Forums vs. Facebook (split from Lane Co. Topic)

[Matt]

I wish forums were more like Facebook. Like IM, notifications, etc. PS Airsoft forums on Facebook are THE worst. Full of cry(e)-babies and wannabes. So bad they make AirsoftForum.com seem decent.

Yeah, and nobody seems to communicate in complete sentences. It seems like if you ask a question you get a bunch of useless comments from 14 year olds who don't know what they're talking about. Amidst all the trolling and drama, the discussion forums (at least AP) always had really good helpful responses from people who'd write several paragraphs to help a newb.

I don't see what's so great about Facebook's features. Ever try to find an old thread on a Facebook discussion group? It's really annoying to have to dig up an old post. I'm surprised more people aren't using Google Groups instead.

[Welshy McSheeplove]

I wish forums were more like Facebook. Like IM, notifications, etc. PS Airsoft forums on Facebook are THE worst. Full of cry(e)-babies and wannabes. So bad they make AirsoftForum.com seem decent.

Yeah, and nobody seems to communicate in complete sentences. It seems like if you ask a question you get a bunch of useless comments from 14 year olds who don't know what they're talking about. Amidst all the trolling and drama, the discussion forums (at least AP) always had really good helpful responses from people who'd write several paragraphs to help a newb.

You guys should probably get the sand out of your vaginas or maybe stop ignoring the "meanie wannabes", because I get more helpful info from FB groups than I have from any forum.

Ever since I joined AP it's been about 20% useful information, 20% advertising events, and 60% HEY GUNS WUT GUN SHUD I BUY IS THIS GOOD.

Though I guess it is hard to accept that there is a growing community of people who don't want to pay $50-100 for a shitty event with poor players, no objectives, and extremely piss poor, if any, organization.

[Matt]

I wish forums were more like Facebook. Like IM, notifications, etc. PS Airsoft forums on Facebook are THE worst. Full of cry(e)-babies and wannabes. So bad they make AirsoftForum.com seem decent.

Yeah, and nobody seems to communicate in complete sentences. It seems like if you ask a question you get a bunch of useless comments from 14 year olds who don't know what they're talking about. Amidst all the trolling and drama, the discussion forums (at least AP) always had really good helpful responses from people who'd write several paragraphs to help a newb.

You guys should probably get the sand out of your vaginas or maybe stop ignoring the "meanie wannabes", because I get more helpful info from FB groups than I have from any forum.

Ever since I joined AP it's been about 20% useful information, 20% advertising events, and 60% HEY GUNS WUT GUN SHUD I BUY IS THIS GOOD.

Though I guess it is hard to accept that there is a growing community of people who don't want to pay $50-100 for a shitty event with poor players, no objectives, and extremely piss poor, if any, organization.

So the Facebook groups are helpful, but you don't like AP because too many people are asking for help? So which is it? Do you like communities that help people? Or do you just like bitching and trolling? Sounds like the latter to me.

[Welshy McSheeplove]

I like Facebook groups better because they've got more people, I can access more information, they've got on a whole more helpful people, and they aren't necessarily flooded with 10 different people asking the same exact question 10 minutes apart. I'm all for helping people, but there's a point when you need to tell kids to do their own research, not just ask to be spoonfed continuously.

I don't particularly like AP anymore because the information here can be found lots of other places, and many of those places have more information available. On those dastardly mean Facebook groups, you have tons of guys that will help new people. But, holy shit just like in real life, they don't want to spoonfeed people, so they'll get annoyed and stop helping after some kid asks the same questions multiple times, or asks for advice and then doesn't listen to it. So either you haven't spent much time on the FB groups, or you've been so wrapped up in your preconceived notions that you haven't wanted to acknowledge that those groups have as much, and often times more, than forums.

From everything I've got in this thread and the other, there are a bunch of people who are upset because airsoft isn't the same as it was 5 or 10 years ago, and want to find a scapegoat to point at and say "THEY'RE RUINING AIRSOFT", even though airsoft is continuing to grow. Funny, those mean old Crye wearing people are called "whiners", but the people I see whining more are those who rarely go out to play or have one bad experience and need to phony pony all over the internet about it.

[nedmac]

Now that this thread is completely derailed. I think the people of Lane County that intend to use this thread for communicating about the area, would like it if the current conversation could be cleaned up and moved else where... Thanks

[mrgoldfishybo]

Honestly I would like to see an Airsoft Pacific SubReddit. I find reddit to be a very easy way to communicate and reach certain communities you like.

[Matt]

There, all split and no longer derailing the Lane County thread.

Welshy - I never said anybody was ruining Airsoft, just that I prefer discussion forums over Facebook as a means of communication. I'm in a few of the Airsoft related groups, but I rarely use them because they annoy me. One of the more popular groups had a huge phony pony fest between a few teenagers that went on for days. I unsubscribed and removed myself because it was no longer worth putting up with the OT posts for the few bits of useful info that might trickle through.
Same shenanigans, different medium. I've tried to sell gear, tried to ask questions about gear - never really got much of a response on either.

I'm also part of other groups related to photography, with 100s of members and dozens of posts per day. It's a massive pain in the a$$ to go back and find old threads for information. The search feature is a joke. We have new people asking the same questions all the time too, it's annoying... but it's really aggravating to try and locate a Facebook posting that has been buried for 3 weeks. I can understand why they just give up and post a question, IMO they're on Facebook in the first place because they don't want to research, they just want to ask. Perhaps we should direct newbs who ask "WUT GUN SHUD I BUY" to Facebook then?

Forums may not be perfect but at least your information stays threaded where you left it.

[Jester316]

I like Facebook groups better because they've got more people, I can access more information, they've got on a whole more helpful people, and they aren't necessarily flooded with 10 different people asking the same exact question 10 minutes apart. I'm all for helping people, but there's a point when you need to tell kids to do their own research, not just ask to be spoonfed continuously.

Nick, I see facebook groups with people posting more random shit here... And one of the number one complaints people have about AP is that we teach to fish vs give a fish. You are saying that the facebook groups do that and it doesn't bother you, but doing it here does?

I don't particularly like AP anymore because the information here can be found lots of other places, and many of those places have more information available. On those dastardly mean Facebook groups, you have tons of guys that will help new people. But, holy shit just like in real life, they don't want to spoonfeed people, so they'll get annoyed and stop helping after some kid asks the same questions multiple times, or asks for advice and then doesn't listen to it. So either you haven't spent much time on the FB groups, or you've been so wrapped up in your preconceived notions that you haven't wanted to acknowledge that those groups have as much, and often times more, than forums.

Again, how is that any different than here? People here have a wealth of information for people. But if that question has been asked a thousand times, we won't spoonfeed, we'll direct (and harrass) to the search feture... Which Facebook doesn't really have...

From everything I've got in this thread and the other, there are a bunch of people who are upset because airsoft isn't the same as it was 5 or 10 years ago, and want to find a scapegoat to point at and say "THEY'RE RUINING AIRSOFT", even though airsoft is continuing to grow. Funny, those mean old Crye wearing people are called "whiners", but the people I see whining more are those who rarely go out to play or have one bad experience and need to phony pony all over the internet about it.

[Jmonday]

Implying that half of AP isn't full of people commenting and starting wars against each other..

[Alien_Hunter]

When I said what I said, I meant that I like the features of Facebook. I wish forums in general had the features of Facebook. photo streams, instant notifications, but not forums actually on facebook. Why? Because AP is a private community. A lot of seriously dumb people join these Facebook groups. None of the admins stop members from blatantly "calling out" other members, nobody writes in a way that can be understood. When I used the word "Crye baby", I was referring to 14 year olds wearing top of the line gear and are completely immature.

I am on several forums for different things and I've always felt like they could be "powered" by Facebook. Obviously they need features that allow members to retrieve old information. . . And other stuff forums do better. I am all for private communities like AP, believe me. I feel like they're lagging behind web technology though.

As for Learn to fish VS Give a Fish, some of you guys really need to stop being bitter smart-asses and just answer someone's ****ing question. That is the whole point of sharing information. If you know where that information is, please share it. On every website there are guys "with a chip on their shoulder" who are mad because "back in their day. . . They had to learn everything first hand". It's counter-productive to adding new members.

I really didn't mean to rustle anyone's jimmies. I was bummed about my last airsoft game. I am an action player, I grew up on Halo, Counterstrike and Battlefield. <- This is what I want to do at airsoft games ok?

[Matt]

Jester316 - pretty much dead on. Same old shit, different medium. Wouldn't be Airsoft without people flaming each other, on Facebook or forums. It's hard to moderate Facebook, as a group owner you don't have really good options.

Alien_Hunter, that's useful info. I know exactly what you mean. I'm hoping at some point to allow a Facebook sign-on here on AP and a few other features that might help. It's just a matter of finding the time. Moving to a different forum platform is quite an undertaking, but it might be required... because this particular one I'm using doesn't seem to be moving into the future. It's not very well tied in with social networks or mobile by default, and the plugins they have are god awful code.

[Jester316]

As for Learn to fish VS Give a Fish, some of you guys really need to stop being bitter smart-asses and just answer someone's ****ing question. That is the whole point of sharing information. If you know where that information is, please share it. On every website there are guys "with a chip on their shoulder" who are mad because "back in their day. . . They had to learn everything first hand". It's counter-productive to adding new members.

You have been here for less than a year. Many of us have been here for 5+ years. We have seen the same "is this a good gun", "I want to be a sniper and faceshoot N00B's like COD", and "respect me even though I can't post a coherent sentence" hundreds of thousands of times. There are currently 406277 posts on here. That number was reset when the new forum was launched (in 2009 IIRC). There are 122 posts per day. You can see why some of us get upset when people post shit that has been answered a thousand times and is available with a simple search.

As for adding new members: We are more than happy to have new people come in. But they better come in, post like they have a brain, and not demand respect simply because they walk into the room. We want to build a spectacular community, but we will be selective of those we allow in.

[RedSpo0n]

Back in my day we found a random abandoned dairy farm, told people to show up from our private website, divided teams and shot each other! AND WE DAMN WELL LIKED IT! *summons the ring of JesusFire*

You damn kids and your Twitterbooks and Facespaces... you don't know how good you have it!

Seriously though - I'm actually far more annoyed by my Facebook in a daily basis than I find it useful for anything. Alex is usually good for a laugh, and random wanna-be Meme pics from random people I don't know can once in a blue moon extort a chuckle... but otherwise, Facebook for me is nothing but this thing my wife made me sign up for so she could have extra 'Liking' power for her stupid bullshit.

I dunno - I guess I'm just getting passive in my old age. I just don't see the point in complaining about the way other people choose to have their fun. Just cause Facebook sucks for me doesn't mean it's not perfectly viable for someone else - and why do I care what they prefer?

I think I prefer the forum route over facebook because it's actually less interconnected. Here on AP (or airsoft retreat, or UltimateRC, or Gloryholes Anonymous) your signing up for an account on a specific subject area. People generally have an interest in what they're signing up for beyond a half second glance at some cool pic from some random profile.
Once your on facebook for something - it's almost too easy to just *like* some random shit you dont' actually have a real interest in - and then immediately throw yourself into the 'community' as if you do care - resulting in a lot of the trolly BS, obnoxious under-age fighting, and general monkey business.

Sure forums still have a lot of that too - but it's not as brain-dead simple, I think - and I feel like that actually heads off a lot more of that kind of behavior than we realize.

Dunno - maybe my facebook experience just isn't on the same level, but with the small 'closed environment' forums, you get to know people, and what to expect. With Facebook... half the time I don't even know who these people are, let alone ever have a chance to put a face to the username.

I can see how some of the Facebook feature set could be niffty to have integrated into a true forum though.

[RedSpo0n]

As for Learn to fish VS Give a Fish, some of you guys really need to stop being bitter smart-asses and just answer someone's ****ing question. That is the whole point of sharing information. If you know where that information is, please share it. On every website there are guys "with a chip on their shoulder" who are mad because "back in their day. . . They had to learn everything first hand". It's counter-productive to adding new members.

You have been here for less than a year. Many of us have been here for 5+ years. We have seen the same "is this a good gun", "I want to be a sniper and faceshoot N00B's like COD", and "respect me even though I can't post a coherent sentence" hundreds of thousands of times. There are currently 406277 posts on here. That number was reset when the new forum was launched (in 2009 IIRC). There are 122 posts per day. You can see why some of us get upset when people post shit that has been answered a thousand times and is available with a simple search.

As for adding new members: We are more than happy to have new people come in. But they better come in, post like they have a brain, and not demand respect simply because they walk into the room. We want to build a spectacular community, but we will be selective of those we allow in.

I'd also like to point out - "Iz dis a gud gun?!1?" is a much different question than "Is this a good gun?" which is also a completely different animal than "Is this a good gun for my purpose and why? *With specifics involving technical information or project ideas, for example*"

Frequently, even with the thousands of posts asking the same question, someone here will still answer reasonably with helpful input, alongside the "you shoulda searched, dipshit". It's usually only until after said dipshit gets all offended and ragey that the community attacks back.

I can openly admit to asking "is this a good gun?" on this forum before - and I'm not new to airsoft or this community by any measure. Sometimes it is a valid question - but presentation is key.

HA! *Unreal voice* DOUBLE-POST!

[Matt]

I dunno - I guess I'm just getting passive in my old age. I just don't see the point in complaining about the way other people choose to have their fun. Just cause Facebook sucks for me doesn't mean it's not perfectly viable for someone else - and why do I care what they prefer?

As a UI designer, it's my job to care what services people use and why. The interwebz is all about building it better. So hearing why people like or dislike Facebook as a place to organize Airsoft helps me out. But I suppose for people who don't build websites it really doesn't matter.