I don't understand...

[powertripinmod]

Sometimes you need to tear something down to build something new.

That is such a bs response to anything. Why? Why was it torn down? How did the tear down fix or benefit anything?

I'm a mod on two decently active forums, and the whole "we did x thing over y but it was also because of z" arguments are used when the mods know that their actual justification for x is horribly weak. It was because of that one thread with the lady that ultimately everything and everyone got erased.

Pretty much. This is what happens. No real reason. Just a bunch of jibberish.

Go read Stephen King's Roadwork if you want to see how it feels.

[Matt]

I would hope that you mean all negative personal comments about comic book creators? haha cause I am friends with a few of them, and from time to time when I talk to them I like to post about how cool they are.

Example: I talk to Chris the writer of Ghost all the time, when he gives me a bit of info I may share I share it in the black Sky thread and say "he is really a friendly guy" stuff like that.

Heh. Of course.

[Dylan Davison]

Heh. Of course.

Just checking :P haha.

[powertripinmod]

So what horrible, pointless reboot do you people associate this with?

I have to say the new 52.

Something so utterly pointless, that destroyed many years of history, as well as alienating many fans.

The New52CBR

[ColdFury]

So what horrible, pointless reboot do you people associate this with?

I have to say the new 52.

Something so utterly pointless, that destroyed many years of history, as well as alienating many fans.

The New52CBR

Marvel Now, because it's a new branding, but nothing of any real value is gone. And like a bad costume, your username will seem dated in six months, but the classics will be just fine.

[powertripinmod]

Marvel Now, because it's a new branding, but nothing of any real value is gone. And like a bad costume, your username will seem dated in six months, but the classics will be just fine.

Except that thread/story that was 100 pages long will be gone. Sure, people will repost the same stuff. Is that that same, though? Just seems so wasteful and needless.

[Diggy]

It was to do away with undesirables and usher in a new police state;

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=52513

First post!

This website was already pretty soft before... but, whatever. I really don't get the logic behind deleting the entire history of this forum over a few nasty comments, just doesn't make any sense to me.

[General Nerditry]

Argh! I just realized what happened. This is HORRIBLE! SEVEN YEARS of posts and conversations gone! I'm heartbroken. Why in the world did they do this?! Why not just change the rules and ban the problem elements which is, let's be honest, the net result of all of this anyway! This really sucks. I feel such a loss. Seven YEARS. I may be weird, but I like to reread certain conversations from time to time, and there was such great content and ideas in some of the music threads. Oh, this sucks.

Does anyone know if a way to download the old threads while they are still posted?? Do I need to do it manually?

[HowitzerJoe]

Wow just found out about all this. Crazy. I spent a few minutes trying to login wondering what was wrong. Then I saw the forum and the post counts. It's a shamed what happened though. I think a little warning would have been nice.

[Tonamelt]

For a moment there I thought the site was hacked... But it's a good thing it wasn't.

[The4orTy67]

We need our Ultimate Marvel sub-forum back pleeease.

I still can't believe this all happened over a comic cover.

[scary harpy]

Did you have to registrar again? Or was that only some of us?

[PlumeNoir]

So, everyone got blown out?
I was a little worried when my account was gone, because I think I may have posted in the thread in question (if it's the one I presume) - even though I know I wasn't negative. I thought maybe that it was just a group ban of everyone in that thread...but it looks like they just nuked and paved the forums. :-/

[blabbate]

That is such a bs response to anything. Why? Why was it torn down? How did the tear down fix or benefit anything?

It was torn down because it was tainted by pervasive misogyny and abusive language. This wasn't just one thread, but many across multiple forums and a long period of time.

Tearing it all down and building something new is more effective than banning and deleting posts/threads for several reasons. First, and most obviously, it guarantees that every extant offensive thread is locked. Second, it levels the playing field. Nobody has seniority, which makes new users more comfortable speaking up and should reduce the possibility of poor behavior being perceived as more acceptable when committed by more active users. Third, bans are (and always have been) an ineffective way to change the entrenched culture of an online community. They simply aren't strong enough. Instead, you need to change the normative behavior, preferably through voluntary compliance. But that requires a clear set of rules consistently enforced and not marginalized by poor enforcement in the past. Going with a clean slate instead of a bunch of bans and deletes is also intended to give an impression of opportunity instead of punishment. It's inevitable that some people will feel punished due to loss of status, but hopefully it'll pay off in new users and more productive discussion.

You may disagree with the owners about whether the problem was as bad as they thought, but if they were correct about the severity a clean slate is perfectly appropriate.

[jsf]

It was torn down because it was tainted by pervasive misogyny and abusive language. This wasn't just one thread, but many across multiple forums and a long period of time.

Tearing it all down and building something new is more effective than banning and deleting posts/threads for several reasons. First, and most obviously, it guarantees that every extant offensive thread is locked. Second, it levels the playing field. Nobody has seniority, which makes new users more comfortable speaking up and should reduce the possibility of poor behavior being perceived as more acceptable when committed by more active users. Third, bans are (and always have been) an ineffective way to change the entrenched culture of an online community. They simply aren't strong enough. Instead, you need to change the normative behavior, preferably through voluntary compliance. But that requires a clear set of rules consistently enforced and not marginalized by poor enforcement in the past. Going with a clean slate instead of a bunch of bans and deletes is also intended to give an impression of opportunity instead of punishment. It's inevitable that some people will feel punished due to loss of status, but hopefully it'll pay off in new users and more productive discussion.

You may disagree with the owners about whether the problem was as bad as they thought, but if they were correct about the severity a clean slate is perfectly appropriate.

It was a rubbish thing to do.

The whole idea that the complete forums need to be erased because they were tainted with bigotry is invalidated by the fact that we can still link through to the old discussions. So the bigotry that's the alleged problem is still there.

This was a heavy handed move that punished everyone for the actions of a few. So, what -- a warning was sent to everyone that a certain type of debate won't be tolerated? For those of us not involved in the debate we don't need a warning. For those who do, just ban them and move on.

All this action did was antagonize the fans who weren't a part of the problem. It makes me less likely to participate here, now, because some set of jerks may cross a line but everyone else takes it on the chin. I don't like being treated paternalistically when I've not done anything wrong.