Createspam, Createblog has created a monster Options

[NoSex]

Alright. I have noticed recently that these boards have been suffering from an obscene amount of spam and one on one conversation based posting. The entire vibe and feel of the boards have, in my opinion, reached a kind of low. The debate threads are more stagnant than ever. The lounge is a waste of time. The entertainment threads suffer any kind of in-depth or worthwhile posts. It just seems like the community boards are really beginning to suck.

The problem is, how would we solve this problem?
Do we need to punish those spammers? If so, will traffic decrease to a useless degree?
Maybe we can try to attract some older parties?
The debate thread could become exclusive. But, then it might actually become entirely stagnant.
The idea for an art subforum seems to be a push in the right direction.
Or maybe I should just find a more suitable community board?

What do you guys think?

[*mipadi*]

The issue has been raised before. Actually, many times before. In fact, most people feel it after a certain amount of time of being here.

I don't have the time to dig up another post I made on the issue, but it basically boils down to this: Most of cB is made up of what I call "drive-by posting". The threads are such that a person comes in, posts a response without reading any other part of the thread, then leaves, and never comes back to see how the thread develops.

Furthermore, people are too locked into sticking to the main point or going completely off-topic. Either the thread becomes spam, or all new people come in, read the first post, respond, and leave. Few people stick with a thread to watch it evolve and have a conversation.

Interesting posts—ones that require more than a quick response—are overlooked simply because they require more time to both read and respond intelligently. Unfortunately, these are generally the more conversation-worthy threads.

Basically, the only threads that stay on the first page are ones to which people can respond quickly, such as "What's on your mind right now?" or "Anoymous shoutouts"—ones that also don't generate any real discussions.

There are also a lot of issues with cB not being a community. I actually discussed this with Dani in the IRC channel the other night. cB is unique compared to most forums I go to, in which everyone is friendly and gets along. cB has small groups of people who get along, but as a whole, I don't find much of a sense of community.

Actually, I have found my thoughts on the issue, which were posted here:

• http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php...3&#entry1991983
• http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php...0&#entry1999780