Can I make the bold suggestion of actually closing the IRC channel for an unspecified amount of time until TLS' issues are resolved? It seems like a good deal of the forum's recent disruption comes from the clique of regulars that hang around there. It doesn't feel right to me that whilst the forum is under such intense scrutiny, there's a fallback point for this one particular group of members and moderators to become more insular and unwelcoming of outsiders.
I'm biased, but I disagree. The IRC is open to everyone; if you feel like an outsider to that clique, it's because you haven't signed on there or stuck around too much. The IRC clique hasn't been disruptive; just a bit passionately defensive when 'one of them' was directly and rudely insulted, etc.
We could close down the IRC, but what would happen then? The 'clique', as you identify it, has already been formed; they'll just keep chatting outside of TLS via, for example, Skype, just like the other various cliques (like the RP crowd, the video gaming crowd, the movie streaming crowd, the flaming lesbian crowd, etc) do; all of that, and clique forming in itself, cannot be stopped - and certainly not forcibly, because closing down that kinda thing will just cause more clinging together. Thing is, cliques will just form naturally, nothing to stop it, just try and get along and - most importantly - don't be a dick.
So yeah, tl;dr, I disagree, the IRC itself is not a problem, the IRC regulars have a tendency to get a bit defensive - and feel alienated from the rest of the board as well, btw, due to various inconsiderate statements made on the forums yesterday and in the (recent) past.
Madame Major said:
What Alex is saying (if I'm reading it correctly) is that the IRC isn't able to be moderated the same way that the forums are
It kinda depends on what you (and people) consider 'moderation' in the IRC channel though. It's a lot more lenient than the forums, for one (I think), but it never runs out of hand, and I (sadly) haven't had to kick / ban anyone from there other than for the lulz. And moderation or whatever cannot stop people just talking and becoming friends - and is that really something that should be stopped or prevented? imho, no.
As mentioned, people do feel alienated when they try to participate in the forums; last drama bout, for example, I clearly recall IRC regulars and active front page participators to basically be told "Who the fuck are you, and your opinion is invalid because I've been around the internets for a decade" - although my memory on that might be vague. And this latest thing with Kassi - who, iirc, is a relatively unknown / unremarkable forums member but a well-recognised IRC participant - was basically CK, whom I believe barely knows Kassi, basically insulting her directly in a completely uncalled for manner (with some of the clique jumping to her defense).
tl;dr: newer members and the somewhat less active ones, who grow to love TLS mainly via the IRC and the cool people in there (mainly me,
), get jumped on and feel out of place when they try to contribute on the forums.
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Anyway, in closing, I have a few things I want to say:
1. Rule #1 of TLS is basically "Don't be a dick"; I want everyone to be more considerate of this rule and general attitude; don't be a dick, report people being a dick, and warn people being dicks.
2. I saw CK's post yesterday, and I was thinking (and making a note somewhere) "Hmm, maybe I should edit this post before people jump on it". I was right; if I did all of this probably wouldn't have happened, CK would've gotten a warning, apologise and we could move on. I propose editing offensive posts; either to remove the offensive content, or at the very least to indicate that it has been dealt with. Previously we (the staff) decided to improve communication and we try to PM people after making reports, but I can imagine it's not very obvious if you're not the one getting warned or the one making the report what happens with unwanted posts / remarks. I propose just editing them out. Staff can restore posts if they're edited / deleted unwarranted, but please, be mature about it. It's still only a patch though; just don't be a dick and it doesn't need to happen.
3. Segregation is a fact of life; if you don't feel at home in the IRC channel, we're sorry, but not everyone can get along with everyone, it's just life etc. If you still want someplace to chat outside of the forums and don't want to go to skype or w/e, feel free to create a new channel in the IRC. like #dagon.
4. It sucks that people are leaving over people being dicks. Stop being dicks, and stop leaving.
5. There is no point 5, I don't think I have anything else to add. Get along, or gtfo,
