Forums are getting unbearable

I report every one I see. If you just don't go near the iPhone forums it's a bit better

I agree but I think the way Macrumors administers its forums are equally immature. Just read the forum rules - some, like 'chattiness', are ridiculous.

The whole thing of time-out and banning users at the drop of a hat (where the users can then simply re-join anyway) is childish and pointless.

I think MR needs to adopt more of a congratulatory culture. Give users the option of 'thanking' other users for their help and ensure that the longer one is a member and the more one is thanked, the more access/privileges the user gets.

Rewarding good behaviour is just as important.

fairtrade said:

I agree but I think the way Macrumors administers its forums are equally immature. Just read the forum rules - some, like 'chattiness', are ridiculous.

The whole thing of time-out and banning users at the drop of a hat (where the users can then simply re-join anyway) is childish and pointless.

I think MR needs to adopt more of a congratulatory culture. Give users the option of 'thanking' other users for their help and ensure that the longer one is a member and the more one is thanked, the more access/privileges the user gets.

Rewarding good behaviour is just as important.

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Isn't "chattiness" a minor problem? I do understand it, it would just put more pressure on already hard working servers thus cutting it away will guarantee the best experience for all of us. Banning exist in all forums and you can always re-join if you want.

How would you "thank" a member? Put a PayPal link on everyone's sig so you can pay for him? I find it being satisfying enough to get some thank from OP and that his issue or dilemma is solved, I'm not looking for any "reward", this is just a addic..hobby so it's enough. It's a good idea but I don't know how that would work in real life. Any ideas?

I agree with the OP. iPhone forum is ridiculous, haven't visited it since iPhone 4 as it was insane. People are taking it WAY too seriously. E.g. Canadians (no offense, just saying) were pretty tight because iPhone 4 isn't coming to them when it comes to US. If someone said live with it, you can't change it and it's only two weeks anyway, they went nuts. It seemed to be a fight for the last iPhone on earth. Haven't noticed that much tightness in other forums though but there have been few people that haven't done more than trolled. And yes, I always report if I see something

fairtrade said:

I agree but I think the way Macrumors administers its forums are equally immature.

The whole thing of time-out and banning users at the drop of a hat (where the users can then simply re-join anyway) is childish and pointless.

I think MR needs to adopt more of a congratulatory culture. Give users the option of 'thanking' other users for their help and ensure that the longer one is a member and the more one is thanked, the more access/privileges the user gets.

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So you think the solution to bad behaviour is to punish less and coddle more? That sounds nice in theory but I think it could a little naive, at least on a forum this large. I agree sometimes moderation is heavy-handed but I get the impression the mods are just trying to nip problems in the bud before their plates get even fuller.


Macrumors is a victim of its own success. I've been here for over 5 years and in the last 3 or so years I've noticed the general quality decline in a big way. With a huge member base can come huge amounts of BS. As someone I know put it "the awesome to noise ratio just got f***ed!"

The iPhone really opened up Apple's market and with that came a lot more users, often more childish and obnoxious ones at that. MacRumors is just bringing us what Apple does. Long gone are the days when Apple and MR were primarily about Macs. The creative, designer sorts are now but a whisper among the louder mass market of small devices. Technology (and MR) has evolved this way.

I've had my disagreements with the way things are handled here but I think the staff are just doing the best they can. It's not exactly an easy job, especially now.
I went through a phase of hoping I could see MR go back to what it once was but that's just never going to happen. One can roll with it or not but it is what it is.

iBlue said:

So you think the solution to bad behaviour is to punish less and coddle more? That sounds nice in theory but I think it could a little naive, at least on a forum this large. I agree sometimes moderation is heavy-handed but I get the impression the mods are just trying to nip problems in the bud before their plates get even fuller.

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I didn't say punish less and I didn't say coddle, I said reward.

I think users should be ranked on their 'usefulness' and politeness in the forums, not simply the length of time they've been a member.

Users should be able to thank others so that a users name might say "Fairtrade, Macrumors Newbie, thanked 14 times" or something. And the numbers of thanks would the open up things like avatars etc.

Plus I think a three-strikes rule would be better than time-out/straight banning.

fairtrade said:

I didn't say punish less and I didn't say coddle, I said reward.

I think users should be ranked on their 'usefulness' and politeness in the forums, not simply the length of time they've been a member.

Users should be able to thank others so that a users name might say "Fairtrade, Macrumors Newbie, thanked 14 times" or something. And the numbers of thanks would the open up things like avatars etc.

Plus I think a three-strikes rule would be better than time-out/straight banning.

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As a relative noob you probably don't realise how many times something similar has been suggested. All this would lead to is clique-ish groups thanking each other and even more resentfulness from those who feel they contributed a helpful answer and were not thanked.

To take a semi-concrete example from the iPhone forums:

15 year-old user "carelessnoob123" posts a new thread:

carelessnoob123 said:

Help! I dropped my brand new iPhone 4 in the bath and now it won't work. My Dad is going to be so pissed. What lie can I tell Apple so they will give me a new one for free.

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Obviously carelessnoob123 will probably spell this far worse, use terrible grammar and won't admit that they want to use a lie to defraud Apple but you get the idea.

User "helpfuloldtimer" posts the correct answer :

helpfuloldtimer said:

Apple will see the moisture sensors are triggered and will charge you for replacement. You're best bet is to be polite, tell the genius exactly what happened and hope they take pity on you. Lying to Apple is committing fraud.

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Do you honestly thing carelesnoob123 is going to thank helpfuloldtimer for this honest, correct and polite advice? Or will they throw a teenage strop and start calling them names?

robbieduncan said:

Do you honestly thing carelesnoob123 is going to thank helpfuloldtimer for this honest, correct and polite advice?

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Yes. Yes I do.

Most of what annoyed me yesterday was the constant making of new threads to let us know they ordered their iPhone, they couldn't order their iPhone, the Apple site was down, the Apple site was up, they were mad, or variations of these topics. However, the mods seem to have done a good job cleaning it up.

bit of a harsh spot for discussion. there is a TON of conversation going a long, and a lot of newbies who are wanting (demanding?) answers. its very hard when there are new people (who often dont know the rules yet) answering with what they are probably used to from other forums.

i find a large percentage of users are extremely friendly and polite. i do report every bad post i see and i think that this may be time for new moderators to possibly be discussed.

-aggie- said:

Most of what annoyed me yesterday was the constant making of new threads to let us know they ordered their iPhone, they couldn't order their iPhone, the Apple site down, the Apple site was up, they were mad, or variations of these topics. However, the mods seem to have done a good job cleaning it up.

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+1. I think there should be an instant ban for anyone who does.

I've got to admit, Macrumours has deteriorated since I joined.

roadbloc said:

+1. I think there should be an instant ban for anyone who does.

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I think banning isn't the solution. Most people who join here are looking for answers. Then they might be just excited about their new iPhone so they must post a thread every minute. What would banning help? A note from mod telling that please don't do this in future usually stops this. They just don't know the rules and how to post here, nobody of us did when we first posted. Banning would just cause anger and more PMs to mods. In big events like iPhone release, it's normal that the forum is flooded by threads.

MR is big now, very big. I would say, we have to live with it. Of course there could be a system that a thread must be approved by a mod before it's visible for others. That way, mod could easily merge, edit or delete it and it would annoy others so much but that requires A LOT work. I agree with Dofo that more mods could possibly help the situation as MR is growing all the time.

Anyway, there isn't a solution that is fine for everyone. If this is made better for veterans like us, only minor share of member benefit off it. The main idea is still to give answers to people who want them and they are usually newbs. If it's made harder for them, they might find another site and then we would be useless

EDIT: To make that mod/demi-god/veteran member approval a little more, it could be handy if a thread made by a member with e.g. less than 50 posts would need an approval by mod or demi-god or whatever is chosen. That way, most advertises would be removed and all useless threads as well. Mod could also improve the post by making it simpler and possibly adding something. Sammich also gave an idea in IRC that a new category of mods e.g. "supervisor" who could do limited things such as approve posts.

Just firing from the hip so it's just an idea

Hellhammer said:

I think banning isn't the solution.

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banning most certainly isnt the solution for a lot of the offences that we see here lately, such as name calling, being OT, rudeness etc. that isnt really banable. i think the answer is more education and/or some sort of prompt for people with <100 (?) posts that informs them of the rules, and asks for their topic to maybe point them in the right direction.

roadbloc said:

I've got to admit, Macrumours has deteriorated since I joined.

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Don't be so hard on yourself.

Hellhammer said:

less than 50 posts would need an approval by mod or demi-god or whatever is chosen

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Demi-Gods don't have an powers. We are nothing to do with Moderation of the site and have no real input on how it is run. We are just the chumps who pay to have the title and the other advertised perks. Anyone can become a demi whenever they want. Even carelessnoob123 could.

robbieduncan said:

Demi-Gods don't have an powers. We are nothing to do with Moderation of the site and have no real input on how it is run. We are just the chumps who pay to have the title and the other advertised perks. Anyone can become a demi whenever they want. Even carelessnoob123 could.

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I know. I was just thinking that it could be too much workload for mods and demi-Gods are more trusted anyway than an average Joe so some trusted people could be authorized to approve threads. It was just an idea, that's why the slashes Here are plenty of regulars who could work as "supervisors" who could approve threads along with mods. Just typing what comes to my mind. It might not even work in real life (vBulletin limitations) but this is feedback forum so I'm giving out some random ideas

dukebound85 said:

With all the iphone posts lately (last few days), I see more and more insults to members with derogatory name calling and put downs where it is making these forums not pleasant to read through

Has everyone noticed this? I have been reporting but that of course isn't stemming the issue really. I feel that the "culture" of MR has become more immature lately and I don't know how this can change for the better. I have noticed that these cases are largely done by relatively new or not substantially active members.

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Not saying you're wrong, but this type of thing happens surrounding every major product release and every major product announcement. It's obviously not getting "unbearable" as plenty of people are still here.

Just make use of the ignore list, or don't click on a thread. The probability of a constructive and/or relevant post in a News thread like the various "iPhone 4" articles after the first page or so is vanishingly small.

Hellhammer said:

I know. I was just thinking that it could be too much workload for mods and demi-Gods are more trusted anyway than an average Joe so some trusted people could be authorized to approve threads. It was just an idea, that's why the slashes Here are plenty of regulars who could work as "supervisors" who could approve threads along with mods. Just typing what comes to my mind. It might not even work in real life (vBulletin limitations) but this is feedback forum so I'm giving out some random ideas

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Uh, trust doesn't come with ONLY just spending $25.

-aggie- said:

Uh, trust doesn't come with ONLY just spending $25.

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of course not, but it is a sign of possible dedication. come on, you and i are both trustworthy - right??

tbh - i would more then happily volunteer to trawl through such a process anything for MR

-aggie- said:

Uh, trust doesn't come with just spending $25.

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It was just an idea, don't take it too seriously. Most demis are long time members with massive post count, take a look at member list. I didn't say all of them can be authorized nor that any of them have to be but most demis are good people, of course, so are most of non-demis too. Like I said, I'm just throwing out ideas, nothing more

Hellhammer said:

It was just an idea, don't take it too seriously. Most demis are long time members with massive post count, take a look at member list. I didn't say all of them can be authorized nor that any of them have to be but most demis are good people, of course, so are most of non-demis too. Like I said, I'm just throwing out ideas, nothing more

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hey wow. im in that list

DoFoT9 said:

hey wow. im in that list

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Everyone is on the list somewhere. It's being on page one that is something to be proud/ashamed of

DoFoT9 said:

hey wow. im in that list

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This just proves that idea is whacked.

robbieduncan said:

Everyone is on the list somewhere. It's being on page one that is something to be proud/ashamed of

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i meant the first page doofus. and yea, you are above me so whatever it is, your worse!!

-aggie- said:

This just proves that idea is whacked.

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awwwwww

DoFoT9 said:

so whatever it is, your worse!!

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Yes. Or more awesome.