Is UF less busy?

[Bandit]

A few years ago I was a lot more active here but due to becoming both self-employed and a college student, I didn't have time to continue constant activity here. Now, coming back, it seems almost dead. What happened?

I blame Netflix and World of Warcraft..

And theres that Facebook mess non of us like.. Now if everyone will excuse me I have to go proclaim on FB how wonderful my day has been and how much better I am at everything then everyone else!!

[ubunterooster]

=D> =D> i

[mörgæs]

If one is looking at an example of how moderation is impacting UF take a look at this thread. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2097801. Now technically the actions of the administrator in this case are correct because the thread is political, a petition to the US Government, and consequntly a violation of the Code of Conduct so it is pretty hard to pursue this issue in the RC or with the administrator involved. The message on the other hand is loud and clear a petition advocating the use of Free and Open Source Software, the very software included in the Ubuntu distribution, in schools is not welcome on UF. It is hardly surprising that many who are advocates for Free and Open Source Software would feel not welcome in this community and vote with their feet.

The Amazon lens is another good example. I actually find the concerted effort to suppress debate on this clearly controversial subject that directly impacts Ubuntu users, far more objectionable than the issue itself. However once again because it is controversial one can legitimatly argue that the closing of the threads in question were correct actions by the staff members involved.

The bottom line here is that vibrance in a forum sometimes comes at the expense of controversy, and if one aims to eliminate even the slightest form of controversy the forum may actually die a slow death.

+1.

I believe it's important to state that we (staff/admins) are not one entity, and we have different views upon this.

Also we should not try to hide that we have a problem with anchoring. After a given subject has attracted one troll there is a tendency to see later posts in a more troll-ish view, leading to more bans / closed threads / unsatisfied users / users leaving the forum than necessary.

As Nothingspecial mentioned we are all learning, and a thread like this one is a good input in the process.

[Gone fishing]

Also we should not try to hide that we have a problem with anchoring. After a given subject has attracted one troll there is a tendency to see later posts in a more troll-ish view, leading to more bans / closed threads / unsatisfied users / users leaving the forum than necessary.

As Nothingspecial mentioned we are all learning, and a thread like this one is a good input in the process.

I think most members appreciate the work that staff / admins put in, the forums are a friendly place to be, even if mistakes are made. I post a supposed “quote” from the Ubuntu forums which I thought might amuse from another forum. I did flag this as being bull sh*t and at least we don't have this non-sense on the forums. I think UF is generally quite a friendly, supportive and mature forum

Let's be real - open source fans that bash Microsoft are 99% of Linux free soul open minders, not WordPress.

Just read Ubuntu forums. "omg so glads i no longer suport war in iraq by buing M $ crappy rotten softwar". Never found those statements on other open source project forums.

[vasa1]

Came across this:

The chief indicator of a Help Vampire problem is the lack of helpfulness — the community may still appear to be bustling and lively, but if on closer inspection the conversation is all towards the shallow end of the pool, with moderately difficult questions going unanswered, then a Help Vampire infestation is likely.

From: Help Vampires: A Spotter’s Guide