Tabloid Town Meeting - Time for a Change?

[Stal]

I'm glad I don't even know what roofing is.

But I agree with Rider. The fact "closeting" is a verb implies an actual action is taking place and I think it ought to head on out. We've used that to imply precisely what we want and so forth.

But if you want to say something like *drags so and so into the closet for some privacy* that's another matter. That could be anything. But the term closeting itself is specific.

I don't feel the need to divide the 'bloids. They've evolved into the social heart for a reason. Two threads is just...annoying. And the fact there will be bleedthrough on both threads would make most people think "Why not just combine the two?" (the question used to be asked about the insanity board and the 'bloids you know).

[Killix]

I disagree with the two threads idea. We had that a long time ago, the Insanity Board and the Tabloids...

The Tabloids swallowed the Insanity Board and they formed into one gigantic general chat thread. XD

There really is no need for a second board. Its a lot easier to have one general "any topic is the topic" thread.

[Enn]

How exactly are we going to wipe "closeting" out of the Tabloid dictionary? x-D;;

[Ikkin]

newnick said:

How exactly are we going to wipe "closeting" out of the Tabloid dictionary? x-D;;

It would certainly be hard to do... XD

I'm not really sure how necessary it would be to eliminate it, anyway. I've seen less-than-PG-13 shows that have implied "closeting" without the benefit of using esoteric/ambiguous terms (looks in the direction of the show Roseanne significantly). Granted, it's not on screen, but that's kind of what the closet implies in the first place.

Reducing the frequency, on the other hand, might do us some good. It'd force people to be more creative, at least...

[Huntress]

Hrm, isn't this turning into too much of a witch hunt? I agree that things could mellow down a but but cutting things too much either won't work out or will turn the 'bloids into the next Neopian Times, where you have to reword things a million times before it's acceptable.

....okaaaay, no more roofing x3 But that wasn't my point. The thing is, we can't get nitpicky over each and every little thing that makes 'bloids the 'bloids. I agree, the overusage of QMs has been getting a bit annoying, but it's not like we can set a quota either. And as for closeting, well, it's not like the word itself would do any harm to a kid who's lurking the 'bloids, they simply wouldn't understand. The word itself is already censorship. It'd help if we all just mellowed down a bit... not like there's a direct need to turn into the Neoboards all of a sudden 'cause like I said, most of the 'bloids are decent enough, it's those few occasions that have ventured too close to the line.

EDIT: and before anyone throws a hypocrite at me 'cause a few posts back I said that parents can take vague hints very well, note that the verb "to closet" actually exists. It means "to have a private meeting with someone in a closed meeting room" according to my English-Estonian dictionary. And that's what we've been doing, dontcha agree?

[Kat]

[shadow=purple,left,300]From what I've read, it all boils down to this: we've been going too far, and we don't know exactly where we've scratched the border.

In fact, many people now think that the only way to get attention is to make a post brimming with QMs and innuendo. Seriously, they're all good every now and then, but when they're overdone, they lose their...erm, impact? Because they've been used all the time.

And yes, when someone tries to say something serious or already funny in itself, some people still insist on inserting QMs and stuff (Guilty as charged, but I'm kicking the habit). It does get very annoying, and riding the wave just isn't helping.

We're not the Neoboards, but we're family-oriented. Do we honestly think that the tabloids would crash and burn if we toned it down? It's been doing well in the past, when the innuendo wasn't as blatant as it is today.[/shadow]

[Strife]

The tabloids is one of the key things that seperates the NTWF from all other forums i've ever been to. The reason it's so appealing is because it has a looser set of rules than the rest of the forum, so that people are able to relax and talk about anything and everything.

I don't think we should make any major changes to the structure of the bloids. But at the same time, I agree with the fact that the messages people post are becoming more... como se dice... perverted.

Think about this for a moment, although you might already know the answer. Why do people make QM's and innuendos on the bloids? Some do it to try and get their post into the Memorable Quotes section... Some do it simply to get attention... Others do it to relieve stress and get a good laugh (like myself). The problem with this, however, is that when a certain QM is overused, it's not as funny and attention-grabbing as it used to be. I think bloiders shouldn't stick to the same QM's over long periods of time, lest they become a permanent entry in the NTWF dictionary of slang terms. So, like a stand-up comedian changes their routine, perhaps it's time to change our routine as well.

The thing is, we've been QMing for so long that in our minds, we automatically apply perverted attributes to anything surrounded by quotation marks. I know this isn't possible, but what if the quotation mark and apostrophe keys (" and ') were disabled in the tabloids? People would be much more subtle and inventive with the way they crack jokes and innuendos.

I'm not against QMing... In fact, i'm guilty as charged. x3 What concerns me, however, is the possible clash between people who want to have friendly conversations and people who want to QM and be involved with the bloidal family tree.

When it all comes down to it, and if we decide to do something about this, I believe I see four possible outcomes:

- A new section devoted to G-rated discussion
- Deletion of the tabloids
- New, more strictly enforced rules
- Everyone promises to be more careful about what they type; otherwise one of the above happens

Of course, that's just my opinion on the subject.

[Ikkin]

There's one big tension at the heart of this discussion - how do we keep the things that make the Bloids the Bloids, while making sure that we don't cross the line? And I think that the first part - keeping what makes the Bloids the Bloids - shouldn't be overlooked. After all, that's why we want to fix the Bloids in the first place, right?

The best outcome would be if we could agree not to use QMs/closeting/innuendo as much, and find some new, less perverted (and probably more creative) things to use in their place. That way, we'd avoid the feeling of being stifled by rules and still make it more family-friendly. Perhaps bringing back the Tabloids newspaper could be one such replacement.

[Dan]

Seems to me that all we'd need to do is have the mods crack down and the members being more careful. *shrug* It just doesn't seem to call for anything more drastic.

[Zylaa]

I agree that forced creativity would be entertaining. Heck, most of us write, we're supposed to be creative anyway. But how much are people going to crack down? I mean... we say on the Tabloid Town board that this is PG-13. The jokes, the innuendo, it's all in good fun.

Bringing back the Tabloid newspaper won't work if it's forced. Plain and simple. One of the things that makes this place great is spontanaeity. If someone decides that it would be fun to antagonize us all with stories, that would be fun, entertaining, awesome. If someone's just doing it because they feel obligated, it'll show.

[Killix]

I think most of us agree that we don't need some drastic change type deal like splitting the threads or deleting the Tabloids.

What we need is concious effort from every member who posts on the tabloids, to be a lot more careful and thoughtful about what they write/post.

The mods can't be everywhere at once...and they shouldn't have to babysit, or keep a lockdown type watch on us incase we misbehave. ;D We, the members, need to make the change within ourselves, and just plain stop posting things that go over the line.

The bottom line is: Don't post anything you wouldn't show to your mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/10 year old sister. ;D

[Deleted]

meowth4 said:

I think most of us agree that we don't need some drastic change type deal like splitting the threads or deleting the Tabloids.

What we need is concious effort from every member who posts on the tabloids, to be a lot more careful and thoughtful about what they write/post.

The mods can't be everywhere at once...and they shouldn't have to babysit, or keep a lockdown type watch on us incase we misbehave. ;D We, the members, need to make the change within ourselves, and just plain stop posting things that go over the line.

The bottom line is: Don't post anything you wouldn't show to your mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/10 year old sister. ;D

Simple as that...

I hear you, Mowfy!

^_^

[Stal]

Thanks for that nice summary, Mowf. ^___^ You got it.

Of course, that's not to say you shouldn't feel relaxed and what not on the 'bloids. It's just a sense of "should I really post this?" We're still going to have fun, we're still going to have drama and marriages, but we're going to try to keep the parody and fun to be less controversial/perverse and try to keep the "scandals" as innocent as possible. The 'bloids you know and love will still be around, but with a new shiny protective coating.

[Goosh]

Have to agree with Killix here.... I've only been on here for a month but 60% percent of what I see on the bloids is Qms and innuendo. And I'm rsponsible for abput 8% percent of that, over all. For me personally, probably about 40%-60%. But the point is, if you wouldn't show it to your family, don't show it to us!

[Zylaa]

... I wouldn't want my 10 year old sister to read about all these scandals, even though they're all in good fun. I mean, we have a warning on this part of the site. Are we going to do away with that warning, or what?