Boards›Memes & Games

The State of M&G, and our direction for the future. Are videos ok? What makes something satire?

Laughing Fish·1/7/2018, 8:24:57 PM·25 votes·1,460 views

https://i.imgur.com/xTHyf1o.png[/img]

##Tl;dr:

  • Memes & Games is improving, but there is more work to be done
  • Do you think videos should be allowed on M&G?
  • How would you define satire, and where would the line be drawn between satire and an actual post that merely is mocking or uses humor?

Greetings fellow members of the boards!

A few months ago, M&G was in a definitive downward slump. Activity had dwindled down to the lowest I have seen the sub-board, the majority of posts were getting ignored or downvoted, and there appeared to be an overall lack of enthusiasm. The fact this decline really took off around the time I began moderating the section and the rules were updated was most certainly not a coincidence. One thing became abundantly clear: The way I was moderating was not healthy, and changes had to be made both to me and to the rules.

Realizing this problem, I discussed these issues both with members of the community as well as the moderation team. I also studied how others moderated (both in healthier sections of the boards, as well as general moderation styles and philosophies present on other forums). Some changes were made, namely:

  • The rules were updated to disallow videos or any content that requires a reader to travel to an external site.

  • I became more active at supporting the community rather than just moderating it, primarily by repairing incorrectly posted images, and doing my best to teach others how to correctly format on the boards.

  • I became stricter about removing posts that appeared to belong in other sections.

The reason for these changes was to ensure whenever someone came to M&G, what they saw was memes. Not broken links, not gameplay posts, not a highlight clip someone thought was funny, but memes. The hope was also to raise morale, by helping posters correctly format their posts rather than leaving them broken (or worse, deleted) and the poster frustrated.

Overall I am very happy with how these changes have played out. Memes & Games is on the rise, there is a lot more excitement, and almost every post here is relevant and appreciated. We are heading in the right direction. However, fine-tuning is most certainly needed still. There are two main issues that have been brought to my attention by multiple people: Videos, and Satire. These are issues that I can only solve with the help of the community here.

##Videos: The removal of videos have been interesting. For the first few weeks it seemed nobody cared. There were less posts in M&G just being ignored or downvoted, but that was about it. There wasn’t really a positive or a negative reaction that I was aware of. However, recently multiple individuals have expressed concern about videos being removed. While certain types of video like highlight clips never belonged here in the first place, it is possible that videos people here enjoy were removed under the blanket “no videos” rule. I would appreciate any feedback regarding the removal of videos. Do you think the section is healthier because of it, or do you believe the rule to be unnecessarily constraining?

##Satire: Satire is without a doubt the hardest rule to enforce in M&G. What exactly makes something “obvious satire” as opposed to just slipping some comedy into an otherwise serious post? And how does one define “obvious”? One of the biggest complains folks have had about M&G in the past is an overabundance of gameplay posts being passed as a “meme” when it really isn’t. The removal of posts that are not actually satire is required to maintain a healthy community here. However, a lot of moderator discretion is needed in the enforcement of this rule. And anytime a rule relies on discretion there will be mistakes. I have multiple times deleted a thread for being in the wrong section, only for the poster to come forward and inform me that it was satire. Due to the difficulty in defining and enforcing this rule, I would greatly appreciate feedback and the opinions of the community here. How would you define satire? Where should the line be drawn? Do you think the current way it is being decided is adequate, or do you believe too many good posts are being removed?

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been a part of Memes & Games. This community is truly special to me, and I have enjoyed being a part of it. The community of Memes & Games is the reason I have remained on the boards. Together, we can make Memes & Games great again.

34 Comments

HonestJohnTheCon1/7/2018, 11:03:19 PM10 votes

I feel like there should be more encouragement towards forum games. There are so many more memes in this sub-board, and while I love good memes (and bad memes), I feel like it'd be fun to have a random forum game every month or so.

You don't even have to host or create it, Fish. Just put out a "Wanted for Games" post or something. Make it littered with memes as well. [slayer-jinx-wink]

SuicideAw1/7/2018, 10:48:11 PM8 votes

GIF is video.

Basically, the "no video" rule is a cyber security issue. I feel if you allowed "video" from trusted sites, it would be good middle ground.

Meme does not have to attempt comedy. "Jokes & Games" would be a more appropriate section heading.

Satire will totally fuck you over though. It's always funny until it happens to you.

Free speech is the easiest system and pleases the most people.

Vague moderation (no cursing) is subjective. If you have well defined rules though it can be manageable. Most people will attempt to stay within the rules, as long as they know what the rules are.

CytheGuy1/8/2018, 2:17:22 AM5 votes

https://media.giphy.com/media/XMc1Ui9rAFR1m/source.gif

You've done what no Rioter has done before.

The Lexer1/8/2018, 1:26:20 AM3 votes

I think a generally good rule would be "Is it funny?" If the poster has attempted humor (and doesn't break any of the other standard boards rules), then the post is allowed in M&G.

Regarding satire, I think we shouldn't attempt to draw the line at "What is clearly satire," but at "What is clearly not satire." If it is clear that something is not satire, then obviously it should be deleted. If something is questionable, leave it up. Maybe see how the comments go; if the community is largely against it (i.e. most people find it offensive rather than funny), then the post should be taken down.

But that's just my two cents.

redniwediS1/7/2018, 8:47:49 PM2 votes

Videos:

The removal of videos have been interesting. For the first few weeks it seemed nobody cared. There were less posts in M&G just being ignored or downvoted, but that was about it. There wasn’t really a positive or a negative reaction that I was aware of. However, recently multiple individuals have expressed concern about videos being removed. While certain types of video like highlight clips never belonged here in the first place, it is possible that videos people here enjoy were removed under the blanket “no videos” rule. I would appreciate any feedback regarding the removal of videos. Do you think the section is healthier because of it, or do you believe the rule to be unnecessarily constraining?

I can't really say I've seen a video that I thought was a meme, more often seeing it as a video filled with memes, so I could definitely see M&G successfully having a no videos rule. The types of video I remember seeing are what I would expect in GD more than M&G.

Personally when I'm here to look at memes I'm not really interested in watching a video, if I was I'd be on youtube, so limiting it to pictures and text seems appropriate to me. That said I do have a question, is the no videos rule a strict no video rule, or are videos that can be watched without having to leave the boards still allowed?

Satire:

Satire is without a doubt the hardest rule to enforce in M&G. What exactly makes something “obvious satire” as opposed to just slipping some comedy into an otherwise serious post? And how does one define “obvious”? One of the biggest complains folks have had about M&G in the past is an overabundance of gameplay posts being passed as a “meme” when it really isn’t. The removal of posts that are not actually satire is required to maintain a healthy community here. However, a lot of moderator discretion is needed in the enforcement of this rule. And anytime a rule relies on discretion there will be mistakes. I have multiple times deleted a thread for being in the wrong section, only for the poster to come forward and inform me that it was satire. Due to the difficulty in defining and enforcing this rule, I would greatly appreciate feedback and the opinions of the community here. How would you define satire? Where should the line be drawn? Do you think the current way it is being decided is adequate, or do you believe too many good posts are being removed?

I would say the answer to this comes from a different question; what is the purpose of the Memes & Games section?

When I'm over on Gameplay I'm there to read and discuss the game itself. A bit of comedy can make it easier to read or can help make a point easier to understand, but the main intent is to talk about the game. I see Memes & Games as the section where you try to bring a smile to someone's face. You can do this by talking about the game, but the base intent is the comedy. Venting in a comedic manner can be entertaining, but the poster's goal isn't to entertain. Intent is a very difficult thing to judge over text, but some sort of metric to base this off of is better than none.

It's definitely a hard line to draw, and I don't envy you for it, but hopefully my two cents helps. Best of luck to you!

AMYS GRAVE1/8/2018, 5:17:01 AM2 votes

Hmmm, elevating GD to front page status same as other sub-boards and allowing it to contain posts of anything they want has dwindled traffic on sub-boards with more specific guidelines? Who would have guessed that everything would then funnel through GD to avoid the more specific moderation?