What the heck?!?!?

[phazan]

^I wish I could, but she passed away last February.

She would have loved to hear that though

[Wes]

Ok, this is obviously targeted at me so I'll address it as best as I can.

 

TPR's forums started with just Robb and Elissa as the moderators, but obviously the site grew beyond what they expected, and there was a need for back up assistants when they were out on trips. Gregg was originally in that position, and then I took it up. For a little while, I was the only assistant there, and thus I was doing quite a bit of locking, merging, etc. Out of that was born a sort of peeved attitude towards the general daily annoyances of trying to keep things in line here. Robb and Elissa know me and they know my personality and sense of humor. If I can add a little bit of humor into a locking of a thread, I'll do it. I'm not looking for internet infamy or cultivating an army of scared teenagers who suck up to me, I'm just trying to have fun in my own way with having to lock the 500th version of "Whatz yer favorite inverted coaster?".

 

I don't think it's any secret that I've sort of played "bad cop" around here, and that I'm pretty chill in real life. If you wanna perceive that as me enjoying being a jerk, or that I want kids to suck up to me because of it, go right ahead. I personally don't feel like that's the case at all, but if I give off that vibe and it irks you, I apologize.

 

Look, I think Robb, Elissa and all of us Assistants do a pretty great job of keeping these forums clean, spam free, and relatively free of annoying posters and other problems that crop up on less moderated forums. The result is a thriving internet community for theme park fans. And as the other assistants have pointed out, we all do a TON of work behind the scenes for the site. I help with editing, graphic design, feature implementation and testing, etc etc. I'm not just on here trying to pull sick burns on dumb kids.

 

If you have any other questions or issues with myself or the other assistants, please let me know.

[mcjaco]

^ Who are you?

[steel]

Ok, this is obviously targeted at me so I'll address it as best as I can.

 

TPR's forums started with just Robb and Elissa as the moderators, but obviously the site grew beyond what they expected, and there was a need for back up assistants when they were out on trips. Gregg was originally in that position, and then I took it up. For a little while, I was the only assistant there, and thus I was doing quite a bit of locking, merging, etc. Out of that was born a sort of peeved attitude towards the general daily annoyances of trying to keep things in line here. Robb and Elissa know me and they know my personality and sense of humor. If I can add a little bit of humor into a locking of a thread, I'll do it. I'm not looking for internet infamy or cultivating an army of scared teenagers who suck up to me, I'm just trying to have fun in my own way with having to lock the 500th version of "Whatz yer favorite inverted coaster?".

 

I don't think it's any secret that I've sort of played "bad cop" around here, and that I'm pretty chill in real life. If you wanna perceive that as me enjoying being a jerk, or that I want kids to suck up to me because of it, go right ahead. I personally don't feel like that's the case at all, but if I give off that vibe and it irks you, I apologize.

 

Look, I think Robb, Elissa and all of us Assistants do a pretty great job of keeping these forums clean, spam free, and relatively free of annoying posters and other problems that crop up on less moderated forums. The result is a thriving internet community for theme park fans. And as the other assistants have pointed out, we all do a TON of work behind the scenes for the site. I help with editing, graphic design, feature implementation and testing, etc etc. I'm not just on here trying to pull sick burns on dumb kids.

 

If you have any other questions or issues with myself or the other assistants, please let me know.

 

Let me begin by saying again that I completely respect the work moderators do and I understand how difficult and time-consuming it is (I could certainly never do it). Additionally, I totally agree with the motives behind thread-locking and post-deleting 99% of the time.

And, again, I understand that this site is not meant to be completely serious, and, again, 99% of the time, it is ridiculously funny, and I enjoy that. That's what puts this site ahead of others for a lot of people and that's what makes this site unique (aside: not that other websites aren't also fantastic - don't tell anyone, but I actually prefer ThrillNetwork *gasp*).

But sometimes that humor gets a little out of hand. I understand that constantly closing the same thread gets annoying and that every idiot teenager seems the same, but behind the mask of all-caps posts and sentences with disproportionate ratios of number to letter, they are people with lives and feelings. That sounds shallow. But it's true. It's possible to be funny and cynical and sarcastic without being mean.

That's all I ask.

[Wes]

I agree for the most part, and there have absolutely been times where I (and other mods) have gone a bit overboard with the condemnation of particular posters. In our defense, there are quite a few "x-factors" that regular posters might not see that may make it seem like we're being unnecessarily harsh when we aren't. Again though, not washing our hands completely, sometimes we have been out of line or too quick to criticize.

I think things have improved recently, as the assistants have more time to deal with troublesome posts and posters because Robb was able to eliminate most of the spambots posting advertisement links and crap on here.

 

If you ever see a post or situation that you feel we're being out of line or whatever, PM one of us and let us know. We're here to help and we definitely don't want to give the impression that we're bossing people around just for fun.

 

Thanks again.

[robbalvey]

I haven't been able to look at this thread since page 1 and I have now been able to go through the entire thread.

 

I'm going to keep my comments short and to the point.

 

1. We have rules at TPR. Posting Rules. They can be found in the main forum in the Sticky section. If you don't follow these rules, your posts may be locked or deleted. It's that simple.

 

2. We try to have a sense of humor here and not take everything too seriously. I completely understand that humor is a subjective thing. Not everyone finds the same things funny. Some people find what we say mean-spirited, some people find what we say hilarious. I'm not going to pretend that we are trying to please everyone. We are not. If we did that, I don't think Theme Park Review would be as entertaining as it is. I do ask for everyone to take the good with the bad. Like any other form of entertainment, we don't always hit a home run every time. Sometimes we are funny as hell, sometimes we fail. Please give us the benefit of the doubt when that happens. I don't think that is too much to ask.

 

3. The moderators do a FANTASIC job! It is not an easy task keeping the forums to a high level of quality. It's what we strive for and I think we absolutely succeed. The moderating team deserves much kudos and thanks for that. If you are finding many of your threads locked or edited, perhaps you should look into improving the quality of your posts.

 

4. Theme Park Review *IS* the #1 "Unofficial Theme Park and Roller Coaster" website in the world. So therefore I think we are doing something right.

 

5. Phazan, if you don't like the way the forums are moderated, don't be active on them. It's quite simple. I am not going to change the way Theme Park Review operates because of a few people who may disagree with how we run the site. I want everyone who is a member on TPR to enjoy the site and get out of it as much as possible, but if you don't agree with how the site is managed, then maybe it's not for you, and I respect that. Perhaps you would rather have an unmoderated forum. Perhaps you don't mind text message speak. Perhaps you don't mind topics that don't make any sense. If these are the things you prefer, there are plenty of other forums out there. However I do challenge you to find another theme park/roller coaster website that offers as high of quality forum as Theme Park Review AND as many activities that TPR brings to their members.

 

6. And finally, Theme Park Review would not be what it is today if it wasn't for all of YOU who contribute to it. Since we are such a "user-submitted content" heavy site, we *need* to have good moderation to make sure everything that is contributed - posts, photos, trip reports, videos, etc, are of high quality. If we didn't have such a high quality bar, the website as a whole would suffer. It is all of YOU who make it great. Please don't forget that! Everything we do on Theme Park Review is done for our members. Every addition to the site (CoasterTube, forum upgrades, park index, etc), every event we put on (West Coast Bash, TPR Tours, TPR meets, TPR Parties, TPR Film Shoots, etc) are done for all of YOU and as a way to say THANK YOU for all your support over the years. If we didn't have such a strong member based community, we wouldn't be able to do most of what we have manged to pull off.

 

So please, before you go complaining about moderators locking threads, etc, try to focus on all the other things that site has to offer (and mostly for FREE) and focus your energy there.

 

Thank you for your support.

 

--Robb "So much for a short answer!" Alvey

 

ps. I was the one who *UNLOCKED* this thread, so please don't be hypocritical saying how we go and lock threads when they contain comments or opinions that TPR doesn't want to hear. This thread is a perfect example of how that is NOT the case.

[Mechanic]

Been there, done that...

[andyuk200523]

I would just like to add to what Robb has said above using my personal experiences...........

 

I used to be a moderator on Danimation.com about 9 years ago (when it was the place to be) and the quality of the posts there was pretty good for a while, then all of a sudden all these post about what is your favourite nut and bolt on blah blah blah coaster started to appear, closely followed by other random and pointless posts, I have to admit, this was after I had left my mod post, in my personal opinion, this was one of the many reasons why it went down in quality and eventually, well, most of us know that it does not exist anymore.

 

Robb and Elissa personally pay a hell of a lot of money to keep these forums running (and the rest of the site) so if they want to abide by the rules to keep themselves the No. 1 site, then so be it (rules are meant to be followed after all, just ask the next policeman who pulls you for speeding) and I have to say about 95% of the time, the mods get it spot on!

 

I love the fact that when I go into the forums on a daily basis, I know that 99% of the topics are interesting, and even if they are over a few pages and I have never read that topic before, it will be worth the read and may even teach me something about the industry.

 

I for one would probably not visit here anywhere near as often if the forums were full of rubbish posts asking people to vote on your favourite Schwarzmin or Intasohn coaster, it is just something that does not need to be brought up every week!!!

 

Everyone behind the scenes at TPR has worked immensely hard over the years to get to the No. 1 spot, and they are all working equally hard to stay there.

 

I have often wondered why people who don't like what happens on the site return to voice there anger and keep doing it! If you went to a bar or nightclub and didn't like the experience for one reason or another, would you go back every friday/saturday night to voice your opinions????

 

I personally have had a topic locked by Wes, I didn't take it as an insult or anything, I learnt from it and I feel that the posts that I do make now (I have been a member for a few years now and have a particularly low post count.....quality, not quantity) I just PM'd Wes and apologized for not using the search function and that was it, I am fairly certain Wes appreciated the PM as it showed that him doing that one act has taught someone to be a better poster.

 

Keep up the awesome work Robb (sorry I really should delete that, don't want it to look like I am sucking up to the mods, when in reality it is called respect) and Elissa and all the mods, this is one of the main reasons you guys are No. 1 and will stay there for years to come.

[Teacups Make Me Sick]

Every time Larry adds a park to the Index, he doesn't go on the boards and say "hey guys look at me! I've just made this site better, worship me!!".

 

No...but he does say..."hey guys look at me! Great Adventure sent me a free get in front of the line pass" (while everyone else who has already visited Great Adventure didn't get bubkis).

 

[robbalvey]

Keep up the awesome work Robb (sorry I really should delete that, don't want it to look like I am sucking up to the mods, when in reality it is called respect) and Elissa and all the mods, this is one of the main reasons you guys are No. 1 and will stay there for years to come.

Thank you for understanding.

 

--Robb

[Angry_Gumball]

One thing I can say is that I frequently visit a longboarding (skateboard) website and there are loads of duplicate topics on there. Often, the duplicate topic may be slightly different, but always end with a harsh "Search Noob!" comment. This doesn't happen here which is a good thing. Harsh comments like that would turn a lot of people away.

 

Also, personally, I wouldn't want to have to try to decipher the 'txt tlk' that people do on here, save that for your IM or cell phone. (I actually almost never use the 'txt tlk' on my cell when I'm texting, usually spell everything out.)

 

Lastly, a suggestion, would it work for having new posters unable to post new topics (only reply) until they reach a certain quota? I'd think this would help cut down the 'what's your favorite invert' topic we've seen millions of times. Or, would this lead to new guys posting for posting sake just to get their count up?

 

/end adding my 2-cents worth

[robbalvey]

(I actually almost never use the 'txt tlk' on my cell when I'm texting, usually spell everything out.)

Wow! I thought I was the only one. I am seriously against "text message speak." My iPhone and my blackberry had a full qwerty keyboard. USE IT! And even those phones that don't, that's what T9 Word was invented for.

 

If someone texts me using txt tlk, I don't even respond. If I have to try to decifer what someone is saying, I delete it!

 

Lastly, a suggestion, would it work for having new posters unable to post new topics (only reply) until they reach a certain quota? I'd think this would help cut down the 'what's your favorite invert' topic we've seen millions of times. Or, would this lead to new guys posting for posting sake just to get their count up?

The problem is when we have an absolutely legit person who is brand new and comes on to post something. For example, we have many parks that will post about events, new rides, etc, but they don't post very often.

 

They would no longer be able to do this.

 

And yeah, then you'd just have people find the random thread or some other way to "post for posting sake" until they get their post count up.

 

The best solution is to just have a really good team of mods and we constantly monitor the forums.

 

Those who are bad posters usually end up getting what they deserve anyway....

 

 

--Robb

[Calaway Park]

(I actually almost never use the 'txt tlk' on my cell when I'm texting, usually spell everything out.)

Wow! I thought I was the only one. I am seriously against "text message speak." My iPhone and my blackberry had a full qwerty keyboard. USE IT! And even those phones that don't, that's what T9 Word was invented for.

 

If someone texts me using txt tlk, I don't even respond. If I have to try to decifer what someone is saying, I delete it!

 

Lastly, a suggestion, would it work for having new posters unable to post new topics (only reply) until they reach a certain quota? I'd think this would help cut down the 'what's your favorite invert' topic we've seen millions of times. Or, would this lead to new guys posting for posting sake just to get their count up?

The problem is when we have an absolutely legit person who is brand new and comes on to post something. For example, we have many parks that will post about events, new rides, etc, but they don't post very often.

 

They would no longer be able to do this.

 

And yeah, then you'd just have people find the random thread or some other way to "post for posting sake" until they get their post count up.

 

The best solution is to just have a really good team of mods and we constantly monitor the forums.

 

Those who are bad posters usually end up getting what they deserve anyway....

 

 

--Robb

 

My friends and I actually rarely use 'txt spk' when we message eachother. Most of my friends don't use punctuation or capitals [i do] but that doesn't bother me much.

 

And if he was a repeat offender I think that the thread was locked legitimately.

[Manny In England]

I avoid it in text messages, on msn, on forums and, well everywhere.

[moinab]

I'm such a Luddite, I don't even text!

 

(Actually, I'm just cheap. I can't see paying extra for texting. That's money better spent on vacations!)

[ethans_dad06]

Well when it comes to texting on a cell phone, I can see why people use the "txt talk" because it's quick and easy, but it just let's us become that much more lazy as a society. My wife does it and it drives me crazy because it is very difficult to "hear" her tone of voice. That can be very bad!