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It's 2016, and I have questions about NeoGAF

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the best thing about being banned is when you're back and people being like "you're back!" and sending you PMs confessing their love and undying dedication
 
There are more posts made on a daily basis than we can possibly keep up with, and there is no statute of limitations on posts (within reason). Sometimes, it takes a few days for any mod to realize that a thread has become a problem. Sometimes we are linked by other users in a PM and we don't get to it right away. There are many reasons for a delayed response, and it all comes down to the fact that this is a volunteer position and we do what we can, when we have time to do it.

My confusion wasn't more-so at thinking "you can't do that because it's been a while", but rather the reason why a moderator was bothering to go back through such an active thread. I can understand if a moderator didn't see a thread before and took interest a few days later if it were bumped, but considering the thread it seemed like a thread that everyone likely paid attention to and read to some degree as it was occuring. That's why it confused me.

For another topic, on "delayed response: I've technically "reported" posts to moderators via PM myself but never received a response before. Lack of receiving both responses from moderators via PM and even emails leaves me with a disconnected feeling. Like, contacting people with power on gaf seems hard because it feels very one-sided. Which, funnily enough, is exactly the reason I made this thread instead of PMing moderators. lol. I didn't actually expect moderators, or even owner of the website, to respond. I expected to just get a couple of pointers from some members.
 
the best thing about being banned is when you're back and people being like "you're back!" and sending you PMs confessing their love and undying dedication

most of us aren't popular. Whenever I get banned I get people teasing me for the reason I got banned. And both times it was for a really really bad joke/dank meme in a serious thread.
 
I have only been banned once. I think it was a misunderstanding but it was only for a month I think. Life goes on. Now I have a tag so I am invincible.
 
Is there a way to offer explanation towards the mod's staff from the member's part if he or she gets banned? I mean a ban is immediate right, and the member cannot tell his or her side of the story. I mean, I know GAF mods team are by large have been doing a great job so far policing GAF, but mistakes can do happen and in that case, what avenue can a banned member can use to at least contest the decision of his/her banning? Especially in the case of a perma ban.

First line: Email support@neogaf.com
Second line: Contact a moderator on Steam, Twiter, XBL, PSN, etc.
Comments will be read, but you won't necessarily get a reply. It's not necessarily ideal.

Note: If the appeal consists of any of the following, it will be totally ignored:
a) "The rules are bad so they shouldn't apply to me"
b) "Someone I don't like did something like what you banned me for and they didn't get banned so I shouldn't be banned"
c) "Mods are biased"
d) "I know I got banned for a two word post telling another member to fuck off, but here's a multi-paragraph clear explanation of the point I actually wanted to make and as you can see my point makes sense so why did you ban me?"
e) "I think my ban should be shorter because in my head bans should be shorter"
f) "Explain my ban only use more words than you did in the ban message"
g) "I demand to know which mod banned me and when they will be resigning"

I just mention this because these are like 95% of the appeals we get and it's really not the kind of behaviour you'd expect from, like, adults in the real world.

I'd like to confirm this process works just fine. I used it when I was banned.

But bear in mind guys that if you are going to use this route to appeal a ban, then

0) realise you are in the wrong already, or you wouldn't have been banned
1) recognise up front that mods have absolutely every right to ban you - you're appealing, not asserting a right
2) apologising would be a damn good idea!
3) treat your appeal email like you would should treat a post - don't whine, don't bitch and, being as you're banned anyway, read it five times over before you send it.
4) ... and make sure you are sober when composing and sending it ...

It is kind of horrifying first time you get banned - but take a deep breath first and don't be one of Stumpy's 95%.
 
does gaf get attacked, e.g ddos? those types of things have become so prevalent now i would have thought that the type of audience gaf attracts, and someone wanting revenge for being banned or unhappy with moderation etc would eventually overlap to cause a problem.

does cloudflare have our backs? how many jiggaflops can we sustain? is e3 basically considered a ddos attack?

repeating this question as im still curious

edit: if gafs defensive capabilities are classified then maybe leave it
 
Somebody answer my question.

With big sites, "bandwidth use" isn't as easy as that. Static assets are stored on a CDN (and almost entirely served cached), dynamic assets are served from GAF's servers (and largely text based and compressed when served). What are the possible answers to your question?

repeating this question as im still curious

If you know what cloudflare is then you know how to check if GAF is behind Cloudflare :p
 
I have no idea where to ask but this seems a better place than any
is there an offtopic community OT for:
Tabletop RPGS (I know there is an amazing Tabletop boardgames OT, but looking for RPGs specifically)
Make up/Beauty stuff

my amateur search-fu skills haven't come up with anything

There was an old fashion thread from like 2-3 years ago but GirlGAF has been talking about making a new one recently(like 2 months ago). I don't think its up yet but there was some concern that it wouldn't get much activity like the last one, especially since GirlGAF goes through periods where its not super active anyway. Until then GirlGAF would be the place to go: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479536


well assuming you're not talking about male beauty and makeup cause theres a male fashion thread in OT Community :P


oh and by searching i found this for pen and paper rpgs http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465327
 
We see email tags the same way you guys do, quotes only.

People occasionally abuse this. That's a pretty stupid gamble since if they get caught we're obviously going to move to a much more heavy-handed punishment. I remember one user getting tagged with a tag that automatically erased their posts because they did it.

Oh man that sounds both hilarious and devilish, its like becoming a ghost. A fate worst than a ban.
 
If you know what cloudflare is then you know how to check if GAF is behind Cloudflare :p

ah of course, brb have to attack gaf to see if the cloudflare loading page pops up
BqZBl3S.gif
 
EmCeeGramr was permanently banned under his previous username, so I think that qualifies.

How come he was allowed to come back/make an alt account?

Was it a kinda forgive and forget situation? I remember asking a mod once why a particular person was banned when there were no visible breaches of the ToS in their posts. Turns out they signed up again after a perma with another email address. That's made clear in the rules.
 
I think we want people to value their accounts and we take re-registering after a permaban pretty seriously. Typically someone who registers an alternate account is very dumb and immediately goes back to posting as if nothing happened. While we have a number of tools to sniff those types of posters out, frankly the team reads a lot of GAF and immediately picks up on fishy accounts.

The number of times I've found repeat offenders in topics that caused them to get banned in the first place is significant. That goes for people without alts too. If you have a hangup, you'd think you'd just get over it and go elsewhere. Some posters really can't resist.
 
For another topic, on "delayed response: I've technically "reported" posts to moderators via PM myself but never received a response before. Lack of receiving both responses from moderators via PM and even emails leaves me with a disconnected feeling. Like, contacting people with power on gaf seems hard because it feels very one-sided. Which, funnily enough, is exactly the reason I made this thread instead of PMing moderators. lol. I didn't actually expect moderators, or even owner of the website, to respond. I expected to just get a couple of pointers from some members.

I read every PM I get, but responses depend on several things. If it's rude I usually won't respond at all (though I'll still look at whatever it is), but if it isn't whether I respond varies based on what they're asking. I generally consider taking visible action to be a response in itself. Some of the common PMs we get:

"Please change my thread title" -> change title as long as it's reasonable, only respond if it isn't to explain why
"Please ban me for x amount of time" -> process the ban, only respond if they're asking for a perm to double confirm
"I want to change my username or email/be unjuniored/get my tag removed" -> these are admin actions, so if the request is reasonable I'll put it in the queue, then respond to let the person know it might take a little time. (As mentioned earlier in the thread, juniorings are much more likely to be undone if a) it's been a while (at least six months, generally) and b) the person clearly understands why they were juniored in the first place. Also usually requires consultation with other mods.)
"Why was I banned/why was my thread locked" -> if they're asking because they don't understand, I'll usually try to give a brief explanation. If they're asking to complain, I'll usually offer to pass on their complaint to the person who took the action, and then do so.
"Should I make this thread/will this thread get locked" -> usually this is use your noggin territory--if you have to ask, the answer is probably don't make the thread. Sometimes it's a site rule corner case and will need discussion with other mods or with EL, and I'll respond to let them know I'm looking into it.
"General site question [e.g. when do I move on to member status?]" -> these I'll usually respond to

When it's not something personal for the poster, I'm less likely to respond:

"Please ban this person/look at this thread [link to post or thread]." -> if this leads to visible intervention, I consider that a response. If not, sometimes I'll respond to explain, if it seems like it'd be helpful.
"Why is [person x] banned" -> most of the time this is someone mad about their friend being banned. If it's intended as an official complaint I'll offer to pass it on and then do so.

The other category of PMs I don't respond to are those that have come up in mod discussion and someone else is responding to. I figure those are "ticket closed" or whatever.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the above is more or less how it goes for me. The majority of PMs that don't receive a response from me are either "please change my thread title" or "please ban this person." It sounds like the PMs you sent fell into the latter category.
 
I think we want people to value their accounts and we take re-registering after a permaban pretty seriously. Typically someone who registers an alternate account is very dumb and immediately goes back to posting as if nothing happened. While we have a number of tools to sniff those types of posters out, frankly the team reads a lot of GAF and immediately picks up on fishy accounts.

The number of times I've found repeat offenders in topics that caused them to get banned in the first place is significant. That goes for people without alts too. If you have a hangup, you'd think you'd just get over it and go elsewhere. Some posters really can't resist.

Makes sense.

So what happened with EmCeeGramr?
 
It's gonna sound weird, but I kind-of joined because of the strict moderation.

Me, too. It works as a sort of quality control for the whole site. And it actually makes me feel more confident about posting, because I don't worry about people getting too personal or insulting if they disagree with me -- unless I said something particularly dumb, in which case I'd probably be the one getting the ban, anyway.
 
I read every PM I get, but responses depend on several things. If it's rude I usually won't respond at all (though I'll still look at whatever it is), but if it isn't whether I respond varies based on what they're asking. I generally consider taking visible action to be a response in itself. Some of the common PMs we get:

"Please change my thread title" -> change title as long as it's reasonable, only respond if it isn't to explain why
"Please ban me for x amount of time" -> process the ban, only respond if they're asking for a perm to double confirm
"I want to change my username or email/be unjuniored/get my tag removed" -> these are admin actions, so if the request is reasonable I'll put it in the queue, then respond to let the person know it might take a little time. (As mentioned earlier in the thread, juniorings are much more likely to be undone if a) it's been a while (at least six months, generally) and b) the person clearly understands why they were juniored in the first place. Also usually requires consultation with other mods.)
"Why was I banned/why was my thread locked" -> if they're asking because they don't understand, I'll usually try to give a brief explanation. If they're asking to complain, I'll usually offer to pass on their complaint to the person who took the action, and then do so.
"Should I make this thread/will this thread get locked" -> usually this is use your noggin territory--if you have to ask, the answer is probably don't make the thread. Sometimes it's a site rule corner case and will need discussion with other mods or with EL, and I'll respond to let them know I'm looking into it.
"General site question [e.g. when do I move on to member status?]" -> these I'll usually respond to

When it's not something personal for the poster, I'm less likely to respond:

"Please ban this person/look at this thread [link to post or thread]." -> if this leads to visible intervention, I consider that a response. If not, sometimes I'll respond to explain, if it seems like it'd be helpful.
"Why is [person x] banned" -> most of the time this is someone mad about their friend being banned. If it's intended as an official complaint I'll offer to pass it on and then do so.

The other category of PMs I don't respond to are those that have come up in mod discussion and someone else is responding to. I figure those are "ticket closed" or whatever.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the above is more or less how it goes for me. The majority of PMs that don't receive a response from me are either "please change my thread title" or "please ban this person." It sounds like the PMs you sent fell into the latter category.

that sounds reasonable and a pretty good way to do things.

the best thing about being banned is when you're back and people being like "you're back!" and sending you PMs confessing their love and undying dedication

no one did that for me yesterday ;_;"
 
I'm curious how often a mod begrudgingly bans people outside of really liking the poster. Either temp or perma. Like you read their post and laughed, but then knew you'd have to do something because surely someone would get offended. Either an inappropriate joke or a post so funny you giggled. An example was in one of the watch dog threads when people were posting previews from their early copies one particular user kept being asked to show his receipt and he eventually responded with something along the lines of "I lost it on my pirate ship"

Sounds silly to ask because mods are humans with a sense of humor too but maybe it's a situation where they let someone else handle it.
It happens all the time. In fact, one of my favorite posters is in this thread, wearing a tag I gave him, but I have also banned this poster. This is true of many of my favorite posters. I just don't take temp bans as seriously as some folks do. I think two weeks -- which comprises the vast majority of all my bans -- is a reasonable time to spend reflecting on how and why you got banned, not some soul crushing punishment. There are threads in which I won't moderate, but that's usually because it's a thread in which I'm emotionally invested. At that point I'd ask another moderator to come take a look on my behalf. This is also pretty common. We're all people, and we all have issues that are close or personal to us.
My confusion wasn't more-so at thinking "you can't do that because it's been a while", but rather the reason why a moderator was bothering to go back through such an active thread. I can understand if a moderator didn't see a thread before and took interest a few days later if it were bumped, but considering the thread it seemed like a thread that everyone likely paid attention to and read to some degree as it was occuring. That's why it confused me.

For another topic, on "delayed response: I've technically "reported" posts to moderators via PM myself but never received a response before. Lack of receiving both responses from moderators via PM and even emails leaves me with a disconnected feeling. Like, contacting people with power on gaf seems hard because it feels very one-sided. Which, funnily enough, is exactly the reason I made this thread instead of PMing moderators. lol. I didn't actually expect moderators, or even owner of the website, to respond. I expected to just get a couple of pointers from some members.
Generally speaking, if you don't get a response, the answer is "no." That's a good rule of thumb for me. Sometimes I'll check a PM on my phone and then forget to act on it, but usually if I don't take an action, it's because I don't think it's necessary. Like Cyan, I get a lot of PMs focused on reporting posts. If the person is suddenly banned, it means I agreed with you. If not, it probably means I didn't, but it might mean I was just not around.
that was the joke, y u do dis 2 me stumper :(

seriousness, let's say someone's next ban is perma -
is that a lingering noose around their neck for all time?
Not always. If you get a perm warning and then go a year or so without a ban, sometimes the perm warning will be overlooked. Sometimes it will be overlooked because no one wants to flush a poster over a thread whine or bad joke. Sometimes it gets overlooked because someone doesn't run a rapsheet before banning, so they don't see the perm warning. We have great tools, largely created by Stump, but we're still humans, most of us moderating around jobs and families.
 
I have a question for EviLore; Do you still play games? If so, What's is your favorite game that has come out in recent times?
 
only question i have is am i the favorite of any mods and if so please don't forget that valentine's is coming up and that i enjoy regular milk chocolate candies
 
Not always. If you get a perm warning and then go a year or so without a ban, sometimes the perm warning will be overlooked. Sometimes it will be overlooked because no one wants to flush a poster over a thread whine or bad joke. Sometimes it gets overlooked because someone doesn't run a rapsheet before banning, so they don't see the perm warning. We have great tools, largely created by Stump, but we're still humans, most of us moderating around jobs and families.

cool, thanks for the info.
 
While we are all asking questions I was wondering if GAF will ever be allowed to have another Anime Figure thread? The last one was before my time I think but from my understanding some Bad Shit went down and now it's no more. I still see some people occasionally posting anime figures in the Action Figure and Nendoroid threads, but I understand they are not supposed to be used as replacements for the other thread.
 
I love it when I get banned for a post I made 2-3 days ago

I'll be out of the house and check on my mobile in the morning and it's fine then a few hours later and everything is blank, like okay what did I do this time lol

You get no message from m.neogaf, it's just cold and dark


My question to GAF higher upz is if they will ever add "my posts" on mobile
 
Thought I would ask acouple questions whilst this thread is here.
I signed up with a Uni email address, can I now change this to a regular email as I have left Uni and will not have access to my email account at some point this year?

Secondly, why isn't Strikethrough or highlight options available when crafting posts, but work fine?
 
With big sites, "bandwidth use" isn't as easy as that. Static assets are stored on a CDN (and almost entirely served cached), dynamic assets are served from GAF's servers (and largely text based and compressed when served). What are the possible answers to your question?

Well, put it this way. When we post images and gifs (particularly the large ones), does that take up a lot of bandwidth/resources?
 
Well, put it this way. When we post images and gifs (particularly the large ones), does that take up a lot of bandwidth/resources?

They are all linked images from different hosting sites though, so that wouldnt be down to Neogaf Servers to manage (I think). Probably why we can't upload images like you may be able to do on other smaller forums.
 
Thought I would ask acouple questions whilst this thread is here.
I signed up with a Uni email address, can I now change this to a regular email as I have left Uni and will not have access to my email account at some point this year?

Secondly, why isn't Strikethrough or highlight options available when crafting posts, but work fine?
  • because people would abuse them
 
Well, put it this way. When we post images and gifs (particularly the large ones), does that take up a lot of bandwidth/resources?

Not for GAF servers as you are not uploading anything here.
 
While we are all asking questions I was wondering if GAF will ever be allowed to have another Anime Figure thread? The last one was before my time I think but from my understanding some Bad Shit went down and now it's no more. I still see some people occasionally posting anime figures in the Action Figure and Nendoroid threads, but I understand they are not supposed to be used as replacements for the other thread.

Let's be very clear; the anime figure thread was a problem for a long time, and I was nice enough to go out of my way to give a gentle NSFW warning, even when others on staff suggested we simply shut the thread down. That was me going out of my way to place my confidence in the community's ability to self-regulate. I was wrong. The community got shut down.

Most of us would agree that people who want to participate in communities should be allowed to. Our worry about "using other threads as replacements" is mainly people trying to bring the same baggage that got one community shut down to another. People who are trying in good faith to respect the rules and participate in a community are welcome.

In terms of starting a new thread, I think the person doing the thread starting would have to contact mods (please not me, I've spent enough time dealing with ban appeals as a result of this thread) with a pitch for how the thread would be more inclusive, respectful, and stop blatantly ignoring our site's rules.
 
I read every PM I get, but responses depend on several things. If it's rude I usually won't respond at all (though I'll still look at whatever it is), but if it isn't whether I respond varies based on what they're asking. I generally consider taking visible action to be a response in itself. Some of the common PMs we get:

"Please change my thread title" -> change title as long as it's reasonable, only respond if it isn't to explain why
"Please ban me for x amount of time" -> process the ban, only respond if they're asking for a perm to double confirm
"I want to change my username or email/be unjuniored/get my tag removed" -> these are admin actions, so if the request is reasonable I'll put it in the queue, then respond to let the person know it might take a little time. (As mentioned earlier in the thread, juniorings are much more likely to be undone if a) it's been a while (at least six months, generally) and b) the person clearly understands why they were juniored in the first place. Also usually requires consultation with other mods.)
"Why was I banned/why was my thread locked" -> if they're asking because they don't understand, I'll usually try to give a brief explanation. If they're asking to complain, I'll usually offer to pass on their complaint to the person who took the action, and then do so.
"Should I make this thread/will this thread get locked" -> usually this is use your noggin territory--if you have to ask, the answer is probably don't make the thread. Sometimes it's a site rule corner case and will need discussion with other mods or with EL, and I'll respond to let them know I'm looking into it.
"General site question [e.g. when do I move on to member status?]" -> these I'll usually respond to

When it's not something personal for the poster, I'm less likely to respond:

"Please ban this person/look at this thread [link to post or thread]." -> if this leads to visible intervention, I consider that a response. If not, sometimes I'll respond to explain, if it seems like it'd be helpful.
"Why is [person x] banned" -> most of the time this is someone mad about their friend being banned. If it's intended as an official complaint I'll offer to pass it on and then do so.

The other category of PMs I don't respond to are those that have come up in mod discussion and someone else is responding to. I figure those are "ticket closed" or whatever.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the above is more or less how it goes for me. The majority of PMs that don't receive a response from me are either "please change my thread title" or "please ban this person." It sounds like the PMs you sent fell into the latter category.

I've sent PMs suggesting a thread might have gotten a bit out of control and if they agreed/disagreed. Typically ignored and I find it a bit disheartening because it feels like you guys aren't really helpful.

I'm not going to crap all over your system, but we've got some things are running together here. We've got:

1. Don't respond to 95% of emails
2. Noticing if a mod has responded to a PM by their actions rather than sending maybe a courtesy response
3. Mods might not act until days later

Also, you mentioned a queue. I thought it was confirmed that there wasn't any sort of moderation queue?
 
I've sent PMs suggesting a thread might have gotten a bit out of control and if they agreed/disagreed. Typically ignored and I find it a bit disheartening because it feels like you guys aren't really helpful.
We're not going to respond every time someone sends us a PM. If you think that's unreasonable, you misunderstand the number of PMs we get, or how much time we have to moderate the site. Either way, you've gone past friendly questions to nagging complaints, and that's not what this thread is for.
 
We're not going to respond every time someone sends us a PM. If you think that's unreasonable, you misunderstand the number of PMs we get, or how much time we have to moderate the site. Either way, you've gone past friendly questions to nagging complaints, and that's not what this thread is for.

But I didn't expect annnyyyy moderators to actually respond to the thread, and gotten way more info than I actually expected. So, forgive me for digging into the foundations - I'm looking for dead bodies and treasure.
 
I've sent PMs suggesting a thread might have gotten a bit out of control and if they agreed/disagreed. Typically ignored and I find it a bit disheartening because it feels like you guys aren't really helpful.

You've soaked up an inordinate amount of time with inane questions--including about getting banned for talking graphically about jerking off--in this thread and you're now complaining we don't spend enough time on you. You're an adult. Grow up.
 
You've soaked up an inordinate amount of time with inane questions--including about getting banned for talking graphically about jerking off--in this thread and you're now complaining we don't spend enough time on you. You're an adult. Grow up.

I'm an adult asking questions and expressing concern about aspects of the site, which is 100% why I created this thread. I didn't expect moderators to respond, and I don't expect moderators to keep responding to it. I'm not forcing you to stick around answering my inane questions. Leave by all means if you wish. Lock the thread if you want. Even I'm surprised the thread's still going.
 
Is there a way to buy Gold membership? Couldn't find anything on the front page.

Edit: seems like the thread is about to be locked..
 
Mobile ADS suddenly got more aggressive than usual. I used to geht redirected to those stupid "Congratulations you've won an iPhone" ads with pop-up notifications in mobile only once or twice a day, but today nearly half my opened tabs jumped straight to it.

This has been an issue for quite some time. Is anybody going to look into it?
 
gibe tag pls

and to technically stay on topic the one time I asked a mod to shut down a thread I made, they promptly did so without responding. haven't doubted that they read what's sent to them since.
 
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