I guess I really don't have a sense of humour.

[Wayne]

I'm sitting here, reading over AO as an unregistered citizen when I realize that I really must not have a sense of humor. Either that, or the team of moderators who helped run AO before being neglected and run off were a Godsend...

Even without trying, I see;

• Bill's lame joke about turning the site into a furniture store running people off.
• multiple threads on the front page about Bill's lame joke.
• Franko trolling continually
• Inappropriate language being used not only in signatures, but on the front page of the site itself.
• Racial and Homophobic slurs all over the place (mostly either Franko himself, or caused by response to same).

Aside from being an anonymous visitor right now, there literally doesn't seem to be anyone driving the bus except the kids -- who for all intents and purposes -- have scared off the driver and the chaperones.

Franko is welcomed back with open arms and within 4 days, the quality of posts on the entire site shifts from being about the Amiga to about "having a sense of fun and humor"...

Am I alone in this? Is this my own lack of humor, or what? I'm guessing this is what Bill sees as an Amiga-oriented community site?

Wayne

 

[Kesa]

Don't forget about my quest for power!

As for Bills lame joke i thought it was a good one. The best jokes are the ones where you have to think about it. 3 pages into the thread and people were still guessing it's meaning. Definitely a good joke!

As for the trolling it isn't Franko anyway. If you looked you will see it was Magnetic who is getting out of line and not Franko. You will also notice even in the absence of Argo and Karlos other users are stepping up and modding it themselves.

 

[redrumloa]

Am I alone in this? Is this my own lack of humor, or what? I'm guessing this is what Bill sees as an Amiga-oriented community site?

You are not alone, not at all. As I said some months ago here on Whyzzat, AO has turned into a cesspool. Straight up, it is now a cesspool. No offense to our newest member Kesa, with few exceptions the only ones who think this all is funny are members who joined in the last couple years. Most long time users are either quietly leaving or expressing displeasure how "Amig.org is dying like this".

 

[redrumloa]

@Kesa

Welcome to Whyzzat! Now that I have got that out of the way, you are off your rocker. No offense intended, but you joined Amiga.org about 8 months ago? Wayne built the site and many of us have been using it since the mid 90's. Amiga.org is dying and most of the original long time users who are still around are moving on. I could rattle off names, but I won't.
As for your idea that Franko isn't trolling, that is just plain silly. You must have a very short attention span or you don't understand the definition of trolling. By his own words, Franko admitted on numerous occasions his entire intention is to troll.

 

[Kesa]

You are not alone, not at all. As I said some months ago here on Whyzzat, AO has turned into a cesspool. Straight up, it is now a cesspool. No offense to our newest member Kesa, with few exceptions the only ones who think this all is funny are members who joined in the last couple years. Most long time users are either quietly leaving or expressing displeasure how "Amiga.org is dying like this".

Interesting you said this as this is exactly what Franko said to me today in a PM. All the old school members are moving over to here. He also said that the older members don't like the new members and exclude them because they are new and are not a part of the established gang. I agree with this. The older users are definitely predigest against the new ones.

 

[Kesa]

I hear you but i don't think it's dying. I think it is changing. There is a lot of upcoming hardware like NatAmi which i am holding out for and i think this will bring in a lot of new people. Maybe if people have been on Amiga.org since the mid 90's maybe that is too long? Maybe scared of change?

 

[redrumloa]

Interesting you said this as this is exactly what Franko said to me today in a PM. All the old school members are moving over to here. He also said that the older members don't like the new members and exclude them because they are new and are not a part of the established gang. I agree with this. The older users are definitely predigest against the new ones.

I really don't care what that idiot thinks. He is using you to try stirring things up even more. Your opinion, fine, but don't even bother giving me a troll's opinion.

Most long time members are not coming here, they just leave entirely. Most of us have been here for many years. We have indeed gained a few members recently, but most others just move on (like Bloodline). This has nothing to do with old users -vs- new. That very concept is childish and moronic. Amiga.org has always been a family friendly site for discussion of Amiga computers and technology loosely related to Amiga computers. The site has a very clear TOS (Terms of Service). As far as I am aware this TOS has not been modified. Anyone can clearly see the TOS is not being enforced and the site is hardly what the name would imply or what it has been historically. If you like homophobic and racist remarks, more power to you. If you like personal attacks, more power to you. If you like a site named "Amiga.org" that has little to do with anything Amiga or retro computing, more power to you.

For the record, anyone who understands what it takes to establish, maintain and/or grow a community forum knows that retaining long time members is essential. Long time members are the backbone and help maintain stability.

 

[Kesa]

OK maybe i think i may have gone a step out of line with the old vs new users comment. But for me it is relevant as a member who has been only a member for less than a year it is hard to get in a group made up of members who have been there for 15 years +

 

[redrumloa]

I hear you but i don't think it's dying. I think it is changing. There is a lot of upcoming hardware like NatAmi which i am holding out for and i think this will bring in a lot of new people. Maybe if people have been on Amiga.org since the mid 90's maybe that is too long? Maybe scared of change?

Amiga.org does not produce hardware, nor does it have a monopoly on the Kommunity. There are plenty of other forums to fill the void. Maybe Amiga.org gets the ship back upright and on course, I just don't see it right now. I see a dying forum with users leaving in droves.

Scared of change? Now that is a funny thought. Flash in the pan new users don't care what happens to an established forum as long as they get the LOLz. When they leave, as they always do, what happens when most of the long time users have moved on? Sure with a name like Amiga.org you can probably keep a churn of new users going for a while, but the quality of the site will be gone. Long time users can explain to new users returning to the Amiga how to hook up and use a Cybervision64 3D or explain what NG alternatives there are. Churning new users can compare Google search results and hope they find the right result eventually.

 

[redrumloa]

OK maybe i think i may have gone a step out of line with the old vs new users comment. But for me it is relevant as a member who has been only a member for less than a year it is hard to get in a group made up of members who have been there for 15 years +

New users have always been accepted with open arms. The only time that changes is when a new user refused to abide by the forum TOS. I can only think of 3 or so users in the history of the site that fell into this category and were banned. Doomaster, the goatse spammer and lately Franko. Problem is, now Franko is seen as funny by the new owner and the TOS is a relic of the past. Franko is cultivated mini-Frankos among other users, many but not all new users.

 

[Karlos]

You will also notice even in the absence of Argo and Karlos other users are stepping up and modding it themselves.

I think you'll find Argo has been moderating throughout and I myself swept the front-page cruft into the sock drawer today.

We've had more reported posts in the last 48 hours than in the previous 4 weeks.

 

[motorollin]

It's not just you Wayne.

@Kesa
If you had been a member of a.org for more than 5 minutes you would know that people have come and gone continuously. I am good example of that myself. When I joined just over 5 years ago, when many members had already been around for 10 years, I never felt like there was a clique. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, and I soon felt I fitted in (and it's not often I feel I can say that).

I would argue that it's only more recently, with a wave of new and younger users, that I feel there has definitely been an atmosphere of exclusion. However, it's the original members, who still want(ed) to enjoy the site for what it was, who are being excluded by a group of people who seem to think it's ok to storm in, flood the forum with unwanted garbage, and then seemingly get priority treatment from the new owners.

So, at the risk of ironically breaching the Whyzzat TOS, my response to those individuals involved is this: Who the f**k do you think you are?

 

[cecilia]

Don't forget about my quest for power!

As for Bills lame joke i thought it was a good one. The best jokes are the ones where you have to think about it. 3 pages into the thread and people were still guessing it's meaning. Definitely a good joke!

As for the trolling it isn't Franko anyway. If you looked you will see it was Magnetic who is getting out of line and not Franko. You will also notice even in the absence of Argo and Karlos other users are stepping up and modding it themselves.

Anyone who read yesterdays AO threads can see I encouraged Magnetic to Ignore franko. I said it publicly and I PM'ed him privately. I KNOW why he has such a strong reason to franko - franko insulted him personally during a previous encounter. Him and his family, if I recall.
So, I understand Magnetic's feelings.
I still told him to use the Ignore feature because franko is getting off poking people.

and, as one of those OLD AO members, I am more than happy to talk about and explore New stuff.

it's the trolling that gets OLD

 

[Marcb]

I'm glad someone posted a link to this site over on a.org, it looks like a nice place to be...

I was one of the ones that voted for the banning to be lifted because I had faith that moderation of offensive posts would be the answer... It does look like there is an effort to increase the number of moderators so it may still return to a happy a.org.
I have been wrong many times before though

 

[motorollin]

A few months ago, I decided some sunflowers would look nice out the front of our house. I bought some seeds and planted them, watered them, and watched them sprout. I don't have particularly green fingers so almost all of them failed beyond a tny sprout. One of them in particular grew really quickly and really tall so I planted in a big pot outside the front door. After a couple of months of watering it and looking after it, it was as tall as I am, and two days ago the bud started to open.

At 11pm last night, I was woken by the sound of my gate clicking and, apparently drunken, girls laughing raucously outside. Thinking they just fell and knocked the gate, I went back to sleep. This morning, my sunflower was gone. As I was walking to work this morning, I found my sunflower pot smashed on the ground and the flower itself broken into pieces.

This (true) story may seem insignificant, and granted nothing of value or which is irreplacable was taken. But to have something which you have cared for and enjoyed ruined by others for no other reason than that they think it's funny, is actually quite hurtful. Also, the sense of entitlement that these people have, to the extent that they would actually enter somebody's property uninvited and steal/destroy their property, makes me furious.

This seems like a fitting analogy for what is going on in amiga.org at the moment. People turn up, then for no reason other than the fact that it's amusing to them, they disrespect other people and the things they care about. As long as they're having a laugh, they don't give a damn about the effect it has on other people.

 

[Robert]

@Moto:

Very well put, sir.

 

[Dammy]

My only thought is, "What is Franko's new bet?" I have a feeling it's either to become a moderator on AO or to shut it down. The start of the bet was probably when he was banned. Any bets that I'm close to the mark?

 

[motorollin]

@Robert - thanks.

My only thought is, "What is Franko's new bet?"

I suspect the whole "bet" thing was rubbish. As was the whole "new to the Internet" thing. Franko picked things up far too quickly (like registering and setting up a domain) to be a total novice, and several times made typos which looked suspicially like iOS auto correct errors (e.g. a couple of times when talking about being ill, the word "I'll" was substituted. This is the default autocorrect every time you type that word in iOS).

 

[redrumloa]

My only thought is, "What is Franko's new bet?" I have a feeling it's either to become a moderator on AO or to shut it down. The start of the bet was probably when he was banned. Any bets that I'm close to the mark?

I have been told he is openly mocking people and stating his goal is to get long time members to leave or some nonsense. If that is what Bill & Tedd want, more power to them.

 

[the_leander]

@Robert - thanks.

I suspect the whole "bet" thing was rubbish. As was the whole "new to the Internet" thing. Franko picked things up far too quickly (like registering and setting up a domain) to be a total novice, and several times made typos which looked suspicially like iOS auto correct errors (e.g. a couple of times when talking about being ill, the word "I'll" was substituted. This is the default autocorrect every time you type that word in iOS).

I must admit I didn't catch on to the iOS autocorrect thing. However I agree with you regarding how quickly he picked things up. He may be a lot of things, virgin fresh to the internet isn't one of them however.