The State of the WBO.

(May. 11, 2021  10:14 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I think the reports should be read faster. Instead of the staff having to read them, can't they create a bot to help? I know it's said easier than done but it's a suggestion.

why arent you a staff member because you are a friggin genius! heres how i think the bot could work.

1. a member reports a post using one of the report options and the bot looks over the rules to see if the post reported broke any of the guidelines
2. if the post broke any guidelines then the bot will delete it and move it to Erased Posts (its something i think only staff can see). if the post doesnt break any guidelines then it leaves it be.
(May. 11, 2021  10:10 PM)DeltaZakuro Wrote: dont we already have a posting restriction? its called the all powerful tempban.

but in all honesty i agree, a posting limit is a terrible idea.

during the whole kai edits situation yesterday I had a talk with shindog & others and suggested a temp ban while some agreed the temp ban would probably be a good idea shindog brought up that it most likely wouldn't do anything or something like that and that the staff have done all that they could when it came to them.
(May. 11, 2021  10:19 PM)DeltaZakuro Wrote:
(May. 11, 2021  10:14 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I think the reports should be read faster. Instead of the staff having to read them, can't they create a bot to help? I know it's said easier than done but it's a suggestion.

why arent you a staff member because you are a friggin genius! heres how i think it could work.

1. a member reports a post using on of the report options and the bot looks over the rules to see if the post reported broke any of the guidelines
2. if the post broke any guidelines then the bot will delete it and move it to Erased Posts (its something i think only staff can see). if the post doesnt break any guidelines then it leaves it be.

We aren't both of you staff members you guys have been making awesome ideas so ima make one: how about if you send a message that someone was doing something bad we can use that bot to maybe idk like banned them for a certain period of time depending on how bad it is or how much it crosses the guidelines that is how long your banned for if you did something really bad your account is deleted. I know this Idea is probably super bad so just ignore me.
(May. 11, 2021  10:19 PM)DeltaZakuro Wrote:
(May. 11, 2021  10:14 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I think the reports should be read faster. Instead of the staff having to read them, can't they create a bot to help? I know it's said easier than done but it's a suggestion.

why arent you a staff member because you are a friggin genius! heres how i think the bot could work.

1. a member reports a post using on of the report options and the bot looks over the rules to see if the post reported broke any of the guidelines
2. if the post broke any guidelines then the bot will delete it and move it to Erased Posts (its something i think only staff can see). if the post doesnt break any guidelines then it leaves it be.

3. The bot sends a message to a staff member that (USER) has broke Rule (NUMBER) and a suggested punishment for that person.


I think this is a great idea.
(May. 11, 2021  10:25 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote:
(May. 11, 2021  10:19 PM)DeltaZakuro Wrote: why arent you a staff member because you are a friggin genius! heres how i think the bot could work.

1. a member reports a post using on of the report options and the bot looks over the rules to see if the post reported broke any of the guidelines
2. if the post broke any guidelines then the bot will delete it and move it to Erased Posts (its something i think only staff can see). if the post doesnt break any guidelines then it leaves it be.

3. The bot sends a message to a staff member that (USER) has broke Rule (NUMBER) and a suggested punishment for that person.


I think this is a great idea.

i love it. but mainly i do think the bot could just be used if no staff are online so the bot kinda just does the staffs job if none of them are online.

overall i love the idea and hope the staff takes this into consideration, if not i do understand tho
Something I was considering a while back was offering to be a "janitor" of sorts to help mitigate the bot issue. While I'm aware that new staff are chosen by the current group and not via application, I'm usually awake and online during the times that bot posts are most prevalent (anywhere from 11pm-2am PST).

While I wouldn't want to be a full-fledged staff member, if there was a way that I could hide/temporarily remove bot posts until staff have the time to review and fully delete said post, I'd be happy to help 🙂
I like WBO for everything. There is only 2 problems:

People like Kai edits
Same questions. Again. And again. And again. And again...
[EDIT: ALSO SPAM BOTS]
I want you all you take a moment to think about the bot idea. A bot couldn’t do all that a mod does, and how would the bot determine message was good or not? The bot would also screw up a lot.

Nevermind the fact that someone needs to code the bot
In a similar vein of BladerGem’s idea, I do feel like an “apprentice” system might be helpful. I had first-hand experience on toggling with the apprentice system — as well as seeing how it works out from a normal user’s POV — and its good in a way that its a step-by-step situation. Apprentice staff/mods are people with limited modding rights and are hand-picked, and they usually handle situations such as clearing spam and minimodding (essentially, any situation that doesnt warrant a ban). Making someone an apprentice with limited mod rights ensures that 1) there would be barely any huge abuses, 2) the apprentice gets to know what the job is like and will fix their mistakes easier, and 3) thus the transition to full mod is easier

But as everyone noted, plenty of our ideas are easier said than done. The apprentice system works on other big sites such as Fandom wikia, whereas the WBO is harder because most of it is coded from scratch by ordinary, Beyblade-loving folks. In the meantime, Ill keep an eye out for potential updates on the site. Keep up the good work, mods! We appreciate you for hearing us out
I mean, with all these bot ideas, I kind of feel like if we implement them, there would be no need for a staff. Although, I do think the "apprentice" system might work out very well. It can make the staffs' shoulders lighter and it may fix the problem at hand faster.
I feel like the staff likes their jobs.
I disagree with the apprentice system as:

A- This system could be abused, like, if you passed an application and your whole purpose is to ruin the WBO. One member like that can be the collapse of the website so I think it's a risky move.
B- Limit, if let's say 2 people get apprentice, others will complain and eventually everyone will start applying and it will be a disaster.
C- Apprentices will replace mods. Mods will start leaving more and more work to the apprentices that mods will not be needed.

Reasons I agree:
A- It will help the mods.
B- Reports will get read fast.
C- It will stop spamming.
(May. 11, 2021  11:18 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I disagree with the apprentice system as:

A- This system could be abused, like, if you passed an application and your whole purpose is to ruin the WBO. One member like that can be the collapse of the website so I think it's a risky move.
B- Limit, if let's say 2 people get apprentice, others will complain and eventually everyone will start applying and it will be a disaster.
C- Apprentices will replace mods. Mods will start leaving more and more work to the apprentices that mods will not be needed.

Reasons I agree:
A- It will help the mods.
B- Reports will get read fast.
C- It will stop spamming.

well maybe the mods choose the apprentices just like they chose the new mods we got a while back.
(May. 11, 2021  11:18 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I disagree with the apprentice system as:

A- This system could be abused, like, if you passed an application and your whole purpose is to ruin the WBO. One member like that can be the collapse of the website so I think it's a risky move.
B-  Limit, if let's say 2 people get apprentice, others will complain and eventually everyone will start applying and it will be a disaster.
C- Apprentices will replace mods. Mods will start leaving more and more work to the apprentices that mods will not be needed.

Reasons I agree:
A- It will help the mods.
B- Reports will get read fast.
C- It will stop spamming.

From experience, all three points are easily handled:

A - Its apart of life, unfortunately. Thats why i suggested for the situation to be hand-picked, which had been done last time. Its a fact of life for a mod team to experience bad things — there is no such thing as a perfect mod team without flaws and corruption. People get demoted all the time; thats what happened to me, because I felt like i was a bad influence and chose to leave. After that, all we can do is move on and learn from our mistakes — from demoted people like me to the mods who unknowingly promoted a bad person

B - Oops, think I forgot to mention that the apprentice system Ive experienced was strictly-controlled. There might applications, there might be not — depends on the situation. Applications are handled appropriately and at most, there might not be applications — people might be handpicked. Either way, the WBO mods are organized people and Im sure they would be clear enough to prevent outbursts. If people complain as they do, then the  simplest solution is for the mods to ignore them. Blacklist them from becoming mod or ban them from the site if they cause drama

C - This shouldnt have to be a point. You have mentioned another fact of life — people come and go all the time. Mods choose their successors because they know that one day their time is up. People come and leave the WBO all the time. Its not a matter of replacing people in a bad way — its a matter of keeping the cycle alive and picking the best people to keep the place well. Its not choosing people to start an apocalypse
The bot idea is mostly infeasible. Very few of you have actual programming experience. Everyone who does have actual programming experience knows how unworkable it is.

Bots run on scripts. Scripts don't think the way we do. You cannot code a script that it going to search for duplicate threads without creating false positives, or a ton of false negatives, and the amount of programmatic drain on WBO caused by a bot hammering the search system would be severe. Even a script to automatically tempban based on the use of certain words would be prone to false positives. There's a profanity filter that changes words to "carp", and that appears to be their minimal touch solution to the problem. Any script would need to work in tandem with myBB, a 19 year old forum software platform that works off of PHP and SQL. Every script they write to try and prevent or hinder bad posts would slow down the site.
Stop suggesting bots.

You have plenty of staff that Could moderate the forums, every staff member has the power to. A lot of staff just don't want to; they're rules or organization focused, moderation used to be a separate role entirely. They could read the reports, they have the power to remove the spam threads quickly. They have the capabilities and tools they need, it's a fairly powerful system. Most of them just don't. The ones that do prefer a minimal touch approach.
(May. 12, 2021  3:34 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: The bot idea is mostly infeasible. Very few of you have actual programming experience. Everyone who does have actual programming experience knows how unworkable it is.

Bots run on scripts. Scripts don't think the way we do. You cannot code a script that it going to search for duplicate threads without creating false positives, or a ton of false negatives, and the amount of programmatic drain on WBO caused by a bot hammering the search system would be severe. Even a script to automatically tempban based on the use of certain words would be prone to false positives. There's a profanity filter that changes words to "carp", and that appears to be their minimal touch solution to the problem. Any script would need to work in tandem with myBB, a 19 year old forum software platform that works off of PHP and SQL. Every script they write to try and prevent or hinder bad posts would slow down the site.
Stop suggesting bots.

You have plenty of staff that Could moderate the forums, every staff member has the power to. A lot of staff just don't want to; they're rules or organization focused, moderation used to be a separate role entirely. They could read the reports, they have the power to remove the spam threads quickly. They have the capabilities and tools they need, it's a fairly powerful system. Most of them just don't. The ones that do prefer a minimal touch approach.

Oh well looks like we have to find some new ideas
Not really. We could just leave it how it is.
(May. 11, 2021  5:14 PM)#Fafnir Wrote:
(May. 11, 2021  4:44 PM)Ryuga\s Son Wrote: I would like WBO to have this kinda thing where stupid posts are imediately deleted. Software, maybe. Posting limits won't be good, if that were going to happen, WBO would fall from it's popularity. Maybe Moderators should quickly suspend a lot of users who don't follow rules, to show that not following rules will result in temp-ban or ban.

The issue with this is that you can't expect Staff members to be able to respond that quickly; They have lives and aren't paid to do this.
I completely concur with posting limits, as that will (Hopefully) cause users to think "Is this worth using a post on?" before they post something. As for the popularity, forums are, as DeceasedCrab said, hardly used nowadays with the likes of Discord and Instagram surging in popularity.

The issue isn't the Staff not doing their jobs, it's that we users aren't doing ours. How is this the case, you ask? Well, here's an example.
Let's say a new user creates a thread in the wrong subforum, and said thread really doesn't need a whole topic anyways. Rather than being hostile and informing them to ask their question in the correct thread, we should answer their question to the best of our ability and then kindly let them know of the right place to ask.

The popularity of WBO will definetely drop if there was a post-restriction.
(May. 11, 2021  12:16 AM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I think the WBO can be fixed if the rules are easier to see. I mean come on, do you REALLY REALLY think people read the rules. Well, no. Some people who don't wanna get in trouble do. But you guys should make it when someone verifies, the rules pop up and they can't agree to the terms and conditions before 5 minutes of reading the rules. That will annoy people into eventually reading them. I also think it's too easy to bypass. I mean, you guys should make a strong bypass system. (Bypass= cuss using symbols and stuff) Another thing is the threads. People make threads even tho there's already a thread for it. You should have a pop up like "Oop! A similar thread has already been posted!" I also think the verify system should be stronger to prevent the b o t s.  Because they can easily make their way in and post inappropriate stuff. Ik most people are over 13, but that's not everyone. What if a 9 year old gets in an extremely inappropriate thread? I also think the fan clubs are funny but unnecessary.

YES. i was searching when i found an old thread that would be not good for a child to see. it hasnt been deleted, but it has been closed. yeah some really inappropriate posts.
(May. 11, 2021  10:19 PM)DeltaZakuro Wrote:
(May. 11, 2021  10:14 PM)TheGolden Blade Wrote: I think the reports should be read faster. Instead of the staff having to read them, can't they create a bot to help? I know it's said easier than done but it's a suggestion.

why arent you a staff member because you are a friggin genius! heres how i think the bot could work.

1. a member reports a post using one of the report options and the bot looks over the rules to see if the post reported broke any of the guidelines
2. if the post broke any guidelines then the bot will delete it and move it to Erased Posts (its something i think only staff can see). if the post doesnt break any guidelines then it leaves it be.

Exactly! Bot has softwares, and i mentioned software in one of my posts here. Perfect Idea!
Like others have pointed out, the idea is just not feasible. The programming skills required would be tough. Also there could be false positives and negatives.
Can we please end this conversation? In how many languages do we need to say that it won't work?
(May. 10, 2021  10:50 PM)XSabxManiacX Wrote: Honestly, as a WBO staff member once pointed out and from my experiences, most of the problems could easily be prevented with consideration from normal users. For example, throughout the years, Ive grown to just leave heated-up conversations be. Instead of arguing back-and-forth endlessly, give your final opinion politely and turn off your device. Its much better than putting yourself in trouble for ganging up on users and creating drama. And try to take some time to see if someone had already asked the same question recently, so you dont accidentally annoy the entire thread. And thinking of a reply, try to make it much more meaningful than a stubby “lol.” And especially do not reply to bot-created advertisements — just report it and go

Yes, Im aware that all of these ideas are easier said than done. Its normal for anger to get the best of you and you always want to sound right. But really, its better to turn off your device for the timebeing to take the time to cool down. Its better to leave things be rather than creating more hassle for the mods to handle. I think we could try to put in 1% more consideration when posting

Yes. Whoever does a stupid post, people shouldn't reply to it, just report it and ignore it. Move on. After a long process, WBO will be cleared from posts that break the rules. It will take a long time, but it'll prob work. People should think before posting, if it is relevant or not. That's a simple solution, no software nor bot.

(May. 12, 2021  5:05 PM)Vtryuga Wrote: Like others have pointed out, the idea is just not feasible. The programming skills required would be tough. Also there could be false positives and negatives.

Nothing is easy. It's just a suggestion. And maybe there should be more mods. There's a negative side and a positive side in EVERYTHING. @XSabxManiacX's post in this was good. Rules need to have more enforcement and strict. People should THINK about what they're posting before they post it. Not just for someone else, for me as well. I made some wrong posts, but I repent and I will try not to do it again. Anyways, making threads like this is not going to do anything. Words will do nothing, actions will do everything. Talking about it will not change it.
(May. 12, 2021  6:40 PM)Ryuga\s Son Wrote: Nothing is easy. It's just a suggestion. And maybe there should be more mods. There's a negative side and a positive side in EVERYTHING. @XSabxManiacX's post in this was good. Rules need to have more enforcement and strict. People should THINK about what they're posting before they post it. Not just for someone else, for me as well. I made some wrong posts, but I repent and I will try not to do it again. Anyways, making threads like this is not going to do anything. Words will do nothing, actions will do everything. Talking about it will not change it.

Voicing our opinions on the state of the WBO will eventually cause an action though, we can't just stay silent and let it continue to get worse.. the people who gave their opinions on the situation clearly care about the WBO and don't want it to be ruined.
(May. 12, 2021  6:56 PM)HakaishinLDrago Wrote:
(May. 12, 2021  6:40 PM)Ryuga\s Son Wrote: Nothing is easy. It's just a suggestion. And maybe there should be more mods. There's a negative side and a positive side in EVERYTHING. @XSabxManiacX's post in this was good. Rules need to have more enforcement and strict. People should THINK about what they're posting before they post it. Not just for someone else, for me as well. I made some wrong posts, but I repent and I will try not to do it again. Anyways, making threads like this is not going to do anything. Words will do nothing, actions will do everything. Talking about it will not change it.

Voicing our opinions on the state of the WBO will eventually cause an action though, we can't just stay silent and let it continue to get worse.. the people who gave their opinions on the situation clearly care about the WBO and don't want it to be ruined.

What I'm trying to say is that we should find a solution, not just cross off every idea someone comes up with. Almost all posting sites have this same problem. I don't want WBO ruined. I like it a lot.