what are these "hidden boards" i keep hearing about?

invite only boards for dudes to jack each other off about how much better they are than ile

I did not help pay for the server to help that kind of elitist bullshit.

i think the butthurt britishes secret borad should be locked down.

take it up with stet.

and i contributed a good £5 <------confers ilx superdelegate status

I think we should all get personal "secret boards", where we could write whatever we wanted, about others, ourselves, our deepest secrets. I would call my secret board "Valdieviron, a Treasury of my Desires".

people get the government they deserve

I've got a hidden board for ya.

lolz homies be deeply wounded

http://i31.tinypic.com/fp17hj.jpg

True fact - there are MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of internet conversations you are not privy to occurring right now and indeed and every moment of every day.

Deal.

bringin the real

how do i create a secret board?

Just say you did. We'll never know.

anyone can be a part of 77

i think the butthurt britishes secret borad should be locked down.

-- banriquit, Saturday, April 5, 2008 2:33 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

why?

The butthurt britishes needed their own board so ppl wouldn't get cranky about having to read their butthurt britisher posts all the time. Hidden boards are yr friend!

i think it's funnier when people mix it up and get in flamewars the whole time.

I come for the pedantry, but I stay for the hysterical fist-fights.

for the record i'd like to state that i think secret boards are a good idea.

i am in favor of a secret mod squad

are you also in favor of the gestapo???

generally speaking yes

http://www.chezgrae.com/modsquad/images/indexbluesky.jpg

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/5651/77vh0.jpg

Let me get this straight: nu-ILX coders have actually created invite-only secret boards for select people?! Sound incredibly divisive and elitist. If this is true, I'm sorta disappointed. Seems like the last step to the balkanization of ILX, except that unlike with regional threads it is totally intentional to create such divisions, and people aren't even free to join them if they wish.

I kinda hope this is a joke or something and not really true.

gah, everyone backstabs, at least here they're open about it.

wai u make tuomous cry?

I think Stan has a very good point: people actually donated money for the ILX server because they felt ILX as a community was worth preserving. I assume many of them would feel that this was not their idea of a new ILX community.

What's wrong with letting people have private conversations? I donate to Amnesty International but I don't go to the meetings.

as a site mod I would like to just go ahead and throw the idea out there that the ILX community has not suffered in the least from the addition of a very small number of boards that aren't open to the general public. While resentment from some at-large users who have yet to be invited to any of the "secret" (lol good job folks) boards is completely understandable, I think the result in the long run is going to be an improvement. Certainly it allows for the accomodation of many longtime users who've recently found the public boards less enjoyable than in the past.

and yes, we could have handled this much better on the mod front, but we didn't really think through the bad apple equations when we offered the option to a couple of folks for more or less beta-testing purposes.

(see that? as a trained bureaucrat I refuse to offer any apology without a ready excuse implying manpower/budget issues)

I have nothing against private conversations, but having private boards under the supposedly "open" ILX site feels like against the whole idea of this message board. Whatever sense of community there is to this place would be eroded by such boards, in my opinion. The worst case scenario is that every ILX regional and other click will have their own private board, and only folks like me who don't happen to belong to these special clicks will be left on the main board. I thought the regional threads were a good enough way for people from the same area to have some local chatter, I don't see much trolling on them.

If people want to have private conversations, there are other places to do that, I don't see why it needs to be on "special" ILX boards. And like I said, folks actually donated a lot of cash to build up this site. I wonder if so many contributions would have been made if someone had said, "Oh, by the way, the new site will have invisible boards only select few can join."

(xxx-post)

Tom, what makes people eligible to these special boards then?

Really, I don't see any way this will improve ILX in the general. Maybe a few people will be happier, but they could just as easily have their private conversations somewhere else.

i agree w. tuomas tho i amm surprised he doesn't belong to one.

What's wrong with letting people have private conversations?

Honey, if you have to ask...

Nothing at all, it's just that they cease to become 'private conversations' when there's just enough reveal to make people feel either excluded or vulnerable, which seems to be the intention behind the revelation.

I wonder why - irony being a pathetic excuse - there is a trend for this particular cohort to express itself like frat boys who haven't quite given up the latency phase, so much do they revel in the 'butthurtedness' of others.

nrq, what's your login email? (feel free to email it to me rather than post it)

Dude, the sub-boards have never really affected the number of threads on ILE, the regional threads might as well be secret boards for all the interest they hold for most non-regional people. I find it somewhere between funny and sad that the private board thing has happened but I don't see what the problem is with it. You donated towards keeping a website running, not to demand that x number of people talk publically on it at all times. Chill. This is a tiny little storm in a novelty teacup.

I am concerned that it's a misappropriation of funds, to counter Tombot's explanation.

misappropriation? you sent off 25 bucks a year ago and expect a say?

Suzy I don't think the hidden boards were originally started for "particular cohort" you're digging at. But, y'know, armchair cod-psychiatric jargon is always a good way of advancing sensible discussion.

Dude, the sub-boards have never really affected the number of threads on ILE, the regional threads might as well be secret boards for all the interest they hold for most non-regional people.

Why not make these boards open then? Yeah, no doubt the secret boards don't affect the main board that much (at this point), but it's the basic idea of secret elitist boards that I'm against. There's been a lot of talk of the balkanization of ILE throughout the years, it's weird that whoever came up with this idea wouldn't see that it could have an negative effect on the whatever sense of community there is to ILX.

77 is not a negative place ok. it's not boring backtalk but STRIKING OUT ANEW

People keep bleating about elitist, and maybe I'm misunderstanding the timeline here, but I thought these boards were being tried out for people who wanted to avoid the hurly burly of being zinged in public and just wanted to carry on their tea party in peace and quiet. You can't enforce community, if people wanna secede they're gonna do it one way or another. This seems like a relatively harmless way of that happening.

Apart from the fact it's been happening anyway on facebook, AIM and various other places for fnever anyway.

^^^ FOR REALS

I don't like zings either, but can't you really see how this would feel negative to those of us who aren't Worthy Enough for these special boards?

DUDE THEY WON'T LET ME JOIN CLUB 18-30 EITHER I DON'T CRY MYSELF TO SLEEP ABOUT IT AT NIGHT

I just said that.
I'm sorry one of the most insecure and tactless dimbulbs we've got on hand winded up with an invite before we had it all ironed out for everybody's pleasure. I hate to say it but wait your turn?

Save Our Sinister!

Apart from the fact it's been happening anyway on facebook, AIM and various other places for fnever anyway.

I remember the AIM chats were at least advertised here. And I suppose the Facebook group isn't totally invisible either? Besides, those are different sites, they do not form ILX as such. This is site is supposed to be what ILX is, and if it will be divided into special clicks who can't even see each other, I wouldn't feel happy with that.

I DEMAND TO BE LET ONTO MOD DISCUSSION SO I DONT FEEL LEFT OUT AND EMO

if it will be divided into special clicks who can't even see each other, I wouldn't feel happy with that

Metaphorically that happened a loooooong time ago

So what's the need for secret boards then?

you wouldn't know the fucking difference.
the only reason this is an issue right now at all is because deej is developmentally stalled at 14, if you can imagine making it all the way to 14 and not learning what "secret" means

there have been other private boards ongoing for some time previous to this and nobody knew nor cared

deejeneration X

Just tell him where the Bilderberg Group board is and we can all get some closure.

I don't think anyone ever really claimed Curtis's Borad was supposed to be a secret.

I was peeved about this when I thought there were hidden broads.

there have been other private boards ongoing for some time previous to this and nobody knew nor cared

Er, how can you care if you don't know? I assume that if this had come to people's knowledge earlier, it would have raised a similar discussion. We even had a massive debate whether or not ILX should be registered-only, remember?

http://homepage.mac.com/demonhood/banhammer2.jpg

i think the big reveal is that there is a "secret board function" available while other functions of the old board which have been requested numerous times have not been implemented.

I was despondent when I learned that they were hiding Happy Robots away from us.

i mean i understand why people would want a board i cant get to. hey now!

BAN TUOMAS

There have been secret boards since ILX2 started. This is just the first time one has been placed in the hands of someone other than mods/programmers/happy robots.

nrq, what's your login email? (feel free to email it to me rather than post it)

-- The Reverend, Sunday, April 6, 2008 11:03 AM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

thx bro but im already there

Or former ILX Heaven posters.

xp

hahahahahahahaha this conversation

I'm going to go smoke

Curt1s was given his own board after he discovered the existence of the other secret boards here: favorite hidden ILX board

I'm going to wipe my eyes and get my breath back.

thx bro but im already there

-- banriquit, Sunday, April 6, 2008 3:32 AM (Sunday, April 6, 2008 3:32 AM) Bookmark Link

alright, cool

as a site mod I would like to just go ahead and throw the idea out there that the ILX community has not suffered in the least from the addition of a very small number of boards that aren't open to the general public.

The rolling "Quiet day on ILX" thread.

that was me making a lol

yo tombot you got a problem or what? why dont u tell me wtf is wrong?

GO TO BED

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/Chinatown.jpg

GO TO BED

-- chaki, Sunday, April 6, 2008 5:40 AM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

kiss my ass?

ok yeah 14 y o

great thread

GO TO BED

-- chaki, Sunday, April 6, 2008 5:40 AM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

kiss my ass?

-- deej, Sunday, April 6, 2008 11:41 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

get a friggan room already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Iv9ZDfCxkw&feature=related

I've never even seen Happy Robots but I'm assuming it = a bunch of dudes talking about Belle and Sebastian and other related things so yeah like bothered.

There's been at least one secret board (Mod Discussion as mentioned upthread) since ILX2 started so it's not like there's been extra coding work to implement the feature but I'm amazed the site admins didn't really think through the probability of a shitload of butthurt or just plain stirring posters going "why can't *I* have a secret board" then? I'm not sure they're even necessary in the first place - get one mailing list, people.

Somewhere in the disused board vaults there is a board called Speakeasy: The Board For Appreciating Shed Seven. The idea was to make a board with the least appealing name in the world so that a few Londoners could have pub-related conversations at a slightly slower pace. It was a noble idea but didn't really work out.

Also I predict this thread will rumble on for another 500 posts and then fizzle out and things will carry on exactly as before.

ilx is a virtual sync hole estate

I heard that there is free pizza in the secret threads.

There's a pool on the roof.

Is it true that the secret threads have ... GIRLS in them?

categorically not

No girls, a lot of bitches.

there's a 'this is a thread for when chicks show up' but it's mostly grady talking about shoes

What proportion of those people who are defending private boards here are on the guest list? Specifically, what proportion of the people telling tuomas to stop crying/grow a pair/etc etc are members of this supposedly beautiful zing-free community?

93%

I Love Butthurt

just plain stirring posters going "why can't *I* have a secret board" then? I'm not sure they're even necessary in the first place - get one mailing list, people.

This is a good question. I really don't have anything against private conversations, nor do I mean to say that I would've wanted to join all of these secret boards, and feel hurt because I was left out. But giving some people the special right to have their secret board (on what basis?) whereas other don't have that right sorta divides the people here into A and B class ILXors. In order to actually treat people fair, the admins should either A) make all of these boards public (except for ILX coding board, at least there's a proper reason for it to be secret), or B) give everyone the right to start their own, invitation-only boards.

I don't actually think "blub, I've not been invited to the special gang and it's not fair" complaints are any more or less pathetic than "blub, people keep zinging me and I don't like it, therefore I need a secret board" arguments. Neither side comes out particularly well.

Hey Tuomas, unless the public boards evaporate and dry up, who freaking cares? Honestly? What next, compulsorily blogging all ilxors' aim logs?

Sorry to get all cantankerous but srsly dude, what a load of noise about something so incredibly unimportant.

It's important enough for you to be rude about it, isn't it?

I definitely would favour solution A. I don't really see that much trolling or zinging on the specialized subboards like I Love Comics, so I don't see why this is such a big fear. At the very least these boards should be readable to everyone but posting there could be prohibited (like it was with the old Mod Discussion board), and it should be made clear who you can turn to if you want to ask for an invitation.

(xxx-post)

It's important enough for you to be rude about it, isn't it?

-- suzy, Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:02 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

I'm not being rude at all, I'm just amazed this is such an issue.

Sorry to get all cantankerous but srsly dude, what a load of noise about something so incredibly unimportant.

Other people on this thread have also criticized this idea, so apparently it's not unimportant to everyone. Just because these boards don't seem to have much effect on main board at the moment doesn't mean the basic idea of secret boards can't be criticized. It's a matter of principle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TILCIRspO0

I'm not saying don't criticise it. Argh. Look forget it.

People who don't think they need principles don't miss having principles.

Again, I'd like to emphasize that I'm not against this idea because I feel like I'm missing out some juicy conversations on the secret boards. I'm against it because it gives certain ILXors special rights others don't have, there doesn't seem to be any justification why these people have that right, and at the worst case it could lead to total loss of the sense of community that I think still exists here.

Perhaps somebody who requested a secret board should man-up and explain the pros, then.

xp I see your point Tuomas, but again, these private conversations would happen with or without secret boards. btw I'm not a member of any secret board so I've no ulterior motive.

Sorry I arced up, it was probably unnecessary.

I mean, sure you can say that ILX is no democracy, but at least changes like this have previously been discussed openly on the main board. I've always though this openness was part of of what made ILX good.

(xxx-post)

Sorry tuomas, I wasn't saying I thought you *were* complaining about being left out, just that those people who were accusing you of doing that were being pretty wussy themselves anyway.

(xxxp)

Interesting assumption that these boards exist because people are looking for a "zing free environment".

I am not a member of any secret boards, other than Mod Discussion which hasn't been used in like 8 months. I don't really see the point of them tbh.

Haha the idea of Stet or whoever going "hey everyone we're going to put up a load of secret boards, lets all have a big discussion about it" is kind of lol.

http://www.board77.net/viewforum.php?f=7

just that those people who were accusing you of doing that were being pretty wussy themselves anyway.

I don't think anybody saying the secret boards are no big deal here has got any serious involvement with them, so your argument is somewhat bollocksy.

AFAIK 'Happy Robots' has existed as a mailing list for old-skool ex-Sinister people for years and may even predate ILE. Presumably they've just moved that onboard.

xp So it's people who don't have access to secret boards and think they're shit vs people who don't have access to secret boards and don't care

I <3 ILX

xpost

I think it's Drama fans vs Comedy fans, yah.

btw it's ironic how the secret boards are probably generating more activity in the public boards than the secret ones.

Interesting assumption

Well, that wasn't an assumption, it was tombot's claim upthread.

Interesting assumption that these boards exist because people are looking for a "zing free environment".

-- Matt DC, Sunday, April 6, 2008 1:17 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i think it's cos ilx heaven saw a lot of traffic post-lunagate. 2+2 =

Haha the idea of Stet or whoever going "hey everyone we're going to put up a load of secret boards, lets all have a big discussion about it" is kind of lol.

In those words yes, but he could've asked whether the idea of having invitation-only subboards was good. Like I said, if this thing is here to stay, if you want to treat people fairly at least you should give everyone the right to start their own secret board, instead of these decisions being made in the dark on mysterious basis, and only coming into light when someone "snitched" about them.

I don't think anybody saying the secret boards are no big deal here has got any serious involvement with them

Well, you might be right, you might not. We don't know, do we? Because they're secret.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RFrBG4xyaF8

xxpost

When you say "everyone" should have the right to start their own secret board, who exactly are you including there?

I've been on secret boards at other message boards. Nothing ever happens. They just sit there being secret and the other 95% of users get all cranky because they think it's full of orgasm and chocolate or something.

GUYS THIS IS TOTALLY LIKE HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Tuomas I think secret boards are a shit idea generally but it's not like 'OMG THIS HAS ALTERED THE WHOLE STRUCTURE OF ILX' or whatever it is you're claiming. If everyone had the opportunity to start up secret boards then ILX would be a rabbit warren of bitchiness and plotting like Conservative Central Office in the late 90s or something. ILX is full of dicks and mentalists and the whole thing would be unworkable.

This is not that big a deal.

(xpost lololol)

seriously though extra huge lols at people with college fucking educations going on about how it's a disservice to the principle of civilization or what have you to permit the existence of a private clubhouse

http://base58.com/ilx/carlcarlson.jpg

"shuutt uuppp!"

Hey guys I'm now automatically going to ban everyone who doesn't provide full documentation of every AIM chat, Facebook message, email and offline conversation they've ever had with an ILXor. It's the only fair way to assure 100% transparency.

And that includes Jon and Remy aged 12 or whatever.

the lzbc burn-book deserves a wider public.

Can I be on the Public Standards committee pleease?

the only serious issue(s) at hand is:

A. how do we determine who has the right to a private clubhouse
a1-14 various details about the method of determination discussed in A.

(optional) B. scorched earth: would it be better for everyone really?

I favour scorched earth but there are potential lols in winding everyone up and just inventing a load of nonexistent secret boards.

(Which is what I initially thought this was in the first place)

SHHHHHHHHH

Hey guys I'm now automatically going to ban everyone who doesn't provide full documentation of every AIM chat, Facebook message, email and offline conversation they've ever had with an ILXor. It's the only fair way to assure 100% transparency.

Like I said before, it's not the same thing. Those are extraneous things to ILX proper, and obviously everyone knows people communicate outside the board too. However, I thought there were certain standards that applied to this board specifically (and previously those standards have been brought out in the open so people can discuss and debate them), and the idea of secret boards only some people have the right to seems to change those standards.

"Hah, you can't see 'I Love Popcorn'? LOSERZ!"

hidden boards are useful either as zing-shield (some people want to banter, get personal etc. among friends without fear of anything they say being quoted for lulz by people elsewhere they've never met) or zing-enabler (designated area moves snark even further away from ile than the sub boards already did). so win win in that respect.

ZING HALLELUJAH!

}the only serious issue(s) at hand is:

A. how do we determine who has the right to a private clubhouse
a1-14 various details about the method of determination discussed in A.

This is sorta true, and I think it was dubious to create those private clubhouses before this question was properly answered.

there were certain standards that applied to this board specifically

such as?

Really if the Site Admins want to go through processes A1-14 ad nauseum for the rest of eternity then they're very welcome to do so but I think it'd be better to just shitcan the whole thing.

I'm regretting the couple of times I coughed up money up to keep the board running, because my god, the sheer amount of butthurtery afoot here.

who gives a shit? seriously, you could see it as a good thing. cuts down on the signal to spergin' ratio significantly.

subboards were more viable pre-Site New Answers, i guess. truly a new era.

Yeah, sometimes I've posted half a dozen times on a thread and thought it was on a different board to what it was.

yeah. i wasn't going to post to 77 but got caught in that trap.

there were certain standards that applied to this board specifically

such as?

For example, I think previously every bigger change to the boards was discussed openly. We had a huge thread on whether or not we should let only registered users post, for example. Even if these things weren't decided democratically, at least it felt like ILX was a place for open discourse. People were given the chance to state their opinion about such changes and other issues, instead of them happening in the shadows.

That was a change to ILE tho. Ultimately the secret boards aren't.

it's kind of funny how much the mods resisted giving the zinging revivalist frat post-noise bastards their own playground, while the b&s crew and the luna-loyalists apparently had their own *borads*.

That was a change to the whole site. Secret boards are also a change that affects everyone, if not in any other way than in giving some people rights to private discussion on this site that others don't have.

(x-post)

lolololololololololololololol at all of this

I like the idea of the private boards and am wondering if its worth making all the non ile/ilm boards private to try and declutter things a little?

I mean, I'd love to have a zing-free board as well. Can I have one?

(xx-post)

it's kind of funny how much the mods resisted giving the zinging revivalist frat post-noise bastards their own playground, while the b&s crew and the luna-loyalists apparently had their own *borads*

almost as if they were BIASED somehow...

I like the idea of the private boards and am wondering if its worth making all the non ile/ilm boards private to try and declutter things a little?

I don't think this is a good idea. For better or worse, I think the openness is a big part what makes this place special. If groups of friend want to have private discussions, that's totally fine by me, but I don't see why it can't be done on a mailing list or in Facebook or whatever.

ATTENTION TOMBOT PLEASE MAKE SECRET BOARD 'I'D LOVE A PONY' OKTHXBYE.

ilx has an aging population and needs new blood to survive. the private boards are a step in the wrong direction.

Perhaps we should move the boards to China or India to help them weather this turbulent time?

With a lot of the sub-boards focusing on cut and pastes from other posts - making them all invite-only/hidden could reduce duplication on the main site, leaving just ile and ilm for standard users

This could be better for those of us that didn't want to have to register. Could make ILE/ILM non-registered and public, and all the others private and invite only. Best of both worlds?

The registration thing was a step in the wrong direction too, but I prefer to see private boards as a place where those no longer of use to the tribe can wander off and die in the woods with dignity.

tuomas: will
mods: those other two guys in the hsbc ac

Will what?

I prefer to see private boards as a place where those no longer of use to the tribe can wander off and die in the woods with dignity.

-- Noodle Vague, Sunday, April 6, 2008 1:56 PM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

hahaha

NV that sounds about right. Private and registered zones for those that want to talk amongst themselves, and ile free and unregistered for new people to post in

unreg causes modding issues, i think, and i don't see the need for it. or for private boards. get a fucking aim basically! 77 doesn't need to be private.

But I'm not loving the lockdown on the sub-boards idea Filey. I Love Games needs new blood too, y'know?

ile free and unregistered for new people to post in

this would only result in a kazillion more sockpuppets rather than attracting actual new normal people

but of course we all want calum back don't we

IIRC the main driver behind finally going reg-only in the end (ie about six months after we had that massive thread) was because ILX had got to the stage where spambots were pretty much everywhere. Even people who were die-hard opponents of reg-only in the first place (JW etc) were all 'ffs make it reg only already!' by that point.

Well I don't see the need for any sub boards private or public but they are popular and people seem to want control over them so it seems logical to allow them to have that

tuomas: will
mods: those other two guys in the hsbc ac

-- blueski, Sunday, 6 April 2008 13:56 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

Will what?

-- Tuomas, Sunday, 6 April 2008 13:57 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

^^^high point of thread so far

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/130411.jpg

mikey bidness disgustingly OTM way up there

sorry no refunds. board credit only.

well and frankly everybody who's said "who gives a flying one third of a bad fuck" essentially

lately I've been finding myself in the strange positions of agreeing with chaki AND noodle vague in arguments, is it possible that voldemort himself has taken control of my mind?

ilx has an aging population and needs new blood to survive. the private boards are a step in the wrong direction.

I suggest we hire Michael Eavis for some consultancy work.

i like this analogy. ile is like the pyramid stage - you'd be mad to spend the whole day there.

seriously though pretty much every board/forum on the internet that lasts 3+ years winds up either becoming obsolete by balkanization or winds up devising a means of separating the old old from the simply old and the simply old from the new - via karma, pay reg accounts, invite-only or what have you

That was a change to the whole site. Secret boards are also a change that affects everyone, if not in any other way than in giving some people rights to private discussion on this site that others don't have.

Tuomas, everyone has the right to private discussion. I might be emailing someone RIGHT NOW going "lol Tuomas, what a dick" and you wouldn't know. I might be on the phone to someone saying it! I might be posting from the pub where I'm actually talking to someone! (FWIW, I'm not doing any of those things, but you wouldn't know either way if I was, would you?)

Is anyone particularly missing from ILX that posts solely to a private board now? The membership of ILX fluctuates all the time - was there this level of, ahem, butthurtedness when the Freaky Trigger mob all chose to lower their use of ILX and up their use of Facebook? What's the difference? How do you KNOW people have fucked off to private boards rather than just fucked off?

Noodle Vague's views pretty much reflect mine on this thread, I think.

several xposts

was there this level of, ahem, butthurtedness when the Freaky Trigger mob all chose to lower their use of ILX and up their use of Facebook?

no-one cared ;_;

the more pantshitting and armflailing we have about this, the more likely it is that Valuable And Productive Posters are going to say fuck this and move elsewhere for their discussion fix.

nobody ever said in some ILX constitution written on eco-friendly recycled parchment that this was supposed to be some socialist discussocracy designed to advance the human race. i don't know about other people, but i use it to make time go faster and give trayce shit somewhere other than livejournal.

the man is correct

I mean seriously raise your hand if you don't use this to make time go faster and give trayce shit somewhere other than livejournal

...

that's right I thought so

This is pretty much the case but I don't think it means obsoletion by any means.. and I see no problem with the people who want their own corner, just letting them go. I don't think balkinaztion is necessarily a problem and I think the main board is improved by allowing those kind of people to go in their own corner and do their own thing.

A lot of people seem down on ILE and want their own boards and I think that's fine, private boards are just a continuation of that, I don't see it harming ILE in the slightest. I don't think the heaven people going and doing their own thing has been bad at all, and it would be the same with others as well I'm sure. Lets just let them go

nice rhetorical use of "lets" there.

Ah, I meant livejournal, not Facebook for the FT lot. Whatever. Not that anyone cared...

xposts

Thank you, although you will have noticed I was speaking for others, as I have no say - nor would I want any say

ILX is good for many things, particularly city information (though I have become somewhat addicted to city-data.com more recently for this)

Thank you, although you will have noticed I was speaking for others, as I have no say - nor would I want any say

this is what i meant by 'rhetorical' -- you obviously do want your say, otherwise you wouldn't be saying anything. i don't know who you represent anyway.

balkanization? man, this is some model UN shit.

anyways, the people on the secret boards need to post on the main boards so they can mine zing ore to take back to the dark forges of their locked-up discussions.

^^^^ agree

Read =/ post though.

secret boards all getting tarnished with the same brush - TYPICAL

I represent myself only.

I want my say, and I am allowed to have it. This is sufficient. Actual changes from it are of no consequence to me. I have no problem with letting people have their own boards and subsections, it could be good for them. Merely suggestions for a sunday afternoon

I might be emailing someone RIGHT NOW going "lol Tuomas, what a dick" and you wouldn't know. I might be on the phone to someone saying it!

what's this missed call i have from you at 2.21pm?

(j/k, obv)

feel vaguely obligated to make some kind of point here since I'm the only american awake at this godforsaken hour on a sunday but I suspect I've said all I have to say. so, er, carry on

PANCAKES

I understand that after what went on 10 years ago, it was pretty difficult to expect Kosovars to agree in any way to rejoin a Yugoslavia that by 2008, everybody had already left. On the other hand, Europeans and Americans trying to portray this as the victory of freedom and self-determination are really setting themselves up for a lot of future headaches. Hello Republics of Transnistria and Abkhazian. Hello Flanders and Wallonia. Let's wait 10 years and even these tiny states won't be homogeneous enough and will have to be broken further down...

-- baaderonixx, Monday, February 18, 2008 3:33 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

I just want to confirm all your suspicions that my recent lessened participation on vanilla ILX is because I'm spending all my time on one of the newhotsupaseckritILXonlyinvisa-boards and not because, you know, I'm fucking busy at work. You may all go back to being unaware of or uncaring about my existence now. Except tuomas--you get to wonder whether I'm telling the truth or not.

Good point about Kosovo (I disagreed with its 'independence' but that is another matter)

Hopefully the consequences of private and sub boards will be less troubling.

i find it lol-ish that people would be against a secret board. i mean ffs if you are, it ain't going to quit people from cuddling in a place which you don't know about. as with gossip, "secret" (woooo but also lol as uh how is it secret if everyone knows about it) boards are a part of life and are in fact good.

i can just see some mods wagging their finger:"YOU WILL NOT CREATE A SECRET BOARD! OR I WILL SPANK THEE!!!" And all the others guys "WEEEEEE!"

POLL: approximately how much of the fluster about secret boards is because of people worrying 'THEY MIGHT BE TALKING ABOUT ME'?
a.) all of it
b.) most of it

Even the secret boards have secret boards. On one of the most secret boards of all, let's call it X-ILX, it's rumoured that a secret cabal of disaffected ILXors is building a lolbomb that will zing us all back to the stone age.

To assume that people are talking about you is surely arrogant in the extreme? I think it pretty unlikely anyone is talking about me, and even if they are, why is it of any consequence?

Thing is, the secret issue now isn't that private boards exist, rather than that what is on them is secret.

Also, don't the mods have to GIVE you a secret board? Curtis didn't make 77 so much as was given it, yes?

(I think tipsy mothra is onto something. Though it's not like the people being talked about aren't probably the same one getting talked about on Noize, IRE, IDME etc anyway. Though lol the idea of paranoia over extra secret zinging on a board already full of zinging)

don't sell yourself short. i imagine someone somewhere on a sub-board is trying to decide whether or not you are a better poster than, say, RJG as we write. xpost

I'm up Tombot!

I'm lolling at the idea that only conversations open to google "build community."

That was a change to the whole site. Secret boards are also a change that affects everyone, if not in any other way than in giving some people rights to private discussion on this site that others don't have.

Tuomas, everyone has the right to private discussion. I might be emailing someone RIGHT NOW going "lol Tuomas, what a dick" and you wouldn't know. I might be on the phone to someone saying it! I might be posting from the pub where I'm actually talking to someone! (FWIW, I'm not doing any of those things, but you wouldn't know either way if I was, would you?)

The difference is, that I too can email or phone or otherwise talk to people privately, but I can't have a secret ILX board, unlike some other folks here. I think all the people saying that secret boards are just like telephone conversations or private emails or whatever are missing a part of the point: different forums of discussion are not totally interchangeable, there are certain formal and informal rules to each of them. I thought one important part of ILX's principles was its openness and relative egalitarity. I might've been wrong though.

Let me just say again that at the moment I don't think this is a thing that seems to affect general ILX much, but like I said there's always the possibility that it'll change, and anyways I feel this is more of a question of principle. Anyway, previously these sorta issues have been brought into open discussion, and I think it's a good thing: even if the discussion doesn't change anything, at least people are given the chance to have their say, and maybe the admins will take some note of it. I think it's a bit sad that all this was done in secrecy before now, and it took until someone found out the secret before it was brought into general discussion. I know ILX is not a socialist utopia or anything, but previously I've felt there have been certain principles of openness guiding the admins here, and I wouldn't wish that to change.

I'm lolling at the idea that only conversations open to google "build community."

Who said this?

- i think c+p'ing from emails/lj/aim/facebook has GENERALLY been frowned on.
- what if SOMEONE STARTED c+p'ing from SECRET BOARDS?!?!1!?

minds would be blown, butts would be hurt.

I don't care one way or the other, but did the secret boards people ever consider that by throwing a few "Watercoolers", "Sheepfuxors", or "Chicago/DC/Seattle" into their thread titles, they could post right out in the open and no one would read it?

The sun would still shine, the bus would still come on time (well maybe), next doors dog would still bark, cute girls would still smile in the park. Together, I'm sure we would still make it through

I'm just butthurt I haven't been invited to any.

I can't have a secret ILX board, unlike some other folks here

Have you asked for one?

I don't think there have been real 'principles of openness' on ILX since at least 2003, whoever's been admin at the time has reserved the right to refuse certain people the ability to post, and big moderator/admin decisions have always occasionally been made behind closed doors without throwing it open to the wider board.

I think you're kind of over-romanticising the whole 'openness' of ILX when the guiding principle has always been 'stop it becoming utter shit like 90% of other internet forums'. Admittedly we've never had secret, unreadable boards before but individual board admins can still ban people from 'their' board for whatever spurious reason they want.

(Nb I have enough faith in Stet or Pash that they wouldn't have just set up hidden forums if they were just going to be used for a load of bitching and meta snark).

so glad i never gave so much as a penny of my money :D

I'm lolling at the idea that only conversations open to google "build community."

Who said this?

-- Tuomas, Sunday, April 6, 2008 7:00 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

...Whatever sense of community there is to this place would be eroded by such boards, in my opinion...

-- Tuomas, Sunday, April 6, 2008 2:57 AM

Haha Kingkonggodzilla yeah right, the Watercooler thread probably has the highest lurker to poster ratio on ILE.

Tuomas, exactly why is a few people who happen to be on ILX also engaging in way not visible to other people on ILX so wrong when it is done on a private board that happens to be hosted on the ILX server rather than in any other way that it could be happening, especially when it's not really impacting on ILX itself (this thread notwithstanding)? How on earth is any different from an ILX-based community in another place, eg facebook or livejournal or whatever?

xposts Matt DC OTM. both of his recent posts.

(Nb I have enough faith in Stet or Pash that they wouldn't have just set up hidden forums if they were just going to be used for a load of bitching and meta snark)

isn't this entirely the point of board 77?

no!

xpost to blueski: yeh, but the genius of that is it keeps it off the rest of ILE. as someone said upthread -- you, wasn't it?! -- win-win.

i mean shit happens and they should have killed 'henry gale' right then and there, but it wasn't meant to be like that.

xpost

Also, people get openly bitched about on Noize and other boards - if there are private snarking boards, what do you think's going on there that isn't already going on on the readable bits of ILX?

i wish we could keep ailsa off ILE

banriquit then what's the point of it??

the problem with that tho being the 'a poster has the right to ask for a post mentioning them to be deleted' goes out the window as an ILX FAQ rule if they can't see that. but that's the trade-off huh.

by 'henry gale' i mean chaki.

I think you're kind of over-romanticising the whole 'openness' of ILX when the guiding principle has always been 'stop it becoming utter shit like 90% of other internet forums'. Admittedly we've never had secret, unreadable boards before but individual board admins can still ban people from 'their' board for whatever spurious reason they want.

Nevertheless, I would like to see openness being something to strive for rather than go away from. And wouldn't you think encouraging the formation of different cliques might also lead to ILX "becoming utter shit"?

How on earth is any different from an ILX-based community in another place, eg facebook or livejournal or whatever?

As far as I know, those groups aren't totally invisible to everyone except members. And like I said, I feel that there are different principles to different forums of human interaction, and I've always felt relative equality and openness have been part of this forum. Definitely I wouldn't wish it to become less open and equal.

Which board do I put the "James May RIP" thread on?

may what?

Rip.

Hopefully just his clothes.

but the genius of that is it keeps it off the rest of ILE

As DG proves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/entertainment/galleries/media/bbc_hammond1_420x300.jpg

xposts, obviously

And wouldn't you think encouraging the formation of different cliques might also lead to ILX "becoming utter shit"?

<dies laughing>

What do you mean?

lol glasgow

Oh, hang on, you were being FUNNY, DG. My apologies for not noticing.

well you do have aspergers

Tuomas there are loads of cliques on ILX and always have been, right back to day one pretty much. There are also at least three ILX-based groups that I know of that are totally invisible to everyone else. You may be disappointed to learn that these are not full of people going all day on about how ILX is howwible and mean and how X person is a cunt.

Essentially I've been trying to find a nice way to say that anyone who thinks ILX was 'open' back in the days when Graham would throw tantrums and delete things if he wasn't sent Buffy DVDs, or Jess would routinely delete threads because he thought they were lame, or Andrew should unilateraly shut the whole thing down for weeks on end, is living in cloud cuckoo land.

I'm not sure ILX should even become any more open than it is now. The fact that it unfailingly looks down on Have Your Say type forums full of right-wing menks and borderline racists and just plain idiots. ILX is and always has been elitist by its very nature and long may that continue.

There are also at least three ILX-based groups that I know of that are totally invisible to everyone else

I mean outside of ILX, obv.

^^^ this is the kind of banter ilx needs, and the private boards are getting in the way of.

xposts

Haha Kingkonggodzilla yeah right, the Watercooler thread probably has the highest lurker to poster ratio on ILE.

-- Matt DC, Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:17 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Including sockpuppets?

What do you mean?

dude, there have been different cliques all over the place since i turned up here, whenever that was. to be honest, if you're looking for a more open, welcoming, friendly and above all inclusive ILE -- which i think is roughly what your posts here suggest -- then i'd have thought sidelining snark and zing would appeal, no?

i still think ILE is worth reading and posting to; that's why i do so. but fuck me i need a reinforced shit-shovel these days, eh?

ILX is and always has been elitist by its very nature

this isn't true though

I know ILX has always been elitist, but can't you see how having an elite within that elite might cause resentment among those who aren't part of this superelite. Also, just because ILX has always had cliques doesn't necessarily mean their division should be further encouraged, does it?

(xxx-post)

DG don't make me trawl through to find all those 2000/2001 posts full of people handwringing about how to stop the boards becoming like USENET etc.

Tuomas your whole problem is your viewing it as an 'elite' when in fact they're probably just people chatting away quietly in a room off to the side, not plotting ILX domination or anything.

They're an elite in the sense that they have rights others don't.

tuomas, in principle i actually agree with a lot of things you're saying. in practice, though: i just don't think your collectivist philosophy is a workable model to apply to ILE.

(And you are so infuriatingly nice and earnest in these arguments that you have got me defending something I think is k-lame argh!)

i'm still agreeing with tuomas here. something's wrong with this picture.

i agree ilx has always been mean and elitist -- that's why i don't understand the need to have separate private boards.

it feels like the mods are otm-ing the handwringer brigade.

noize has been part of ilx for four years. no-one died.

i have no problem with people setting up lamejournal groups where they can bitch about how ilx has down down the dumper btw.

DG don't make me trawl through to find all those 2000/2001 posts full of people handwringing about how to stop the boards becoming like USENET etc.

i realise you know it better than me, you not being there and all

envious of the leper colony

fyi you could have private boards back in the greenspun dayz - me & ian white had one called DESTROY ILE (laff all u want this was like aug 2001) which was basically proto-nb bitching about ile & calling ppl racist, it was password only (the pw was 'raekwon') and eventually ned got butthurt & we got tired of it

DG what is your reasoning beind 'ILX not intended to be elitist' claim? and do you just mean 'i used to be nicer'?

i think our finest moment was when tom ewing said the thread categories made him lol - one of them was 'girls on ile who probably cut themselves' cant remember the rest

i guess this is different because you could read it just not post on it and anybody who posted on it would just do it anon or with a name that wasnt their normal ilx name

i agree ilx has always been mean and elitist

it was more about direct insult-swapping in the old days tho, not so much of this behind-their-backs snark quoting/crepey revives.

cant we return to the glory dayz of marcello carlin

it was more about direct insult-swapping in the old days tho, not so much of this behind-their-backs snark quoting/crepey revives.

-- blueski, Sunday, April 6, 2008 3:43 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

most of this is done to show how mean old-ilx was. aaaaaah.

when you say 'old-ilx' you are really just talking about 4 or 5 notorious oddballs all of whom still post right?

cant we return to the glory dayz of marcello carlin

yes he used to rant and rave about how twee and polite ILX was

I think it's maybe selfish, but for me part of the charm of ILX was you could discuss intelligently (and often not so intelligently) with people from all round the world. If I just want to chat with my friends I can do that elsewhere. I don't mean to say there's anything wrong with wanting to just chat with your friends on ILX, obviously people should do what they want to. But I don't think this is a direction ILX and its admins should consciously aim for.

I'm in agreement with Tuomas here, particularly:
I'm against it because it gives certain ILXors special rights others don't have, there doesn't seem to be any justification why these people have that right, and at the worst case it could lead to total loss of the sense of community that I think still exists here.

I would be astounded to learn that anyone on ilx has ever talked about me, so my perspective can't come from that concern. However, I do feel that what Tuomas said about divisions into A and B class posters does ring true. It doesn't matter what the content of the boards may be, or how easy it would be to have the same conversations completely off ilx, it is unhealthy stratification.

lol @ certain posters being unable to conceive of an ILX before they turned up

Where does Ned stand on this?

most of this is done to show how mean old-ilx was. aaaaaah.

This is really original and you should continue making this point which I agree with several times a day for infinity.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Mia-piracyfunds-.jpg

the reason people are ascared of secret borads is because of the coup one of them is planning.

Where does Ned stand on this?

I have no opinion on it. (I'd honestly forgotten all about that board a.w. mentioned from some years back.)

interesting...

It's not just paranoia about being talked about (as if)...The knowledge that there's a secret board has a corrosive effect on raising new topics or posting things because you're aware in the back of your mind that it may be being discussed elsewhere on ILE.

For example I wondered about Glastonbury; usually Glastonbury ticket morning is a hive of activity on ILE of shared experiences, successes and failures. I did wonder if 30 -40 people were already discussing and planning it on another board.

the pw was 'raekwon'

hahahaha

They're all doing coke in those secret boards while the rest of you are out here, talking about records and drinking cheap beer.

I do agree with Tuomas' point. There is a difference between chatting secretly on AIM or talking on your personal phone and something secret going on at ILX.

But it's not going to tear down ILX either. Some folks need a place by themselves to talk about the corns on their feet without everyone butting in with zings, or with non sequiters about the weather, or with someone coming on asking "What are these 'corns' you speak of on your feet? I thought corn was a vegetable."

AIM isn't great because it's so immediate and there's no room to come back the next morning and read what's been going on. E-mail gets too jumbled up for conversation. And joining a new bulletin board with fun avatars and italicized signatures ain't what the average ILXor is all about.

So they get to have their conversations on their private CB channel, and the rest of us are spared the gushy details.

If anyone would like to join a private board, I'm sure one of the moderators can hook you up. If you're just mad that all of ILX isn't free wide open rangelife anymore, you may just have to accept the compromise that most of it is and a little bit ain't.

people on the secret boards were planning on ways to keep you from buying tickets. in fact, I think all glastonbury tickets were sold only to secret board members

If anyone would like to join a private board, I'm sure one of the moderators can hook you up.

How do I know whether or not I want to join a secret board when I don't know what sort of discussions go on there, or even the name of the board? If people want to have invite-only boards, I think it it'd be fair for the boards and and at least their thread titles to be visible, even if you can't read the full threads or post to them without an invitation.

If anyone would like to join a private board, I'm sure one of the moderators can hook you up.

Do you think that's true? I dunno, let's test it. Hiya mods. I am a responsible poster. I'm 90% pleasant and I almost never zing. Can I please have access and links to all the non-mod secret boards on ILE?

(xp)

you make it sound like private board content is all exclusively gross PP.

Well, I am very angry indeed.

I would like to have an access to these boards too, just to see what sort of discussion goes on there, so there wouldn't have to be all this speculation. I've never been a troll nor a zinger, and I promise not to do any harm.

Tuomas maybe you should have your own private board and you can invite whomever you like.

(My real question is, do the mods even have permission to give me access to an invite-only board? Can MDC let me into a secret board he's not actually been invited to himself, etc?)

Some folks need a place by themselves to talk about the corns on their feet without everyone butting in with zings, or with non sequiters about the weather, or with someone coming on asking "What are these 'corns' you speak of on your feet? I thought corn was a vegetable."

so so so OTM.

I want to be on Tuomas's board

Tuomas, I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but it's not quite as you think. The private boards are "secret" because the code for them is far from finished -- there isn't even a moderation system.

All the current boards have either been for moderators only, or they've been tests. By far the largest and busiest (and the only one still in any use) has been 77, and it's only three days old. Crutis got it to muck about in because he stumbled on bugs in the system in a fit of awesome aspie number-crunching, and was straight-up in explaining it.

Just personally, I think they're a good idea, and I'd like anybody to be able to start a board at any time: for real-life friends, or for their office, or to gestate a new public board, anything. But that's pretty far off: the size of 77 is already giving the statscock server-worrying conniptions, and there are big questions about how moderation's gonna work, if it can at all.

Wouldn't it be preferable not to have these secret boards at all? I'm sure people can find other means to chat with their friends.

It seems the basic idea will cause more problems and friction that it will create cohesion.

Ha, thing we're all banging on about in not-even-existing-really shocker! :)

xp to stet

i imagine some good mp3s are being zshared on 77. what else?

a fit of awesome aspie number-crunching

LOL

I mean, if technical limitations don't allow for many new secret boards, I don't see how you can justify that some people are privileged to have those whereas others aren't.

There are boards I'm not allowed to participate in without mailing the board owner = no problem.

There are boards I'm not allowed to KNOW about = seriously considering leaving ILX.

Do secret boards have Chinese Democracy?

xxxxp

Tuomas it's precisely the point that Curtis isn't "privileged" to have 77 at all! He stumbled on it accidentally a few days ago, was allowed (by the mods good humor) some time to mess around in it and invite a few folks to likewise mess about and test it until it could be made public, and unfortunately its had something of a backlash.

xxp

You know as well as anyone here how I feel about manifesting egalitarianism, and I genuinely believe this has been unfortunately blown out of proportion.

Then why is there, if that Noise thread is true, a board called "ILX Haven" with 200 threads? Sounds kinda privileged to me. Or was that just misinformation?

(x-post)

Stan, where's the bit in the ILX constitution that gives you justification for your ire?

Wouldn't it be preferable not to have these secret boards at all? I'm sure people can find other means to chat with their friends.

Uh but Tuomas, I thought the crux of your argument was that no-one is allowed off public ILE! If they are why do you give a fuck where it happens?

I misread this as "what are there "hidden broads" i keep hearing about?"

Yeah sorry about that Jel, no hidden broads.

Well that's an outrage!

That's one of the test ones I was talking about. It's my own board (and the name was just a daft pun on ILX Heaven, before that thread turned into luna-cy clusterfuck central, board's not linked to that) and is 95% ppl I know in real life. Content's not much beyond Workshy-esque stuff, chatter about cameras and coding, TV is nice, my boss sucks, can I go home yet etc. Small threads, but quite a lot of them as different things were tried out. It was one of four boards that Curtis found, but had already died a death by then. xpst

Uh but Tuomas, I thought the crux of your argument was that no-one is allowed off public ILE! If they are why do you give a fuck where it happens?

That was never my argument, my argument was that having secret boards on ILE that people aren't even allowed to know about creates an unfortunate division into A and B class posters and reeks of elitism. Everyone knows there are other forums and forms of communication people use to chat more privately, but having this discussions on this board divided into two categories, the public and the secret, doesn't seem like a good thing to me, especially if technical limitations make it impossible for anyone interested to have their own secret board.

Tuomas, take everything I say here with a hefty spoonful of salt since I'm only gleaning from other posts here and am rather out of the loop on some of this stuff. Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm dead wrong on some facts. That having been said:

Last I heard ILX Haven is an older "test board" that, like 77, was once quite active but is now deactivated and we're all unable to post on at this point? But it's possible I'm out of the loop, maybe ILX Haven is the ballyhooed "78" and no one's invited me yet (nb: this is a joke!)?

I very much understand your points, but I think what this requires is a certain degree of trust in the mods that we'll be given new features when those features are ready for the full community to take advantage of them.

xp!

For jel:

http://sexyhippy.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/women-behind-blinds.jpg

But I don't see how these new features could ever work, if, as Stet says, there's a limited amount of secret boards that the server can run. Who will get to have these boards then?

(x-post)

I really have no opinion either way on the justness of secret boards -- this isn't a democracy, folks -- but I do have an opinion about whining: It sucks.

Why whine about it then?

Tuomas, there are no class A citizens and class B citizens. On ILE, everyone is equal. That's all there is to it.

Oh, Tuomaspaws.

Between this "surprise" and the stubborn refusal of the mods to ad admin logs, I'm beginning to think that we're not very good at being open in our "community" anymore. That said, this doesn't rate very high on my care-o-meter except for the fact that useful and well-liked features from old ILX haven't been implemented (by aspies working for a promise of Buffy DVDs).

- this isn't a democracy, folks

The Emperor: [to the Senate] In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years.
(Senate fills with enormous applause)
Padmé: (to Bail Organa) So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause.

who is actually writing new code/features for ILX at this point?

Much easier to trust the mods when they answer a la Stet than a la Tombot. Tuomas is partly reacting to Tombot's failure to explain, that ain't whining.

stet has explained the lack of admin logs really well, good point.

I think that Keith is pretty busy or has decided to take a break from writing for ILX. (xp)

that is my understanding too, can't blame him.

stet has explained the lack of admin logs really well, good point.

Reasons you want admin logs:

1. So you can whine and shit all over anyone who has the discourtesy to stop you acting like a fucking dick
2. goto 1

especially if technical limitations make it impossible for anyone interested to have their own secret board.
They don't, Tuomas, they make it a really bad idea now unless somebody has a site-wide mod to sponsor them. When moderation is written into it and each board can have its own moderator, then that'll be possible to have millions of private groups. Whether it'll be a good idea or not I don't know, but it's a bridge we're not at yet.

i've hardly ever been modded, poindexter

xpost

Why do they need mods?

Then stfu xpost

Mark C: because sometimes posts need deleted or edited, or threads need locked, or people need banned -- all things you can't do on a private board unless you're a site-wide mod.

Why though? Isn't that like saying you can't trust people to behave themselves on invitation only boards?

Well, yes. If it's set up so that anybody can start a board, it's almost inevitable that at least one of them will need some sort of mod action on it.

Oh come on, treat them like grown-ups. If it all goes to shit you can always delete the board.

Which is a mod action!

How come I can't edit posts on my board and you guys can?

Oh come on, treat them like grown-ups. If it all goes to shit you can always delete the board.

-- Mark C, Sunday, April 6, 2008 5:50 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

problem is some posters are unusually aggressive and need to be kept in check.

fuckface otm

JW: Only site-wide mods can edit posts, anywhere. Private boards don't have any mods at all, apart from site-wide.

Being able to ban people from the noise board is not moderation?

I really have no opinion either way on the justness of secret boards china/tibet -- this isn't a democracy, folks -- but I do have an opinion about whining: It sucks.

Yes, it is, but you can't even do that on a private board. Like I can set it up so you can moderate Noise or I Love Books, but I can't set you as moderator for 77. xp

If ILX were China, then at least you might have to be a little bit productive, peon.

The moderation situation in all this is really tricky. The idea of board 'owners' is a bit of a myth as site admins should always be able to overrule them if a mark is seriously overstepped on that board. Will, say, Pashmina be able to can something if it becomes necessary? OTOH does it really matter if only 10 people can see the board?

I'm far from convinced this actually needs to be done on ILX at all. It's bound to cause a clusterfuck or 600 later down the line.

I agree, I don't see any reason why this'd be a feature we need to have.

"It's bound to cause a clusterfuck or 600 later down the line."

But clusterfucks are the motor of ILX now innit! They bring the community together. Out of their secret boards.

I prefer it when we are arguing viciously about toasters or whatever, TBH. Nothing brings ILX together like a massive disagreement over something utterly inconsequential.

Oh, hang on...

hahaha

We haven't even closed our last meta-whine cans of worms and we're opening this one?

seed can

Um, is this all not why the functionality was being tested amongst a secret few mates of stet's or whatever, rather than actually offered outright as a not-quite-fully-realised function of ILX? Remember the fallout when a not-quite-finished ILX2 was launched to everyone? This might have just fallen by the wayside as a not-very-good idea if Curtis hadn't stumbled across it, thus exposing the not-very-hidden nature of it and bringing it to the attention of the lot of us.

If ILX were China, then at least you might have to be a little bit productive, peon.

He's a bureaucrat, he'd be well in.

Remember the fallout when a not-quite-finished ILX2 was launched to everyone? This might have just fallen by the wayside as a not-very-good idea if Curtis hadn't stumbled across it, thus exposing the not-very-hidden nature of it and bringing it to the attention of the lot of us.

Okay, fair enough, but this doesn't change the fact that we should - at least in my opinion - discuss whether or not this is an feature ILX should have.

free tibet. these human rights violations will not stand

free barnsley. they should get their day in the sun

but banhammer ian macmillan

Dude, a secret ILM board is exactly like China's occupation of Tibet, how dare you mock both?

Um, Tuomas, we ARE discussing it. It's entirely possible as I read it that this might not even be a feature ILX is capable of having, hence no need for discussion about implementation right now. Except it's been brought out in the open via Curtis and is now being discussed as a result, and stet's been pretty honest about what he's been up to and why.

I just want to apologize to Tuomas for having thoughts about this situation that I'm not posting to ILX or s3cr8 b0r4ds or my twitter, or even speaking aloud or whispering to Jesus in my private bedtime prayers. I don't mean to be elitist or shady, but I figure he's gonna cry about it either way so might as well be cry by omission, right?

tumoas do you even post to any of the side boards??

I Love Bemusement

I'm going to go ahead and assume that Finland is in fact some utopian paradise where genuine social problems are mythical and hence something like this becomes a cause for hand-wringing

I don't understand who Bemusement is.

Tuomas has said that whether or not he himself posts, doesn't, won't etc. isn't the issue and that it's a matter of principle for him.

I'm far from convinced this actually needs to be done on ILX at all. It's bound to cause a clusterfuck or 600 later down the line.

-- Matt DC, Sunday, 6 April 2008 18:16 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

I agree, I don't see any reason why this'd be a feature we need to have.

-- Tuomas, Sunday, 6 April 2008 18:17 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Yes. Surely there are (much) higher coding priorities than hacking away at the moderation system in order to create and polish a feature that, based on what stet says, no one actually wants and whose purpose was far from clear when work began.

There should be a hidden thread function.

Yes, there definitely are Caek. My thinking on all this is that ideally almost anybody should be able to start a board for anything. Private boards would help, both for little quirky projects people wanted to keep quiet, and for gestating a new board.

But before any of that could happen, weu'd have to talk about mod issues and people issues to avoid the chaos of last time it was allowed, and also how to stop the front page being a total mess. So it's really low-pri indeed -- it's only arisen because the loophole and 77 brought the idea into the light. xpst

just chill, 77: THE BOOK should be out by Christmas 2009. be patient.

Can I have my own board for all good feelings and chill and listening to Christopher Cross and Sade and drinking fine liquors with me peers?

^^

Wld be called "Abbott's Peaceable Kingdom"

Come on y'all know I'm firmly on the side of secret borads but I hardly think Tuomas's objections are ridiculous.

I fully support the creation of Abbott's Peaceable Kingdom.

My thinking on all this is that ideally almost anybody should be able to start a board for anything.

I possibly agree with this, but as this thread demonstrates it's not a slam dunk case. It's something that should be worked through by as much of ILX as possible as an abstract structure-of-ILX thing first, before you guys dive in to the tecnical nuts and bolts. (Which is definitely not to say I'm not grateful for your work!)

Yeh, it's a tricky choice. But good chunks of it were there and working anyway (used for the Programming ILX coder forum) and I wanted to kick the tyres before offering ILX something that we couldn't deliver at all.

I'm with Ned and a few others. I have no real opinion, as I can see merits on both sides of the debate. Would a poll (one day long to make it short and sweet) be useful? I'd be interested in seeing the results to something like

a) I have access to one or more invite-only boards and I support their existence
b) I have access to one or more invite-only boards and I do not support their existence
c) I do not have access to any invite-only boards and I support their existence
d) I do not have access to any invite-only boards and I do not support their existence
e) who carez

Obviously no one would ever vote for option b. Mainly I just want to see if my assumptions are correct that the majority of people who are all about defending invite-only boards already have access to them, and that the majority of people who oppose of them don't have access.

xp, fair enough. So if we're just kicking the tires at the moment, how many of these boards exist and are active, apart from 77?

going by just posts on this thread at least, that's definitely not the case.

xpost: none are active now apart from 77. oh: there were three posts to Programming ILX last month.

http://chipmunkapublishing.co.uk/shop/images/Who%20Cares.jpg

the more serious private boards are there for good reason -- e.g. admin talk, shelter for posters who normally face abuse, etc.

Tuomas what is yr email address? :D

Obviously no one would ever vote for option b

rly?

http://j.b5z.net/i/u/2097685/i/sadchild2.jpg

shelter for posters who normally face abuse

that such a thing exists is completely fucked-up in so many ways

which is why it doesn't.

FOR FUCKING REAL

xp

tho I kno why Crutis thinks it's that. xp

yeah fyi I'm not the guy with the info here

thanks for that info

Sorry Stet, just parsing the xposts -- are you saying that posters who face abuse is something that doesn't exist?

lol

I like where this thread is going

oh no posters face abuse. have you seen borad I Love Everything? xp

does being qfl count as abuse?

Yeah, you're just a Pandora of sorts as far as all this goes.

I would still like to express outrage and genuine befuddlement at the prospect of the existence of an imaginary secret board of that nature. Or at least pretend to. Secretly.

Yeah, you're just a Pandora of sorts as far as all this goes.
(xpost to Curt1s)

Curtis, I want an invitation to 77! You need the old lurking geezer perspective.

When are the features that you promised when nu-ilx was made going to become available?

which ones? lots of stuff changed from then.

the most regretful one that was cut was unreg posting for IRE, which didn't work because it became impossible to ban anyone at all

SELECT * FROM "MODERATOR REQUEST BOARD" WHERE THREAD_LOCKED_BY_TOMBOT;

this is like every other ILX meta debate....an excuse for people to exclude others and people who are all to willing to feel excluded to feel excluded.

And the "powers that be" will let people get so bogged down with arguing over shades of gray that they won't be held accountable for why people were upset in the first place.

that's very nabisco otm of you, ronan

Sailing takes me away to where I always heard it could be...just a dream and a wind to carry me.

I have a man on their boat

so who are the butthurt losers who need their own board, again?

Moderator Discussion Forum

Programming ILX:

Yes, you're right. I don't know why I confused assemlbe with compile! QuickBASIC 4.5 makes compiling very easy, not the assembler thing. I, personally, just barely got into assebly language, but have never done anything with it. I hear that QuickBASIC can link (?) with assembly-language code to do a number of things, and, there are folk in the QB forums that about it, but, I am really out of it. Sorry...

You probably forgot more than you knew by now. You seem to be a newbie at times and just FALL into stuff you have never had a clue about!

Like links that were highlighted one day and they are not marked later?

Making comments in QB w/o using REM or ' ? Give us all a break buddy

Ted

so who are the butthurt losers who need their own board, again?

Who cares? I just wanna know about the butthurt WINNERS!!!

I can see both sides of the argument here, but when we first set I Love Music up it was an attempt to move away from the cliques that alt.music.alternative had suffered from, and what had led most of us to start our own mailing lists. If ILx ever got to the point where we had boards that required passwords to read, I'd feel that we'd failed as a board.

-- Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 February 2002 20:20 (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

META: Should ILX allow secret boards?

you fucker, dom: that's bust my rickrolling virginity wow, dom, that's thought-provoking stuff.

^^^ Real talk

Yoda: Blind we are, of creation of this clone army we could not see.
Mace Windu: I think it is time we inform the senate that our ability to use the force has diminished.
Yoda: Only a Dark Lord of the Sith knows of our weakness. If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will.

http://www.giantbusts.co.uk/acatalog/SWMACE.png

lmao dom

http://clearwisdom.net/emh/article_images/2007-9-16_swastika.gif

400+ posts????????? lolololololol

pretty good for a fucking SUNDAY

it's mostly tuomas

^^^ Great secret board name

also sitcom

Dean Gaffney's onboard.

rofl dom

nobody has any idea what the secret board(s) will do to the 'ilx community.' my guess? nothing much at all. or, nothing more than what the NB or the other handful of sub-boards have done.

let's be frank, tho, there are two reasons to have a secret board, or more to the point, two kinds of people who would want one: a place to be 'safe' from the big meanies, and a place for the big meanies to trade lols with impunity. i'm agnostic on whether either of these are a good thing.

for my own part, i think getting mercilessly zinged is, on balance, a good thing. i was a clueless SOB when i showed up here lo these many seasons ago. i got my ass handed to me i don't know how many times; now i kind of chuckle bcz, yknow, lesson learned.

ps i think it's extra super delicious that most of this thread is Tuomas worrying that he may not quite know what is going on.

^^ yes i have opinions4u (tm dominic albioni tomasso passantino, 2008)

for my own part, i think getting mercilessly zinged is, on balance, a good thing. i was a clueless SOB when i showed up here lo these many seasons ago. i got my ass handed to me i don't know how many times; now i kind of chuckle bcz, yknow, lesson learned.

cash sitta.

people forget that og ilx all went to boarding school and had already had the bejesus zinged out of them. ilx is a utopian place where we can all experience that -- and reap the benefits in character-formation and sexual dysfunction useful social connections.

I don't have problem with the idea of secret boards; I have a problem with the idea that the decision to have them was made in smoke filled rooms by a bunch of aspies.

"BORAD NOW!"

http://www.livingstonoutloud.com/archives/1_4/images/aliensMtg.jpg

jon i'm getting the feeling you don't like the aspies too much

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0231.jpg

L-R: Suzy, Tuomas
Out of shot: Arthur Lowe as Tombot

http://logo.cafepress.com/7/8465574.3781687.JPG

http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/finland/Finland-WP-a.jpg

http://logovo.blogspot.com/Brideshead%20Revisited.jpg

LBZC, today.

http://alltheflair.com/flair_news/imag/000008_1_sonar.jpg

aspie rube needs help with finlandia vodka ^

pps hank never say 'cash sitta' to me again

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/2659193.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=99EDCE1A92AD94618F1EC10AAA8BC12AA55A1E4F32AD3138

Noize Board FAP

http://www.alice.dryden.co.uk/molesworth2.jpg

^^^ zing culture, old-style

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42952000/jpg/_42952113_trinians8_recrop_pa.jpg

The funniest British film of the last 10 years, if the script is anything to go by.

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_183/pasted_image.gif ILX Heaven crew make a run for the Swiss border.

Poptimists: http://www.srichards.freeserve.co.uk/molesworth.gif

Zing crew: http://www.8bithero.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/bully_scholar.jpg

fwiw i do miss the freakytrigger krew

is 3 people enough to constitute a krew?

xp

Out on the road today
I saw an Aly and AJ sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head
Said "Don't look back, you can never look back"

dom stick to images

Why did The Lex stop posting?

is 3 people enough to constitute a krew?

ha who's the third? [ha xp o rite] but yeah the posting style and content of a tom ewing or a mark s is worth any 50 other random ilm dudes put together

ha who's the third? [ha xp o rite] but yeah the posting style and content of a tom ewing or a mark s is worth any 50 other random ilm dudes put together

-- gff, Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:22 PM (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

ewing was a total zinger! the lbzc is sometimes misunderstood.

^^^f'real

perhaps the third and final lzbc member will chime in any minute now...

if anything we're the staunch traditionalists, upholding the old ways.

LZBC far better than nu-ILX backslapping crew

We're like the neo-burlesque dancers of message board posting.

xp

who's in that one?

xp

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5680699,00.jpg

Death to the revisionist running dogs

I never went to boarding school :(

i'm still waiting for my board

i got board long ago

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/480518443_d02a12e33b.jpg

Can I have a public board besides ITR where I just give 3-day bans to everyone who posts?

BI DERE

^ freudian slip?

dude who cares ilx started sucking a long time ago.
i hope this is one of the final blows.

too bad these aspie coders don't realize that form follows function
and you can't make major arbitrary changes w/o altering how people communicate and interact w/ each other.
morans.

no chance in hell i'm going to sift through this thread, but I will tell a brief story: a secret message board called 'the clique' completely destroyed c0untingcrow$suck.com back when it existed.

whining about something being crap without trying to make it better c/d

fyi you could have private boards back in the greenspun dayz - me & ian white had one called DESTROY ILE (laff all u want this was like aug 2001) which was basically proto-nb bitching about ile & calling ppl racist, it was password only (the pw was 'raekwon') and eventually ned got butthurt & we got tired of it

I never knew about that. I wonder how many threads there were making fun of me.

form follows function
and you can't make major arbitrary changes w/o altering how people communicate and interact w/ each other.

this is how i feel. but what chance was there of any of the coders or moderation team actually thinking about that?

"ILX is shit. But don't change it"

t/s "This is just further evidence that all the mods are dbags which is what I've been saying ALL ALONG ALL THIS TIME" vs. "This is just further evidence that CERTAIN PEOPLE can't be part of a community and need to fuck off like I've been saying ALL ALONG ALL THIS TIME"

srsly we got some prefab opinions in here folks

What we need is a whole secret ilx.

Everyone is invited except anyone who participated in this thread.

at least everyone gets to feel superior to those idiots who run the joint now

really it all turned out surprisingly predictably and so far there have been 0 wtf moments except where deej can't figure out why I'm mad at him

-- El Tomboto, Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

which is not really wtf so much as "really?"

-- El Tomboto, Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

seriously for real

-- El Tomboto, Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

do tell

I'm mad at you because you are a total fucking moron.
I've all but spelled it out.

I should say "you've been acting like ..." I try not to make blanket judgements about people's total potential based on a small sampling of behavior. I believe 99% of people who make mistakes can be rehabilitated

youre mad because i dont know why youre mad? im genuinely not trying to play dumb here dude but i dont think its been particularly spelled out, no.

he's mad that you started the '77 v. ile thread and got all these people pissed off at the existence of "secret boards"

that seems pretty ridiculous to me. everyones been posting about them all week and this shit was inevitable. the '1st rule' of the secret board was to make mentions of the secret board on the other boards.

tuomas "why did I get fired from being an au pair"

deej that was kind of a joke xp

of course it was a joke! this shit was all joeks

sorry if mentioning it here made it seems serious, my point was i was hardly the 1st or only person to talk about this board elsewhere or whatever and this thread was bound to happen regardless

i have an itchy scalp

nizoral

I miss the good old days of this thread.

ok well im tired of the drama so unless someone has any further concerns im going to move on now

Yeah, I want to be invited to Happy Robots because it sounds like this

http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/en_easyart/lg/3/0/The-Garden-of-Earthly-Delights--Allegory-of-Luxury--c-1500-Hieronymus-Bosch-300748.jpg

but is probably like this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/doctorwholoc_s1e1/images/empty_newport.jpg

I'd say it's silly to blame Deej or anyone for bringing this subject up, I think it's a good thing that this feature that might totally change ILX's structure is being discussed here. And I do hope this was the admins' intention all along, just that the discussion was started prematurely by someone else. I really don't see any point in developing these sort of features in secrecy. Okay, new features that simply make current ILX run more smoothly probably don't require a general discussion, but I think this sort of structural change does. It's true that ILX is no democracy, but then again we are the only ones with any interest in such new features, so it would make no sense to develop them if it turns out people feel negatively about them. (And I'm into saying this is necessarily the case here.)

I think only way to make invite-only boards fair was to give everyone the chance to start one. If this is possible, and people really want it, then fine. Personally I don't think it's a good idea; the Ned post from 2002 Dom linked points out that this sort of thing can lead to unnecessary further clique-formation, which I don't think would be good for ILX. But my main point is that people here should be given the chance to state their opinion about such changes instead or merely implementing them one day without any warning. And I hope that would've been the case here too, just that Curtis or whoever found out about this thing before the fact.

"And I'm not not saying this is necessarily the case here."

Dammit, I can't write:

"And I'm not saying this is necessarily the case here" is what I meant to say.

I'm sorry guys :/

this sort of thing can lead to unnecessary further clique-formation, which I don't think would be good for ILX.
this sort of thing can lead to unnecessary further clique-formation, which I don't think would be good for ILX.
this sort of thing can lead to unnecessary further clique-formation, which I don't think would be good for ILX.

Your point is...?

That ilx is a stranger to unnecessary clique-formation.

I get that, but I don't see why it should be further encouraged by changing ILX's structure.

So you're against it?

ILX will be cliquey with or without secret borads. Leopard spots &c.

ILX The internet will be cliquey with or without secret borads. Leopard spots &c.

-- Autumn Almanac, Monday, April 7, 2008 4:45 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

the only reason anyone would want a secret board besides talkin behind the scenes shit is because they are a pussy and too scared of the real world, bitches.

SELECT * FROM "MODERATOR REQUEST BOARD" WHERE THREAD_LOCKED_BY_TOMBOT;

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Sunday, April 6, 2008 2:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

this is pretty funny considering your "html parser is a nazi" thread remains open despite the fact that you have never expressed any desire to help fix the issue you're so familiar with from your day job and it rarely, if ever, affects other posters - in fact, it really only affects them if they happen to try and paste a link from a site that doesn't comply with the URL RFC, at least as I've noticed lately.

just to be an aspie about it.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51H754Y92QL._SS500_.jpg

certainly the events of the last week prove that the teenpop krew need their own little slice o'the board, free from zings and fbi sting operations

http://i26.tinypic.com/2udyu5e.jpg

ayo not just for kiddies anymore get me a fukkin tastycake

Ity is not the existence of secret boards that bothers me, it is the fact that they haven't been used to dissapear people. They ought to be used as the ILX equivalent of being flown out over the atlantic in a helicopter and being pushed out. Viva La Junta.

(BTW, anyone who reads this thread is clearly and idiot, I had to explain to my GF why I wasted 20 minutes reading it, and do you know what, I couldn't)

I am clearly and idiot.

i deny being clearly

If I read this thread, will I glean any useful information about where we should be going with this, or will it just start my day off on a bad note? Can anyone summarise it w/o recourse to lol.jpg or "pithy" one-liner? Is there actually anything to summarise, or is this just like a calum-war era shout for the mod thread, updated somewhat?

This is how I spent Sunday:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b379/Vietgrove/adam_snow.jpg

I could have gone online instead, but, you know...

I think it is a case of abandon all hope ye who enter here, there isn't even a humorous picture of a feline.

summary for Pash:

Butthurtz: MWAH MWAH Secret boards ILX is doomed Free Tibet why aren't I invited?
Stet: It's a test feature that got leaked early. We hope to be able to address all your questions when the functionality is properly working and tested
Butthurtz: MWAH MWAH Secret boards ILX is doomed Free Tibet why aren't I invited?

etc

Yeah I had to explain to my curvy Colombian wife why I read this thread but I couldn't because I don't speak Colombian

I don't see what's so "idiot" about discussing a potential new feature that might have a big effect on how ILX works.

like most of ILX there are maybe 10 on topic posts and 500 posts of inane stupidity.

You're on 3 so far, right?

Damn straight

I make this 5.

I did a ctrl-f on "stet" and found this post of Ailsa's:

Um, is this all not why the functionality was being tested amongst a secret few mates of stet's or whatever, rather than actually offered outright as a not-quite-fully-realised function of ILX? Remember the fallout when a not-quite-finished ILX2 was launched to everyone? This might have just fallen by the wayside as a not-very-good idea if Curtis hadn't stumbled across it, thus exposing the not-very-hidden nature of it and bringing it to the attention of the lot of us.

-- ailsa, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:27 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

This is pretty much OTM, yes?

Basically yes, there's nothing much actually happening here amid all the noise.

To be honest, I think this conversation would've made more sense if the cards have been laid at the table right from the beginning, instead of Tombot's odd comments and the general secrecy involving this whole thing before Stet explained finally it. If such features are in development, and test secret boards already exist, I can't see any reason why it needed to be all hush-hush until people found out about it themselves.

I mean, like I said, we are the only people with any interest in such new features. If they would be developed in silence and launched one day without asking if people actually think they're a good idea, that certainly would affect the trust most people currently have for ILX admins.

(Nb I think Stet was the only one who really knew everything that was going on)

I believe so, yes.

Still, giving Curtis his own board and thinking the information about it wouldn't leak was sort of a bad move. I'm not saying it was a big mistake or anything, but I wish admins would more open about possible future changes on ILX. I can't see any possible harm caused by such openness.

Tuomas, they haven't really been "developed" at all that I can see. They don't appear to be any further along, development-wise than they were when Keith rolled the new code out.

LOL I just remembered, a little while ago I thought about putting a hidden board up for ppl from another (musicians) board I used to post on who were sick of ppl being assholes to use, but I couldn't be arsed.

Also, Graham's code had a hidden board function as well, there was a moderator discussion board on that, but I don't think it worked properly. Yes, I KNOW.

I agree with you about more openness, or maybe better communication would be a more accurate way of putting it, Tuomas.

I mean "more openness" implies that ppl are deliberately doing stuff secretly, which they/we aren't.

Transparency... it's this year's buzzword

Tuomas, they haven't really been "developed" at all that I can see. They don't appear to be any further along, development-wise than they were when Keith rolled the new code out.

They were developed enough to allow for several secret boards to run. Curtis's board is still running. If this was always part of the nu-ILX code, then maybe it should've been discussed when nu-ILX ws launched. Anyway, I'm not necessarily talking about technical development rather than the whole idea of changing this board. Clearly such an idea was in consideration, since test secret boards were created.

I mean "more openness" implies that ppl are deliberately doing stuff secretly, which they/we aren't.

I didn't mean to imply there was a deliberate conspiracy behind all this, but I really don't see what harm being transparent about these issues could cause.

http://www.israellycool.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/groundhog.jpg

I mean, this thread is a prime example of what this lack of transparency can cause: some people felt that they are now B class ILXors because they weren't "in" on the secret. If an admin had a started a thread about how their gonna test these new boards, what do people think of this idea, I think most of this could've been avoided.

Tuomas youre OTM but sadly on a hiding to nothing- the usual asortment of tragic loons above need more attention like a hole in the head.STOP CARING.

i would just like to point out that i have been otm on this thread.

hey, ed, go fuck yourself!

the only reason anyone would want a secret board besides talkin behind the scenes shit is because they are a pussy and too scared of the real world, bitches.

-- chaki, Monday, 7 April 2008 06:46 (6 hours ago) Link

wait, which message board is "the real world" in this equation?

anyway the "secret board" is mostly super boring sub-NB shit, if anyone's dying for a piece of the action let me know and I'll invite you.

yes please!

The board looks like half of ILX is already there, why not make it public so no one feels left out?

not you, DG.

lol

http://investmentjudge.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_fantasy-unicorns.jpg

Secret board, yesterday

no, i think that was last wednesday. all the unicorns were dead by saturday.

http://www.moviecitynews.com/static_images/images/2006/200x300/oliver_twist.jpg

Tuomas, yesterday

Don't get it?

I don't get it?

we bought you a hat like that. we pooled together the money for it on the secret board so that it would be a surprise.

That's nice, I could use a hat.

Everything was fine til chaki showed up and scared everybody.

he was just trying to warn everyone

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=62577&rendTypeId=4

;_;

I'm worried about tombot!

aw

xposts

And now the admins will ignore everything sensible that Tuomas and people said. Just like they poo-pooed us for complaining that nu-ilx took away everything fun & wonderful about the old noise board and left it only good for talking about food and sniping at kate st claire

I would agree with you if Tuomas had said anything sensible.

What was unsensible about it?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7333155.stm

I'm worried about tombot!

-- caek, Monday, 7 April 2008 14:44 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Things that are true no matter what thread you post them on.

too bad these aspie coders don't realize that form follows function
and you can't make major arbitrary changes w/o altering how people communicate and interact w/ each other.
morans.

-- sanskrit, Monday, 7 April 2008 03:37 (11 hours ago) Bookmark Link

this is pretty much how I feel, although I do not believe stet is a champ and I love him and I do not believe he lies on the autistic spectrum.

tombot reminds me of that scene in 30 rock where liz and jenna take jack's fiance out for ladies' lunch and jenna gets drunch and liz has to whisper really loudly "you need to cool it".

more like

http://www.reelmovienews.com/images/gallery/walters-piece_250x187.jpg

What was unsensible about it?

Practically everything?

The board in question doesn't really work. The people on it are beta-testing it. This activity had zero impact on the atmosphere of the rest of ILX until deej made a poll thread and a whole bunch of people assumed that its entire raison d'etre was to talk shit about other posters (which might be true; I haven't seen the board). You also went on to make a further assumption that access to this functionality would be restricted to special favorites of the moderators based on nothing other than.. well honestly I don't know why you jumped to that conclusion since I don't live in your head.

You're behaving like someone has grossly restricted your civil liberties or insulted you because you weren't consulted as to whether the concept of private boards were a good idea or not. I don't think it's anything worth worrying about or discussing beyond to cogent and salient point that there are other pieces of functionality I think would be more important to work on, such as an admin log. I think you should let this go but I know you won't.

Well, I disagree with you unfunny Vagina Joke aspie man

You're just pissed because you know I'm you in 10 years.

U mad

I would never live in Boston.

You're just pissed because you know I'm you in 10 years.

I don't think he has the singing talent.

He might have in 10 years.

omg this thread ahahahahahaha

I would never live in Boston.

replace "Boston" with "Brooklyn" and you've got hipsters circa '94

and a whole bunch of people assumed that its entire raison d'etre was to talk shit about other posters (which might be true; I haven't seen the board).

The funny part is that posters like Dan and Ned weren't invited because they are A-list ILXors. 77 was for the middle-class proletariat only.

the Ned's been keeping us down for years, enough is enough.

oh the hipsters had established a colony in W'burg by the early 90s -I WAS THERE, MAN

I would never live in Branson.

Hooray! The thread has finally conformed with Curry's Law: all 500+ post threads ultimately regress to Wburg hipsters

I think in this case it's actually progress.

lol, I mean to the point where someone starts throwing those terms around.

No offense, Jon.

oh the hipsters had established a colony in W'burg by the early 90s -I WAS THERE, MAN

-- gershy, Monday, 7 April 2008 15:42 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

the other colony ship that set out for Hoboken was never heard from again.

the Ned's been keeping us down for years, enough is enough

I'm just cruel.

hoboken was an 80s thing, you wouldn't understand

Someone should hide this thread.

Move it to 77 and give Tuomas an invite.

the other colony ship that set out for Hoboken was never heard from again.

lol hueg win

The board in question doesn't really work. The people on it are beta-testing it. This activity had zero impact on the atmosphere of the rest of ILX until deej made a poll thread

Of course it had zero impact on the atmosphere of ILX, since 99% percent of people didn't know about it. However, I wasn't arguing against Curtis's board, I was trying to criticize the basic idea of secret boards which, if implemented as proper function on ILX, might change the atmosphere here. At the very least I was saying that this should be an idea discussed openly, not developed in secrecy. No one has yet given any reason why this shouldn't be the case.

and a whole bunch of people assumed that its entire raison d'etre was to talk shit about other posters (which might be true; I haven't seen the board).

I don't this is true really, at least I never said this.

You also went on to make a further assumption that access to this functionality would be restricted to special favorites of the moderators based on nothing other than.. well honestly I don't know why you jumped to that conclusion since I don't live in your head.

Well, that assumption was partly based on Tombot's odd comments about secret playhouses and stuff. And it wasn't that far-fetched to think that these boards were restricted to favourites, since most of us knew nothing about these boards except that they weren't available for everyone. This is exactly why I think relative openness would be a good thing: it would stop situations like this happening, where no one really knows what going on.

You're behaving like someone has grossly restricted your civil liberties or insulted you because you weren't consulted as to whether the concept of private boards were a good idea or not.

Not just me, everyone on ILX. I'm not the only who has made sceptical comments about this idea. If ILXors are the exact group who these possible changes would affect, why not consult them?

beyond to cogent and salient point that there are other pieces of functionality I think would be more important to work on, such as an admin log.

Here I agree with you. I don't think this is a major issue in itself, but I do think it could've been handled better.

"I don't think this is true really"

You have tried to insert a duplicate message.

--ILX System

sorry just teasing you, can we lighten up and enjoy the 19,047,908 interesting threads on the site?

19,047,907 must be on the secret boards

trust me they're not

elitist

we have good intelligence that the secret boards are hiding ZMD's, but we need the go-ahead to invade and prove that.

You're right Felicity, I'm sorry for repeating myself, I'll move on now.

we don't want to wait for the smoking gun to be a mushroom clold

xp

someone should post a screen cap of the new answers page so that the filthy street urchins can press their noses up against the window and stare longingly at the happy family scenes unfolding within.

I already said, I'll invite anyone who wants in!

except DG

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/474/thelittesmatchgirlbyeirce9.jpg

L- B posters, R- Secret Boards

This activity had zero impact on the atmosphere of the rest of ILX until deej made a poll thread

lol my poll isnt one of the two links that inspired this thread. secret boards were an open secret

^ Catherine Tate before she got famous (xpost)

Here's a good 'un you're missing:

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=30#unread

having just read a secret board thread, the idiot concentration is higher even than this thread.

^ Braggin 2008

rastaman vibrator

Soulja Ed Tell'Em

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/waaambulance.gif

Tuomas if you want to post all you have to do is give me yr email

(I swear I'm not clowning you here, I like you!)

TUOMAS WILL NOT REST UNTIL ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE INTERNETS CAN POST ANYWHERE THEY WANT FOR GREAT FREEDOM!

What is this freedom you speak of? I have never heard of it before. Please explain.

I mean there was never really any plan to exclude anyone, I just invited a few people and encouraged further inviting to see what would happen. There seemed to be some sort of cohesive group taking form for the first couple of days, but by now membership is kinda all over the place. And it's just as quality as ever!

you have to keep in mind that this board was not created with any particular intent or purpose other than as a joke. If the board were serious it wouldn't be named after ILX's biggest milquetoast.

max has a board too?

Yes and it is awesome!!!

well also because I wanted to know what bugz a mind like yours would find if you had one ... didn't quite forsee this outcome :D xpost to crutis

if you had a board i mean

nah I didn't find anything

just an fyi for ppl who dont give a shit enough to ask for an invite but still care about this, there was very very little actual C+Ping from other boards a la noize board zing thread or whatever

ya I've tried actively to keep gossip off ("thread of dark secrets and gossip" notwithstanding)

wd like invite to crutis board

max board can eat eat a dick he called me annoying

deeznuts should be banned from ILX at large, definitely not invited to secret borad.

^^^

("thread of dark secrets and gossip" notwithstanding)

OK really not helping me not give a fuck here