"Newb" Initiation to Other Forums
 

Ok guys. I'm sure some of you remember my old thread about why the Tilted Forum Project kicks ass and takes names.....and is all out of names. Or something like that.

Anyway, I have a serious question for a lot of you. It will take some careful reading of the following paragraph(s) to understand what I'm talking about, but anyone with a 3rd grade reading level can decipher it :) Ok, here we go:

I'm noticing more and more that the vast majority of forums out there are starting to practice this method of "initiating" new members. This method is incredibly immature and stupid (whilst supposedly being "funny" and "comical" to the forum veterans). In lieu of up-and-coming rockstars, "it goes a little something like this:"

Let's say you join the forum with a natural interest of meeting new people and contributing ideas and thoughtful posts to the said forum. Instead of responding with "Hello" or "Nice to meet you," the current trend is apparently to say things like "UR FAG" or "STUPID RETARD."

"OMG you fukin shitcock smacktard NEWB OMG NEWB ALERT!!"

"u hav the ballz to post here you fuker???"

And so on.

Now, when you respond with "Why are you so rude?" or "Gosh, I didn't realize you guys were so immature" or anything like that, they go into this whole "OMG are u some sort of INTELLEK or something? you think ur smartzz???"

So it's a never-ending cycle of shit.

I PMed one of the moderators at the last forum I tried to join, and he said to "shut the fuck up and take it like a man."

What?

Apparently, it's some sort of initiation that "newbs" have to go through. Well, it's not working for me. Those fuckers can fuck off :) I'll stick to Tilted Forum Project where maturity is not just a word, it's a practice.

Has anyone else experienced this at other forums? The last 4 (yes, four!) forums I have wanted to join (expanding my horizons :)) have done this. What's the deal?



I know it's not some sort of "initiation" because I can click on ANY of the threads at the said forums and they say "shitcock" and "newb" to EVERYONE, not just me. Is the Internet that fucking retarded? Is this the only place that isn't filled with immature assholes?

This forum feels like a damn haven when compared to others.

I don't know. I don't go to places that have morons frequent them, that includes forums, local malls, bars, restaurants.

As far as I can see my old sig formed it up for me... it's pretty simple...

I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Independent, either you're an asshole, or you're not.

That's the truth :)

I hate when people hide behind their monitors and act stupid. Assholes :)

I actually haven't encountered this problem. Probably due to my habit of lurking for a few days. I do this to determine if a forum is worth my time.

this forum is built on two principles and two principles only...
participation and respect...

i'm assuming you all are of the age to understand that participation means getting involved with the growth of this board...

and i'm assuming you all have been tought to treat others as you would want to be treated...

there is no initiation, no hazing, no errand running to gain acception... while it is true that we have lefties and righties, no one is higher (or lower) than the other...

now all together...

these boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you

I'll take "How to know if a forum is not worth reading or posting on" for 200, Alex. :)

This is the only 'social' forum I've tried. The others are technical (TiVo, Palm, iPod, Macintosh, Firefox), and are all relatively polite towards newbies, even though they ask the same damn questions over and over without hitting the SEARCH button.

Damn! I don't know what forums you're going to, but I sure as hell have never seen anything along the caliber of what you've described. Not that I'm questioning you...I'm absolutely sure it's out there, but why is beyond my comprehension. They are obviously satisfied with the "status-quo", are not interested in growing, and have wrapped themselves up in thier nice little cocoon. Nobody needs to be treated, nor made to feel like, so much gunk on the bottom of a shoe.

I have yet to be "initiated " in TFP, but I think the forums I frequent are not condusive to infants. I have seen limited assholistic lackorespectivness, on a few boards, but These are generally places I may post on once a month or so anyway.

That sounds backwards to me.

First you join and we are all nice and helpful to you.

You stay awhile, make some good posts, get in a couple of discussions. Make some friends.

Then

When you have earned the honor

Then

We pick on you like a ragged flea bitten possum for no apparent reason.

But!

You have to earn it, we ain't just giving it away like those other cheap forums.

that would be hard to adjust to, there is often a rash of shit directed toward newbs. but that kind of shit is just uncalled for. what kind of forums are these? can you at least give us a hint.?

Damnit redjake, I wish I knew what you were talking about but with my 2nd grade reading level, I have no clue!!!!


*goes back to belittling newbs in Tilted Newbies*

Sounds like HardOCP, heheh.

Fact is there are a lot of forums out there where your level-headedness doesn't gain you respect or a position of power, so there are a lot of asshole moderators out there. The only other forum that I can say I really frequented was Icrontic's forums (tech site) that split off into Short Media. There were a lot of underaged members there, but then again so was I at the time.

That particular site might have seen some immaturity, but The moderators were good people and kept the fires down. I eventually became one myself and learned what it really meant to have responsibility in a forum.

So there are good forums out there, you'll just have a hell of a time trying to find them.

I see that a lot. In fact, other than technical forums, this is the only general discussion forum I have remained at. All of the other ones are overrun by 13 year olds, or at least people who act like them.

All the newbs have to give me head. That's is all.

I'm too old to take shit off of a bunch of teenaged asshats with delusions of grandeur.

I'll take TFP any day.

Bend over, then.

That is why I've taken to this forum so well. Everyone has been very nice and helpful to me as a newb. I mean, how do you gain new members if you going to treat everyone like shit. The idea is to grow in numbers, ideas, and thoughts.

like a pair of fingercuffs? rofl

well i have been a member of bamf.com for several years... that is how they are, rude and stupid(acting), but that is what the forum is about. (internet geeks trying to be "badass") i enjoy it sometimes. but im so very glad i found this site.

i dont have a problem with such simple minded flames as i have said be4... i welcome them.

i've seen plenty of forums with stupid bs content, especially towards newbies. i tend to stay away from those places.

man you N00b you think your some kind of 1N73LEKT or something.. think you can try to start this kind of crap... you havnt even broken 1500 posts... go back to the n00b forum where you belong

:p :p just kidding

haha yah i know about the kind of forums you talk about... im only a member of one... and thats cuz they are pretty cool at the events... and their all from around here... i just dont post all that much...

It is quite common on public forums. The regulars give shit to the new people until they feel they are worthy to become a "regular". It gets really bad when the staff play the game to.

what the rock said...

What? You said I was the only one! :confused: :confused:

Same. Now I'm glad.

I'm a moderator on a forum with a more than healthy amount of teenage asshats that think flaming makes them "badasser". After they get respect forcefully taught to them, they usually get the point. Or, they go find a forum totally taken over by their own species.

the TFP is actually the only forum i really frequent, but i did go on over to a martial arts forum my cousin frequents. After reading this thread and lurking on a coupla of their threads i have to agree, some other forums are ridiculous.

I read an 8 page thread where 6 of those pages was the squabbling between 2 members, and the rest were people ragging on the "noobs". I should have known better when the rookie title was "dirty dirty n00b".

man, i have to say, i'm glad the TFP was my first forum...

I've never been a part of any other forum. I've looked at a few, but the immaturity scares the shit out of me. What a waste of time.

Best place in the world is right here. :)

See, now this kind of nice, positive message is what puts you on the road to being someone worthy of harassment.

I don't have the time to harass asshats, they aren't worth it, but you are showing some possibilities.

It's only the quality people that get their parentage or intelligence questioned.

You're on your way, keep up the good work.

(It's like lambs to the slaughter. It's almost too easy). :D

Although they arent that bad since they axed the General Mayhem & Pit subforums. They did lose all sense of community with those forums, however. You probably know that the General Mayhem subforum went on to become its own very lightly moderated site. Lots of traffic, but very very little interesting content. Its infinite monkeys/infinite typewriters quality.

It's sad how many bitter, vengeful, rude, people are on the interent.

The way I see it, it's their own reward. When you're an asshole, and rude to others, eventually the only people who will give you the time of day, is assholes who are rude to others.

I dont mind that kind of thing, I normally just give back as good as I get... if people diss me in that way I would probably just resort to a mixture of egotistical ranting and paranoid outbursts of rage - so I would probably fit right in!

haha, I like to flame too (every once in a while) if the crowd is immature. but on these forums I frequent, they went APESHIT if you say anything back. you are supposed to sit there and take it. not my cup of tea. if they are gonna throw the shit then they better bring in the plexiglass shields and rubber bullets because it's coming right back at them :)

I wouldn't mind it all so much if I could just sit back, break open a Chek® cola, and have a nice flame war. But they don't let you. They delete your posts if you respond in something that is "smarter" than their posts. Even BAN you if you are too smart. A truly stupid sight. If anyone is wondering what the forums are, here we go:

Spoiler: Bakermedia Forums

SomeIdiot Forums (not so much n00b degredation, just degredation all around)

Project Decoy forums

Wash Your Brain forums

that's the main ones. I hate them. all of them :)

I say stick with TFP 4 life.

Damn....I never got tweaked as a newbie here, I'm gonna go weep in the corner, buncha nice bastards.

pretty much these days, outside of TFP, i just go to a forum hailing from belgium that is invitational only & a robot greets each new member with a welcoming thread & people are just nice & helpful.

but i have been on boards that over time grew too fast & got full of teh stoOpid & finally imploded.

I've only seen one forum in person that had the newbie initiation, most of the other forums I go to are pretty decent. Unfortunately, some members can still be elitist at times but in general we do pretty well.

...and on even worse boards the level of intellectual discourse never gets any higher than that...

Yeah, Redjake is right. Nearly every other forum out there is full of immature idiots. I have to express my agreement with the Some Idiot Forums (and the others Redjake mentioned). I've never been to a forum outside of TFP that wasn't full of flaming, immature morons that have 10,000 posts of "ur a fag" and think it makes them better than other people. Well, except official forums (WinAmp Forums, computer manufacturer's forums, etc.). It seems that every single forum started by a single person rather than a business or group is simply immature. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it's getting out of hand.

-Lasereth

This site and GameFAQs.com are the only two places I can go for intellegence...and at GameFAQs, the intellegence is about half of this site.

As a side-note, I'm goin' straight to Some Idiot Forums and gonna have myself a blast being a normal Joe who snaps back. :)