What happened to Unmod?

[Joppew]

Wow, look at all the cats posting that were just unmod lurkers.

Hey guys, sup?

That we didn't post a lot doesn't mean we, or at least I, didn't spend unhealthy amounts of time browsing it.

Oh, and I'm quite fine, thank you. How are you?

[Avatar of Justice]

I'm curious to see what the off-topic posts are. We have politics, philosophy, and religion covered. Games, anime, and music is covered. So, what's left? Sports and people relating random stories about themselves?

[The Damned]

And the people telling stories abut themselves will be told to go to livejournal.

Yep, that pretty much leaves sports.

[skywalker6705]

Personnally i'll be glad to have a version of unmod without all the fad thread' date=' flood and random porn we were used to found. I have nothing against the boobies thread or the eichi thread, we need to keep that type of stuff in a thread rather than randomly showing of everywhere. And i understand blad, about save browsing at work.

Anyway my enjoyement in unmod was coming from imms, sigmaking, and random talk about stuff that are not VG, anime, music related.

I'm sad about the deletion of unmod too, but it's done. The show must go on. the old unmod i liked and used to know was gone after the sidebar for me, so unmod was just agonizing since then.

I just put my expectation in Offtop, because unmod was moderated during it's last day anyway.[/quote']

Part of what was awesome about UnMod was that random x factor though. You never had to fear anything but those around you. If you posted in a fight thread that "Dudez Goku woud tottall rockz tht place!?!" then you deserved to be removed from the board. And since only DJP could do it at that time, unmod did it themselves. Otherwise, you could post whatever came to mind, without double or triple checking yourself that much. Now I have to think about "will I get banned if I argue w/ or insult ______." I think the freedom to act crazy IN the thread is one of the best parts of it. And hentai bee rape needs to be an integral part of the new forum as well.

Also, on browsing at work: Why in all hells would you browse unmod at work? That's just poor judgement. Like visiting Literotica cause you think "It's just text"

And the people telling stories abut themselves will be told to go to livejournal.

Yep, that pretty much leaves sports.

Unless it involves Bear maulings or clowns. Then we get popcorn.

[Wizards Bane]

With UnMod gone now, I just find this site to be a bit more boring now. I don't even come here for the music anymore, and chances are I'll be coming here less and less now because of it.

And the soon-to-come Off-Topic forum isn't gonna help any.

(ten character filler)

[Koelsch1]

Will I be able to talk shit about the judges/mods in the new off topic forum?

Will I be able to make silly threads accusing people of collusion with the Cylons?

[wormguy]

I'm hearing a lot of talk about people wanting Off Topic to be "The best of UnMod" and "A place that's UnMod without all of the bad stuff". But, that's where the problem lies. It was the good and the bad together that made UnMod, and when you take that part away, it becomes something entirely different. That's how I feel, anyway.

[supremespleen]

I think it'll be alright - not amazing, not suck. Certainly nothing to worry our pretty little heads about.

[Bongo Bill]

Mmmkay. If you can get banned from unmod.org, you should probably just go home.

Please. You ever been there (or, for that matter, to the original Unmod)? Anyone can be banned from .org. At least here, there are rules that you can use to sort of predict when it's going to happen.

Anyway though. I think it'll take a lot of goodwill on the part of the remaining Unmodders to turn Offtop into a good place. FORTUNATELY with this thread around, it seems that mostly the Unmodders who, y'know, have any goodwill are going to be the ones who're sticking around. This is good prospects.

[The Coop]

Well, since Bahamut suggested posting ideas here, I think I'll do just that...

-No Porn? WTF?!-

This topic doesn't seem to have been given a clear yay or nay thus far. Early posts suggested it was completely off limits, while later ones made it seem like it had yet to be decided upon. So for now, I'm going to treat this as a “worst case scenario”, and reply as if porn was not going to be allowed in Off Topic at all.

The thing here, is just what is going to be defined as "porn"? I personally don't see simple nudity (be it real or drawn) as porn. Whether it's a catgirl in her bra and panties while sitting in a sexual pose with hardened nipples, an elfgirl standing there topless in the wind, or a real woman in full frontal nudity, those things just don't come off as porn to me. What does, is anything with actual penetration... two people having sex, a woman using a dildo, stuff like that. So in my opinion, I don't see an issue with people posting nude women or men if they choose to, especially since this was generally done in designated picture threads. This would make threads like “Holy Hot Asian Girls Batman!”, “A catgirl a day...”, “Elf girls: Still Reducing Your Chances of Scoring”, and their ilk very doable in Off Topic, which would likely make some people rather happy.

Now, we get to images with someone cumming... the "money shot" stuff. While there's no penetration involved, it falls into a strange area. The same can be said regarding images of a nude guy about to climb on top of (or enter in general) a nude woman, or a woman about to jam a nine inch dildo into herself. It's not penetration, but it's as close as you can get to the moment of (be it before or after). So really, I'm not sure how to feel about it. I've personally never been a fan of the "splooge" or "here I come!" images, so I wouldn't miss them if they were kept out. But, again, since there's no real penetration happening, I know others may not see these types of images as porn. So I'll leave that area alone.

While I was typing this, I was thinking about something. What if there was a requirement for image threads to have a "May Contain Nudity" disclaimer in their title, or a symbol of some kind that means just that? Perhaps even a simple “Not Work Safe”? Then when threads are created that have the distinct possibility of having nudity in them, people would know in advance before going into those threads, and wouldn't have a reason to complain. You'd know what's there, and you'd know what may be within the thread. It would be plenty of warning for everyone. This way, if someone goes into a thread with that disclaimer, and is upset by what they saw, they'd have no grounds to make a complaint, because they were warned.

As far as the random nude image goes, I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask people to keep the nude images in the respective threads. If you're running through the "... and it made me smile" thread, and you suddenly slam head long into a nude woman/guy photo or drawing, I can understand why someone would see that as being inappropriate for the thread. If a thread that's not listed as possibly have nudity in it, suddenly gets images of nude people or characters, then those viewing the site from someplace other than the privacy of their home would have a case in regards to making a complaint. I know the argument about not browsing websites while you're at work exists, and in truth, it's a very valid argument to be made. But not everyone has a computer at home, or in their room. Some go to school computer labs and post, or the library, or perhaps even their parent's bedroom.

And of course, there are the artist threads. Over the years, people have posted images of nude characters they've drawn. Considering “Original Artwork” threads have regularly cropped up, I don't feel it would be right to tell people not to post their work there. Again, some kind of disclaimer could be used, and this way, the threads would still give people the creative freedom they've had up to this point, while letting others know that there might be nudity contained within.

So really, I don't see any problem with having nudity in Off Topic. I understand the need to make OCR more “work safe” for some forum browsers, but I don't think it should be taken to extremes. As long as it's kept in threads that give the forum users a warning about what to expect in said threads, there really shouldn't be an issue beyond the occasional poster who feels the need to randomly drop a pair a breasts or a guy's penis into an unsuspecting thread. Nudity isn't illegal (usually, with loli and bestiality being exceptions), so I see no reason for it to be outlawed.

-What nonsense-

Oh, we all remember these threads. “Exactly how many lords of the boards are there?”, “The Official Spork thread”, the “Hi” thread, the brainfuck thread... they're threads that are random, and seem to have either no real topic, or some damn odd ones. Or, perhaps they became so convoluted, that the original topic got lost along the way. Some people called them slow AIM chatrooms, others called them “wastes of server space”,. but I also know there were plenty of people who took part in them.

I don't don't see the harm in letting these kinds of threads be made. If they're interesting, or interesting conversations begin in them, they take off and lead to all sorts of fun things. If they're boring, they die off quickly and vanish from sight. Unless there's a flame war going on, or the thread's getting bombed with goatse or something, these things are harmless bits of chatter in my opinion. And in truth, there's no real reason to keep them out of Off Topic.

Then there are the many types of contest threads. Speedruns, UPC (UnMod Pissing Contest) score runs, caption contests... these were always fun. Not allowing these in Off Topic would make no sense at all.

Of course, then there are the mock threads (a thread with the same name as another one, but is completely random or nonsensical inside... like “I saw God today”, and then the first post is an image of a taco and nothing else). To be honest, I'm not sure how to feel about these. In a way, they're fad threads mixed with gibberish, but in another way, they're still basically harmless. I didn't post in these very much, and they rarely got to be multi-page threads before they died off. So in truth, whether they stay or go, it doesn't bother me either way.

Then we come to the fad threads. Having been guilty of making two or three of these, it may seem a bit hypocritical for me to say this, but... I think they shouldn't be a part of Off Topic. Sure, some of them were funny, and a few even became their own legitimate topics. But generally, they only get a few posts and just clutter up the front page. Yes, they can be good for a laugh if someone tries hard enough, but it more often than not ends up a mass of dead threads within a few hours, and then everyone has to go back and dig up the more popular and useful threads again. So in the end, I just don't see them doing much for Off Topic.

Finally, what some called the "+1" threads. "Say something about the person above you", "What are you listening to now?", "What are you eating now?"... the types of threads that have always been accused of simply being an excuse to up your post count. As strange as it may seem to say it, these are harmless. They grow quickly, yes. But they consist of simple answers and quick replies. The only time one of these became a problem, usually centered around the ones that ask you comment on a previous poster. Once in while, bickering would break out, but it usually got buried under subsequent posts before it could ever get anywhere really hostile. And besides... if there's still the 3000 reply limit, then you know these kinds of threads be deleted soon enough, and respawned with a "v2". They won't be able to grow out of control, because there'd be a set limit to how big they could get. So really, beyond irking the folks who demand nothing but substance in each thread, and as long as they don't spawn too many fad threads of themselves (What are you eating?, What are you drinking? What are you watching? What are you reading? Etc.), what's the harm? These kinds of "+1" threads are usually self contained, so I don't see an issue with them being allowed. But, I think they should have an eye kept on them so that we don't end up with fifty of them at once.

Sorry for the length, but I was trying to give my thoughts on a good number of things.

[Dahlia]

First of all, I'd like to say that I really liked various posts made on page 15 by Bummerdude, Dagda, Kawaiininjakat, and Vig. It's good to hear that djp was an advocate of UnMod. I always figured he was a cool dude. It certainly does seem like many of those in opposition to it - whether they be Judges, Mods, or plain old users - are new to the site, while the old-timers have established a familiarity with it.

Can't imagine why it would be taken seriously, considering it makes it appear everyone involved was just having a big laugh over what would undoubtedly upset and anger a lot of people on OCR... especially considering who posted them. I have to admit to feeling a good amount of disappointment in, and lessened respect for, those cheery looking folks when I saw it.

Yes, the gesture was decidedly obnoxious. But since they prefer to believe everyone in UnMod is a poster of "abusive" fiction and child pornography, I can see how some derived such enjoyment from the act.

Haha, it's somehow unsettling seeing The Coop post about penetration and dildos. I guess it took a holocaust to bring it out though.

Will I be able to make silly threads accusing people of collusion with the Cylons?

OUT THE AIRLOCK WITH THEM!

[Eulogic]

I, quite frankly, disagree with Coop. The image (a.k.a. porn) threads served little point other than to drive away potential posters who saw UnMod as nothing but a sleazehole. Many members of the subcommunities within each thread often did not interact with the greater community as a whole, and the images themselves belong on porn sites and Google image searches.

As long as what you call a "random" thread contains worthwhile conversation, I believe it should be allowed to exist. As for the postwhore threads, it depends from thread to thread. "Say something about the person who posted before you" did not contain worthwhile conversation. "Hi!" did. I do agree that fad threads have no place.

[skywalker6705]

I, quite frankly, disagree with Coop. The image (a.k.a. porn) threads served little point other than to drive away potential posters who saw UnMod as nothing but a sleazehole. Many members of the subcommunities within each thread often did not interact with the greater community as a whole, and the images themselves belong on porn sites and Google image searches.

As long as what you call a "random" thread contains worthwhile conversation, I believe it should be allowed to exist. As for the postwhore threads, it depends from thread to thread. "Say something about the person who posted before you" did not contain worthwhile conversation. "Hi!" did. I do agree that fad threads have no place.

It served two purposes:

A) To amuse unmodders, which it did

To amuse themselves.

And anyone deterred from entering unmod because of nudity was obviously, and is obviously, a person whom takes the internet to seriously, or is dumb enough to browse it at work.

[Eulogic]

Not really. I stayed out of UnMod for a few months because I figured UnModders were nothing but losers who looked at porn all day. Little did I realize that this was actually only a small and relatively useless section of the population.

Go to a hentai forum or 4chan.

[Red Shadow]

Do you know how dangerous that place was for my work browsing behind? Someone would want me to go check out something there for real, and the next thing I know I'm looking at chicks with dicks or a tentacle rape and I'm scrambling for the X button.

windows key + d

try pressing them ;]

[Xerol Oplan]

1) It was pretty much given that you shouldn't go to UnMod while at work/school/whatever. Anything seen there is pretty much your own fault.

2) Awesome sig, RS.

[Aninymouse]

Smoke, djp, just wanted to say that I appreciated your posts on the matter.

I, like many here, have hope for OffTopic. Personally, if the porn goes I won't mind so much. Like Eulogic said, there's always 4chan. Oh man, is there 4chan... Getting rid of lighthearted, light-headed topics, though, would kind of cut out a good 75% of the "good" Unmod. That's basically all I went there for, save some random image threads or the occasional serious discussion.

I'll be moving on to other topics, now. I've said my peice, unmod is gone, and I've moved on.

Sure, we lost some good stuff, but aside from some random banning faggotry we're all still here, wanting to interact with each other again. A lot of us, anyway.

R.I.P.

[Sauzer]

Just wanted to pop in to point out that Shpladoink's concerns about UnMod.org are pretty outdated and unfounded at this point. The administration under Nekofrog was admittedly Draconian but JtDL is a surprisingly level-headed person and as anyone around IRC would tell you, I'm about as "libertarian" moderation-wise as is possible. We're trying to make it as friendly to the worst posters as to the best (myself).

I have a great deal of skepticism about Off-Topic but I'm sure I'll end up posting there anyway.

[The Coop]

I, quite frankly, disagree with Coop. The image (a.k.a. porn) threads served little point other than to drive away potential posters who saw UnMod as nothing but a sleazehole. Many members of the subcommunities within each thread often did not interact with the greater community as a whole, and the images themselves belong on porn sites and Google image searches.

As long as what you call a "random" thread contains worthwhile conversation, I believe it should be allowed to exist. As for the postwhore threads, it depends from thread to thread. "Say something about the person who posted before you" did not contain worthwhile conversation. "Hi!" did. I do agree that fad threads have no place.

But see, "HI" wasn't a "+1" thread... it was a random thread (to me at least). While SSAtPWPBY was undoubtedly a "+1" thread with its nearly constant, quick and similar posts, the "HI" thread had conversations of all types going on within it (something the subtitle of the thread regularly reflected). I'm not fond of the whole "+1" idea either, but when it's contained within a designated thread, I don't see the harm in them. If people show some self restraint, their inclusion in Off Topic shouldn't be an issue.

Think about it... when UnMod wasn't moderated, there were really only about three types of threads like this. One was SSAtPWPBY, another was a version of "What are you listening to?", and the last was AIMMS (yes, that thread was a "+1" thread at heart, but one with a much better and uplifting purpose than the typical "+1" thread). Occasionally, you'd get a fourth one, and that one generally changed each time topically and died off after a short while. There weren't entire forum page-filling floods of them. Now we're talking about a new moderated forum. It's not going to explode into a "+1"-fest unless some folks decide to try and cause problems. And really, that will only get them warned/banned for their troubles, and their thread, deleted.

In the end, whether "+1" threads stay or go doesn't affect me. As I said, I didn't take part in many of them beyond the AIMMS thread. But I'd like to see such threads at least be given a shot in Off Topic. If it doesn't work out, or things get out of hand, then they'll be gotten rid of obviously. But I'd rather see them tried out and fail, than not given a shot at all.

As for the image threads, I fail to see how a thread with images of elfgirls and the like is going to drive people away with their mere presence. I just can't imagine posters doing anything more than rolling their eyes and going to the next thread. Plus, if we start using some kind of warning for such threads, or even combine ones that are similar (like what happened with the Catgirl/Angelgirl/Devilgirl threads), they won't be everywhere, and they'd be clearly labeled. If such a thing drives people away, then in truth, where does the problem reside... with the person who's disgusted just by the idea of such threads being there, or with the site that has those threads marked, labeled, and kept in check so people know what to expect?

They may not be to everyone's liking, but there's a lot that's not to everyone's liking. Sometimes you just have to take the good with bad, and roll with it. If the image threads don't get out of control and over done (elfgirl, elfguy, elfdickgirl, elfthis, elfthat, etc.), I'm just not seeing a reason to get rid of them.

I'm not trying to bash you for your opinion, Eulogic. It differs from my own, and I'm fine with that. I can respect it. But I honestly don't see how the presence of a few image threads like "A catgirl a day", "Elf Chicks", "Original Artwork" and such is going to keep folks from posting and listening to the remixes.

[Koelsch1]

Can't imagine why it would be taken seriously, considering it makes it appear everyone involved was just having a big laugh over what would undoubtedly upset and anger a lot of people on OCR... especially considering who posted them. I have to admit to feeling a good amount of disappointment in, and lessened respect for, those cheery looking folks when I saw it.

That photo made everyone look like douches. It really showed a lack of maturity.

[Emura]

Weird how all the interesting stuff happens when I'm away. I'm internet-less for a week and unmod dies?

I wish there was something I could add, but the Coop has pretty much summed up all I would have said, and much more articulately too. Personally, I'm feeling a bit homeless. Half (or more) of the threads there were of no interest to me, but there was a lot of solid humor and good conversation too.

Fads like ffffffffffff made me, almost literally, rofl, and in general I just found it all to be a lot of fun.

I understand that if it had to go, it had to go in the way it did: without warning. But did it really have to go?

[SS4Matt]

UnMod is dead, Long live UnMod.

Well, the spirit of it at least.

You silly Lush of an admin...er...mods you guys.

[K999]

So have the unmodders gone through five stages of grief yet?

Denial: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Anger: WTF, you motherf.....

Bargaining: (I haven't really seen this happening too much. Nor can I imagine an unmodder actually doing it.)

Depression: There is no MEANING to LIFE. First they killed Saddam and now this? Why god why?

Acceptance: LOL at internet=serious business

[Brim]

I think some did bargain, I'm not sure.

This might be hearsay

[Jillian Aversa]

I think The Coop's ideas about keeping porn softcore, within designated threads, and including a "Not safe for work" disclaimer are all very reasonable suggestions. The way I understand it, porn was never the main issue with UnMod, and played only a minor role in Dave's decision to put an end to it. Still, I would understand if he decides not to allow that sort of thing, since things could get sticky (no pun intended) if people started bending the rules. There will definitely be thorough discussion on the matter.

I also agree that fad threads should not have a place in OffTopic, as they are a waste of space and really junk up the queue. As for mock and +1 threads... It's hard to say. Some of those things were funny, but the sheer quantity of them was a little ridiculous. The classics like "...and it made me smile" are harmless and fun, but I think they should be kept to a minimum. There really is no point treating a forum like a slow AIM chatroom.

My opinion is that OffTopic should follow the general trend of GenDisc in that all threads have a productive purpose. If there are a few things that aren't officially "topics of discussion," but geared more towards posting artwork and the like (even if there’s a little porn), I see no harm in that. The problem with fad/mock/+1 threads is that they quickly become less about humor and more about increasing one's postcount. I know some of you may be thinking, "What's the harm in that?" So let me explain my reasoning.

It seems like the whole postcount phenomenon actually had a negative effect on the UnMod community, and contributed largely to our reasons for deletion, in the end. When new people joined the forum, whether justified or not, they were usually teased or told to GTFO. Because of this, they felt like the only way people would take them seriously is if they increased their postcount– and fast. While seemingly harmless at first glance, this phenomenon is what became the main catalyst for the following issues:

1. Flame wars: The more the n00bs posted, the more they were mocked. It was obvious that they were posting every few seconds, and that became an annoyance to the people who had been around longer, so insults were flung left and right.
   
2. Popularity contests: All anyone wants in life is to fit in. By increasing post count, n00bs and regulars alike seemed to think that they would be more accepted– or at least remembered– and so UnMod became one big popularity contest.
   
3. Mob mentality*: With everyone trying so hard to impress each other, people started to lose their individuality. Fad threads flooded the forum because a lot of members couldn't (or were afraid to) think of any original ideas. And that, my friends, is what led to this:
   
4. Abuse: The reason that UnMod was eventually deleted. At first, the abuse stayed primarily within the forum, and the mods were extremely lenient about this for a very long time. However, that "mob mentality" grew stronger and stronger with every passing day. Ultimately, it got so bad that whenever there was a major change to the site design, staff, policies– you name it– the abuse began to spill over into GenDisc and other forums. It was simply a headache to have to deal with this level of immaturity. People started complain about the changes, the moderation, the remixes, and the staff as though they were entitled to do so with no consequence– and publicly, in the clean forums! Of course not everybody in UnMod took part in all this, and we all recognize that fact, but the only solution we could find to this problem of abuse was to create OffTopic.

OffTopic as a new forum is out attempt at compromise, I assure you all! It would be impossible to please everyone, but it’s our best shot, and I hope those mature enough to understand the situation will give it a chance. Nobody intended to bulldoze your home on the internet– just provide a reasonable substitute. If you are one of those people that simply needs a place with no rules, you’re out of luck. The abuse had to go in the end, because unless Dave hired 20 extra mods to police the forums, it would have been a physical and emotional headache for the entire staff. We want OCR to be a welcoming place for everyone... everyone who is willing to play nice around these here parts. ^_~

I think most people are willing to admit that there have been some mistakes made in the process of this transition. Nobody knows how or why the writer’s thread was deleted, but it was clearly an accident. A few people may have been banned who did not necessarily deserve it, but you must understand that the whole alt account business is confusing, and the mods are looking into it as we speak. If everyone could have a little faith that we are sorting things out to the best of our ability, I think OffTopic will turn out just great!

*(As a side note, I believe this "mob mentality" is also what caused the site staff to overlook some valid issues during our transition that a few of the more thoughtful posters have now brought forth. It is not exactly reasonable to accuse us of lumping everyone together, when it was clear that an enormous proportion of UnModders could not think for themselves, and abused the forums together as an entity. We have always acknowledged that there are exceptions, and apologize to any and all of those who did not take part in the trouble.)