Are you sad with the way answerbag devolved?

Try editing your question so that it’s actually a question and it might raise let ire. for example:

Are you sad with the way answerbag devolved?

I like it here…I think Fluther has done a great job of welcoming us and I really think we who are still wanting to talk about AB should be respectful and use the chat site they set up for us. Invading their board with AB questions is disrespectful in my opinion.

Answerbag had its share load of crap even in its old format.

And the staff sucked, they never replied or explained anything for their moderation action.

Haven’t been here for long, but one of my questions here was rejected and upon inquisition on the matter, I was replied to in less than ten minutes and after some good advice, my question appeared again. That’s more than I can say for AB.

That said, there’s a few things that don’t quite sit with me on here, but you can’t have everything your way. This isn’t AB so it’s bound to be different, but I disagree with a lot of the points you’re presenting. Might be just me though.

Most of us who came from there are upset, but shit happens. Things go on. Not the end of the world.

This place has a lot to offer, at least it seems as such so far, and you can’t blame them for not being AB.

Also that’s probably a good thing anyways.

buttkisses i know the Fluther users are starting to get sick with us talking about answerbag and how it was and what it became and things but i can’t not to for the moment. i really feel sad about it. i am not saying i will commit suicide Symbeline of course things go on. i also wanted to know if there is a plan since there are a lot of us here to make some little changes to this site that will bring it closer to the old answerbag and everyone agrees with. could this be done in any way? also i wanted to know how is your feeling about site admins generally not only the answerbag’s

Yes, I am definitely sad. I’ve been an ABer since 2006, and I usually visited the site every day. I don’t think there’s any chance of it going back to normal. Lex or whatever his name is said that they would never return the site to the way it was. They are NOT listening seriously to anyone’s concerns or comments.

On a more positive note, Fluther has been excellent. I’ve only been here a short time, but it seems easy to use and understand, the people seem friendly, and it seems like people have gone above and beyond to help AB refugees integrate.

Sure, it’s not as great for me as the old AB was. I miss the points system… I miss my friends… I miss the layout…. But hey, what can I do? Lex and his cronies won’t listen to me, or anyone else apparently, so why bother? Fluther seems cool enough, I’ll just try and get used to it.

Make changes to this site? What? Of course not. I’m totally willing to accept it for what it is, suits me just fine.
Like any online community, I’m sure we’re free to offer feedback and crap on the functions, but to go as far as to implement some kinda invasion? I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying but eh, keep me out.

As for the staff, I believe I’ve given a nice example of how I feel about them, so far.

I am not here to make changes, I am here to enjoy the board and my friends. My feelings about AB? I will discuss in the chat board. It was set up to do what you are doing. I am not trying to be ignorant, but I really don’t want to be the guest that has worn out the welcome either. I like it here and I want to use what they set up for us, they did so out of thier own hearts as well as understanding of our problem. Just respect it is all I am saying.

buttkisses i believe i shown no signs of disrespect towards anyone here

I never was on AB & have only been here for a couple of months, but I like that there are no categories. I think it makes things much more interesting; I know I look at a lot more questions than I probably would if I was looking at categories first.

I can understand your feeling of loss. It’s hard to lose a place where you know where your favorite things are. It’s like being evicted from your home overnight.

Fluther is not answerbag, it never was and it never will be. It’s not supposed to be. I hope that with time you can come to love Fluther as much as I do.

The place to Bitch about AB is on AB.
All this complaining will get us run off and not welcome.
If you don’t like a site,leave.
The same as what’s on the TV or radio, if you don’t like it,change the channel.

and go where Midnight?

I like you sebulba, but frankly, I’m appalled. At what point would it be acceptble to YOU, when we start badgering this site to change? This shouldn’t even be a question! It’s not Fluther’s fault that AB fucked up, nor their responsibility to kiss our boo-boos and make it better. Have a little respect, for God’s sake. They have a chatroom they set up JUST FOR US. Go there, and bitch to your heart’s content. By the way, a little gratitude would be extra nice right now. They’ve gone out of their way to welcome us.

..yes of course…maybe they’ll fix alot of the stuff they changed that people too so much offence to, but i doubt it.. and i agree with Phillis, i think its quite good fluther has made a chatroom for us…would even the old AB have done that??

look phillis why do you think i don’t show respect? you all keep saying that Fluther made a chatroom for us as if they don’t really want us here! We suddenly raised the traffic significantly here didn’t we? We are many users you know…We are more money if you want! Fluther would do a chat right away of course! And i said “make little changes that everyone agrees with”. not only we answerbaggers! everyone. and said “bring closer to answerbag” not make it the same! Why is this disrespectful? Why?

I wasn’t there for long so can’t give an accurate assessment. I still go onto Answerbag. I must say I always found the people there very friendly. I will continue to access it as well as Fluther. Nice to visit different sites and not get caught up in the politics—groups forming, etc.

If you were a homeless person and I took you in and you said my beds were too hard I would toss you out on your ass…it is that simple.

yes but i would bring traffic to your house and you would make more money out of me

It is BECAUSE we take up so much space that they created the chatroom. Sorry but I don’t see the crime. It makes perfect sense! It accomodates us (which we totally aren’t used to) AND tkes care of their current users WHO WERE HERE BEFORE US. Could we just be a little more grateful that they treated us like royalty, compared to what we’re used to?

I wouldn’t want your money, I would save my bed for someone that apperciates it. You would still be out on your ass.

Phillis please explain why you say i am showing no respect. that is what i don’t understand

I’ve done all the explaining I’m going to do. Think about it.

Oh so you think that whoever built this site did it for fun? not for money? they pay servers to keep it up as a hobby?

Who gives a fuck why they started it? That has nothing to do with us. More power to them! I’m happy for them!

Phillis , honey?? stop…there is no point…let’s go have fun eh??

You are just not getting what i am saying i believe. You attack me cause you think i am showing no respect. Thanks!

Ah no point to talk to the retarted Sebulba ah buttkisses?

I’m not attacking YOU. I am attacking what you are saying. Big difference. Okay, BK! I’ll follow you. Lead the way, baby girl!

i talk to you with respect and real arguments and you keep saying the same

@Sebulba if you check around, you will find Fluther has many refugees from question and answer sites that either are no more or changed in ways that were unpalatable to former members. (daloon, yarnlady, dominicX are examples off the top of my head). Well respected members of our community came from airrow, wis.dom, and yahoo answers among others. In the time I have been here I have seen this type of influx more than once and often the initial reactions seem to be close to yours.

Please be patient with the differences as you get to know this site. I submit that it is precisely because of those differences that Fluther is still growing strong while so many others are biting the dust. Take heart in the fact that those who stayed have assimilated quite well, seem to like it here and have become hardcore, much loved jellies.

Check out a couple of classic questions, chuckle a bit, then enjoy the Most Loved Fluther Question of all Time. Who knows, you might come to accept, even appreciate the differences.

Can we call you guys “answerbagels”? Because that’s kind of funny.

p.s. Welcome

You can call me anything as long as it fits, kevbo :)

I vote for @kevbo‘s idea! I’ll take mine with lox and cream cheese.

For the non-AB jellies who are watching this, please accept our apologies. You’re right – we’ve had a rough time. Some of us are heartbroken. But we will not use that as an excuse to act any way we please.

@ phillis…agreed.

What a surprise, coming from a mouse! I oughta be charging you for the itmes you nibbled in my pantry over the winter :)

Answerbagles…BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

i can’t see why you keep saying i act anyway i please! i did not say anything but my true honest opinion without swearing or disrespecting anyone. for god’s sake

I’m not alienating you, Sebulba. I’m simply ending my part of the conversation :)

At first, I was sad when I realized that I had lost all my friends in my friends list. I thought, “How will I ever find these people again?”. Then I went from feeling sad to downright mad. Thus…I jumped overboard…and here I am today.

T ALL – I just have to say I feel homeless as well. It is a transition now. Look we are all in the same boat at this point. Phillis is the BEST Sebula and BTW I do understand where you are coming from. We just have to work with what we have for now. AB did what they did for the Dollars. Let’s just get on with it. I am having a real hard time myself but I am comforted by the fact that we were welcomed here and that all our AB friends (even if we weren’t friends before on AB) are with us. I hope everyone has a great day. Best, Jonathan

Good morning everyone!

I want to welcome anyone who came over last night!

Also I want to point out something:

There seems to be an idea that the Flutherites prior to AB changing format are sick of AB questions. This is not the case! We do not mind you talking about AB at all- Andrew even set up a chat knowing it would be a great way for former AB users to re-connect.

I will assume this is because we do not allow duplicate questions as per our guidelines and AB questions have been removed. Because you are all new you may not be able to find the active discussions on AB:

http://www.fluther.com/disc/64125/have-you-just-joined-from-answer-bag/#quip960019

http://www.fluther.com/disc/64028/do-you-think-that-answerbag-has-self-destructed

Additionally perhaps some of you might want to tell us more about yourselves:
http://www.fluther.com/disc/33755/25-random-things-about-you

We are very happy to have you all!

Oh! Did someone say Bagels?”

Money comes first and its sad that it will always be like that.

Actually, I set up the chatroom after some prodding from Allie on AIM. We did it for a few reasons. First was to be nice. Second was to keep a hundred questions related to Answer Bag from ever getting on the frontpage.

edit :: My main point was that nobody that makes money from this site had anything to do with the chatroom. We didn’t ask Ben or Andrew first. We tried to get a hold of them but we couldn’t.

very sad to say the least.that was my “home”.AB was the last thing i saw at night and the first thing i saw in the morning.when i decided i had to bail i was depressed because i didn’t know where else i could go for that “community” feeling.then i got an e-mail with a link here from Nunya via AB.it’s new and strange but i feel the potential.i still have that refugee feeling but i do like the feel of fluther.

Fluther is not that bad and as i get to know it better I got to admit i kind of like it. It is something very different to answerbag but it is a nice place and that is why many answerbagers came here

I also came over from AB. Up until 5 minutes ago, I was trying to figure out how anybody has a public conversation here, given the absence of what we would call “comment threads”. But this page answered my question—indirectly! Cool.

and thanks to Dog for the links.

I find that coming to Fluther was a lot more welcoming than my coming to Answer Bag. I’ve been hanging around the IM recently and everybody seems to be very happy to have us here. I half expected a “don’t trespass” kind of attitude, but it’s nothing like that at all. I hope Fluther benefits from us being here and only makes it more exciting. I wish all the best to Answer Bag and hope that they made the right decision.

Hello everyone! It’s nice to see so many familiar avatars! I’ve been quite impressed with my reception here. The community seems kind, intelligent, and supportive….and the site itself has specifically enacted measures to help us become get acclimated.

I’m still kinda checking everything out, but I’ve got a good feeling about this. Maybe we can bring some fresh ideas as well!

Yes, I’m sad but can do nothing about it. So I’m assimilating into the collective. We should stop thinking of ourselves as AB exiles and consider ourselves members of a new and better culture here, Grok?

I still kind of have that new feeling myself I came from yahoo answers still feel a little refugeeish and new but Ive come to like flurther a lot I agree I do miss the point system we had one over there also but the points really didnt do anything you couldn’t spend them they had no value at all so what was the point of it really ? I left it behind with the rest of the BS I like it here

I think it’s a shame that they took the community feel away from AB and from popping in and out to see if they were listening to all the complaints, they aren’t. Lex reported that the numbers have not been effected by any members leaving. I do know also that there are at least two Flutherites that are tired of hearing AB users whine about AB after flooding their site.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land – True that!

@all ex-ABusers – We are here now and “here” is not AB, nor will it ever be.
So far, this place has a lot of what I liked about the old (pre-points system) AB along with solid technical merit, stable code, and a general lack of suckage.

The Fluther people (users and admin) have been very gracious in welcoming us, even giving us a chatroom to vent our PTSD-induced rage, so lets take Stranger’s lead and assimilate!

@jerv—Agreed. Haha but have you seen what the remaining AB folks are saying about us deserters? You really get a comparison for interactive quality here…:)

@Symbeline – Not today, but I got a bit of abuse on my way out the door.
Oddly, none of it from anybody who had been there long.

@SoulSearcher – I guess the place really is being taken over by the Yahoo! Answers kiddies. Well, as long as Demand Media gets eyeballs, who cares about quality?

@jerv Exactly what is happening. The long term members have went elsewhere, except for a few die hards that are trying to hold out for the Staff to answer their requests. They have created exactly what they intended to. It worked, the older crowd is out, let the kid fest begin.

For the fellow Trekkies here: “Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.”

@Symbeline – What are the current AB’ers saying about us?

Speaking for all flutherites, I hope you ex-ABers feel welcome here. This migration/influx thing has been witnessed here at least a half dozen times since I joined the site in 2007; I believe there has always been a genuine quality about Fluther’s community that makes it special, and it comes as a direct result of the quality of its membership, mod staff and site admins. The generosity and goodwill that is felt here is valued highly, especially in the sense of maintaining high quality questions and answers. The chat rooms for fluther are generally set up as a catch-all to give ample access to communication while at the same time keeping off-topic information in-site to a minimum.

I hope you all feel that the standards of the site are not intended to make anyone feel excluded or otherwise make the site an impersonal experience…I find it has the opposite effect-it makes the participants really think about the value of words and thoughts, and share the responsibility of maintaining a quality community.

@sndfreQ I should probbaly give my verdict after a bit more time has passed, but I must say, so far, your words seem to echo much truth. I appreciate.

It must be hard to decide to leave something that has meant so much to you all-I would dread the thought of something of his magnitude ever happening to a great site like Fluther. May I make a suggestion? Try reading the Fluther blog, specifically some of the fluther interview articles, and I think you’ll see the personal side of the community-the site mods are the interviewers and the interviewers are highly regarded members of Fluther. I think you’ll find the tenor of the community reflected in these articles-that it’s not a stodgy, restrictive place, and that fresh ideas and diversity are celebrated here. Best of luck to you all-we hope you’ll stay awhile!!!

I almost cried. How pathetic is that?!

@Violet: I think it’s understandable. Many of us put a lot of time and heart into those relationships and conversations. Heck, I even hosted a party for the members way back when. It seems unfair that the management of the site would just swoop in and take the whole train off in an unrecognizable direction, literally overnight, and put an end to all that.

On the other hand, it’s a business and they’re doing what they think is the right business move. I don’t agree, and I suspect the revenue stream will spank that conclusion, but that’s their right of course.

@HasntBeen – It was almost my 1 year ann. I decided I was going to go out with a bang, and get myself kicked off.

Lol. “I’ll just take my piece of the bag and go, then!”

Lol. Yall said “bag”.

@Symbeline – I don’t get the joke. But it IS a briefcase now.. not a bag

@Violet—Please don’t worry. It’s totally immature and retarded LOL but please don’t mind me…I’m so fucking drunk. :D

You’re so drucking funk

Thou knowesth ith.

Hi Abers, and let me add my voice to those who have welcomed you. I find your situation instructive. I came from Askville, myself. A lot of us came over around the same time for various reasons.

I’m curious about your story. I gather that AB had a makeover, and it seemed to change a lot of features or the feel that you enjoyed. I’d appreciate it if you could fill in some details. What was the change and how did it affect you? Why did the change have that effect? What was it that you valued about AB that has changed? Ah, shit. I should just ask this as a question.

Then I’ll answer both places! We essentially had two recurring requests. A) take away the DRs (Downrate function) so that the trolls are left unarmed, and B) fix the ever-present GLITCHES that went on for YEARS. Neither ever happened. Instead, they took away the one thing that made AB a community – the ability to have any kind of comment threads whatsoever. That blew apart the whole site, and 90% of the reason people were there in the first place. They obliterated our family. It was THE biggest slap in the face they could have possibly delivered.

It was a great big “Fuck You!” We’ll do as we please, you don’t matter AT ALL. You are so insignificant that you don’t even register as blips on our radar. We only strung you along for years because it served OUR interests. Thanks for the fuck – it was great! Pull your britches up from around your ankles while you’re still bent over, and don’t forget to brew me a pot of coffee on your way out the door.

@phillis That’s Lex for ya…

Phillis is speaking in plain words :)

I would like to make a note here. I saw the posts on AB by someone saying they were a flutherite and strongly doubt it came from a real flutherite. I do not know of anyone who “is sick of ab whining” and I have actually not heard any whining at all.

Another mentioned unfair lurving. This is incorrect as any real Flutherite knows that the system is set up with lurve caps and other measures to prevent gaming the system.

Because of this I do NOT think the poster is one of us but perhaps is one of the trolls we banned from here that showed up to harass former AB users when you all first started coming over.

We are all happy to have you guys on board.

@Dog—thanks, I agree it’s likely this is some troll who isn’t a “real” flutherite ( and it came to pass that all the real flutherites were to be numbered throughout Judea)

In any case, it seems Fluther does a pretty good job of isolating conversations. Anybody on this thread is interested, anybody who isn’t interested just stops following. So it’s hard to see how anybody can get their panties in a twist about a conversation they don’t follow.

Ah! I haven’t had a nice troll breakfast in DAYS. I’m starving! I can hardly wait to learn this site so that I can go a-hunting again.
.
.
.
.
The Unapologetic Carnivore,
Phillistine

Indeed it’s a real problem. I was making a regular diet of bigots and trolls, and now I feel this vague emptiness… I might actually have to say something of interest! :(

I would be delighted to be skull-cracked with another one of your cosmic 2×4s, HasntBeen. I can take like a woman. Come on – hit me with it!

I believe the local culture frowns on comment-thread hijacking. :)

@HasntBeen That is going to be hard habit for a lot of people to break. Then again, my attention span is such that I hijack my own thread in a face-to-face conversation…

@jerv- I resemble that remark…:)

No problem! Go to one of my questions and prop up your feet.

You still crack me up, Jerv. I try not to, I know it’s wrong to encourage you.

@HasntBeen I don’t need much encouragement. Sugar, caffeine, nicotine, and oxygen is enough to get me started :D

@daloon Pretty much what Phillis said.
I mean they announced some changes. I was excited actually. New features are always cool. But they essentially changed the WHOLE site. It’s totally limited now, and much less accessible. It’s pretty much just a clone of the most popular online communities now, just not the same thing at all anymore.
It’s their site, they can do what they want with it of course, but I went there for the social framework so to speak…now the way it’s been revamped limits any kind of real discussion by voting in polls, and long, thorough answers now seem discouraged.
Of course I should probably give it a chance and then judge accordingly, but fuck it lol.

Not much of a story for me, as most of my friends moved over to here, and I’ll keep in touch with the ones who haven’t, but my main point is this; it isn’t a change, it’s a replacement and I dun like it.

So I hope you guys don’t mind my occasional drunken posts…XD

Depends on what you’re drinking. We do have standards.

@Symbeline – Haha, trust me, you wont be alone with your drunken posts, you’ll definitely stumble upon others here too! Cheers and welcome!

Could somebody please kink the hose on Jerv’s O2 tank? He’s getting a bit out of hand :)

Could be worse. I’m sober right now :D

….and check and then clean the tap on his keg?

Fluther-ers- I have a question. If I stop following a question, will I still be notified when someone does the @ violet?

Volunteers to touch Jerv’s tap are rarer than Ph.D’s on COPS

That’s why I got married; I got sick of looking for volunteers :D

I read everything Phillis said to remind those who think AB was fine before the change.
I will back her up and more. How long had the leaderboard been missing? Everyone was in the stage >1000. It is odd not to have a troll after me for DR or name-calling. It is interesting that what I saw here on politics and religion questions, were actual opinions and educated answers, not calling someone down because of their beliefs. In fact, some of my trolls are missing from this site.

On AB, I put feedback in 6 times for troll-obscenities, filthy name calling as I was being followed around the site. Not one answer from staff. What I did receive from an inside source were that there were favorites by staff; and since I had contacted others about the obscenities and name-calling, I was thrown into PB because they had to put their favorites in PB since I had proof

However, I did not know I was PB, nor would anyone give me an answer. I did nothing wrong, and since they could not admit it; they ignored me. Then staff started to take off points on blatant moderation I submitted. I know one staff who DRd me (yes) and another I suspect.

AB had cliques where if you disagreed with one, suddenly 10 others joined them. It was like high school.

And then to change the site to a restricted Q&A chatroom, and sudden disappearance of the questions/answers and ratings some worked hard to almost get Illuminati; was the final slap to all of us.

I am bringing this up only to remind you who think AB was so wonderful – NOT.

I thank Fluthers for welcoming us and giving us these outlets so we can move on and enjoy what is already set-up. I would not suggest any changes to Fluthers until I am an expert at what is here.

I have also been welcomed by 3 top Flutherites and seen them take immediate control in our chatroom. That was impressive. I wish AB wised up, became impartial, listened to our needs and responded but they didn’t, and went one step further with their alienation without telling us.

I think Fluther can really work out.

Rarer than missing teeth on cops!

I had TWO people who nightly turned in reeeeally long lists of “wrong categories” and “flags” on AB, who were helping me raise my score after Caitlyn fucked us all for flagging those damn Nike ads. One night I turned in 178 flags. I got one point.

@phillis Amazing how emotional staff got with their favorites.

Even if one of my friends had a meltdown I would still talk to them about it. If that didn’t work, I’d surely end up having to take it to a public level, if they made other people suffer. It’s not my preferred way of dealing with something. Point being, having favorites is normal! I don’t begrudge anyone for that. But you don’t sacrifice a community to have them.

Nor the integrity of your job and the impartiality due to all members.

Exactly! You have a responsibility to EVERYONE when you create or manage an environment. I’ve seen some truly horrific behavior that was thoroughly dismissed by staff, even though some of it was toward one of their CLs!!

@Violet I second thaat, I don’t know either.

@Violet If you stop following a question and someone @‘s you in that question you will not be notified.
When questions come up about improvements for the site, being notified if someone responds to you is usually near the top of the list.

@phillis there was one event I know was handled so badly =Z and I lost so much respect for AB and I was fairly new.

I would ask you which one, but really, it no longer matters (to me). I just want to get a lot of time and a lot of space between myself and AB. I’m not meaning to say that your input isn’t important to me, so I hope that isn’t how it sounds. I like everything you have to say!

LOL It doesn’t matter. But that is when it started for me, almost right away. I am really really liking it here, better than I ever did at AB. The people were what kept me at AB and most that I enjoyed… are here…=) AB lost the cream. They really did. ; )

AB can get bent, for all I care. I don’t want them destroyed, but I neither am I ever going to subject myself to the neglect and outright abuse. Just because it isn’t physical doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. Screw THAT shit!

@phillis – With our without lube? Or are we talking sand in the Vaseline?

HAHAHA!!! Well, they screwed me without any lube at all! What do you think I’m going to do to them? I MIGHT have a change of heart. We got any axle grease lying around?

@phillis By your comment above, it was abuse I was subjected to by 3 trolls, ignored by staff, then the truth about favoritism came out and that’s when I was PBd along with only one of the trolls because I had so much copied on him that had been removed by staff. It’s a percentage of being screwed and then being screwed again when help is sought. Suddenly I feel relief right now because this had gone on for 2 weeks, and I’m looking at it for what it really is. Like other situations that people want to brush away what hurts and offends others, this fits.
Thank you.

I don’t know the situation, so I can’t comment, Barbie. But if you screenshotted all of it and didn’t dish out any abuse yourself (I’m not asking, just making a point), then yeah….I’d be bitter, too.

Yep, I have it all right, and that they were shocked I got it before they removed all of the troll’s comments. Nothing on my part, except they picked out parts of mine to remove that made what was left look crazy. I don’t want to remain bitter and I’m not. It’s just that venting it suddenly the truth is out there that they wanted to cover up. That is also when one of the staff admitted the favoritism by other staff. They had to admit that staff DRd me too. I had not heard of that before.

@phillis That is why I rarely complained about trolls; I wasn’t above hurling some abuse right back, at least not after a warning shot or two.

Jerv, Exactly!! If I’m part of it I can’t open my mouth.
Barbie, holy shit! Would you be willing to email me with that stuff?!

Phillis, crack me up. I had over 20 pages of good notes, crap, and you name it. The funny stuff was why I started the notes. Right now, I don’t even want to think of AB. You know I’m having some physical problems and am limited on the computer.

Some time might also help them come to terms where more comes out. I can’t betray the person who told me all this. But strange how time helps things like this. When the emotions die down, if you still want it, I can send it in a toilet (not betraying anyone).

Works for me, Barbie!

@jonsblond – shoot. ok thanks

No, I really lik it whe way it is. User friendly interface is a really good thing.

@tomygreen Compared to how it used to be, it’s as friendly as a middle finger, but if you prefer bad layout, intrusive ads, and utter disjointness so long as it has bright colors, that’s your choice. If you consider their current interface even marginally acceptable, you have low standards.