Community

The activity here is nothing compared to other forums, but yet thoes other forums will ban you if you sneeze in the wrong forum or bann you outright without even posting.

I want to actually talk to people about decks in any given metagame but theres nothing here, you would think that this being the mother site it would be the biggest form of knolage there is on any given meta and decks. but ther isent anything.

Because about half of the old regulars from before the forums moved to this new site have left in the last couple of years for various reasons, leaving half as many regulars and a lot more unstable, new people from within the last six months that don't post as often?

I mean, I only come here while I'm at work because I get bored. I don't really spend my free time on any websites, I'd rather play a round of Dota 2 with my husband or something.

There are no quality standards here. When you can set your calendar to the endless posts of "I'm coming back to Magic! What is it like now?", "I'm starting Magic! What is it like now?", and "I just posted this ultra low budget casual deck! What do you like about it now?" things are in bad shape. Discussions like these in large and frequent numbers drive away people who have been around a while.

It is actualy that strict moderation that keeps things from going down the tubes. It makes sure that discussions have quality. It makes sure that content can keep getting generated and not get drowned in a sea of the banal and mundane. 

Feb 7, 2013 -- 12:09AM, Renasce wrote:

 I don't really spend my free time on any websites, I'd rather play a round of Dota 2 with my husband or something.

I can't take dota 2 seriously, they just ripped off league of legends and dumbed down the game by taking out rune pages.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 1:13AM, Catotheyounger wrote:

I can't take dota 2 seriously, they just ripped off league of legends and dumbed down the game by taking out rune pages.

I'll assume that you're joking. No one is that mentally deficient.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 1:13AM, Catotheyounger wrote:

Feb 7, 2013 -- 12:09AM, Renasce wrote:

 I don't really spend my free time on any websites, I'd rather play a round of Dota 2 with my husband or something.

I can't take dota 2 seriously, they just ripped off league of legends and dumbed down the game by taking out rune pages.

Come on you can do better than this.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 2:20AM, Fenix. wrote:

Come on you can do better than this.

The available evidence would seem to suggest otherwise.

HoN is better anyway.

This forum killed itself

Well one thing, this forum along with the mothership is banned from my work's internet restrictions, but other forums get past those restrictions just fine.  That is the main reason I use other forums more often.  Other than that, I'd like to see this main site grow a bit, and have more constructive deck reviews, discussion, strategy, and various other topics, but that will take a lot of community work as well.  It really is a community effort to make a great site, and the will power behind it to make that happen.  Each forum has its positives and negatives.  A lot of the time I see random trolling and slang bashing everywhere, in which I dislike and I think mose people should try to avoid.  But it really depends on the atmosphere that makes a forum/site.

There are probably multiple factors (since I don't really go on other forums, it's an uninformed guess). The fact that the Standard forums are really agressive and unforgiving may drive "FNM people" away. The fact that all other formats' forums are dead aren't much better (except Casual). For the rest, I couldn't tell.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 1:07AM, Leftconsin wrote:

There are no quality standards here. When you can set your calendar to the endless posts of "I'm coming back to Magic! What is it like now?", "I'm starting Magic! What is it like now?", and "I just posted this ultra low budget casual deck! What do you like about it now?" things are in bad shape. Discussions like these in large and frequent numbers drive away people who have been around a while.

So - to be clear - your solution to declining participation is to basically outlaw newbies?

The only thing that keeps any community actualy alive, rather than on life support, is new blood.  Your attitude that the posts that are typical of new users are the problem and need to be removed would truly be sounding the death knell.  Discouraging new users is never the solution.
 

I wish this site had more activity than it does cause you cant have a discussion on some other sites without worring about getting the banhammer.

I'm seeing a lot of people, not all though, who weren't posting before Gleemax ruined everything. 

Feb 7, 2013 -- 10:36AM, Alias402 wrote:

I wish this site had more activity than it does cause you cant have a discussion on some other sites without worring about getting the banhammer.

try discussing a certain program on these forums

Without that strict moderation, newbies tend to remain newbies for longer, and I think that turns some ppl off as well. The tough moderation is what shapes the new guys up and conditions them to what the particular website wants to see. I wouldn't mind seeing some SLIGHTLY more pro-active moderation here, maybe it would help the community as a whole, just not the Nazi-mods present on other sites please.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 10:44AM, Enigma256 wrote:

Feb 7, 2013 -- 10:36AM, Alias402 wrote:

I wish this site had more activity than it does cause you cant have a discussion on some other sites without worring about getting the banhammer.

try discussing a certain program on these forums

Well thats understandable cause that program is not supported by wotc.

I could make an analogy but nothing solid is coming to mind.

I wouldn't know what the activity level is for each of the other forums, however, I think that the activity level here is about what I've seen in other places (not that I have a whole lot of experience outside of these forums).

one of the biggest issues is that the people running these boards have demonstrated numerous times that they don't care in the slightest about it being good. they've left simple coding issues to rot for years, they force moderators to separate themselves from the community, leaving them uninformed of the backgrounds to issues and making them just come in, edit the one post that was reported, and leave without doing anything more, tossed in shiny new features no one wants (remember when they made it so you could like posts) without addressing the glaring issues they already have, and so on. this means that anyone who wants to be serious will likely leave for greener pastures, like Salvation. that inability to retain serious posters, coupled with the fact that, as the official Wizards forum this is the first place newbies come to to ask questions we've all heard a thousand times but are new to them, creates the apparent flood of banality Leftconsin was talking about.* that convinces more of the serious posters they'd be better off elsewhere, thus creating a higher pointlessness profile, and the pattern continues. but the roots of the current disfunction can be traced to the Gleemax disaster. basically, they put someone in a position of power who had no idea what to do with it, he chased all the good posters off to new forums that sprung up just to get away from here, and a lot of them didn't come back. then, when things settled down, they suddenly switched to a new layout that doesn't work nearly as well as the old vb one, and a bunch more people left then. forums work like any other community, where the more experienced members help guide the newer ones, and with that sudden catastrophic bleed of experienced posters, the whole thing fell apart.

*for the record, this isn't the newbies' fault. to them, the idea is new. they've never seen a discussion on what color you are before. or maybe they just don't know much about strategy so they make some thread arguing for some wrong idea, like how index is "card advantage". it's just that, you know, we've already dealt with that particular issue.

 

Razor has most of the gist of it.

Basically, problems with the site's platform and moderation drove a ton of people away and crashed the community. Significant improvements to the platform have been made since then, though some problems remain, but the real issue now is that the community hasn't truly recovered. Jumpstarting a community on a site as big as this one is incredibly difficult, because it's not just "a" community, but dozens of interconnected ones that make up the larger whole; it requires a concerted effort on multiple fronts, but that hasn't happened and isn't likely to happen any time soon. Certainly no effort is coming from moderation.

So we're stuck with hoping things will over time build up in multiple forums to a critical flash point, then come together through cross-pollination and revive the others. There has been and continues to be buildup--slow as it may be--and certain forums have even reached flash points, so now it's a matter of cross-pollination. It'll take years--it already has--but with luck (and continued platform improvements) it'll hopefully--eventually--reach its former glory.

I was mostly absent during the whole forum crash-and-rebuild, but the forum now certainly isn't terrible. I've been to a lot of forums and this one may not be the best but I've seen plenty that make it look like a masterpiece crafted by God himself.

Personally I think part of the issue with getting the community going again is that ultimately this is a corporate website, and those don't ten to be the places people go when they're building a community. This may be one of the best corporate websites I know of, but it's still not going to be most people's first choice of fansite. 

Clearly, what this board needs is more people appending an animegirl image to every.single.post.they.make. :| 

Don't give me ideas...

Feb 8, 2013 -- 6:31AM, thatmarkguy wrote:

Clearly, what this board needs is more people appending an animegirl image to every.single.post.they.make. :| 

With a great view from underneath their mini-skirt that is only hidden by a playful position of their leg.

Remember, guys, this is a 13+ forums. There are innocent minds around here.

Will someone report the noob for trolling cause I cant for some reason.

The death of the rec-room is still the saddest to me. 

Yeah, this forum is sorely lacking an off-topic forum. Was that a by-product of the migration?

Feb 8, 2013 -- 11:30AM, Sacrifice wrote:

Yeah, this forum is sorely lacking an off-topic forum. Was that a by-product of the migration?

Yes. It's technically still there where it always was, but all the cross-links to it from other sections disappeared in the migration, which completely killed it.

Basically what razorborne and zammm said.

Although another reason is that the current forum structure has just far too wide a scope, which leads to too much fragmentation. Just create your own Group and you can hide there without interacting with anyone else literally forever, and most don't bother checking them out unless they advertise. 

Feb 8, 2013 -- 11:13PM, Glare_of_the_Loxodon wrote:

Basically what razorborne and zammm said.

Although another reason is that the current forum structure has just far too wide a scope, which leads to too much fragmentation. Just create your own Group and you can hide there without interacting with anyone else literally forever, and most don't bother checking them out unless they advertise. 

Glare! hi!

 

WotC puts minimal effort into these forums. Why should users care about these forums when WotC have shown little interest in maintaining or promoting them?

Wow so it wasn't just me. I was wondering lately if I changed or if the forum's changed. Man. 10 years. That's a decade ago.

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:52PM, Kiro wrote:

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

No. No it wasn't.

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:53PM, zammm wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:52PM, Kiro wrote:

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

No. No it wasn't.

I mean, it was pretty funny as a self-contained thing. what it did to the community as a whole was obnoxious, but that's different.

 

Look what you've done. Zammm's having 'Nam flashbacks now. 

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:56PM, razorborne wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:53PM, zammm wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:52PM, Kiro wrote:

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

No. No it wasn't.

I mean, it was pretty funny as a self-contained thing. what it did to the community as a whole was obnoxious, but that's different.

 

It's probably the worst meme on this board. It is too overused, and is usually forced into the conversation. Essentially 99/100 times it's posted without any relevance to the topic instead of being used in a clever fashion. Not only that, but the topic is essentially dead once someone starts spamming it.

...I'm trying too hard.

Feb 9, 2013 -- 2:08PM, Shadowchu wrote:

Look what you've done. Zammm's having 'Nam flashbacks now. 

Feb 9, 2013 -- 3:41PM, zammm wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 2:08PM, Shadowchu wrote:

Look what you've done. Zammm's having 'Nam flashbacks now. 

That's the cutest smiley ever.

Feb 9, 2013 -- 2:33PM, Mown wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:56PM, razorborne wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:53PM, zammm wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:52PM, Kiro wrote:

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

No. No it wasn't.

I mean, it was pretty funny as a self-contained thing. what it did to the community as a whole was obnoxious, but that's different.

 

It's probably the worst meme on this board. It is too overused, and is usually forced into the conversation. Essentially 99/100 times it's posted without any relevance to the topic instead of being used in a clever fashion. Not only that, but the topic is essentially dead once someone starts spamming it.

...I'm trying too hard.

To be fair, that describes every meme ever.

Feb 9, 2013 -- 2:33PM, Mown wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:56PM, razorborne wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:53PM, zammm wrote:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 1:52PM, Kiro wrote:

I still think, the Pemmin's Aura - Chimney Imp thread was the funniest thing.

No. No it wasn't.

I mean, it was pretty funny as a self-contained thing. what it did to the community as a whole was obnoxious, but that's different.

 

It's probably the worst meme on this board. It is too overused, and is usually forced into the conversation. Essentially 99/100 times it's posted without any relevance to the topic instead of being used in a clever fashion. Not only that, but the topic is essentially dead once someone starts spamming it.

...I'm trying too hard.

Yo dawg, I heard you like meme...

a) I thought that while the D&D forums have an off-topic forum, this one didn't before the changes either; and

b) This forum, to me, only seems dead because we don't have as many people around complaining about the Magic: 2012 rules changes, or asking Wizards to reprint the Power 9; and

c) Serious discussion about decklists and the metagame was always stronger in more advanced off-site forums -  there used to be the famous Magic Dojo, which no longer exists.

In my defense. I was only talking about the thread itself, not the meme it spawned.


Also, Morphling getting his ass kicked by Chimney Imp:

Feb 9, 2013 -- 5:24PM, ChaosLight wrote:

That's the cutest smiley ever.

Thanks! I'm glad I finally managed to get the expression down--I tried a number of times before I got anything close to the right shuddering effect.

Rec Room dying is tragic. Very, very tragic.

The whole General Gaming and WOTC Communtiy section of the forums really needs to be reworked. It hardly has any purpose in its current incarnation.

Did these forums ever have a huge deck construction and play format following? I know other sites have almost always been ahead of our curve. I never used them much, but I always felt that I knew a large number of the regulars there.

YMTC has taken a hit, but not as big as other places and it's rebuilt well since that day that will live in infamy. If another forum had a better YMTC forum, I'd consider leaving, even with all the history.

Losing WizO interaction sucked. New moderation is less than effective. We fought through much of the posting problems that made me reluctact to post, but it's still not as clean as I'd like.



There was always gonna be change. That's just how the beast lives. The tech team just either doesn't have the proper time, skills, or tools to make these forums work to their fullest. Many people agree that MTGO has similar problems. I'm not savant enough to make many recommendations, but I know I've seen better from here and elsewhere.

It's a tough job, I'm sure. I'd still rather complain than remain silent. 

Feb 11, 2013 -- 10:52PM, Rush_Clasic wrote:

..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />Did these forums ever have a huge deck construction and play format following? I know other sites have almost always been ahead of our curve. I never used them much, but I always felt that I knew a large number of the regulars there.

Way, way, way, WAY back in the day, I can assert that it did.  This was back in the early days of my joining, circa 2002.  I ran a rather prolific Casual deck rater, and I had to shut the stupid thing down after I was in the 900+ post count due to backlog.  And I wasn't even the best known (or best), just very dedicated to the cause.  In the Casual deck help forum alone, I can vaguely remember at least 5-6 other conistent raters and dedicated help threads run by different people, and threads would show up all the time.  I remember the standard forum was a tad less busy, though still had plenty of traffic and far more than you see today.   Extended was... well, let's just say not many people cared about extended at that point either.  Vintage and Legacy were busy enough. 

Also, what is this whole "Gleemax" thing people are talking about, and the day of infamy?  I took a 7 year hiatus, and this must have occurred during that time.

Feb 10, 2013 -- 7:56AM, Kiro wrote:

In my defense. I was only talking about the thread itself, not the meme it spawned.


Also, Morphling getting his ass kicked by Chimney Imp:

What's funny is, you can turn the Pimp into a solid lock .

I'm a little late here, but I wanted to respond to a few things.

Feb 7, 2013 -- 1:07AM, Leftconsin wrote:

There are no quality standards here. When you can set your calendar to the endless posts of "I'm coming back to Magic! What is it like now?", "I'm starting Magic! What is it like now?", and "I just posted this ultra low budget casual deck! What do you like about it now?" things are in bad shape. Discussions like these in large and frequent numbers drive away people who have been around a while.

It is actualy that strict moderation that keeps things from going down the tubes. It makes sure that discussions have quality. It makes sure that content can keep getting generated and not get drowned in a sea of the banal and mundane. 

I agree with you on the moderation issue, which is why I don't apologize for being aggressive with thread moves and locks. We created a new player forum several months ago to contain some of these discussions, and I think it has helped some. New and returning player threads will continue to be moved there. I can't make people post in the right place, but I *can* make sure their threads don't clog up the place long.

Feb 8, 2013 -- 11:24AM, Shadowchu wrote:

The death of the rec-room is still the saddest to me. 

I am definitely open to creating a new off-topic area on the Magic boards. I will be proposing a second round of forum reorganziation in the coming days, and a new off-topic forum for the Magic area is on that list. Keep an eye on the Magic Forums Business Forum for a thread.

There's a lot of things I can't do anything about (the software, the moderation scheme separating VCLs and ORCs, WotC caring), but I'll do what I can to improve things around here.

Moving to Boards Business. 

An off topic forum would be aawesome. Good luck in getting it done Bubba.

Now, if we could find a way to keep the casual deck forum from getting so cluttered with crap... 

Feb 13, 2013 -- 2:16AM, bubba0077 wrote:

Feb 8, 2013 -- 11:24AM, Shadowchu wrote:

The death of the rec-room is still the saddest to me. 

I am definitely open to creating a new off-topic area on the Magic boards. I will be proposing a second round of forum reorganziation in the coming days, and a new off-topic forum for the Magic area is on that list. Keep an eye on the Magic Forums Business Forum for a thread.

There's a lot of things I can't do anything about (the software, the moderation scheme separating VCLs and ORCs, WotC caring), but I'll do what I can to improve things around here.

Moving to Boards Business. 

I think this would be a good thing. I think we would be able to keep posters more if there was a fun off topic forum. 

As zammm pointed out, what we really need is very visible links in each of the areas that redirect to the rec-room. There used to be a link right under Magic General that got you there. I miss the Star Wars and D&D guys I used to chat with, and that's what the rec-room did best!

Forum redirections are definitely still a thing. See the Magic Online forum link for an example.