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

[Miss-dark8607]

AWESOME so you did listen to our suggestions in SF! smile

Yeah please get rid of all the other sub-forums. (Save for Comics, Pokemon, Western Animation, and Nartuo.)

Love all the other suggestion as stated already in my post in SF. Just one more thing....

Pretty Rarity Please! Add a My Little Pony Sub-Forum. Getting really sick of those threads taking over the main AMC, Western Animation, and sometimes Entertainment forum.

[MooMooJuice]

Mugetsu Ookamiza

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.

I thought that's how the forums are supposed to be now, but no one follows that rule and mods don't enforce it..

[Winniwyn]

When I first read the suggestion of closing down and merging the subforums, I wasn't sure about the idea but after reading other people's thoughts on the subject I have to agree. Keep the manga forum but just merge the other two into the AMC main. And if you don't end up doing that, then at least give us a little more definition of what the main page is for because as it stands right now, it really doesn't have a purpose. But for the love of god, please no Pony subforum. If we start adding a new subforum for every fad that comes along, the main page is going to end up looking as hideous as the entertainment discussion forum, or worse.

As for adding stickys, I'm not really sure. I do think that giving people the tools to find something themselves could be more effective, but at the same time, people are pretty lazy so there's no telling if they would actually utilize said tools. And while its true that not everyone uses the stickys, they do still get used. People do post in them every day, so they must take out at least some of the influx in spam threads. But of course there's also still plenty of people that ignore the stickys so again, I'm not really sure what the best answer would be. Could we try both? Stickys that give people the tools to find the answers themselves, but are still there incase people are too lazy or what something a little more personalized?

I agree with everyone else on the mod situation. Quality over quantity would be better. I wish that a few people who actually post in the AMC were qualified and dedicated enough to become mods, but I can understand how finding people like that could be tough. I'd honestly volunteer to give it a try, but I'm not online nearly enough to make any sort of difference anymore. Plus I don't report threads enough to be qualified, mostly because I honestly believe that at this point it doesn't do any good in this forum, by the time a mod actually gets to this forum threads have either fallen off the first page (and then get bumped up later) or they get ignored in favor of removing different threads.

And as far as the rules go, I'll have to read through them later. At the moment I've got cold medicine in my system that's making my brain feel fuzzy. I'll honestly be surprised if anything I've typed so far makes sense to me later.

I do hope that more than just these few people that have posted so far will notice this thread and voice their opinions as well. I should also add that I am really happy that gaia is finally taking an interest in this.

[Mugetsu Ookamiza]

MooMooJuice

Mugetsu Ookamiza

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.

I thought that's how the forums are supposed to be now, but no one follows that rule and mods don't enforce it..

theoretically, yes, that's kind of how it's supposed to be. I was pointing out some semblance of order and selection seemed better to me than the third option did.

but there are a lot of people who don't understand what goes in TV Anime and what goes in Anime Series & Movies in the current structure. you'll see people trying to discuss stuff that never aired on major channels in North America pop up in TV Anime and people discussing stuff that did in Anime Series & Movies. it happened often enough it's almost pointless to have both of those subforums and not a single subforum. (and on that note the Gaia Anime Player forum is used as a general anime discussion forum too, when it's not being used to fuss over the fact the player only works in the main 50 states of the US and the DC area; it's not really getting used for its intended purpose at all making it essentially useless in practice, even if the idea behind it had merit.)

[sinfully_cute]

Ah, this just made my day. Thank you, guys. whee

• Close down and merge subforums
  Merging the anime forums should be fine. They all get discussed on the main one, anyway.
  
  I agree with Sunny Sanity and Tsundere Lori that the manga section should stay. Expanding it to allow more readable media like visual novels, and light novels sounds great.
  
  
• Create a Recommend an Anime sticky
  I think a recommendation sticky is a good idea. Just make it a rule to quote the person you're recommending to. Also, on the first page it would be a good idea to provide advice on finding anime for yourself. Like links to MAL, wikipedia, TV tropes. Also some links to legal streaming sites like funimation, hulu, crunchyroll. Wish I could, but I'm afraid my schedule's too hectic to do any modding. XP
  
  If the thread doesn't happen, enforcing the recommendation rule would work just as well. Especially in instances where they're not trying to start discussion with it, and just say "recommend anything." Maybe have a brief little blurb ready for when someone's thread is moved for this, outlining the above tips?
  
  
• Create a What Is This Anime? sticky
  For a while I was wishing there was one of these. But honestly, 99.9% of images can be found using a reverse image finder. How about making this against the rules? And providing brief instructions for using image finders on the rules page.
  
  (Not that a sticky would hurt anything. For that .1%, and those people who will post regardless...)
  
  
• Revamp the Forum Rules
  I've mentioned what to make tougher. I think the rules should be looser on character discussion. It's natural to discuss them, because they're essential to anime. It makes sense that generic "who's your favorite character" threads are against the rules. But providing interesting/creative topics about characters should definitely be allowed. We don't get much of the former, anyway. I think we'd be fine without the character sticky, or making it significantly less strict.
  
  Also, I do think the "which anime" sticky is good. But it should be okay to make that a bit more relaxed, too. I've seen plenty of thoughtful, creative topics moved because the stickies encompass so much.
  
  
• More Mod Presence
  I agree with everyone that having a couple mods who are interested in a/m/c, and like hanging around here would be amazing. But if adding more will mean there's someone here a higher percent of the time, of course that's a positive. Again, emphasis should be on removing spam and keeping discussion.
  
  
  Again, thanks so much for listening to our suggestions and trying to make the forum better. You're awesome. heart

[Shintouyu]

Uncle Kenny

Close down and merge subforums
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 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.

I agree with these two.

[Leader of the Penguins]

oh my glob

yes yes yes

I agree 100%.
Thank you for the update!

more mod presence is needed so badly because A. all the good threads get cb'd B. All the troll threads stay like forever. C. and if we do report spam and troll threads, WE NEVER GET ANSWERED.
2. I heard from a little birdie you can't necro threads from a certain date. Thanks for that!
Also, just an fyi I tried to make a "Recommend me Anime" thread/sticky twice. It failed both times.

[Braviary]

Thank goodness you guys are finally going to fix this thread up.

Okay, some ideas I had was instead of making stickies, we should have a main stickied hub for commonly made threads. These will contain links to superthreads that aren't stickied but are still given the link so when people want to access them, they go to the main sticky to find the link for the superthreads. To explain better:

Sticky'd thread -> The first post has a bunch of links to threads that aren't sticky'd but are official threads to keep the most common threads in one space (it's better than stickying them because it saves room for the other forum topics) -> Click one link to head to a proposed superthread.

I would recommend these topics get their own superthreads to be redirected from my proposed sticky:
- Favorite Voice Actors
- Sexiest anime character
- Sub vs Dub
- Favorite Weapon
- Favorite power from a series
- Favorite genre
- A major versus thread where everyone can talk about which one is better than which
- A "Naruto or Bleach?" thread so people can finally vote on which is better.
- Forum game such as "You are now in the world of your favorite character. What do you do?"

Another idea is to put a poll in the "What was your first anime?" sticky. My poll options would be:
- Voltron
- Robotech
- Sailor Moon
- Dragon Ball Z
- Pokemon
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Digimon
- A Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movie
- Naruto
- Other (from somewhere else)

[Riunite]

sinfully_cute

I agree with Sunny Sanity and Tsundere Lori that the manga section should stay. Expanding it to allow more readable media like visual novels, and light novels sounds great.

This. Basically making the manga section into some sort of "Japanese readable media general" just for manga, visual novels, and light novels.

Also, more mod presence... Kinda iffy about this one... Should actually be a quality mod that does frequent the A/M/C and not just go there everyone once in a while. Such mod should know when a thread could have discussion and when a thread has absolutely nothing to do with actual forum related discussion.

About the rules;

Allow character discussion threads. Just because a thread is about certain types of characters, it does not mean it's a "favorite character" thread.
Example, allow me to make threads about crazy characters that could spark up discussion.

Threads along the lines of "I love/hate <show/comic/character>" should be inspected because it can include actual character analysis, or simple character discussion. If when not, then yes, remove such thread.

What do you think of <show/comic>?" should be allowed.

Certain versus threads with proper discussion should also be allowed.

...Is what I think.

Edit:
Also, a sticky for discussing voice actors would be great please.

[Braviary]

As for the idea of an MLP:FiM subforum, I doubt it would be a successful place. More people on this site hate MLP compared to the ones that like it.
My vote is neigh- I mean, nay.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Riunite

sinfully_cute

I agree with Sunny Sanity and Tsundere Lori that the manga section should stay. Expanding it to allow more readable media like visual novels, and light novels sounds great.

This. Basically making the manga section into some sort of "Japanese readable media general" just for manga, visual novels, and light novels.

Also, more mod presence... Kinda iffy about this one... Should actually be a quality mod that does frequent the A/M/C and not just go there everyone once in a while. Such mod should know when a thread could have discussion and when a thread has absolutely nothing to do with actual forum related discussion.

About the rules;

Allow character discussion threads. Just because a thread is about certain types of characters, it does not mean it's a "favorite character" thread.
Example, allow me to make threads about crazy characters that could spark up discussion.

Threads along the lines of "I love/hate <show/comic/character>" should be inspected because it can include actual character analysis, or simple character discussion. If when not, then yes, remove such thread.

What do you think of <show/comic>?" should be allowed.

Certain versus threads with proper discussion should also be allowed.

...Is what I think.

Edit:
Also, a sticky for discussing voice actors would be great please.

I am not sure about having those two types of threads allowed because unless the OP really provides a discussion about why they like/hate the show/character or why they have that opinon on the show/comic those threads end up just being one line response threads which isn’t really discussing anything.

Verus threads I have to say no to.. They just seem to turn into flame wars and cause problems. I don’t see allowing them doing any good for this forum However, I do love the idea of having a sticky or maybe a sub-forum for discussion on voice actors and voice acting.

[Chiisana Tantei]

xxxx
x“We will always be brothers. We are bound together.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
xxxx

• Close down and merge subforums
  I agree with everyone that the TV anime and Anime Series and Movies forums should be merged, but leave the manga subforum alone.
  
  
• Create a Recommend an Anime sticky
  I think a subforum for recommendations would be better, seeing that stickies often go unnoticed in this forum.
  
  
• More Mod Presence
  Like everyone says, the number of mod's isn't the problem. We need some that actually look at the threads and see if they have any discussion potential and remove the troll threads and repeats.
  

[Riunite]

Tsuki_Kirkland

I am not sure about having those two types of threads allowed because unless the OP really provides a discussion about why they like/hate the show/character or why they have that opinon on the show/comic those threads end up just being one line response threads which isn’t really discussing anything.

Verus threads I have to say no to.. They just seem to turn into flame wars and cause problems. I don’t see allowing them doing any good for this forum However, I do love the idea of having a sticky or maybe a sub-forum for discussion on voice actors and voice acting.

I repeat myself;

Threads along the lines of "I love/hate <show/comic/character>" should be inspected because it can include actual character analysis, or simple character discussion. If when not, then yes, remove such thread.


"What do you think of <show/comic>?"
Should be allowed because:
1. That's what people usually answer in most series threads
2. Threads like these include general opinion of the series
3. It's pretty contradicting that this is what most forums on series and whatnot are based on, yet, it's not allowed in the rules


I repeat myself;

Certain versus threads with proper discussion should also be allowed.

For one, certain versus threads can generate a good discussion and an enjoyable thread.
Two, one major problem in this forum is that for one argument between two or more people, a whole thread suffers. This should stop.

[Riunite]

Chiisana Tantei

xxxx
x“We will always be brothers. We are bound together.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
xxxx

• Create a Recommend an Anime sticky
  I think a subforum for recommendations would be better, seeing that stickies often go unnoticed in this forum.
  

This.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Riunite

Tsuki_Kirkland

I am not sure about having those two types of threads allowed because unless the OP really provides a discussion about why they like/hate the show/character or why they have that opinon on the show/comic those threads end up just being one line response threads which isn’t really discussing anything.

Verus threads I have to say no to.. They just seem to turn into flame wars and cause problems. I don’t see allowing them doing any good for this forum However, I do love the idea of having a sticky or maybe a sub-forum for discussion on voice actors and voice acting.

I repeat myself;

Threads along the lines of "I love/hate <show/comic/character>" should be inspected because it can include actual character analysis, or simple character discussion. If when not, then yes, remove such thread.


"What do you think of <show/comic>?"
Should be allowed because:
1. That's what people usually answer in most series threads
2. Threads like these include general opinion of the series
3. It's pretty contradicting that this is what most forums on series and whatnot are based on, yet, it's not allowed in the rules


I repeat myself;

Certain versus threads with proper discussion should also be allowed.

For one, certain versus threads can generate a good discussion and an enjoyable thread.
Two, one major problem in this forum is that for one argument between two or more people, a whole thread suffers. This should stop.

Alright, if its inspected and found to have actual character analysis and discussion that would be good. I could live with that rule being taken away if they still are removing the ones like that that only have the one response and don’t promote discussion.


I’ve never seen a versus thread that has, but that may be just be me. IF they can generate discussion without falling into a flame war, perhaps we can have something like a sticky for versus matchups .