General Feedback

[PetPeeve]

Right around the time of updates (note, there has been no update), that works, a bit. but you can't really keep up with the topic, because posting frequency is a constant, updates or not. It might actually go FASTER when there hasn't been an update in a while.

I know I'm acting like an old fart here, but I find myself more and more avoiding the comic discussion subforum completely. Even as recently as a year ago, it was fun to read, but it's just not worth keeping up with anymore - the signal to noise ratio is way out of whack with no way to filter it.

[Freack]

Dude. Have you been paying attention to the past week? We barely got through a page of Forum a day.

Also, there are the subforums which are generally dedicated to a certain section of whatever the most recent update is. Like, the Classes and the IDE thread are great for serious paragraphy talking.

And, for the record, if you have something to say, "just ask a question" almost always works.

I apologize if I sound rude, but I am kind of defensive of that thread.

[PetPeeve]

Did you see that I mentioned that I don't go to Ravenholm anymore?

Edited to add: 4 pages today (7 in the last 24 hours), and there's been no update. What topic has had only one page a day?

More edit: Here's some stats! I ran through roughly the last 24 hours of messages in the comic discussion topic, starting with Page 49. "on-topic" means there is at least some connection to the latest update (note, there has been no update). I will note that I was VERY liberal in what I accepted as on-topic. Also - don't count on the numbers adding up. I very likely dropped or added some to the wrong category somewhere along the way.

On-topic: 81
General off-topicness: 28
Fetishes, squidbiscuit (urgh): 44
Homestuck, but not current stuff (ships, zodiac, etc.): 45

I would be perfectly happy with 81 messages in a day, though a lot of those messages are actually one-liners and Ash would probably be handing out cheap cigars on some of them if he wasn't taking a well-deserved vacation.

The fetish topic belongs deep in general chat somewhere, and the other stuff would easily fit into other topics like the dedicated one for ships or IDE/theory. I will say one thing in agreement with Freack that this batch of pages is better than I've seen lately (possibly because my RIP of ignored posts is working well for me, or some persistent noise sources have gone elsewhere), but I think there is still a helluva lot of room for improvement and technical means for doing it are worth discussing.

[phantasmalDexterity]

"on-topic" means there is at least some connection to the latest update (note, there has been no update).

Why? It's not called Discussion Of Latest Update. It's called Comic Discussion.
Everything counts is on-topic as long as it's about Homestuck. Even ships. Because they are HS characters.

And the Skype chat is what made the thread more quiet.

It could be better, that's true, but than again, what couldn't be better?

[Freack]

Everything counts is on-topic as long as it's about Homestuck. Even ships. Because they are HS characters.

Heck, even Jailbreak is fair game.

[nostalgebraist]

This kind of thing is why I still think the current Comic Discussion thread should be split into a general MSPA chat thread and an update thread.

Because some people (Petpeeve isn't the only one) want an update discussion thread that's separate from more general chat, while various other people want a place they can just talk about MSPA in freeform fashion. Those are two very different sorts of conversations, and there's no reason they should share the same thread. (The current situation seems sort of like what would happen if, say, the IDE thread didn't exist and you had to talk about theories in the comic discussion thread. You still can talk about them there, but it's good that that topic has its own thread. Same for updates.)

[PetPeeve]

Thanks, exactly the point I'm trying to make. I have no problem with the content, I would just like a place to discuss comic updates (note, still no update) that's not plopped in with discussions of ships, why Sollux isn't your favorite troll, fantartists with a StumpLove fetish (there is not enough shout poles in the universe to put after that!), etc.

I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying it's fundamentally different than talking about what's going on in homestuck this week. There's really no good place to do that, and that's unlike just about every webcomic on earth. Every one I've ever read that has a forum, has a dedicated place to discuss new material only (note, no new material). This doesn't even have to be a mod headache, it's a common feature of such forums that the first person to see the update (enough of that schtick, you get the idea) sets up the thread, links to the new material, and rings the bell for the moderator to sticky it when they get a chance.

It could be better, that's true, but than again, what couldn't be better?

Read the rest of that sentence - that technical means for improving it are worth discussing.

[Wesley Foxx]

I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying it's fundamentally different than talking about what's going on in homestuck this week. There's really no good place to do that, and that's unlike just about every webcomic on earth. Every one I've ever read that has a forum, has a dedicated place to discuss new material only (note, no new material). This doesn't even have to be a mod headache, it's a common feature of such forums that the first person to see the update (enough of that schtick, you get the idea) sets up the thread, links to the new material, and rings the bell for the moderator to sticky it when they get a chance.

Most comics on the internet also only update once a week, and only one page.

Personally while I would normally be 0kay with an ongoing MSPA General Discussion topic, we have been shown repeatedly that the forum just cannot seem to handle ongoing general topics. They invariably turn into cliques, so I doubt it will happen.

[PetPeeve]

I read 8 webcomics that update 3 times a week or more, including MSPA, and 6 of them have daily comics threads. It's pretty much the rule for active ones.

How about Nostalgiabraist's suggestion, splitting the current discussion in two? Leave "MSPA comic chat" as it is, but have an additional running topic called "current update", and if that goes off topic, the posts get moved to the existing topic.

Rather than starting a new topic with each update, have some rules for gently pointing out updates, such as the first person who notices posts a message with simply UPDATE (no update yet) in it, and a link to the start of the new material. If you get ninjaed on this, you go back and delete your message. All of that can be documented in the topic starter.

As Fish said, while things have improved (I didn't know the really crazy high volume people started a skype conference, good for them!), the conversation is still off in the weeds most of the time, and I think new readers would appreciate a high-signal place as much as the old hands. Give it some thought, I think it's just barely not broken right now, and it was severely broken before this skype thing, which may not last.

[Bandages]

Something like that was suggested a few months ago with no follow-up

Shruggoth

[PetPeeve]

Probably me then, too. I've run some similar suggestions past the mods a few times with no luck yet.

Edit: OK, I'm dropping this for now. The comic discussion topic sucks a lot less than it did when I first started suggesting breaking out daily stuff. If it stays this way, we're fine.

Is it possible to put a link to the skype chat in the topic starter so it's easy to direct people at it who want to chat? I don't use skype much.

[Conflicted Scales]

how to you change your avatar? I CANT FIND THE OPTION!!

[Freack]

If you go to settings you can find the option in the side bar.

[Mystery Solved]

I can safely affirm that this is the case. Mystery solved. Good work everyone. Go team.

[Wacom Guy]

How did Schazer stop being a moderator?

[Blueberry]

She chose to retire. You'd have to ask her for more details.

As far as the actual process, she asked to step down in the mod forum, and once we were sure her duties would be covered by the other mods, she was de-modded.

[Wacom Guy]

m-mod forum?

[AProcrastinatingWriter]

m-mod forum?

There is a secret forum not linked to on the main forums page and whose url is only known to those on the forums at moderator-level or above. None of its posts show up in the "new posts" or "post history" or anything like that.

I know that sounds like some kind of silly harmless trolling attempt, but I'm being completely serious.

[simon.clarkstone]

You make it sound more exciting than it really is. I have worked on a web-app that validates specifications for corporation tax submission formats and it has features just like that in it. It's bog-standard webapp stuff.

EDIT: in fact the board gives a different error message for a forum that doesn't exist and one that exists but you are forbidden to access.
EDIT: added data from below.

http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?69 <-- the lowest-numbered forum of any kind on this board (probably)
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?72 <-- "infractions"
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?73 <-- "reported posts"
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?75 <-- "internal hub"
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?82
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?83
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?86
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?89 <-- "talking shop"
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?94
http://mspaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?101

Yeah, I'm a rebel, posting all these links that normal users can't follow!

There are more than I expected. I guess some of them are art-team-related, and maybe some for a carefully-selected clique who want to avoid all these post-2008 noobs.

---

BTW, I remember now that there is a forum that gets a new thread every time someone reports a post.

[Drillgorg]

Its not even that the url is secret, its that it just doesn't show up for standard users. And its not exciting, we have a section for reported posts, a section for infractions, and a section for talking shop.

[Wesley Foxx]

73, 72 and 89 respectively. 75 is the internal hub.

It really isn't anything much. Two forums of automatically generated all business threads, and one more that is pretty much a general 'talk about forum work stuff' thread (EG: "Hey this person didn't get an activation email" etc) a guidelines reminder/future mod introduction thread, and a couple old relics that don't even show up unless you scroll back in time.

Most of the other forums are most likely the music team's part.

[Blueberry]

there's art team, music team, and admin forums (separate from the mod forums) and simon you might be right about the Gangbunch subforum, I feel like I remember hearing that existed. I could be wrong though, that is not an official statement or anything. Just theorizing.

[NotASenator]

There are plenty of secrets lurking behind these walls.

[GaMaGu]

As an experienced moderator on other forums, I can safely say that the only thing mildly exciting that ever happens in the staff forums of any website is when we decide whether a member should be banned or not.

[Wacom Guy]

It's like a court case or something!