The TMF is nothing without its members

[Babyshambles]

In reply to this message posted by a TMFer which basically states that the people running the TMF can do whatever the hell they like and screw any member who complains.

"YOUR messages, YOUR blogs and YOUR posts are only yours because you happened to write them. You don't pay for the space they take up. You don't maintain the PM and blog features. You don't do shit but sit behind your computer and type a few keys. If they come in and change your grocery list to "I need a dozen SHEMPS - 4 bags of SHEMP - a gallon of diet SHEMP - and a pound and a half of SHEMP" THEN you can bitch about your space being invaded. This forum is not your space. It's the space of the people who keep it up and running so you CAN message, blog and post. They don't owe you anything."

Lets remember that the TMF is nothing but a forum run on other people's software and sponsoring a domain name for a period of time.

The TMF is ALL about its members. It has nothing to do with the owners, moderators or what have you.

If the TMF was to close down tomorrow, all of this site would migrate to other places on the internet.

So let's remove this idea that the forum owners don't owe their members everything.

The TMF owes its members everything. They wouldn't exist without us.
I'm absolutely sure that all of the owners and moderators recognise this fact.

But it gets to me when people say that the ordinary members dont matter, They ar hugely critical to the success of failure of this forum.

 

[Evil Dave]

I'm very much of the opinion that I don't pay any money for the service they provide and I don't put any effort in to help run the forum so I don't feel like the owe me anything. If they want to play a prank for one day of the year then I'm inclined to cut them some slack because I benefit from the thing running pretty flawlessly for the other 364.

I actually sort of look forward to it. It's become a yearly tradition and is hardly a surprise to most people. Its just a bit of (mostly) harmless amusement. Everything goes back to normal very shortly after.

 

[Babyshambles]

I kinda enjoyed the shemp day, but I would have enjoyed it more if I knew what was going on and didnt feel deliberately alienated.

But how the TMF runs itself is it's business. If it allows people to join for free, that tells us two things: -

1) The TMF is incredibly generous
2) The TMF does not feel that people would pay

The TMF does generate revenue from advertising and such like and this advertising only works because of its members.

People would not come to an empty forum.

I'm sure the TMF values its members a lot, but this place is nothing without the people, and I would be hugely pissed off if I thought that the people running the TMF shared this viewpoint: -

" It's the space of the people who keep it up and running so you CAN message, blog and post. They don't owe you anything."

 

[Evil Dave]

I'll admit that I don't know much about the economics of how this site is run but i doubt that it's a serious profit making venture. I suspect that a lot of time and effort gets put in for free so I appreciate that. I really feel I am getting a very good thing for nothing.

As for the owners and mods respecting their members, I think the forum is run in a really relaxed way for the benefit of the members. I don't think I've ever seen them trying to rule the forum with an iron fist and I feel more like part of a community than a customer.

Maybe other people feel differently, especially if they contribute more frequently than I have with my years of lurking, but that's just my 2 pence.

 

[Mystery2009]

Shambles has a point on this topic. Just because we don't pay to be here, does it really make it ok for somebody to go into a post and edit your comments? I know the Shemp thing was some sort of a gag, but what if you put some effort to write a story, or blog, or anything, and then somebody came in and messed it around because they simply don't like you or thought it would be funny. It isn't right and shouldn't be allowed anywhere.

 

[TonyInMyThroat]

I would venture to say that if all the discussion sub forums were shut down today this place would continue going strong as long as the media content forums are running. The number of members active in the discussion forums is a very small percentage of the total membership and probably makes up even a smaller percentage of the paying media consumers whom the sponsors actually care about. In other words, we do very little to affect the bottom line. So when you say the TMF is nothing without its members, it's best to qualify which members you mean.

 

[Evil Dave]

Shambles has a point on this topic. Just because we don't pay to be here, does it really make it ok for somebody to go into a post and edit your comments? I know the Shemp thing was some sort of a gag, but what if you put some effort to write a story, or blog, or anything, and then somebody came in and messed it around because they simply don't like you or thought it would be funny. It isn't right and shouldn't be allowed anywhere.

I can see your point. Money isn't the only thing which gives someone 'ownership' of something. The time and effort put in to the community would also give someone a sense of ownership so those with blogs, etc would probably be more likely to get annoyed than I.

I think it should be made clear, as others have done in other threads, that no-one messed around with peoples stories or blogs by going in and changing individual words. It was a site wide word replacement which was put on for a very brief time, was applied equally to everyone and wasn't permanent. No one's blog or story was permanently vandalized. It was all restored when the joke ended.

Sorry if you already knew that, some people didn't so the 'crime' seemed much worse than it really was.

 

[Babyshambles]

My point is more along these lines.

Sure the members don't own the forum any more than twitter members own twitter.

But we members have grown accustomed to the ways of the TMF and by and large we like it here as it is.

It is hugely annoying to us that the forum would be changed in such a big way like this, without us even being involved.

This comment makes me hugely annoyed

It's the space of the people who keep it up and running so you CAN message, blog and post. They don't owe you anything

It wasn't posted by one of the powers that be, but it seems that some people really don't think the members matter a jot.

If we were all to leave tomorrow, the TMF would be nothing. Therefore, the members make the TMF and we should be respected.

Thats my opinion

 

[TonyInMyThroat]

If we were all to leave tomorrow, the TMF would be nothing. Therefore, the members make the TMF and we should be respected.

On that line of thinking, I believe we could also say conversely that the TMF would be better without certain members. I think I’ll start going through the community member list and compile a comprehensive list of individuals who habitually make things difficult on the forum and post it in the “TMF Would be Better without Certain Members” thread. Please keep an eye out.

 

[Deleted member 66627]

Murr..

I dunno.

I think that's all a little, "bite the hand that feeds you". Yeah, sure, the 'content' that members provide is what the forum is all about. Be it clips, stories, images or discussion. But that doesn't mean it's right to walk around demanding respect or acknowledgment.

You joined the forum of your own free-will, no-one forced you to join. You decided to post, no-one told you to; these are all choices you have made. And in the process, if you contributed a thing or two that got a lot of people talking and/or 'helped' the forum in some way?; Great. That doesn't mean you walk up to the owner with your hand out, demanding something for it.

The point is the feeling you should get from knowing you contributed something to members who share a fetish with you. Not seeking some title or aware because you feel you deserve it. That shouldn't be why you're here; it's greedy.

This site costs a lot of money to keep up, but your posts and quotes and pics don't pay that bill. Demanding what you are, is like asking for MORE things for free. Haven't you gotten enough with the forum itself?

Now, of course, without the members and contributions there'd be no point in paying to keep it up, sure. But that doesn't mean that you can ask for something anymore then the owner could take something from you. And all that happy horse shit about 'private space' and bitching about that?; Your "space" gets respected more then you'll ever know. Try doing a run-through of V-bulletin and seeing everything it could do before running off at the mouth.

Look, this whole Shempday fiasco was just that: a fiasco. But, clearly it was needed. Everyone likes to suck on their peace pipe, make out with a tree and claim that they don't want any drama. Those people who do that are also always the first to run shoving others aside to get into the middle of a dramatic thread or controversial situation.

The fact is, is that this forum thrives on it's own little dysfunctional chaos. And there will be no permanent "love-in". Accept this. Do you function at home, away from the net in a perfect, drama-free manner? No. So don't expect or demand it here in a community of over 80,000 -- Many of them spouting off shit that they'd never utter to your face IRL.

But, I think it's kind've stupid to be making blatant demands. Granted, some things should be respected about the community; and I think for the most part, they are. (Shempday fiasco excluded). So, you should take into account everything that you are given on a day-to-day basis and be kinda happy about it.

You could've been stuck with an Admin Staff who were banhappy to the highest degree.

You could've had limitations on how many times you're allowed to post a day.

You could've had Admin come in on every post you make and edit it to their liking.

You could've been called out publicly for your stupidity on a daily basis by an Admin and not been able to do shit about it.

-- And so on and so forth. So, before puffing your chest out and claiming that you are some super-special person who deserves X, Y, or Z.. think about what you ALREADY have and stop trying to keep crying out for more.

 

[venray]

Babyshambles....basically it is not OK to play a forum wide joke as some might be ofended but it is perfectly ok with you to trash a Michael Jackson thread and disrespect others points of view one or two people or one or two threads at a time...right?

Just for clarification purposes so I can understand why you do the things you do around here that are OK and what others do are not....


Please enlighten me as to why it is ok for some to act as total arsewipes to others as long as the rest of the forum runs smoothly as usual...

 

[Babyshambles]

Yeah.

But if they did all those things you are talking about, everyone would leave.

All I know is that in all my years coming to this forum I have never known there to be this much discontentment amongst the users.

Murr..

I dunno.

I think that's all a little, "bite the hand that feeds you". Yeah, sure, the 'content' that members provide is what the forum is all about. Be it clips, stories, images or discussion. But that doesn't mean it's right to walk around demanding respect or acknowledgment.

You joined the forum of your own free-will, no-one forced you to join. You decided to post, no-one told you to; these are all choices you have made. And in the process, if you contributed a thing or two that got a lot of people talking and/or 'helped' the forum in some way?; Great. That doesn't mean you walk up to the owner with your hand out, demanding something for it.

The point is the feeling you should get from knowing you contributed something to members who share a fetish with you. Not seeking some title or aware because you feel you deserve it. That shouldn't be why you're here; it's greedy.

This site costs a lot of money to keep up, but your posts and quotes and pics don't pay that bill. Demanding what you are, is like asking for MORE things for free. Haven't you gotten enough with the forum itself?

Now, of course, without the members and contributions there'd be no point in paying to keep it up, sure. But that doesn't mean that you can ask for something anymore then the owner could take something from you. And all that happy horse shit about 'private space' and bitching about that?; Your "space" gets respected more then you'll ever know. Try doing a run-through of V-bulletin and seeing everything it could do before running off at the mouth.

Look, this whole Shempday fiasco was just that: a fiasco. But, clearly it was needed. Everyone likes to suck on their peace pipe, make out with a tree and claim that they don't want any drama. Those people who do that are also always the first to run shoving others aside to get into the middle of a dramatic thread or controversial situation.

The fact is, is that this forum thrives on it's own little dysfunctional chaos. And there will be no permanent "love-in". Accept this. Do you function at home, away from the net in a perfect, drama-free manner? No. So don't expect or demand it here in a community of over 80,000 -- Many of them spouting off shit that they'd never utter to your face IRL.

But, I think it's kind've stupid to be making blatant demands. Granted, some things should be respected about the community; and I think for the most part, they are. (Shempday fiasco excluded). So, you should take into account everything that you are given on a day-to-day basis and be kinda happy about it.

You could've been stuck with an Admin Staff who were banhappy to the highest degree.

You could've had limitations on how many times you're allowed to post a day.

You could've had Admin come in on every post you make and edit it to their liking.

You could've been called out publicly for your stupidity on a daily basis by an Admin and not been able to do shit about it.

-- And so on and so forth. So, before puffing your chest out and claiming that you are some super-special person who deserves X, Y, or Z.. think about what you ALREADY have and stop trying to keep crying out for more.

 

[Babyshambles]

I don't think I trashed a Michael Jackson thread.

And I don't believe I have ever acted like an arsewipe.

Babyshambles....basically it is not OK to play a forum wide joke as some might be ofended but it is perfectly ok with you to trash a Michael Jackson thread and disrespect others points of view one or two people or one or two threads at a time...right?

Just for clarification purposes so I can understand why you do the things you do around here that are OK and what others do are not....


Please enlighten me as to why it is ok for some to act as total arsewipes to others as long as the rest of the forum runs smoothly as usual...

 

[venray]

I don't think I trashed a Michael Jackson thread.

And I don't believe I have ever acted like an arsewipe.

See you dont believe you have acted that way but many do.....

And I dont mean to single you out by any means...we all offend others with things we say or do here....

 

[Deleted member 66627]

Yeah.

But if they did all those things you are talking about, everyone would leave.

Exactly. But they don't. Which is something you should realize to appreciate instead of just trying to demand more.

All I know is that in all my years coming to this forum I have never known there to be this much discontentment amongst the users.

You obviously not must've been around for CliqueStorm 08.

 

[drewskee]

And I don't believe I have ever acted like an arsewipe.

Yeah, you wouldn't, would you? 🙄

 

[Wolf]

Waiter? A little cheese with that whine, if you please...

My point is more along these lines.
Sure the members don't own the forum any more than twitter members own twitter.
But we members have grown accustomed to the ways of the TMF and by and large we like it here as it is.
It is hugely annoying to us that the forum would be changed in such a big way like this, without us even being involved.
This comment makes me hugely annoyed
It's the space of the people who keep it up and running so you CAN message, blog and post. They don't owe you anything
It wasn't posted by one of the powers that be, but it seems that some people really don't think the members matter a jot.
If we were all to leave tomorrow, the TMF would be nothing. Therefore, the members make the TMF and we should be respected.
Thats my opinion

Your opinion presupposes a lot.

There are close to 65,000 people listed as members (active, inactive, and a plethora of sock puppets, I'm sure), yet, only a few have chosen to act as a vocal minority, squealing like stuck pigs that their forum was altered without their prior agreement.

Who exactly is this huge, teeming 'we' you speak of? There are plenty of other forums one can go to if one is unsatisfied with the respect one is given here. As a matter of fact, some were formed by people for just that reason. And yet, the TMF did not crumble. Although, you might find that some other forums, while started with the idea of 'non-clique' behavior, have become much, much worse practitioners of it. (Read Orwell's Animal Farm for a pretty clear overview of the process) As a matter of fact, I've been called down by the mods (in private, of course) for attacking other members, yourself included. Actually, it's only been for attacking you. Irony is an interesting thing, isn't it? Anyways....

All of this resentment about 'cliques' is downright silly. The only 'cliques' are the people who have bothered to go out and meet the others in person, for whatever reason. Not my particular cup of Earl Grey, but I'm certainly not going to hold it against them. And they've never held it against me, for not being 'one of them'. At least not publicly, anyway. : shrug : Hell, I dunno.

It was a prank. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together should be able to see that a preponderance of SHEMP on a site is the result of a prank. What self-respecting hacker would attempt to destroy a website with SHEMP? It was temporary, and without a bit of malice. I'm just curious as to what in the world one could consider so important, on a tickling fetish website, that one could get their knickers in such twist, to rival the Gordian Knot?

Unless of course, one's knickers are naturally twisted anyway...

 

[vladtickleman22]

You're right babyshambles. This forum is here because of it's members. 100% true! If all the people that bitched their heads off about yesterday stopped coming here. Nothing would be different. Because a great majority of those people don't post all that often. Notice i said a great majority, not ALL of them.

So, in reality. If every member that did not find the joke funny left. Nothing would change at all. Well okay, one thing would. The number of members would drop from 80 something thousand to probably less then 4,000. As i said before though, those people would be the people who post the most here. Which means the only difference would be that there were no more whiney bitches who can't deal with a dumb little prank for one day.

 

[marvelUK]

In reply to this message posted by a TMFer which basically states that the people running the TMF can do whatever the hell they like and screw any member who complains.

"YOUR messages, YOUR blogs and YOUR posts are only yours because you happened to write them. You don't pay for the space they take up. You don't maintain the PM and blog features. You don't do shit but sit behind your computer and type a few keys. If they come in and change your grocery list to "I need a dozen SHEMPS - 4 bags of SHEMP - a gallon of diet SHEMP - and a pound and a half of SHEMP" THEN you can bitch about your space being invaded. This forum is not your space. It's the space of the people who keep it up and running so you CAN message, blog and post. They don't owe you anything."

Lets remember that the TMF is nothing but a forum run on other people's software and sponsoring a domain name for a period of time.

The TMF is ALL about its members. It has nothing to do with the owners, moderators or what have you.

If the TMF was to close down tomorrow, all of this site would migrate to other places on the internet.

So let's remove this idea that the forum owners don't owe their members everything.

The TMF owes its members everything. They wouldn't exist without us.
I'm absolutely sure that all of the owners and moderators recognise this fact.

But it gets to me when people say that the ordinary members dont matter, They ar hugely critical to the success of failure of this forum.

good point

 

[Wolf]

No...

good point

It's really not.

 

[Deleted member 66627]

It's really not.

Sock! Silly. 🙂

He can't get anyone else to agree with him. Soo0o0o0o0o-- A sock is needed.

 

[Wolf]

Sock puppet IS socky...

Sock! Silly. 🙂

He can't get anyone else to agree with him. Soo0o0o0o0o-- A sock is needed.

With fresh-from-the-dryer goodness!

 

[WorkInProgress]

Oh, Man...

They did another joke forum for the Fourth of July, and I missed it?

I've got to remember to look in here on the Fourth next year.

Seriously, though, I remember what happened last year, when even though it was only for a few hours that it had been transformed into the Annie Hall and Crystal Light forum, there were some people who went into panic attacks thinking the TMF that they knew and loved would never be back to normal. I, on the other hand, wasn't worried, because for me, this forum is a place I look in on for a few minutes when I happen to think of it, not something my life centers around. Here's my own post from that memorable evening: http://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?t=130016

It's a symbiotic relationship between site owners/moderators and users. We all need each other. It's not an either-or proposition. But the owners/moderators certainly have a right to exercise their creative sense of humor, and the people who get panic attacks from it should ask themselves just how healthy their relationship with their computer really is--and I say this from a standpoint of friendly empathy and concern, not superiority and mockery.

 

[Deleted member 66627]

Shambles, if you want that freedom and acknowledgment.. you could go here.

 

[Wolf]

Thats very well reasoned, WIP.

Oh, Man...

They did another joke forum for the Fourth of July, and I missed it?

I've got to remember to look in here on the Fourth next year.

Seriously, though, I remember what happened last year, when even though it was only for a few hours that it had been transformed into the Annie Hall and Crystal Light forum, there were some people who went into panic attacks thinking the TMF that they knew and loved would never be back to normal. I, on the other hand, wasn't worried, because for me, this forum is a place I look in on for a few minutes when I happen to think of it, not something my life centers around. Here's my own post from that memorable evening: http://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?t=130016

It's a symbiotic relationship between site owners/moderators and users. We all need each other. It's not an either-or proposition. But the owners/moderators certainly have a right to exercise their creative sense of humor, and the people who get panic attacks from it should ask themselves just how healthy their relationship with their computer really is--and I say this from a standpoint of friendly empathy and concern, not superiority and mockery.

I've always admired your logical, common-sense approach to emotionally charged issues.
And, since your friendly empathy and concern is genuine, it frees some of us up for superiority and mockery. It's a valuable service you provide to those of us who are overfond of our own wit.

My hat is off to you, sir. 🙂

P.S. Dammit!! I am kicking myself for not thinking of the 4-you-know-what option!!