...Would YOU want it back? I can't even believe i'm saying this, but I think it's time it was resurrected - considered at least.

Why? Well, personally speaking, I am SO sick and tired of seeing the forums littered (and that's an entirely apt word in this instance) with adult-orientated threads containing in many cases graphic photographs or links.

Now, those of you that know me, know I am FAR from prudish, but this past year (the previous six months in particular) have just seen the forums go from bad, to worse, to frankly...downright shitty. Any sense of right and wrong is rapidly flying out of the Org's windows, and what we're being left with isn't that attractive - hell, it isn't even that entertaining. Whereas the Org could be something classy and somewhere people actually want to visit, it's now the equivilent of some run-down seedy motel in a 'baaad part o' town'.

What it boils down to is a handful of Orgers with a penchant for creating highly sexualised threads and a ravenous hunger for sensationalism - not to mention titles containing swearing. Let's take a look at some of them over the past few weeks shall we? Come, take a walk with me...

Does It Bother You When Someone Says Prince Is Gay? Should Being Gay Be Considered An INSULT?

How FAR WOULD YOU Go TO BE In BED With PRINCE?

Do You Think Prince Has Limited His Chances In The Past At Meeting Cool Women Cause Of Security And SHYNESS?

LESBIAN VAMPIRES!!

can men be raped?

david fuckin blaine!

Are You A Dominant Or A Submissive Type?

Are you offended by the word...(cunt)

tongue kissing after oral sex--yay or nay?

I feel like shit

do you masturbate to ....

BIG Assholes

What Type Of Lover Is Prince? Slow Groove Romantic.....??? S and M Freakazoid Man.....Rough Thuggin?

What animal are you hung like?

Im going to have sex tonight!!

Should i take the virginity of a 23 yr old away!!

If You Get Married Or Are In A Relationship Would Ya Swing

king size bed

Even More What the Fuck News

Boys & Girls the HOTTEST GD topic... Grower or Shower!? (SUN UPDATE- HOT GAY MUD WRESTLING!) (NSFW)

If A Gay Man Is Short and Has a Small Penis Does He Have Trouble Dating? Gay Men ANSWER This...

Show Your Titties!!!

Oh, for fuck's sake...

What kind of Porn turns you on?

New BESTIALITY movie


to the downright rude:
My Make A Wish For Christmas.....Prince Get DIVORCED.....Be Single Again....

Italian Homophobes

Prince! Tis the season Bitch!


I've been wondering whether or not to make a thread about this for sometime now, and have held off because I don't want to be tainted as a party pooper - hell, I like a laugh and a joke too y'know, but have we gone BEYOND that, are we risking losing something by doing so? Like our (the Org's) integrity maybe? *stop sniggering at the back there*

My thing is this, let's say, (hypothetically speaking) that a 13 year old boy has been given 'Musicology' for Christmas. He's really dug it, he's checked out npgmc, but he's got no membership. So he searches google - and the first site at the top of that list is?

US.

He joins up, and he browses through the main forum (Prince: Music & More) first, before venturing deeper into the site. He avoids the politics and religion forum entirely because that stuff holds no interest for him, and goes to GD. Now, ok - I KNOW what the defense arguments will be, I'm not daft - but what IF his mother came in, and looks over his shoulder and see the title of a thread called: New BESTIALITY movie staring back at her? What is she gonna do? How is she gonna react? WHat is she going to do to that 13 year old kid for 'looking at such filth' - ignoring his protestations that it 'was just a Prince website Mom'. What then?

I know many of you will more than likely find my comments pathetic, and self-rightous. No, I FIRMLY DO NOT believe we are anything like NPGMC - not even remotely, despite rumours to the contrary of 'intensive moderating styles'. I just believe in my heart that we ALL have a responsibility to be RESPONSIBLE for what we do here. The rules state quite plainly: You're responsible for what you write. This is no big clean-up campaign by the 'Org police' - I'm all for free speech within the remit of the sites rules, and I just think with a little help and understanding from all parties concerned those 'parties' can continue unabated with their own area where they can be as freaky as they wanna be.

THESE are the reasons I feel that we should now look into bringing 'THAT' forum - I'm not speaking for any other mod here, and it hasn't been discussed either but personally, I think it's time. I wouldn't call it the 'Sex' forum I'd call it: '18 & Over' I would also fully endorse it to be a NON-MODERATED forum, whatever happens in there is at your own risk etc. This way, it would not only 'clean up' the other forums of the proverbial litter, but also it would be interesting to see what all those people who complain about mod styles and desicions think about how things work in there. NO RULES (within the parameters of the law of course). NOTHING would be viewable in this forum unless you were a signed up member of the site. Maybe even an entrance page to that forum could be added where you electronically 'sign in' to acknowledge the content of the forum you are entering of your own accord. I think it's previous incarnation was FAR too obvioous, and that is why the majority of people hated it with such a passion. I think with enough discussion, we could work through all that and make it work to the Org's positive advantage.

So in the meantime, how about just a small modicum of decency? How about ensuring that your thread title does not have obsenities in it like shit, fuck, cunt, bastard etc? How about placing a simple *NSFW* at the end of your thread title prior to posting? ...call me crazy, but how about thinking of OTHER people for a change?

2006 is fast approaching... we could turn this place around, I don't like the Org being looked upon with disdain, and referred to as 'that site'. There IS a lot going for us, but let's not lie to ourselves any longer - the Org is not the place it once was, and is in many peoples eyes, a laughing stock.

We may be disfunctional at times, we may get laughed at, but hey - it's home.

So what are YOU gonna do to help?

- BananaCologne
(26th December 2005)


*'Oh the humanity of it all!' Edit*


[Edited 12/28/05 11:10am]

the LSR forum was doomed from the very beginning--it met its demise for the exact reason i figured that it would: people simply didn't know how to act in it. that, and it was super-awkward to have a forum of that kind on a fansite as it is. if you wanna talk about that kinna stuff on a constant basis, there's other sites to go to.

i'd figure people would know how to automatically compose themselves on a forum of this sort as it is--the majority of us who post on here everyday are adults. but yet n'still, we get the usual kinna threads like you've mentioned on here, 'nana...and some of ya'll wonder why i can be rather harsh on certain threads. stuff like that's okay in small doses, but not all the damned time. it gets to be a pain in the ass for some of us to read, a pain in the ass for the moderators to deal with, and it just makes the site look bad as a whole.

if you've got the ability to post stuff about whatever sexual fantasy you've got, you should have the ability to bring something else to the table as well. and i don't wanna hear about "but i've done it before and those threads always sink!"--all of us have created threads that have sunk. it ain't a big deal.

BananaCologne said:

Cloudbuster said:

I never said that dammit!!!!

BananaCologne said:

mrrrrrh....the non-moderated bit is a bad idea, in my eyes. simply because of some of the things i've seen go down around here in the past--people would take total advantage of the fact that there'd be no mods there and they'd just do whatever.


i mod my own edits
[Edited 12/26/05 16:15pm]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Yeah, but I think it would be a bit like our very own *Standford Prison Experiment, y'know? It would be interesting to watch how people react when the proverbial shoe is on the other foot' as it were. You know that ol' saying: 'be careful what you wish for?' Well, give 'em Pandora's Box and let 'em go play in it awhile, i'm sure it wouldn't take long for the novelty to wear off.

My

*Oh, hang on...maybe not such a great comparison!

BananaCologne said:

and i remember when i was a mod, i tried to keep the silly/oversexed stuff to a minimum, because most people who regularly post on that forum wanna talk about the music. yes, the fawning over p is to be expected, but it shouldn't be so damned often. yes, ladies. we get it. you think prince is a very sexxy guy. would you perhaps like to talk about yer favorite b-side as well, soon as you stop drooling?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I'll freely admit, I think that's part of it too - albeit a small part. The rep of 'that guy who locks threads at random' just doesn't sit well with me, because that's not what it's about, and I think there's a lot of misunderstanding from some sections of the Org about what we're trying to do.

How about a 24 hour 'Mod amnesty' instead then, and we'll all go off for an all day drinking binge and see what a state the place is like when we get back?

BananaCologne said:

a 24-hour free-for-all would be kinna weird to do, because the mood of the org's so fickle...it'd be peaceful once you left, but then when ya'll got back we'd be in the midst of another thing like quaidbowl...*shudders*

i'd say pass on a new forum...

however:

if ben and us mods feel that a tightening up of the rules is in order then so be it. but if senseless threads are locked we mods must give specific reasons so that people understand what rules are being inforced. it also provides people with an oppurtunity to discuss the situation with that mod whom took action..hiding threads or locking them without detailed (and polite) explanations only exasperates the situation.

and if people are getting out of hand then "managing" the situation should be left to the mods. dont take action on your own by acting like "the thought police". let the mods do their job and hopefully things will improve. but the individuals who mod the specific forum you have issue with need to be involved in the process. or the problem will never get solved.

wrap that up in a big bowl of "food for thought".
[Edited 12/26/05 16:42pm]

What Can I tell you Make this an 18 and Over Website. Prince Always was for ADULTS..what's he Gonna be for Teeniebobbers NOW FOR ? He's a GROWN MAN with a HARD DICK... KEEP HIM STIFF and SEXY...FUCK CONSERVATIVE BULLSHIT....NOBODY gonna buy it anyway...Go WILD BABY.....

Zelaira said:

A fair summation.

sosgemini said:

okay--i thought ya'll were still doing that, because that's what i did when i was still a mod; if you lock a thread, a note automatically gets sent to the person who created it and if folks got questions, they gotta talk to the mod that handled it via orgnotage. is that automatic note system still in place when you lock/hide a thread...or is it buggy like every other thing here at the org is as of late, and doesn't work?

the org could use another total site overhaul as it is.

sosgemini said:

In total agreement (except the forum stuff at the beginning, all that stuff in the middle, and that end stuff)



...just kidding

I agree on most of your points, although I DO feel that Orgers who have been resident on the site for quite some time should be more than aware of the rules and how things work - newbies are an exception to the rule and can be cut some slack - that goes without saying. But persistant offenders? Nah... I don't buy it.

I know we all make mistakes, nobodies perfect and it's a learning curve, but I think it's time the gauntlet was laid down and the chance was given (ie this thread) for everybody to fairly voice their thoughts and opinions before running with the idea and taking it further if needs be.

Nothing heavy handed, so hope nobody is getting that impression, but hey... can we talk?

I am proud to say I started the New BESTIALITY movie thread and the LESBIAN VAMPiRES thread (even though it got pulled)

why not just called one forum

SEX this would include sex w/prince sex w/orgers sex w/whatever...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

nothing wrong with the site..its us forgetting to inform folks..and i must admit im guilty of it too at times.

actually, the site mod thingie is a lil glitchy now that you ask..sometimes when i take action it boots me off the site..then i notice the whole website is down for like thirty seconds.

BananaCologne said:

what do we do, at the end of a love affair?

thats just my singular opinion. majority does rule here..if other folks want a new forum then im sure ben would accommadate them and i would support that decision.

i too get to express which side of the bed i want to lay on...

origmnd said:

That's wrong on so many levels.

origmnd said:

Well, that IS kinda what we're discussing here, and the reason for this threads very existance. I can't remember what the previous try-out forum was called, but it was something very similar. I think that is what rubbed many people the wrong way - I think if it was to ever happen again it should be either '18 & Over' or 'Adult content' something along those lines.

You guys would be happy, and everyone else would be happy. Win/win.

BananaCologne said:

Zelaira said:

sosgemini said:

yeah...but sealab 2021 would totally end up in some weird princey sex-plosive frenzy.

an adult swim-type forum would prolly work better than LSR did.

BananaCologne said:

that woulda been a classic

link please

The reasoning that by closing LSR you'd get people to "act more responsibly" was negated by posters taking these topics to the General Discussion.

I second the notion that the LSR forum be brought back.

I also re-offer the idea that the "Forum Discussion Highlights" only display forum topics from the "Prince Related" category.

Further, I offer that Guest Browsers should only have access to the "Prince Related" category.

Dauphin said:

i had talked to ben about this many many moons ago and it was my understanding that this was the policy.

no?

Dauphin said:

...which was why the LSR forum was created, because those kinna topics were (and still are) swamping GD. in the end, LSR didn't really work out as well as it was hoped to, because of a few who fucked it up for everyone else; i didn't participate on the forum but i did have to go in and handle stuff on there sometimes when i was a mod. there was some pretty grody stuff on there at times.

wait..do we even have a forum discussion highlights anymore? or are we talking about the section of the homepage that lists all the forums?

sosgemini said:

the discussion highlights are here, but you almost miss the link if you don't look because it's at the bottom of the forum list on the homepage. maybe if the highlights link were more prominent, then it'd work out better.