The source of my powers has been destroyed: I am nothing, and will return to nothing, for I go now to take my own life, in as humorous a fashion as I can. (I'm strongly considering fighting a bobcat for some licorice, or hanging myself with a noose made of used condoms.) Do not soon forget Lack of Rants - my legacy to you, the forum.

EDIT: Seriously, though, I say delete the forums. Disregarding the so-called acidic atmosphere (lulz abound) I think having an OOC way for players of a supposedly immersive roleplaying environment to communicate detracts from said immersion. The majority of people are utterly incapable of seperating players from characters, as evinced by the many instances of metagaming we've seen since the games inception. Yes, there are other methods of people communicating OOC with each other, such as instant messenger or even OOC clans, but those lack the legitimacy of a forum run by the games very administrators, and thusly much less people utilise those methods.

SO...
I haven't been in-game for quite some time, nor have I posted much at all, but I've definitely lurked a lot and can quite confidently say that this has consistently been one of the cleanest forums I've ever seen. All-in-all, the posters here are well-read, mindful of others, and helpful (get your snickers in, go ahead). Sure, there are a few catfights and appendage-waving contests over deaths and game mechanics here and there, but they usually die down and get sorted out soon enough - the trolls get tired, the players regulate themselves, or the mods gently step in. I've seen a lot of the former firebrands around here cool down, even a little bit. Personally, I don't have a problem with religion/politics boards, but I can see how sensitive it can be and if the higher-ups would like to take those precautions, that's fine. However, I'd say a little confined section to keep mostly mild and often tongue-in-cheek rants from spilling over to more serious threads is a must. I think Jack's Lack of Rants really helped add a defusing, whimsical tone to an otherwise "negative" section and was a valuable addition to the community.

BUT...
One of the primary reasons why I haven't posted here much, especially in the IC sections, has already been touched on: it affects immersion, people attach their egos to their characters, and there's the potential for metagaming. The onus should lie with players to maintain these distinctions, but the negative aspects are certainly facilitated through this medium. A great deal of what goes on in the forums could be performed in-game, which would produce a much richer, more vibrant environment as characters converge and discuss in-game issues passionately, rather than diluting the experience by going to the forums to present ideas without the burden of timely roleplay, then dropping the outcome agreed-upon back into the game. I mostly see such crisp, drawn-out, grand-scale collaboration and roleplay of the sort during Events, but why can't we be involved enough in-game to make this the norm rather than the exception?

THEREFORE...
Keep the forums, they're okay for: OOC sections, including the Mechanic's Corner - things for the whole community to participate in solely as players.

However, they're not okay for: Things that should be issued or suggested and discussed in-game through the appropriate avenues, things that could be solved in an OOC manner between only a few people without dragging it here, things that open themselves wide open for, and will inevitably turn to, whining.

...

"Shut up Telrath, you aren't even active."

Yeah, going, later...

Come back.

/fixed

You helped me when I was an ultimate noob years ago. I didn't even know Lusternia beyond Portals back then. Thank you!

Time and time again IRE turns to some of the most bizarre if not inane ideas and policies to moderate their clientele, if not to purposely jeopardize their business. Was there a meeting regarding this issue? Were the people on the board actually paid? Real currency?

Really..?

that book sucked fyi

Though I hatehatehate the forums 90% of the time, and support their removal in theory, I feel like not having an ooc venue in which to rant will drive me and others completely mad. Also, it could just lead to an explosion of ooc clans, IM-use and maybe even the creation of unofficial forums, which would simply be putting the problem somewhere where it can't be policed.

If the forums do remain, I don't see them working very well without 'Idiots!'. Getting rid of it is like tossing a plague-ridden corpse in a woodchipper and spraying it all over the rest of the forums.

EDIT: Also, the forums are an important resources for both new and old players looking for info that would be hard to acquire in an IC manner, such as race/guild/skill questions, ability testing, how to get a system, etc. Also wouldn't have anywhere to post logs. Rather than removing them outright, just ban all the asshats whose presence reduces any thread they touch into a troll-and-bitch fest (I want to name names but that would be a bit counterintuitive, yees?).

...Dude. Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen are my favorite books in the world.

We can't be friends anymore.

I'm half tempted to go up to Invisionfree and make an Idiots forum. x'cept I don't feel like the hassle of running a forum again.

Me too! I'll happily replace him. (Well, maybe not favourite favourite, but.)

I've never heard of these books...

I agree!

Keep a semi-lack-of-rants-thread (maybe block quoting on it?), and the angry mobs will stop using this as their L.o.Rants thread, which is what I'm seeing it rapidly become. simple solution, people. As long as the catfights get shut down/banned/deleted, everybody stays happy, no?

And yes, Mechanic's corner should stay, as should quotes, since everybody needs their comic relief every now and then. I like the event/RP/combat-logs, too. only thing I could see going is things that should be handled IC, but I don't see very much of that here.

Quit jacking the thread guys. And yes, we probably will start forum-banning trolls who seem to only come to the forums for the sake of flaming and starting trouble. And, if people insist on turning threads like this into Lack of Rant threads, we can start post-banning for a day at a time if that's what it takes. I really don't think it'll come to that though, I'm sure everyone will control themselves. At least, I hope. v.v

... you really want to push people off to forums where you have no control at all that desperately? :/

I think what you're seeing is that people can't control themselves that well. The rants are going to come out somewhere.

Might I humbly suggest an exercise for You, O Mod of Mods, Admin of Admins, First Consort of the Eternal? When You, O gracious, golden one, seek to bring our conduct to the Holy Light, which You emanate most brightly and yellowly, perhaps You would stoop to us lowly mortals and quote one of the first eleven visibly posted forum rules, so that we, who are but maggots in Your perfect sight, might better understand Your perfect will.

Careful, you might get zapped for that.

is there a translator for this sort of language?

Anyway I decided a while ago to always just write stuff, then instead of hitting add reply I just click to the lusternia forums link on top, so it is all lost. That way I had my ranting but nobody had to suffer a loss of brain cells cause of it. I still mess up on that policy sometimes but in general it has saved the population of many acid filled posts. Now if only I could learn to do something similar for msn.

It is already translated. All you have to do is read the actual content and cut out the flowery "praise".

-edit- never mind, I got it now, anyway I am sure it falls under the last rule which essentially allows moderators to do what they want.