[Drew]

Okay guys, without sounding too condescending here, you have no clue what you are talking about.

A) If you delete all the posts on the forums, I guarantee you that we will lose one-third to one-half of the posters here, solely based on the lack of things to discuss. Not to mention the ones who will bounce because they lost their post counts, etc.

B) The deletion of all user accounts is not only impractical, it's suicide. Forum users are inherently lazy. Half the posters won't be bothered to re-register, and so we again are losing a huge chunk of activity. And any loss that large tends to create a situation where the population of the forums slowly dies off from inactivity.

C) Elimination of the ban list. I don't know how long you guys who support this have been around, but anyone that has been here at least as long as me knows that this is insane. We're not talking about the user "revolutionaries" here, we're talking about extremely malicious groups of people intent on trying to leak game hacks. You're right, probably 90% of the bans are proxies, and we obviously can't anticipate every proxy, but I guarantee you that we've made it more difficult and hence not worth the effort.

D) Both A and B are also both very dangerous in terms of forum stability. And aside from wiping the database tables or installing mods, there is no easy way to do it other than delete users one by one. Keep in mind that administrators do not have access to perform database alterations.

So at this point you are asking yourself, "Well, what would you do Noctis?"

That's a difficult question. And without wanting to sound hypocritical, I don't have all the right answers.

Having experience in modding forums (code modifications, not forum moderation), I firmly believe that the answer lies within administrative mods. There are several mods out there which allow you to perform more specific functions such as deletion of all users inactive for a certain period of time or with zero posts. In fact, there are mods to do almost anything you could think of, so what I believe is that we need is an administrator capable of implementing these mods. Which would of course require the appropriate FTP access, etc. So, given recent events, it's hard to say if BadScript would ever even consider something like that. Not that I blame him, of course. However restricting access to a folder in FTP isn't difficult and I know he knows how to do it.

Anyway, good luck to whoever is chosen as the new moderator/administrator. Whoever it is will have their work cut out for them. I just hope whoever it is doesn't go trying to implement anything crazy, lest we all see AA.COM bite the big one once and for all.

EDIT:: I posted this as a new thread in order to address all threads of this type.

[Tripper]

I totally agree with what you're saying, mate.

I knew I wasn't the only one who thought deleting accounts would be suicide.

[intrestedviewer]

hehe, i dont even like loging in when the computer erases my info.....so damn lazy.

[Milla]

Originally Posted by Tripper

I knew I wasn't the only one who thought deleting accounts would be suicide.

[Bazooka_Joe]

Sorry Noc, can't agree with you there. I'd just like to see the entire OBS section wiped clean of all posts. Dunno about users though, because this is not the only forum on this site.

[Poseidon]

[quote="Bazooka_Joe":9ee9e]Sorry Noc, can't agree with you there. I'd just like to see the entire OBS section wiped clean of all posts. Dunno about users though, because this is not the only forum on this site.[/quote:9ee9e]

I agree - there are a few bugs with this forum - webdesigner topic that comes up when you click "view posts since last visit" and alot of the earlier posts dont work (whether they were deleted or not i'm not sure)

By redoing the forum all these can be fixed. - also BadScript can get an accurate number of regular posters.

I believe its time to start again.

[descry]

Originally Posted by intrestedviewer

hehe, i dont even like loging in when the computer erases my info.....so damn lazy.

[elstatec]

by erasing everthing you would loose the history of aa.com and what this place is all about. good shout noctis.

meh... I really don't give it a shit what happens...

[Zen]

This is the last post I intend on making in referance to my idea of reconstruction.

As a person who has avoided a high post count, and someone who was not here for the great revolutions and shitstorms, I am at a loss.

I will never understand what is so sacred about the 69 join date and the honor and glory that comes with 3 years of your life in posts. When did it become this amazing thing that you have been here since the begining?

Maybe I am the only one, but I dont give a shit who joined when or how long they have been here. I have said it before , and I will say it again: I have seen 69ers act like noobs and guys with 2 posts act like vets.

Others may have come here to be popular and meet the super-gods of MOH..... I did not. I stuck around because I met some really interesting people and wanted to have conversations with them. I enjoy the broad range of ideas and perspectives.

As far as my idea is concerned, I have explained it to fullest of my abillity, I have no itention of going into it further beyond these final comments.

I dont know if any of you have tryed to find out WHY we are attacked or not, but I have saught it out. I dont know if any of you have tryed to find a solution to the problem of badblood or not, but I have. I have been through tons of old posts on late nights to see how things were. I spent an enourmous amount of time looking at how things were handled in the past. I have talked with many of the "old timers" to try to discover this "It was better before" thing. All for the purpose of coming up with a solution that would be as universally good for everyone involved.
And you would be amazed how many times I have been told, from IRC, to MSN, to VC to here that "Its not worth it Zen, give it up"

The plan I layed out is the best I could come up with solve every problem that has been sent my way from the people here and there concerns, to the people who hate the place and why they do.

Now as far as cleaning the whole place out goes, I felt that a fresh start would be a good thing. You history buffs do know that you can only go back about a year before the posts disapear right? And more posts are disapearing with every new post made. I can understand having a desire to see what happened and reminising on old times, but this is a forum, not the fading familly photo album.
As Misc so wisely put it in a recent conversation" There is life outside of the forum".

But hey, look. If you guys dont care why should I? As if it were my responsibillity, I have invested far to much of my own effort and time to reach a resolve. So I am content to take the advice so many have given and leave the attacks and other problems to Zone, Buck and BS.

Im also gonna take MiscGuys (and others) advice and withdraw myself from any Mod election or eligabillity. I have no further desire to tackle the High School politics of AA, I would rather spend the time with my children.

Now dont get me wrong, I am not angry or upset in any way. I wish all the best and will continue to not only post, but offer ideas and encouragement to create a better community within AA.

[9mm BeRetTa]

Since this forum is declining so rapidly i do not think we should aid it by deleting post counts...

You are thinking too big...start out small by just getting new mods.

[Madmartagen]

[quote="9mm BeRetTa":fcf78]Since this forum is declining so rapidly i do not think we should aid it by deleting post counts...

You are thinking too big...start out small by just getting new mods.[/quote:fcf78]

I agree. Maybe admin should pursue reconciliation with the hackers. If they are doing it just because they have been banned, maybe they can work something out. Otherwise, i say its time for another alliedassault.com crusade!!

[Drew]

While I choose to maintain ignorance in regards to whoever it was that hacked - and I use that term lightly - the forums, I do know that certain things would probably cut down on - or end altogether - this nonsense.

Zen, while I respect your time and effort, as well as your maturity regarding the matter, it just seems to me like you can't grasp the concept of AA.COM - but I can't blame you, because it doesn't make sense. Why would people care about their post count or their join date? Who knows, but it seems like that is something that is constant on every forum I have ever visited in my life. Childish? Yeah, probably, but some of that immaturity is what creates the fodder for the humorous anticdotes that keep people returning to the site.

This site cannot ever be "fixed" as some people propose. This site will never be what it was, because the people have changed. Some have gone, others were added. And now it is what it has become. A good first step, as mentioned above, is getting in some active moderators that aren't going to stir up a shitstorm.

And here's something for some controversy - unban the IRC people. In all seriousness, Strik0r never hacked the site, the reference to his name only perpetuates as a joke from the original "revolution" - in case anyone remembers the days when people would speak up in an organized matter, rather than just hack the site and post goatse.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

[Pyro]

haha...my post count is life.

[Madmartagen]

Originally Posted by Noctis

And here's something for some controversy - unban the IRC people.

who are the IRC people?