Blood and spam

A gruesome title, but today I have a hearty tale for all of you. Actually, two.

The first tale is of a forum. It's the Pokémon Community, yes. One of the subforums to Other Chat is the Daily Chit Chat forum, which I discussed earlier — and according to Naminé, on of the members that hitherto was a regular poster in the area, it was now officially a spot for people eligible for the derogatory title of 'n00b'.

DCC isn't too fitting for Naminé and that she shall only hop in back and forth from the rare time to time... DCC is only meant for two kinds of people: those who lost all of their brain cells, and those who are too tired or lazy to use their brain cells~

Those of you that are familiar with the Banned Topics list on Super Cheats will recognise any forum without a fixed title as de facto spam. This was done in the wake of Spam Fest, as old-timers will remember, which basically caused the entirety of the forum to be enveloped in the stuff that destroyed the regular flow of conversation. Here, people have now started to commit themselves to shorter threads due to the fact that longer threads would incur needless replies that would in turn cause the direction in the thread to be turned for the worse. As the Pokémon Community designed it, however, there would actually be a thread for nearly every forum in which uncontrolled chat could go on, as long as it remained within the confines of the forum subject and the forum rules on top of that. Then, there is the forum, in which a Chit Chat thread would be created on the month, in order to foster conversation for people that don't have access to, or do not find any convenience in, a message programme.

I admit that I do not myself like the idea of there being a rule like that. It's difficult for everyone to communicate, since for the most part more than six people are online at the same time on that part of the forum. What it boils down to is a massive IM conversation for those without the aid of MSN, YIM, or AIM. The topic swings back and forth, it's hard to keep up if you've been away to sleep, and the variety of opinions and styles of writing makes it difficult for one sound decision or judgement to be made.

Even so, it has a benefit: There is little or no rigidity. In this conversation, everyone at any level of attendance can participate without the fear of being shoved out, except if the opinions in the head amount to something that goes against the entire forum itself. You'll see the New Users' Hangout full of new members that are welcomed wholeheartedly by others, and once they say hello they move forward and do their business.

The bottom line is that whether a thread of this genre is appropriate really depends on the ability of members to participate in such discussions, as well as the magnitude of the content allowed by such threads. Give them a forum to spam in, they go berserk; give them a few controlled threads, things get much less messy and the potential for major spam outbreaks — the Ilovemissyelliott ban comes to mind — is minimised.

Now onto story two, which blows apart the assumption that I once carried that most of the school was against me some way or other and the kids from the nursing academy were the worst at it. As can be seen from my MSN title, I gave a pint of blood at a blood drive today; when it became apparent that I was apprehensive before the procedure, I was sure that the sophomore lot that was volunteering were paying no attention to the plight — until one asked to hold my hand. Although I turned it down, the effects drowned out the sear of the needle. I was accepted after all. After three years of labouring under hatred and spite, I can say that my rant on the society there is no longer applicable. What an idiot I was until now. I'm going back the next time they come to take the next pint; it's too much to say that the rest of the school could scrape off my removal.

So that's two problems solved. First was that 'chit-chat' threads had a deeper reach than providing a spammy domain; second was that, contrary to all my ranting beforehand, I was not hated after all.

Update: Naminé recanted:

Let's not get unrelated harmless people like Mr. Crystal Walrein or ________ into this matter. Though Naminé appreciates Mr. Crystal Walrein and ________ concerns about her wellbeing, it's probably best to let Naminé post for herself. Afterall, they shouldn't lower their social status to associate with someone with such small numbers within her PC profile. Thank you for caring, though.

For Ms. Chibi-chan's reminder about the posts in the morning, Naminé read the post a long while ago in the afternoon when she came back from school, but at that time DCC already moved on to yet, another new topic for the day. So, she thought that it would be best to simply leave the matter. In theory, as long as Naminé doesn't post anything in the DCC until she struck a rare moment when she reads something that completely interests her, and then post at late night to avoid the other members, things might have been fine. Guess that Naminé's thinking is overly simplistic, and she would have to confront things directly...

Naminé had a bad day which resulted in her being highly moody for the entire last Sunday. Her self control is weak and inexperienced with her own emotions, and she said somethings that she really shouldn't... She should have realized that there are many different worlds out there, each with preferences of their own. Naminé shouldn't have forced her beliefs among those around her here in the DCC. Please pardon Naminé and accept her apologies for her terrible hauntiness, undying hubris, unjustified pharisaicalness and the total incapablility to detect the changing times and atmosphere within the DCC itself.

And in order to ensure that this post ends the entire mess, it is preferable if no one quotes this post or comment on it any further... Read it, and nod if one decides to pardon Naminé's foolishness, or unleash the fits of rightful rage at Naminé via PM instead of posting in DCC further.

Naminé shall not interfere with the DCC's growing future any further... She'll read the posts in DCC occassionally by herself, and rely on private messages in order to comment on posts in DCC if she is so strongly interested.