This forum has turned extremely ugly in the last month or so. I can't think of why anyone, given the option to play in multiple sites, would play this one, at least based on the forum. I wish there was a way to clean up this forum, but beyond censorship, I don't believe there is.

however, one small thing, if multi-accounting accusations could be done directly to the mods, rather than here, I think that would be a vast improvement.

Thanks for proving my point Bazin.

DingleberryJones has got a valid point. I wish someone would have listened to me when I said the exact same thing not too long ago.

DingleberryJones +10

OK, DJ, cause you asked indirectly, I will no longer attack Sioraf for the using words he doesn't quite understand and being verbose thinking it somehow makes him eloquent and will go back to bashing Diplofool ...er... ...um... well nevermind.

I think most people come here just to play Diplomacy. For that account, this is a great site. You don't need to check the forum to have a good time at this site. That given, you still have a good point. Isn't it so that the people make a forum and so topics and reactions are a reflection of the persons playing this site? (or a certain part of them) I've seen many topics about science, religion, philosophy and politics on this forum.

So, all in, I think our community is a gathering of moderate to highly educated mostly young or in the twenties and at home at internet, perhaps a bit nerdy...

DJ, I was being a world-class jackass. But, as you said it, it proves the point you're trying to make exactly.

When I joined the site last year, I joined to play diplomacy. I'd occasionally look at the forum to see what might be going on in terms of development of the game, but aside from that, I generally ignored it, and I still do, unless I'm needing a good laugh (though, 'funny' threads are a thing of the past too).

I agree that multi-accounting claims should probably go directly to the mods, but many don't know who they are or know how to find out who they are.

So, in short - there's no good reason to choose to play here.

* people

(excuse for bad english)

Well, I don't mind if you email multi accusations to me directly, but if this leads to me getting 50 emails on the subject per day (I'd say I get around 5/day atm) my response time might start to drop of a bit!

People come here to play Diplomacy, true. But when newbies have a question, they hopefully find the forum. And if they spend any time perusing the topics (to see if their question has already been asked), they might have 2nd thoughts.

Thank you for bringing this up, Dingleberry. While I have seen a number of really fun forum topics, most are an embarrisment.

I would donate money to this site if it meant the creation of a second Forum.

so you can spam that one as well

Problem is, even if the forum were more civil, topics fall off into the etherverse never to be seen or heard from again, so they'll never know if their question has been previously answered. We need a real forum with sticky messages and a full history.

Nice trim... hehehehe

i disagree i love this one, just needs to go back a couple of months

I am a newbie, and I frankly could care less...

did you mean couldn't

Wow fig, do you really get 5/day? I get 1/week via email.

Dingleberry and everyone else. You may email any mod directly regarding multi accusations. Chrispminis, thewonderllama, figlesquidge and I are all mods and our email addresses are in our profiles which can be accessed by clicking on our names. If you can't easily find us here, I believe all 4 are in the hall of fame.

Actually llama and Chris are not, but they are both regular forum posters.

Erm, yes they are Danger, or at least they were earlier this evening?
Well, now I check in more detail its around 2 unprompted and 5 replies to what I've asked people, but hey its not bad is it.
Also, I don't mind - its something to do and if they were to really rack up I'd just forward them to you, or pester you all over IM!

Gasp! I'm not in the hall of fame anymore! Position 101... =(

I gotta play higher staked games and put my win rate to some use... rather than slowly climbing up with 5 pt tournament/league games.

You could always join to play Diplomacy... you know?

Or you could start your own rousing threads. =)

1000 points doesnt even get you in the top 100?? hyperinflation! we have to start using ghost's ranks in the top100 i think

Its not a question of rousing threads. Half the threads are multi-account accusations, others are just insults of players, or assholishness by some members.

By the way diplomat, I have a kettle I'd like you to meet.

(let me know if you need me to explain that)

The forum is unfortunately an easy place for assholery to be given a free show for everyone. I think Tarablus broke the precedent for at least pretending to be civil here. That drunk thread also got a little too far.

More than a little, actually.

Well it's true that a lot of the threads are multi account accusations and I have noticed a growing trend of people being dicks to each other, and a ganging up on certain members...

Once you separate the chaff though it's not so bad. We've had some good debates here, learned about each other, and discussed a few issues that affect the workings of this site and of the hobby (ie. this thread). There's been some networking, both Diplomacy-related and not, there have been hilarious comments and we've got our own culture of inside jokes already.

I've had good times on this forum. I remember the thread that discussed this new up and comer, Rait... before he convincingly took top spot. I remember the original Pandora threads that we later found were plagiarized... =D But yeah, it would be fantastic if we had less hostility and exploitation and more of the good stuff, but it's really up to everyone to create the content here.

One of the aspects of this forum as opposed to several others I have lurked on, is that this forum is a scroll system with everything 'in your face' sort of style. For example in one site there is a separate forum section just for Cheaters, another for non-Diplomacy topics, in another site each tournament has its own separate forum.
Here, with this Scroll system you probably get more people making comments but likewise more people being turned off by the whole forum, so that in sum there may be more postings on a topic there is less positive impact in terms of communication since less people are involved.
A good example is the games that are advertised here. In order to find them a person has to scroll down through topic after topic with assorted accusations of cheating, racism or internet stalking whatever.
How much faster would games fill out if there was a 'New Game" section.

On the other hand, one of the ways to build a community is to force community on people whether it is subtle or direct. This forum is like a village with only one well, so people gather at the well and while there they gossip, talk and bitch/moan. When there are many wells people tend to gravitate to their favorite spots and meet only the similar attracted parties.

I must also say that when I first got here, I hated the forum and it was one of the first requests I made to for changes. Now it is part of the phpDip scene for good or ill.

Invictus: I dwfinitely regretstarting that thread. I was just apologizing to everyone for what I thought woul dbe bad moves (all turned out OK) and it got hijacked into a drug and bisexuality thread.

OK, I can't type tonight.

Haha wow. That's far worse typing than your drunk post.

i think draugnar and booze can singlehandedly save the forum :p

I'm not so sure there trim!

I am strongly in favour of splitting the forum up, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much support for this.

I never said it was you personally, Draugnar. I just meant it got way out of hand. There's really no need for obscenity in the title lines of the post, and of course the subject was silly to begin with, but you can be blamed for Sicarius advertising for that gay march or whatever it was.

I reserve judgment because there's always the chance I'll make a poor choice like that.

I don't know what could be done to fix the problem, but then again I don't own the site or pay for it so my opinion would be pretty meaningless anyhow.

You CAN'T be blamed for Sicarius. Whoops!

But my post opened it up. and I will try to watch the language in the future, ESPECIALLY on the heading and first four lines... I knew it wasn't me personally, but I still regret it as it lead to that debacle of debauchery. Personally, I have never used an illegal or questionable mind altering substance That was the first time I was even buzzed since my 21st birthday in 1987, when I get s-faced and barely remember all the stuff I did with the stripper I was dating at the time. At least I remember most of it, like the honey, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and hunting for the cherries... Oops, sorry. Got me thinking back to before I was married there.

If I get time later this summer, I'll offer to create different forums for different tpics, including an adults only forum for our debauchery.

Well, I'm very happy to write it myself, but in the past some people have been worried that it would be detrimental to the community as a whole.
Still, I hope to talk to Kestas again about development at the weekend (hope you're around some time if you read this Kestas!), so who knows where things will go from there!

My offer will still stand to help out Figle...