zeogold: Then we can take that a step further and look at what our resident tech wizards have done. Adaliabooks, Barefoot_Monkey, and many others have shown how easily exploitable this website is. Just some hobby-level coding (I mean this not as an insult, but more pointing out that these two did it as a fun project rather than getting paid for it) and suddenly the place is altered greatly if the script is downloaded.
But if things can be altered for one person, doesn't that mean it can be altered for everybody? toxicTom and Alaric have proven that. Anybody with a decent head on their shoulders and a fair amount of coding knowledge can completely alter the place.

zeogold: As much as I never thought I'd find myself saying this...Kleetus has the best point.
zeogold: That's it. That's the whole issue. Everything else is a moot point.
We'll always have endless trolls and morons and scammers and flamewars and rep wars and spam wars and spam-deletion wars. We've had them from the beginning, and it's only gotten worse, and it'll only ever GET worse. Nothing's ever going to change and anything that isn't a news page will become the equivalent of a 4chan topic.
The only thing that could possibly ever stop it is moderation, even the lightest of moderation. But we haven't had that for 8 years and by this point, we probably never will. People like Kleetus can troll to their hearts' desire. Bradley can post all the porn and piracy he wants. rctvb32 can spam the forum all day and night. Tauto is free to stalk and annoy whoever he likes. ciomalau can make rape threats to every vaguely-female-seeming person on the website.
Then we can take that a step further and look at what our resident tech wizards have done. Adaliabooks, Barefoot_Monkey, and many others have shown how easily exploitable this website is. Just some hobby-level coding (I mean this not as an insult, but more pointing out that these two did it as a fun project rather than getting paid for it) and suddenly the place is altered greatly if the script is downloaded.
But if things can be altered for one person, doesn't that mean it can be altered for everybody? toxicTom and Alaric have proven that. Anybody with a decent head on their shoulders and a fair amount of coding knowledge can completely alter the place. And anything that can be altered can be wrecked. What's to prevent somebody from making an auto-deletion script? A script preventing users from posting? A script which blocks posts with certain words in them?
All of these arguments about free speech, spam, trolls, and what is and isn't acceptable are worthless. We can prattle on about them all we want, but nothing will ever change unless GOG finally steps in for once. This is what the lurkers and people who left long ago realized, and this is exactly why they stopped being active, because they decided that such a small and wreckable website wasn't worth it.
Don't get me wrong, the people in here, the actual, true community are some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. But sadly, we're all on a place that is being increasingly exploited as more and more people come and realize what can be done with it.

Tauto: You forgot tinye can insult parents and family.Hell,there's a lot missing does that mean your biased?

rtcvb32: Although that's hardly the level of complexity as barefoot essentials or jerkmuter...

zeogold: Oh, tinyE is by no means perfect. He'll be the first to tell you that he'd have doubtless received a warning from staff or been booted for the tantrums he's thrown. I could go into great detail into him and plenty of others from political threads, news threads, game threads...but I decided not to in order to save space. If I went into every instance where somebody would have been warned or banned, there wouldn't be enough room in this thread.
Certainly not worse than places such as 4chan, where everything I've listed is a common occurrence, but it's rather a shame for a company website to end up like this. I doubt they'll care unless it's losing them business. In fact, I don't think they ever even expected it to become a "community" at all. I think they figured it would be a place where people would stop by every now and then to ask technical questions about games and sales and prices and then go on about their merry old way. And suddenly it flourished into something they'd never planned on and instead of deciding to tend to it, they decided to just let it take care of itself. Whether this led to a working system or a complete flop is none of their concern since it has no effect on them. I've said this before, but I'll say it again:
I would honestly not be surprised if they just shut the forum down altogether one day.

zeogold: People like Kleetus can troll to their hearts' desire.

Kleetus: And people like you who post stupid threads, stupid posts,abuse the rep system and attack others.

But that's not trolling, it's only the behaviour of others you don't like, that's when it's trolling.

zeogold: I've never abused the rep system or attacked others

zeogold: I've never abused the rep system or attacked others, so I'm afraid you'll have to try to go for somebody else on that

zeogold: I've never abused the rep system or attacked others, so I'm afraid you'll have to try to go for somebody else on that front.
Everybody makes stupid threads and stupid posts. It's the humorous nature of the forum. We make jokes, derail, laugh, don't take ourselves too seriously, and have a good time. It becomes different when those posts turn into spam or abuse, however.

Yes, true, I don't like behavior that's abusive and disrespectful. It's worth mentioning that such behavior is pretty much universally disliked, and technically against what rules we once had (if ever).

tinyE: I'll ignore him, but at least he can get the weight of attacking an innocent man off his chest.

Kleetus: You started the shit with me, and you continue to bring my name up even when I've laid off you.

Kleetus: Prior to having the pleasure of "meeting" you and tinyE at the JerkMuter thread, my rep was in the positive 3 digits.

Never even saw a low rated post in all my years until then, now my rep is heading towards -700.

But no, you and your friends don't abuse the rep system or cause shit.

Tauto: (never attacked others) <<<<<<<<<<<<< That's a LIE!

tinyE: I wouldn't buy an apple from him

zeogold: Oh, sure. Poison a guy's food once, and you're marked for life. A little arsenic is good for your stomach, ya wimp.