Disinformation

[Tokyo Slim]

Why is it that with every influx of new members, real or imagined, the people on this forum panic and resort to drastic and sensational tactics to try and maintain status quo? I understand that this is a special place to most of us, and the inherant desire to keep the forum cordial and professional in nature is of course important to us all. But starting purposefully misleading, or disinformative threads to try and keep certain things exclusive to those who have been here longer than others is totally counterproductive to the spirit of the forum itself.

Is this not a place to discuss freely and to share information? Posting rants on topics to try and dissuade newcomers from gathering correct information on subjects that they might be genuinely interested in, is somewhat childish IMHO. The newbies who come in to learn will be ok, the newbies who come in to browse will soon leave (or become genuinely interested), and the newbies who come in to start trouble will be dealt with. So why do people start threads like "Should we close registration?" and "Frustrated With Jantzen"? What do you stand to gain from closing the doors and hoarding all the knowledge to yourselves?

Lets keep it classy huh? After all, we aren't barbarians or anything.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Oh, and by the way, I think this is my first actual thread.

 

[Bic Pentameter]

I heartily agree with Tokyo Slim....(By the way great first thread, TS.)

Bic

 

[T4phage]

I too agree. We are all supposed to act "gentlemanly here".

 

[Steve B.]

Me, too. Guess it's gonna be a heavy moderation day.

 

[aybojs]

I agree with your assertion for the most part, mainly that the recent wave of disingenuous and/or exclusionist threads undermine the success of the forum, but I also do think in some cases it might worthwhile to consider ways to address the potential free rider problem that may occur in some instances as the forum receives an artificially induced influx of new members.

As mentioned, one of the worries about the New York Times is that it focused somewhat heavily on the bargain shopping aspects, and as such, could lead to a lot of anonymous hoarding and what not as a result of bandwagon mentality every time a deal comes up. This fear, I think, could make people more relectuant to share their finds or offer tips for fear that they will be helping more free riders than contributing members. While it is nice to see Forum-advertised businesses do well, I think it's not unreasonable to want to hold on to our niche secrets, at least in terms of deals and what not.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not I would support the following, but maybe the creation of a separate deals/coupon forum with certain membership criteria for access to reading might be an idea worth considering?

 

[j]

There will be no more disinfo threads, please. I understand the idea, and it was funny, but they will now be deleted. I don't need any lawsuits and it's not very sportsmanlike. These businesses will just have to get with the program and meet demand. Hear me, Ricky?.

 

[LA Guy]

I agree with Tokyo Slim completely.

 

[faustian bargain]

i agree as well.

for some fuller perspective, all should take note of the power of forum exposure to wipe out inventories. there are many 'hot deal' forums out there...one of the biggest i know if is at anandtech.com. they have what they call the AT Effect when a particularly sweet deal is posted, wherein the stock for said deal is depleted within a matter of hours if not minutes.

i'm not saying we shouldn't post deals, but i am saying: those who wish to partake of such deals better be on the ball, assuming forum popularity keeps increasing.

/andrew - likes me a hot deal

 

[esquire.]

Sorry, J. I had posted those comments in reply to somebody who had posted a topic about being hush-hush about our favorites, yet had stated these favorites in the title. I thought that everybody, even newcomers, would understand it was all a big joke when I included statements that Chinese political prisoners from Tinamenan Square and children were being whipped to produce these items.

 

[Brian SD]

Nice post, TS. Color me naive, but I missed all these disinfo threads.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

You didn't miss much, and I think its probably best that its finished.

 

[imageWIS]

TS,

Whilst I agree completely, I think that long-standing members must help keep order by not only helping to set the bar, but by sticking to it. Thus if a prior juxtaposition of moderator dictates and member participation have led to the regulation of improper language on the forum; whether that language is in the topic heading or inside the posts themselves, we should make sure that the guidelines are followed by everyone, that includes new members. Of course, this could apply to many other circumstances, such as personal attacks, needlessly attacking a certain company, etc...

Jon.