It's Our Giant Bomb Too

" @Hailinel:  It was funny? Some guy quoted it and said "Haha". So I made that guy laugh. I'd say mission accomplished.   I don't really have any other explanation for it besides that. I guess that's immature but the whole thing is just so silly that how can I not make fun of it? If he truly is sticking to his word, he'll never read it anwyay. And if it truly offends him, then really, that's his problem. My comments on the internet shouldn't personally effect anyone. "

" can we get over this already no one wants this community crap anyways. "

" @LaszloKovacs said:

" @Sweep said:

"  Holy fuck, I'm a fake-internet-celebrity. Who wants to touch me?   Well... you shouldn't. I have STD's.   ;) "

Sup Sweep. I don't know if you noticed, but this thread is a madhouse.  Why? I don't know! "

I think it's pretty funny. When I wrote my blog I just wanted community content to get more exposure. I think you people are all fucking crazy.  Yo... does anyone want to talk about Mass Effect 2? "

" @LaszloKovacs said:

" @Sweep said:

"  Holy fuck, I'm a fake-internet-celebrity. Who wants to touch me?   Well... you shouldn't. I have STD's.   ;) "

Sup Sweep. I don't know if you noticed, but this thread is a madhouse.  Why? I don't know! "

I think it's pretty funny. When I wrote my blog I just wanted community content to get more exposure. I think you people are all fucking crazy.
 
Yo... does anyone want to talk about 2? "

" GB Staff > Community "

I like video games.   
 
That is all I have to say on this matter.

Well I've finally decided to comment on these threads about the community, and I'll just copy and paste what I said in Sweep's blog. 
 
Look I manage the Spotlight, a thread that was originally intended to link users to game nights, podcasts and the IRC. With confidence in myself and with the support of numerous users I decided to start showcasing more good works. It ain't perfect and that's something that I will be the first to admit. However over the course of the 10 plus months I have been managing the Spotlight I have come in contact with some wonderful good works that beautifully articulate a strong passion in video games. These works are wonderful and the persons that created these works are good people and I think their voice, despite their lacking in a professional background in the video game journalism business, deserves some  platform on this site to get started or shown on. You don't have to like it but you never know, maybe you find a friend on this site on the other side of the world who shares similar tastes in videogames. Maybe you discover that your own voice has more merit to it than you originally thought. You just never know what you have to gain from just being open to exploring and having your mind open to anyone's opinions, thoughts, or passions. It is on that note of ambiguity that I continue to work on the Spotlight despite critics and users who claim the futility of my goal of promoting the community, maybe it isn't worth the effort but I sure as hell haven't witness any negative consequences for just trying and that is why I continue and why I think it is worth your time.

I'm all for a Community tab.  That way the TC and his friends can have their little circle-jerk or whatever the fuck and the rest of us can enjoy the content that's actually good.

This thread is moving is 2 violently different directions, those who wish to have a stronger community spotlight and those who wish to keep it as is.
 
Personlly I hate QOTW, and believe if there is to be community spotlight and such there needs to be heavy quality control on it.

" ...I don't really take pride in my "accomplishments" here, mostly because they're not accomplishments. If anything, all my posts here are just a big waste of time. A fun waste of time but there are certainly better things I could be doing with my time. I don't consider anyone here a "friend" and if the editorial section of this site went away then I definitely wouldn't come back just for the forums. I come for the editorial content. I stay for the community, I guess. Whatever the staff decides to do with this whole "Community Spotlight" thing is up to them.  I guess what I'm trying to say is no matter what, I am going to continue to post about how much the QOTW week sucks, each and every week. "

" @Jensonb said:

" @Binman88:  Disagree 100%. Like I said. Giant Bomb was founded with the Community at its core. Community is the lifeblood of Giant Bomb's beating heart - the Wiki Database. Editorial is our shared value and its what brought us together. But it is not the be all and end all. The Community makes lots of great stuff.  As for the QOTW responses...Hardly anybody makes them. The reason being, regardless of quality, most of the comments are just complaints and hating with no constructive criticism. it's a hostile environment, so even if someone has a great idea and the means to pull it off, they're often unwilling to waste the effort just to be demeaned and moaned at. And who can blame them? "

Fair enough. For me though, the editorial is the be all and end all of Giant Bomb. If you took the staff and their content away, this website would have zero appeal to me. I don't believe I'm the only one who feels that way. "

Heh this thread is quite amusing, especially those who say that the community is worthless. The community wants to shine, it always has had such an immense potential but it is being restricted and limited by this site's structure. 
 
Every past community attempt to bring people together were deemed to failure or have a limited succes "thanks" to how the staff made Giantbomb. Be it the forum structure that eats up post that are not about the multi million selling games, the lack of exposure of the blogs, the broken wiki that the staff refuses to fix, no easy way to organise events, the way user reviews are invisible and so on. 
 
The staff's attitude and lack of willingness to create the tools we need to "grow" and maintain ourselves is the big problem of the Giantbomb community.

" @Jensonb said:

" @trophyhunter: Wrong, I don't recall saying anything about replacing Editorial. i said it should be up there with editorial. "

No, it shouldn't. Give the community its own page. But not on the front page. If it was on the front page, it would just drive new viewers away. "

" @Milkman said:

" @Jensonb said:

" @trophyhunter: Wrong, I don't recall saying anything about replacing Editorial. i said it should be up there with editorial. "

No, it shouldn't. Give the community its own page. But not on the front page. If it was on the front page, it would just drive new viewers away. "

I agree with this. After reading the featured review for MAG at the bottom of the main page - I think the bottom of the page is exactly where it should stay. All credit to the community for writing reviews and sharing them with us on the site, but reviews full of poor grammar and spelling have no place alongside the professional editorial content of the staff. It would do a disservice to the site to have that stuff front and centre on Giant Bomb. "

" It's just a website...  Also GB's community isn't all that great. "

"
I don't really know what the topic creator wants or what the actual point of this topic is so.... 
 
  

   "

Can you put your skills to good use instead of writing essays on how you dont feel loved?

BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT

I've been following Jeff since his Achievement vids on Gamespot, thats why I came over here, well, ever since they started up Arrow Pointing Down. Sure, I read some game reviews, and enjoy some trivia, like how many games have Castles in them.  But its just a website, and I do think the moment you spend all of your free time posting, or making weekly videos....you've kinda gone a bit to far. Hell, you've become free labour to the payed GiantBomb staff. 
Editorial content should always be the number One attraction to a website, but from I'm reading here, most are just present because they are fans of the staff. Which does make me wonder, if, lets say Jeff, can get a great paying job somewhere else, and he leaves, how much of this so called tight community will go with him. Making the whole thing fall apart.
 I do want to point out that  I'm not a community kind a guy here, so I might be mistaken, this stuff is just from what I have read here and there. Regardless, its a Great site, and I hope to continue enjoying it for many years.

" I've been following Jeff since his Achievement vids on Gamespot, thats why I came over here, well, ever since they started up Arrow Pointing Down. Sure, I read some game reviews, and enjoy some trivia, like how many games have Castles in them.  But its just a website, and I do think the moment you spend all of your free time posting, or making weekly videos....you've kinda gone a bit to far. Hell, you've become free labour to the payed GiantBomb staff.  Editorial content should always be the number One attraction to a website, but from I'm reading here most are just present because they are fans of the staff. Which does make me wonder, if, lets say Jeff, can get a great paying job somewhere else, and he leaves, how much of this so called tight community will go with him. Making the whole thing fall apart.  I do want to point out that  I'm not a community kind a guy here, so I might be mistaken, this stuff is just from what I have read here and there. Regardless, its a Great site, and I hope to continue enjoying it for many years. "

" Well I've finally decided to comment on these threads about the community, and I'll just copy and paste what I said in Sweep's blog."

Ah, another one of these topics. Every growing video game website seems to go through this. 
 
Bottom line is this. We are all guests here at Giantbomb. You come here on your own free will and you are not entitled to anything no matter how you look at it. I think it's great when community members make suggestions. Maybe the staff will listen to your ideas, maybe they won't. I don't care. If they don't listen to your ideas please don't become one of those whiny, self-important assholes who feel they are owed something by the staff. You just end up looking like a fool and your melodrama is unnecessary.

No offense, never read a well written wiki made by a forum poster.

" @Jensonb said:

"Giant Bomb Community Content is as important as Editorial,

   No, it's not.

@Jensonb said:

"and the two should be integrated to give Community Content the same prestige as Editorial,

  No, they shouldn't.

@Jensonb said:

"which it deserves."

  No, it doesn't. "

As someone who has been on the front page of Giant Bomb in the past (which led to some employment opportunities and some professional sounding resume filler), I have to say I don't mind either way. It would be nice to have some more community action on the front page, but the problem with the Giant Bomb community is that it is segmented. Some come for the editorials, some come for the videos, some come for the forums, some for the wiki, some people just listen to the Bombcast because they came here from the APD days and that's all they're interested in. I don't think any one segment of the community is more important than the other as they all contribute to keeping this site alive and providing people with means to show their talent and passion as well as having entertaining editorial space.
 
On a more business-like note, anything making the front page has to be timely, and a lot of the great things the community do are definitely not. Can a website looking for hits afford to put some nutters 10 page dossier on Space Pirates on the front page? Or their sublime review of Duck Hunt? The community can do some great things, but how much of it do front-page-goers really care about? And why aren't the people interested in that sorta stuff on the forums caring it up with the community spotlight? The top viewed wiki pages and forums on the site back in the day were always obscure, untimely, hamburgers, or random females and female characters. By force of numbers, it showed the majority of the community would rather look up pics of Gemma Atkinson and Sakuya Izayoi on the site than they would check out information on Master Chief and Mario. I mean, really...   In any case, timely things like quality reviews and great guides ARE celebrated on the front page, and there's much more a chance that people will be interested in that stuff, so it makes sense. 
 
I would like to see something added to the new releases bar on the front page though. Another, perhaps text-only or scrollable like the headlines pane, line underneath it of recent releases dating back maybe a month or so, with a link to community reviews for them. Many games that show up on the new releases never get an editorial review, and it would be helpful for people to at least get some insight on what other gamers think of a game in the absence of an editorial review.

I was just browsing around and found my name in here with the burger reviews... thanks... maybe I should start doing those again.... hmmm

"
 
Never in all my time on the internet have I ever seen a Community create so much amazing content, so fast, in such a broad array of media as right here at Giant Bomb."

" @Jensonb said:

"
 
Never in all my time on the internet have I ever seen a Community create so much amazing content, so fast, in such a broad array of media as right here at Giant Bomb."

Forza... by a long shot.  Anyway, as i was saying to RH in a PM giantbomb just isn't what it used to be. It's a bit like how gamespot was epic but then somewhere along the line it became fail... "

" @Cube said:

" Honestly I am pretty tired of this crowd on Giant Bomb who act like they are community idols. Nobody gives a shit about you...sweet you guys talk in the IRC and make podcasts but the truth is that you're all so self-important and dramatic you guys come off as Jr. High kids.   Example: AjayRaz.   Seriously. WHO. GIVES. A. SHIT. You will NOT die because some Ayane loving kid lost their internet. And the whole SuperMooseman thing. OMG THE COVER UP HURF HURF DURRRR.   Sure there are people I follow on this site. But there's only one person who even messages me and isn't totally douchey and internet-dramatic. Bleh. "

aaaawwww. you made a friend :) "  

  It's not because of the irc or podcasts, it's because they don't post utter shit

I don't see what's wrong with giving the community a bigger presence. The fact that this site is basically a wiki and that any user can create a lot of content sort of indicates that it is community-centric. Sure the editorial staff is likely the draw for most people, but that shouldn't overshadow user involvement.

I didn't read this entire topic (I have the time, just not the patience...) but I am going to just blindly throw out some thoughts:
 
1.  The community is at it's best when NOBODY IS SUGGESTING ANYTHING NEW.  A week ago we were all having lots of fun in that community drawing thread, and all in all the "seas were calm" as they say.  The second anyone cries foul and says something is wrong... is when things actually start going wrong.
 
2.  There are users on this site in it for the popularity contest of it all, consistently posting rehashed drivel and quoting other posts without providing additional commentary, and then there are users who actually seem to care about the goodwill of this little community.  Unfortunately, the majority of the users on this site are part of the first group.  I suggest we round them all up, ban their IP addresses, and then laugh it all off.  But that's just me.
 
3.  Hypocritical users are hypocritical.
 
 
ALSO:  I think we should start banning people based off principal alone.  Who cares if they didn't explicitly break any rules; if the whole community thinks you are a piece of shit, then you should be banished.

I just think we shoul BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT

" I didn't read this entire topic (I have the time, just not the patience...) but I am going to just blindly throw out some thoughts:  1.  The community is at it's best when NOBODY IS SUGGESTING ANYTHING NEW.  A week ago we were all having lots of fun in that community drawing thread, and all in all the "seas were calm" as they say.  The second anyone cries foul and says something is wrong... is when things actually start going wrong.  2.  There are users on this site in it for the popularity contest of it all, consistently posting rehashed drivel and quoting other posts without providing additional commentary, and then there are users who actually seem to care about the goodwill of this little community.  Unfortunately, the majority of the users on this site are part of the first group.  I suggest we round them all up, ban their IP addresses, and then laugh it all off.  But that's just me.  3.  Hypocritical users are hypocritical.   ALSO:  I think we should start banning people based off principal alone.  Who cares if they didn't explicitly break any rules; if the whole community thinks you are a piece of shit, then you should be banished. "

" @kmdrkul said:

" I didn't read this entire topic (I have the time, just not the patience...) but I am going to just blindly throw out some thoughts:  1.  The community is at it's best when NOBODY IS SUGGESTING ANYTHING NEW.  A week ago we were all having lots of fun in that community drawing thread, and all in all the "seas were calm" as they say.  The second anyone cries foul and says something is wrong... is when things actually start going wrong.  2.  There are users on this site in it for the popularity contest of it all, consistently posting rehashed drivel and quoting other posts without providing additional commentary, and then there are users who actually seem to care about the goodwill of this little community.  Unfortunately, the majority of the users on this site are part of the first group.  I suggest we round them all up, ban their IP addresses, and then laugh it all off.  But that's just me.  3.  Hypocritical users are hypocritical.   ALSO:  I think we should start banning people based off principal alone.  Who cares if they didn't explicitly break any rules; if the whole community thinks you are a piece of shit, then you should be banished. "

Hopefully you'll never be in a position of meaningful power else you'd banish everyone on a whim. "

After just taking a look at the comments of a video Lordofultima made on EventHubs I can safely say this forum is alot more pleasureable to read and comment in. Not that it's perfect, though. Far from it. It's just it could be far far worse.

The Giantbomb community is great for all you guys that get really into but I don't want it force fed down my throat if some guys review obstructs me from seeing a new Quicklook then no thanks. For me the forums are just a good way to keep me busy until the next editorial content, breaking video game news that the duders haven't talked about or just reading off topic photoshopped brilliance. I dunno seems like you guys should have a community tab or whatever as long as it doesn't get between me and finding the secret indentity of luchadeer. (My guess is Drew)

" @TheHT said:

" @kmdrkul said:

" I didn't read this entire topic (I have the time, just not the patience...) but I am going to just blindly throw out some thoughts:  1.  The community is at it's best when NOBODY IS SUGGESTING ANYTHING NEW.  A week ago we were all having lots of fun in that community drawing thread, and all in all the "seas were calm" as they say.  The second anyone cries foul and says something is wrong... is when things actually start going wrong.  2.  There are users on this site in it for the popularity contest of it all, consistently posting rehashed drivel and quoting other posts without providing additional commentary, and then there are users who actually seem to care about the goodwill of this little community.  Unfortunately, the majority of the users on this site are part of the first group.  I suggest we round them all up, ban their IP addresses, and then laugh it all off.  But that's just me.  3.  Hypocritical users are hypocritical.   ALSO:  I think we should start banning people based off principal alone.  Who cares if they didn't explicitly break any rules; if the whole community thinks you are a piece of shit, then you should be banished. "

Hopefully you'll never be in a position of meaningful power else you'd banish everyone on a whim. "

I'd also make sure there are purposeful technical flaws in the system to not allow me to unban anyone, just for the hell of it :P "

This post made me feel a bit ashamed, I'm mostly only reading and occasionally commenting :P
 
Btw, how do i find that "Making a Brad" list?

So as a moderator I feel like I have to tip-toe over this thread, but I'm just going to express my honest opinion here, it seems everyone else has and that is fine (for the most part anyway). 
 
I enjoy seeing the contributions the community is making to this website. I focus primarily on wiki so you could say I see a lot of your submissions. I had a large wiki motivation early with the website, but I think it was more because I liked getting points, and wanted to have live edit privileges as soon as possible, like getting 1000 gamerscore or something. Anyway. The reason why I migrated to this website, and why I'm still here today, has little to do with community contributions, or me being a moderator at all. I like the content the staff puts out. I like the quick looks, the video features, and the bombcast. I don't even read reviews, not even the staff reviews. I don't care. Having a video game database readily available at your finger tips is also handy when you're trying to look things up. 
 
The only community-related thing I do other than moderate wiki submissions and the occasional forum post, is post on the Street Fighter IV forums. That is really my only sense of community for this website, and I enjoy my time spent there quite a bit. I'd like to say I'm well-known for my Street Fighter contributions, at least on this website -- and feel a sense of ownership there. So while I don't really digest the community contributions the same way a lot of the users do, I get the sense of unity, that we are all Giant Bomb, thanks to that subset of forums. So I can see why people are very passionate about being a "part" of Giantbomb, albeit overly defensive sometimes.  
 
The staff cares about your feedback, the staff cares about the community (moderators too!). They are always thinking of better ways to integrate these things into the system, and your opinions are important here. Maybe I won't ever view your content, and maybe some other users feel the same way -- but that's not saying it doesn't matter, that's not saying you as users weren't a fundamental building block in this giant bomb of a website. We are listening. 
 
That said, people blogging about leaving a website, getting all emo and junk? That I just can't understand. CMON, IT'S A WEBSITE, ABOUT VIDEO GAMES. It's not like you're moving 3000 miles away from the website, the internet is always right in front of your face, no matter how far away you're moving. 
 
edit: should have picked the renegade option, would have gotten sweet glowing face scars.

my small opinion: There should be a community ran portion of the site, the staff should create the layout and allow two or three well trusted people to control what's highlighted etc.... I would be stoked for that.

I'll contribute to this flamewar of a thread with this:
 
 
While I'm all for Sweep's idea of a community tab, I'm completely against community content being held in the same regard as the staff's on the front page.

I just think that the editorial team should be a little bit more involved with the community. It's rare that we see a post on the forums from Jeff, or anybody else. Hardly even a blog post directed to the community.