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Tip.It Times - 14th November 2010 (Writing Contest Winners)


Racheya

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I don't suppose there's a source article floating around for ForsakenMage's opening paragraph...?

Unfortunately, it's an academic article that requires membership to access the whole thing, and I can't legally copy and paste the whole thing. But here's the article if you DO have access to it via academic internet access:

 

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/304/7/772

 

The abstract of the article focuses on the decibels, but there are portions of the article that do cite the social changes that we're going through that play a role in going deaf.

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Guest jrhairychest

And yet again the community fails to accept that:

 

  1. The Times is NOT a professional body - nor does it try to be or want to be.
  2. A few typos doesn't mean you can disregard a whole article.
  3. Whining and constantly complaining about things does nothing but demoralise and depress the EP members who volunteer THEIR time to give YOU articles.

 

*sigh*

 

Can people actually read the articles and give opinion on the subject matter, not a few letters out of place. We've had about 5 posts actually addressing the articles, can we please just focus on that and not have another Times thread be ruined by petty arguments?

 

I believe I was actually defending the times and its posters. Apologies if is taken in any other way :blink:

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And yet again the community fails to accept that:

 

  1. The Times is NOT a professional body - nor does it try to be or want to be.
  2. A few typos doesn't mean you can disregard a whole article.
  3. Whining and constantly complaining about things does nothing but demoralise and depress the EP members who volunteer THEIR time to give YOU articles.

 

*sigh*

 

Can people actually read the articles and give opinion on the subject matter, not a few letters out of place. We've had about 5 posts actually addressing the articles, can we please just focus on that and not have another Times thread be ruined by petty arguments?

 

I believe I was actually defending the times and its posters. Apologies if is taken in any other way :blink:

 

If one reads to quickly over your comment, it looks like the ironical "from professional authors" is aimed at the editorial panel. I misunderstood it at first too.

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And yet again the community fails to accept that:

 

  1. The Times is NOT a professional body - nor does it try to be or want to be.
  2. A few typos doesn't mean you can disregard a whole article.
  3. Whining and constantly complaining about things does nothing but demoralise and depress the EP members who volunteer THEIR time to give YOU articles.

 

*sigh*

 

Can people actually read the articles and give opinion on the subject matter, not a few letters out of place. We've had about 5 posts actually addressing the articles, can we please just focus on that and not have another Times thread be ruined by petty arguments?

 

I believe I was actually defending the times and its posters. Apologies if is taken in any other way :blink:

This isn't aimed particularly at one person, it's just at the general discussion of the Times rather than the articles.

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I edit for the [Tip.It Times]. I rarely write in [My Blog]. I am an [Ex-Moderator].

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Guest jrhairychest

If one reads to quickly over your comment, it looks like the ironical "from professional authors" is aimed at the editorial panel. I misunderstood it at first too.

 

On the contrary I know that the people who do these articles are not professional authors but do this type of thing because they love what they do. My point was that some are judging them as if they were.

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If one reads to quickly over your comment, it looks like the ironical "from professional authors" is aimed at the editorial panel. I misunderstood it at first too.

 

On the contrary I know that the people who do these articles are not professional authors but do this type of thing because they love what they do. My point was that some are judging them as if they were.

 

I too was unsure of your true intention with the first post you made - couldn't work out if you were sarcastically mocking the authors or the critical readership. There was a certain amount of ambiguity with it. Just so you know. :)

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If one reads to quickly over your comment, it looks like the ironical "from professional authors" is aimed at the editorial panel. I misunderstood it at first too.

 

On the contrary I know that the people who do these articles are not professional authors but do this type of thing because they love what they do. My point was that some are judging them as if they were.

And there's nothing wrong with that. After all, from the reader's perspective, there's no difference. We just see published articles with a lower standard of quality than the other websites we look at. Why should we adopt a double standard?

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So I think this entire situation is getting stale. Every week these topics turn into some big flame war which takes away from the actual discussion that should be had here: the content of the articles this week.

 

Effective immediately, the following policy is put into place on Times Discussion topics.

 

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

1. You are invited and welcome to express like or dislike on articles and a particular author's writing style. It is not acceptable, however, to flame or personally insult an author. Posts that aren't anything but an attack will be removed from the topic.

 

2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to Racheya by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

3. Off topic posts that do not discuss the content of that week's articles will be removed. This is not the place to discuss the direction of the times, how much you love or hate the times, etc. Off topic posts will be removed.

 

By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of this post,
November 17, 2010
. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

 

Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

 

Cowman_133

Tip.It Administrator

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Well well well.

 

I still see things in the good ol` world of jagex has yet to change.

 

Listen folks, I've been playing for a long time, I made my first account in November of `05, if I remember correctly...I still play that account.

I've played since half jugs of wine, and party hats were being tossed around like they were maple logs.

I've sat in Falador park world two whilst people chanted in multi color phrases "NO PK NO PAY."

I was there for the downfall of free trade, and the joyful bliss of being there before it died off.

If there was any time to doubt jagex's integrity, it would be those times at the most...not simply because climbing boots increased in price, and I'm not discounting or discrediting the article written (serious kudos it was a good read.) but one key point I believe he missed; we've been through worse.

And whether or not those worse times were from a lack of communication or not the author was correct by asking whether or not this was a serious issue, I must disagree in the interest of my own memories of the game.

 

 

As I previously stated, I made my first account around my 15'th birthday, and almost 6 years afterward I still play (albeit off and on...still haven't managed to get back on the horse since some major changes back in `08 and a serious problem with not getting bored of WoW- although I've not played WoW in nearly 5 months. this is all beside the point.) I'll be 21 soon, do I feel weird about playing a game with a load of people that range in age from 12-18? A bit, I must admit but I get over this by targeting out players that are mature or my age. The reason I stay is because of the community to an extent. In RS you have this amazing ability to be left alone, to do things on your own if you so choose, or gather a friend('s) go out and have a great time with or without them.

This independent or team working skill is what a lot of various people are looking for in their lives, whether it's to compensate for a failure downfall or lack thereof of said feelings. Maybe some people (mostly adolescents) are lacking a feeling of independence in life, but can find that in Runescape...or some people that don't like to teamwork with others find it easy to do in RS.

I'm not a therapist...or a psychologist...my majors are business and horticulture, but if I had to take a stab at being either, I'd aim it in that general direction.

I may be weird, but I'm saving up to be eccentric!
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Guest jrhairychest

So I think this entire situation is getting stale. Every week these topics turn into some big flame war which takes away from the actual discussion that should be had here: the content of the articles this week.

 

Effective immediately, the following policy is put into place on Times Discussion topics.

 

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

1. You are invited and welcome to express like or dislike on articles and a particular author's writing style. It is not acceptable, however, to flame or personally insult an author. Posts that aren't anything but an attack will be removed from the topic.

 

2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to Racheya by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

3. Off topic posts that do not discuss the content of that week's articles will be removed. This is not the place to discuss the direction of the times, how much you love or hate the times, etc. Off topic posts will be removed.

 

By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of this post,
November 17, 2010
. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

 

Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

 

Cowman_133

Tip.It Administrator

 

Excellent idea. Might I also suggest that waheera1 and Troacctid be put forward as proof readers for future articles? As they are very concerned about writing standards to post about it I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping out in ensuring standards are high.

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The second article is similarly littered with schoolboy errors that make an otherwise interesting new topic frustrating to read.
I have to admit I got a wee bit annoyed by that, considering I had revised that article three times on my own, followed by two other revisions by two other people. We work hard to write these articles, and honestly, comments like that don't encourage us.

 

Sorry I'm not an English major and that I don't get out the Bedford Handbook every time I write an article.<_<

Apologies, please read my other responses for what will hopefully be some explanation of my strong criticism last night...! Much of what I said WAS designed to provoke a reaction, but by no means was it intended to belittle the efforts of the Times team.

 

Forgiven. :shades: Although thanks to you, I have something to write about next month lol. So thanks. XD

Hah, I'll look forward to reading that one then (I think! :P).

 

If one reads to quickly over your comment, it looks like the ironical "from professional authors" is aimed at the editorial panel. I misunderstood it at first too.

 

On the contrary I know that the people who do these articles are not professional authors but do this type of thing because they love what they do. My point was that some are judging them as if they were.

And there's nothing wrong with that. After all, from the reader's perspective, there's no difference. We just see published articles with a lower standard of quality than the other websites we look at. Why should we adopt a double standard?

Agreed. Let us not also forget that despite the efforts of Racheya and other forum admins to tell us otherwise, the language of an article is inherent to its ability to communicate with the reader. If the language is faulty in any way, it denigrates the content of the article and rightly deserves to be highlighted as a notable point. Not saying flaming is acceptable, but some level of criticism for flaws should be expected.

 

So I think this entire situation is getting stale. Every week these topics turn into some big flame war which takes away from the actual discussion that should be had here: the content of the articles this week.

 

Effective immediately, the following policy is put into place on Times Discussion topics.

 

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

1. You are invited and welcome to express like or dislike on articles and a particular author's writing style. It is not acceptable, however, to flame or personally insult an author. Posts that aren't anything but an attack will be removed from the topic.

 

2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to Racheya by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

3. Off topic posts that do not discuss the content of that week's articles will be removed. This is not the place to discuss the direction of the times, how much you love or hate the times, etc. Off topic posts will be removed.

 

By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of this post,
November 17, 2010
. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

 

Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

 

Cowman_133

Tip.It Administrator

Not that I'm particularly questioning your logic, as I agree that pointless flame/spam/insult-fests are a pointless nuisance. I'm just curious as to why it has been deemed necessary to call out the Stasi on this, one of the more polite (and least read) feedback threads I've seen in a long time?

 

In the case of this week's articles, there wasn't really a great deal to discuss, but I would disagree with anyone who claims that this week's thread is a degenerate flame-war.

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Posts were removed from this week's topic prior to mine.

 

I agree this week wasn't that bad, but it addresses not only the removed posts but also the situations that were worse in other weeks. Regardless, this will put an end to the nonsense that tends to happen most weeks.

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Posts were removed from this week's topic prior to mine.

 

I agree this week wasn't that bad, but it addresses not only the removed posts but also the situations that were worse in other weeks. Regardless, this will put an end to the nonsense that tends to happen most weeks.

...Or at least force the creation of a separate thread for "Things that are wrong with the direction of the Tip.It Times" anyway. :-w

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So I think this entire situation is getting stale. Every week these topics turn into some big flame war which takes away from the actual discussion that should be had here: the content of the articles this week.

 

Effective immediately, the following policy is put into place on Times Discussion topics.

 

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

1. You are invited and welcome to express like or dislike on articles and a particular author's writing style. It is not acceptable, however, to flame or personally insult an author. Posts that aren't anything but an attack will be removed from the topic.

 

2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to Racheya by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

3. Off topic posts that do not discuss the content of that week's articles will be removed. This is not the place to discuss the direction of the times, how much you love or hate the times, etc. Off topic posts will be removed.

 

By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of this post,
November 17, 2010
. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

 

Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

 

Cowman_133

Tip.It Administrator

 

Rule changes are going to require greater policing efforts by forum mods to remove posts, they won't do much by themselves to reduce the flaming and arguing that takes place. You can only hope for maturity and mutual respect among posters. That said I have been wondering lately why there are not two threads started each week, one for the fictional articles and one for non-fictional. It seems that the responses an author would want would vary depending on what kind of article it is. I've seen several posts by fictional authors thanking people who showed appreciate of their work but also specifically asking for criticism so that they might improve as well. On the other hand the featured and accompanying articles would seem to be meant to start debates and discussions about the topic brought up.

 

There would be a lot less of the "I never read the/not interested in.." as posters would only be reading and replying to a thread specific to the type of article that they do read. And while this week doesn't seem to have a great deal of posts there have been times in the past where one particular article creates such a heated conversation that the others may be ignored and a little separation would help reduce the chances of someone's article being swamped. Lastly it would be a lot easier for people to keep their posts more specific per thread with only one or two articles to discuss at a time. As such, not having to do what I am about to! :mrgreen:

 

On topic

 

First Article: I see nothing at all wrong with Jagex supporting a team whose primary role is to develop interactive activities among its player base. I'd say it's a good thing, though I haven't actually participated in anything yet. That's usually due to scheduling conflicts, but those same conflicts have kept me out of Tip.It activities. Speaking of the latter I'm surprised you didn't take the opportunity to plug Tip.It Events. Would have supported your point of player created activities. Overall communication could be better, but then I think that can always be said. Jagex is definitely superior to the other MMO development teams I've experienced in keeping players informed of what is coming up, as well as frequently trying to implement player ideas into what is still their game.

 

Article 2: I'm curious about how the article you read suggests people will experience deafness due to possibly decreased voice communication with other people. I can't imagine the brain forgetting how to interpret sounds. There's always something to hear. Forgetting a spoken language seems likewise unlikely with television, movies, and music. Heck there's even some voices in Runescape now! And while I personally despise texting I doubt it has significantly decreased speech communication but rather encouraged people to communicate more often in shorter "bursts." In other words, a person would probably still call up a friend or date to talk about specific plans, and use text messages as a way to get a short point across. For example: "Game starts at 8." Simple reminder assuming the person knows what the game is, where it is and such. Longramble may have had some difficulties with speech after a prolonged period of time without talking to anyone, but I doubt we're headed in that direction in anyway.

 

Article 3: I hate to be one of many but to me there just isn't really enough yet to get a good feel for the story. Can't really comment about corrections otherwise, I think those have been pretty much covered.

 

Article 4: Two parts to this so far right? Everything seems to be flowing well, I'm tracking the story and enjoying it. Every once in a while there's a mention I don't recognize and I'm not sure if it's because I've simply forgotten some part of Relleka or if it's because I haven't gotten around to doing the last quest yet. Overall, watch for those minor mistakes that have already been covered in this thread and I look forward to the next article. Hopefully I'll have knocked out that last quest by then too! =P~

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I think people are missing the reason of the first article. It was to discuss the lack of communication, not whether RS should have events.

 

I loved that article, I now find that i'm not just a complaining, unhappy, veteran of the game.. It's very refreshing to know other players feel the same way- that Jagex has some serious revamping of their communication. The author brought to example the climbing boots update. I would like to discuss a different one though. The skillcape update. I obviously started a thread when Jagex shortened all male Skillcapes to complain. But was there any-- Oh don't worry everybody we'll bring the length and size back ASAP? Absolutely not! At least I never found a post by any Mod explaining. At that point i didnt even try. I just gave up on Jagex as the author of the article said players would. So what? Big deal? It was like an inch.. That's what some moron told me in a Slayer cc i visted. And thats what a lot of ignorant players will say to the upcoming updates of Jagex. The point wasn't the length or because my already tiny skill image had been cropped. The point was at that moment i wondered if Jagex Studios had been moved to North Korea because it felt like a dictatorship. (No offense to any Koreans, I love you guys) Now i get very excited over new updates so i don't want anyone getting the wrong message. What i hate is when i log on and the "update" just changed something else which should never have been touched and all because the lack of a 13 lettered word named C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N. And when they really mess up they patch it up eventually. WE DON'T WANT PATCHES WE WANT ACCOUNTABLILITY! (that one's 15 lettered ;))

 

I applaud the efforts made with the polls. but lets face it, the polls are incorrectly utilized.

 

Anyone seen what the poll is this week? If you haven't go check it. Does anyone really care how many times people change their name? Does anyone really care how many times they've changed their name? --This is an example of a terrible poll which sadly doesnt even come close to it's fan site's polls...

...

like Tip.it... (brownie points?)

 

Anyways the basics i would tell to anyone that is new to Jagex's communication system is. 1. know that for right now Jagex doens't seem to care about what you think. 2. post something that will probably never be taken into consideration (have we ever heard of a player's idea making it into the game? Honestly there have been some pretty good ones..).

3. continue to log on and find all the lovely suprises they have in store for us. :)

 

Sincerely,

Fallacy

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What i hate is when i log on and the "update" just changed something else which should never have been touched and all because the lack of a 13 lettered word named C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N. And when they really mess up they patch it up eventually. WE DON'T WANT PATCHES WE WANT ACCOUNTABLILITY! (that one's 15 lettered ;))

Well, depends how you spell it I guess...

 

I'm not sure how you would put accountability into a company like Jagex, moreover, I dislike the way you try and speak for all of us. I pay them a price for the game, but beyond that, I'm not sure I should have any say in what Jagex do. When I go into a clothes store in town, I don't sit there and demand they put in a certain line or brand. If I don't like what they got, I move onto the next store. That's business, and last I checked, Jagex are a company, not a political party or a public council.

 

Whatever poll Jagex puts on the RuneScape website, the users can give whatever answers they like. Jagex aren't obliged to do whatever their players tell them to.

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Whatever poll Jagex puts on the RuneScape website, the users can give whatever answers they like. Jagex aren't obliged to do whatever their players tell them to.

 

And this is what a lot of jagex's actions boil down to, it's an undeniable fact that they, the folks at jagex feel "It's our game, we're going to do what whatever we need to in the interest of profit and continued subscriptions."

 

One dead horse I'd like to beat for a little while longer; the Grand exchange implementation.

At the time, Jagex was battling a multifaceted war effort against gold sales, gold spammer, account scamming/hacking, and many other issues related to free trade.

 

No matter how many polls were set up to ask "Well, how would you react if we killed free trade" the answer would've always been a zealously pertinently and brutal "NO."

Jagex, nor the players had any choice in the matter.

Since then I've seen a few different changes, updates and various implementations that weren't announced, nothing huge, but nonetheless there. This tells me that jagex is trying to do what's best for profit but also the player.

Nothing can be given without something being taken, and in this case it's a few examples of something being taken from the player to insure the future playability of the game for both future profit and players.

 

Whatever reason the climbing boots went up in price, or the skill capes shortened and the images shrunk slightly, I'm sure there was a reason for it; a valid reason.

I may be weird, but I'm saving up to be eccentric!
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2. post something that will probably never be taken into consideration (have we ever heard of a player's idea making it into the game? Honestly there have been some pretty good ones..).

 

Player houses, summoning, garounteed content at holliday events, clan support.... And more if I took the time to look it up. We're not the ones responsible for shaping this game, we're just supposed to play it if we want to. The communication that we do get is a bonus and unless every player suddenly becomes a developer for Jagex then our ideas are just a drawing board for them to take into consideration of they want. That's the way all games are yet in my experience Jagex has gone further than most to appeal to the player base.

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