Has the console forum been axed?

Perhaps here?

 

Yeah that place is jumping..

 

I gave up on the console forum when, despite having an incredibly low post count (pretty sure some people post more per-hour than I do in a year) and despite actually just posting in the last few instances to argue for a bit of calm and perspective, I was basically accused of bring a troll/fanb/whatever myself. I realised I just didn't actually care that much anymore - the battle was lost and I wasn't interested in fighting it.

As much as I liked the forum of old it has been heading down the pan since the site move a few years ago and certainly in the last year.

It was a victim of it's own success. It became well known and "respected" enough to attract a sufficiently annoying bunch of ignorant trolls and, much like tribbles, you just can't get rid of them once they get a foothold and start to breed.

I'd like to see a solution that brings back a forum with intelligent conversation, but I have no good suggestions.

Moderation would work (by which I mean, every post must be approved) but might stifle conversation a little and would require a very good, very dedicated moderator. Who'll work exceedingly hard for free. Maybe if a person's first 100 posts or something were moderated and they could be moved back to moderated status if they transgress a bit much...

Oh I don't know. Clearly any solution will require work that if *I* were the site admin, I'm not sure I'd care enough to implement.

Likewise I have no interest in a read-only forum for developer posts, nor would I want to contribute to such a thing. There are plenty of developer-only (either invite-only or screened) places around where I can chat freely to developers without noise - I don't need another. I came here for open discussion with all manner of random folks to get a non-developer centric view of the area in which I work, while hopefully sharing a bit of knowledge along the way.

Besides which, if developers have any sense they'll be keeping their mouths shut a bit more, now that concrete information is in their hands and the companies that employ them have shiny new strict NDAs to enforce... I know I don't like to say too much, and I'm relatively anonymous. Some people here tread a very thin line - all respect to them for doing so, but I can't blame them if they decide to shut up again. Also, why would they bother posting anything if their audience seems to be less a bunch of clued-up enthusiasts and more a bunch of insult-hurling buffoons?

However I also don't care about reading a site on 3D in any form which ignores the contribution that consoles make. They drive hardware design and are one of the few places where any piece of hardware is truly driven as hard as it can be. Hardware in a PC, I would warrant, hardly ever gets a proper test of its full abilities. PC-centric tech sites are probably about as common as troll-ridden console forums, and I don't read any of them.

If the admins do nothing else, I cannot say I blame them, but I would like to encourage them to at least have the old forum available as a locked archive. There was some good stuff in there and it would be good to keep.

 

Agreed. The last post was in February.

I too felt the console forum had a wealth of information, I dont think I have read more intelligent posts on any other forum. I am still trying to see how a Console forum doesn't belong on a 3D site, yet a Political or Religious forum does. Or, how console game talk should be shunned in the console forum.

I feel it is a great resource lost.

 

"Read-only" certainly isn't the point. (Notice the forums that ARE read-only are basically ignored and certainly not a draw to the site.) I don't think that's much of a treat either for the developers or the community at large. B3D's usually been able to attract a small but devoted group of folks who are in various circles and simply like talking to interested parties in general. (When they aren't overly silenced by NDA's. ) THAT is what I think people still want, and I don't actually think that's too hard to get back to. Yes, you might have to get hardass about a few things and people might bitch, but that's exactly where such contouring would get us back to. Less inconsequential bitching and more nerds swapping info, providing conjecture, and keeping each other interested and conversive in a more nerdy fashion rather than all Jets/Sharks.

 

Just one question?

If the CF does not reopen, will you put the OLD CF, in the archives, it would be a wast if people cant acess to that info

 

To answer the question of this thread, the console forum has not been axed...but has been cut...

Thats it for me and this post, I bid you adou...

 

How you you know that?

 

lol...I don't know...I was making a play on words

~_~,

 

It's back up.

 

Much has already been said, but I’ll add my 2 cents.

I must say that I really enjoy using Beyond3D to exchange information with my fellow colleagues in the PC/gaming/console industry. In addition to folks who work in the industry, Beyond3D attracts a lot of enthusiasts (hardware/gaming/console/graphics etc). Enthusiasts do add to the overall discussion, but can sometimes get bogged down in minutiae or endless arguments over opinions rather than exchanging knowledge.

Now I'm a believer that a few bad apples shouldn't spoil the barrel. You need to remove any bad apples you find and be careful not to place new bad apples into the barrel. Rather than shut down a valuable forum, I would suggest limiting or temporarily shutting down new member creation. There are many existing members who can and do use the Console Forum appropriately. Limiting new member inflow would allow better balance of the S/N ratio.

 

I was under the impression that the forum was gone .

 

Must have been Harry Potter.

 

Heh.. Good as new. I wonder if something will be done to cut the crap from the root. Which should have been done way before considering taking the console forum off.


COUGH*I think my idea about posting console stuff on either ther 3D Tech Forum, the Hardware Talk and the Games Forum scared Dave, better to keep a Console Forum, sort of a dustbin*COUGH

 

Nasty cough LBthat's what we have the NHB for at EBI hope it gets better soon.

 

I hope Dave gave Sonic some claws this time. He can hold down the modding himself, he just needs the good, ole' banstick by his side. PEACE.

 

I just want to say "Thank You".

 

Good luck sonic your going to need it

 

THANKS A LOT !!

I was really pissed off when I saw the console forum gone. I really hope the forum stays open now and a few posters calm down.

The only thing strange is that I have to log in to even see the console forum now. Is that intentional or only a side effect of the axing-bringin-back?


Manfred