If I had said this would happen and this would happen because Phade did this then you would be right. If I had made specific claims and predicted specific events without the shadow of a doubt based on what's happened so far, I would be absolutely inconclusive and basing my theorys on unproven chains - and you would be right. But to say there will be no splash after Phade drops a 5lb rock into the water is just plain odd. It must be the slipperiest, most water resistent and narrow rock in the world to go in without creating some sort of ripple. I'm not that optimistic.trythil wrote:And a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause a hurricane in Texas. Fine, I get it. Cause and effect chains.The problem is that you can't do that here. You have one event and you want to hypothesize in six different directions based on that. It doesn't work.
I think you're getting something from me that I didn't intend, Dwchang woudl know what I mean here - misunderstanding. I don't think I can predict specific events beyond a shadow of the doubt. What I said was that Phade wants change, I thought he made that clear in his post. Things went wrong, and he was trying to fix that. If deleting the OT forum changed nothing, then why did he bother to do it? That would make no sense. Are you honestly saying he did it just to annoy people rather than to change a situation that he felt was bad? If not, then yes, he did it to effect a change, and I would like to know about this change.
My previous examples were all to illustrate that changes do happen, even from seemingly minor things. My reference to the forums was not a reference to this one - that was my fault for not explaining that the two forums being compared were nearly identical - they were even both for the same fandom, both starting with the same seemingly minor rule. And since I made that connection and prediction years ago, I can honestly say that yes, the second one followed the path of the first just like I warned people it would. I don't make claims unless I have something to base them off of. The only reason I even mentioned it was because you said there were no patterns in life, and that Phade's move would change nothing. Again, my point was - everything changes things, even small seemingly insignificant things can effect huge changes in people's lives. And yes, this does change things. Maybe not as much as Phade would like, but that's where my questions come in.
What's the point of deleting OT to get rid of useless members if you don't want other members to be more useful? What's the point of punishing useless members if you don't want to encourage others to be more useful? How do you expect members to be more useful if you don't tell them what useful means? How do you expect people to care about being useful if they aren't even allowed to ask what useful means? How do you expect people to care about the community if they have no idea what the community means?
There is a mission statement on the main page that clearly explains what the purpose of the site is. But that can't be taken for the forums - not when there are still sections for general talk about Anime and Music. Which means the goal is slightly different for the forum - what harm is there in asking for another, slightly varied mission statement for this section of the community? And why are you getting so upset over a few simple, honest questions - the answers for which would hurt no one, and quite possibly help give Phade the behavior he wants from 'useful' members?
Call me inquisitive, but I'd rather ask then sit in ignorance without at least trying to learn. And if I didn't think others might possibly benefit from the answers, I'd never bother to ask them in public.
[MOD359]The goal is not different for the forums. In case you hadn't noticed, AMVs generally use both Anime and Music. Hence, discussion about those two things is often relevant to the discussion of AMVs. Someone might hear of a series they hadn't seen before in General Anime, and decide to do a video to it, or have an artist recommended to them in General Music. These things are all relevant to AMV making, but don't necessarily belong in General AMV.
In the coming weeks we will be cracking down on stupid threads in General Anime. There's far too much garbage being posted there, and it needs to stop.
Half the reason for the removal of the OT forums is that they were detracting from the rest of the site. Useful people were leaving because the OT forums were bringing in the kind of useless people which make the site unenjoyable for those who chose not to tolerate their shinanigans. Removing those people makes the site more useful, because more useful people will be around.
By directing forum discussions at this site back to being more AMV-oriented, we make the forums a better resource for AMV making. If someone wants help, the more helpful people around to answer their questions the better. The forum has always been about being a resource and community for AMV creators and viewers, not anything else. For a time that "anything else" was tolerated because it used to serve as a place where AMV creators and viewers could go to have meaningful discussions, a place where they could chat about things they felt were important but didn't have to do with AMVs directly.
Over time that purpose was lost under the sea of spam that was generated, and they became so abhorrent to people who wanted to do something constructive that they just left altogether. If this site's purpose is to catalog every AMV and be a resource to AMV creators, driving useful members of the community away and making this site a less friendly place for them is not the best way to go about this.
Is this being unfair to the people who used to post in Off Topic? Perhaps. They, however, abused the system and chose to turn the forum into some sort of game. And, in general, as Phade said in his original post, these people are ones "who are not really contributing to world of anime music videos."
So, no, removing Off Topic is not going against this site's mission, it is reinforcing it. Maybe some day, if Phade feels they will serve a useful purpose again, Off Topic will return. But until then they are gone, and arguing about it is not going to get you anywhere. If you want to ask Phade questions, mail him directly, and please do not clutter this thread anymore.
. BUT, by continuing these long posts, you just give that ignorant jbone more to whine about. I suggest, as a friend, that you be the better person and just ignore him. It will piss him off a whole lot more 
