Reason? Because I need to rant. Yes, it's a selfish personal reason which members don't expect me to, but drastic action calls for drastic measures. Too many things are happening and 90% of the time people don't read what I say. Fine by me that you don't give two hoots about what I say, but if ANYONE still remembers the first thread I started in the news section after SGAnime switched to SGCafe, you'd know that SGCafe runs by MY RULES, MY POLICY.
I do what I want with this forum, including closing it down temporarily or permanently. So if you have even the slightest idea that you have the right to whine about the forum being closed, or that I shouldn't do it, shut the hell up and live with it. I've been having too many new people in the forums who think that SGCafe is some crazy zoo where you're able to do whatever you want and get away with it because there's no zoo keeper around. WRONG. That's not the way I run things. Senior members will probably have a better idea of how I run this place, and I am SO tired of dealing with people who don't bloody listen to other members.
Now that that's out of the picture, if you're one of those innocent members who haven't done anything (0 posts) to deserve my fury, my apologies for dragging your reading pleasure into this. For everyone else, there are 1001 things that could have pissed me off during your days as an SGCafe member. There might be a few people who didn't, but I probably can count you with my fingers.
I'm not getting heard by the members, members do not know me (I don't mean personally) nor know what I am saying. That's my main concern. I don't have any worry for the senior members (you know who you are), because you know how to contact me and get things done. The reason I'm guessing is that when SGAnime moved to SGCafe, there were barely 2,000 members. Now, there are 6,000 members, so we're looking at 4,000 new members, of which probably 1/2 of you are the ones who are the cause of this temporary closure. You have no idea how I want this forum to run, do NOT make the effort to find out, and simply just click the post button either to voice out (good), or simply to increase your GOD DAMN POST COUNT (bad).
Fine, half of the above problems are my fault. I was busy for a couple of years so I didn't have time to sort out the forum stuff. By the time I did, it was probably too late. The news section needs a cleanup but I haven't gotten around doing it. That still doesn't mean you as a member, do not have the responsibility to find out information on your own.
Some history for those that don't know. When I was running SGAnime, it was based on one single rule, common sense. Every post, every action, had to have some common sense involved. "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself." It worked well for some time until people started getting personal with me. I tried to make everyone happy, so I did stuff for good of the majority of members, not just listen to the mobs who were against it and voiced. I fought my own wars then, and got tired, which resulted in the forming of SGCafe, and the major change to the rules. Common sense still applies, but I call the final shot. If I say NO, its NO, regardless of what you think. Worked pretty well for then, until now when the situation has gotten what I'll call, out of hand, because the 2,000 members I'm looking at have NO idea what I am talking about, this "common sense" thing.
FFA. Free For All. This is the way I wanted SGAnime, and now SGCafe to run. This is the mentality I have, which some, but not all of you know. I didn't make specific mention of this, but I think I should now since I'm ranting. Free For All refers to the right for anyone to say whatever they want. Of course, FFA alone is a REALLY bad idea. I can imagine how chaotic the situation would have gotten very quickly, so I implemented the need for common sense. For you, to use WHATEVER common sense you had in you to decide what to say, and whether or not to say it. By doing so, you will also need to BEAR RESPONSIBLITY for what you said. In short, what I wanted was an unmoderated forum, where members could interact peacefully (as far as possible) in a civilized manner, always exercising common sense and responsiblity.
Now, when I refer to common sense, a lot of people, especially the 2,000 of you I'm targeting are going to say stuff like common sense is what you think is right. NO, NO and NO. That's not common sense, that's your selfish ego. Common sense is what is "common" to everyone, meaning what the majority think is right. Think about others, and their response to your post, before posting something that's probably going to piss everyone off. If it doesn't need to be said, don't say it.
One thing I see in common with a lot of new members (and some old ones), the lack of RESPECT. How are you going to co-exist with someone without an ounce of respect for each other? Peacefully or non-peacefully, there still needs to be some form of respect, which I see very much lacking in the forums. I can't teach you respect, but without respect, you're not going to be able to exercise common sense. Either find some way to learn both respect and common sense, or keep quiet.
Flaming. I already expected flames, and already decided that I WILL NOT GET INVOLVED. FIGHT YOUR OWN WAR WITH YOUR OWN WORDS. Unmoderated means I do not take any action against content, except when it is absolutely necessary to, such as legal reasons. I probably didn't "advertise" this stance of mine enough, but here it is. I DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN FLAMES. I DO NOT CLOSE THREADS WHEN YOU ASK ME TO. I DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT I WANT TO TAKE ACTION. Thread owners are expected to close their own threads, get them to close the thread if you need to, but it's their own decision whether or not to do it. If you feel you have been defamed, insulted, whatever, find a lawyer and he/she will know how to contact me.
Lack of moderators is the other complain I see all over the place, and usually by the newer members. First, what is the point in having moderators in a forum that is suppose to be unmoderated? You are suppose to be able to freely post whatever you want (exercising common sense) without being restricted by moderators. Second, every person thinks differently, which means every moderator is going to have a different opinion. I'm going to have hell trying to manage all these different people, opinions and decisions in the forums. So no, I run this forum by myself and it stays that way. If you think I need to step in (after making sure the above are met), contact me. Whining about having moderators in threads, or posting in a thread saying "Kenshin/Admin, do something" is not going to work because I BARELY read any thread. You want my attention, make sure it DESERVES my attention then contact me via PM or email.
Spamming is fine by me, but again, exercise common sense. Spam where you're suppose to spam, use your DAMN COMMON SENSE. Who am I talking about? Someone posts a complain thread about spamming, and you go SPAM IN THERE? Where's your BLOODY RESPECT FOR OTHERS? Where's your COMMON SENSE? This is the no. 1 reason to spark me off this rant. I definitely didn't expect such a response to someone who put up an honest complaint. I asked the thread starter to close the thread and start a new one, and what happens? Same damn thing. Didn't bother to see the closed thread on the same page? Must I totally change my policy outright and stop all spamming? Respect the thread starter, keep to the topic if the thread starter wants it that way. Do your spamming in the right places.
I don't ban people unless necessary, and when I mean necessary, I mean when banning works. I ban one account, they just start another, so what's the point? Asking me to ban people who can easily create a new account is not going to work. You don't want them to spam or irritate you, stop feeding them by replying to their posts. Ignore them, the option is in the control panel. Do whatever necessary in your own power, stop expecting me to spoonfeed you by taking care of all these problems. This is a public forum, you're going to have all sorts of people, live with it.
I'll work out some way to put up this information so that new members from now on know, and will remember, but that'll take some time. Everyone needs to know how I want to run this place, work with me to have this place running properly. You want a good time here, so do I. I want to give you a good time, but you need to help yourself first.
Targeted groups of people now. I see an influx of 14-16 year olds (as of 2007) joining the forums. I'm not trying to discriminate against all of you, but some of you obviously do not know how to respect the older members. These members are probably older than you, and can be considered your elders. Minus some of them who are probably acting like kids instead of their age (you bunch can join the REAL under 16s in my rant), most of them have more experience in life than yourself, so listen and respect. I know most teenages nowadays simply don't listen to their parents/elders and are very rebellious, but I'm not having any of that rubbish in my forum. Either you learn to respect every other member and even more for members than yourself, or else delete SGCafe from your bookmarks and stay out. Find somewhere else to feed that attitude of yours, definitely not SGCafe. Also, regardless of my age, I expect some decent respect when you talk to me. Get your high and mighty attitude out of the window before even attempting to PM/email me, or reply to any post I make. I will make your SGCafe life a living hell IF I want to, so don't make me go that route. When I say something to you, I expect you to listen, like it or not. Whoever pissed me off on this accord, you better know who you are, cause the next time you piss me off again, I'm not holding back.
Commerical entities. There have been people representing various shops/companies in the forums over the past few month. I am fine with the occasional advertisement in the announcement forum, and mentioning that your shop/company provides the service/product in various threads, but what I do NOT want to see is false advertisement or blatent brainwashing of the members. You know who you are, I don't need to say further. As again, don't make me do things unnecessary, cause when it becomes necessary, you sure as hell don't want to see me do stuff.
SGMarket. I've already did the tidying up of the SGMarket forum into categories. I EXPECT you to read the sticky in the forum before posting. The rules of the market are in there. I already banned some people from SGMarket, and I will not hesitate to do so again if you do not follow the rules. It's the only place with rules, and only a few simple rules. If you can't follow them, don't post anything, simple as that. Sick and tired of having to do extra clean up work. My thanks to those who followed the rules and also those who helped report. Your effort in keeping the SGMarket forums clean and tidy is great, keep up the good work.
Trades and orders. Trades I mean buying/selling in the forums. Bad trades happen all the time. People disappear before/after the trade. There's no guarantee or anything, and that's just it. There's nothing I can do to help, banning is out of the question, rating is not easy to do. The easiest way is for you to warn everyone by actively monitoring the market for people who you have dealt with and had bad experiences. Same for mass/pre orders, there have been many cases where things don't go well. If you have a bad experience, go ahead and post in the sellers' threads, both new and old. If you have a real case, I'll not take any action, no matter what the thread starter says. And sellers/orderers, please don't do business unless you're sure you can handle it.
Announcement forum. I'll be frank. The whole lot of you that are posting all sorts of crap in the announcement forums? You're childish. Fighting, mimicing each other's threads, turning the announcement forum into some kind of A vs B forum. I'm not doing anything yet because I'm not getting involved, but look at yourselves. Some of you are adults behaving like kids, the rest of you who aren't kids or acting like kids, are adding oil into the flames. If you have something constructive, fine. The announcement forum is for members to share information with each other, definitely NOT for the kind of threads I've been seeing.
Trolls & attention seekers. There are bound to be people like that. But the rest of you come bitching to me about them, when you obviously are giving them what they want, ATTENTION. Ignore them, treat them as invisible, and it'll probably work better than you getting involved in a mud slinging fest with them. You're giving them the attention they want, and they'll just keep on going. Then you come complaining to me about them? Deal with these people yourself, find ways, means, whatever.
Unhappy with Kenshin people. Some people don't like me. Some people hate me. After this closure, my guess is the number is probably going to increase. Sorry, but I don't like you much either. You don't like the way I do things? Leave. You don't like me threathening or actually closing the forum like this? Leave. I've given up pleasing everyone. I please myself and the majority who want SGCafe to keep going. If you're the minority, either learn to co-exist, or just please just leave.
People who ask me to act. I appreciate the help that you guys are doing, letting me know if something requires my attention. but I hope you will really read the above, and make sure that it does deserve my attention. Whoever reported the spam complaint thread, thanks. But whoever is reporting the announcement threads, trolling threads, etc, no thank you. Based on the above, the chances for me to act is unlikely because you guys/gals need to settle it yourselves.
I'll end my rant here. If you want to treat this temporary closure as a punishment, fine. If you're innocently punished, sorry, but it's not my fault, go blame the above people I mentioned. I have no idea what else I can do to get people to listen anymore, so this is what I'll do whenever things get out of hand. Hate me if you want, this is still my forum and I'll do things my way, the way I want for the majority of members to be able to enjoy the forums. I'm not running this forum for my own good. A huge amount of money and effort is spent running a forum this large and the least you as a member can do is work with me and keep the forum a great place for hanging out.
Kenshin
erm im not so sureOriginally posted by dbowie:i tink the troll paragraph is very classic.... fireice need to sticky the paragraph
the big OOriginally posted by Gackt247:Once Jason uses this as a basis.. fifi will be button-happy.. click click click.
x200Originally posted by 4getmenot:judging from the long post he made.. ( i read first paragraph only..)
he musta be very pissed..![]()
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