Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

OT is a bonus, W_G, as I affirm in this thread's OP. I also do not think that most (any?) posters here who have made it known that they consider OT one of the most important parts of Dakka for them ONLY visit OT. Most of them say things like "I will read other sections and sometimes post, but I like to post here most of all." I hope you will keep what I am saying in perspective. It isn't that people who value OT are social rejects who never see other people and need to "get a move on in life." Rather it's that people who only know each other through the internet can still value even that connection as part of their lives at large and OT is the setting of much of that connection on a site where most everything else is SERIOUS BUSINESS (x2), to channel K_K.

NecronLord3 wrote:My opinion is, that if you want to talk about Star Trek go to a Star Trek site. If you want to bitch about Politics find any of the appropriate sites to do so in. If you want to talk mini wargaming you come to Dakka.

We are better off without OT forums.

There are like twelve 40k centric wargaming forums. Purism isn't a particularly good method of generating a community, nor does the application of bleach maintain one well.

ShumaGorath wrote:

NecronLord3 wrote:My opinion is, that if you want to talk about Star Trek go to a Star Trek site. If you want to bitch about Politics find any of the appropriate sites to do so in. If you want to talk mini wargaming you come to Dakka.

We are better off without OT forums.

There are like twelve 40k centric wargaming forums. Purism isn't a particularly good method of generating a community, nor does the application of bleach maintain one well.

As I recall, the shirts they sold were never white!
We don't want our Dakka to fade now, do we?
Dakka is certainly unique, when you compare it to ATT and the such. I find it to be much more inclusive of all of a person's interests, united by wargaming as a common link.

If you want to talk ONLY about OT discussions there is a whole world of people out there waiting to hear you speak. There are even internet forums specifically designed to cater to your every OT desire. There are ones that cover everything, and ones that will discuss the changes in the mating habits of the simpson's python through its lifespan.

To come to a wargaming site, ONLY post in the OT forum, ONLY go to the OT forum and then try and wear that as a badge of honor, well, I guess, I guess I don't know what to think. But I'm sure it involves facepalming and the slow shaking of heads.

We are miniature wargamers (primarily 40k) who have the opportunity to discuss OT subjects in a sub forum.

And like I said, I am currently FOR the OT forum. I'm not arguing for it to be torn down. I'm arguing that there is a very small subsect within the dakka community that really need to get out more, and well, get involved in the dakka community.

Actually by post volume it's the fourth largest topic section on this forum, and the race for second third and fourth are incredibly close. So I wouldn't say it's a very small subsect. That just doesn't bear out mathematically.

I think your stats might be getting skewed by something or other though...

Alpharius wrote:I think your stats might be getting skewed by something or other though...

I was just reading the little thing on the far right that lists the number of posts within a forum subsection. There's probably some accounting for the age of the forum section to be done there, but most of what its competing against has been around as long or longer.

It's not really going to be statistically accurate to compare OT (or: everything on the planet that's not wargaming) to any single subsection of a wargaming board...

insaniak wrote:It's not really going to be statistically accurate to compare OT (or: everything on the planet that's not wargaming) to any single subsection of a wargaming board...

On a forum specifically dedicated to modeling? I think it compares quite well. Besides, it's not everything, it's not modeling since thats covered, it's not videogames since thats covered, and it's not general gaming since thats covered. It's true that it's an omnitopic thats meant to encompass quite a bit, but the stats should show you at the very least that there is considerable interest in it as is, even with it's problems. If it's capable of competing so readily with forums that are so much more central to the entire point of dakka itself I think it says something.

ShumaGorath wrote:On a forum specifically dedicated to modeling? I think it compares quite well. Besides, it's not everything, it's not modeling since thats covered, it's not videogames since thats covered, and it's not general gaming since thats covered.

I think you missed the point, somewhat. But never mind.

It's true that it's an omnitopic thats meant to encompass quite a bit, but the stats should show you at the very least that there is considerable interest in it as is, even with it's problems.

All the post number shows is how many posts are in there. It doesn't show how many people actually go in there, or how many people were involved in making those posts.

So yes, you could argue that the stats show that discussing everything on the planet except wargaming generates more interest that discussing AT43. Or you could argue that 3 posters and a hamster between them post more comments in OT than are posted in the aforementioned AT43 board.

Neither one can be proven just by looking at the post counts on the sidebar.

insaniak wrote: you could argue that 3 posters and a hamster between them post more comments in OT than are posted in the aforementioned AT43 board.

Neither one can be proven just by looking at the post counts on the sidebar.

Agreed...you must watch what the hamster is watching:




So we all fail in our perceived omnipotence regarding posting:

Tekken rules all.

So sayeth the Internet hamster.

Are we purposefully luring each other off track?

There are lots of posts in OT. Either a lot of people post a little bit, in which case OT has more people posting in it than other threads, or a few people post a lot, in which case OT posters are more devoted to it than people who post predominately in other threads are to them. In either case, OT is valuable.

insaniak wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:On a forum specifically dedicated to modeling? I think it compares quite well. Besides, it's not everything, it's not modeling since thats covered, it's not videogames since thats covered, and it's not general gaming since thats covered.

I think you missed the point, somewhat. But never mind.

It's true that it's an omnitopic thats meant to encompass quite a bit, but the stats should show you at the very least that there is considerable interest in it as is, even with it's problems.

All the post number shows is how many posts are in there. It doesn't show how many people actually go in there, or how many people were involved in making those posts.

So yes, you could argue that the stats show that discussing everything on the planet except wargaming generates more interest that discussing AT43. Or you could argue that 3 posters and a hamster between them post more comments in OT than are posted in the aforementioned AT43 board.

Neither one can be proven just by looking at the post counts on the sidebar.

It certainly could mean that. Do you have statistics to back that up though? Did yak design the site to track that?

Unfortunately the hamster tracker is currently offline. I think someone ate the carrot.

The DCM forum has a thread with > 8000 posts. You won't get that on the OT forum.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lego occasionally runs through site usage/traffic/prolific posters.

We've even gone through how many users from which country (by server)- Hello to the 5 Faroe Island Members!

He organises the stats into bizzare combos that end up as percentages that leave me thouroughly confused.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:The DCM forum has a thread with > 8000 posts. You won't get that on the OT forum.

What is the value of that..?

I have a pact with myself, W_G. If I stay on Dakka til this June I will become a DCM. Until then I'm working with what I have available to me. And, to be perfectly frank, even if/when I do become a DCM I doubt many of the people I "hang out with" on this forum will, too. So OT will still be important to me then.

insaniak wrote:Unfortunately the hamster tracker is currently offline. I think someone ate the carrot top.

OH THANK GOD! I've been waiting for this for a long time:

WarOne wrote:you must watch what the hamster is watching:



So we all fail in our perceived omnipotence regarding posting:

Tekken rules all.

So sayeth the Internet hamster.

The hamster is FAIL if he thinks Virtua Fighter is Tekken.

10 pages.

I'm surprised it lasted this long.

For the good of us all...

...it must die!

(But... but... what is he talking about?)

Alpharius wrote:10 pages.

I'm surprised it lasted this long.

For the good of us all...

...it must die!

(But... but... what is he talking about?)

It's sad too, because there's a good meaningful thread about this that could be had. If only the mods would actually do something about the trolls in this section!

This is insane, A thread that was originally meant to save the OT is presenting the same problems that's killing the OT.

Bickering between 2 people start early on in the thread, which build anger somehow in another poster,
which in turn feels the need to show the other poster, the apparent error of there ways. The group may
fight amongst one another for the duration of the thread, or bring in more posters, that try to stop the bickering or get caught up in
the tornado of internet argument.

In the end a thread in the OT originally having good intentions, would end up being locked, due to the mess that is left from the internet
bickering between different peoples different opinions. Rooting back to its source could be a single poster making a comment
of there own opinion, which in some matter offends a fellow poster, that resorts to commenting on that persons post. Thus possibly beginning a war.

Well your the mod. Personally I think this has thread has gone way off topic and just needs to be shot in the head.

Honestly all losing OT will mean to me is that I will go back to lurking on Metal Throne and spend more time reading my books.

I don't particularly care one way or the other.
It's his board, his choice.

Besides, I don't have opinions on the politics of other countries (I care little enough about the politics in my own) and my own religious disbeliefs I try not to foist upon others.

I have contributed an epic post on beginning of page ⑨

I want to clarify my own position on the whole "leaving Dakka in the event of this ban" issue and I invite others to do the same.

If OT became a place predominately for comparing taste in music or LiveJournaling about teen angst (i.e., no more P&R threads allowed), I would probably not use OT anymore. I doubt I would leave Dakka altogether. The 40k Background threads are sometimes worthwhile. (See Nurglitch's thread on Grammaticus.) I am also involved in KK's En Garde! PBEM and the odd game of Genestealer!, not to mention K_K's mighty "Ask the Space Emperor" thread over in games. The PRG threads are too slow, despite Alpharius, Balance, and I trying as hard as we possibly can. But I can see myself gradually slipping away longer and longer between bouts of 40k mania. It would be a lot harder to get to know people (after playing for this long in KK's game, I still don't know those users at all!) and that means--for me at least--less of a need/desire to support the community as a DCM. That's where I stand at least.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The autocorrect of T E H to T H E is really, really annoying.

And I provide inspirational images so those that come after me may do what I have done:

Manchu wrote:I have a pact with myself, W_G. If I stay on Dakka til this June I will become a DCM. Until then I'm working with what I have available to me. And, to be perfectly frank, even if/when I do become a DCM I doubt many of the people I "hang out with" on this forum will, too. So OT will still be important to me then.

Trust me the DCM forum is worth it. The OT forum pales in comparison(though the DCM forum itself pales in comparison to the actual Wasteland). Going into the DCM forum is like graduating from the high school that is the OT Forum.

I have an account at the Wasteland but going there makes me feel like a five year old trying to find classes at university.

Manchu wrote:I have an account at the Wasteland but going there makes me feel like a five year old trying to find classes at university.

Don't forget your goggles.

I use the rest of the forums, i read the army lists and tactics almost daily, and i always check out you make da call too so i can keep learning more about the game, but as a bit of a noob i foot feel i contribute much, so 95% of my posting is in here. I LIKE the heated debates, i dont see whats not to enjoy about it. Some of the back and forths between people make me laugh out loud, and i disagree with religious types and lefty chaps on almost every issue, but i still like reading what they have to say, and having a back and forth with them. As i said, i dont see the issue. If you dont like discussing politics or religion, dont click the linky. Its your mouse!