Trojan_Zebra

I am going with the crowd here - I hate team events with a passion. If it were up to me, I would eliminate the multi-player quests. As many have said, the hardest part of Shield of Arrav was finding a partner. I have hit an impasse as I have been unable to find a partner for Heroes. This is even more upsetting when you get a lvl 3 clue scroll that requires you go to a place only accessible after doing that quest. You are faced with the option of keeping the clue in the bank and not getting another til you can do it, or throwing the clue away. I have several people on my friends list. Most are lower lvl players who have asked me for help on quests. There are only two who I would call real friends - in the context of the game at least. We rarely meet as our interests in the game differ. I prefer to train alone and so do they. As for the team mini games, I couldn't care less. I rarely play them. For me, they are not much fun. I do not think the massive xp on offer in PC is good for the game but that is a matter for a different debate. I do wonder just how popular it would be if there were no xp bonuses however. There are obviously some groups who play it but for most of us, it is a matter of getting in the boat with a pile of strangers and doing whatever the hell you want to. There is no real teamwork or co-ordination. How could there be between a group of players who haven't even said Hi before the game starts? Bottom line for me? If Jagex wants team oriented play in the game, I have no objection as long as it does not impede a solo players progress. Get rid of the co-operative quests and I have no problem with it.

Good luck Jaklumen, You shouldn't need it though. As a mod, you have had to take care of hundreds of us babies right here - just taking care of one should be a walk in the park by comparison! :lol: My thanks also for your contributions. I haven't been here all that long, but I have seen some of your efforts and posts and thought you were doing a great job. Best of luck in the real world. Cheers

Great idea :thumbsup: One possible modification, perhaps? The original post gets cleared of any one liner flames that don't show a point of view other than for or against. This allows the post to have more "real" opinions on it. When the post is 'cleaned', the mods can exercise the option of allowing a newer reply to remain if it had something new to add. This way, newer users to the board will see them and know it has been done before? Yes, the post will get longer, but that should slow down as there can only be so many truly original ideas on any given subject.

well the problem with that is that there was something like that in the rants guide where links to raichase's and my threads were posted, but those fell off the backend of the rants board and were never seen again. however, if, instead of posting links to threads, we actually had the thread be the sticky, then that may work out. who knows, it could work. Actually, that was exactly what I meant - as a way of preserving good existing threads on a topic Can't back this one. As mentioned, I sadly missed Neo's original rants. From this particular rant, I can see he writes a pretty good topic starter. This thread is unusual. Not simply because it is well written, but because it has gained as near a universal acceptance of its concept as I think could be possible on a board like this. Even so, it has had one or two replies that argue against some of the points Neo has made. Though we may disagree with those couple of posts, they are not automatically wrong. They simply represent different views, and as such, are vital to the thread as a whole. Just as important are the replies in support of Neos views that offer suggestions and or refinements/expansions to his original post. This idea of creating a sticky to preserve such threads didn't come from Neos post - it came from my reply to it - and I didn't post the reply simply in response to Neos original post either. It came to me after reading several replies that reminisced about good threads that are no longer here. In essence, that is what a good thread is all about. It starts with a good well written post such as Neos that stimulates argument/ discussion/ debate on a subject and is carried by those arguments. Without the replies, the stickies would - no matter how well written - contain a single viewpoint. The original reason for the sticky suggestion - to serve as guides to what has already been discussed - is lost with Stallions suggestion. It would hold only one view, to which,(if I were to read it) I would feel perfectly justfied to post a rebuttal to, not knowing my line of argument had been used before. Obviously, I still favour the idea, but not if it only contains one thread with one post and no replies for and against. Cheers (If someone else has posted this idea(stickies as a guide) before in another post - or worse, on this thread :shock: - please accept my deepest apologies :oops: )

Thanks Ard! Worth a try I guess, but I see a couple of pretty inflamatory comments have already hit it - and those are steerring it into another direction,(no-lifers) It is too early to tell, but I think this might not work too well. If this was in response to my suugestion in an earlier post on this thread, it wasn't quite what I had in mind. I suggested stickies based on the restricted topics in the guidelines, but I actually meant for them to be locked. In the sticky would be a selection of threads dealing with the topic from any/all angles. This would allow newer posters to see what had already been covered and what the general reaction to those views were. An added advantage of this is that these stickies would then serve as a storage place for the truly exceptional posts that may come our way. I am truly dissapointed that the honor in the wildy post referred to here - apparently posted by Neo - is not available. I would like to have read it. Once again, thanks for the efforts. I am sure everyone serious about getting a good rants board is just as pleased by your,(and the other mods), attention to this thread :thumbsup:

Firstly - welcome back Zubeedo. I am glad your absence was only temporary. As Ard_Choille has just stated, the locked posts are left on page 1 to die a natural,(and mostly well deserved) death so that the poster can see the reason it was locked. I don't see the need for the "barrage of insults" or even the well intentioned "please read this post before posting again" replies. A poster who does not believe the reason a mod has placed on the lock is unlikely to care what the horde of angered tip.it readers have to say. Such idiots can wade through endless barrages of flames unscathed - the ability is genetically encoded to allow them to survive through puberty. The only real usefulness in these type of replies is they can 'force-lock' some threads. A mod comes along and looks at the thread... hmmm - nothing but scorch marks here, and bang goes the lock. Effectively kills bad rants - yes, but also has the ability to kill rants that may have actually had a place here. As you yourself said: I wonder if all of those "well written rants that have been against the boards rules" would have survived to develop into good debates if the first twenty or so replies were all guideline flames. A final argument against this is that flamers can get it wrong. Simply because they perceive a rant to be in breach of the guidelines does not mean they are right - an example would be the post i refer to in my first reply here. Nothing but ashes after the flamers were through with it, even though I had successfully argued that, though poorly worded, the post actually had a viable rant in it. I still maintain that it should not be the place of individual users of this board to attack posts in this manner. Though I can see your point, I am unconvinced that it is strong enough to allow individual posters to control the content of the board. I remain convinced this should be left to the discretion of the mods. As I said before - I think they do a pretty good job. As always - yes - your posts make sense. (Your worried? The last three posts i have made on this board weren't competed til after 1am. Nescafe have been calling asking if I would like a wholesalers discount! :shock: ) One final word for Stallion4589 on this: Yes we probably will continue to disagree... I have been known to be a pretty disagreeble person at times :lol: As for what to post instead of a flame,(or your not so gentle nudge into this post :wink: ) Jaklumens comments sound pretty good - Sounds good to me... what about you? Whilst I understand why you have tried to send them to this post, I am not sure it can do any real good. I have read it, and; good as it is, I have not become a pulitzer prize author because of it.... perhaps it takes a little more time. Point being, that simply reading this post will not automatically make your second attempt a whole lot better. Maybe instead of leaving the guy floundering, we could offer some constructive ideas that push the post closer to its full potential. Just a thought.

You don't actually mean this, Jak. It's our job to report threads that aren't kosher. So not only is it our right to "trumpet", it's our responsibility. Yes, the mods do a great job. You're not going to tell me that they comb every post for evilness, though. They're not superhuman. They rely on our reports, our judgment, on what needs fixing. Actually Swampjedi, that was from my post. And I stand by it, though you seem to have misinterpreted the intent. I was referring to the practise of people flaming posts over what they perceive to be infringements of the guidelines. Certainly, you have a right - and even perhaps - a responsibility to report threads you feel should not be there. Those reports would be via email, and I support that fully. Scroll one message down for more on this - it is 1am and I simply need sleep more than a rewrite. Hope it clears up any misconceptions. Cheers

Perhaps, but this may not be where the actual problem lies. Just did a quick check of the first page. There are 13 locked posts there,(perhaps Neo's post is working already - down from 23 :lol: ) Of those locked, only three are from what could be termed casual users. Only two others have been here less than 3 months, five have been here over 6 months and 3 have been members for a year or more. Over half are people who have 50+ posts to their,(dubious) credit. These can hardly be classed as 'casual' users. Stallion4589 wrote Wasn't singling anyone out on this. There are too many to list. Whilst I understand that for those who read the rants regularly, poor or innapropriate posts can be tiresome, I do not believe that putting such posts to the torch is something that they have a right to do or is in any way constructive. but honestly, what reply other than "this isnt a rant" can you give to "p0mg m0r3 phr33 st00fs $ f2p!!!1"? Quite simply - none. Don't post anything. As I said, the mods are better equipped to deal with this, and they do a pretty good job. By posting a flame all you have acomplished is to keep that thread active on the front page for a little bit longer, contributed to the non constructive clutter and wasted a little more of the forum space you mentioned. To my way of thinking, flaming a post because it does not seem to fit in the guidelines is a form of vigilanteism and should stop. As it so happens, yours was one of the posts in the example I mentioned. Ironically, you provided a link to this post in it. You stated in you reply: "write a rant worthy of being posted here." Whilst I have read many of your contributions on this board; and agreed with several of them, I do not think you,(or anyone else not a mod) have a right to determine what constitutes a post worthy of submission to this board. Granted, the post was not not the best in terms of its wording or style, but I thought it had the potential for some good debate. Sadly, it never got the chance.

Just a suggestion here: Would it be possible to make the board force you to a rants guide when posting? What I mean is that whenever you hit the "New Topic" or "Post reply" buttons, you are currently directed to the post screen. Instead, you would be directed to a rants guide, the bottom of which would have the option to continue. Only then could you actually reply or post. True, this will not stop the hard core idiot who posts whatever the rules say, but it should cut down on posts by those who were not aware of the rules. To be effective, this rants guide must be a shortened version. Like it or not, we have become a society with a generally low attention span. This is a sad admission and reflects poorly on all who come here. Simply because a topic is unpopular to certain vocal/obnoxious people does not mean it does not warrant debate. What is worse in my opinion is that the rants guide itself has become a source reference for a lot of flaming. Far too many people seem to believe it is their right/obligation to burn a post that they see as being on a subject that goes against the guide. A recent post here was poorly worded. On the surface, it was just another rant regarding getting killed in the wilderness. The post was locked as being on a subject not allowed for discussion on this board. I actually wrote to the mod involved and in response, he removed the lock. Why did I do that? Because the rant actually called for discussion on a specific aspect ok pk'ing - that of 'tagging' and that is not against the guide. (In respect of NeoGeos excellent post - please do not reply on the subject of tagging here - I will relectantly make a post regarding this topic where you can attack at will. This rant is too good to go up in flames.) Withing 6 minutes the replies came in. Debate on tagging? No - simply endless attacks on how this was unsuitable for posting. Of 10 replies, 2 were from the poster, 2 were by mods, and the other 6 were flames. To my mind, that is simply not good enough. For the sake of all who read this rant board please consider this: You are not a moderator. It is not your right or priveledge to trumpet your beliefs on whether a post is valid or not. Please leave this to the actual mods. They do a good job. As you mention, this could cause a lot of moderator attention being wasted. Stihls comments were very valid though - Perhaps as an alternative you could set up locked stickys that deal with these issues? In them, the mods place various rants that have been good on the subject as a guide for others. The rant guide could refer to them saying that if your post is already covered in here, don't post. As Stihl points out; newcomers,(and I include myself in this group), simply don't know a subject is covered to death. A truly different perspective on some topics could be worthwhile, though how anyone could come up with a different and wothwhile variation on being called a noob is beyond me :lol: Many thanks for the consideration :thumbsup: