Hey guys, we've been kicking the can on some key issues on /a/ for too long and the time is ripe to coordinate actions together to improve the quality of /a/.I've spoken to various mods and janitors and we've hammered out "official guidelines" to address these issues. Here is what would be posted under mod capcode to various threads that require it:"Dear xx fans,In an effort to improve the quality of posts on /a/, it's come to our attention that issues in xx threads should be addressed. To that end, here are a few suggestions:1. Please focus on producing original discussion, questions, or content when creating or contributing to a thread; avoid template formats and “X Thread”-type posts. OPs should be insightful and specific, not general.2. Please avoid reposting content from previous threads. This includes: resource pastebins, copypasta, forcing memes, image dumping, “xth for y”, “reminder x” and anything that fails to abide by #1.3. Feel free to talk about similar content in separate threads.4. Allow a thread to expire naturally.5. Please avoid recurring thread topics that are not accompanied by content to discuss6. Continue to abide by the global and /a/-specific rules outlined here: 4chan.org/rulesThese suggestions are applicable to other threads on /a/.If we keep to these guidelines, we can all enjoy /a/ together. Please report any rule breaking content too. Thanks again!"Please note: janitors shouldn't ban request generals unless they are persistently dodging efforts to remove them.Also: lets open up the floor to discussion on what to do about:1. DJT2. moving potential /c/, /e/, /trash/ etc content3. buyfag/drawfag threadsThanks guys, im counting on your help!
>>5736>1. DJTIs anime
I've had a huge problem with how /a/ threads have been moved to /e/.Take a look at some of the moved ones that are up right now.>>>/e/2004630>>>/e/2003901>>>/e/2004453What we can see here is that these threads have basically nothing to do with /e/. Almost every image is an SFW image, with images of mostly clothed girls with nothing suggestive about them. It's true that a big part of /e/ is clothed girls that might otherwise be SFW but there are no whole threads full of just completely that. There is always NSFW mixed in. These threads would be much better suited for /c/.There's also the fact that one of those threads has an OP of a pregnant girl. Any pictures featuring pregnancy have always been considered /d/. Am I supposed to just make an exception because it was moved from /a/? This leads me to my broader point:The threads I've seen moved from /a/ to /e/ largely ignore the rules and standards of /e/. I don't know if it's a case of mods not understanding what /e/ is supposed to be or what. A little while ago a thread from /a/ got moved that was full of giantess girls including one that was futanari. Obviously this belongs on /d/ and not /e/. Yet it was moved there. Why?When I spoke to Rapeape a while ago about this, I voiced my concern about threads being moved that have posts that might be ok in /a/ but are not ok in /e/. As far as I can remember, he assured me that the threads will be checked before they're moved. This is obviously not happening. My main concern was that if I happen to come upon a thread and I could not tell if it was moved from /a/, that I would BR a post that broke the rules in /e/, so a poster would get banned for something they wouldn't have if the thread wasn't moved. They would get banned for something that wasn't even their fault.(1/?)
>>5739The other thing is, is that /a/ threads simply do not fit into /e/. What I mean by that is people on /a/ don't act like people on /e/. /e/ lacks the usual 4chan behavior that other boards have. Things like reaction images are commonplace on other boards but on /e/ they aren't very welcome. I will usually just delete them if they are annoying enough because technically they are against the rules, but that part is not enforced everywhere else because of board culture, I guess. Also, almost every /a/ thread that gets moved gets a negative reaction on /e/. They really don't like them. It's definitely because of what I explained about the differences in behavior. People /e/ look at these threads and just see shitposting. I have a few suggestions to improve this.- Mods MUST look through the thread before moving them to /e/. Take what I've talked about and the examples and learn what should not be on /e/- Provide an indicator to janitors or possibly any user that the thread has been moved. Not only will this help me not get anyone banned for something that wasn't their fault but it would be extremely helpful if I knew immediately what I was dealing with. - Let me view a thread before it gets moved to /e/. I can provide suggestions as to whether or not it would be acceptable for /e/ or if there are any rule breaking posts in it. This could be just pinging me on IRC and showing me the thread or possibly having a system in place that lets me approve of a thread before moving (not likely I know, I'm aware that you guys don't like to give this kind of thing to janitors)Let me know what you think. I would really like this to work better.
>>5740>>5739Perhaps /trash/ is the best option for those /e/ threads then.But just because an /a/ thread doesn't fit into /e/ culture doesn't mean that its not, under the right circumstance (and depending on the thread) suitable for /e/.But I agree with RA that the threads should be scrutinized before being moved to /e/ or elsewhere, though /trash/ may be the most frequent destination.
On the subject of buyfag threads and /jp/.We have/had three different flavors of it.1: Sporadically occurring normal threads where someone mentions a fig/doll/dakimakura/whatever, other people pick up conversation, and it dies around 100ish posts once everybody's run out of things to talk about. Or sooner because interest in general has moved to /toy/2: Event threads. Wonfes brings up figs, Comiket for basically everything, Reitaisai for touhou, M3-38 for more doujin music. These happen a few days before the scheduled event and continue for another month or two afterwards as uploads and scans come in. Everybody is always super excited for these and theres minimal drama these days aside from uploaders getting mad about chinese rips year after year. The usual.3: Number 1 turned into everlasting generals. These include Fumos, Onaholes, and more recently someone decided to turn the Dakimakura threads into a general. In the case of Fumos the thread is pretty much "Blog with your doll", for Onaholes its "Blog about your dick" and the Dakimakura threads is "Where can I buy this / Will I get arrested for buying it". Also blogging with your pillow wife.
Some examples.1: Is pretty sad when people just tell them to go to the buyfag thread on /a/. Otherwise most of the interest has moved to /toy/ and even our own BJD thread has a simultaneous sister thread on /toy/https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S16031597https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S16088093https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S14946000I suppose the alternative to generals is everlasting questionshttps://warosu.org/jp/thread/S15989675https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S14942307https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S14320223Didn't quite turn out to be figs but still a good example of just a random interest thread.https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S155355452: M3-38 threads were still being made, however the most recent one died at around 10 posts so that's probably the last we'll see of them until M3-39, however COMIKET SOON.https://warosu.org/jp/thread/S16040083>>>/jp/161361603: The everlasting generals. The BJD, kigs, they all keep to themselves and they've been around for ages, nobody bothers them. The fumos are about as bloggy as it gets, and the daki threads are mostly just questions and begging aside from a stray nipple now and then (Which in the context of how much /jp/ talks about pornographic material because that's just how it goes with japanese media, not a big deal.) I'm still not sure how to treat rubber holes as far as NSFW guidelines go because it feels like nitpicking "At what point does a featureless hole resemble too much like genitalia to complain about">>>/jp/15895549>>>/jp/16097689>>>/jp/16113590Just cruise through those last 3 generals and see if that's really something that needs to be split into multiple iterations across the board, or something you want to add more of the board by shoving an(other) established general in. /jp/ is pretty slow so those links should still be valid for another two or three weeks.
>>5743>>5742Ok one endorsement for buyfag threads to be sent to /jp/. And also reluctant agreement to move djt to /jp/ as well.
>1. DJTSeveral ideas here -a.) For now, it's perhaps fine on /int/ as it currently is, considering their thread meta of constantly reaching towards aimless blogging and shitposting. b.) Alternatively, suggest that they put their claim/excuse of being useful for training new translators to work on /a/-related projects to the test, by having them actually translate things to warrant their existence on /a/. There's VNTS on /jp/; rationally, why shouldn't there be an avenue towards LN/manga translation status. In such hypothetical threads, they could still talk about and correct each others' moon skills if they want, because that should be relevant towards whatever lines. It would also be now towards an unambiguously board-related goal that actually should give us prestige and attract a natural competitiveness for quality. If however this idea of strong-arming them into being board relevant just fades into a 1:1 reincarnation of DJT in disguise, then just port them to another board again. As for /int/ or /jp/, I don't know. I know if you ask /jp/ itself they will say "no" just because it's from /a/.>2. moving potential /c/, /e/, /trash/ etc contentI'm less concerned with these than generals because for one, it can be difficult to judge a thread on /a/ by its OP alone and sometimes, good conversations pop out of rather mundane thread topics. Of course vice versa can happen hence you can have terrible threads for what can/should be engaging topics. All I'm trying to say is that a decent thread shouldn't be automatically squashed for the OP. Something else I wonder about is, if it is made abundantly clear that any thread made into a dump is probably going to get moved or deleted, then this can encourage people to dump in threads they don't like hoping to get them underhandedly removed. It sounds paranoid, but we all know that that is a plausible future scenario for a group of interlopers to exploit if the rules are that stern.>cont, fuck we still have 2k limit
>>5745>buyfag/drawfagDrawfag is OC. Actually, those threads are a cornerstone of /a/ to probably quite a few, and help to build a unique community. Moving them is counter to some core philosophies that mods seem to approach 4chan with overall; for example /v/ and /co/ have drawthreads too, what happens to them then? In a time of lots of generals and vapid threads I think /a/ needs to cling to any cross-series, cross-thread unifying beacon that exists, incidentally both the threads in question for >3 act as those.Buyfag thread is something that, if I recall correctly, basically existed on /toy/. I used to use /toy/ all the time back then mostly for figs and gunpla. However, /toy/ users got annoyed at all the scale figure discussion and at some point, what like 2010-11(?) there was a crackdown to be very strict on no scales, hence buyfag became a thing on /a/. For a time, both /a/ and /jp/ had their own separate buyfag threads. I do believe that (/jp/ sticky, waaambulance) moot's design was for /jp/ to have basically all buyfag stuff, but clearly, that was never fully implemented/enforced. Clearly under moot's watch, for many years buyfag on /a/ persisted and people just kind of went with it. More logically, with /jp/ being near-unusable for a lot of that time in those years from spam and turmoil, people just couldn't be assed trying to have a legit thread there at all as opposed to the nice, stable one on /a/ conveniently nestled between everything else, and it being just not allowed to fully discuss all they wanted to on this subject on /toy/. Now years later /jp/ is stable, but feels pushed around and adamantly doesn't want to be used as /a/'s junk-filled backyard, not to mention this hostility also would cause further divide between /a/-/jp/ users. If DJT and buyfag were both ported to /jp/ it would near-certain trigger a nasty rejection and those threads might just kind of slip through the cracks and gradually re-coalesce on /a/ even if it took months/years.
>>5746>buyfag contSo, it is not an easy answer what to do with buyfag. Technically it should be /jp/ but, for the thread to not just get shitposted to death there (which could result in it clawing its way back into /a/ or forcibly bending the rules on /toy/) it would take a very thorough explanation of why the thread was on /a/ all this time and why it looks like a good time to move it now. Out of all the things up for review on /a/ though, I find it much easier to rationalize scooting DJT away than buyfag. /jp/ already has functionally two buyfag threads more relevant directly to the board's interests, and /toy/ has threads about nendoroids and figma, which also cross over into the /a/ buyfag threads. So /a/ buyfag is mostly about scale figures, however the vast majority of scales are not directly /jp/ material and you better believe that people on /jp/ would object to being forced to support /a/ related things with no bearing to their local board state. Basically, because /jp/ and /a/ are not freely compatible it is just plain not feasible without making needless drama. /a/ has been hit over the head with changes lately but /jp/ has not; they won't care what mods are trying to do on /a/ or how much it helps /a/ or not to support some transplanted /a/ threads. /jp/ itself would need a purposeful sculpting/policy change for a closer /a/ bridge for these schemes to work out well, I suspect. So the question is, why throw two boards into turmoil etc. Entropy wins in the case of buyfag (it stays imo) due to it being pigeonholed between a rock and a hard place regarding past impracticality of trying to run it on /jp/ and /toy/'s rulings, unless there was mutual agreement between the two boards it should be /jp/, of which one if not both sides handily reject.
I've always thought that boards like /c/ and /e/ could be more than just image dumps.That they could house more conversation without ruining anything. There are many websites out there to simply hold images and they don't 404 as soon as someone stops posting new ones.To expand their use while still maintaining the subject would be helpful in shuffling around the huge userbase of 4chan and inspire more people to take up the cause of dumping images. New life
Commenting on the proposed text in the OP itself before moving onto other issues - First of all, I am not certain there's a need to single out any particular general with the post. There are certain individual threads that are quite bad but it's not like there's a shortage of bad chatroom general threads to pick from; if made as an uncommentable (three-day) sticky, the knowledge would filter where it's needed because people love meta and it would inevitably be brought up in the threads themselves.I have heard that some people would prefer that these be formulated as commands rather than suggestions. I don't think that's necessary. Suggestions backed by deletions are essentially commands but are easier to choke down. In particular, commands are interpreted as rules and will lead to autists and pedants reviewing all mod actions with a fine-toothed comb for the purpose of harping on the inevitable identifiable inconsistencies. I think it might be better to err on the soft side with announcements - the big stick of moderation tools should do the rest (and if that's not possible, it's probably better that we didn't overpromise and underdeliver anyway).continued (1/2 on this particular topic)
continuing (2/2 on this particular topic)My rendition of the post would be something like this: "Dear /a/,In order to improve the quality of posts on /a/, it's come to our attention that there are various long-standing issues that could be addressed. To that end, here are a few suggestions: 1. Please focus on original discussion, questions, or content when creating or contributing to threads. Specific OPs are preferable to "X thread" and other canned templates.2. Avoid reposting content from previous threads, including pastebins, copypasta, forcing memes, image dumping, "xth for y," "reminder x", and the like.Generally speaking, there's no need for all discussion of similar content to be kept to a single thread, or for any single thread to live forever. Threads should be allowed to expire naturally. Indefinitely recurring threads without content to discuss get stale very quickly.If we keep to these guidelines, we can all enjoy /a/ together. As a last reminder, continue to abide by the global and /a/-specific rules at 4chan.org/rules, and to report rule-breaking content. Thanks!"I prefer a shorter list because it separates out well-defined guidelines that we're able to semi-clearly-somewhat enforce (1 and 2), and more general statements where it's not clear where the line might be drawn. Those can be formulated as suggestions instead. Everybody thinks their own work is hot shit, but I think my post is easier to digest and covers most of the things we want to say. I mentioned in (1/2) why I think a softer tone is preferable. Your assessment may vary.
Regarding /jp/, it might be better to discuss separately any issues the board has in particular (if anyone cares) but in my assessment the medicine /a/ is being prescribed would need... modifications, if we were going to try to feed it to the general-filled country of /jp/. Addressing the /a/-related issues in the OP specifically:Buyfag: The buyfag thread would be explicitly on-topic in /jp/ (figures and other otaku paraphernalia). However, I don't see that in and of itself as a compelling reason to throw it out of /a/. Anime merchandise is arguably (dangerous word there) anime related.DJT: I've said before that /jp/ is basically a media board. I'm not sure if anyone else has ever said that, but I've said it. The topics are mostly otaku media of various kinds, with "diverse niche Japanese interests" tacked onto the end. The learning of the language arguably falls into neither of these categories. It turns out that learning Japanese is critically important for appreciating a huge swath of otaku media, and most dedicated otaku are in various stages of learning the language, which is why threads about the language often end up... overlooked. I feel the argument that they're not "actually on-topic" is slightly more convincing than the argument that they are.tl;dr - not convinced that buyfag should be kicked of /a/, not in favor of moving DJT to /jp/ (primarily for the reason that it's a clubhouse more than anything else). Buyfag makes considerably more sense in /jp/ than DJT, but if either or both were officially designated /jp/ material we'd deal with it.>>5743>I suppose the alternative to generals is everlasting questionsThey can't all be winners.
New mod joining the conversation.>>5748There are no real rules against conversation in /c/ or /e/. At the same time, it is a cultural mainstay that posts keep text to a minimum. There is the Rei thread which does contain a good amount of text, however, it does spiral into something like a circle jerk as well as some infighting. With that in mind, it's my opinion that the status quo is kept for boards such as /c/ and /e/. There is more at risk than to gain particularly for large changes on smaller boards.On the issue of moving image dump threads, I think that while we do have the capability of doing so, it might not always be the best solution. There is a certain amount of guess work involved (which I suppose we are discussing about right now) and I feel that a simple deletion or suggestive warning could work to move the board in the right way.
I'm in favour of keeping buyfag/drawfag threads on /a/. I'm a buyfag myself, and have been a drawfag in the past as well, for reference.I mostly agree with >>5746 , I think Drawthreads are original content on any board they appear, I don't feel like they need termination from the board, or indeed on any board they appear.Buyfag threads are a funny one, but I think they should stay. I think /jp/ is a more intensive kind of community, so I don't have major objections to beginner Otaku stuff like buyfagging being on /a/. The buyfag threads get new buyfags all the time, and I feel like moving those threads to /jp/ just wouldn't stick, and I don't think we want to kill off the threads entirely. I also feel that buyfagging is casual enough to be considered a fringe /jp/ subject.
So to summarize the general consensus so far for tl;dr sake:-/e/ and /c/ should generally be left alone with a few exceptions.-drawfag threads should be left alone on /a/ because of OC-buyfag threads should probably stay on /a/ for now, maybe later -go to /jp/ so we dont rock the boat too much immediately-DJT should go to /jp/ according to various anons, janitors and modsRight? btw no sticky for these guidelines, we can just post them to any offending thread.
>>5757>-DJT should go to /jp//jp/ here.Shit. Not looking forward to cleaning that up.
Idk much about generals on /jp/ other than they tend to generate a bunch of thread drama rather than discussion
>>5757>DJT should go to /jp/ according to various anons, janitors and modsI saw at least one suggestion in #janiteam that /jp/ take DJT and there might have been others that I missed (or discussion among mods that I'm not aware of), but I don't think any post in this thread is actually in favor of it.As for "various anons" I really think it depends on which anons you're asking.
>>5759It's more autistic spamming than actual drama.
Why can buyfags not go to /toy/? It is toys they are buying after all./e/ and /c/ are delicate, simple deletion is likely the best option in majority of the cases. It is well known that image dumps are frowned upon, so they will know why the threads disappear.
Just some thoughts:Yesterday, while the /djt/ threads were being cracked down on, they started a "raw manga" thread as a stealth way to have their normal on-topic conversations related to learning, practicing and translating japanese within the context of manga. Aside from a brief meta-derail about the crackdown, it was a solid, on-topic thread.What I'm getting at here is that "relocating" /djt/ might not be something that's necessary at all. If the issue from the beginning is the general format, the insular circlejerk community occupying it and the frequent presence of off-topic discussion, then the solution to me seems to be simply removing /djt/ entirely instead of relocating it. The participants, without their general, will still make threads on /a/ about learning japanese, but as long as those threads are focally on-topic (eg. about anime and manga) and don't take the form of a successive daily thread (eg. a general), I don't think they would be inherently bad. Rather, it would be up to us to maintain the diligence to ensure they don't simply reform the general under a new name. Without the general and its subculture, /a/'s japanese-learners will naturally fall back into line with the rest of the board. If they find that, and our moderation, too restrictive, they'll relocate on their own to a more suitable board. To me, the principle issue seems to lie with the stagnant general and it's rigid format having a stranglehold on all of /a/ discussion pertaining to learning japanese, not necessarily with its users.I don't think the users that constitute /djt/ would fit in to the culture of another board, and all relocating is likely to accomplish is create a diaspora that butts heads with its new host board for a few weeks before its users trickle back to /a/ and leave a new general with some 20 active users reserving a spot on their host board 24/7. That's not really solving the problem, it's just making new problems for other boards.
>>5765I think these same issues of stagnating subculture and rigid format plague most of the other generals on /a/, but they might not be as easy to deal with. Drawfag threads can't have their share of problems but I can't really see any way that meddling from the moderation will actually improve their situation. At best we just chase drawfags away. Rather, I think the best approach here is a wait and see, and hopefully positive changes made to the rest of the board will result in positive changes to the frequent users of drawfag threads.As for buyfag threads; I don't think relocation would be appropriate, because I think there would be the same inevitable culture clash between /a/ buyfags and /toy/ users that would benefit nobody. Rather, I think since the merchandising of anime series is so intrinsically linked to the rest of the franchise continuum, it's probably appropriate to consider it provisionally on-topic so long as discussion remains focused on merchandise for anime and manga, and not on onaholes or some other japanese merchandise that isn't directly /a/-related. I think it could be dealt with either in the same manner as I suggested for /djt/ above, simply targeting the general itself but not the topic, and allowing users to continue to talk about buyfaggotry on the condition that they avoid successive or regularly scheduled threads and abide by the set of suggestions from the OP. The other alternate, I think, would be to simply limit the general to 1 thread a week, or something similar.Speaking of limiting, I would also like to see Jojo and One Piece threads limited much in the same manner. We did this previously for "big 3" manga and it seemed to be an effective compromise to both permit them to discuss there series in line with the constant flow of new content, while also limiting their presence on the board and avoiding an extremely low-quality general, which is what both these threads have become.
>>5766As for /c/ and /e/ threads:I don't think relocating most of these threads to /c/ or /e/ is really necessary. In general, I think relocating should be saved for times when the thread itself is of high-quality such that it is worth preserving instead of deleting. Most of the time we address threads of that nature on /a/, they aren't particularly high-quality or deserving of being moved. The people who make and participate in those threads are also definitely aware of the fact that more appropriate boards exist for them to be posted. They aren't ignorant or forgetful of the fact that those boards exist. They just choose to make their thread on /a/ regardless of that. In that sense, I don't think moving the thread accomplishes anything except place a mediocre imagedump on a slow board.They post those threads on /a/ because they want to talk about and discuss butts or armpits or how cute X character is with /a/. In the cases where these threads are low-quality or off-topic enough to require action from the moderation team, deletion or a warning for either GR3 or /a/1 would probably suffice, and escalated further if they insist on reposting it. If any more concrete of a message needs to be communicated, /trash/ is probably the most suitable board to relocate those sorts of threads to. As far as I know, that's why that board was made.The last things I want to address is:The monmusu general, which I think should probably be addressed by being limited to around the release of new content. It's a case of a thread where quality fluctuates greatly depending on whether there's actual content to discuss and has no need for an omnipresent general reserving space for discussion during the long periods where there's simply nothing to discuss.The other I want to address is the KanColle general. It does have an anime adaptation and a few official manga but those adaptations aren't the topic of the threads, and they reserve a thread on the catalog 24/7 to discuss the game.
Oh, one other thing I wanted to bring up:When general threads get targeted by moderation on /a/, one of their common defense mechanisms is to create OPs which attempt to veil themselves as on-topic and not a general, but which then host the exact same off-topic and general-styled content as their normal general threads. As long as we're cracking down on generals, please be mindful of this. Just because the OP says "lets talk about the /a/-related adaptation" doesn't mean the content of the thread will reflect that at all, and in most cases they will abandon the guise of on-topic discussion almost immediately so they can return to their normal general habits and topics. The OP may even lie about an imminent release of new content in an attempt to justify their thread, hoping that the mod or janitor seeing it won't know the actual release dates, while the general regulars do and recognize it as a signal to continue their general there.Be sure to check the actual content of a thread's discussion to see if it's actually on-topic and not just a general trying to circumvent moderation. Humouring that ambiguity just encourages generals to persist.
>>5767I personally would like it if /c/ and /e/ became more waifu boards where conversation was allowed rather than just image dumps. I think we need to thin out /a/ or increase the number of threads on the board to deal with traffic. I think this of multiple large boards
>>5767problem with /trash/ is no respecting user wants to touch it due to it being /fur/A move to /trash/ is just a deletion. /trash/ needs to be cleaned and likely lose thread creation abilities to lose the stigma before a large majority of users will even consider continuing any thread there
>>5770Yeah, that's the idea.Fundamentally, relocating communities doesn't work. They always cause problems with their new host board and always find ways to slink back to their board of origin and repeat the trouble all over again. It's simply not a good solution. Moving to /trash/ just sends the clear message that your thread is shit and doesn't belong on this board in a way that's more visible to the participants than just deleting the thread would be. Refuse belongs in the refuse bin.>>5769I don't have much of an opinion on the status of /c/ or /e/ and what should change about them. I'd leave those kinds of issues to people more directly involved in those boards. What I don't think is appropriate is for us to involve another, unrelated board in trying to solve an issue on /a/. Moving bad /a/ threads onto /c/ doesn't help either party. The OP just comes back to /a/ and remakes his bad thread, and /c/ has to deal with a shitty /a/ thread was probably better off deleted.I think in most cases where simply deleting or moving to /trash/ isn't enough, it's not a matter of the message being unclear but of it being deliberately ignored by someone who obstinately wants to persist in making low-quality or off-topic threads on /a/. I don't think that's an issue that can be solved by just relocating a few threads to another board, and I don't think those boards deserve to be on the receiving end of /a/'s garbage threads. It's important to deal with these issues internally instead of just passing the buck to another board and waiting for them to come back and haunt us. This obsession with finding homes for subcommunities that sprout from local general threads like tumours is unhealthy. Our concern should be with the enforcement of rules, and threads that violate the rules either by being of exceptionally low quality or by being off-topic, should be dealt with accordingly. If you give them an inch they'll take 500 posts new thread >>##### X general Y edition thread 942
>>5736>2. Please avoid reposting content from previous threads. This includes: resource pastebins, copypasta, forcing memes, image dumping, “xth for y”, “reminder x” and anything that fails to abide by #1.I'm not sure I entirely agree with this wording. While I understand and agree that there are a lot of shitty generals that have been greatly reducing the quality of /a/, explicitly banning (even if it just says "avoid") resource pastebins and some other categories of generals is counterproductive. There are lot of /a/ users, particularly newfags, that I know have greatly benefited from quickstart guides. The buyfag guide was been super helpful when I started buying figures, and has been helpful to a number of my friends (I know it's anecdotal, but there is some truth to it). As another example, many show-specific generals (to be specific, those that are actually productive) link newfags to where to find translations and other resources, which can be helpful to new fans.I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's not the buyfag, drawfag, or DJT threads that are really shitting up /a/ (to a point). The image dumps, /c/e/-like threads, and show-specific generals *that have run their course and are no longer productive* are a much bigger problem. I'd love to see those threads go, but I would hate for resource guides to be completely wiped out.continued (1/2 on this particular topic)
>>5772continued (2/2 on this particular topic)In addition, "forced memes" is, obviously, very subjective. I think there is a place (albeit, a very small place) for one or two meme threads every once in a while. For example, I'm sure some janitors can admit that the "this is your ___ tonight" threads *were* funny at one point, and when there were one or two back in the beginning, it was fun and part of the culture. When did it become forced? When did it become spammed so many times? That's obviously something we can decide. But it's just the wording of this post that irks me a bit. It makes it seem like we're banning them entirely, since many users consider those to be "forced" to begin with.>>5757I think this is a fair consensus, and definitely something I agree with. But as I said, I don't think the DJT, buyfag, or drawfag threads are the real problem. I think we need to work harder to come to a consensus regarding guidelines for when other generals should be moved/deleted. Image dumps are more obvious, but other show-specific generals can be harder to decide upon. Is there some line we draw when we start wiping them? Do we try to only delete useless content in the threads? To me that's probably the most difficult question we need to answer.
Ok consensus version 2.0:-/e/ and /c/ should generally be left alone with a few exceptions.-drawfag threads should be left alone on /a/ because of OC (but delete indications of "generals" in OP and within)-buyfag threads should probably stay on /a/ for now, (but delete indications of "generals" in OP and within)-DJT should be deleted as general threads, not moved, and should be allowed to morph into something else in /a/ (not another general)Lets move on to Phase 2.I will start posting the guidelines in general threads and allow users to react. We will not be ban requesting generals unless they are being abused. Lets continue discussing how to deal with the outcomes together. Please use IRC to communicate immediate requests, and post longer thoughts here. Thanks!
>>5736>2. Please avoid reposting content from previous threads. This includes: resource pastebins, copypasta, forcing memes, image dumping, “xth for y”, “reminder x” and anything that fails to abide by #1.I don't believe this can be avoided.I apologize in advance for sounding like a pretentious armchair psychologist (and for posting stuff I think most people here are already familiar with), but here's my thoughts on the issue.General threads are essentially "subboards". They're boards within boards. There are a lot of people who come to a board specifically for one general thread. People treat their own generals as their own, separate boards, with their own "culture" - quirks, memes, (in)famous posters, drama, rivalries, etc.Normally, it's not really that big of a deal. People are allowed to like what they like and ignore what they don't like. It's fine if they seek out only some threads and don't care about others. But the problem is, 4chan threads are by design temporary. They exist for a certain amount of time/posts, and when their time is up, they die and leave room for other threads. So when you have people treat their threads as their boards, "their home", they want to keep those threads alive, even if they have nothing to discuss. We've all seen people make threads with OPs like "No X thread up? Time to make one!", it's that kind of mentality.
>>5776Post too long, rest of the post here:/a/ isn't as fast as the fastest boards, but it's still pretty fast. If a thread gets no replies within two hours, it dies. People obviously want to avoid that, so they keep bumping them. When a general thread has been running for years, all possible discussion on it has long since been exhausted, and discussion about new content is quickly exhausted after that new content is released. People can't bump their generals with on-topic discussion since they've already discussed everything worth discussing a long time ago. So, to keep their threads alive, they start posting bad content - posting coypastas, reposting memes, reposting images, posting controversial statements to bait others into replying, stirring drama by shit talking some recognizable thread regulars or posting stuff they know that other guy hates, etc.I don't see a way to avoid this from happening when a thread is supposed to be up 24/7. I know it's not a perfect solution, but I think the quality of those threads would be greatly improved if they were limited to, say, one thread a week. There are some pseudo-generals (X Monday, Y Tuesday, Z Wednesday, etc.) that already work that way, and although admittedly these threads are far from perfect, they're in a much better state than they would be if they were up 24/7.If you were only allowed to have one thread a week, you would have plenty of time to "recharge", to come up with new stuff you want to talk about, to come up with new silly jokes or other OC stuff to post in the thread etc. - and the same would apply for all the other regulars of that general. So instead of having your general have ten threads spread over the week with 4800 reposts and 200 original posts, you would have one thread a week with 200 original posts and 300 reposts.
>>5771>Moving bad /a/ threads onto /c/ doesn't help either party. The OP just comes back to /a/ and remakes his bad thread, and /c/ has to deal with a shitty /a/ thread was probably better off deleted.This is what i've been saying for months with /jp/ but nobody listened to me when it came to shoving random awful threads from /v/ into /jp/.>>5776>>5777This pretty much sums it up. Just look at any MMO thread on /vg/ if you wanna see what the absolute end of a general's lifespan looks like. How the hell you can have 3,200 threads about a 6 hour VN at most is mind boggling.Part of the problem here is offsite archives which really killed that whole temporary feeling 4chan has always had but this is getting way beyond the scope of "The fuck we do we do with /djt/"
>>5772The problem with resource pastebins and the like comes down to this:/a/ is not your resource. This is true of anime recommendations, and it's true of japanese learning guides and "how to buy cheap plastic online" guides. There's been a recommendation wiki for god knows how many years and it's not linked at the start of every rec thread or or dedicated its own "anime recommendations general" for many reasons I'm sure we're all well aware of.The same applies to those resource pastebins. It's not the responsibility of /a/ users or threads to provide resources for newcomers. They can look that stuff up themselves or go ask /wsr/. As far as I'm concerned, it all falls under the same umbrella of "spoonfeeding lazy and entitled newfags" and shouldn't be encouraged under any form. If someone doesn't care enough about learning japanese to spend 5 minutes on google, then I'm sorry but they can't learn japanese.That attitude of needing to include resource information in the OP of every thread contributes to the rigid structure and inevitable stagnation of those generals. If people want information to remain relevant, talk about it. Just collecting it all into a text file so that it can be reposted whenever (and thus never talked about) just leaves them even less to actually talk about. And, as always, requests to be spoonfed don't belong on /a/.
I honestly don't think that it's as simple as stopping generals is that simple. An extreme shift of mentality is needed, and people are more comfortable going to the same threads. With the introduction of the inboard catalog and the offline archives, people tend to frequent the same threads more often rather than try and branch out. This requires less reading into the thread and posting effort, and tends to creates an identity among anons who frequent those threads that tend to go beyond the existence of a single thread. While it's not bad to have a community, 4chan is supposed to be ephemeral by nature.Users may need to be reminded it's okay to not post, you should report rule breaking, and 4chan is only as much fun as you put into it.
I was actually present in the irc when /djt/ was moved to /int/. The decision was followed up by this thread, but I could not respond immediately due to my busy schedule.A lot of times, I wondered if perhaps, in the course of moderating, we have turned into "witches", suppressing the fun of /a/ in order to achieve a semblance of "post quality". Today, I dug out my old trusty Vaio laptop which I bought in 2007, as well as other HDD and storage media. I wanted to retrieve the feel of the old /a/ which I have forgotten.There wasn't much. And they only date back till around 2007. But those were the threads which interested me when I was an underage&b. (I was on 4chan earlier than that, but I doubt I saved anything, and that other computer is probably donated to some vintage museum).I have made available the files I found here. They probably can't be found elsewherehttps://files.fm/u/n8uu9yytPW: 4chan
>>5782Here are some of the learnings I bought back 1. There were funny memes based on anime specific scenes.
>>57832. Users were much more easy going then. Short funny reactions were accepted and don't get complained upon by others.
>>5784The One Piece "general" still exists till today.
>>5785That notice is pretty godly.
>>5785Non frequent, non-/a/ related stuff were accepted in /a/, and don't get [Reported] or complained about.
>>5787Non /a/ images could have the potential for good /a/ memes.
>>5788A blog post turned into proper thread on anime windows skins.
>>5789Lack of an "politically correct" culture.Nowadays topics which started like this will have replies stating "You guys are so edgy".
>>5790Youtube AMVs were actually shared and commented favorably on?
>>5791Stream links were shared. But in light of the increasing crackdown on media, that may be inadvisable currently
>>5792And finally, a Kino post. Which turned into a 3D cosplayer post later in the thread.
>>5793To conclude, what I feels is that, the moderators were more relaxed then, and the users were more relaxed then. There weren't much generals in the past, but what happened is that you would get 10 spinzaku threads instead. If this were to happen now, some people would start complaining and you will get a OP with moot's picture, linking to those threads, and asking moderators "why aren't you doing your jobs". I think that is why threads have started consolidating into a 'general'. The reporting function have bought in their own evils. We have people abusing reports, trying to self moderate posts and threads by quoting rules and saying "this doesn't belong here" etc. I am also pretty sure many of these threads which I posted will have 10+ over reports. Also those self-righteous people will start to shitposting in those threads, which generally kills whatever fun that could have been born out of it. And when we BR those threads, we generally reinforce the idea that those kind of threads will NEVER be allowed on /a/, when perhaps, the next iteration of such a thread could bring good content. This also reinforces a 'generals' culture because it is hard to try something new as that might get banned immediately, so people stick to their "safe spaces".
>>5790Blame the kneejerk rejection reaction we have these days on how other boards have evolved and grown relative to us. In 2008 /a/ was cool with other people/things from many other boards besides /b/, which was rejected just as hard as many boards are now today on top of /b/. What you capped though, is right at the apex of Geass Summer, which was actually considered a time of newfag cancer to oldfags back then, not too dissimilar to the waves of people that SnK and KLK brought in. Even so though not just /a/, but 4chan as a whole was much more silly and a lot of boards unironically used leetspeak everywhere (/a/ less so, but it still did it too). All this real life srs bsnss shit and the paradigm of social media making people act online much like they do in-person, along with of course the advent of our memes being pilfered and used wrong/badly all over the internet, changed the general sentiment.
>>5794Now back to present issues.>1.DJTI really like the premise of a Japanese learning thread on /a/. While I do complain about /generals/, I am not anti-general. I am just against useless generals. I think, for a while, the quality of djt has been diminishing because users have started to become repetitive. I also thought it should go to /jp/ instead of /int/. It seems to have sneaked back into /a/ as a manga translation thread though, which is fine in my eyes.>2. moving potential /c/, /e/, /trash/ etc contentI am with >>5745. These things come and go. If there is too much or too repetition of such OPs, then we can do some trimming like this week. >3. buyfag/drawfag threadsI think that those are useful as long as they are kept /a/ related. Those generals are ok because new content can be created (new drawings/figurines). As for those circlejerk generals (etc Monster Musume), I would rather see less frequency of them. Perhaps there could be a template for "Lets not post everyday", and it will show up on the OP and the thread be locked. I would also advocate renaming of some ban templates, and well as inclusion of ban templates for people trying to self-moderate.
>>5795There wasn't much of a change from 2005-2006 till 2009 in /a/'s environment. I also think that 4chan's memes were cool, weird, and fun. Not sure how they were portrayed in western media though.SnK bought some of the worst newfags. Saying that as someone who read the first chapter when it came out and followed the manga for a few arcs.
>>5779I don't subscribe to the whole "spoonfeeding lazy and entitled newfags" meme unless it actually has some basis. There is a vast difference between "hey guys recommend me some anime" and "which one of these 20 Japanese grammar guides is more accurate".>If someone doesn't care enough about learning japanese to spend 5 minutes on google, then I'm sorry but they can't learn japanese.Spending 5 minutes on Google is not going to teach you Japanese, and any notion that it can is ridiculous. And I strongly doubt a new user is going to think "oh, instead of googling 'how to learn Japanese' I should google 'DJT guide'", and I would not fault newfags or call them "entitled" for thinking they should somehow conjure the location of the DJT guide (which has changed locations at least two or three times in the past six months).And this is just DJT, which is perhaps the easiest to find. Are newfags really entitled when they can't find the obscure wordpress instance that is posting translations for this new manga they just heard of?>That attitude of needing to include resource information in the OP of every thread contributes to the rigid structure and inevitable stagnation of those generals. If people want information to remain relevant, talk about it. Just collecting it all into a text file so that it can be reposted whenever (and thus never talked about) just leaves them even less to actually talk about.I would argue expecting users to continually rehash and discuss the same content is equally stagnant. Resource guides *eliminate* spoonfeeding, not foster it. They are what allow people to say "fuck off, read the guide". People instead want to discuss opinions and ideas, which are the few things not in the resource guide, not the stale facts that are.
>>5781how else do you change the mentality but by changing the habits slowly.Sometimes you treat the symptoms until the disease goes. You treat the symptoms enough and the problem feels the need to adapt to the environment and learns. What this is doing is slowly teaching what would have been learned by lurking if bad habits hadn't become the norm. Undoing bad habits bit by bit will teach the right ones. We can't change the past but we can correct course for the future
>>5794there were also millions and millions less users
>>5796I browse the buyfag and drawfag threads avidly. I wholeheartedly believe the buyfag threads are nearly 95% anime related in terms of content and even what people buy. There's a bit of a harsh reaction to things that could somewhat fall under anime but users there think should go to a different board (IE, KanColle figs occasionally, merch from Pokemon, etc).The drawfag thread in my opinion has less of an issue with being anime related and more of an issue with 'circlejerking' in that 'names' and 'figures' establish themselves and it causes shitposting and whatnot. Drawthreads could definitely be cleaned up.
>>5798>Resource guides *eliminate* spoonfeeding, not foster it.Those are some impressive mental gymnastics, bud. No matter how you slice it, handing somebody all the resources they could ever want on a silver platter is the epitome of spoonfeeding. It's like telling someone to ';fuck off and here's a list of recommendations you were looking for." Your "fuck off" sounds pretty limp-wristed when it's accompanied by acclimating to everything that was obstinately demanded to you by someone who just doesn't care to do it themselves. Just embedding that into the OP of every post, and consequently enforcing a structured OP where space that could be given to an engaging original thought or framing question for the discussion of the thread is instead given to the golden goose of "here's everything you wanted but were too lazy to look up yourself" and validates precisely that lazy attitude.Do your homework, and when you've done that you're welcome to take part in whatever thread on /a/ you very well please. If your google-fu is too weak to find the resources you need, try lurking (what a concept!) in the relevant thread. If they're too entitled -and yes entitled is the correct word to call these people you're advocating for- to do these basic things, then they are welcome to go discuss how to learn japanese over on one of countless other digital platforms for social interaction that would be more accepting of their attitude.Oh and to reiterate one last time>I strongly doubt a new user is going to think "oh, instead of googling 'how to learn Japanese' I should google 'DJT guide'", and I would not fault newfags or call them "entitled" for thinking they should somehow conjure the location of the DJT guide (which has changed locations at least two or three times in the past six months).Then they can lurk more. It's not the duty of a thread on /a/ to pander to newfags.
>>5803It's a shame you consider common sense "mental gymnastics", and somehow think users are "entitled" for not having enough google-fu to search for something they don't even understand the concept of. Honestly it's amusing you even consider the learning of a second language something that can be done just with google.>Then they can lurk more. It's not the duty of a thread on /a/ to pander to newfags.I don't really give a shit what you think the "duty of /a/" is. This discussion is on moderation policy, and I don't understand why you'd consider eliminating information that users on /a/ are giving freely *right now* without any actual justification as to why it is harmful to the health of the community. Obviously the users of /a/ have a much different idea of what their duty is than you do, and that the moderators do (unless that changes because of this thread).Also, if you bothered to read my post, lurking will not help at all, because the information people discuss in threads is fundamentally different in nature from the information that collects in resource guides. In the example of LN translations that simply cannot be found with google, the only way a user would find it by lurking is if they asked for it, and some pitiful soul decided to post the link. What difference does it make at that point on where the link is posted?
For those of you who weren't aware of it, there's a modpost on /qa/: >>>/qa/858354The reason why DJT is no longer allowed on /a/ is because it has drifted too far away from the subject matter of the board, which is very specifically anime & manga.While some of the content of DJT might be related to anime & manga, the vast majority of the content of DJT threads is not. Translating anime & manga is certainly directly related to the board's topic, as is asking about the nuances of Japanese critical to understanding a story which may be lost on translation. However, the majority of DJT's content is about learning and practicing the Japanese language in general, and not specifically as it pertains to anime or manga. Additionally, the threads tend to attract lots (and lots) of blogging and other off-topic 'chat room' style content which has no place on /a/.Again, we want to stress that specific threads about translating raw anime & manga are allowed (and encouraged!), as they are grounded in the subject matter of the board. However, DJT can no longer be said to be filling that role.If you want help with learning to read Japanese or if you want to practice writing/conversing in Japanese then you should post on /int/. Threads about translating raw anime & manga should be made on a per episode/chapter basis. Threads asking questions regarding the nuances of a translation should be made about a specific scene or piece of dialog. Please be specific, not general.Thanks.
I like a good deal of the changes that have been happening, some I don't entirely agree with but I'm flexible, but does anyone else think we are moving a little bit too fast on implementing a lot of these changes?I understand that there's been 'inaction' in the past, and now there's a sense of really wanting to get things done now, but I feel like it would be easier on not just the userbase, but also the moderation team in general, to get one thing down at a time, really nail it, consolidate the opinions of everyone and hammer something concrete out, and then enact that on /a/.Getting all of this shit out has been fine, and has generated a lot of talk about what is and isn't acceptable on /a/, but I just feel like we're going extremely fast and it's getting difficult for all of us janitors to get on the exact same page about what we should be doing now.I'm not talking about like one or two concrete things >we don't allow X>Y has been moved to /thisboard/But rather, all the other small things that we've been discussing. I'm often not around for those discussions, so I scroll through vast walls of text about what a mod wants to do.Yes - I know we always have the option of using /j/ and also IRC to always doublecheck, and we should do just that. Eventually we'll probably have a thread consolidating the changes. But, it's just in my opinion, it'll be easier if we slow things just a bit, allow both us and the board to adapt to the changes, before moving on to the next order of business. I don't think past inaction means we have to rush things, we can implement many changes in the coming weeks and months, we don't have to do it all now before the new year.Maybe it's just my opinion and nobody else shares the sentiment, that's fine. Just wanted to voice some of my concerns.
>>5794All of your examples are of things I hated when I was a user. I hated them then and I hate them now. There were far fewer mods and the tools were less efficient, it wasn't even remotely possible to stay on top of it. I've been on the board since early 2004 and I have seen its ups and downs, all of them except whatever the hell happened after k-on where I quit the whole site in disgust until I crawled back in 2011. I began to drift away because of how awful lucky star made the board during its run and only browsed for Geass and some other specific shows. K-on was the final straw.Back in those early days, the /whole internet/ thought lolcats, 1337 5P34K and intentionally bad grammar and misspellings was Teh Lolzors. That's why you see that crap in your old threads. It has little to do with users and moderators being relaxed, it was just normal at the time. These days, normal is proper spelling and punctuation, not posting cunny, snek tits and not writing erotic roleplay like a creep etc.I looked at your files and you know what I remember? I remember that I opened those to see if there was a quick laugh and then I spent the rest of the day in threads discussing anime. Actually discussing and having conversations about the episodes because threads never fell off the page- the traffic was low enough that you could post in a thread about one episode for a whole week until the next episode hit. And they weren't even generals! They stayed because people only posted when they actually had something to say or rarely because there was a "bump" post for one reason or another, most often because there had been a lot of saged posts because they weren't adding to the discussion. You used to have one or two threads for real talk and then you'd have countless other short threads where you'd make fun of a scene or shoop a screenshot or just funposting centrals.
>>5821>>5804You ought to "give a shit" about the duty of /a/. It is not /a/'s duty to answer requests, that's why we can BR for requests outside of /r/. We ban people for posting garbage outside of /b/ because it is not /a/'s duty to be a litter bin full of shitposts.The problem with generals (and the catalogue and off-site archives) is that the posters who flock to and thrive in them are unwanted. They don't try to fit in, they don't engage the rest of the board and they build the general as their own little home where they can do whatever they want because fuck the board, fuck the mods and fuck the other users. They're being reported and harassed because they go against the very nature of an ephemeral image board. You're not supposed to come here and check in with your anonymous pals and ask how many anki reps they've done today or if they slept well. You post a thread if you have something specific you want to talk about, and then you let it die when you're done.Pastebins stifle and kill conversation because questions are invariably answered with READ THE PASTEBIN GTFO. What's the point of a thread if you can't talk unless you've sat there for a week absorbing the contents of a paste? You still can't talk about whatever you found in there, because the answer is in the pastebin! Check the pastebin you idiot! It's explained in the pastebin, if you're too stupid to understand then you should leave! You can't really talk about topics that are in the paste because someone will just start shouting at you, and you can't ask questions, but you CAN talk about what you think snek's armpits tastes like. Bravo.We either keep this up until we succeed in turning it back into an image board, or we just stop caring, let the generals be and turn the board into a single forum with room for the 50 topics with the most neets who bump their threads because it is their home on the internet and not because they have anything to say.
>>5822Well said.
For what it's worth, the arguments in this thread are good reason for what I wrote above in slowing down the rate at which we are making changes to /a/. I'll mention it again just so nobody takes this the wrong way, but I agree with the general direction we're going in terms of content, rules regarding generals, but I really do think we're implementing things very fast.In my honest opinion I just don't know how we're going to enact everything evenly if we're not all at least on the same page and not arguing over things as fundamental as "what /a/ is and should be/the 'duty of /a/'" and so on. I also have not heard much from a couple of other /a/ mods and janitors in the last couple of weeks. Sorry to post another long ramble aimed at nobody in particular but I'm just really worried that moderation is going to present an awkward image and come off very inconsistent if we make these very big changes to the board too rapidly and we don't come to some sort of compromise amongst eachother on the direction we are going to go in. We've had discussions years ago about things and it was clear that some of us were very divided about things; it's probably why not a lot changed during those talks. But I think it highlights the fact that we really need to hash things out a little bit. I know I'm repeating myself a lot but I don't want any resentment or any sort of negative sentiment to build up amongst people when we do this, it won't come out in ways that are good for the board.
Reminder that some of us on the janitorial staff are horrific newfags who got here in a year that didn't start in 200, by which time /a/ was already ruined forever. While you may be able to janitor and moderate using the magnificent board sense that comes with being an old-school /a/non, the rest of us need guidelines for when to clear and when to kill. (For that matter, template buyfag and sadpanda threads are up right now, someone has exercised discretion and cleared them, and as a rule I tend not to fuck with decisions that other people have already made.)That means that I don't have the veterancy or investment in /a/ to say that my discretion is the medicine the board needs. If I have clear instructions, I'll carry them out. But if I'm given vague guidelines, it's not really possible for me to enforce them with any degree of confidence. If I'm going to spend all my time second-guessing every deletion and clear I have to make, or have to phone IRC to make a basic decision on what to do with a 300+ post general/template thread that's been around for 10 hours and I certainly can't be the only one to have seen, it's going to be much fucking easier just to leave all the quality and board direction stuff to other people and go back to only hammering blatant rule violations.I'm probably not on the same page as a lot of you. I don't viscerally care about template threads, general threads, or dumb reposts. It's very easy for me to doubt my judgment for /a/. Every now and then I'll see a dumb repost that's been happening since I started posting, but hey, just because it was around six years ago doesn't mean it wasn't always shit. If you want me to lurk moar and leave things to the experts, I'd be happy to. Otherwise it'd be nice to have a bit of instruction.
>>5829(To add a little bit of unnecessary context, I've mostly considered myself an often-visitor to /a/ over the years rather than a dedicated /a/non, which probably colors how well I know the board. Your mileage may vary.)
>>5829>That means that I don't have the veterancy or investment in /a/ to say that my discretion is the medicine the board needs.I don't disagree with the need for clear guidelines, but I want to address this. If at any point you feel that you, as a janitor, lack the knowledge or background of some aspect of a board to take action, then the appropriate action is to do nothing or bring the issue to another member of the team. Even with a clear set of guidelines, acting without fully understanding the context of what it is you're acting on can cause problems all around. You're not expected to know every single corner of a large and diverse board, that's why we have an entire team of volunteers and an IRC channel. Don't be afraid to defer an issue to another person if you feel like the correct course of action or the context for it isn't perfectly clear to you. It's better to trouble another janitor or a mod for their 2 cents on an issue than trouble the entire board with a bad call.Not to accuse you of ever doing anything like that, but I just feel that, given the current circumstances, it's important to remind people that we are a team. Nobody will fault you for asking for a second opinion or abstaining where you feel the area is too grey to act appropriately.
Update: DJT has been declared on-topic in /jp/, but not so on-topic that people aren't allowed to complain about it, so I guess for now it's just going to be exciting in there until one side or the other gives up.I would post this in the /jp/ thread but the most recent one was made in 2013, hasn't been posted in since 2014 and is more of an archaeological find than anything else.
So now that a bunch of changes are coming a mile a minute, and we have all the old janitors who have been doing things a certain way as well as 3 new janitors, already, learning the ropes, it would be great if somebody could compile all the changes and post them here just so we're all on the same page. I've been doing my best to go back and read as much as I can on IRC but we're going a mile a minute with everything, so having a very clear set of instructions will probably help us (and the users of /a/), from getting mixed up or being inconsistent.