View Full Version : What can we do to make VPL even more enjoyable for you?
We love to hear new ideas on how to improve our community and we'd love to hear what you have to say. We're going to try our best to rebuild the community and become the biggest VIRTUAL PET FORUM on the net today like we used to be, and we'd love to hear what you guys would like to see us do to the community, to make more users come here (to chat, and become friends).
Should we add more forums? Should we hire more staff members? What would you like to see us do to make VPL even more enjoyable for you? If you don't enjoy it, can you tell us why you don't enjoy it? We'll try our best to help you enjoy it, so we can all work it out and make this community the best of the best!
I for one would love the fact of a filter of some sort for language. The word "f**k" is rampant on some of the posts. I dunno about you, but if I were a parent of a younger child, I would not want my kid reading some of the posts on this forum. I think "damn, hell, and an occasional shit" are ok, but for the rest....umm no.
Just something to think about...because there are a lot of young people who are into the VP games, and come here to read what others have to say.
I'm not trying to be prudy or anything like that, but well, it's a bit put-offish to read some of the posts.
Once VPL gets large again, maybe hiring some more staff to monitor the language would be useful.
So basically a swear word filter for a lot of cuss words and such? What other words would you like to see censored?
I hate that word "censored"...but I reckon that would be the right one to use. I haven't seen very many posts with any other kind of swear words other than those basically, so that would have to be at your disgression.
Put yourself in the place of a parent. Then go to that Subeta being taken down by the chans post (I used that one cause it's whew!) Would you want your 8-15 year old reading that?
Some quotes:
We are the fucking Vietcong
I'll leave on the fact that Subeta is pretty much fucked.
Fuck that
Fuck you
Fuck him
while they're in their underpants whacking it to furry porn i'm making a website that'll dominate their fucking shithole within the next few months.
i know anonymous isn't up to it, so fuck them.
i won't be the next hal turner because they're all fucking pussies.
besides, i know as well as /b/ the people who sign up to subeta are stupid cunts.
but fuck, they give me their money
i'll be in the big leagues sipping champagne from and 8-year old's pussy
i'm fucking invincible.
Broke as fuck, defeated, with no dignity left to his name.
All that crap is just from the first 10 pages. So if you think it's ok for a kid to read that, then I wouldn't put in a filter.
I believe in freedom of speech, but I do not think it's "ok" for a youngster to read that kind of "smut". Maybe I'm old fashioned, who the heck knows? What I do know is....if my kids were still young, they would NOT be allowed on a board that allows that kind of language.
Fiyero
07-02-2007, 12:40 PM
I believe that other words such as nigger, bitch, fag, homo, queer, dyke, lesbo should also be added if there is a filter.
And I agree with you there! 100%
Anything that is hatefilled, should be added.
electric_blue_kirby
07-02-2007, 01:05 PM
Voice 1:
If there's a "swear filter", it'll just annoy people trying to used the banned words as part of other words ("Homosexual" would be affected by censoring "homo", for example), and simply causes those that wish to use the word to go around the swear filter. Then we just get "fuuck" instead of "fuck", and the debate board gets "censored censored censored censoredsexual" (as the old censoring used to work).
No matter what the sentiment, the effort would be futile. Have you ever seen a swear filter truly work? There's no rule here against swearing (unless it gets to absurd extremes) so it's not like anyone would have a reason not to bypass it.
So what you're saying is....a filter is not an option?
And yes I have seen filters that actually work. I play spades on two sites that have filters. You can't type "fuck" or even "f*ck" on those chats.
Since as you say there is no rule here against swearing, then one needs to be implimented...or a FILTER that works needs to be used. As I stated earlier, I wouldn't want my children to read the smut I posted above. If you can't see that, then shame on you.
I am just one person I know, but if I leave because nobody gives a crap what I think, then others will too and have left already. Some choose not to come back here when the site came back up for just this reason.
I won't debate this. I stated my reasons, and think I have an excellent case.
electric_blue_kirby
07-02-2007, 01:51 PM
Voice 1:
A filter would not work. I've used this forum software's filtering option to sabotage adbot posts before, and seen how it works. You'd have to ban a vast variety of ways to type each particular word, and people would still just get around it with ease.
The day VPL takes away my right to swear on this board should I so choose is the day I heavily consider if it's still a place I want to be a member of. I hardly use the words in my posts (not for any moralistic reasons), but if I want to use one, it's good to know that I can do so here. VPL is not a board just for kids. Can kids access this? Yes. Kids can play Grand Theft Auto as well. If you don't want your kids seeing VPL, monitor what they do and don't let them on it. Censoring VPL because parents can't do their job themselves is, to me, absurd. And if that's a path VPL wants to go down, my respect for the site would drop. I'd probably even resign from the staff.
I'm just one person, too. The filter being useless is a fact. It only worked on adbots because their posts weren't being manually entered, and thus made no attempt to evade the filters. My not wanting to force VPL to parent for other people? That's my opinion, and I stand by it. I know you won't debate the issue, but I'm still getting my thoughts on the matter out there.
Well then if a filter would not work, then it would be up to the moderators to do something about the language. If the mods didn't want to do anything, then I'd suggest they be mods no longer.
As I said I'm not against free speech, but some of the posts on here are ridiculous! with the amount of swear words.
I use the VPF forums also, and I never see cuss words on there. So there is a way to stop it if you want too. This is obviously something you care nothing about, so the point is lost on you.
As far as parents policeing their children, I agree with you. They should see what the children are doing on the net. I stated that if I was a parent of smaller children they would not be allowed on these board because of the swearing...so I would not be asking that VPL monitor my children. I am also full aware that there are adults in here. I doubt any of them are older than I myself am @ 44, so I'm not so stupid to think I am the only one here.
If parents did see what their children were reading however, VPL would have a lot of people that wouldn't be allowed on this site.
All of this is IMHO.
electric_blue_kirby
07-02-2007, 02:51 PM
Voice 1:
"Care nothing"? Do you truly think I'd resign from the staff here over an issue I could care less about? This is an issue I care deeply about.
In the past on VPL, we've openly had threads about masturbation, sex, and a number of controversial issues. Naturally, if we're to ban swearing to make this site more "kid-friendly", those sorts of topics have to go with it (or else the entire premise upon which the filter idea is built would be flawed). I come here to talk to other people as people. If your age is ten or seventy, I'm going to talk to you the same way. Suddenly having to watch what I say and make sure everything is "kid-friendly" would, to me, be a horrible change.
The moment I have to stop people from swearing, I'm leaving my post as moderator, as that is not a rule I could bring myself to enforce. The moment discussing pornography on here is "too taboo"? I'm leaving VPL. CPVR himself has said that VPL is "PG-13". You can't post porn, but you can have a mature conversation here.
As for your last point, I'd rather see VPL stagnate than become the board I've described just for the sake of growth.
CPVR himself has said that VPL is "PG-13". You can't post porn, but you can have a mature conversation here.
Correct, VPL has had matured conversations in the past. And I don't see why we can't have them anymore as well. If users discuss want change, then we'll have change. The key to the success of a community is having freedom of speech, correct? Without that, where will the community go?
Users come to a forum so they can express themselve however they'd like - even if it means without cussing. But if it comes down to a point where they have to, but not to an extreme level, then that's okay correct? School houses have a lot of kids that swear as well, but is anything being done on that level? We all care about the community, and I believe if we all work together, we can please everybody.
Why censor cuss words when there's no way around them, and if we do, other words would be censored because of the filter like EBK said. We didn't code the filter, vBulletin did, and I'm not sure how we can figure out a way around it. If users want to swear to extreme level, then we'd take it to the extreme and hand bannings out. I agree Fly, we let swearing to the extreme pass in the past, but this is now and it's time for a change.
For now on swearing to the extreme will not be allowed, and those that do it on a constant basis, will receive an infraction from one of our staff members and if the cursing continues, then will then receive a banning.
Growth, activity, and our members are the key to our success. We have to find ways to please everybody, because if nobody is happy, then how will we grow? We won't, we'd become a dead board, with posts from spam bots and the like. I don't want that, and I'm pretty sure nobody else does.
Sure, Virtualpetforums has different rules than us, but we're not them. We're VPL, we've been around longer, we've been in the industry longer. Just because they opened up while we were down, and took a lot of the industry with them, does not make them better than us. It's not our fault more users went to them because we were down, but it's up to us to catch up to them and show them how powerful we really are. They want to compete, then competition we will bring.
Mark my words. :)
I was asked my opinion and I've stated it. I'm not going to get into a "fight" with you about this EBK. If you don't want to have to watch the boards for cursing, then that's your opinion. I've stated mine.
I can say I'm anxious to hear what the owners have to say on this matter.
Didn't see ya up there cpvr lol!
I was asked my opinion and I've stated it. I'm not going to get into a "fight" with you about this EBK. If you don't want to have to watch the boards for cursing, then that's your opinion. I've stated mine.
I can say I'm anxious to hear what the owners have to say on this matter.
It's a fact of opinion Fly, and we take opinions seriously. We listen to everyone's ideas, whether they are fact or opinion. Believe me. You don't need to hold back your opinions, we do listen and always will. Thanks for participating and helping us, we appreciate it. I understand how you feel, Fly, and I believe right now - a full censorship shouldn't be an option, but swearing to the extreme is not an option, and we will take care of that, believe me. We've neglected a few posts in the past that we're using swearing to the extreme, and believe me, we will take the time out and clean it out...
VPL needs a change, and change we will bring. Give us time, and you will see a lot of the old threads being cleaned up. But is there a really a point of cleaning up the old threads? I believe so, because new users may come across them threads via search engines or their online friends - and they see how much swearing is being used on the particular thread and they might decide to not to join. A thread could be a huge turn off for a user, but forums aren't. A thread shouldn't decide a users view of a community, but the community should, correct?
Didn't see ya up there cpvr lol!
It's okay. I'm back now. You'll see a lot of me because we're going to try our best to try and rebuild VPL to what it once used to be.
electric_blue_kirby
07-02-2007, 03:08 PM
Voice 1:
words
And this is why you have my respect.
For now on swearing to the extreme will not be allowed, and those that do it on a constant basis, will receive an infraction from one of our staff members and if the cursing continues, then will then receive a banning.
This was not already our policy? I know I've taken actions against users (mainly those that came from *chan community) for absurd use of swearing before.
This was not already our policy? I know I've taken actions against users (mainly those that came from 4chan) for absurd use of swearing before.Correct. It's always been our policy. What we need to do is try our best to focus on all aspects of the community so we can grow, and become an even better community.
I know we cater to the virtual pets industry, but we also need to try our best to jump start our other forums, so we can compete in this industry and shock everybody. Virtual pet discussion is our main discussion topic, correct? That's our main topic, but our second topic is also gaming, and we're not doing the best we can to try to cater to that industry at all. We also have the media forum, but it's not doing so well. What I plan to do real soon is take a look at everything (all the forums) and see what we can do and regroup, and try to recruite new people to help us boast the community so we can become the best again. We need help, dedication, time, and a lot of power, and I believe we can do it. It's not hard. :)
I totally agree with you. The community should be the users as a whole.
All I was trying to say about the swearing was, it's not good for youngsters to see some of the words in some posts. If that is what people want to call censoring, then all I can say is whatever.
I did write that it was my opinion, and I stick to it. This board has been viewed a lot of times by who knows who, and if you find a topic that you like to see just because that's about your favorite petsite, and you're bombarded by all these curse words...well, then that's not a good way to get someone to join a board.
I dislike the word censorship, and I don't want anyone to be told what they can and cannot say. But if something is used in excess, then the word becomes used so frequently....what is the value of it? The shock value is gone because it's been seen so many times. If you're using it to make a point, then that would be mote also because it's been used to much, what's the use?
Who is to say what excessive is? One person's opinion of this may not be anothers.
If you write a long post and you say "fuck" in it once or twice, I have no problem with that. If your post is short and you use it once or twice, then to me that's excessive (again IMHO).
I totally agree with you. The community should be the users as a whole.
It always will be. The users make our community.
I did write that it was my opinion, and I stick to it. This board has been viewed a lot of times by who knows who, and if you find a topic that you like to see just because that's about your favorite petsite, and you're bombarded by all these curse words...well, then that's not a good way to get someone to join a board.
Ya, I agree with you on that one, but what topic can you find that's bomboarded by a lot of curse words?
But if something is used in excess, then the word becomes used so frequently....what is the value of it? The shock value is gone because it's been seen so many times. If you're using it to make a point, then that would be mote also because it's been used to much, what's the use?
Correct, if it's uses in excess, then there's no point of it. Excessiveness is not an excuse. Points can be made without cussing, correct? I know I have a problem with cussing, but that's because that's the way I am, but if I can, I'll try my best to hold it in and not curse.
Who is to say what excessive is? One person's opinion of this may not be anothers.
Everybody. An opinion is an opinion. So what do you consider excessive, Fly?
If you write a long post and you say "fuck" in it once or twice, I have no problem with that. If your post is short and you use it once or twice, then to me that's excessive (again IMHO).
Yes, but it could also been used a few times if the post is very long as well, but if it's in excessive in other line or so, then that's a problem..
The key to bringing back VPL to its old level is to listen to everybody, and see what we can do to bring even more users onto the community, so we can grow, have activity spikes, and grow into a huge community that'll need a lot of staff to cover the community. I have no problem with growing, but I'm going to tell you guys now. Once we grow, I'll never stop listening to our users. Our users made us into what we are today, and without them, we wouldn't be anything.
I'm going to try my best as the owner, and a user of the community to help bring us back to the full-breded community we used to be. I can't do it by myself, though. We all need to do it, right?
Let's see, would you guys rather see VPL like it is now or would you rather see it sparking with new conversations on a daily basis so you never be bored and always have someone to talk to? That's what I'd like to see, and I'll try my best to get VPL like that by creating new topics, new posts, and content, that'll help generate responses by our user base - and if it doesn't create any responses, then I'm doing something wrong as the owner.
Ok, that post where the chans were trying/did take over Subeta. There is a ton of cussing on that one. Like here http://www.virtualpetlist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242&page=20
Originally Posted by Kirtaner
NO, BUT MY LOGS SURE ARE
IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY GUESSED, I RUN 420CHAN, I ADMINISTRATE THE SERVERS, AND I BLOCKED KEITH'S GODDAMN ATTACK HOURS BEFORE I EVEN KNEW WHAT SUBETA EVEN WAS. SO FUCK OFF.
Don't ever tell me to fuck off Hal... I think your just overreacting
That wasn't Hal.
I am.
FUCK OFF.
That is excessive. 3 lines of chat on the last one 7 words, and then one of them is the F word. That chat is stupid and unnecessary.
Alright Fly. You want to do me a favor? Send me a PM where you find bad posts and such, and I'll clean it up. :) Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
I didn't want to cause an issue with this. You asked for suggestions...so I just answered ya.
I didn't wanna cause any problems.
It's not a problem and it's not an issue, never has been. It's okay, Fly. Don't worry about it. We love to hear opinions, it doesn't matter. Why be afraid to express yourself? There's no need to be, that's how we all can better ourselves.
I am never afraid to express myself lol, that may be one of my flaws. I just didn't want to start an argument...this isn't the debate board. ~chuckle~
I am never afraid to express myself lol, that may be one of my flaws. I just didn't want to start an argument...this isn't the debate board. ~chuckle~
It's okay. It's allowed.
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