Before I begin this post, I'd like to state two things I am aware of, and that I hope you will take into account while reading this:
A - This will be a long post, and may be considered offensive to some of the people I quote in it. I apologize for this, but there is absolutely no way I can bring this point up without giving enough quotes, etc to really help the reader understand my perspective in this. I cannot emphasize this enough: I mean no personal offense to anyone. I just wish to make my opinion on this clear-cut.
B - The first aspect of this post, which to be honest is the one I'm focusing more on, doesn't have the same nature as this topic. It does however serve to preceed the 2nd post, which addresses the subject (namely that I'll make a suggestion about what to do about SPAM).
Without Further Ado
I just came back tonight after some more time away from the board, and noticed these spam topics, and after looking into a few, I've noticed a very disturbing pattern in what the administration and mods have to say about justification for their want to remove spam. While there are certain reasons why Spam should or should not be kept, according to the viewpoint, but from what I see, the reason given in these topics is absurd. I'll quote Sol from Halotank's 'Spam 2.0' forum:
I'm gonna cry if we don't at least rewrite the elements of [the Spam forum]. Well thought-out posts are one thing, but any jibberish, leet or other destructive element is the REASON there's a problem in the first place. If it does get removed you guys have only yourself to blame.
Anyone who is familiar with the acronym of Spam should clearly see what I am seeing. For those who don't, I'll clarify this after quoting Alex2539's announcement:
[Spam]'s only use is for stupidity, and stupidity is not a necessary asset to this forum. Seeing as the forum does not serve an actual purpose besides a place for said stupidity, being an unneeded bane upon the forums, the Spam section is therefore useless. For this reason, I believe that the forum ought to be closed.
Those who don't follow are likely scratching their heads by now. So allow me to give the common phrase that SPAM represents as an acronym:
Stupid
Pointless
Annoying
Messages
So, if you weren't getting it, the main reason given that Spam is a negative thing and should be annhilated, and apparently something that, if a justified point, has gone without justice for all this time, is that Spam is Spam. It's absurd. Ok, how is this a change? Because more people post in it? That doesn't change the nature of spam at all. Spam is Spam. It reminds me of a certain general character in Monty Python's Flying Circus who'd show up through the show shouting: "Stop this sketch! It is far too silly!" Now, obviously there are good reasons among you for removing spam, and I'd like people to know I'm not going against that, but that I think this is a ridiculous point. And it's also been the main reason you've all been pushing, looking at the first few pages of this topic. It'd just be wiser, in my opinion, to push the point that the server is taking strain from it, more than that fact that it's content reflects it's nature. And to sum up this part, I'll requote Sol's post to highlight one huge mistake in leiu of this:
I'm gonna cry if we don't at least rewrite the elements of [the Spam forum]. Well thought-out posts are one thing, but any jibberish, leet or other destructive element is the REASON there's a problem in the first place. If it does get removed you guys have only yourself to blame.
Using an asset of the forum, provided with the intent to post these messages, and members are being discriminated against for using it properly?
And so with that part over, I'll provide my reasoning and suggestion on the Spam issue. What is causing this controversy is the fact that the scales have tipped in weighing benefits with impediments. The forum's traffic is becoming so high that it's burdening the server. This introduces a drastic impediment to the growth and continued use of the forum, as well as time of other users. But when the Spam forum is in a balanced state, it provides benefits for the recreation of individual users as well as the growth of the community as a whole, due to it's broad range of content. My suggestion for restoring this balance is to set up an entirely different board for Spam, feasibly on a service such as invisionfree, and set up a redirect link to this board. In an ideal situation, there could be a system that the member database could be copied over there, but since I can't imagine that happening, I don't think that spammers would mind signing up to spam again. If they have a problem with that, they'd have to just deal with it. The board could be given spamming freedom, only with the requirements put forth by the ToS of whatever hosting method is used. Furthermore, it could go moderated by the spammers themselves. Should the ToS be broken, I think it's clear the responsibility would lay with them, lest the board be reported and closed. It'd continue to provide benefits to both sides of the issue, with a bridge between both, one community, and a continued state of use and growth for ZFGC over time. This suggestion is just what I think would provide the best benefits overall.
