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State of the forum.


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#1 Offline Fatatoille - Posted February 9 2021 - 5:45 PM

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Over the winter period it has become more evident that the forum have gone a little downhill with points I wish to list:

1. a consistent derailment of threads, a pivotal example occurring only within this last few hours, where a long time user vendayn spamming pornographic imagery amongst other questionable statements on multiple threads, thankfully resulting in his swift ban, with further consequences hopefully soon to ensue. This was the most extreme example of such, though other notable examples include the derailment of the multispecies ant colonies thread by a number of users offering no relevant points for conversation and instead making unfunny jokes, this leading into my second point.

2. the seemingly constant ignorance of forum mechanics and 'etiquette', there have been a number of threads relating to simple questions that could be cleared up by searching up the desired question, or posts that are just seemingly a mile away from the common standard of quality held for the forum e.g.:

Bad thing
-
Other
I understand that the odd joke thread is fun here and there and some light heartedness is needed quite dearly during these times, but with the sheer volume and frequency these new posts appear, they quickly lose any merit or little value they may have. These threads have been compared to multiple times by multiple users, similar the pace and tone of a chatroom, like discord, a far cry from the slow, more formal pace of a forum.
3. peoples sensitivity to given subjects, bit more of a broad one and one that has been commonplace since the earliest years of the forum, though this is more of a personal gripe, a number of threads have been expunged of all previously relevant information to a topic, usually due to the individuals inability to comprehend when he/she is in the wrong. e.g:
4A53B6D1 A337 4183 990B D4D18BF7CD7C

In this case the individual in question was being corrected on their grammar and their lack of cohesion in their original post, reasonable enough, though the individual instead of making corrections based on those suggestions, they deleted the original topics context arguably making the topic irrelevant. This seemed like a case where the individual in question was too young and therefore immature to comprehend the extent of his/her actions. However, it is still unreasonable to assume it necessary to delete an entire topics context simply for the sake of your own hubris. Another pivotal example being the aforementioned vendayn deleting all of his previous journals over a reasonable request to see some photos, then proceeding to spam 1 star on every topic or member that was present, at least which he acknowledged( though that seems to have been in vain in hindsight). 

 

one cannot and should not erase the past purely for their own benefit.

 

The decline over the past few months as been a sad one to say the least, though I find it hard to believe this years quality of threads during winter has been any different to the previous, and it is most likely with more people at home at the moment. younger or newer members having nothing better to do than browse the forum all day, creating the odd post, not always the most useful, and the older members are paying more attention to it and therefore noting it as a decline, myself included.

 

there are quite simple solutions to these issues:

-if you have a question or are unsure of how a feature of the forum works  - search it up; there is even an entire section dedicated to forum support.

 

-before posting a new topic - why not check if there is a pre-existing one that you could comment on before, and use a bit of common sense on whether a topic is relevant or not i.e: 'is this something that could be searched up' & 'do people really need this at the moment?'

 

-if you just want to have casual conversation with other individuals or only need to speak with one other individual, why not just private message them, or if you are old enough, join discord, there are plenty of antkeeping discords like, ants and antkeeping, ant keeping and ethology, AntsDakota discord server etc.

 

-if you agree with someone about a particular post, just like the post, and if you want to elaborate on it further just apply common sense to ensure your own post is relevant and useful.

 

-grammar check - this can sound like a bit of a nitpicky one for sure, but it is very helpful to properly consider your spellings and sentence structure, especially in an ant forum where taxon names are used frequently.

 

To finalise this little rant, it is not my desire to bring hate to any of the individuals I have referenced and wish for people to simply see this as constructive criticism to learn from and to help improve the quality of formiculture, this was the place that really inspired me to take detail of the smaller things in life, I hope that others will be able to do the same. If anyone else has anything they would like to add, or dispute any of my points, feel free to do so.

 

updated the darkling beetle sandbox example in point with another far more prominent example, that should complement this point a bit more fairly.

 


Edited by Fatatoille, February 10 2021 - 3:08 AM.

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Prawn and Mayo sandwiches taste nice.


#2 Offline Manitobant - Posted February 9 2021 - 5:55 PM

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Thank you for posting this. I was contemplating it myself actually.

#3 Offline CheetoLord02 - Posted February 9 2021 - 5:56 PM

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I was literally going to make a thread just like this, especially after today's fiasco. Godspeed though, this post is everything I would have encompassed and more.


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#4 Offline NickAnter - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:06 PM

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Yes, it is quite sad. The forum's heyday has sadly passed. May it return to it's former glory.


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Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#5 Offline Tyr_Ants - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:09 PM

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I agree loya of stuff have happened over the past 2 weeks

Ant Shop: (restocking soon) https://www.formicul...op/#entry195574  (y)  (y)  (y)  (y)  (y)  (y)  (y)  B)  B)  B)


#6 Offline Devi - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:14 PM

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Well said. Let's hope this helps wrap up previous debates as well as prevent them in the future.
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#7 Offline ANTdrew - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:15 PM

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Excellent post, Fatatoille. The decline of this forum is really sad to see.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#8 Offline Chickalo - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:20 PM

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I'm trying to get better, but I do agree, I am generally a terrible person, and I'm not trying to grab attention here, but I'm saying it in the sense that I'm very forgetful sometimes (in this case of rules and  what I've seen called "Forum Etiquette" which I'm trying to fully figure out), and therefore got a good blast of criticism.  Now, I'm not saying that's bad, often I try to fix whenever I get critiqued (from the more art side of me I guess), but if I step out of line, truly PLEASE tell me.  To be honest, I wish I started on the forum's first, since it would be an easier transition into Discord than vice versa, but it does still get brought up when I'm online what I did (It's only been a week or so, so not too surprised), and I'm sorry, if you can't tell I'm trying better to be better at making better posts.  If you hate me (or just strongly dislike, or even just dislike), then you might be happy to hear that, I'm not going to go too in depth since this post is already getting really long, but basically I'll be spending more time on Discord and learning anatomy and colours for art.


Edited by Chickalo, February 9 2021 - 6:24 PM.

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シグナチャーです。예.

 


#9 Offline TechAnt - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:21 PM

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I agree completely, hopefully the forum shall be restored to it's former glory.


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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#10 Offline Zeiss - Posted February 9 2021 - 6:59 PM

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The darkling beetle example you used was from the Sandbox, which is a hidden place for people to just post random crap and do nonsensical things there, so I wouldn't really use that as an example.

 

Otherwise, yes, I do think people can use the forum in a better way.  The pandemic has definitely not helped the situation with peoples' tensions rising and the internet being a main place to be with covid-19 looming over everyones' heads.  It would be great for people to read the Important Topics and pinned posts at the top of individual locations on this forum.  

 

Don't forget we also have a chat room to not talk in if you want, haha.


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#11 Offline Fatatoille - Posted February 10 2021 - 3:07 AM

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The darkling beetle example you used was from the Sandbox, which is a hidden place for people to just post random crap and do nonsensical things there, so I wouldn't really use that as an example.

Thanks for letting me know, I have updated the darkling beetle sandbox example in point two with another far more prominent example, that should complement this point a bit more fairly.

 


Prawn and Mayo sandwiches taste nice.


#12 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted February 10 2021 - 6:10 AM

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The reason this is also happening is because there is a thin line between ant keeping forums and discord. Not many other invertebrate keeping hobbies have this type of thin line, as a result new ant keepers are more likely to be younger and more likely to either know about or use discord itself. Discord is a toxic place as well as people trolling and being just stupid. What i'm trying to say here is that as more and more people (Mostly Kids) from discord come to the forum they don't know how and what a forum is so they treat it like it is discord, which leads back to my point that because this is a larger ant keeping forum more people that have learned about it from discord come and don't exactly treat it properly. Ex:Chickalo vs Aleeguy

Both use this forum as well as discord, aleeguy uses the forum, same for chickalo, but aleeguy treats the forum like its supposed to as well as treats discord like a forum as well. Sorry chickalo just an example but your doing better!


Edited by KitsAntVa, February 10 2021 - 6:12 AM.

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We don’t talk about that

#13 Offline CasiahJade - Posted February 10 2021 - 6:44 AM

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I think, perhaps, it might be wise to discuss what we can do to improve the forums, rather than discuss the problems.

 

I know that as a Newbie, some kind of mentorship area could be incredibly helpful.  I've got my journal, but honestly I don't know best practices for keeping one.

 

EDIT:

 

What are some of the things we want to get out of the Forum?  Are there any features or functions y'all can think of?


Edited by CasiahJade, February 10 2021 - 6:55 AM.

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#14 Offline Syber_ant - Posted February 10 2021 - 8:50 AM

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I'm fame

lol mistakes


Edited by Syber_ant, February 10 2021 - 8:52 AM.


#15 Offline NickAnter - Posted February 10 2021 - 8:56 AM

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Well, I would say that the primary reason proper grammar, no useless topics ETC. is important, is because it is the main function of a forum that allows one to search on a topic, and find results. As such, having posts easily legible, and spelled correctly is key for searching.


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Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#16 Offline Syber_ant - Posted February 10 2021 - 9:00 AM

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Well, I would say that the primary reason proper grammar, no useless topics ETC. is important, is because it is the main function of a forum that allows one to search on a topic, and find results. As such, having posts easily legible, and spelled correctly is key for searching.

i have no self confidence lol


Edited by Syber_ant, February 10 2021 - 9:01 AM.


#17 Offline antsandmore - Posted February 10 2021 - 9:14 AM

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Yes, it is quite sad. The forum's heyday has sadly passed. May it return to it's former glory.

i've been noticing that it was starting to get downhill. I didn't think I would have made a post myself though. Thank you for making this post and reminding us of the forum's usage.


Ants I am keeping:

 none for now, planning on being more active this year


#18 Offline Syber_ant - Posted February 10 2021 - 9:17 AM

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Yes, it is quite sad. The forum's heyday has sadly passed. May it return to it's former glory.

i've been noticing that it was starting to get downhill. I didn't think I would have made a post myself though. Thank you for making this post and reminding us of the forum's usage.

 

True some people just to post and still be relavent



#19 Offline mmcguffi - Posted February 10 2021 - 9:37 AM

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I think the forum is fine -- my experience of the forum is that it is very easy to ignore the more "dramatic" things happen here. I come for the information, and people still post great thoughts/journals/etc

 

But clearly a lot of people are upset with how the forum culture has changed though -- is Drew the only mod? Maybe it would be wise to give mod privileges to people who Drew trusts?

 

Or perhaps some new, more casual section/group chat/something else is needed for people who have different experiences on what etiquette is appropriate for various online platforms? Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm mostly sensing a generational divide on how the platform is used. It seems like many users do not like that other users treat FC more like Discord, though the flip of that is clearly those other users /do/ like using FC like Discord. Personally I think neither are wrong


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#20 Offline Swirlysnowflake - Posted February 10 2021 - 9:46 AM

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Or perhaps some new, more casual section/group chat/something else is needed for people who have different experiences on what etiquette is appropriate for various online platforms? Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm mostly sensing a generational divide on how the platform is used. It seems like many users do not like that other users treat FC more like Discord, though the flip of that is clearly those other users /do/ like using FC like Discord. Personally I think neither are wrong

FC already has a chat, I’m pretty sure.


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 My YouTube channel :)

 

 





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