This right here is the main problem. The server is completely unwelcoming and a rather repulsive place to be. It's a boys' club that revels in nasty sexual jokes and insults. I want to become active in the battling community here, but instead I use Smogon because of the atmosphere. There is a general air of negativity around here, especially on the server. Things need to be done, people need to be talked to. Someone needs to tell them "Fix it, or leave for good." That's the only way you'll get my activity... just my two cents.
I think that, just to address everyone else, if someone picks Smogon over PC because of its
atmosphere, something has gone very wrong.
As for the last few sentences,
we did try encouraging people to just do things but not much came out of it. At least for now. Though yes, I agree with pretty much everything you said.
I'm just saying, but I constantly see things happening in CBC all the time, and I get interested, and then I remember how people who go onto PO are constantly trying to be "edgy" and making everything sexual and being rude and in general having the attitude of 13 year old boys. When I wanted to learn how to battle I went onto the Smogon server and practiced there because I didn't really want to be around that kind of crowd, and then ended up quitting rather than deal with it. So when you decide to strengthen the community you do have instead of changing things drastically, keep in mind that you are actively walling out people who are willing to play and learn and battle, but can't stand the "if you don't want to act like an uncontrollable teenager we think you're useless and don't belong here" attitude that CBC has always had to me. There are a few that are an exception to the rule, but most of the people I see/hear about seem to have this attitude where if you don't match their personalities then you shouldn't be a member of the section pretty much.
Anyway Nica asked me to post as a non-regular who could be turned into a regular, from the point of view of an outsider and how CBC looks to me. Disagree with me if you want, but if you can only see how it's not that way after you become a regular it would be kind of difficult to get new regulars, and then apparently the ones you have keep getting bored and quitting? So yeah that's a thing.
I agree. It's odd because this is actually a recent phenomenon of sorts. When we did the whole "let's stop being intimidating idiots" thing a year or so ago, it mostly succeeded...and my theory (I have no idea if this is actually the case) is that this is what naturally fell into place because we never could actually root out the causes of the intimidation and ultimately settled on just making it stop. It was a stressful drama year and I think it was a benign way of relieving the stress...that eventually became not-so-benign. Or maybe I'm totally wrong. But yeah.
I think at some point though it's just kind of selfish. It's actually ridiculous how "edginess" as always been valued but virtually everyone even though it undermines the community--and I only speak of the existing regs, so if you add in the people it prevents from coming (like you lol) it seems like a pretty outdated pastime. Speaking from a (former) staff perspective though, it was always difficult to bring myself to actually take action because it almost always causes drama and--if it's major enough--it can really screw up the community. Like the D_A ban drama did. At some point, I feel like maybe people should just let us (and now just Wolf) enforce our rules.
Also not to diverge from your point too much, but the same phenomenon can happen during battles too with some people. It really shouldn't be the end of the world if you lose a match or get hit with a crit. Ugh.
I think the biggest thing to help boost CBC activity is help for Wolflare, really. 2 heads, or 3, is better than one. More man power means more things can get done and things get done in a quicker fashion. This goes for the server too. Extend auth to trusted regulars who A) will enforce rules, and B) who know their stuff. And to deal with idiots and adbots.
Like, I think that of a section is dead/in decline/not very active, then it needs more staff who can focus on forum building and improving the forum, instead of using the fact it's dead to not put a mod there.
To be honest, I don't agree with this at all. On the server, Wolf and I have auth 3, Vrai has auth 2, and Doronjo and Nica have auth 1. It is very rare for one of us to not be on, so I don't see the problem. In terms of the forum, it's very easy to moderate. Two people is actually more than enough...really. If anything, two people only made things get done later than necessary because of the whole "I'll let *mod partner* get those reports" haha. I really don't think the problem lies with the staff. Ultimately, regulars have to take responsibility for the fate of their own forum.
Though I will concede that sometimes our staff isn't effective because of what I described above responding to Toujours. I'll just name names because, I mean, we might as well just be honest at this point.
I muted Syndrome for being too harsh to Nica. I was promptly PMed "why" as if it wasn't really obvious. I basically said "why do you think" and he posted the very last thing he posted before he was kicked/muted which was harmless of course (even though like nothing else was -_-) and asked what could possibly be wrong with that. I proceeded to tell him to connect the dots himself. But really, can't we just be responsible? Jeez.
Several months ago, I destaffed Karpman on the server because we felt like he hadn't actually earned the spot at all and I promptly learned that he went on an MSN (?) rant ripping me to shreds, left PC for awhile, then came back and blamed me for most everything behind my back for months because of that and other issues that I had no idea he even had. Which is kind of frustrating when, you know, you have an Improvement Thread and are as open as possible with taking criticism and member feedback in general. And when I tried to talk to him I very rarely got any kind of chance to actually explain my actions. So I was getting blamed for CBC's problems as he saw them without actually knowing what they were. This might stun everyone, but as a result, nothing was actually solved and it was mutually destructive.
Trying to get D_A to stop with the whole "if I lose a battle I'm going to react like I'm six years old" has been like trying to impose austerity measures on Greece. This one is more like Syn's case: would it really be that hard to cease the selfish "my winning is more important than the community" thing? I mean, "WELL THIS WAS GAY" and forfeiting in frustration isn't exactly enticing to new members. Oh wait, I've made this case a million times already. Yeah, it's kind of hard to do our job well if we aren't listened to.
I know those last three paragraphs just might have derailed this thread forever. Sorry in advance. But they aren't meant as character assassinations AT ALL. Really. Or even "I'm still mad." But the point IS that it's very difficult to actually do our jobs when, after doing so, people are either snarky, become a malcontent for several months, or just flat-out don't listen. Or more to the point, it is impossible for us to do our jobs if people don't let us. 4-time NBA Champion coach Gregg Popovich attributed much of his success to Tim Duncan (one of the best players ever)
allowing him to coach him. The same thing applies here. Our authority is ultimately meaningless if no one respects it or isn't just up front with their issues.
And I wanted to post that to make it clear that for anything to get done, people need to let us do our jobs. I don't know if it's still an issue, but even the prospect of a scenario like the three above has made me favor inaction a lot in my time here. I have no idea where Wolf stands. But that's my take. Solving the more entrenched problems here...it can be very difficult because of this. Or so I've come to believe. So again coming full circle to the OP...what would I like in CBC? More accountability, honesty, and respect, especially for the staff. Really, it's a hard job. -_-
Anyway, I'm glad you three posted. Hopefully everyone takes a good long look at everything...
