Recently I made a short post that I was migrating to GameDev.Net from Interlopers.net, and I've observed a few things that I feel like sharing.

The first one is talent. There are maybe two or three guys on Interlopers.net that are in the industry at all - a mapper here, a modeler there. Of course, Interlopers.net is a niche site which probably has a lot to do with it. Regardless, I've been surprised by the quality of members here, and I'm loving it. I don't need to tell you guys that GDNet is awesome that way, but I'm saying that it's not like this everywhere else.

Next one is, I miss "Random Thread". The thread for everything not worthy of it's own thread. The place where you can post a YouTube video, and not a word of text, and visitors watch it -if they want- just for the sake of the video. It's good because it's like StumbleUpon, but you get exposed to new things enjoyed by like-minded forum members (something that wouldn't normally make it past your Stumble filter). The lounge is the closest thing here, but every new thread must have a topic, which is certainly not the same as random. The chat room isn't really a good substitute either. Why?

The chat room is very serious. My first time in there I was ripped a new one, since "lol" is apparently not a suitable replacement for a period. I can appreciate seriousness. Computer Science is a serious academic and practical subject, and having trolls/etc interrupting your quest for information (or whatever) can be pretty irritating. Pedantry and elitism is not necessary though.

The lack of a place to have free (and relaxed) conversation without purpose has made it difficult for me to feel a sense of community and develop friendships. Yeah, sure, I could go outside. But outside doesn't have people who are like me - I'm a programmer who loves programming. GDNet has lots. Are we really only interested in using each other to further own private interests?

Last thing is, it's freaking HARD here! At 'lopers, I was the go-to programming whiz, and I had a reputation of being very helpful. I'm trying to do the same thing here, checking the active topics and such, but SHOOT you guys are too smart, I can't keep up! xD I'm gonna keep trying though.

Hope I didn't bore you too much,
coder0xff

Welcome.

I'd just say that when you are around people who are more talented than you, they raise the bar on what it takes to be the best. If you try to be the best, it'll take a bit of work but ultimately you learn a lot and you win when you improve.

Oh, one last thought... when someone joins a community, they become a part of the community and the community becomes a part of them.

While it may be fun to have a random thread it might reduce the number of new threads and actual discussion on the content. You are allowed to post (good) random stuff but it has to have some quality and you have to bring an opinion with it. A random thread would be filled with junk.

Welcome.

Hey man, welcome! Incidentally, I am by far the smartest one here, ask anyone in the chatroom.

Marvel on what I know:

0)XOR

1)OR

2)AND

?

gee, I finally learned some boolean logic!? I must be ready now to start studying 'for' loops!

:)

Speaking of boolean: we had a humor portal, but it kinda died when its instigator became less active.

Quote: Original post by coder0xff
The chat room is very serious. My first time in there I was ripped a new one, since "lol" is apparently not a suitable replacement for a period. I can appreciate seriousness. Computer Science is a serious academic and practical subject, and having trolls/etc interrupting your quest for information (or whatever) can be pretty irritating. Pedantry and elitism is not necessary though.

#gamedev most certainly isn't "serious", some of the conversations I've had in there have been quite odd and very "off topic" and it is generally very relaxed (while the rules exist many of them aren't generally strictly enforced by the ops until you begin to make a pain of yourself).

However, at the same time, there is a channel apprication for 'proper english', and while 'lol' might well be ok if someone says something funny ending every sentence with it just makes you look like a babbling idiot who is better suited to an AOL Chatroom rather than an IRC channel.

When joining an established community you have to learn to adapt.

Quote: Original post by phantom
However, at the same time, there is a channel apprication for 'proper english'.

Is apprication a well timed, humourous spelling error? Or do I just not know the word?

Also, hi there.

Quick thoughts on the whole "LOL" thing...

- If you've ever had to listen to someone talking who uses the word "like" every second or third word, you should be able to see why people get irritated with overuse of any word.
- A lot of people seem to use "LOL" as an excuse to be an ass. Like, any stupid remark or insult can be forgiven and washed away by using those three little letters. That's not the case, you gotta be accountable for your words.

Quote: Original post by kseh
Quick thoughts on the whole "LOL" thing...

- If you've ever had to listen to someone talking who uses the word "like" every second or third word, you should be able to see why people get irritated with overuse of any word.
- A lot of people seem to use "LOL" as an excuse to be an ass. Like, any stupid remark or insult can be forgiven and washed away by using those three little letters. That's not the case, you gotta be accountable for your words.

Hah, someone else is annoyed by the "like" shit?

LOL is for chatting. (It's annoying there too). But this is a forum. If someone can't take the effort to spend 5 minutes to word a post properly, then GTFO lol

Quote:
LOL is for chatting. (It's annoying there too). But this is a forum. If someone can't take the effort to spend 5 minutes to word a post properly, then GTFO lol

He was, I believe, referring to an incident when he used "lol" in the IRC channel. I'm not sure what the deal was, I wasn't around at the time. But a quick search of the channel logs indicates he used 'lol' a total of 24ish times this month, which is hardly egregious compared to the 500 so lines of chat total.

*shrug*

The IRC channel, in general, is a good place for entirely off-topic banter (although one should stuff if more serious discussion is going on, or an operator asks). We've explicitly chosen to disallow that kind of thing on the forums, even the "offtopic" forum, in order to raise the overall quality bar of the site (which is the primary focus). I think it's worked, in general.