Before anything - I want to thank everyone for their input and responses. It's helped us with our discussions about the site going forward. I think it's evident by the responses here, that regardless of our thoughts of how certain recent discussions have transpired, we're still very much a family - just of a unique kind. Maybe not as sunshine and rainbows as other boards, but that's never really been our niche per se.
I totally get where some of you are coming from. Just a couple things I wanna say before we start working on future changes.
To some degree, I think social media hasn't helped attitudes. You can have an insane, asinine opinion with very little repercussions so it can carry over to other places where discussions are held. The good thing about a forum is that there is an all-seeing eye that you don't need to e-mail and wait 2 weeks of investigation for a response.
Still, the internet can be a very hard place to judge tone and intent. I've been guilty myself of assuming something with a post, but the OP's intention was completely different. There are always going to be a clash of personalities on this board, and I'm glad that's the case in some ways. It would be very dull discussion of having everyone saying 100 different ways of "I agree". What I don't like is when the difference of opinion comes off as incredibly rude, as some of you have stated that you feel some posters are guilty of. I don't want any of you guys to feel afraid to post or share your opinion due to fear of "attack". So if you have a particular problem with something/someone, contact me or any of the mods. That's our job to make sure the peace is kept and discussion is civil.
To the new posters: Please always know you are always welcome. Get involved and discuss without an ounce of worry. The staff is here to answer your questions or concerns, along with other helpful members. Regardless of the board or site, I know joining into a discussion is like leaping into the "Lion's Den". You don't want to come off silly-sounding or uneducated. Just remember though, everyone on this board started off at 0 posts and some were just as timid as you may have been at one point.
Another thing I wanna tackle is about discrediting rumors from other sites. Has some put-downs been a little much? Yes - however I will not stop from discrediting rumors if I feel they are unfounded or unreliable. We've entered a world of clickbait and I hate it. It has its place for some things, like countdowns for example - but recently people have been using it to get hits to their site. In some cases, the speculation becomes reality where you eventually see someone new post "HEY THIS SITE SAID DC WAS COMING!" (which should show why some insiders/other sites get a little wound up). As someone who really takes pride on accuracy, I feel it's my job to make sure readers of my site are as informed as they can be with news, history, and rumors.
Also, Cussing. You know it's not allowed on the forums right? I don't have the cleanest vocabulary myself, but I use it at the appropriate times because I know not everyone enjoys seeing F-bombs dropped in a board that is supposed to be for everyone. We're going to star administering infractions for use of obscene language.
Which words are obscene? Well if you have *** it, it's not allowed.
Now I want to address some points directly:
That is my ONE BIG GRIPE about this site, is that there are about 3 or 4 really cocky arrogant posters who want people to hang off their every word, or who make sarcastic comments putting others down, or both. And there are those who get upset when someone says something that they don't agree with. And they resort to name calling and then it goes to a back and forth until it devolves into seeing which one has the biggest measurements. And to me, some of the biggest offenders are the ones who have the most knowledge and have been here the longest. So it seems like they get a bigger leash than someone who hasn't been around as long. And that's understandable, and in a way I have no problem with that. Because without the insiders, then this forum wouldn't be nearly as active. But still, it does not mean that they should be able to get away with everything in the book just because they have power.
I give everyone the same amount leash. Once it becomes a problem and I step in is where "leash lengths" are established, and they're the same length. I don't care who is wrong or right or opinion I side with; if I say stop and person continues... I will handle the situation accordingly.
I will disagree with the name calling too because I don't allow that at all. Once an insult has been thrown, I step in and stop the convo. In some cases, we'll delete the whole convo if it gets really heated.
Now, for those "3-4 really cocky arrogant" posters, I've seen the same 3-4 who disagree with them try to "come at them hard". It's been a back and forth type-deal. It's basically, "oh this person posted, here comes the rebuttal from this one" and like clockwork - it happens. In the future, if you feel someone is arrogant, PM a mod and we will handle each situation appropriately.
As for the comment on 'new insiders', often those who immediately started making claims either said things outlandish, ridiculous and utterly laughable or started arrogantly preaching their statements as fact with absolutely no line of credibility. It's not that we don't welcome new insiders, as I see it. It's more that we're not immediately going to believe anyone who waltzes onto the forum and says "OMG guyz, Universal is getting rid of Marvel!". Particularly when other insiders tell us what they know.
Very true. I've been a part of boards for 16 years, and owned OU for 8. It's one of those cliche stereotypes of people. Granted they can be addressed better ways in some case.
This forum is not a 'Help' type forum like say Disboards (massive bitching fest over there both between each other and towards TWDC in general, with Mods that are so rude and suffer from 'know it all syndrome'). Any newbie who doesn't read some threads first will be in for a shock if they want to post to ask whether the Disney Dining Plan is good value, or when is the best time to book a fireworks cruise for Illuminations. I wouldn't join a Video Game forum that centered around how the games were developed, if I wanted to just ask questions about release dates, and walk through guides. OU certainly has it's place in the Theme Park forum field.
Well it's not for a lack of trying.
Now I'm not aiming for OU to be something along the lines of TP or OI, but the Staff knows their stuff here and we could help tremendously - but the board just organically became the place for updates on news, rumors; along with the inner workings of Universal. We will be making a couple changes though that will hopefully introduce more help and planning discussions.
That's it for now. As stated, we'll be making some changes soon along with some other announcements. Look for that in the announcements thread.
Thanks again!