Guidelines for Discussion

[novel idea]

Well, I joined this forum a few weeks ago and I don't really feel very welcome. Not only do so many people here argue, but I don't get the impression that anyone here is very friendly. So thanks for laying down the rules. I hope you guys can prove me wrong...

Unwelcome? Really, that's a shame. I've always felt people here have been quite kind to new members. Especially when compared to other forums.

And as for arguing...is it arguing or is it debating. Is it pettiness that you see?

And I think you'll come to find that we are all friendly. Albiet, in our own politically incorrect ways. But we only kid because we care and we can.

Hope you find your stay in the future to be better than your first impression.

[Operation Hot Mother]

gosh imerson...thats hurts me on the inside
(not that you said that...the fact that its TRUE)
and i think its about some time someone said it.

ive been here a couple days over 8 months and during those months, i feel ive grown a bond with a couple of members here as we all cheer, cry, and laugh together. i remember feeling accepted into the boards just a few days into signing up. i began to respect both the experienced posters (this is starting to sound like sex-ed) and the virgin posters (ok i just had to say that).

but as of late, people have been at peoples throats. im guessing its related to the recent cut of episodes, the possible demise of the show, and the like/dont like stature of season 3. i hate to say this but this site is starting to become more and more like the fox boards or other boards ive been to.

when i first re-got (long story) into arrested development, none of my friends knew about it. one day i was looking for a quote when i stumbled over a forum about ad. i thought it would be cool to join so i could have someone to talk to about this stuff. so i looked around and i saw that it was very hostile and the members were mean to everyone. then i looked somewhere else and found the-op.

it was the coolest site ever. plenty of funny/fake articles, quotes, pictures, and 2 (2s enough for me) games that caused me to stay up all night. but the best part was the talk room. everyone there was nice and cool and fun to talk to. and it stayed like this....till about september.

when season 3 rolled around everyone was excited for it. but after the first couple episodes of it...some people got hostile and mean about the conditions of the episodes and that they weren't up to par. im not saying that they cant say that...but some (not all) were quite rude about it. and the flip side goes too. pro-season3-ers were all "how could you say it was bad?!?!?!?11". thats why whenever a new episode came out, in the episode forums, i would just leave one big post of what i thought about the episode and then leave the thread for good. this was because all people would do in these threads were yell at each other. luckily, about a month or 2 before, kiarnit (where ya been marcia? still on the job?) appointed 2 new mods, vcalzone and novelidea (which both have done a good job...dont get me wrong). a raise in the members getting banned rose and rose. this is when i started to notice that the-op started to change more and more into that first forum that i talked about.

I think we need to go back to the good old days. the-op is like a family, but its also an army of one, and theres no room for wimps. we have to get out of the typical message-board sync where everyone yells at each are and are in a constant state of arrested development (HEY! thats the name of the show!!)

thank you for your time...GOOD NIGHT!!!
(drops the mike and walks off stage)

[each]

The OP is a family.
when I came to the boards I felt welcome and was pleasntly surprised at the in-hostility.

sure, there are Members I talk to more that others, but I dont Dislike anyone or refuse to reply if I see thier name in a thread.

I would agree with the rekoning that the recent out break of "you suck" "no you suck"-itis Is probably due to he cutback. fear and sadness is fueling the agression.
Whats sad is that even now te OP is one of the nicer places to be. I think we should all try to keep it that way.

[Operation Hot Mother]

after my post, i decided to look around at other forums. any forums at all. tv shows, movies, video games, colleges, computer hardware, everything. i came over one which had 25000 i think. it became what the-op could very well become in about 2 or 3 years. arguments, flaming, spamming. it was horrible. and it turns out...all of the moderators were resigning because they couldnt stand it. it was a literal implosion of it.

imagine kiarnit or vcal or novel idea just making a thread saying "i thing this forum has become hell! [spoiler]bleep [/spoiler]you guys! i quit! its all gone down from here!" this was only one of the forums i saw. others were just like this or worse

and i agree with each. hes been around just as long as me and he understands what it used to be like. the members used to be so nice EVERYTIME.

and same here about the dislikeing thing. i dont dislike any members. i dont hate anyone here. then second i see someone new, i think "this guy likes AD! hes gotta be cool!"

i just want to keep the site the way it is/was. the best place in the world. some people just like to be the confrontational type and argue. so i have a bad idea:

how about when a new episode comes out, 2 threads are made about it. 1 thread is the "i liked this and this part" or general thread about the episode. the other could be the "debate about this episode" type of thread where people could give there opinions and rebuttals about the episode. just puttin that out there

[Hop on]

Good post, Operation Hot Mother. That's exactly what I was thinking. I don't think I have the attention span to make a post that includes all my thoughts like that and still makes sense.

I joined almost 7 months ago, and this place really is a family. Family first, right? I joined out of disgust of my friends who refuse to watch. I really had no one to talk to about it, except my family and they started to think I was crazy because I talked about it so much. I now know a few people who watch, but I love you guys because you all feel as passionately about it as I do.

I love it here because we are generally nice. I agree that recent fights had to do with the state of the show. We just have a lot of frustration and we end up taking it out on eachother, which is a shame. I can't even look at other message boards and forums because nothing compares to the-op. I honestly don't understand how people at other boards can devote so much time to fighting with other people that they don't even know.

I think I was going somewhere with all this. Too bad I can't remember where that was. I'll just end by saying I love AD and anyone else who shares this love. Especially The Joker Magician.

[each]

and i agree with each. hes been around just as long as me and he understands what it used to be like. the members used to be so nice EVERYTIME.

She. But thats cool.

I think the problem is confined to the episode thread. I havn't experienced anything In any other threads or sections.

I like the Idea of a positives and debate thread but it could be problematic. I fear that it would not kurb the problem but just desginate a place for it.
dont get me wrong, I like the idea I'm just "debating" it

[BlenderChild]

... a raise in the members getting banned rose and rose...

people have been getting banned? where have i been?


i kind of agree with what you guys are saying, but at the same time, most message boards are MUCH worse.

[ACR]

it was the coolest site ever. plenty of funny/fake articles, quotes, pictures, and 2 (2s enough for me) games that caused me to stay up all night. but the best part was the talk room. everyone there was nice and cool and fun to talk to. and it stayed like this....till about september.

Uh oh...I joined in September....I hope it has nothing to do with me!!!

Great posts on this subject cos I really feel as if it was something that need to be addressed - I think I posted on this subject a while back.

I'm so sorry to Imerson2 and others if they feel unwelcome. I have never found the-op boards anything but friendly and open. Albeit the newer ep threads can be a bit 'passionate' but again I think (I hope) its due to the worry about the show.

I don't know if maybe newbies take comments more to heart as they may not be used to someones sense of humour; maybe a person is posting a risky comment directed at someone in particular that will know how to take it - what I'm trying to say is that I hope its not malicious and especially not directed at newer posters - this show needs everyone we can get.

This place is especially important to fans on this side of the world so we can keep in touch with the progress of the show and I know there are quite a few of us who all get on well and stick together. Saying that I hope this does not make newer posters feel excluded etc.

[Beamer]

She. But thats cool.

You're a she?! Wow, this forum REALLY needs to start listing genders here... seriously, the gender confusion is twice as big a problem as the bickering for me... So, Each, you... uhhh, have a boyfriend?

Seriously though, I said this in Off-Topic and I'll say it again here: There may be a bit of arguing and debate here, but it all comes down to the fact that fans are passionate about the episodes, and given the show's current situation, we're all a little scared of its future. But is that really a bad thing? Sure, it's had some bad results, but it DOES go to show how dedicated us ADdicts are.

Imerson2, I'm so sorry you feel that way. I actually got the exact opposite impression of this place when I first joined, but then again, when I joined - people were all excited about Season 3. When you joined - people were worried about the show's future, and weren't even sure if the rest of Season 3 would air, let alone any future episodes. The past few months have been rough for us, though the recent talks about ABC and Showtime are definitely easing the pain, even if nothing's official yet. I'm sure the mood will definitely pick up once an announcement's been made, even if the show doesn't continue. At least that's closure for us, if anything...

However, even given the current atmoshere here, I still don't think this forum's that bad. 99% of the other online forums around are FAR worse - I guarantee that if you try to spend a month at a forum where everyone hates eachother and flaming is allowed, you'll forgive anything that was ever said here. The O.P. is a lot like Arrested Development itself - it may not be perfect, but I still love it, and it sure as hell beats the alternatives.

[leez34]

Man...most of my message board experience comes from Newsarama.com, and let me tell you - this feels like a huge bleeping commune over here. I can't BELIEVE what people are getting upset over. I've read maybe one or two posts that ever came close to crossing a line.

And I LIKE Newsarama. I feel very close to people over there. But it is 100,000 times more brutal at times. There is nothing going on here that upsets me even slightly.

[Imerson2]

Well I feel better now. For one I didn't feel very welcome with vcalzone being a little bit un-kind about my free stuff post. "We don't do this here..." Well, I am a member too. Don't I have more than one post? I know it doesn't seem like a nice thing to post on a forum related to AD, but to be fair I didn't come here to spam and there are no rules about that. And that's not the only reason I don't feel especially welcome--I think it's just a feeling--but I feel better now because you guys were kind enough to respond. Like someone else said that responded (sorry that I don't remember your name), anyone who likes AD is cool. I can only quote it with my brother. My Uncle likes the show but I don't really think he is the type of person you can share quotes with. I'm not sure how much he cares. Anway, thanks for the welcome. I feel a lot better now

Hey, this is a little bit off-topic of this post, but has anyone seen a model stair truck with the bluth company on the side, just like the one in the show? That would be really cool. Why doesn't fox have one on their fan site?

[littlesquish89]

Well, I joined this forum a few weeks ago and I don't really feel very welcome. Not only do so many people here argue, but I don't get the impression that anyone here is very friendly. So thanks for laying down the rules. I hope you guys can prove me wrong...

Keep your chin up, when I first started here, I felt the same way, but pretty soon it all started to come together. I've made tons of friends, and I don't think there's a poster here that I don't care for, which is saying a lot, because I'm not the friendliest person in the world.

I just feel safe here, like it's the last refuge for the forgotten AD fan, and since we're all feeling alone right now, I guess we can say that we're alone together.

Great Futurama quote, I couldn't resist it.

[Imerson2]

Which part of your post was the futurama quote? The part about being alone together? I've seen every episode of Futurama, and I love it. But I'm not sure if I remember that quote... not to say that it isn't a quote, just that I don't remember it

[littlesquish89]

Which part of your post was the futurama quote? The part about being alone together? I've seen every episode of Futurama, and I love it. But I'm not sure if I remember that quote... not to say that it isn't a quote, just that I don't remember it

I'm positive I was paraphrasing it, but I know Leela said it to Fry in the first "X-mas" episode, the real name is escaping me. I just liked it because I like it when people don't realize obvious things like that.

[Imerson2]

I thought it was a Leela quote. I could imagine her saying it. It's not something you would hear the Professor saying.

Professor: "Oh my no."