The dwindling STS forums

[Lowlyspy]

First the clam
Then the Bronx bomb
Now arterra?!?!

Pardon me sir, but I do believe you mean oyster.

[Walkhardd]

Good post red. I haven't been here long enough to "remember the good ole days", but I have also noticed a decline in the quality of posts in the last couple of months.

I couldn't agree with you any more about the rep system. I think the concept is good, but asking people to thank them is just weird. I always use the mobile app, and tbh, have no idea what my rep is. Hopefully its not bad. : O

[Carth]

I couldn't agree with you any more about the rep system. I think the concept is good, but asking people to thank them is just weird. I always use the mobile app, and tbh, have no idea what my rep is. Hopefully its not bad. : O

I'll tell you your rep if you thank this post.

[Cahaun]

I couldn't agree with you any more about the rep system. I think the concept is good, but asking people to thank them is just weird. I always use the mobile app, and tbh, have no idea what my rep is. Hopefully its not bad. : O

I'll tell you your rep if you thank this post.

I can't thank on this app

[Phoenixking]

I'm glad there's people who have noticed that the forums have gone to far from what they used to be, I usually see random things, I don't see the epic threads from the phys day and yanis days, the forums used to be a great place and most guides are and where helpful, I myself used to want attention and rep and all that but like 4 months ago I notice it's a piece of trash, it doesn't matter to me anymore, and I actually miss the old forums

[Cahaun]

It's time we all make a bigger effort to bring forth the game spirit! The early SL forum was soooo good at it. All the post were lively and contained excitement in improving the game and helping others understand some new things. Now it feels different. Like how PL feels when I got to the 50 cap for the first time and look back at all of the once exciting levels with boredom. Maybe instead of focusing just on the cap and trying to be the best, we should strive at having fun along the way and making relationships. Maybe because it was soooo fast to lvl up in SL during beta, we all were too busy having fun instead of grinding grinding grinding.

[MightyMicah]

Hmmm. Very interesting, well thought out, and overall good post Red. I can't describe how much I agree about the whole "rep" thing. Honestly I didn't even know it existed for the longest amount of time because I use a mobile device (iTouch). When someone mentioned it, I decided never to figure out just what it is for fear that I might get sucked in. I still don't know what it is. (all I know is someone got mad at me cause apparently I never thank anyone?)

Honestly though, I'm going to have to disagree a little bit. Personally I've never noticed a "rise" or "fall" of good posts. People are people no matter what. Some people have good posts, some have bad. (thats not to say a good poster may occasionally lay an egg, or a bad poster might make like a squirrel and find hit nut...if you get my meaning). I've always just tried my best to avoid posts I know are headed in the wrong direction.

Anyways, all that to say, I am with you on trying to bring back good posts, though I don't really know how we could do that...any ideas? I mean other than trying to posts some good threads ourselves...

[MrKrone]

While I have not been playing long enough to witness the downfall of us all, I can say that just by looking a discussions and guides from over a year ago, I can see that Sts forums was a MUCH more active and helpful place. I humbly agree with everything said in here. I can level with crap items as long as I'm elix'd, past guides about deep intake mechanics such as drop functionality and how to calculate your Dps are no longer important, but interesting.

I am aware I basicly copied what a few of you guys said, and I did so on purpose. Repetition is the minds greatest tool for memory.

[Elyseon]

I always use the mobile app, and tbh, have no idea what my rep is. Hopefully its not bad. : O

lol same, one day hank told me i had two bars or somethin and I was laughing as basically all my input is very minimal and barely beneficial

[NotYoCookiez]

Being famous is everyone's dream....

Not saying its right that they should spam post or thanks but were all human!!

Who doesn't want to be in a famous/honorable guild?

I'm sure you was excited when you got your title. Everyone's curious on what it like to be in your shoes. Can't stop that ever. It's natural.

[Elyseon]

Being famous is everyone's dream....

Not saying its right that they should spam post or thanks but were all human!!

Who doesn't want to be in a famous/honorable guild?

I'm sure you was excited when you got your title. Everyone's curious on what it like to be in your shoes. Can't stop that ever. It's natural.

I prefer having friends tbh
If only they realized they need to earn ppls respect individually than mass 'oh i will post stuff that looks impressive' type mentalities

[Lowlyspy]

I prefer having friends tbh If only they realized they need to earn ppls respect individually than mass 'oh i will post stuff that looks impressive' type mentalities

Ain't it the truth.

[Sryyoulose]

I take EXTRA time to write pvp builds and stuff, anyone who's seen my help knows it's thoughtful. I'll spend an half-hour working on it. I know I'll get no or 1 thank but who cares I've made somebody's day!

My favorite thank ever was when: I got a Private message on forum. It was: Thank you so much, youve inspired me to start pvp and help others.

That made my whole week. I was like a floating butterfly sure, I didn't get a thank reputation. However, I got much more I got pride in what I did! Known it helps people, that is truly priceless.

[Paar]

I see your logic Red. I agree with you the forum rep system is completley wack... I myself have found my self making threads just for thanks but then again, I have no idea how it all works to this day because I only use forum app. I have no computer/laptop or even an Ipad to tell me my reputation. I also like what @Snakespeare said about how no one has stepped into Yanis' shoes and how mainly all threads are based on getting "Rep" and getting GoA status, Yanis is a very good person to refer to in this discussion because they did do all that work and they did NOT expect anything in return, but STS saw what they did and a GoA was rewarded. I want to try to me more helpful as a player and a ambassador but also dont want to find myself spamming the forums about guides on things that are as dumb as making a character and Yada Yada.. But I hope to one day be a helpful person such as many are here on the forums. That is my statement and I am done...

Also somewhat off discussion who were the first batch of GoA's? Just wondered?

[Artentreri]

Not gonna lie, I read like four posts in this thread. Red, you've always seemed very straightforward with your posts, never holding back what you thought on anything. Now, I think that's what we need, people to stop being scared to speak their minds. You should not fear your devs, your devs should fear you! (pun). I would say that it might be a good idea to get right of the thanks system, but that's a double edged sword. Some people, myself included, like to thank people for, well, whatever it is that they did to help them, and in the end are you really gonna post 20 times telling people thanks? I'm not, so in that sense, it's a good thing. On the other hand some people, no names, post mad threads just to get their rep bar up. Not sure how three little green dots are gonna help you in life, but that's how they view it. Then that just litters up the forums with crap that's already been posted 50 times, which makes some people just stop reading their threads. Either way, I think people need to step up and quit worrying about what a bunch of people who you will most likely never meet think about you.

[Arterra]

Ah the good old days... they will never come again. trust me.

Evolution of the community (on game forums)

1) new game: everything is new, everyone is excited and equally noobish, any new peice of info on forum, true or not, is subject to proper debate and inquiry.
2) growing: names and proper guides start popping up, this is the golden age as OCD like players start seriously breaking down the game. still open debate, but if you see a particular name say something, you LISTEN. (2010-2011 ish IMO, Royce being name example*)
3) settled: smaller, but still worthy guides start being made. not game breaking, but still useful. the game has been explored, simply have to look ever so much closer to write original stuff now. (Like a terraria forums I frequent, being for a game that has just declared itself more or less done. not too bad, not comparable to STS gold age)
4) stagnating: not much left to document, the frequent names on the forums have been replaced a dozen times over, starting to get winy... (now?)
5) ugh...: Minecraft forums... they have 20+ posts of insulting useless/nooby thread posters before anything constructive comes up. dozens of threads on the exact same thing can be found in a 2 page search. post count apparently equals game experience. bad spelling rampant. etc.

as I have seen, the level of decency players have to each other is proportional to the amount of thing left to discover together, like a common goal between passive aggressive frenemies... pray we never reach the MC stage.

*= note on prominent name respecting: not even being the #1 player in PL history can mean you are above the law. I remember asking something about the shock lance proc, if it was a break armor and/or stun or something, and royce spent a whole first page insisting there was no proc or at least not break armor.

BUT I will say something against the general argument trend here: even in september '10 signs of wanting to be recognized could be seen: moi. I spent the majority of my first few threads/posts experimenting to see what was considered to be a good and well liked thread, prone to being active, in general trying to emulate certain users in insight and helpfulness. why? so my numerous game suggestions would not be skipped, to dispel the mynas gen look, etc. wanting to be recognized is not a new trend, just a less successful one these days, although there are more un-altruistic temptations out there now...


thoughts on GoA, AoA, LmAO, etc:
since we have passed any proper discovery stages of the game, the standards for it decreases too.


OT:

No we're clearly trying to get Arterra back from China so he can play more.

Amen Red.

good to be remembered! I guess this is what players strive for when they have rep/status in mind...

[Lowlyspy]

good to be remembered! I guess this is what players strive for when they have rep/status in mind...

Since the early stages of mankind, people have strived for glory, whether in battle, writing, or fields of science. It is a natural human instinct to want to feel looked up to, to feel special, and of course that is a driving factor behind many of the people posting their "guides" these days as well as back then. I don't think anyone on this forum can say they never wanted to be a "famous" member of the community, looked up to for their wisdom, skills, or what have you. Even during my earlier days i wanted this. I jumped at the chance to meet a GoA after i found out what they were. I wanted to get to know them to find out what it was that gained them their LEETness, but after meeting a few i realized the best way to be considered LEET, just be a good person. After i got over being starstruck by the flashy shield and title and actually saw it for what it was i looked around the forums and saw how even those people who didn't have it were just as awesome. One person in particular was the person who convinced me to just be as good a person i could be (you shall remain nameless but you know who you are.)

Be helpful, learn the game, be generous (though not to a fault), and over all, be NICE. That is the way to be "famous" in the right way on here. And by "learn the game" i don't mean give an answer to every question whether you know it or not, that will lead you to giving out false info, which imo is worse than no info at all. I don't care what anyone says, there is NO ONE who knows everything about everything in this game, it is perfectly ok to not know the answer to something. Wanna know what to do in that case? Go find out what the answer is that way when someone else asks the same question, you can answer it correctly to the best of your knowledge.

Arterra, these are the things that make me remember you, not the shield, not the title, not any guides you have made. The fact that you are simply a good person is what makes me remember you. In being a good person you have earned my respect and a permanent spot in my memory.

And in regards to the forum rep feature, it's terrible. I am willing to bet every ounce of gold and gear i have that if it was taken away tomorrow along with the GoA and AoA/AoB programs, all the fame grubbers would disappear over night. I would be happy as a clam to see it go, the forums were better off without it in the first place. I prefer my mental rep system anyway, where rep points are appropriately given or taken away as i see fit. The forum rep system just isn't needed, be a good person and the fame will come without you even knowing it.

[MightyMicah]

So after thinking about it a little more I will say this. Good guides are still presented by many people. Problem is no one bothers to read them. I don't know how many AMAZING guides and suggestions and all kinds of awesome crap I've read that had like 2 comments on it. (and Im guessing not very many views.) Maybe it's time we ignore the rep bars, and start anew. Meaning read stuff regardless of who wrote it. And look for it also.

[Hankomachos]

lol same, one day hank told me i had two bars or somethin and I was laughing as basically all my input is very minimal and barely beneficial

You have three now. ;P

[Mitchturbo]

I didn't realise any of this was going on. Do you all honestly think this way?

I love the forums and have made good friends from here. :-)
Can we not try to improve the spirit and community of the forums?
All and all I hope you get whatever is off your chest and just have fun again *big care bear hug*

Oh and *free cookie too*