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Evolution of a message board

deadheadskier

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Perhaps, no most definitely, I'm post whoring and grabbing the mic here instead of posting my thoughts in the 'post count' thread. If the moderators wish to use their power and move this post to that thread, so be it, it's within their right and I won't argue it. I won't deny that that topic has lead me to start this thread though.

In that particular thread, I've taken a somewhat sarcastic attitude towards the idea of change regarding the all mighty post count debate. The reason I have is that I view the current strife that spawned the idea as nothing more than growing pains.

Growing pains in any area of life are challenging. It's kind of like when you visit a great unknown ski area for the first time or a great restaurant or for me personally, see a great band. You want that 'thing' to be appreciated for how truly great it is. You want to stand on top of the mountain and tell everyone how great it is, but at the same time when the words come out of your mouth, you say 'oh shit' I just let the cat out of the bag. No, never mind, it really isn't that great. You didn't hear what I just bragged about because I don't want it to change, I want to keep it just how I like it.

That's kind of what I view is going on with Alpinezone. In Greg's roast, rivercoil played this classic about how it used to be just he and Greg http://forums.alpinezone.com/250548-post78.html :lol: Well, we're not in Kansas anymore folks and the traffic, connections amongst Azers etc has exploded. My stats say I joined in Spring of 05, but I recall visiting the site further back than that. This place has grown in so many ways since my time began here.

It's going to continue growing and continue changing, but I think coming up with ideas/rules such as eliminating post counts to reduce 'noise' is downright silly. Basic civil ground rules that have developed over time are great. No politics, no religion, no personal attacks. I can live with that. Getting upset with how and when people bump threads; controlling what people talk about and adjusting noise is pretty silly if you ask me.

My hope is that this board becomes even more popular; that there are more personalities and insights to skiing and life that I get to meet and learn from as time marches on. That's what I love about this board and what keeps me coming back. Some of those people, I'm not going to like; but as long as they don't personally attack me or others; I'm good.

Change and evolution of Alpinezone is going to happen, but it needs to happen naturally and with the least restrictions possible.. Keep it free for all who partake to take it where it will go; don't restrict. Restriction is anti-evolution if you ask me.

I personally feel that Alpinezone is getting BETTER and BETTER. I like the noise, the new personalities and twists as long the contributors keep things respectful. Our little place on the Intraweb :lol: is still so small that to take a poll for change, though fair in concept, really doesn't work. The great post count debate has 33 responses. THIRTY THREE. That's private club small if you ask me.

Maybe I have the wrong idea of this place though. Maybe it is just a club where bumps, stokes etc are judged, qualified, quantified and voted off as noise or not. I for one think that Alpinezone is something more and that the new members will grow and evolve it on it's own and as long as the basic ground rules of no politics, religion or personal attacks are followed......things will get better. From time to time, things will fall back and get worse, but overall, it will keep getting better all the time.

In Grateful Dead speak that means

....let the music play the band


peace :grin:
 

Terry

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I totally agree. As long as we stick to the basic ground rules-no politics, religion, personal attacks- then let it grow. There will allways be some things that some people don't like. But you can never please all the people all the time.If there are posts you don't like- don't read them. Simple as that! I say let it grow at its own rate and "go with the flow" as Sunday River puts it.
 

riverc0il

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While I voted for and am strongly in favor of retaining the post counts, I think Greg said it best in the other thread that as an admin, you can't please everyone. Evolution does indeed happen with message boards. As an admin, Greg has made various adjustments to the forum software over the years and adjusted the site/forum integration to meet the needs of the developing community. Forum software is setup to be flexible because different forums have different needs. Its why so many different communities and forums are so different.... both visual (technically) and interactively (personality). It is a digital evolution of a most interesting variety. If certain behaviors that distracts, disrupts, or otherwise makes the community dissatisfied can be controlled by adjusting policies or the forum software, than it should at least be considered. I am just of the opinion that a direct relationship is not involved with the current issue at hand so change would not help the situation. GSS is going to "bump for stoke" and post nonsense with or without the post count.
 

Philpug

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Thoughts like these help keep a forum grounded. As my wife says, "there is 264 ways to do the dishes", meaning there is more than one way to reach the best result, but different ways to get there. This forum is run very well and OMHO, the best interest of the community is being held at hand. There will be change and evolution, some will like it some will won't some will leave, just the same if nothing would change.
 

deadheadskier

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, I think Greg said it best in the other thread that as an admin, you can't please everyone.

I think this is very true and it as the board continues to grow; it will become even more difficult to please everyone and unfortunately as I(Hart) points out; certain people are going to leave no matter what you do.

One area in this discussion that often gets overlooked is the amount of time it must take Greg behind the seen. That's an area I'm completely ignorant concerning.

I really have no idea how he manages a growing family, work, MTB & mogul addictions and this board. On top of that, where he comes up with the time to meet with the marketing managers of classmates.com; circuity city, sketchers, monster and others and decides whether or not to allow them to advertise on his site seems crazy. I hope he at least gets a free pair shoes now and then from sketchers ;)
 

Greg

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While I voted for and am strongly in favor of retaining the post counts, I think Greg said it best in the other thread that as an admin, you can't please everyone. Evolution does indeed happen with message boards. As an admin, Greg has made various adjustments to the forum software over the years and adjusted the site/forum integration to meet the needs of the developing community. Forum software is setup to be flexible because different forums have different needs. Its why so many different communities and forums are so different.... both visual (technically) and interactively (personality). It is a digital evolution of a most interesting variety. If certain behaviors that distracts, disrupts, or otherwise makes the community dissatisfied can be controlled by adjusting policies or the forum software, than it should at least be considered. I am just of the opinion that a direct relationship is not involved with the current issue at hand so change would not help the situation. GSS is going to "bump for stoke" and post nonsense with or without the post count.

Well said, Steve.

And FWIW, polling things like this out to the community is not something new. I've done a lot of feedback requests since I started with this iteration of the forum back in 2001. Some things I've decided to implement; some I have not. Anyway, I do value threads like this so please carry on.

As far as the GSS Factor, I'm well aware than many members are annoyed by it. I'm also aware of some that are posting less as a result; some leaving the community entirely. There are likely many others that are doing the same that we don't know about. On the flip side, there are probably some people that are posting more as a result of perceived increased forum activity, even if it is just a "bump for stoke" post. I've done my fair share of bumping threads, and it definitely results in more activity. The bottom line is that as long as he follows the rules, there is little we can or should do. He's skirted the line a few times, but nothing that warrants any action like banning. We can't kick people out because we don't like their personality. If others choose to leave or post less as a result, there's not much we can do.
 
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Remember guys..I've brought alot of new posters to this forum...Moe Gohl and Phillycore immediately come to mind..come ski season..those two are going to be posting some mad steezy trip reports..
 

Philpug

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There is always going to be a mix of poster styles. Some will post a lot, some will lurk a lot and most will do neither. The 90/10 rule is the dew 80/20 rule when it comes to internet posting. There is no need for a knee-jerk reaction here. IMHO, GSS adds some nice flavor here, unlike a lot of posters with this type of diarrhea of the keyboard, GSS is actually talking skiing related topics. No need to change anything.
 

Greg

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Here's an interesting walk down memory lane to give some of the newer posters a feel for what things used to be like:

http://forums.alpinezone.com/3758-observation.html

I definitely feel some level of camaraderie is important, but I also feel that this site should remain a message board primarily instead of a chat room. There obviously needs to be a balance but I think still think post quality should take precedence.

Some will undoubtedly argue to not take things too seriously; it's only a message board, etc. I look at it differently. I feel AZ is more of a community than a forum. Many of us have met in person and I think this forum has attracted a lot of industry attention and participation. I really wouldn't like to see it lose any of that.

I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts, both from long time members as well as newcomers. Do you prefer a forum with a higher signal-to-noise ratio, or one with a lot of insignificant banter? Or do you value somewhat thought-out posts? Do you feel the tone here has changed, and has it changed for the better or worse? Do you post more or less, as a result?

I definitely think the tone is shifting here lately. Summer slow-down maybe? Perhaps. I guess only time will tell.
 

Grassi21

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Here's an interesting walk down memory lane to give some of the newer posters a feel for what things used to be like:

http://forums.alpinezone.com/3758-observation.html

I definitely feel some level of camaraderie is important, but I also feel that this site should remain a message board primarily instead of a chat room. There obviously needs to be a balance but I think still think post quality should take precedence.

Some will undoubtedly argue to not take things too seriously; it's only a message board, etc. I look at it differently. I feel AZ is more of a community than a forum. Many of us have met in person and I think this forum has attracted a lot of industry attention and participation. I really wouldn't like to see it lose any of that.

I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts, both from long time members as well as newcomers. Do you prefer a forum with a higher signal-to-noise ratio, or one with a lot of insignificant banter? Or do you value somewhat thought-out posts? Do you feel the tone here has changed, and has it changed for the better or worse? Do you post more or less, as a result?

I definitely think the tone is shifting here lately. Summer slow-down maybe? Perhaps. I guess only time will tell.

:lol: This is a great old quote from that thread Greg posted.

fwiw, i've never seen any other forum in which members were so concerned about the size of their "post counts" :lol:
 

drjeff

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AZ should be about the members..not the industry..

happy industry = moderator perks = happy moderators ;)

Lesson for moderators liking perks from industry, posting in a thread about how awesome it was watching someone in your group do huge airs off a CLOSED and roped off former big air jump doesn't make industry people happy. Especially when there's video of the big air jump poach in there too :eek:
nono.gif


http://forums.alpinezone.com/27008-mt-snow-4-17-08-a.html
 
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happy industry = moderator perks = happy moderators ;)

Lesson for moderators liking perks from industry, posting in a thread about how awesome it was watching someone in your group do huge airs off a CLOSED and roped off former big air jump doesn't make industry people happy. Especially when there's video of the big air jump poach in there too :eek:
nono.gif


http://forums.alpinezone.com/27008-mt-snow-4-17-08-a.html


So are you saying we shouldn't write about poaching runs just because there are industry people lurking in the forums???
 

ComeBackMudPuddles

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I definitely feel some level of camaraderie is important, but I also feel that this site should remain a message board primarily instead of a chat room. There obviously needs to be a balance but I think still think post quality should take precedence.

Some will undoubtedly argue to not take things too seriously; it's only a message board, etc. I look at it differently. I feel AZ is more of a community than a forum. Many of us have met in person and I think this forum has attracted a lot of industry attention and participation. I really wouldn't like to see it lose any of that.



Greg, I am kinda busting your b*lls here a bit, but, I'm also trying to figure things out....

What qualifies posts as substantive message board-type posts, and what qualifies things as noisy chat room-type posts?

For example, where does this post fit in? :wink:
 
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