# To the Hivemind



## Dragongirl (Oct 26, 2002)

All these running conversation threads are fun, and the gods know I participate in them, but . . .   I think we may be getting carried away.  I think before the mods feel the need to act we should try to contain ourselves to 2 or 3 threads so as to not clutter meta so much that real issues get burried.  What does the rest of the Hivemind think?


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Dragongirl said:
			
		

> *All these running conversation threads are fun, and the gods know I participate in them, but . . .   I think we may be getting carried away.  I think before the mods feel the need to act we should try to contain ourselves to 2 or 3 threads so as to not clutter meta so much that real issues get burried.  What does the rest of the Hivemind think? *




I'm all for it, but every time I start worrying about it, Darkness shows up and starts dragging more threads into the madness.  

And he keeps moving my threads out of meta.

It's hard to stay restrained when a Mod's encouraging you


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## Dragongirl (Oct 26, 2002)

Hehe true, but I am just worried that a small minority is overwhelming this forum.  Not saying we have done anything bad or wrong, just don't want other ENworlders or the Mods to get annoyed with us.


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## Dragongirl (Oct 26, 2002)

Perhaps we need a Hivemind forum?  :: ducks and runs from the prehensile one ::


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

]One of the reasons I really wanted Rav's thread to stay on topic.  I'd rather get pre-warning on this kind of thing.  Still, the way I look at it, we're not really trying to be exclusive about this.  Look at the number of people who seem to have jumped on board in the past day or two.  And at this point it's a relatively short-lived phenomonon and there's still a pretty good chance we'll all get bored and go back to more serious things.

I figure that we'll get told when it's gone to far, and we'll probably get a warning to take it to Nutkinland before we reach the point of no return. 

Now if only Darkness can resist distracting this thread, other people can have their say on the matter.


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

*Re: Re: To the Hivemind*



			
				arwink said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I'm all for it, but every time I start worrying about it, Darkness shows up and starts dragging more threads into the madness.
> *



Well, I guess I'm partly to blame for the derailment of the Staggering Similarities thread.  (though it still seems rather harmless in comparison)


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

*Re: Re: Re: To the Hivemind*



			
				Knight Otu said:
			
		

> *
> Well, I guess I'm partly to blame for the derailment of the Staggering Similarities thread.  (though it still seems rather harmless in comparison) *




I don't think anyone's to blame.  It just happens 

Besides, it was pretty much over the bout of seriousness by the time you got there.  You basically just found the start of the hill and started sledding down the with the rest of us.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty inevitable for anything that gathered a bunch of people together in relation to the Hivemind tag


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

I guess you're right!


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## Piratecat (Oct 26, 2002)

I was just thinking this.

Let's make it three threads max - we'll lock the rest, bwah ha ha. And I'll ask for a temporary pause on moving them.

Thanks for being responsible AND silly.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Thank you for allowing us to be silly 

Any chance you could leave the questions thread as one of the unlocked ones?


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

I agree no point getting anyne teed off, after all this really isn't the reason Morrus puts so much time and effort  into providing these forums. We have all been having a great deal of fun the past few days/weeks but there is no point in going overboard. After all if too many of us get too silly for too long this may as well be nutkinland.   Not that there's any thing wrong with NL, it's just not En World.

Anyway good call P.Cat, we can still have fun. We just need to contain ourselves more then we have been.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> *I agree no point getting anyne teed off, after all this really isn't the reason Morrus puts so much time and effort  into providing these forums. We have all been having a great deal of fun the past few days/weeks but there is no point in going overboard. After all if too many of us get too silly for too long this may as well be nutkinland.   Not that there's any thing wrong with NL, it's just not En World.
> 
> Anyway good call P.Cat, we can still have fun. We just need to contain ourselves more then we have been. *




To say nothing of the fact that one or two people seem to have their own boards, with very little traffic...


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## Dragongirl (Oct 26, 2002)

Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> *Anyway good call P.Cat, we can still have fun. We just need to contain ourselves more then we have been. *



Hmph, Piratecat was agreeing with MY idea!!  ROAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR


But anyway I think it is great we can come to ENWorld and have fun like that.  It has also led at least me to know some of you better. Just was getting worried that like 16 of the threads on the first page of of Meta were generally active Hivemind


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

If P'kitty hadn't shown up, I was going to suggest a new rule of thumb.

When we start a thread wondering if we're going to far, we're probably going that little bit too far.


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

With y'all limited to 3 or so threads, I might even be able to halfway keep up. 

My weak body's need for sleep will probably stop me from keeping up completlely, though.

Stupid body


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## Ravellion (Oct 26, 2002)

Canis said:
			
		

> *
> Stupid body  *




Stupid European time zone.  

Rav


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> My weak body's need for sleep will probably stop me from keeping up completlely, though.




Haveing to go to work, game Saterdays, and sleep is even worse!


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Rav said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Stupid European time zone.
> *




Nah, the timezone's are part of what let us get away with this initially.  Without it, we would have been pegged down much quicker.


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> * Haveing to go to work, game Saterdays, and sleep is even worse! *



Work is a problem some days more than others.   And I'd gladly lose track of these threads were I actually gaming.  My lack of a regular game is actually quite a bit more irksome than my inability to keep up with the Hivemind.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Canis said:
			
		

> *
> Work is a problem some days more than others.   And I'd gladly lose track of these threads were I actually gaming.  My lack of a regular game is actually quite a bit more irksome than my inability to keep up with the Hivemind. *




See, the sudden recurrance of a regular game is probably responsible for mine.  When I was taking time off, I barely came tp enworld at all.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> Work is a problem some days more than others.  And I'd gladly lose track of these threads were I actually gaming. My lack of a regular game is actually quite a bit more irksome than my inability to keep up with the Hivemind.




That's sucky, i'd hook you up but it's a long drive from Ithaca to south east Mass.


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> * That's sucky, i'd hook you up but it's a long drive from Ithaca to south east Mass. *



Yeah, it's a bit of a hike.  But I appreciate the thought


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## garyh (Oct 26, 2002)

I for one am glad we're limiting the Hivemind threads.  I have NOT been able to keep up this week.


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 26, 2002)

i saw the title of this thread and thought:

_Dear Us,_ 
...._How are we...?_  




			
				Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> *After all if too many of us get too silly for too long this may as well be nutkinland.  *



i don't think so, Eric's grandma doesn't hang out there!

so how do we (the hivemind) decide which threads stay (silly) and which ones don't? (or do we leave that to the mods?)


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

I say, silly 'em all and let the mods sort it out


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Mr Fidgit said:
			
		

> *i saw the title of this thread and thought:
> 
> Dear Us,
> ....How are we...?
> ...




I think it's slowly hitting a point where it happens naturally.  Look at the threads that seem to have fallen by the wayside (Crothain/Drivel, Poster of the Inner Circle, and one or two others).  We all like the question thread and it's probably going until someone slaps a padlock on it though.

It'll be a combination of self-control and mod's by my reckoning.


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

arwink said:
			
		

> *...We all like the question thread and it's probably going until someone slaps a padlock on it though.*



I really wanted to get in on the ground floor of that one, but I didn't find it until the end of my coffee break yesterday, and by the time I got back to it to try and actually post, there were like 8 pages.  Somewhat discouraging, that


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

I went to sleep for three or four hours and it suddenly grew ten or eleven pages.

I've decided sleep is a luxury I can no longer afford


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 26, 2002)

arwink said:
			
		

> *It'll be a combination of self-control and mod's by my reckoning. *



it's hard for me sometimes to not interject some humor even when i'm getting to the-question-at-hand.

Canis - if you had read those pages, you should feel free to jump in!   not everyone can be on the boards at all times, but just because you missed the start of a thread doesn't mean you shouldn't be there when it gets locked down


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

I think there's a distinction between injecting humor and arriving to high-jack a thread (or a board) whole hog.

Canis - I just found it was easier to start a topic not long after I logged on, then hang around watching it develop. It usualy works right up until Darkness shafts them to General 

Besides, it's more fun to come late.


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## Jeremy Ackerman-Yost (Oct 26, 2002)

I have a constitutional inability to join a thread until I've read it in its entirety.  Silly, perhaps, but I yam what I yam.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Canis said:
			
		

> *I have a constitutional inability to join a thread until I've read it in its entirety.  Silly, perhaps, but I yam what I yam. *




I know the feeling.  I read the entire eight or nine pages of the questions thread I missed, even though I knew it wasn't necessary.

damn feeling a comitment to the cause


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

arwink said:
			
		

> *
> I know the feeling.  I read the entire eight or nine pages of the questions thread I missed, even though I knew it wasn't necessary.*



This is one of the evil _Me, too!_ posts.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> so how do we (the hivemind) decide which threads stay (silly) and which ones don't? (or do we leave that to the mods?)




Maybe we should pick which threads to kill and actually let them go before we really get spanked?


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Well, me may as well vote here.

I'm all for keeping questions.  Not really sure which of the others though.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

I'd also vote for questions, uh maybe Drivel as a catchall for random nonsense?


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

I'd also vote for the Poster of the Inner Circle thread. It kind of is our "headquarter", isn't it'?


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## Ravellion (Oct 26, 2002)

Let's keep Not the drivel, the questions game, and Poster of the Innercircle, if it is three threads. If two, get rid of Not the Drivel.


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

Thumbs up for Rav's suggestions!


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 26, 2002)

but how do we 'get rid of' the other threads if no one posts anything new in Meta? they'll still be here...


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Piratecat said three threads max, and he'll lock the rest of them.

I don't think it'll matter to much what we choose.  In a couple of days they'll be locked and we'll have started on something new anyway.


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## Knight Otu (Oct 26, 2002)

I guess they'll be closed.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> Let's keep Not the drivel, the questions game, and Poster of the Innercircle, if it is three threads. If two, get rid of Not the Drivel.




I think thats the best way to go, P.Cat didn't shut anything off yet so why make him do it at all, i think it would be best if we stick to those threads and let the others drop. JMO of course.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

I think its a fairly complete agreement, not counting the opinions of those not currently posting of course.

Time to stop posting on all the other threads.


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## Ashardalon (Oct 26, 2002)

Just stopping by to say I agree with Rav.


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## Mathew_Freeman (Oct 26, 2002)

*pround moment*

Wow...out of three Hivemind threads, two of them are threads I started...

Woah.

That's nice. Thanks guys. Now I'm off to try and catch up with the Questions thread, it's at 850 posts or something as I type this...


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

I blame it on the fact that both of mine ended up in General  

Two moved in two days


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## Buttercup (Oct 26, 2002)

Dragongirl said:
			
		

> *All these running conversation threads are fun, and the gods know I participate in them, but . . .   I think we may be getting carried away.  I think before the mods feel the need to act we should try to contain ourselves to 2 or 3 threads so as to not clutter meta so much that real issues get burried.  What does the rest of the Hivemind think? *




Well, I haven't participated in your hivemind threads, so at the risk of offending all of you, I think you have gotten carried away.  There are lots of message boards on the internet where you can engage in pointless spamming and total silliness.  I visit several of them myself.  But I've always come to this board, even when it was Eric's, for D&D related discussion.  I'd hate to see this place turn into just another spam fest.  And I worry that if the noise to signal ratio gets any worse, Morrus will just throw up his hands and shut it down.

Sorry if I've offended any of you, but as a fellow member, I thought my opinion might be of interest.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> Well, I haven't participated in your hivemind threads, so at the risk of offending all of you, I think you have gotten carried away. There are lots of message boards on the internet where you can engage in pointless spamming and total silliness. I visit several of them myself. But I've always come to this board, even when it was Eric's, for D&D related discussion. I'd hate to see this place turn into just another spam fest. And I worry that if the noise to signal ratio gets any worse, Morrus will just throw up his hands and shut it down.




I pretty much agree, it has gotten out of hand, and i deffinatly don't want Morrus up set. Poor guy doesn't deserve it. On the other hand with the boards being down a lot and the server changes some of us got wacky, mods included. Pirate cat spoke to use, and hopefully we can get ourselves under control. I Don't think a little sillyness, in an out of the way place like this hurts too much, but if people are going to get offended, thats another story. In that case i'd advocate all of us stoping imeadiatly.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Thanks Buttercup.  I think we all agree with Sir Osis, and hearing someone who wasn't involved put it that way certianly helps nail it down.  I think much of the rampant silliness has burned out of it by now.  The kobold thread that got moved into general is pretty much devoted to talking about actually cruchy, on-topic content, and the only two threads down here in meta that seem to still get posts are the questions thread and this one.  They get occasional spurts of posts every time someone who'se been offline and missed the disccusion arrives on the boards, but the mass-thread spam of the past day or two has pretty much stopped.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

I think if we continue ignoring everything but questions and maybe not drivel and inner circle, the problem will clear itself up pretty quick. If we can just focus on those few and leave alone the others and the panteon comparison thread and couple others, it'll be fine. I hope.

I also agree that the kobold thread has become on topic.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

Heck, other people started posting there and taking it seriously.  It kinda forced me too as well.


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## Mathew_Freeman (Oct 26, 2002)

Whoops.

We've sent it off into Streetfighter. I shall post no more.

Another suggestion for us Hiveminders: threads in other forums are to stay on topic! Including the magic kobold thread, now. Sorry, arwink.


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## arwink (Oct 26, 2002)

That's okay.  I'm quite content for it to stay the kobold thread. I'm actually having fun thinking up new kobold kantrips


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 26, 2002)

> That's okay. I'm quite content for it to stay the kobold thread. I'm actually having fun thinking up new kobold kantrips




I think it's turned into a very cool thread!



> Another suggestion for us Hiveminders: threads in other forums are to stay on topic!




Excellent advice! Off to game you guys have fun!


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## Mathew_Freeman (Oct 28, 2002)

*To Everyone, Hivemind or Not* 

I would like to apologise for the "Can You Play the Questions Game?" thread. And for my general habit of turning this place into a Nonsense Chat Room style message board. I've had a lot of time on my hands recently, the most in fact since I stopped being a student, and I slipped into old habits.

So - from now on I'm going to try and moderate myself a little, and post replies and threads that are a little more...appropriate. Not that this means I'm going to stop being silly altogether, just quieten it down a bit.

Extra apologies to Darkness and the other mods that have had to keep an eye on us loonies  Your patience has been wonderful.

We now return you to the point of ENWorld - intelligent, insightful, entertaining talk on D&D and D20 products.

Thanks!

PS: _beats hong with a stick_ 

Sorry, but I just can't be serious *all* the time...


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## Dragongirl (Oct 28, 2002)

Well what I think is important, is that we decided to cut down BEFORE any mod asked us to.  Piratecat was just agreeing with what we had already began to discuss.  Only thing the mods asked us before, was to make a special tag.


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## Horacio (Oct 28, 2002)

Horacio is now a SORRY ASHAMED jester...

After a weekend without boards, I arrived with a raging posting time, and continued all old threads... before reading this one 

So this silly jester appologises publicly to Piratecat and other mods... 

    Horacio "posting too fast for his own good" Gonzalez


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## Knight Otu (Oct 28, 2002)

Well, as long as it stays a one-time-only offense...


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## Horacio (Oct 28, 2002)

Knight Otu said:
			
		

> *Well, as long as it stays a one-time-only offense...  *




I didn't asked your pardon, silly clown


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## Ravellion (Oct 28, 2002)

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *I would like to apologise for the "Can You Play the Questions Game?" thread.*




Ah, It was a laugh! No need to apologise I think. If you need to apologise, Mr Fidgit, Arwink and I need to be far more apologetic - we were the posters with most posts, in that order...from 3 different continents, which I find quite cool.

Rav


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## Piratecat (Oct 28, 2002)

Narrowing Hivemind down to three threads.


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