Sunday, August 31, 2003

Fun Threads 8/31
This is something I'm toying around with. Every week or so I'l post some links to some fun threads, and explain why they are fun. It's a simple concept, and it doesn't involve me ranting at newbies. Sounds like a win-win situation.

Time in Dimensional Terms - Otaku Lounge: Every so often there is a time travel thread on the boards, and most of them have ended in one person yelling at another for being wrong. Really confusing and interesting posts are being interspliced with random newbies saying things like "my head hurts," so it is entertaining to people on many levels. A strange combination of genius and stupidity is what makes this place great.

The Nostalgia Factor - Nintendo: I think this thread beings up an interesting point, and it contains one of James' classic "I could say it in two sentences, but I'll expand it to several paragraphs" statements.

[ Maverick Hunters: The Third Succession ] - Recruitment: Speaking of large posts, James has created yet another rpg, and hopefully this is more successful than his other noble failures. OB rpgs are hard to do; nearly every one I post in seems to die early, including several of James'. However, I'm interested about this one, due to the fact that I had strong interest in the two previous Maverick Hunters rpgs.

Read his character's lengthy description, and then read him end it with "Sorry for the somewhat rushed nature of the biography...I didn't want to explain every detail of his history right here." Silly James.

Vacation Fantasy? - Otaku Lounge: So far most of the posts have been average, but I think this thread has a lot of potential. From what I can remember, nobody has created a thread on the boards about their vacation fantasies. I think it would be fun if more people posted, and it gets my seal of approval ^_^

Ultimates (Pseudo-Official Comics in General Thread!) - Poetry, Fan-Fiction & Literature: The greatest thread ever.

That's all that I can think of now, but be sure to look aruond in the anime forums. With the end of .hack//SIGN's original run in the US, and new episodes of Inu-Yasha there is bound to be some good activity.
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Slight Format Change?
I'm considering turning this into a full-fledged blog, since I seem to visit it more than I ever visited my blogs, even in their "hayday." Expect me to start writing about my life at some point, and hopefully that will keep things interesting for me.

Do you guys like OB rants, or what?
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Remembering OtakuBot
A sea of gray washed over OtakuBoards on Wednesday, August 27. For the first time in nearly a year the community had undergone another facelift, and while this was good news for many, one member sadly left the boards forever.

OtakuBot was born in August of 2002 after James asked Semjaza Azazel to create a mascot for a secret project of his known as "My Otaku." This was much different than the My Otaku that would eventually become a part of theOtaku.com's main site, this version was supposed to have been an interactive guide to OtakuBoards featuring a lovable square mascot, OtakuBot. EVen from the beginning, members had problems with OtakuBot's appearance, likening it to a bathroom scale, or worse.

"His avatar looks like a razorblade. Is it supposed to?" asked Sara, Category Mod of Otaku Public, "Maybe it was a subtle hint at depression."

My Otaku was created as a "staff only" forum, so that staff could help with the creation of the section. Sadly, participation was minimal, since many mods had more pressing matters at their hands. During the course of the next year OtakuBot created two seperate threads in the invisible forum, both of which are visisble today in the Otaku Information Center.

With the launch of this update to OB, OtakuBot's posts were re-posted by James, thus ending the life of this poor, symmetrical mascot.

Now that My Otaku has been relaunched at theOtaku.com, it seems like OtakuBot's chance at glory has been shattered.

"Good riddance, I suppose," said co-creator Semjaza Azazel, "He always seemed so out of place here."

OtakuBot
August 2002 - August 2003
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Thursday, August 21, 2003

Attacks
Ah, I can still remember the "wars," when members would engage in huge arguments that spread throughout every forum. At the end of these "wars," many members were banned, while others were glorified. Compared to the way v2 ended, these were small fights, but they would seem like epic battles compared to what happens today.

But when someone claims to "attack" OB, many members flip out. They weren't there in the old days, and don't understand the measures James has put forth to protect the site. In the old days very few people made a big deal about the wars. It was just something that had to be dealt with, and people accepted it as a regular happening on the boards. Now people seem to be sheltered. They don't realize that OB is very lucky to have not been taken over by pedephiles and 11-year-olds. A lot of work goes into keeping this place secure, and something as simple as closing a thread can do a lot of good. It's highly unlikely that a 13-year-old hacker could destroy these forums, and any possile damages would be temporary.

The only real damage by these "attacks" is being caused by the members. There are people who believe anything, and if kuja tells someone that they know James' password, people will take notice (in spite of the lack of evidence.) Within a few hours massive paranoia ensues, and every newbie thinks Armageddon is approaching.

Member X: Moooo
Shy: Hey
Member X: Got a question.
Shy: ?
Member X: Is something uber big going on?
Shy: What do you mean?
Member X: Cause I recived a PM from a friend.
Member X: and this person knows Kevin
Member X: and he had this friend send me a pm that said I should watch my back.
Shy: Nothing is happening.
Member X: ok
Shy: Kevin has no power over OB.
Member X: Actually
Member X: I have the window with the PM.
Shy: Let me see the PM then.
Member X: er....I was talking to kevin and he left me with the message of:

DarkKamjin: ******
DarkKamjin: watch your back

no idea what he means but be a bit careful, he's got some plans, but i cant tell you till the staff confirms they fixed the problem. pm me if ya have some kind of response for him. I'll give him ANY
message. BWAHAHAHAHA!! >clears throat< yeah....

Shy: ...

So yeah, I have to deal with these sorts of threats on a regular basis, and I know that many other OB staff does as well. The best way to inform a moderator about your suspicions is through a PM, or a SANE instant messanger conversation.

Have a good day. :)
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Sunday, August 17, 2003

More Newbie Talk
As older members, we tend to blame less experienced ones for the problems that effect OB. Whether it be SPAM control, rules' creation, or moderator selection the younger generation seems to have a big influence on what happens here. By browsing through the recent threads it seems like this entire board is run by newbies.

One may read this and think, "Shy, newbies aren't Administrators, or Mods. They are just regular members, they have no control over OB." The thing is that they have a LOT of control over the daily happenings, because they are the only ones who post anymore.

The first ten non-sticky threads in Otaku Lounge are made by junior members and newbies. Older members rarely make threads, and it's just as rare to see them post.

It seems like I never post anymore, especially in my own forums. Every discussion there has been done a million times before, so I don't see the point in repeating myself. Old members don't like saying the same thing over and over again, so they don't bother to write anything at all. There comes a time when the, "I'm depressed, in a bad relationship, confused about religion and gay," threads get very boring. How on Earth can there be four active threads about skepticism ("Are their REAL Psychics?" "Telekenesis..." "Moon Landing" and "Glowing Mary") at the same time? I haven't posted in any of them, and have no intention to. A few older members like to point out the flaws in these arguments but I'm definitely not one of them.

Instead I spend my online time chatting away on AIM, which is slowly turning into a great OB retirement home. The conversations are more selective, so new members are never invited. Yay for elitism.

I'm not even sure why the older members stick around to moderate. Having control over people we hardly interact with seems odd when you think about it.

Of course, it's not like I make any threads of my own. I'm just being hypocritical...
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Thursday, August 14, 2003

Ctrl+C
When someone has a good idea on OB, it's almost a guarantee that someone will steal it at one point. It happens in RPGs, in threads, avatars, but most commonly in signatures.

There was once a time when members didn't really put anything in their sig. It might have just been a simple link to their site, or a clever phrase, but it was never anything more. Then Asuka and Piro were married, which ushered in a whole new age of signatures and copycats. These days everyone has an OB bride (or groom), but at the time it was a fairly novel concept. No, it was not the first OB marriage, but the couple would always talk about each other in their posts (which they still do) and it just made the boards a lot more fun.

The problem is that everyone else wanted to get married too. I was married to Mitch for a few months, mainly because I just wanted to do what everyone else on the boards was doing. More members are just following the trends set by older members, raher than trying to create something new and origiinal.

It's so annoying to see someone with a stolen avatar, or a sig message, or both. People like Transtic Nerve and Charles put some thought into their writings, and certainly wouldn't appreciate it if every member stole what made them unique.

So yeah, just a reminder. Make up your own avatars and banners, because copying James is only going to get you so far on these boards.
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Saturday, August 9, 2003

Dealing With Newbies
Ugh. Sometimes new members can be a huge pain to me. Many of them are terrible posters who only stick around until their favorites threads become inactive, and then completely disappear. Yes, there are exceptions to the rules (Mnemolth and AzureWolf being two "Newbies" who have turned out to be good members) but for every good newbie there are at least a few dozen bad ones.

This week it seems like the bad ones are everywhere. A few members in particular have been getting on the nerves of most eveyrone, and many members look to staff for help in dealing with them. The problem is that aside from giving them some polite pointers, there is nothing we can do to stop them. Banning members isn't an option unless they purposely violate one of our rules, and even though these guys have bent a few, there is nothing specifically broken.

In order to be fair I just have to wait for them to make a mistake, and then strike while the iron is still hot.

The best way to deal with an a member who is causing problems is to report them to a staff member, or just send the member a PM, politely pointing out what they did wrong. Causing arguments in the middle of a thread is against the rules, and usually destroys the topic as a whole. Also, you can get in as much trouble as the troubled member if you start arguing with them in a thread.
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Thursday, August 7, 2003

Welcome to MyOtaku
This is MyOtaku, and I'm not exactly sure how active it's going to be. I already have a blog, and in-between my postings at OB and my job at Disneyland there isn't much time for this. Oh well, I'll see if I can't have some fun with this, heh.
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