If I think a thread might be dicey, I ask Lord Ravenclaw. If an administrator gives you approval, nothing else matters.

 

I'm not extremely well liked here, I know for a fact that there are people who can't stand me, and aren't afraid to say it. But what I like best at this site is when there is an issue being discussed people want immediately disregard what you say just because they don't like you.

One thing that I am really noticing lately about this site is that it's becoming less and less Harry Potter oriented. This can probably be attributed to the fact that there currently aren't very many quality fanfics being written and regularly updated so there is not much to talk about in that respect. There is the odd discussion on the books and such (What would you change about the Goblet of Fire). This is why I think that the new members are having a tough time adapting, they come expecting a Harry Potter FanFiction driven forum and find that there are not that many topics to speak about so they post in a very old thread and get reamed out for it, or they want to post but don't have a Fic to comment on so they go and make an ill advised post in politics.

There is no grace period anymore, if you accidently double post or necro a thread people will tell you in less than kind words. Actually it seems like older members get more leniency when double posting or Necro posting. Neg repping a new member for double posting or necro posting is pointless, it doesn't accomplish anything except for maybe making the new member afraid to post or post again to ask why, which just causes more trouble.

 

I personally don't think it matters which side you are on. If you get off on insulting new members for doing something not that bad. Well have fun with that. On the other hand if you are a new member and make no effort whatsoever to provide conversation with the rest of the community then perhaps you deserve some of what you get. For instance, a new member recently posted a H/G fluff story(Horribly written too). If he had bothered to look around before posting he would have seen that the story probably would not have gone over well.

I generally sit back and watch things play out instead of adding fuel to the fire. I have been around a while and I have a lot less posts than some members because of these tendencies. I have received no negative rep as of yet (though that could very well change). I have never been a fan of flaming another person's post even if it was justified. I think what people really need to realize is that we all generally like the same things and should not be wasting our time bitching each other out.

Just my two cents...
Xantam

 

I don't suffer any hesitation about posting in a topic when I feel like it. I've been here a long time (almost a year and a half! (presonal reminder: Get a life)) and during the whole of that time I've never really not posted when I've wanted to.

The rules have changed a lot since I first joined, I've learned to adapt to that and follow them to the best of my ability. I also feel, that despite what some people may think, the rules are generally enforced a lot more than they used to be.

Raven's new implementation of a modification to the way in which the rules are displayed to new members should help those people new to the site get a general feel for the place before posting.

I'm not a ranter. Never have been. I also try not to keep personal opinions out of my reviews for stories (Although I won't deny I've called people names, but quite frankly I think they deserved it for what they chose to write). Some of the people on this site are... actually, if I'm being frankly honest some of the people strike me as sheep. They seem to post flames shortly after people they presume are well respected members because they think they can get away with it.

What I'm getting at is please don't just post a rant because x y or z did it. Be your own person and post your own thoughts.

Edit: I like the rep thing. Have done since it was implemented. I need to learn to spread the wealth a bit more though. I'm a tight arse with it...

Edit again: I just re-read this post. I'm now sat here singing 'bar bar blacksheep' and no matter how much I try I can't stop!

 

As a new member I would like to apologize for the rest of them, I don't know what they will do, But it has become habit for me to make a single Overall Post when I read a new story. Thankfully it has been brought to my attention that doing so in the so call 'Dead' Threads might get me some Harassment, so I will endeavor to curtail that particular eccentricity of mine. I would also like to request a little indulgence of future screw-ups as I'm not arrogant enough to consider myself perfect...

Close perhaps, but not all the way there yet

Thank you all for your time and patience,

Manatheron

 

Somehow the topic of this thread changed. The purpose of it was to say we should be setting a better, more intelligent example for newbs... not that we should care how they feel. I don't really care how they feel, I took plenty of abuse as well and I'm still here... though it has gotten a bit more out of hand than when I joined. People used to only try and scare you ^_^.

 

I joined about a week ago, and being totally honest , became a post whore. I probably posted more than I needed to just because I was new and wanted to establish myself a bit. I got bitch slapped like I deserved, and I hope I'll be better for it. Some people will start out slow and test the waters when going into a discussion, and other people will jump right into it and often say something that completely belittles their own intelligence. If someone deserves to be berated for their idiocy, then do it. Hopefully it will be received with common sense, and the person will take the advice of the experienced.

Too a certain extent, a rant is what every new member needs because the positive enforcement offered by rep isn't that great. A public airing of your complete and total lack of tact, especially when you have time to prepare your responses, can be the exact thing to establish the path for someone to take on this site. If the person can't take their public defacement of character, if they are needing, then they lack the basic social skills needed to live on this planet.

 

It may have to do with an administration that's been very busy in real life and with several moderators dropping like flies. On the other hand it may be something even more simpler: a perceived notion that respect is an automatic and not earned through hard work.

I joined this site in May 2006 and since then, I've always had at least one issue with DLP.net and I've always made suggestions or comments to some affect in an attempt to solve them. That hasn't changed; I'm still critical and provide feedback. Quite frankly, the atmosphere has remained the same in these few months but now there's this streamlining attempt to get DLP.net to be more mainstream in accepting stupid, bullshit ideas of how to take care of its members or with how to deal with other sites.

All that matters? Introductions are still friendly. People can enter this site, find out what not to do and fit in. You're all here - you're all different; what on earth is the problem? I'm not seeing a large issue here except people who need to let something rehashed far too often, drop.

An example of the fairness of this site? Brazilianpimp necroed at least five or six topics; I can't imagine anyone feeling sympathy for someone who couldn't spend five seconds to realize those topics are very old and that he should have at least spent some time researching or reading the rules. That is, unless you committed a similar crime. Nonetheless, he could still fit in but odds are, he won't. People can change and we offer them that; it's when they try to act like they gel here and don't make amends for ruining threads/the flow of the forum, they just get more shit heaped on them.

Or worse, they don't improve. Who cares about these simpletons? I don't and I've defended a mother who supports slash from the bandwagon of flamers.

I do agree with Raven that rules need to be visible upon clicking each forum but it shouldn't require that much effort by our administrators and moderators. You begin to wonder if we're catering to the dense if we have to walk them through using the bathroom on a forum of all places. Somethings are common-place, like disliking slash; other things are sacrosanct, like the banstick or the annual Ginny-kill off; other items have lines drawn, like necro-posting or double posting. Then there are even things undrawn, like a general disdain for Harry/Ginny stories.

You gotta feel most of the stuff and a simple rulesheet won't take care of that. New members need to read around - lurk a week, even - and then join in the fray. Joining anything without research is stupid - would you join the Army without knowing they can recall your ass after a tour of duty, even if you only wanted to serve two years?

I hope not.

But I agree on one, basic thing: give everyone a chance. Slashers, rapists, all human beings capable of thought and Dorothy. Help them but if they're retarded, by golly, by all means, a spade's a spade and I encourage flaming in that respect.

 

If a person has registered to the forum, posted an intro thread, and been told to read the forum rules then I have absolutely no problem telling them to STFU when they do some stupid shit.

I don't particularly care who you are, although for the members I know it takes a bit more to earn my disdain (for instance Draco66 seems to have a habit of double posting at times but I don't chew him out because he usually makes decent posts).

With that said some of the newer (and older) people here need to lose the emo-ness. And in regard to certain flame-wars, I got involved with them because idiots on the other end made a few condescending remarks that I took offense too -- I've done the same to some well established members on this board as well.

As for the newer members, read the rules, don't double post, don't committ thread necrophilia, make legible posts, put spaces in between your paragraphs, and don't come in here with some stupid shit. If that seems like to much for me to ask then my personal opinion is that you don't belong here, and I won't make any secret about it. It's not that difficult to do. The reason we've risen to prominance is because our board is well kept, well maintained, and has intellectually stimulating comments written in discernable english without any of that "l337"/doubleposting/thread necrophilia bullshit.

 

Since I've joined, I have seen a general increase in retarded or otherwise mentally deficient members.

Now, this could just confirm that Harry Potter is corrupting our youth and that the Vatican is the awesomest shit since wild tentacle sex in 3D.

...But that's unlikely.

Our community is growing at an unprecedented rate, faster that Hagrid's dad on Fridwulfa on that fateful drunk night they had.

In the HP fanfiction community, about an 1/8 of people are DLP material. They hate Ginny, want to donkey punch Hermione, and rail their own reflections. Sickos, weirdos, sheepfuckers, whatever you want to call this class of users.

Now, in every population, 75% or so of people are generally morons. Since we're talking about people who read Harry Potter, we're gonna raise that up to 91.2%.

That leaves a 1.1% population of Harry Potter fanfiction enthusiasts that fit DLP criteria and have the correct amount of chromosomes (46) and have not smelled blue markers or eaten lead. Or railed llamas.

So, you may ask, why are there so many hopeless dimwits scouring our poor site?

Well, this all goes back to the fact that the fanfiction community as a whole is growing.

With it increases HP FF users.

So, where before you had, let's say...130 DLP users (10 of which could surpass a goat in Chess) for every 1000 HP FF users, we now have 260 DLP users (20 of which could understand this post).

That leaves a massive increase in retards, from 120 to 240, where the increase in intelligent members doesn't seem so high anymore (10 - 20).

So, people aren't actually getting stupider (Giovanni, Xiph0, and my more truthful side may disagree - we're realists) but the total number of everything is increasing due to more users overall.

In conclusion, I love procrastinating and wasting time.

Thank You.

 

All of this has been said before.

And I honestly don't think that it will ever change. People will still get their asses handed to them, whether unfairly or not--it's all a matter of opinion.

 

I'm not one to nep-rep someone for a few mistakes when their new...I can forgive them. But this is DLP as in DARK LORD potter. I signed onto this forum when it had less then five people signing in at once. I've seen many things happen here. And I haven't entered to intro section for a long time. But this is DLP. This is where people with strong opinions thrive. This is also a place where if noobies get through the hazing...they get their respect. It just that different members take different amounts of time before agreeing to give respect. The rules are just a little leg up on earning respect. The quicker they follow the rules the nicer they are treated. Just my two-cent...take it or leave it.

 

DLP was founded off of the want of original HP fanfiction and it should stay that way. The site itself will change over time - it's going to do that, DLP is not a static community by any stretch of the imagination. We just have too many members of high intellect and that in itself promotes change.

No I am not saying that these members of high intellect don't fuck up royally from time to time. Everyone has their turn on the rollercostar of stupidity, myself included.

That being said, DLP has a near mythical reputation among the current fans of HP fanfiction. We should hold ourselves to higher standard of behaviour, ie, what Bio said about being more sophisticated (I had a flashback to The Office when he mentioned that. *snicker*). We have become the "role models" of rebellion in the Harry Potter fandom. Now that's a scary thought.

Adressing the noob issue:

There is a wide range of ages/interests/whatever amongst the members here and there is no getting around that. Back when the site was smaller, there was less variety in opinion simply because DLP wasn't well known. Doing the math, that means there were less idiots - you joined DLP by word of mouth. What I'm trying to say is that complaining about someone's opinion being different than yours, no matter how stupid it is, is about as pointless as throwing yourself off a cliff because you think the world has done you wrong. In other words, leave the slash mom alone - she has to get her jollies somehow. As long as she's not preaching it, I could really care less.

 

Ahhhh. Am I insane for cackling at this thread? If so well...meh. If not...*high fives*

*cough*
Regarding the n00b/idiocy issue
Well then. Blue, I think this is an interesting thread that has gotten slightly out of hand. Well, okay...more than slightly. But here's what I have to say:
Noob or not, we expect common sense here at DLP. We shouldn't be asking people to have perfect grammar, spelling, or anything like that. Only to respect the rules, and not be necroposting, or doing total post-whorage. A lot of people hang around here a lot and post wherever they see fit.
And a decent part of the time, that's okay.
But the other part, which seems to be happening more and more frecquently, is not.

Please people: Don't post just for the sake of posting. Who fucking cares about post count and rep. If you want to say something, just think about it first a bit. Read over the post. Look for anything that we might get mad at you for.

Regarding the Post Count/Rep thing:
It really doesn't matter. I've been on here for almost a year, and the last fifty posts have come in the last month. I used to be on here all the time, and have stopped because I really don't see the point of posting anymore.

Rep doesn't matter really at all. If you care, you're probably in the wrong place. I've seen people getting repped for bitching at someone for acting demented. That is just pointless. Kind of defeats the purpose.
All in all: GET OVER IT.

DLP isn't nice. Most of us aren't super nice when you make a mistake. I know I'm really just repeating the argument, but I agree wholeheartedly.
If you can't take a lot of arguements/criticisms/molestations (This means you, Vashy, Syao ), then don't spend a lot of time here. If you have a big issue, take it to PMs, or a Mod/Admin. But don't bitch it out on the forums.

...
Looking at this, I realize I was just going to post a little bit. So much for that. >_<
EDIT: Oooh, I forgot to mention the pairing bit.
We really ought not to care about the favorite paring thing. I mean, who gives a crap if someone likes Slash or H/G? (Hell, I was probably the first open slashy. But I'm still here...) As long as it's not pimped on the forum, it's not your concern. And even if a paring you hate is posted, that doesn't mean you have to read it.
Damn, now I have a headache.
/end mini rant.

 

Or better yet, PM me if you feel you've been treated unfairly. I'll look at it and if I think you're a crybaby I will negrep you and make a post that insults everything from your virility to the goat you fucked 10 years ago.

If by some freak accident you have been treated unfairly I'll bitchsmack the person whodunnit.

But seriously -- if you really are being abused PM Vash or someone. That way everyone else can laugh about it on IRC.

 

Wow, that's really re-assuring Giovanni, very positive.

 

What did you expect? This isn't TV Kiddie Hour where we sit around and lick Barney the dinosaur's fucking pussy!

**Thank you South Park**

 

I'm here thinking that there isn't anything to be said that already hasn't been said, so I unless you've got a whole new different view, we should just let this thread disappear into the background.

EDIT: Or sticky it for some unfathomable reason to be neglected brain.