Welcome to General Deception

[NME]

Where the past is only available to paying customers and Youtube was once a dirty word.

[Otohiko]

well, technically the past is not available to anyone at the moment. Except the moderati.

[NME]

The fabled OT archives? They don't exist.

They are the stuff of legends, passed down in a hushed whisper by the ancients throughout the generations.

But still, nothing but a legend.

[Otohiko]

Oh yeah?



But the real question is, even assuming they were available, would these be in any way useful or productive?

I miss the old OT too, but you can't bring it back, nor - after over 7 years - will bringing it back actually do anything. If it's really an issue, I can talk to those in the know and see if the archive can be dumped somewhere externally if you want to look at it - I just don't think opening the archives up as part of the ongoing forums here is useful or will serve the interest of more than just a small group of oldfags (myself included) who participated in those forums and are still around today.

One discussion forum is enough - let's just try to have a new start instead of trying to live up to the old OT.

[NME]

Old OT is dead and gone and there won't ever be anything quite like it again. The internet is a different place these days and the org lost most of the posters who made the old OT such a vibrant place. Nostalgia's gaze wears rose-coloured glasses anyway.

I still fail to see how the administrators taking such a hardline stance in regards to censorship is healthy for the social operation of this place. I just wonder where all the donation money goes when you guys are doing this stuff for free and the community is growing elsewhere but dying here! I wonder how much profit gets made off donations vs. how much this is a legitimate hobby site and not just a scam to charge for functionality that should be there in the first place if this site wants to survive on the post-youtube internet of 2011.

I love this art form, this community that introduced me to it and the friendships I've made because of it. I will be damned if some nerd steers this beautiful zeppelin into the ground due to his own lack of direction.

The humanity.

[Otohiko]

So what do you propose we do? You've been calling bullshit on everything time and time again with neither substantiation nor a concrete solution to anything. Look, I appreciate the concern for the community because that's my concern too. But either you suggest something, do something yourself, or at least if you take up critique - take it up on something concrete. Otherwise this is just going to go back and forth. As far as forums, as I've said, I'm happy to dig up whatever you're interested in. As far as community generally, donations, or site redesign - we have a whole forum talking about the .org's future in no uncertain terms. You're welcome to prod with pointed sticks there as much as you like, as long as you can bring something useful to the table. Sure there's hard questions to be asked, but you're not asking any, instead just attacking the nearest semblance of authority because it's suspect by default. Now if you stop looking at the administration as some grand authority to be questioned, you'll find there's plenty of opportunities to talk to and query site admins, assuming you're willing to at least talk on the same level and with an assumption of mutual goodwill.. But nope, you climb up on higher moral ground and refuse to do that, cause it feels too good up there. So, it ends up in this back and forth, until you get ignored and interpret that as censure.

[dreamawake]

I was going to pick a good bit of that apart George, but i think I'll just leave it to NME here.

[NME]

INCOMING WALL OF TEXT

I am doing something. You want action and a rallying cry? A waving flag? I just ordered one along with a Che Guevara shirt and this killer distressed graphic tee with the anarchy symbol on it.

This thread is a critique on policy and a reminder that the admins here have a funny way of glazing over real facts. Mods too apparently. This is what it is and this is what it always has been. Just a friendly reminder to those who are new or too drunk to remember last month

I've tried to have dialogue with higher ups, it's abundantly clear to me that they are more interested in having circlejerks with their friends than actually preserving this community or making it function. It's also my reputation that's getting in the way of actual communication. Apparently you can't question authority without the other monkeys getting worked up. Too bad, since most monkeys ain't cognitively advanced enough to question authority, or themselves for that matter. It's a pitiful world.

If they cared they wouldn't be running this site into the ground with all these rules that PROHIBIT ACTUAL CREATIVE THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION. If they had any vision or social competence they would understand that while guidelines are important, they do very little to increase our ability to understand and adapt or make art that is a true representation of our heart and soul.

This site has only gotten worse since shit Phade shit himself over getting sued by the RIAA and went into lockdown mode. This is art for fuck's sake. How is a restriction in the realm of the creation of art beneficial to actual expression and the medium? How are foul language and violence even seen as an issue? Why can't we edit our posts unless we pay money? Why could you not edit your posts for a long time back in the day? Why is the functionality of this site on a 10 dollar per year use basis when captcha or other revenue streams could be utilized instead? Why are you still reading this? cause it makes you think

IMO The policy on this site has been directly influenced by the new wave of terror in the United states. As surely as the academic institutions and workplaces have adapted to post 9/11 life with new rules and regulations, websites have as well. These rules are not for the protection or preservation of anyone but the person who owns this site and has legal liability. We are afraid and making policy decisions from a place of fear - THIS IS NOT HEALTHY AND WILL NOT PRODUCE GOOD RULES.

Phade or the moderati or puppet boy or whatever herd runs this site now are not capable. If you're offended, too damned bad. I watched the IRC channel go from a lush, vividly coloured rainforest that I helped sow to a barren field of stumps cut down by AD and his strict observance of rules created in a time of war and fear in the world. Then AD turned around and broke most of them on a consistent basis and pulled the dictator card whenever it happened. He must just be more equal than others, just like the sunken modship and the other puppet admins who have the presence and likability of boiled spaghetti. The fact that mods and admins keep changing on this site tells me that there's something going on in the leadership chain. At this point it looks to me like whoever is in charge of ordering the power structure in this community has been fumbling with it since 2003.

Listen, I know ya'll are well meaning but when you get a bunch of monkeys in a room they are going to eventually have issue. There will always be problems in social communities that need to be taken care of prudently and responsibly, however, employing people who are basically social incompetents does nothing but promote disharmony. This is the IRC currently. The IRC isn't helped by the fact that it's an asinine committee of people who don't even have the time to do their duty on a consistent basis or communicate with each other. It's all hush-hush and done behind closed doors. The IRC channel is run like a fucking day care. This is what you people want isn't it? Someone to think for you? Someone to tell you what to do?

On to the redesign: This redesign is too little too late and will do nothing to attract people if the social climate stays this way. People have more autonomy on YT and more freedom to speak their minds and that will be far more attractive.

If the higher ups in this scene can't handle people speaking their mind and asking for a leadership that actually understands how to run things to the benefit of their users and the community at large there is no hope. The question is, at a time when the admins are clear-cutting: Are you bracing against the tree with all your might or lying down on the forest floor blanketed by its looming shadow, awaiting the crushing blow?

A state of the org address? Really? You compare yourself tongue-in-cheek to the president? That's fitting, cause Barack's a pawn too.

This site needs new leadership, without a competent plan to move forward it's dead.

As far as I'm concerned a place that limits my ability to express myself DOES NOT HAVE MY GOOD WILL IN MIND. If you disagree, so be it. But that shit don't fly with me no way no how and it makes me sick to my stomach that other people think this shit is alright.

[BasharOfTheAges]

So, basically "I don't like rules" would sum that up? Maybe "I don't like structure either" thrown in? Do you get completely lost and flip your shit in a library because they classify books into categories and don't carry porn?

[NME]

Rules are fine, categories are fine as well. It's when they stifle expression and creative impulse that they ruin our ability to fully express ourselves. In this way of thinking everyone suffers and produces poor quality product that is not as challenging, stimulating, or unique.

This is a meeting place for artists as much as it is an anal-retentive obsessive list of AMVs. If the administrators lack the vision to see that it was better and more conducive to a creative environment when the rules were more lax they will likely never see this fact.

They're too old and set in their ways and afraid.

It's mostly the fear.