What exactly happened?

[SlickVic]

GTAForums is a big place, you'd think those who get banned/get annoyed by the site would find an alternative. I'm not one to talk as if I was here during the "glory" days, I wasn't. But why not we just make an effort to post? Even if it's old shit, it's nice to see a forum with last post: an hour ago, or w/e. IDK. 

 

Nice to see you guys again btw.

[BlackListedB]

I'm the biggest name banned from GTAForums and every alternative has left me flat. Me and close friends PCguytech_05, IIRC his year date correct?!? haha, you'd likely know him from the Tech forum section or in General Chat with the FIRST Question and Answer thread, that sadly, Andrew re-authored because of an influx of Spam. 

 

The animosity got bad with just that thread because it was a personal favorite of Mike's and he semi-moderated what went on with it, which as you know, the STAFF hates when you step on their shoes.

 

The other co-hort I had helping with GTAChronicles was none other then Trip Mills. he says his site away from GTAForums is 'Giant Bomb' or was.

He's even lost a lot of interest in GTAForums these days. I joined in fall 2003, and spent near on 10 years at GTAF, you can bet that when I say things changed, they DID!! It was my mistake to carry a heavy chip on my shoulder which should have been dropped, and trying to just communicate ended with me being temp banned over and over, before perma-banning. When I joined, Demarest was still a GTAF staff member, earning his reputation through good work, namely helping with tough missions for people who uploaded saved game files.

 

I don't even go there other then to see if any old friends are active, still. As you note, it's hard to tell what happened.

 

This isn't GTA exclusive as to the forums seemingly dead.... It's happened to music scenes as well as trying to mount protest against the current MTV and VH1 programming, no one seems to give a damn, to be quite frank. 

 

I do, however.

Edited April 4, 2015 by BlackListedB

[SlickVic]

Well if you've got any interest in starting another project, let me know and I can post. I remember that site. Wasn't there also one called GTAHole? Or am I just dreaming things?

[BlackListedB]

GTA-Oasis was Mike aka PCguytech's original idea, with a welcoming approach to all GTA fans, we didn't like the animosity or fighting so I posted a mission statement of sorts.

We changed the site at least three times due to server hosting issues and the site crashes cost us members, so yeah....

 

My favorite title was GTA-hole, LOVE IT! hahaha

 

I'd still go with that name, but Mike chose GTAChronicles, we have a companion YouTube channel that's largely dormant, but we may still do something with since it's just in hiatus really.

 

An addendum I related before about my prior user name (changed here to avoid all the fanatical haters) Slamman came about because I needed a alias for radio, not the Internet as might be assumed. In 1989-90 I was ingratiated by the late Earl Root to come in and share the radio mic on his METAL radio show in Minnesota (heart of Minneapolis location) and I did join his show on numerous occasions until his death in 2008.

 

I keep his memory alive because he was an awesome human being!

Edited April 4, 2015 by BlackListedB

[SlickVic]

That's truly a cool story bro. It's funny how people still know who you are lmao, as if you're urban legend. Campfire story type shit.

[BlackListedB]

As far as me and GTAForums staff, and the few unruly, UNCOOL members who can only manage to hate fellow gamers, I wouldn't want to be known by their measure of fellow gamers, but I did make GTAForum's respect list on a yearly basis for awhile. Some people did see me for what I am, others only pretended to know me.

 

Judge no one, lest you be judged....something like that. The whole idea of a forum is allowing for opinionated discourse and sharing. No one person's view invalidates another. It's simply ineffective to have a forum where your view (staff with the Ban-Stick) have the final say.

 

As far as the truth, the bans were never proven for the reason given, though they used thread posts as examples for a ban, those were temp bans that were really unoffensive at the end of the day. The perma ban was me being accused of subverting the private message use, which they could not and DID NOT prove... to this day.

 

It's without warrant that I was banned, just ticked off staff members who did the deed.

 

Anywho, I was born playing games long before they were, and likely joined GTAForums before they were elected staff, in many cases

[SlickVic]

Yeah, there's a lot of "clicks" if that makes sense, on GTAForums. If the wrong people don't like you, you might as well be banned. 

[Trevor_Philips]

I would post, but Black is the most active poster right now and (and I mean this with absolutely no offense whatsoever) he generally doesn't have anything that interesting to say. *shrug*

[SlickVic]

It's not his fault. It's like when a commentator goes solo, has no guy to "break the silence", if you get me. Talking about posting isn't really doing it though. Sucks.

[BlackListedB]

Trevor, I don't mean offense either, but that is something I and I'm sure others would take personally. you denounce the merit of my posts. Just like GTAForums, the reason for bans and off topic reasons is staff don't even understand the fundamental concept of a forum, and the fact GTAF formerly GTA3 forums, were more then just about users talking GTA and gaming, that fact escapes them. 

The other thing that escapes their mind is that people from ALL WALKS OF LIFE inhabit the Earth, and as such, a small piece of that Earth, namely a forum on the Internet, Information Super Highway.... Expect non conforming souls abound. I tried in the 70s to conform to fellow class mates mandates of what was accepted and cool, I regret that to this day. Stand up for INDIVIDUALITY, and by your self and damn proud of that fact!

 

The means may have changed, but the fundamentals of communication and what makes humans human HAS NOT.

So as I gripe about GTAforums unrealistic user treatment, I would ask that you consider some facts... Anyone can post within reason, and it does not have to adhere to gaming in particular, as long as the section is the right one.

 

The other thing is generational age gaps, I was born in the mid 1960s, Sam Houser and Dan at the beginning of the 1970s. Most people in gaming are young, SURE, but that doesn't exclude the young at heart either. I've lived it since day one you could say, before 1966, what home electronics were YOU using!?? See what I mean? 

 

It's simple in my mind. Allow fans of electronic gaming a Forum to 'mouthoff' if you will

Edited April 12, 2015 by BlackListedB

[Trevor_Philips]

Trevor, I don't mean offense either, but that is something I and I'm sure others would take personally. you denounce the merit of my posts. Just like GTAForums, the reason for bans and off topic reasons is staff don't even understand the fundamental concept of a forum, and the fact GTAF formerly GTA3 forums, were more then just about users talking GTA and gaming, that fact escapes them. 

The other thing that escapes their mind is that people from ALL WALKS OF LIFE inhabit the Earth, and as such, a small piece of that Earth, namely a forum on the Internet, Information Super Highway.... Expect non conforming souls abound. I tried in the 70s to conform to fellow class mates mandates of what was accepted and cool, I regret that to this day. Stand up for INDIVIDUALITY, and by your self and damn proud of that fact!

 

The means may have changed, but the fundamentals of communication and what makes humans human HAS NOT.

So as I gripe about GTAforums unrealistic user treatment, I would ask that you consider some facts... Anyone can post within reason, and it does not have to adhere to gaming in particular, as long as the section is the right one.

 

The other thing is generational age gaps, I was born in the mid 1960s, Sam Houser and Dan at the beginning of the 1970s. Most people in gaming are young, SURE, but that doesn't exclude the young at heart either. I've lived it since day one you could say, before 1966, what home electronics were YOU using!?? See what I mean? 

 

It's simple in my mind. Allow fans of electronic gaming a Forum to 'mouthoff' if you will

 

Well, I'm sorry you're taking it personally, but that doesn't change the fact that it wasn't intended that way. Hence why I don't respond to many of the topics you've recently made and why I don't respond to most of the stunt compiliation videos and such that get posted here. I'm honestly not trying to be rude, but I feel many of your posts drag on into subjects unrelated to the topic they're posted in and that sometimes you're a bit overly defensive. Remember the help topic about a user having trouble installing a Hot Coffee mod for GTA IV and how you went off about there being no such thing in spite of obvious proof otherwise?

Edited April 12, 2015 by Trevor_Philips

[BlackListedB]

I do after years of brow-beating at GTAForums, they ban me over and over before the permaban over 2 years ago now,. if memory serves. It's a select bunch of people who treat you like an outcast and just don't know you personally, enough to pass judgment in any way that has some merit. It seems too much to me like what goes on at GTAForums all the time, people being apprised of how worthless their contribution is, no matter what it is, it always seems like a 'Hey, I'm Better Then You' stance they take.

I'm hoping you can see that pattern of abuse within GTAForums as the key to why people dislike it so. When I joined there I made plenty more mistakes that could have been avoided, but they keep stacking up things against you to use as ammunition to ban you, temp or otherwise, it really became a horribly UNFUN experience!

 

 I started our own forums trying to eliminate that type of staffing entirely. I think that's a great place to start, and though we (Chris with TGTAP)  don't have the people contributing, at least at present despite all the GTA news actually going on, this seems common outside of GTAForums for some time.

 

There wasn't the original Hot Coffee mod as made by Rockstar in GTA IV, that's my point, BTW. It would have been some REAL news on the Web or otherwise.

The REAL mod as discovered in 2005 was in San Andreas for the older game systems... The confusion could be simply because the 'unlocking' tool for it is considered the mod, but it's still too generic, and someone appears cashing in on the notoriety that Rockstar, themselves caused.

Edited April 12, 2015 by BlackListedB

[Trevor_Philips]

I do after years of brow-beating at GTAForums, they ban me over and over before the permaban over 2 years ago now,. if memory serves. It's a select bunch of people who treat you like an outcast and just don't know you personally, enough to pass judgment in any way that has some merit. It seems too much to me like what goes on at GTAForums all the time, people being apprised of how worthless their contribution is, no matter what it is, it always seems like a 'Hey, I'm Better Then You' stance they take.

 

Anyway, I started our own forums trying to eliminate that type of staffing entirely. I think that's a great place to start, and though we don't have the people contributing, at least at present despite all the GTA news actually going on, this seems common outside of GTAForums for some time.

 

I've never been a member of GTAForums, so I can't comment with any authority on how they do things.

 

 

There wasn't the original Hot Coffee mod as made by Rockstar in GTA IV, that's my point, BTW. It would have been some REAL news on the Web or otherwise.

The REAL mod as discovered in 2005 was in San Andreas for the older game systems

 

And my point was that such was irrelevant to the topic because it was regarding a fan-made Hot Coffee mod for GTA IV, of which I'd imagine multiple exist.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Trevor_Philips

[BlackListedB]

Well, as I said, after awhile, all the oppressive behavior of GTAForums' key staffing gets to you, and those members who SHOULD know better, they're still members, Expecting me to conform to their own ideals. I've no idea about their ideals, but I disagree with them trying to mold people's individuality to their will. That's not conducive to a good forum Net-iquette 

 

As far as that Hot Coffee user mod, the fact is I'm correct in stating the Rockstar 'sex game' is referred originally by the HC mod, as far as my experience reading about it since it's finding. The user who found it is a member of GTAForums too, which makes me laugh, but he joined up only a few years ago. Long after that fateful find.

You are correct that all the mods that exist are unknown to me, so we're clear, I'm arguing semantics win out! hahaha

Edited April 12, 2015 by BlackListedB

[BlackListedB]

Yeah, there's a lot of "clicks" if that makes sense, on GTAForums. If the wrong people don't like you, you might as well be banned. 

Sorry to DP on this thread, it almost seems exclusive about my case, personally, but let me re-iterate, I'm not alone in how disgruntled I am with GTAForums' antics, and it's largely because TANK, if he did create the forums, and everyone seems to suggest just that, he does NOT TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE in managing, As such, the staff have done anything they feel like doing, un-policed. The policy of how conduct should be is not inforced in a proper manner at all. If they reviewed my bans and apoligized for what they did, it would be a great first step, there's no proof or good reason for my temp bans or otherwise, just disgruntled readers. You can read anything and get upset or not understand the view-point. I'm sorry for you if that's the case, but an open mind always wins.

Besides having Trip Mills in my corner since day one... I also have Waddy on my gaming friends (console) list, he doesn't chat too often at all, but he's typed messages to me over the years. and he came to GTAC to see how things were going as well. He's still in my list now, that should tell you something!

 

Oh, and the word that caused confusion above is 'clicks', the proper spelling of that would be 'cliques'

[Nate10]

I would post, but Black is the most active poster right now and (and I mean this with absolutely no offense whatsoever) he generally doesn't have anything that interesting to say. *shrug*

[Ruin]

 I did make GTAForum's respect list on a yearly basis for awhile. Some people did see me for what I am, others only pretended to know me.

Holy smokes, slamman, I remember you. You posted some pretty weird stuff back in the day.

Still, you were a funny guy...some people just never understood the concept of fun, lest it was their own personal version of it.

[SlickVic]

Well shit I don't get why Slamman is the reason why people don't post - like damn, maybe if we started responding to the old bastard we could get a convo going. It'd be nice to wake up to a few new posts every morning. God damn it it pisses me off how the only alternative to that containment board GTAForums is Reddit...

[Nate10]

I tried to make a GTAF account last night but it wouldn't let me...

 

I agree though. I wish people would post. Doesn't mean they will. I have been inactive for years. Life gets in the way. Sometimes you don't need a forum. I've been here since I was 11 - I'm 20 now. It was different then lol.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Nate10

[SlickVic]

I joined GTAForums initially when LCS came out, I was 9/10 years old at that time. Things sure do change...but there's always the desire to sit down and talk old shit about the things you love. 

[BlackListedB]

When I joined here it was only marginally more active then it seems to be, You have normal GTA die-hards who want to know what people are thinking, I never join a forum to lurk, I only want to express and share thoughts, and not to be big-headed about things in the slightest. If that's what people take away, they're DEAD WRONG. I like the sharing of a common interest and it's always spun out of my love for art and electronic, interactive gaming, as far back as those handheld blip based Mattel sports games. I hated sports, but they were keenly deviced. Texas Instruments gets a lot of credit for the Speak and Spell technology in the 70s helping to aid computerized voices that sound authentic!

Coleco offered both the VISION and Gemini among the handheld arcade games it had great success with, and of course, I love original coin op arcade classics that I was weened on

[BlackListedB]

I have to add to the quote off the first page, forgive my double post, but people not coming to some forum because I'm there is just unwarranted on their part, as I said, I never single people out to get them to feel unwanted, why are they in the right if they do that, no matter it be me or you or anyone else?!?!

Fact is, I'm a mature gamer, mistakes I make I can readily admit to, and people not posting because of me have their own issues. I post a lot because that's how I think a forum should work, as most of you lament the lack of participation, so do I. You need not agree with my feelings to partake in a forum, all discussions for topics that fit within reason are welcome, GTAC's mission statement was precisely to point things like this out, we wanted there to be no feelings of ill-will or being made to feel ostracized 

[SlickVic]

I agree with you. I do. It's just the same problem rears it's ugly face - the lack of diversity here. We need more posters. Props to the dude who keeps this site up btw...even if it's not active. 

[Nate10]

I have to add to the quote off the first page, forgive my double post, but people not coming to some forum because I'm there is just unwarranted on their part, as I said, I never single people out to get them to feel unwanted, why are they in the right if they do that, no matter it be me or you or anyone else?!?!

Fact is, I'm a mature gamer, mistakes I make I can readily admit to, and people not posting because of me have their own issues. I post a lot because that's how I think a forum should work, as most of you lament the lack of participation, so do I. You need not agree with my feelings to partake in a forum, all discussions for topics that fit within reason are welcome, GTAC's mission statement was precisely to point things like this out, we wanted there to be no feelings of ill-will or being made to feel ostracized 

Considering how defensive you've become over some people not being interested in what you have to say, I think you fear rejection a whole lot more than you actually are subject to being rejected. You're false in assuming people avoid your posts to single you out, and even more false in thinking people can't choose to avoid you. 

[SlickVic]

Why don't you try Reddit or 4chan, Slam? There's other outlets to express your opinions on if you feel you're going unheard. 

Edited April 24, 2015 by SlickVic