Hacking Suggestion [META] There is WAY too much clutter here

[Samus20XX]

Title

it's totally ok to ask questions. it's also ok to not immediately know how to access some of the information here. But its not ok that there is a thread made that asks the same questions that everybody else has asked and been answered.

There is a stickied post here to ask all of your questions and possibly find some answers: https://gbatemp.net/threads/switch-noob-paradise-ask-questions-here.488277/

The amount of clutter and redundant posts is obscene dude. If the mods were to direct people to the sticky above that would for sure make everything a lot better here. If you guys have done that already or have been, my b.

So before you post an entire fkn thread, use THE SEARCH BAR or click on the stickied post above and ask your question there. Its why that post was made/stickied in the first place /:

 

[Kubas_inko]

Yea. Stop making the clutter bigger.

 

[DarthDub]

Oh, the irony..

 

[jakkal]

you just added to the clutter with your trash thread

 

[Issac]

Title

it's totally ok to ask questions. it's also ok to not immediately know how to access some of the information here. But its not ok that there is a thread made that asks the same questions that everybody else has asked and been answered.

There is a stickied post here to ask all of your questions and possibly find some answers: https://gbatemp.net/threads/switch-noob-paradise-ask-questions-here.488277/

The amount of clutter and redundant posts is obscene dude. If the mods were to direct people to the sticky above that would for sure make everything a lot better here. If you guys have done that already or have been, my b.

So before you post an entire fkn thread, use THE SEARCH BAR or click on the stickied post above and ask your question there. Its why that post was made/stickied in the first place /:

If you see any threads like that, don't hesitate to report the threads (and write in the report that it has already been answered or something), it will help out a lot!

 

[Samus20XX]

If you see any threads like that, don't hesitate to report the threads (and write in the report that it has already been answered or something), it will help out a lot!

gotcha, will do!

-snip-

 

[Deleted member 191657]

Like I said before, this section needs to be split:

- Homebrew / hacking releases/news (and not Tutorials)
- Homebrew / hacking discussions

 

[Deleted-442439]

If you see any threads like that, don't hesitate to report the threads (and write in the report that it has already been answered or something), it will help out a lot!

Yeah but the mods don't seem to do anything regardless... (Have reported a lot lol)

 

[Issac]

Yeah but the mods don't seem to do anything regardless... (Have reported a lot lol)

If mods haven't done anything about it, they haven't looked at it yet or just deemed it not warranting action.

 

[notimp]

If any mod would actually try to read this forum - which by the impression i've got they do not (they go flagged hunting instead ), something like a forum split would have been scheduled a long time go.

As it stands right now, as someone that wants to contribute to projects, and keep up on the news, you get avalanched by requsts of people, that have no Idea what to do, but who want something.

- Threadjacking is so common in here, you'll find it in every thread over 10 pages.
- "Flag and we will do something" doesnt help, because its retroactive - at which point the "service solicitation" already has taken place, and people don't care anymore what happens to their threads.
- As those promises of "we will do something" are made in here, there are two threads with the same title and over 3 pages each - on the same topic, on the front page of this forum.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-clo...rom-cartridges-on-the-home-menu.502648/unread
https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-far-are-we-from-backup-loading.502681/

- saying, that you want to tackle the issue, and then not even seeing that example right in front of your eyes, and doing something about it, underlines that the flagging > action model doesnt work.

The actions have to be timely - swiftly and harsh, if you want to change the service solicitation abuse culture in here - if you don't (all those clicks!) do us a solid and separate this out into two forums. One where peolpe can hunt for their individual tutorial coach, and another one, where smaller projects and news can find a place.

The n00bs thread hardly ever gets used, most people just post their own threads, simply to get more visibility. Those threads vanish from the frontpage after max two days, but there is a never ending flow of new ones being created every day. At one point, I literally answered the same question for four different people, in four different threads in three hours.

This can not be considered a forum environment anymore - at that point.

Judging from the frequency of those occurences in here, you will never manage to get a handle on this only using the ticket system. You need symbolic actions (new forum or ban threats... ) to even get noticed by those people. They mostly don't read anything in threads, they havent created themselves. )

 

[Ryccardo]

If any mod would actually try to read this forum - which by the impression i've got they do not (they go flagged hunting instead ), something like a forum split would have been scheduled a long time go.

As it stands right now, as someone that wants to contribute to projects, and keep up on the news, you get avalanched by requsts of people, that have no Idea what to do, but who want something.

- Threadjacking is so common in here, you'll find it in every thread over 10 pages.
- "Flag and we will do something" doesnt help, because its retroctive - at which point the "service solicitation" already has taken place, and people don't care.
- As those promises of "we will do something are made in here, there are two threads with the same title and over 3 pages each - on the same topic

Sorry if you were seeking evasion from the 3DS "Homebrew" "Development" and Gacube Emelators section, but as long as you don't browse those 2 sections you can likely avoid throwing your PC at a wall while on GBATemp

 

[notimp]

Sorry if you were seeking evasion from the 3DS "Homebrew" "Development" and Gacube Emelators section, but as long as you don't browse those 2 sections you can likely avoid throwing your PC at a wall while on GBATemp

I'm only active on "Switch Hacking & Homebrew" and all my experiences are describing the situation in this subforum.

 

[Ryccardo]

I'm only active on "Switch Hacking & Homebrew" and all my experiences are describing the situation in this subforum.

Yeah, then I would suggest you to try to abstain from continuing the use of GBATemp or other services providing equivalent subforums until a couple of years after the next generation console is released

 

[Hells Malice]

I find it cute when 13 year olds demand mods browse the forums, prowling for any wrongdoing In the hundreds of active threads, 24/7. You can tell people like this have absolutely no grasp on reality because no normal human will just sit on a forum and hunt down issues nonstop forever. Most people have lives, and mods aren't paid either. The flagging system is not only the perfect compromise, it's basically the only thing that can and will ever work.

Notimp seems to want psychic demigods to prowl the forum and destroy poor threads or blogs before they actually come to exist. If you find such beings that are willing to commit the rest of their existence to cleaning some of the subforums, you should definitely contact some admins.

 

[Deleted-442439]

If mods haven't done anything about it, they haven't looked at it yet or just deemed it not warranting action.

Indeed! I do still however feel like this sub forum in particular needs some cleanup:

- The sticky threads are incredibly outdated, there are newer threads with important and updated information

- Because of the rapid evolution of the scene it would be good to have 2 subforums: One for news and general discussion with stricter rules for what can be posted, and one "noob help" forum. This would help keep everything clean and stop good threads from being "drowned" by 10 useless thread as we see happen here.

I believe GBAtemp is a great tool to inform people of what is going on in the scene, but there is room for improvement, I think clearer guidelines and perhaps a reminder when creating a thread (check if this has been answered before etc.) would massively help reduce spam.

I understand mods can't police every comment and thread posted on here, but a few structural changes would help a lot!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I find it cute when 13 year olds demand mods browse the forums, prowling for any wrongdoing In the hundreds of active threads, 24/7. You can tell people like this have absolutely no grasp on reality because no normal human will just sit on a forum and hunt down issues nonstop forever. Most people have lives, and mods aren't paid either. The flagging system is not only the perfect compromise, it's basically the only thing that can and will ever work.

Notimp seems to want psychic demigods to prowl the forum and destroy poor threads or blogs before they actually come to exist. If you find such beings that are willing to commit the rest of their existence to cleaning some of the subforums, you should definitely contact some admins.

Although I agree with you, I think the greater point here is that a few structural changes to this particular forum would help the situation without creating more work for the mods. I actually think having this forum split in 2 would create less work for the mods (less flagged threads) and improve the quality in general for users.

 

[Kafluke]

It's always like this in the beginning. When things start hoppin so to speak. It will die down. It won't ever go away though (look at the Wii u hacking forum).

Over the years I've found it best to exercise patience and point the user to the correct thread with some helpful advice on how to find the answers.

If you're feeling snarky and want to say something hurtful or mean just wait a few hours and wait for someone else to. That way you can take the higher ground and at the same time enjoy seeing someone get smacked down for being lazy.

Just my two cents.

 

[Hells Malice]

Indeed! I do still however feel like this sub forum in particular needs some cleanup:

- The sticky threads are incredibly outdated, there are newer threads with important and updated information

- Because of the rapid evolution of the scene it would be good to have 2 subforums: One for news and general discussion with stricter rules for what can be posted, and one "noob help" forum. This would help keep everything clean and stop good threads from being "drowned" by 10 useless thread as we see happen here.

I believe GBAtemp is a great tool to inform people of what is going on in the scene, but there is room for improvement, I think clearer guidelines and perhaps a reminder when creating a thread (check if this has been answered before etc.) would massively help reduce spam.

I understand mods can't police every comment and thread posted on here, but a few structural changes would help a lot!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Although I agree with you, I think the greater point here is that a few structural changes to this particular forum would help the situation without creating more work for the mods. I actually think having this forum split in 2 would create less work for the mods (less flagged threads) and improve the quality in general for users.

Yeah I was pretty much entirely just making fun of the guy for his morbidly unrealistic expectations of mods. Nothing related to mods or how they function would remedy clutter on the scale that popular subforums tend to attract. There are certainly other options though, like your suggestion.

 

[Imancol]

look

https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-make-custom-fusee-gelee-payloads.502137/

https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-how-to-make-custom-fusee-payloads.502138/

 

[Quantumcat]

If you're feeling snarky and want to say something hurtful or mean just wait a few hours and wait for someone else to. That way you can take the higher ground and at the same time enjoy seeing someone get smacked down for being lazy.

Definitely this - better to be known for being a nice person. If they deserve being told off then someone else will.

 

[notimp]

The difference between moderators that actually do their job proactively (reading out of their own volition what is going on in their communities), and ones who don't - is the difference between moderators that know whats going on in their communities, and those who dont.

Only having a "view" of proceedings from whatever gets flagged doesn't allow you to judge the bigger picture.

This is really a question about what gbatemps approach to community is.

"As a moderator you have no reason to participate, or be shown in your community" - unless something happened, declines the part where you would be needed as a rolemodel, and to enforce the rules on the ground, the part where people have actual confidence in your decisions, because they perceive you as part of the community, and not just an entity that gets called into action whenever something happens that touches on this forum terms of use.

To put it simpler - if your moderators are not willing to participate in this community to actually see whats going on in here, day in and day out - maybe try to elect someone in here who might be willing to do that. Sort of a govern your community from within, and not from the capital 500 miles away - approach. (Also, I'm out of the run, obviously - )

"Its always like that", and "If you dont like it, scram!", are the denialist approaches.

We've now shown you two examples of mirror threads, just put up to abuse peoples ability to help - solely serving the needs of the person, who didn't want to read this forum in the first place, going up in two days - and none of those for has been taken down - visibly - so that there would be a chance of a learning effect.

You can do all kinds of things - make a sticky that tells people that their threads will be deleted, if they are asking questions that have been asked and answered in here before, in the same week - although thats maybe the least viable approach.

You can lead through actions, and take them down - but you have to become a part of this community in a sense, you need to be visible in the daily proceedings - explaining your actions, and to be able to act before people are soliciting their "personal" answers, and then leaving to never be seen again.

You can split this forum into a "news and projects" section and in a "help me, I want - free for all" and then enforce it. That way you would get visibility without having to increase your moderation efforts.

Or you can do nothing, and let this prolong - vowing, that you might take action, if we use the reporting system - which will work with the same efficiancy as a DMCA takedown notice on the part of a file hoster.

Telling people in here, that you would take down duplicate threads, has to be followed up with timely action - otherwise it has no effect. The people creating the problem have no interest in participating in this community - they are interested in results, and as long as someone still talks to them and angrily tells them an answer - hoping that more people will read it, thereby reducing the need of him/her giving that answer again - the support abuser wins.

And not in a win-win kind of way.

We understand, that this is a conflict of interest, where even some of your paid supporters might be primarily in this to get their support requests filled - but the alternative of "just don't participate" until more people are unintersted in the platform, is no working alternative. We can encourage developers to only release their stuff on twitter, because this community has become a hinderance for people that wan't to follow developments in the scene, rather than "being filled in by someone", but thats also a rather lackluster approach.

Please - in some form - protect our interests, as people who would actually want to read about developments, every day (repeat visitors) as well.

The way this subforum functions currently is not sustainable, people get burned out left an right. Conflict, because of that mismatch is a daily occurance.

And we have not even started to get into the main release phase of hacks that will have a wider usability. We had a taste of that, the day I "had" to answer the same question four times in four different threads, in three hours - but people tried again, and again - because they didn't like the "nothing for you as an enduser yet" answer - and din't bother to read anything - before creating their "individual" support threads.

Create a "support forum" if you must - but keep it separate from news and project discussions. If people want to play their "I just need a quick answer" games in this forum, give them a place to do so - thats not mixed in with release and news discussions people would want to read to keep informed.