As has been mentioned though is the state of the newbie football forum, I found down there that the people in the general knew more about football than those in the football forum, however when you are drastically outnumbered by retards you need to get out of there, hence the popularity of the general.
FAO Mods/admins
- Thread starter Mickey
- Start date
As has been mentioned though is the state of the newbie football forum, I found down there that the people in the general knew more about football than those in the football forum, however when you are drastically outnumbered by retards you need to get out of there, hence the popularity of the general.
I can vouch for this, if you came across a newish thread in the football forum with a bit of discussion it was grand. You could actually have a logical discussion, but most of the time it's over run by WUMS and muppets.
Hehe, there'll always be complaints about the newbies. Scratch that, there'll always be people complaining about anything - people have no patience to let things work themselves out, which a lot of the time does happen. People were complaining last year that there was a surprisingly small amount of newbies promoted, and had people saying how some are kept down there unfairly. Add to that people were saying the newbies that were coming up weren't really involving themselves in the general enough, keeping themselves to themselves a bit too much - that was around the time I was promoted too, iirc.
Now it's the complete opposite!
I think it's all just a bit exaggerated because there's not been a lot to get excited about this summer, there's been relatively little going on at all clubs - Ancelotti and Zhirkov at Chelsea, Vermaelen and -Toure/Adebayor at Arsenal, Glen Johnson at Liverpool, Valencia/Obertan/Owen and -Ronaldo here...they were all done by this time last year. The World Cup's inevitably had a knock-on effect on club football and the lack of interest in international football these days(and the perceived lack of quality) means that once it finished there was a bit of a lull, no-one's interested enough to keep the International football discussion going and there's been a lack of activity at the clubs because of the WC, so we've just witnessed the worst of it.
I don't think there's been a general decline in the level of football discussion over the year, the G+G might've caused a few divisions and a few more arguments and the money doom mongers are a bit more prominent but that aside I don't think there's any significant difference. The Agenda Posters thing does seem to be a problem, I will say. I've only been here 2 years though, to be fair.
The newbies are suffering from the same problems - more doom mongering than usual, lack of excitement in general and not a lot to discuss. Not really a lot that can be done about that, some of the mods/scouts/whatever have tried to stir up more discussion by being more active themselves but there's not a lot that can be done - they can't just invent interesting topics out of thin air, there's not a lot to go off.
The new season will start up again, there'll be a higher proportion of footy-newbs and there'll be more discussion up here in the football forums regardless. You're just a big bunch of moaning women really. Grow a pair and stop complaining about those wonderful times when you first came up when football discussion was insightful and engaging and the general was constantly buzzing - it didn't exist. People come and go and things change, all there is to it.
Now it's the complete opposite!
I think it's all just a bit exaggerated because there's not been a lot to get excited about this summer, there's been relatively little going on at all clubs - Ancelotti and Zhirkov at Chelsea, Vermaelen and -Toure/Adebayor at Arsenal, Glen Johnson at Liverpool, Valencia/Obertan/Owen and -Ronaldo here...they were all done by this time last year. The World Cup's inevitably had a knock-on effect on club football and the lack of interest in international football these days(and the perceived lack of quality) means that once it finished there was a bit of a lull, no-one's interested enough to keep the International football discussion going and there's been a lack of activity at the clubs because of the WC, so we've just witnessed the worst of it.
I don't think there's been a general decline in the level of football discussion over the year, the G+G might've caused a few divisions and a few more arguments and the money doom mongers are a bit more prominent but that aside I don't think there's any significant difference. The Agenda Posters thing does seem to be a problem, I will say. I've only been here 2 years though, to be fair.
The newbies are suffering from the same problems - more doom mongering than usual, lack of excitement in general and not a lot to discuss. Not really a lot that can be done about that, some of the mods/scouts/whatever have tried to stir up more discussion by being more active themselves but there's not a lot that can be done - they can't just invent interesting topics out of thin air, there's not a lot to go off.
The new season will start up again, there'll be a higher proportion of footy-newbs and there'll be more discussion up here in the football forums regardless. You're just a big bunch of moaning women really. Grow a pair and stop complaining about those wonderful times when you first came up when football discussion was insightful and engaging and the general was constantly buzzing - it didn't exist. People come and go and things change, all there is to it.
Ive recently been promoted, and if im honest, its no different in the mains then in the newbs.
The football forum repetitive, topics are done to death, and both can be pretty unpleasant (although id have to say the mains football forum is slightly better then the newbs in terms of pleasantness).
Where as the general forum is more civilised and different topics are discussed on different days.
If i were to log off and come back in an hour, the main topics in the footy forum would be who should we buy? Ozil/sneidjer/cole (big name players), we have no money, theres no value. Theyre the recurring themes in the footy forum.
feck knows what id see in the generals, hence it being less repetitive.
Hopefully however, when the season is in full swing, there will be much more to talk about, and we will see more diversity, but for the time being, the generals is where its at.
The football forum repetitive, topics are done to death, and both can be pretty unpleasant (although id have to say the mains football forum is slightly better then the newbs in terms of pleasantness).
Where as the general forum is more civilised and different topics are discussed on different days.
If i were to log off and come back in an hour, the main topics in the footy forum would be who should we buy? Ozil/sneidjer/cole (big name players), we have no money, theres no value. Theyre the recurring themes in the footy forum.
feck knows what id see in the generals, hence it being less repetitive.
Hopefully however, when the season is in full swing, there will be much more to talk about, and we will see more diversity, but for the time being, the generals is where its at.
There are no scouts.
Pogue, Smashed, Sincher, Jason, Marcos, MUM and Hectic are some of the best posters in the football forums. It's the summer months and not much is happening on the United front it's not surprising they hardly post.
Pogue, Smashed, Sincher, Jason, Marcos, MUM and Hectic are some of the best posters in the football forums. It's the summer months and not much is happening on the United front it's not surprising they hardly post.
The last batch of scouts are now mods.
Top, Frosty, Pops and Dwayne.
Top, Frosty, Pops and Dwayne.
Are you guys recruiting new scouts by any chance?
Technically we're still scouts in the way that we're supposed to rep posts. We were just given editing powers limited to the Newbie Forum as well a while back.
So nothing's really changed.
Can't you ban and infract?
Oh yeah, and that...
and they were all mostly general forum posters, although i´ve never heard of frosty
My posts are pretty evenly divided between the General Forum, Entertainment Forum and the Football Forums.
Sults forgot to mention Pogue on the list as well.
PM Hectic
Last time you said that I made him think I was a stalker, I'm not falling for it again!
So basically, all these crap posters getting through are being let through by Top?
Is the person who sends that PM about getting promotion the person who promoted you? Or is it just random?
You don't need to be particularly active in the football forums to be good at moderating. It also happens many posters go through periods of posting in different forums.
Probably because it took me about 18 months to realise I was on the list.
This is all just a massive overreaction
There isn't a decline in the forum quality, there have just been less things to talk about in football. During the World Cup, there were a lot of insightful threads on vuvuzelas, Luis Suarez, England (
) and diving. None of these threads came up then, complaining about a lack of quality. Last season's furlough was the same thing, with various threads decrying the forum's shitness, and 2 season's ago, apart from the massive Ronaldo thread, there was nothing going on after Euro 2008.
Now that there is nothing else to talk about, people addicted to the caf will naturally wander into the other crevices. During the regular season I only posted in the current events forum occasionally, now I follow and post there every day. However most people end up in the General, where they are shocked by the 'decline in quality' of the threads. The general has always been like that! Before MJLD, JayWalker, there was Boothy, Solius, Elvis, Eyepopper, Espada, Rimaldo, Noodlehair, etc... spouting rubbish not suitable for work, the family, or any sane human being...
On making the Caf more suitable for viewing from work, or at home, I view the Caf from work every morning. I do have enough sense to avoid the NSFW threads, and at times I don't go to the general at all. I think it's just common sense to know when and where to access it. As for the danger of kids accessing this site, I don't have any, but when i was a kid, my parents closely monitored my access to the internet, passively through placing it in the living room, and actively through installing content filters. The guidelines of no genitals, sex or gory stuff has been stuck to by the forum's users, and it has been enforced by the mods, so I don't understand the further crackdown. I don't think threads in the general prevent football fans from posting in the appropriate forums; I don't see Chief or Joga Bonito in there. We swear and speak about off color topics all the time, will those be removed also?
Finally on the civilness in the football forums, i don't think many people can complain about rudeness or abuse; I've seen distinguished posters such as Pogue and Mockney fall victim to having to resort to personal insults during an argument. I've not seen a poster excessively abuse, except the Chief, and everyone ended up laughing!
All I'm saying is, in one month all this nonsense will be forgotten about, and the mods/concerned posters are concerned about a temporary thing that will evaporate as soon as the first whistle of the season goes off.
There isn't a decline in the forum quality, there have just been less things to talk about in football. During the World Cup, there were a lot of insightful threads on vuvuzelas, Luis Suarez, England (
) and diving. None of these threads came up then, complaining about a lack of quality. Last season's furlough was the same thing, with various threads decrying the forum's shitness, and 2 season's ago, apart from the massive Ronaldo thread, there was nothing going on after Euro 2008.Now that there is nothing else to talk about, people addicted to the caf will naturally wander into the other crevices. During the regular season I only posted in the current events forum occasionally, now I follow and post there every day. However most people end up in the General, where they are shocked by the 'decline in quality' of the threads. The general has always been like that! Before MJLD, JayWalker, there was Boothy, Solius, Elvis, Eyepopper, Espada, Rimaldo, Noodlehair, etc... spouting rubbish not suitable for work, the family, or any sane human being...
On making the Caf more suitable for viewing from work, or at home, I view the Caf from work every morning. I do have enough sense to avoid the NSFW threads, and at times I don't go to the general at all. I think it's just common sense to know when and where to access it. As for the danger of kids accessing this site, I don't have any, but when i was a kid, my parents closely monitored my access to the internet, passively through placing it in the living room, and actively through installing content filters. The guidelines of no genitals, sex or gory stuff has been stuck to by the forum's users, and it has been enforced by the mods, so I don't understand the further crackdown. I don't think threads in the general prevent football fans from posting in the appropriate forums; I don't see Chief or Joga Bonito in there. We swear and speak about off color topics all the time, will those be removed also?
Finally on the civilness in the football forums, i don't think many people can complain about rudeness or abuse; I've seen distinguished posters such as Pogue and Mockney fall victim to having to resort to personal insults during an argument. I've not seen a poster excessively abuse, except the Chief, and everyone ended up laughing!
All I'm saying is, in one month all this nonsense will be forgotten about, and the mods/concerned posters are concerned about a temporary thing that will evaporate as soon as the first whistle of the season goes off.
I promoted Cold Zebra who has a fit missus, MrsGiggs who survived a deadly disease, The Caveman who owns at least 50 suits, Lysglimt who probably personally knows Joshua King and MUFC10 who is the only Mexican ever to have grazed the Caf. That's pretty much the A-team right there.
Actyally, I've come up with this great plan where I don't promote anyone anymore, instead I just point the finger in the mod forum when a recently promoted newbie turns out to be a bit crap.
This is all just a massive overreaction
There isn't a decline in the forum quality, there have just been less things to talk about in football. During the World Cup, there were a lot of insightful threads on vuvuzelas, Luis Suarez, England (
Now that there is nothing else to talk about, people addicted to the caf will naturally wander into the other crevices. During the regular season I only posted in the current events forum occasionally, now I follow and post there every day. However most people end up in the General, where they are shocked by the 'decline in quality' of the threads. The general has always been like that! Before MJLD, JayWalker, there was Boothy, Solius, Elvis, Eyepopper, Espada, Rimaldo, Noodlehair, etc... spouting rubbish not suitable for work, the family, or any sane human being...
On making the Caf more suitable for viewing from work, or at home, I view the Caf from work every morning. I do have enough sense to avoid the NSFW threads, and at times I don't go to the general at all. I think it's just common sense to know when and where to access it. As for the danger of kids accessing this site, I don't have any, but when i was a kid, my parents closely monitored my access to the internet, passively through placing it in the living room, and actively through installing content filters. The guidelines of no genitals, sex or gory stuff has been stuck to by the forum's users, and it has been enforced by the mods, so I don't understand the further crackdown. I don't think threads in the general prevent football fans from posting in the appropriate forums; I don't see Chief or Joga Bonito in there. We swear and speak about off color topics all the time, will those be removed also?
Finally on the civilness in the football forums, i don't think many people can complain about rudeness or abuse; I've seen distinguished posters such as Pogue and Mockney fall victim to having to resort to personal insults during an argument. I've not seen a poster excessively abuse, except the Chief, and everyone ended up laughing!
All I'm saying is, in one month all this nonsense will be forgotten about, and the mods/concerned posters are concerned about a temporary thing that will evaporate as soon as the first whistle of the season goes off.
Cracking post
This is all just a massive overreaction
There isn't a decline in the forum quality, there have just been less things to talk about in football. During the World Cup, there were a lot of insightful threads on vuvuzelas, Luis Suarez, England (
Now that there is nothing else to talk about, people addicted to the caf will naturally wander into the other crevices. During the regular season I only posted in the current events forum occasionally, now I follow and post there every day. However most people end up in the General, where they are shocked by the 'decline in quality' of the threads. The general has always been like that! Before MJLD, JayWalker, there was Boothy, Solius, Elvis, Eyepopper, Espada, Rimaldo, Noodlehair, etc... spouting rubbish not suitable for work, the family, or any sane human being...
On making the Caf more suitable for viewing from work, or at home, I view the Caf from work every morning. I do have enough sense to avoid the NSFW threads, and at times I don't go to the general at all. I think it's just common sense to know when and where to access it. As for the danger of kids accessing this site, I don't have any, but when i was a kid, my parents closely monitored my access to the internet, passively through placing it in the living room, and actively through installing content filters. The guidelines of no genitals, sex or gory stuff has been stuck to by the forum's users, and it has been enforced by the mods, so I don't understand the further crackdown. I don't think threads in the general prevent football fans from posting in the appropriate forums; I don't see Chief or Joga Bonito in there. We swear and speak about off color topics all the time, will those be removed also?
Finally on the civilness in the football forums, i don't think many people can complain about rudeness or abuse; I've seen distinguished posters such as Pogue and Mockney fall victim to having to resort to personal insults during an argument. I've not seen a poster excessively abuse, except the Chief, and everyone ended up laughing!
All I'm saying is, in one month all this nonsense will be forgotten about, and the mods/concerned posters are concerned about a temporary thing that will evaporate as soon as the first whistle of the season goes off.
I don't really agree with that. There are quite a few of us who have been concerned with the way the football forums in particular have been going the last year or two. One poster in particular who has all but withdrawn from the football forums, or at least in any meaningful sense. But I'd agree with you; things have been slightly better in the last month or so, as the WC has filtered out some of the bigger gimps.
The problem is, IMHO, that the posts where people are trying to have sensible debates about football are still there, but they're getting drowned out by the incessant shite that some people on here can't seem to avoid posting. It's not their opinions that bother me (thought I don't agree with them) but the way in which they put them forward.
To use the example we've been on in this thread already of Berbatov, there were numerous posts made in WC threads which somehow dragged him into debates he had no business being in, all posted by the same group of posters, many of whom now monopolise any thread even loosely related to him, strikers, footballers etc etc. Then one of them makes some shit joke, and they all pile in posting green smilies about jokes that barely even make sense, let alone elicit a smile. And if you point this out you're a gay Berba fanboi. Cue half-a-dozen more green smilies.
For me this isn't some 'things were better in my day' shtick. It wasn't. It was different. There were always gimps, but they're multiplying at the moment. But worse than that, they're being allowed to impose their unique style of gimpery on the more interesting threads on here, which makes other posters not bother putting forward their opinion for fear of being dragged into a two-day semantics-fest in which the tards declare themselves the winners seven or eight times, before one of the mods has to shut the thread.
Put simply, I think that the concept of having an interesting debate is being lost amongst attritional arguing and agendas by an increasing number of posters.
Well said.
Lets have a generals posters Vs football forum posters game on fifa!
Bagsy barca!
Bagsy barca!
This is all just a massive overreaction
There isn't a decline in the forum quality, there have just been less things to talk about in football. During the World Cup, there were a lot of insightful threads on vuvuzelas, Luis Suarez, England (
Now that there is nothing else to talk about, people addicted to the caf will naturally wander into the other crevices. During the regular season I only posted in the current events forum occasionally, now I follow and post there every day. However most people end up in the General, where they are shocked by the 'decline in quality' of the threads. The general has always been like that! Before MJLD, JayWalker, there was Boothy, Solius, Elvis, Eyepopper, Espada, Rimaldo, Noodlehair, etc... spouting rubbish not suitable for work, the family, or any sane human being...
On making the Caf more suitable for viewing from work, or at home, I view the Caf from work every morning. I do have enough sense to avoid the NSFW threads, and at times I don't go to the general at all. I think it's just common sense to know when and where to access it. As for the danger of kids accessing this site, I don't have any, but when i was a kid, my parents closely monitored my access to the internet, passively through placing it in the living room, and actively through installing content filters. The guidelines of no genitals, sex or gory stuff has been stuck to by the forum's users, and it has been enforced by the mods, so I don't understand the further crackdown. I don't think threads in the general prevent football fans from posting in the appropriate forums; I don't see Chief or Joga Bonito in there. We swear and speak about off color topics all the time, will those be removed also?
Finally on the civilness in the football forums, i don't think many people can complain about rudeness or abuse; I've seen distinguished posters such as Pogue and Mockney fall victim to having to resort to personal insults during an argument. I've not seen a poster excessively abuse, except the Chief, and everyone ended up laughing!
All I'm saying is, in one month all this nonsense will be forgotten about, and the mods/concerned posters are concerned about a temporary thing that will evaporate as soon as the first whistle of the season goes off.
Actually no it won't. And given your distinct lack of historical context here on Red Cafe, I'd say you have very little credibility to make such a sweeping assessment.
I don't think I've ever made a thread that wasn't suitable for work. The Cheryl Cole one maybe but I'd have thought people at work would appreciate that more than anything.
I may be a relative "newbie" but I still feel in a position to say this.
And it was beginning to head this way whilst I was in the newbies and seems to be getting worse.
People work in different environments, some more flexible to surfing web forums (albeit not all day long), other rigidly inflexible to being on forums, much less looking at half or completely naked women on them. Therefore there's no need for any of it. Its not worth a member getting in trouble at work - and besides, its a football forum. Plenty of places for that sort of mindless, adolescent stuff elsewhere.
Ye it was only said in jest really, and I agree. I very rarely make those sorts of threads, just stupid ones to try and liven the place up when it's quiet.
One gets more spastic behavior in such threads where opinions are so polarizing, and debate has gone on for so long. In the 'Green Till The Club is Sold' thread, the debate has degenerated into a personal vendetta airing, where insults are thrown without regard. Such threads/topics have outlived their usefulness. I think that would apply to threads on Berbatov, at least till the new season when we can analyze his play more.
But apart from such topics, there is so much to debate on without the spastics ruining a thread. I know that you were active in the Berbatov thread, and one would get frustrated with the spastics. I just ignore the thread and go to another one. Even in the dark days of the season, there were many threads where debates were just flowing without the ugly parts, and I spent hours just reading them every day while i was at home.
I don't know. I feel the Caf offers such variety on a regular day during the season, such that one can avoid all that nonsense, which i hope the mods crack down more. The Caf is too good for me to quit posting or reading it cause some idiots can't refrain from throwing barbs at Berbatov at every opportunity. feck em.
Eh?
I may have registered recently, but I was an avid reader of the forum ever since 2005. I think I know enough to know whether the same complaints were made. If it wasn't Joga complaining this season, it was Spoony, or Baz.
It's my two cents on the issue anyway. Personally, I don't think I ever thought I needed to remove myself away from the Caf just because of some spastics causing mayhem.
That's fair enough, but wouldn't it be in the best interest of everyone that still has something meaningful to say in some of those threads, to prolong the meaningful discussion for as long as possible before it degenerates? I suppose it's not a big deal if the thread goes to shit after we're done talking but if someone still has some insight, I'd rather they provide it than be scared away.
This thread feels like regulars of 'The General' undergoing some form of self-flagellation for previous sins committed! Its a bizarrely cathartic experience reading it! I don't go on 'The General' that often, though do concur with many above in that I have visited it more often recently simply because there is no football to discuss or read about.
What I did find amusing recently though was during the Raoul Moat thread where I was accused of 'being too serious for The General' because i was debating the incident instead of taking the piss or making jokes about it. A few days later, another thread was created asking that 'day trippers' like myself pay a daily entrance fee for entering the said forum!!
Whilst i found the incident both funny and witty, I do think therein lies the issues that people are discussing. I guess 'The General' means general topics for discussion outside of football, current affairs and entertainment which are already catered for. But in recent visits to 'The General', instead what I have found is just lots on inane and bizarre type subjects! There are some great threads like the photograph one and several others. We need more of those type.
Anyway, Im not complaining, just I come to this website to impart my views and to discuss and learn from others. And right now, 'The General' forum does not really meet that desire which is a shame as it could do.
What I did find amusing recently though was during the Raoul Moat thread where I was accused of 'being too serious for The General' because i was debating the incident instead of taking the piss or making jokes about it. A few days later, another thread was created asking that 'day trippers' like myself pay a daily entrance fee for entering the said forum!!
Whilst i found the incident both funny and witty, I do think therein lies the issues that people are discussing. I guess 'The General' means general topics for discussion outside of football, current affairs and entertainment which are already catered for. But in recent visits to 'The General', instead what I have found is just lots on inane and bizarre type subjects! There are some great threads like the photograph one and several others. We need more of those type.
Anyway, Im not complaining, just I come to this website to impart my views and to discuss and learn from others. And right now, 'The General' forum does not really meet that desire which is a shame as it could do.
There was a time about 10 years ago when we only had three forums - United, Football, and General. Back then anything that wasn't football related went in there. Now that the site has about 20,000 more members and many more forums, its been relegated to the forum that takes any topic that can't go in any of the other forums, which may have played a part in its gradual demise in quality.
My opinion largely mirrors adex's, I've thought in general it's been fine and that the Berbatov and G+G debates aside there's been not a whole lot wrong.
The problem being that these two particular debates are now being brought into irrelevant threads with unfunny jokes and then the debate starts up again - and I wouldn't have thought that'd be so hard to deal with IMHO. The modmins can reiterate the rules, let everyone know that spamming isn't welcome and that threads should follow a certain pattern and should generally be kept on topic - both of which I feel apply to the "Value lolz" or "Berbatov's shit hah" brigades - and if people don't adhere to them just give ban them. There's been enough warnings, it's just not funny or useful in any way.
That aside I can't see any deeper problems, although when you've got Raoul and Brophs on the other side completely then you'd imagine there's something you're missing, and like I said I'm still relatively new. This was just to clarify my earlier point really.
The problem being that these two particular debates are now being brought into irrelevant threads with unfunny jokes and then the debate starts up again - and I wouldn't have thought that'd be so hard to deal with IMHO. The modmins can reiterate the rules, let everyone know that spamming isn't welcome and that threads should follow a certain pattern and should generally be kept on topic - both of which I feel apply to the "Value lolz" or "Berbatov's shit hah" brigades - and if people don't adhere to them just give ban them. There's been enough warnings, it's just not funny or useful in any way.
That aside I can't see any deeper problems, although when you've got Raoul and Brophs on the other side completely then you'd imagine there's something you're missing, and like I said I'm still relatively new. This was just to clarify my earlier point really.
My overall impression from this thread is that the people who want the generals to change (and to be fair, they honestly believe its a change for the better) is everyone, apart from the people who actually regularly post in the generals. Or am i way off the mark?
You're more or less correct.
I'd say we're fine with the generals changing just as long as we see the same changes being made across the other forums.