Forum Games complaint

First off let me start this by saying I love this forum and most of the people here. What I'm about to say I think will probably upset some people and I'm sure some or many will disagree with me. But I would like to discuss something that I see as a problem.....

All of the little forum games are super annoying!!!! There I said it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this forum is a place to share info and discuss fish/aquarium related topics to further everyone's understanding and methods in fishkeeping. Here are some quotes from the homepage and other pages that introduce fishlore....

"The goal of Fish Lore is to present accurate saltwater fish, tropical freshwater fish and aquarium fish information in a way that every fish keeper can understand."

"© Fish Lore.com - providing tropical fish tank and aquarium fish information for freshwater fish and saltwater fish keepers."

Nowhere does it say this is a place for people to play games. Games are great and all, but there is a time and place. Recently when I log in, at least half of the "recent posts" are things like the song association game, quick before the mods comes, or some other pointless game in my opinion. This makes it very hard for people that actually need help or people that are trying to share info (from what I understand to be the main reason for this forum). Nobody sees a lot of the important posts as they get scrolled on by on this list that I assume most people use to check out what is currently being talked about.

Everyone is busy with work, family, friends, water changes, etc. I personally don't have time to go through every topic folder to find where people may need help or have some info I would like to know, etc. I assume that others are similar and also use this recent posts to find out what they have missed or what is current. Most people don't have time to go through the entire forum to find out what they missed or what someone has been posting about. Just by the nature of some of these games, people are basically spam posting over and over and that fills up the list pretty quick. Anyone who wanted to get to the 50 posts rule so they could have full access to all the forum has to offer, just needs to sit and play one of these games for about 30 mins to an hour and they will quickly knock it out. Just as posting useless posts is forbidden to stack your numbers, these games aren't much different.

I know I seem like I'm being the Debbie downer, but I'm sorry I just don't see how any of these games help convey knowledge, educate people, make healthier fish, etc. If you want to play games, that is what facebook is for, or video games, cell phone apps, or a million other places.

I'm a member of a few other fish and aquatic forums and none of them have any needless games like this forum does. Shrimp forums, plant forums, fish forums, even turtle forums (from my turtle days in the past), none of them have the spam posting these games present. Every one of those forums has a "recent posts" section and is where most everyone checks in to see the info of the day.

I imagine no matter what my stance or belief on these game is will get anything changed or the games removed from the forum, but is there anything that can be done to help fix the problem? Maybe, is there a way to have the "games" not show up in recent posts? I think that would be a good solution, as those that wanted to play the games could go to their section and post away like crazy, and those that don't, wouldn't have to see it. Newer members or someone with emergency situation wouldn't have to worry about their post going by the way side due to silly games.

I am sorry if I offended anyone in this rant, but I will get off my soapbox now. I just feel like this forum could be even better than it already is with some positive changes to help support the root function of this forum, which is to convey info, share experiences, and generally help one another with fishy aquatic stuff. If you want to play games, I suggest downloading Candy Crush, haha.

 

I would certainly hope that people that start a thread have the sense to pay attention to it and get their answers, so I doubt that the most important parties to any recent comments are going to miss anything. There are a lot of threads here that don't impart wisdom (like pics of tanks, pets, or us), which is what makes this a forum and not an encyclopedia. My opinion.

 

Not every forum needs to run the same way. Plenty of people here seem to enjoy the games and if it's too much of a hassle to just scroll past them you can always choose another forum. I don't mean that to be mean at all, just logical.

 

look like you said before other forums don't have this I see it as unique and if u don't like it no offence but there is other forums

 

I tend to agree about the games but here's my take. I sometimes participate ( if I am bored ) but as long as I am not getting requests or tagged to play a game, then I am okay with it. If people want to play, then so be it.

What DOES ANNOY me is on facebook where people tag you, send you requests etc and you have to manually turn off the requests so you don't keep getting inundated with it. THAT bugs me because I don't play games.

But for this forum, its there and if I want to participate, I do. If I don't then I just unsubscribe myself and no one is the wiser.

 

HI Dolfan
Thank you for expressing your concern.
Of course not everyone will agree. Some like the games some don't.

I believe you have brought up a valid point.

Recently when I log in, at least half of the "recent posts" are things like the song association game, quick before the mods comes, or some other pointless game in my opinion. This makes it very hard for people that actually need help or people that are trying to share info (from what I understand to be the main reason for this forum). Nobody sees a lot of the important posts as they get scrolled on by on this list that I assume most people use to check out what is currently being talked about.

I thought when the games first started Mike set them so they didn't bump down more pressing threads.

Perhaps he can look into that.

 

Thank you Lucy. It would be awesome if they didn't show in the "recent posts" box.

A few things....

Adam55 - you have a great point and I agree there is a lot of posts that just show pics or whatever, that aren't necessarily some bastion of knowledge, but they all are sharing something or showing ideas or have something to do with aquariums or the hobby. In my opinion games like "quick before the mods come" is just a mindless boredom activity that has nothing do with the hobby. Just filler.

lwill - I know some people enjoy the games, I just feel, in my opinion that they deter from the knowledge sharing and help that some people desire, and what the forum is supposed to be geared toward. As for your suggestion, you can't scroll past them, there are only 15 spots on the "recent posts" box. If 8 of those spots are filled with "song association game" or "quick before the mods come" then that is 8 posts that most don't see. The only way to see those posts would be to go through every forum folder.

lollipopkiller - I agree that this forum is unique but if some of that uniqueness deters from the real benefit and purpose of this forum, which according to the home page is to share knowledge in an easy to understand way, then some of that uniqueness is not ideal, in my opinion. Believe me I do go to many other forums, and many other forums have a lot of experts on them sharing valuable info. They just don't have games. I just feel like if people want to play games maybe the mods can make it separate from the posts or have a sub section somewhere. Mike could have Candy Crush built into the forums and have the game run in the bottom corner of every page on the forums, and while that would make fishlore unique and some may love it, does it really help us learn more about aquatic husbandry or share ideas in the hobby?

Junne - I don't even have Facebook because of all that stuff on there, so I totally agree. It's a lot of drama that I don't need, I'm a single dad with a 6 year old daughter, my life has plenty of drama, haha.

Overall, I knew when I posted this that some, if not many, would probably not like it. I am posting all of this to try to better the sight and voice my opinion. Being told to go to another forum isn't productive in the big picture. I am outspoken, and say what is on my mind, some hate it, others love it. As I started this with, I in no way am trying to bash on the "game players" just voicing my opinion and trying to improve the sight or at least spark debate or conversation on the matter.

 

I did originally have it to where the games didn't update the recent posts block but I must have re-selected it at some point when adding a new sub-forum perhaps?

I've set it back to the way it was. New posts in the games section won't show on the recent posts block on the side. I would hate for an emergency type post to go unnoticed due to a games post dropping it off the list too quickly - this could actually make the "quick before the mods come" game more interesting as well...

 

Mike you ninjad me while I was responding, haha. Thanks so much, I think that will be a happy medium that all can enjoy. The games people are still able to play their games, and the "recent posts" will be unaffected. Much appreciated.

 

Awesome.
Thanks Mike and thanks Dolfan for bringing this up.
I'm sure you weren't alone you just said it first. Ha!

 

That's great!

 

I'll add that forum games DO NOT contribute to a members post count. You could play all day and your post count would remain the same

 

That's good to know Rivieraneo. I figured that they were treated like any other post.

 

Dolfan, I kind of see forum games as the magazine selection when you go to the doctors office, you have magazines for every generation young and old, up to you to choose what you read

 

Great solution! I love this board