too much... Erm, well TV anime, I guess is what you'd call it. xd I mean I'll probably live, but it doesn't hurt to point out what I'm not totally comfortable with.

true taking out those forums will probably mean an increase in threads about animes currently on Tv here, but the forum can handle it. and you’re right it doesn’t hurt to voice your concerns

[YUKlMURA]

I'm so happy to hear from you guys. This is great, this is wonderful. Thank you so much.

The only real concern I have is with the subforum closing and merging. I feel the third option is most fit, since it's been like that already, but keep the Manga subforum. It's the only subforum amongst the ones listed that's kind of necessary.

Also, I wish that the forum would seem more friendly towards all forms of animation; not just anime. That would probably call for the forum being renamed, and that's kind of dumb, so I guess it isn't problem.