You also can’t read any threads that are old enough to be archived without joining. There are plenty of times when I’m looking for information about a game, get a link to the SA forums in the search results with a fairly recent date listed, and surprise! You can’t read this thread without being a subscriber! I’m not sure if that requires money or not, but either way I’m not doing it.
Yeah they have what they call the “paywall” which blocks certain subforums from being read unless you’ve bought an account, and they occasionally change around which subforums are behind it or not. SA was one of the first places with an in-depth playthrough of Dangan Ronpa, which was open to anyone to read and became insanely popular…until the LP subforum went behind the paywall, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and purchasing of accounts.
Also, as far as I can tell, there are now 4 purchasable options, each of which does not overlap:
Account - Posting access to most boards ($10)
Ads - Removes all ads ($5)
Archives - Read access to archived threads ($10)
Platinum - Access to forum search and PMs ($10)
So, looks like realistically, you should pay $30, because you can get banned for reposts (I assume; they seem pretty ban-happy), so not having access to archives and search to make sure you’re not reposting would be dangerous. But maybe I’m misinterpreting ;)
You also have to buy avatars and you can buy username changes.
Rules can vary a little by forum, but being outright banned is very tough. Most times you’re just “probated” instead. I can’t even imagine getting probation for a repost in most of the forums I visit, let alone banned, but I can’t speak for shit like GBS, FYAD, YOSPOS, etc. You’d have to be a dedicated serial offender to get banned for it. I think with a forum that large strict moderation is pretty important.
Is it true the SA forums have a special ban called Hell in which a poster can continue to post but his posts are invisible to everyone else? Hilarious if true.
I was like 50% sure that this was happening to me my first, like, year on this forum ;)
Everyone calls it that. If I might provide what I call a “link” to support my assertion: Paywall - Wikipedia
It’s called hellbanning. Yes, it’s a thing.
I’ve been a member for years and never posted a thread. In most of the forums there’s usually already something relevant that’s active that you can post in instead. And they’ll usually put you on a temporary probation (no posting for a few hours or day) rather than ban you unless you’re an egregious repeat offender or you commit one of the handful of automatic ban offenses, which are easily avoided simply by reading the rules before you start posting.
Basically, it’s been my experience that you can generally get along fine by just making sure you’re a net contributor to threads and using something resembling proper English when you post. The active moderation and financial investment seem to keep the signal to noise ratio significantly higher than most other places I’ve been on the internet, particularly considering the ridiculous level of activity it sees.
There has been some alegations by a woman against the site owner- is not the first time so people is now towards the wall- Let one website they love die or show support to a website that is the sole money income a bad person
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3929005
mods about show their support to the website they love and the communities they helped nurture
https://forums.somethingawful.com/announcement.php?forumid=1
I don’t want SA to die but I don’t want to help somebody that mistreat womens
This lives up to the name of the forum.
And the FB retraction video I saw mentioned there, where his partner sobs and says “it was my fault, not his. Don’t take it out on Lowtax and SA” is just not something I’m prepared to watch. Too upsetting. The mods’ statements about choosing to preserve their communities doesn’t sit well with me. How can you stand being associated to it and help run it in those circumstances?
As far as I’m concerned, if we could make sure it doesn’t pop back up and make more money for the owner, I think it would be high time for SA to die. But it’s not that simple, is it?
It’s just a forum, make a new one and move to community there. Easy enough to do.
That part is indeed easy. It seems like sites like something-waffle have been set up by users thinking along the same lines. Obviously that alone doesn’t really mean SA is going to disappear.
I have been trough forum deads and you lost contact with a lot of cool people- is not easy or a good thing
maybe is the time for SA
Any migration will be partial. (Hell, I’m pretty sure some folks will probably never be back already.) The best solution would be the mods somehow getting control from Lowtax, but of course he owns it and probably isn’t terribly inclined to let go.
I don’t spend time on the majority of the site (so I was very confused until I found someone linking the general thread about it instead of just vaguely declaring they don’t want to support the site anymore and closing their thread), but losing the Let’s Play subforum would be crushing for me. Sure, the people doing video content are generally hosting it on Youtube and in a lot of cases will probably continue making it, just without an SA thread. A few folks I liked have already permanently left SA, like supergreatfriend. But that leaves screenshot-based LPs out in the cold, and while I’ve subscribed to a handful of LPers who’ve been on SA, I usually watch LPs based on what’s being LPed, not who’s doing it. SA was the single best place to find knowledgeable, competent, often non-blind LPs without facecams or other obnoxious performative stuff that people on Youtube seem to like. Youtube will happily serve you dozens of LPs of any game you care to search…but finding one that’s any good…
The whole thing sucks. I just really hope that Lowtax can be binned without the site going with him.
Sounds like another Neogaf to Resetera situation.
I assume this is common knowledge, but in any event a lot of the Let’s Plays from that SA subforum are archived here:
Not all of them, and only if they’re completed, but I can still go back and check out some old favorites there without having to bother with searching through the forum.
Yeah, the Archive is great. But the forums are needed to find the new stuff. (And sometimes, stuff that never got archived for whatever reason, but might be complete nonetheless.)
I, Jeffrey of YOSPOS, have reached an agreement with Lowtax to transfer all Something Awful LLC assets to me. No contract has been signed yet but these things take time and I want to make this announcement now. Obviously, if this falls through, you all will hear it straight from me.
Lowtax asked me to make clear that this is not an admission of any guilt. He maintains his innocence. However, he recognizes that the site cannot continue with him in charge, and the community and site are more important than his name.
This has been one of the most stressful and sad ~72 hours of my forums life and I’m sure everyone has a million questions and I’ll plan on discussing this with the community tonight, after taking a few hours to catch my breath. Please don’t burn down the whole site yet - we can get through this as a community.
This site has been extremely important to me since I joined 15 years ago. I love this place more than anything and, and top of everything else, the idea of it just going away was heartbreaking to me. My promise to all of you is that I love something awful as something awful, and my intention is to preserve all of the things that make this site incredible. This will be something awful, at its best, not any sort of weird vision of what something awful should be.
[Modified GOATSE.gif]
weee!.. is saved!.
Maybe. That’s definitely good news, but I’ll wait to celebrate until the transfer actually takes place. And even then…I suspect some people that left won’t come back.