Get the games out of Bang and Clatter

[HeartlandGirl]

As a frequent poster in Bang and Clatter, I have made a few observations lately. Two things are happening in the forum that I feel are hurting it.

1. People are posting incessantly in various 'theme' game threads, such as "song title chain," "band name game," chains about covers songs, and various offshoots.

2. Lots of threads about the same band are being created in duplicate, and threads are being merged or really needing to be merged.

My theory is that all of the game threads are bumping the true 'music discussion' threads off the front page at a pretty quick rate. Thus we end up with 500 different threads for The Killers in about a month's time.


So here's my suggestion. Can we get the game threads out of Bang and Clatter? Perhaps move them to a separate forum for this kind of thing? (Maybe you could even move the chat chain threads out of LS to this forum too.)

A fair number of us are in Bang and Clatter all the time to really talk about music, not just play tons of games and up our post counts. A lot of threads about cool bands are getting bumped into oblivion by these game threads, and I think that's unfortunate considering it is a music discussion forum, not a forum about band names or song titles. And for what it's worth, quite a few people posting in those chain threads hardly ever post in the rest of the forum. It doesn't seem they are there to talk about music with the rest of us.

I would say, however, that the one exception to this would be the 'now listening' thread. I think that thread generates a lot of genuine music discussion. Although I could do without reading five consecutive pages of songs by the same person all the time.

I'm eager to hear what Elvis and the mods think about this, or some kind of compromise.

 

[u2popmofo]

I think this is a really good idea. There really are a lot of 'game' threads in Bang and Clatter, and in many other sections of the forum. Maybe it would be beneficial to actually make some kind of 'game' section of Interference where people can enjoy themselves with these kinds of threads.

HeartlandGirl makes some extremely valid points with everything else she brought up about Bang and Clatter. Hopefully these points will be reviewed and considered.

 

[melon]

The games should all go to LS proper.

Melon

 

[Popmartijn]

I'm eager to hear what Elvis and the mods think about this, or some kind of compromise.

Presley or Costello?


But seriously, while you do raise some valid points, I think the division between 'theme' game threads and music discussion threads can be quite thin at times. But trying to limit those theme threads a bit (or a bit more active merging of them) couldn't hurt I suppose.

C ya!

Marty

 

[indra]

Usually there are two "game" threds in B&C, occasionally a couple more. I don't see any harm in just leaving them there....and I've had as much conversation sparked by songs or bands brought up there as in the "Now listening" threads. Currently only the Song Titles "game" is on the first page. There is a thread about songs with themes, but that's sparking as much discussion as anything.

The perfect way to spark conversation about bands is to start threads about them. Of course, if one starts a thread about a band no one else has ever heard of, it drops pretty fast (which is why I don't start any threads about bands I like).

Furthermore, the people who start the more general interest "who do you like?" threads tend to get jumped on by people who have already seen several of these threads before. Perhaps these are also considered "game" threads? That doesn't encourage people new to either Interference or B&C to continue to post. I'm actually more apt to post in a more general "who do you like", "your five favorite bands", "your top songs ever" than start a thread about Gersey that most likely no one else is going to look at and is going to die quickly.

I just think there are so many forums that to split it up further is just more confusing. Besides, I'd hate to see B&C become as deadly serious and some of the U2 only forums....

Just my view.

 

[IWasBored]

i post on another board where there were insane numbers of game threads (at least twice as many as there are here). it got nuts and the admin added a seperate forum for the games, so i don't have to deal with them (i'm a nerdy moderator of the place's b&c-type space, which is where all the games were, and it was driving me nuts).

i post in the ones here when i'm really bored, but i wouldn't mind seeing them go away. anything that makes room for more band-related (and even if they're band-related threads that get maybe 1 or two posts maximum, that's still better than 3 "song title", "band name" and whatever else threads) is good.

personally, i'd like to see less threads about the killers before anything else, but that's just me.

 

[indra]

personally, i'd like to see less threads about the killers before anything else, but that's just me.

I could put up a bunch of Art of Fighting, Gersey, Hex, Crystal Set, Bhagavad Guitars, Jack Frost, Margot Smith, JLK, Pugwash, Miss V, Fake, The Refo:mation, The Well, Noctorum, The Penny Drops, David Lane, Turkeyneck Lasso, and Warp Factor 9 threads for ya.

You all would probably be begging for the return of The Killers threads pretty soon....

 

[Angela Harlem]

Maybe it's time to finally make IO the official playground of Interference. Because, after all, even bloody U2 topics are in there now. I say put all games and continuation threads in there and disable post counts. See how popular they all really are.
We only need one playground here anyway.

 

[indra]

Maybe it's time to finally make IO the official playground of Interference. Because, after all, even bloody U2 topics are in there now. I say put all games and continuation threads in there and disable post counts. See how popular they all really are.
We only need one playground here anyway.

Oooh! If they went to IO I might start a cheese song thread (replace one word in the title of a song with either the word cheese or the name of a type of cheese. Unfortunately it's usually only really fun in chat when everyone is either drunk or stoned... go figure.).

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

I like the idea of putting them somewhere that post counts are disabled.

 

[IWasBored]

I could put up a bunch of Art of Fighting, Gersey, Hex, Crystal Set, Bhagavad Guitars, Jack Frost, Margot Smith, JLK, Pugwash, Miss V, Fake, The Refo:mation, The Well, Noctorum, The Penny Drops, David Lane, Turkeyneck Lasso, and Warp Factor 9 threads for ya.

You all would probably be begging for the return of The Killers threads pretty soon....

no, i certainly wouldn't. because even if i didn't read all your threads, i'd read some of them, and it would still be 30 million threads about 30 millino bands, which is ALWAYS better than 30 millino threads about 1 band (*cough* maybe this is why i never go into the u2 parts of this board... )

 

[IWasBored]

I like the idea of putting them somewhere that post counts are disabled.

seriously. i don't need my count climbing any higher when bordem takes over and i join in listing random bands that start with the letter "s" or whatever...

 

[indra]

(*cough* maybe this is why i never go into the u2 parts of this board... )

Smart girl! Some of those people are scary!

I'm thinking of starting an "orphan" band thread, for those bands (like the ones I listed) which aren't likely to get many (hell, any) replies. Then we can all chat about our favorite bands and they won't get all loney and rejected because no one loves them.... Maybe tomorrow....

 

[beegee]

Maybe it's time to finally make IO the official playground of Interference. Because, after all, even bloody U2 topics are in there now. I say put all games and continuation threads in there and disable post counts. See how popular they all really are.
We only need one playground here anyway.

oh, angie no.

right now io is already like a loved one on life support.

moving all of those threads there would be like pulling the plug.

 

[myusernamehere]

^^I think that was her point

 

[beli]

Why are posts counted? What is the point, please? I have seen peoples opinions ripped to shreds because the user has a single digit post count. I have also witnessed people getting stuck into users with high post counts.

I'm aware the post counter is turned off in the journals, why not turn it off right across the site?

Also, can the Bang & the Clatter please be listed on the main index please? Its difficult to locate.

/diversion

 

[Angela Harlem]

lol it was. io is like charlie watts. it actually died a long time ago. io is dead space! these threads are causing archives to crop up everywhere. they're causing elvis to sleep outside with a paper cup begging for change. clearly this whole problem of thread reaching around 500 is a problem on the server. not so much one thread but when there are 10 active continuation or game threads, the server creaks and groans and finally dies. i dont suppose there are too many people left who post in these to up their post count. i thank god that those annoying as fuck counting threads are gone. but there's a few of these ongoing threads in a few forums. io is now a bit of everything. it has always been 'everything goes' but now it literally is JUST an amalgamation of about 20 forums on here. it's wasted space.

i dont mean to suggest io becomes solely for these threads either. ive always thought post counts should be turned off in there to stop mindless post count upping. it's done in there, but more subtley than the counting threads. no one takes io seriously, so leave it as is, but add these games which are slowly becoming a nuisance to these other forums, to this one place.

another thing about all this which is also getting a tad tiresome is they all have long names. that in itself is fine, but they are born to grow to a multitude of pages, so then you have one thread with one line for the name and then 1 or 2 more lines for the page numbers to be listed afterward. they're taking up physical space on the forums' thread title pages as well. i find it irritating. i am petty though.

 

[Angela Harlem]

beli there will be a revolution unlike we've seen before if post counts are now switched off. edge posting here would be nothing on people losing their beloved post counts. make a poll.

 

[beli]

beli there will be a revolution unlike we've seen before if post counts are now switched off. edge posting here would be nothing on people losing their beloved post counts. make a poll.

okay

In the Bang & The Clatter? lol

No, I will do it in Lemonaide Stand. Hang on.....

 

[Angela Harlem]

:clap:

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Bang and Clatter is and will always be my favourite forum on Interference, geek that I am.

I for one am not bothered by the game threads - I'm not an active participant, but I find sometimes that I'm terribly disappointed when I see someone's posted in Bang & Clatter and it's merely only to continue a song thread or something.

My main beef in Bang & Clatter is merely the proliferation of similar discussions. It's a thing that's been happening a lot in EYKIW and I'd hate for Bang and Clatter to be going the same way, especially in the past month or so where there've been way too many threads on the Killers, Keane, my favourite band, my favourite song, or the best songs ever.

Do I offer a solution? No. Because I don't have one. I don't want Bang & Clatter to be elitist music taste central; at the same time, I think it's not too much to ask for a newbie to that forum to read back a few pages and see if there was a recent discussion on the topic. I think that's the considerate thing to do.

 

[Sicy]

Wow for some of you that 'dislike' this board so much you sure are adamant about changing things.

About the game and chat threads.. personally I feel that if they were all in one forum, it would kind of defeat the purpose. I cant imagine people playing a music game thread in IO or a forum just for those kinds of threads Each forum has a subject and serves a purpose.. and the game and chat threads pretty much fit into those specific forums. Plus I do believe we've had this discussion before about making a forum just for threads like these and I dont think it went over very well.

As far as repeat threads... the mods try to merge threads when we see duplicates. It's unfortunate that most people dont know how to simply scroll down the page to see if there is already an existing thread. Believe me, a couple of us mods went through hell in the tour forums during ticket sales Dont forget you can always report a thread that you feel needs to be merged, its the quickest way to get our attention. If you feel there are too many game threads in B & C perhaps we could come to some kind of compromise on getting rid of one all together? I dont really care for the idea of moving them all to IO. lol.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

oh, angie no.

right now io is already like a loved one on life support.

moving all of those threads there would be like pulling the plug.

Exactly.

 

[Sicy]

Ok help me out here.. I only see maybe 2 game threads in B&C right now and I dont really see any threads that need to be merged?

 

[Bonochick]

It looks fine to me, Sicy.

Also...if anyone sees a thread that you feel needs to be merged (for example, if there are two threads started about The Killers), contact a B&C mod...one of us would be happy to help. I've been PMed many times about merging threads (usually in PLEBA), and I always appreciate the help. Interference is huge, and we can't possibly catch everything.

 

[Chizip]

too many importants in there too

 

[Sicy]

 

[beli]

 

[IWasBored]

Smart girl! Some of those people are scary!

I'm thinking of starting an "orphan" band thread, for those bands (like the ones I listed) which aren't likely to get many (hell, any) replies. Then we can all chat about our favorite bands and they won't get all loney and rejected because no one loves them.... Maybe tomorrow....

i'm watching my most recently thread sink like a rock. it didn't even take it 12 hours for it to fall onto page 2

 

[Sicy]

Hey that's why I added