Why the hell does almost every thread do this..?

[N0ught]

The problem is, lots of people find an "online community" and instead of using it for the purposes it was intended for (educating the Uplink community, in this case), they use it as an outlet for refueling their ego. They poke fun at someone, and one of their buddies gives them a pat on the back for it, because he just did the exact same thing five minutes ago.

I don't feel I need to have a new member with no experience with me or this forum insult me. If you have comments then make them in a civil and respectful manner. Going around insulting people _is_ rather childish, and there is no need for _us_ to have to need to hear _you_ vent _your_ angst.

That comment was nothing if not civil and respectful. It was not an insult... it is true that many people do this. If you feel it applies to you, however, then you have already proven my point, as a veteran of this forum.

Uplink has been out for 3+ years and the number of new players is rather low.

I believe what he was talking about was that you are saying Vets have no reason to insult or berate new members for posting poorly, yet apparently feel that new members have the right to insult and berate Vets. It is a rather hypocritical argument.

What I am saying is, many people may learn about Uplink from this forum. And when these people post a question, and essentially get a "fuck off, you noob" response, it may kill a sale.

That sale may have been from someone who would have taken Uplink and made a new and wonderful mod for the community - maybe even a FUNCTIONAL online version - and someone just ruined it by acting in a fashion condoned by the community as a whole.

If you want ANY continued interest in the Uplink community, you need to rally to the flag HERE. You need to increase popularity by increasing awareness, and these forums put out the information necessary to do just that. Get other websites with "techie" style games to link to this forum if you can. If you care AT ALL, do something CONSTRUCTIVE.

And if you don't even play the game any more, if you DON'T care, then for god's sake, quit fucking with the newbies. Just use the forum for talking with your friends. You could be ruining things for those of us who would like to sell a few more games for Introversion. It's nice to find other people who have a common interest, especially when the interest is in a game 99 out of 100 people in the U.S. have never heard of. I would like to try tipping those odds a little.

And if you objectively feel my recent posts do not apply to you, fine. You are either right in that assumption or have an enormous ego I would not EVEN attempt to tackle.

I am not here to piss people off (although that tends to happen), I am here to increase awareness about a wonderful game I enjoy, and to make this community more friendly and inviting to prospective Uplinkers. So let's all play nice, guys and remember:

If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have your pudding if you don't eat your meat?

(Sorry; obscure reference. Will try harder next time.)

[jolo78957]

After reading the first couple sentences of this post I spent about two I dieced to make the best 50th post ever! http://www.forums.introversion.co.uk/up ... hp?t=34495

[N0ught]

Whatever guys... All I'm saying is that the treatment of the n00bs on this forum is BY FAR the worse I've seen.

It is not the worst:

http://forums.swut.net/

This is a forum for an online game called EUO, based on the old ultima games. I used to play, and posted there as "Bloodstone". Some of the people there are real pricks, and some of the arguements I am getting from people in the Uplink forums are giving me deja vu.

I quit playing because of their attitude. When there are only 10 other people online other than you, and they are all jerks, it's not much fun. That game is on its way out, and only because of the people in the community. Let's not have that happen here guys. Attitude adjustment time.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

That comment was nothing if not civil and respectful. It was not an insult... it is true that many people do this. If you feel it applies to you, however, then you have already proven my point, as a veteran of this forum.

You said we all have no life, I fail to see how that is civil or respectful and it is most certainly an insult.

What I am saying is, many people may learn about Uplink from this forum. And when these people post a question, and essentially get a "fuck off, you noob" response, it may kill a sale.

If you look at the Hints and Tips forum you will not find that that sort of response is very common. The _vast_ majority of questions are answered promptly and accurately. If someone has an issue this community will do its best to find an answer (at times going to rather extreme measures to do so).

That sale may have been from someone who would have taken Uplink and made a new and wonderful mod for the community - maybe even a FUNCTIONAL online version - and someone just ruined it by acting in a fashion condoned by the community as a whole.

Again the people who generally get told off are either pirates or idiots. Neither of those are productive members of the community. Again the vast majority of questions are answered promptly and courteously.

If you want ANY continued interest in the Uplink community, you need to rally to the flag HERE. You need to increase popularity by increasing awareness, and these forums put out the information necessary to do just that. Get other websites with "techie" style games to link to this forum if you can. If you care AT ALL, do something CONSTRUCTIVE.

This game has not lasted 3+ years without this community being comunity being constructive. It is exactly statements like this that piss people in this community off. You have no idea what you are talking about. Hell, this community has made sure Uplink has been rated as one of the best games in PC Gamer UK since it was released, beating out many of the big names and even gets mentions in the magazine for our rather insane support of Uplink. We have had articles published about us in various magazines and we continue to provide the only means of technical support that this (rather buggy) game has. You act like we just sit around and blast every person who wanders into the forums. That is not even close to being an accurate description of what goes on here.

And if you don't even play the game any more, if you DON'T care, then for god's sake, quit fucking with the newbies.

That is simply stupid. We have had this game for 3+ years. This game doesn't have a whole lot of replay value and so we don't play it that much. That does not mean we don't care. . .

Just use the forum for talking with your friends. You could be ruining things for those of us who would like to sell a few more games for Introversion. It's nice to find other people who have a common interest, especially when the interest is in a game 99 out of 100 people in the U.S. have never heard of. I would like to try tipping those odds a little.

Again you have no idea what you are talking about. The Vets in this community have been helping sell and support Uplink for 3+ years now. The fact that new members are still here is in large part due to the support of the very Vets you just accused of ruining things.

[N0ught]

*Ahem:*

If you feel it applies to you, however, then you have already proven my point, as a veteran of this forum.

I am just saying be nice. If you are a nice guy, then what I am saying doesn't apply to you. Let's just keep things civil.

I am just saying:

"Please post such questions in the "Hints and Tips" section of the forum, and be sure to read the FAQ."

... sounds a lot nicer than:

"BAD NOOBIE! WRONG FORUM! READ FAQ! BAD! NO COOKIE!"

And once again, if this doesn't apply to you (no, it is not a direct quote), then awesome. Game on!

[Stewsburntmonkey]

I don't feel that applies to me or most of the Vets here, that is the point I am trying to make (and the one which you seem to be failing to grasp).

I simply don't like when people insult the amount of time and energy people here have put into making Uplink and this community a better place.

You have been accussing the community at large of being lazy, egotistical snobs, when it is only a very few people who have been engaging in the behavior you describe. Again, if you want to make comments on stuff like this, it is best done in a civil and constructive manner. Make broad accusations and insulting the community as a whole is in my eyes neither civil nor constructive.

[N0ught]

I don't feel that applies to me or most of the Vets here, that is the point I am trying to make (and the one which you seem to be failing to grasp).

Well, as I said, if you feel it doesn't apply to you it doesn't.

For the rest of you, just think about what I said.

I never said the ENTIRE community was to blame, I said those at fault for ill behavior are to blame, and they very well may not be aware of it themselves.

It's the same reason some people yell at telephones. They seem to have trouble with the fact that there is actually another person on the other side of the interface, and that person might as well be standing right next to them, even though they are miles away. They may not even realize they are shouting, until someone points it out.

Just trying to point it out guys. No offense.

[edd8990]

One of my first posts on this forum was bumping a year old topic. I got yelled at for it. Did I fuck off and leave? No. I learnt from my mistakes, and I posted sensibly. When I got stuck I used the search button, and found the solution to every problem I came across. Now what about that, is so hard for newbies to do? It isn't. The people who get falmed are the n00bs who havent the basic intelligence to click search at the top, and find what they are looking for. So if we flame them for being that stupid, then so be it. They should either learn from it, or piss off.

[N0ught]

One of my first posts on this forum was bumping a year old topic. I got yelled at for it. Did I fuck off and leave? No. I learnt from my mistakes, and I posted sensibly. When I got stuck I used the search button, and found the solution to every problem I came across. Now what about that, is so hard for newbies to do? It isn't. The people who get falmed are the n00bs who havent the basic intelligence to click search at the top, and find what they are looking for. So if we flame them for being that stupid, then so be it. They should either learn from it, or piss off.

Thank you for nicely illustrating my point. You are totally unaware that telling that newbie, who is a 200-lb., all muscle weight-lifter in real life to piss off could get you belted. But since there is a definite wall between you and this person, you say whatever crap falls out of your mouth, punctuated by the same derogatory "noob" insults we have all heard before.

Do you realize, for some people this may be their first time using a forum, and the "search" function may not have occurred to them yet? Or they may be fairly young and in need of a little guidance? So point it out nicely. Hell, plenty of people don't even know how to use a search engine. And it only takes one person with some semblance of patience to tell them how, with few words. If you are not that person, and you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

You can't throw someone in a car for the first time and expect them to know how to work the clutch perfectly. I know people who still burn their clutches in the winter, after years of driving. People have to be taught how to apply themselves, which incidently isn't a required class in highschool. If you don't want to help them, then don't hinder them. They shouldn't have to wade through spammed insults to find the information they need.

[Darksun]

Fuck off and leave edd, you shall never be forgiven for bumping a year old topic!

But if you can't stand a bit of harsh rebuking if you make a mistake in a hardcore community like this then go and post on EA's Sim's forums or something. Like edd I've been flamed to death, but I stick around. Point in case, some of my greetings to various communities have been 'YOU COMPLETE FUCKING ARSEHOLE' and being linked to Bakla. I stuck around.

Ebola can probably tell you aswell, he was completly flamed to death in #uplink when he first joined. He's now a respected member of the IRC (and somewhat the forum) community.

I'll never flame someone for asking a question, if they make as much an effort to ask it as I will have to to answer it. Only fair, wouldn't you say? One of my more incendary posts of late was I think the (not overly harsh imo) 'READ THE FUCKING FAQ YOU FUCKING NOOB'.

If you're offended by the swearing in that, sorry, but I tend to swear quite a bit on the internet, because it helps exaggerate the point. If I was speaking it'd be obvious without the swearing, so I don't usually swear when speaking. But text based communication takes a little more clarification.

If it's being called a noob that is offensive then sorry, but you are. If you'd engaged your brain for half a second, you would have though to a) read avaliable help sources and b) check for an appropriate place to ask your question before expecting others to make an effort in answering it.

If you're offended by me not answering the question, then fuck you. The answer is in the IN GAME HELP, it's also been answered HUNDREDS OF TIMES already by forum members and is in no less than two excellently written sources of help, both of which are easy to find, the FAQ and the Ultimate Uplink Guide. If you're so lazy that you want everyone to do the work for you and can't be bothered spending 5 minutes to google it then why the fuck should I spend my time helping you?

[DJ_Velocity]

Look, I'm not trying to start anything here, .I just feel that it's a bit sad that someone must feel that they must type a question/response/comment up in msword (or whatever) and run spelling and grammar checks, in order to get a civil response.

Haha... AMEN! I've been busted on my grammer so many times. I agree that if sombody has a legitimate point, overlook the grammatical errors

[N0ught]

I never said I was leaving.

And I never said I was offended by swearing (fuckin' aye). Others may be though, and by phrasing things like that, you may turn them away, when they could have been a benefit to the community.

And I am never offended by anyone not answering a question. But when people spam someone with a "fuck off you noobie nooblet from the planet noobatron", INSTEAD of spending the same amount of keystrokes to simply answer the question, that is being counter-productive.

I know the whole class loves the class clown, and the teacher may even crack a smile here and there, in spite of himself. But mostly it is just disruptive to what the teacher is trying to teach.

If you know the answer to a question, and feel like typing anything AT ALL (which judging by the average length of posts around here people are not afraid to type), then just answer the stupid question.

It's pretty logical, considering unnecessary and derogatory posts are generally considered spam.

I could give a flying fuck what people think about me personally.

Just know that ALL I am trying to do is make this a better place for new people, to help facilitate the growth of the community. I would like more people to become interested in this game. And since the developer of Onlink has had a nervous breakdown, I feel we need to get more people in here who may be able to help with the dream that is "Online Uplink" (among other things). The more people playing with the source-code the better.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

This is getting stupid. . .

People here don't go around being grammar Nazis for stupid crap most of the time. It is the people who post nearly un-readable garble that are told to make proper posts. If you post with no capitalization and no punctuation it makes things very hard on those trying to read your post. If you use such poor grammar that your posts don't make sense then, again, it is very hard for those trying to figure out what you are saying. If you post in leet or AOLese then it is simply annoying for those trying to read it. This is a forum, not a chat service; there is no need to rush. Take your time and post in a decent manner. If the community did not take a fairly firm stand on this, the forums would be overrun with wannabe haxor kiddies, and no one needs that.

That said, then an issue of spelling or grammar is brought up this community will generally discuss it liberally. That should not be taken as an insult or as flaming, it is just discussion.

[N0ught]

Well, I think Frostshard put it best:

But let's face it, there's not much Uplink left for the vets to talk about anymore, is there? What's left to do? Well, we could ignore it and pretend that this never was a forum dedicated to a certain game. Or we could embrace the fact that people are still playing it today, despite how long we've loved it for, that new fans are appearing and old ones are coming back, that a new generation of 'Plinkers is being born... let them enjoy their achievments in happiness and and share advice on their pitfalls, help them out when they need it, encourage them when they start to think for themselves and figure things out.

Personally, I think the second one sounds like a better option, nah?

Let's just play nice with the new kids, kids.

[jolo78957]

First let me give an example of some one with horrible grammer and spelling who learnt from his mistakes and made up http://www.forums.introversion.co.uk/up ... hp?t=34449

Also I posted some parts of the source code in the open once, but and got flamed amazingly but I went on to be a old if unporudctive user .