What we have become

[Sean DonCarlos]

I aim to gently stretch minds every now and then.

I'd comment on the main issue, but I've spilled several thousand words on the subject in my blog already, so I'll leave the mic free for others to comment. Suffice to say I agree with Karl's sentiment.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

Eh, I agree but to be honest this is what a lot of game forums are like. Negative and dramatic posts are the ones that usually get the most attention. Only way to stop it is if the moderators take a firm stance on the issue and not take any crap. I will admit this is the one game forum I've enjoyed the most out of all the ones I've been a member of. Keep up the good work.

 

[k88dad]

What bothers me more than general negativity is repeating one's preferences over and over and over. Please, put it in your signature and spare us the repetition. For example, we get that you like multiball.

Personally, I put most of my negativity into the Mac subforum, where it is richly deserved. Every once in a while, there is even a bug fix or improvement. At those times, I make a point of thanking/encouraging any developers participating.

 

[neglectoid]

Negative and dramatic posts are the ones that usually get the most attention.QUOTE]

I gotta admit, I do read the drama post, but then again I read about 80-90% of anything that gets posted in this forum.

karl, you said take a look at your last 10 posts and determine if they were negative or positive. I can look at my past 310 posts and only determine that 2 of them were negative. but I felt strongly on the issue (cheaters on the leaderboards). I love TPA and I love the forum. I visit here everyday. I enjoy TPA to much to complain about things, especially when most complaints already have a handful of people complaining about whatever issue at hand.

 

[karl]

you are in the clear, neglectoid ;-)

 

[Nightwing]

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

Great to hear I am not alone.

And, Superballs: I absolutely agree that we do not need to start naming names. It is not my intention to single anyone out. It is more like a general observation.

You are most definitely not alone...

 

[Ark Malmeida]

Very well said Karl. The amount of negativity and nitpicking of everything down to the most minute detail is definitely off-putting.

 

[netizen]

I'll go back to trying to convince Karl to adopt me and stop talking about anything else.

I'll even buy my own multi-metre, LOL.

 

[Timelord]

I not only agree, but have spoken to a few of the forum members about this. Hopefully we can get the forum back on course so it can be a place all can enjoy.

Timelord ...

 

[MontanaFrank]

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

Great to hear I am not alone.

I had cut my time on this forum a quite a bit the last couple of weeks because of the negativity. Another thing, I noticed that you and Heretic hadn't posted in awhile. The two of you and many other members of this great forum always put a smile on my face when I see their avatar and read their postings.

I did read my last eleven posts and they were pretty positive. I did rag on CC a little bit and CPub; however, I said that's my opinion and the great thing about TPA, there is something for everyone.

Thanks to all moderators and Gord for giving all us forum members a little more time to think about how we post. I would hate to see limitations put on this wonderful forum.

All of us are so fortunate to have TPA and an unrestrictive forum. To those who read this, would you be sad if you woke up one day and, unrealistically, there was no sign of TPA on your device(s). Plus, you try to find out that those TPA tables that you hate and love are totally gone forever.

Would you miss it. Especially if you are out in the "tulies", a very rural space. If you would miss TPA, then please think about how you post.

Also give a positive shout-out to the great employees of FarSight who are trying their best to give all of us a quality product. They need some appreciation too and they do work hard for the TPA community. When you get frustrated with TPA, then go out IRL and find a pinball machine that is a mess. Then hopefully you will have more appreciation of the great two things we have going for us. TPA and this forum.

 

[MontanaFrank]

One other suggestion to those who get mad at some bug or something else that happens with TPA and want to rant. Go to your word processing method on your device and write or speak your rant to that. Take a three hour break and then re-read your post and double check if you really want to spread that negativity to this forum.

There have been a few posts that have never seen this forum because of this technique. It has also immensely helped me IRL. I get mad, write something, re-read and go, this is not how I want to express myself.

 

[shutyertrap]

I just peeked at my last 25 posts...positive in terms of FS, one or two snarky posts aimed squarely at negative people.

I'll throw this out here too...if you want to have a nice fun experience with forum people, check out the chat room now and then. It will restore your faith in this forum's membership.

 

[canuck]

There is a big difference between negativity, constructive criticism, and trolling. I find this forum on the whole quite well behaved, populated by people passionate about the topic. So called 'negative posts' are not so bad unto themselves. It's an open forum after all. As long as people aren't harassing or getting personal, all topics should be fair game. This is what makes a forum interesting and worth coming back too. If all people want are positive posts parroting market speak, well what is the point really? A good forum needs a little bit of controversy. But lets not lose sight of the big picture, this is a forum discussing pinball, pretty lightweight stuff all things considered.

 

[night]

But lets not lose sight of the big picture, this is a forum discussing pinball, pretty lightweight stuff all things considered.

Well said. I do have my share of criticism on Farsight, which started a year ago on 2 levels: declining graphic quality (which is, with exceptions, getting better now) and frame rate/stuttering issues on more than half the tables I payed for. Issues can occur, issues can be fixed. And issues can be ignored(!) And this is what happened. So I might make a post or 2 more about things I like to see different, but let's not take things too serious, I write a lot with a blink. If it's good it's good, if it's sh*t then it's sh*t. It's a pinball game, not our mother or the pope.

Not so long ago, one of our members (present here in this very topic) called me an 'obnoxious troll' on this forum. The moderator was quick in removing his comment, but not quick enough for me to read it. I am a 41 year married guy and too old for making fights with little schoolboys. Then you start to take things really too serious in life if you are getting personal on a level like this, on a pinball forum.. (You know who you are.)

We are all here because we like TPA (and Zaccaria/Zen), and if we hated it we would be hanging around somewhere else. We all have our own style of expression, and we can't be TPA's cheerleaders all the time.

 

[vpalmer]

i'm with canuck and night in this topic.

 

[dtown8532]

It could be worse. Have any of you seen the Star Trek threads on pinside? Sheesh.

 

[TripleT]

We need a pinballarcadedetractors.com site. When a user's ignore count gets to 5 all of their posts get automatically redirected there.

 

[smbhax]

This has been a normal cycle of every internet forum I've ever been a part of. Just stay positive, no need to let people on the internet get you down. : )

 

[pghjerry]

can you imagine if they had internet forums back when Atari's Pac-Man came out?

 

[Fungi]

can you imagine if they had internet forums back when Atari's Pac-Man came out?

Yikes, you're right. It was so bad, I heard the backlash even though forums didn't even exist.