Sorry - I need to say something

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Master of Master Baiters Joined: 13 Jan 2014 Posts: 698

I entered this weird and wonderful world on 13 January and so far am finding it to be a great way for old wrinklies like me to pass their time and to retain that personal feeling that they can still be of some use to Humanity, even though the Grim Reaper creeps ever closer.

However, my friends of the Admin and Moderating team that work so tirelessly on our behalf, I do hope you will not take umbrage if I now appear to become somewhat critical. I do so with the very best of intentions.

In a nutshell, I have quickly formed the opinion (and it is only an opinion, but a relevant one, I believe) that this site is more crotchety, confused and creaky than I am - and it's a damned sight younger than me!

Perhaps it's because it has proved such a popular and worthwhile site that its original set of baby-grows have extended far beyond the limit and it certainly needs its nappy changed. In other words, is it not time for a comprehensive makeover?

My main reason for stating this is that, even though there may be many who would look upon me as somebody whose mental capacities must now be closing down, I can assure you that there is plenty of life in the old dog yet and my powers of observation and comprehension are still on a par with those of you who still have bucket loads of testosterone or oestrogen flowing through your veins, yet when I attempt to navigate the intricacies of this site in search of those little snippets of enlightenment that really don't warrant pms to mentors, mods or hearty helpful types, I still feel like a half-blind person who has been abandoned to his own devices in the middle of Hampton Court Maze (I'll leave those of you who haven't a clue what I mean by this to visit Google).

I heartily agree that there are reams of advice and information within the site and the general impression is that there is a real desire to make newbies welcome and to furnish them with the tools and help they require, but why does it have to be so damned untidy, turgid and littered with insufficiently explained technical jargon, forum slang and computer-speak in the way it's presented?

It's OK for groups of people to have their own way of speaking to each other but when an outsider wanders in and you want to make him/her feel welcome, at least have some way of easing him in with a cleaner, clearer format which doesn't take an age to navigate successfully. A purpose-designed top-of-the forum section for newbies, clearly labelled, linked and signposted and at least containing a glossary of terms might prove an extremely helpful first step for those like me

My rant is now over. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and efforts across the board - but please see if there are ways you can make the site more user-friendly.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:00 pm

I am an old fart also and I can see where you are coming from but nothing is perfect and we have to make do with what we have.

MAKE DO AND MEND LOL_sign

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:03 pm

Actually, the powers that be have been reworking the site as of late. As with most other on-going projects it is a work in process. It's hard to do tell-all thread that covers everything as there are so many facets to this hobby. That is why we try to steer the new people to Eater university and to a Mentor for more context sensitive help.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:03 pm

I assume you missed this post then http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=237673, which is regularly linked to in the Welcome thread and is Stickied in the Help forum.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:38 pm

We really do try. I don't know how we could make that "NEW USERS PLEASE READ" announcement any clearer but we're always open to suggestion.

(We call this part "Scambaiting Definitions" but it really is the same thing as "glossary of terms.")

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:40 pm

@ Ahmastin Geebougah

Yes the link in the above post is the Reception Area for new arrivals.

By the way this site only changed from Latin to English text late last month
Smile

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 9:19 pm

^^^Gratias autem Deo

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Welcome, if I didn't welcome you when you joined.

You will find this place filled with crotchety old souls, this is not a teen aged Internet hangout. Like any sub-culture there is an adjustment period to learn the local nomenclature. We love to rib each other but it's never personal, unless you are an asshole, and I don't see that in you.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:04 pm

^ old age and treachery, and all that.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^

Quote:

In the pasture are dozens of attractive cows, milling about and eating the tender grass beneath their hooves.

The young bull says to the old bull, "Let's run down the hill and get us a cow!!"

The old bull calmly looks at the young one and replies, "Let's WALK down the hill and get them ALL."

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:17 pm

damn straight. We should share a herd of cows some time.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:01 pm

Ok. This is how it works. You get pissed off at receiving spam. You get infuriated with stupid scams. You want to do something about it but you're not sure what.

Then you find this site and suddenly you are in Oz. You are in awe of the skills and trophies and you understand the language but not the vernacular or the dialect and you certainly don't get the jokes but you decide to stick around anyway and just enjoy the company.

Finally you brave sticking your head above the parapet and you say hi I'm a newb. And no one laughs at you they all say welcome do you need any help.

Your points are totally valid A G but this isn't just a site FOR the people it's also BY the people and for that reason it will always be a wonderful smorgasbord of not only clarity and usefulness but equally, to coin an Eater phrase you will become familiar with, absolute undiluted shitfuckery.

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:58 pm

I concur with the OP. While the tireless efforts of the Mods, Admin, and 'Civilian' members are excellent, and most likely without monetary reward, I find it incredibly difficult to navigate through the site to find information, forms, tools, etc. For example it took me 30 minutes to find out how to insert sig.icons, and there's countless other things I look for that I often just never find, although I know they're in here.

Perhaps the very success of this site, and the traffic that it generates over the years has made it cumbersome. I'll freely say that I don't have a solution, so this is simply a bit of soapboxing, which I hope will be taken constructively and without malice. I wish I could help in some way but I'm not familiar with the workings of a forum or a search engine, so all I can offer is some whingeing Smile

Overall though, great job from all those who give up their time to keep the site operating, and developing the tools/forms/etc that make this game so much more pleasurable.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:17 am

Can't speak for anyone but myself, but the Intro and stickies do give a working knowledge of baiting for our new members. Is it perfectly organized and crystal clear? No. But members of this site including mods and admin are volunteers. This isn't their job, just what they do in their spare time.

I'm not dissing the OP because I've had to hunt for info and the search button on my laptop is almost worn out. I've realized if I can't find certain information, then I can ask and someone usually can tell me where to find it.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:28 am

This thread http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=237673, which has already been mentioned a couple times, didn't even exist when I first got here in September. So the mods, busy as they are with their RL and the forum, are constantly trying to update and make the site more user friendly. And I'm not just sucking up. Razz

Most recently was their decision to clean up the Help, Hints & Tips sub-forum so that the newbies would have a less cluttered area to seek help.

When I first got here, I read anything and everything I could for a month before I started baiting. I followed every link I could. If the link was broken, I searched for key terms. I admit, the search function isn't the easiest to use but my point is that I read a topic until I felt I had exhausted it and learned as much as I could. I practically memorized Eater U. While at first it may seem like things are just scattered around, after awhile you get to know where everything is. It may be imperfect and it may be a case of 'this is how it's always been done' but without a plan for a fix, or even knowing what that would entail, my advice is to read read read! Follow every link and if a link is broken, search for the topic. If you find something you think might be especially useful to you, bookmark it for future reference.

One thing I would like to see, and would be more than happy to help with, is an update to Eater University with current topics or updates to existing topics. Like I said, many links are broken and because of this examples can't be referenced. I know this would be a monumental task but I think it would be very beneficial.

Many of the newer members may not be aware of the toolbox:
http://www.scambaitingtools.com/. I have it in my signature so I can access it easily when I need it. Lots of nice tools/forms to use.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:51 am

This thread could be awesome, but it's a dead link cemetery

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=151052

Alas, rather than simply criticize, I'll raise my hand offer to go through and identify all the dead links if Admin wants to clean it up.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Capone wrote:

Is it perfectly organized and crystal clear? No.

More at the OP than anyone else. Find me another fourm on the Internets that you can ask any question, any time of the night or day, and have it answered by an expert, in a reasonably friendly fashion, within minutes.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 577

I thought SOOI was on furlough?

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 1:38 am

@ PF fishmeetfish - nobody there but rabid scammers and expert baiters.
Of course in other fora you can get answers at odd hours from people who think they are experts, they will also tell you they were in the SAS and can hear mind control rays.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Nailgunner wrote:

mind control rays.

Who told you about the mind control rays?

OP will never be back, dang.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:50 am

Anyone and everyone,

All you need do is ask. We're here to help. Everyone but the scammers, that is!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 Jan 2014 Posts: 38

Being a combination of new member AND crotchety approaching middle-aged type of cantankerous and illogical bitch, I feel well qualified to weigh in here...

No forum is perfect, unless it's semi-dormant - those ones stay neat and tidy and pretty.

THIS forum is forging along full-tilt, being the kind that is hard work for active members and for mods; if you think about it, most of the "action" happens away from the forum, as that's the nature of its work.

While I agree with OP in that it certainly takes a little while to get used to the weird and wonderful workings of the forum, it's fair to say that it would be difficult to improve the "modalities". New information , tools etc seem to be added 24 hours a day, and by its nature the forum really is a true work in progress.

The best aspect of the forum (aside of some incredible hilarity, and outrageous safaris to hail Wink

) is that ANY question I ask, and any advice I seek at any time, is answered very promptly by helpful and experienced souls who do this for the sole reward of helping others.
I don't think it gets better than this, in all honesty!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 4:26 am

this forum def. needs more bewbs.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:48 am

^^^Just for you here's some pictures of tits.

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:53 am

Those are some pretty tits! I wouldn't mind having some as pets.

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