Is NSG dead?

Mr.BishopThere is one forum on the planet that works this way, and its 4chan. Sure, its very popular... but not something that is going to make a ski site better in the long run.

Most topical forums are heavily moderated.

What NS needs is a different story if you're trying to boost NSG vs. if you're trying to re-inforce a modern ski community.

The dawn of the safe space.
Since the forums are being heavily moderated would you guys ever make a board for skiing like 4chan where everyone is anonymous and anything can be said or posted as long as it is not cp etc. ?

im 15 and come on here all the damn time. It's annoying seeing it die and also kids not come on here for ever. Ive been trying to buy a jersey for so long and this kid hasn't gotten in like 10 months. Rip NS forums are the new cults.
#Deepskierformod2k16 #wall #tacobell

kamiSince the forums are being heavily moderated would you guys ever make a board for skiing like 4chan where everyone is anonymous and anything can be said or posted as long as it is not cp etc. ?

No - there would be no point for this theoretical board. Its called 4chan, and people who want that kind of an experience can go there.

Here, we're going to focus more on the skiing side of the site. Honestly the biggest thing we need is for the trolls to actually be funny again. When I was your age, it actually meant something to be a good internet troll. You took pride in your work, vs. the drivel that is spewn nowadays.

.MASSHOLE.I don't care, but if pro's stop posting because they don't want to be harassed, then I am all for it.

You have to remember, that probably 80% of pros under 30 today were at one point active on Newschoolers. Many of them were the core community. They were you guys, just 10 years ago.

I had this exact discussion with our crew at Newschoolers week at Windells last year. Sean Jordan, Matt Walker, Dale Talkington and a bunch of other dudes. They all were very active on here a long time ago, but as they became famous it was harder and harder to tolerate the type of attacks they faced. I mean sure, its slightly hypocritical because they were attacking the older pros back in the day... but now they can just say "Fuck these kids, I'm sticking to Instagram."

Henceforth though we still have loads of guys that stop by and post, and basically everyone passes through... we lost a lot of interaction because of how shitty some members got towards others... including those industry types and pro skiers we'd all love to interact with.

So yes, we clamped down. The culture of NSG grew progressively more toxic over the years as we loosened the restrictions on moderation at the calls of the community. This toxicity spread to the rest of the site, and it turned a lot of people off of interacting. Sure, they will still watch a video or read an article... but stepping into the shitty quagmire of the forums wasn't something that was appealing.

I don't look at the current slowdown like a death, I look at it like a rebirth. We were very successful based of of a 4chan-style lunacy in NSG for years... but it came at the expense of quality interaction with other skiers.

If there was one thing I think that always made NS awesome is the fact that we bring skiers together. That is what our #1 focus should be on, because there are loads of other places on the internet to go get your troll jollies out - but there are very few where you can bathe yourself in all things skiing.

You can still have fun, be silly and be reckless without being an absolute cunt.

I say instead of worrying about how things are slowing down - we focus on the fact that we got rid of a lot of the shit. When you can't shitpost about Trump to fuck with liberal pussies - why not dive into Ski Gabber and get heated in the style vs. tech argument? Instead of blasting the word faggot out to ruin the politically correct sniveling wimp's day why not tell the world how much you disagree with Skiing being in the Olympics?

Lets make skiing great again.

Mr.BishopYou have to remember, that probably 80% of pros under 30 today were at one point active on Newschoolers. Many of them were the core community. They were you guys, just 10 years ago.

I had this exact discussion with our crew at Newschoolers week at Windells last year. Sean Jordan, Matt Walker, Dale Talkington and a bunch of other dudes. They all were very active on here a long time ago, but as they became famous it was harder and harder to tolerate the type of attacks they faced. I mean sure, its slightly hypocritical because they were attacking the older pros back in the day... but now they can just say "Fuck these kids, I'm sticking to Instagram."

Henceforth though we still have loads of guys that stop by and post, and basically everyone passes through... we lost a lot of interaction because of how shitty some members got towards others... including those industry types and pro skiers we'd all love to interact with.

So yes, we clamped down. The culture of NSG grew progressively more toxic over the years as we loosened the restrictions on moderation at the calls of the community. This toxicity spread to the rest of the site, and it turned a lot of people off of interacting. Sure, they will still watch a video or read an article... but stepping into the shitty quagmire of the forums wasn't something that was appealing.

I don't look at the current slowdown like a death, I look at it like a rebirth. We were very successful based of of a 4chan-style lunacy in NSG for years... but it came at the expense of quality interaction with other skiers.

If there was one thing I think that always made NS awesome is the fact that we bring skiers together. That is what our #1 focus should be on, because there are loads of other places on the internet to go get your troll jollies out - but there are very few where you can bathe yourself in all things skiing.

You can still have fun, be silly and be reckless without being an absolute cunt.

I say instead of worrying about how things are slowing down - we focus on the fact that we got rid of a lot of the shit. When you can't shitpost about Trump to fuck with liberal pussies - why not dive into Ski Gabber and get heated in the style vs. tech argument? Instead of blasting the word faggot out to ruin the politically correct sniveling wimp's day why not tell the world how much you disagree with Skiing being in the Olympics?

Lets make skiing great again.

so it might have been "toxic" for some people with thin skin, but honestly it was fucking funny. i always could come here for a laugh and to feel better. and you said the thing that made NS awesome was that it brought skiers together. well it did before! i remember when it used to be 130+ members online at most times, so it clearly was bringing people together. idk. im not trying to hate on you or NS, im just saying how i feel, i just want the old days of NSG back

coolflash8so it might have been "toxic" for some people with thin skin, but honestly it was fucking funny. i always could come here for a laugh and to feel better. and you said the thing that made NS awesome was that it brought skiers together. well it did before! i remember when it used to be 130+ members online at most times, so it clearly was bringing people together. idk. im not trying to hate on you or NS, im just saying how i feel, i just want the old days of NSG back

Some people had a blast in NSG like that. For sure. Its too easy to say 'Thin skin' and just dismiss everyone as pussies... but that only leaves a small portion of people that want to tolerate guys being utter pieces of shit.

I think the thing is that NSG used to be a lot more funny, but it took a turn for the worse a few years back. Something about the type of humor just simply degraded. It wasn't funny to a lot of people anymore.

The other thing you have to realize is that mainstream social media changed things a ton. Suddenly, huge amounts of people that might have been on the edge discovered that they could go other places and simply block out those they completely detested. We found that those who were driving the really toxic behavior were a very small group - though extremely active. It turned away a ton of the moderate type people, and really created a domino effect across the rest of the site.

Sure some crazy shit in NSG is funny.... but when those people got bored they'd jump into the photo/video section and engage in downright bullying of new members and girls. The PMs that would go out in secret some got to the point of being prosecutable threats where police got involved. We started to make the connection to the few people really pushing a ton of others out in the many other spaces on NS other than NSG.

At a certain point, we have to make a decision. Do we want to be the slightly skiing-focused 4chan that is a wasteland of ski related content, or do we want to clamp down on the small group of people who are here for the 4chan experience and allow the rest of the people looking for skiing to re-grow?

I think we should be a skiing website. We should be fun, reckless and loose... but not absolute fucking cunts.

One experiment we're launching today is to disable the ability to up and down vote individual comments. You can now only rate a thread/OP.

I've heard many people claim this was a huge hit to the forums. We had big plans for it, but those were rejected most of the times we suggested them.

So its disabled, and we'll see what that does.

Mr.BishopOne experiment we're launching today is to disable the ability to up and down vote individual comments. You can now only rate a thread/OP.

I've heard many people claim this was a huge hit to the forums. We had big plans for it, but those were rejected most of the times we suggested them.

So its disabled, and we'll see what that does.

That's a great idea. Now one person making a shitty comment won't bring the whole thread rating down.

Mr.BishopOne experiment we're launching today is to disable the ability to up and down vote individual comments. You can now only rate a thread/OP.

I've heard many people claim this was a huge hit to the forums. We had big plans for it, but those were rejected most of the times we suggested them.

So its disabled, and we'll see what that does.

Hang on, so now I have to read a post before I can form my opinion of it??

DOWNV-oh wait.

Lé.SkiingThat's a great idea. Now one person making a shitty comment won't bring the whole thread rating down.

*DUMBCAN*Hang on, so now I have to read a post before I can form my opinion of it??

DOWNV-oh wait.

I'm kind of interested to see what happens... if anything.

Mr.BishopI'm kind of interested to see what happens... if anything.

To be honest I liked the up/down votes.

.lenconTo be honest I liked the up/down votes.

Believe me, I did too. Only problem is we weren't doing anything with them - yet.

I got sick of hearing people say they destroyed the forums and decided to test that theory.

.lenconTo be honest I liked the up/down votes.

Mr.BishopBelieve me, I did too. Only problem is we weren't doing anything with them - yet.

I got sick of hearing people say they destroyed the forums and decided to test that theory.

It makes sheep make up their own opinion instead of the mob mentality taking over and downvote bombing posts for the wrong reasons.
If somehow you could make it that the up/downvotes only show after giving a vote that would avoid that problem. Just an idea.

Personally i find the site nicer with the feature disabled but its feels a bit weird and its kinda funny to see sjw getting destroyed

baitIt makes sheep make up their own opinion instead of the mob mentality taking over and downvote bombing posts for the wrong reasons.

i dunno, i feel as though the votes kept threads cleaner, id often enter with an idea in mind to find not only a fellow nser covered it in the first three posts, but many others also upvoted it, and it was usually shit that needed to be said, along with keeping all the n00bs from rewording the same stupid joke

FriedRicei dunno, i feel as though the votes kept threads cleaner, id often enter with an idea in mind to find not only a fellow nser covered it in the first three posts, but many others also upvoted it, and it was usually shit that needed to be said, along with keeping all the n00bs from rewording the same stupid joke

whats the point of a clean thread though? It's not like (most) of these are for future reference, once discussion stops the thread dies and vanishes to the bottom of the forum. The longer discussion goes on the more lively the forum is. Right now NSG is dominated by very long threads where you couldn't really contribute just through upvotes, and I'd say thats why these threads are active.

There needs to be less megathreads that concentrate discussion in 1 spot, but it also sucks when threads feel like they have been resolved and theres no point to discuss anything 6 posts in.

Mr.BishopNo - there would be no point for this theoretical board. Its called 4chan, and people who want that kind of an experience can go there.

Here, we're going to focus more on the skiing side of the site. Honestly the biggest thing we need is for the trolls to actually be funny again. When I was your age, it actually meant something to be a good internet troll. You took pride in your work, vs. the drivel that is spewn nowadays.

This is a good point. Man I barely post anymore but when I was 16 I was addicted to surfing the forums. It was honestly more entertaining than TV. People were genuinely fucking funny. There were members who could have just as easily been stand up comedians. I remember one particularly hot day in June of 08 when shit got really out of hand. Someone got upset about people reposting and made a thread about it. Then that thread got reposted and so on. In a matter of minutes 10 new threads popped up. It was total chaos. The mods couldn't keep up. There was a lot of good trolling back then.

SkibumsmithThis is a good point. Man I barely post anymore but when I was 16 I was addicted to surfing the forums. It was honestly more entertaining than TV. People were genuinely fucking funny. There were members who could have just as easily been stand up comedians. I remember one particularly hot day in June of 08 when shit got really out of hand. Someone got upset about people reposting and made a thread about it. Then that thread got reposted and so on. In a matter of minutes 10 new threads popped up. It was total chaos. The mods couldn't keep up. There was a lot of good trolling back then.

Can't upvote anymore.... going oldschool...


+1

*DUMBCAN*Hang on, so now I have to read a post before I can form my opinion of it??

DOWNV-oh wait.

LOOL and it forces replies! you cant just aggree with a like anymore

SkibumsmithThis is a good point. Man I barely post anymore but when I was 16 I was addicted to surfing the forums. It was honestly more entertaining than TV. People were genuinely fucking funny. There were members who could have just as easily been stand up comedians. I remember one particularly hot day in June of 08 when shit got really out of hand. Someone got upset about people reposting and made a thread about it. Then that thread got reposted and so on. In a matter of minutes 10 new threads popped up. It was total chaos. The mods couldn't keep up. There was a lot of good trolling back then.

Mr.BishopCan't upvote anymore.... going oldschool...


+1

made me laugh just imagining it

coolflash8LOOL and it forces replies! you cant just aggree with a like anymore

.

bump

Mr.BishopCan't upvote anymore.... going oldschool...


+1

+K dawg!

I actually kinda like that you can't upvote/downvote anymore.

Mr.BishopOne experiment we're launching today is to disable the ability to up and down vote individual comments. You can now only rate a thread/OP.

I've heard many people claim this was a huge hit to the forums. We had big plans for it, but those were rejected most of the times we suggested them.

So its disabled, and we'll see what that does.

It was honestly. It'd be cool for the same to be done to the video/pictures sections if it hasn't already.

I like the idea of it. It's cool to be like "Fuck you and your comment" and get the beat comments hidden, but it became a circle jerk of trying to be funny to get upvotes.

It was my worry when initially put into place. A lot of the forums and sites that have it you see all of that bullshit. "Hey look at me, rate my comment up" type posting. It's fucking annoying.

Now, with no ability to gain any upvotes people won't be afraid to post normal comments. On a video you can simply say "cool" etc.

I'm not hating on witty comments, but when everyone is trying so fucking hard it just get's stale imo.

theabortionatorIt was honestly. It'd be cool for the same to be done to the video/pictures sections if it hasn't already.

I like the idea of it. It's cool to be like "Fuck you and your comment" and get the beat comments hidden, but it became a circle jerk of trying to be funny to get upvotes.

It was my worry when initially put into place. A lot of the forums and sites that have it you see all of that bullshit. "Hey look at me, rate my comment up" type posting. It's fucking annoying.

Now, with no ability to gain any upvotes people won't be afraid to post normal comments. On a video you can simply say "cool" etc.

I'm not hating on witty comments, but when everyone is trying so fucking hard it just get's stale imo.

Yeah it seems like the up-vote/down vote thing is kinda contrary to the whole hang out/ community thing. If you are at the bar or hanging out in the ski area parking lot and you show someone your picture or video people will give you their feed back and they aren't going to say upvote or downvote. Seems like there really isn't a point to the voting if we are just trying to get real feedback or share with the community.

theabortionatorIt was honestly. It'd be cool for the same to be done to the video/pictures sections if it hasn't already.

I like the idea of it. It's cool to be like "Fuck you and your comment" and get the beat comments hidden, but it became a circle jerk of trying to be funny to get upvotes.

It was my worry when initially put into place. A lot of the forums and sites that have it you see all of that bullshit. "Hey look at me, rate my comment up" type posting. It's fucking annoying.

Now, with no ability to gain any upvotes people won't be afraid to post normal comments. On a video you can simply say "cool" etc.

I'm not hating on witty comments, but when everyone is trying so fucking hard it just get's stale imo.

I think it works in commenting way better, because its threaded. Its made the quality of comments a lot higher, and automatically gets rid of the really shitty ones.

That is the thing - once you get into threaded its hard to go back. That is when you're using the data of rating posts... but without adjusting the ordering there really isn't a point.

definitely a good call on getting rid of the voting.

Mr.BishopSome people had a blast in NSG like that. For sure. Its too easy to say 'Thin skin' and just dismiss everyone as pussies... but that only leaves a small portion of people that want to tolerate guys being utter pieces of shit.

I think the thing is that NSG used to be a lot more funny, but it took a turn for the worse a few years back. Something about the type of humor just simply degraded. It wasn't funny to a lot of people anymore.

The other thing you have to realize is that mainstream social media changed things a ton. Suddenly, huge amounts of people that might have been on the edge discovered that they could go other places and simply block out those they completely detested. We found that those who were driving the really toxic behavior were a very small group - though extremely active. It turned away a ton of the moderate type people, and really created a domino effect across the rest of the site.

Sure some crazy shit in NSG is funny.... but when those people got bored they'd jump into the photo/video section and engage in downright bullying of new members and girls. The PMs that would go out in secret some got to the point of being prosecutable threats where police got involved. We started to make the connection to the few people really pushing a ton of others out in the many other spaces on NS other than NSG.

At a certain point, we have to make a decision. Do we want to be the slightly skiing-focused 4chan that is a wasteland of ski related content, or do we want to clamp down on the small group of people who are here for the 4chan experience and allow the rest of the people looking for skiing to re-grow?

I think we should be a skiing website. We should be fun, reckless and loose... but not absolute fucking cunts.

Dude....stop being emotional you are better than this. I haven't seen any bad cyber bullying on here and Ive been around for a while but I have seen pathetic shitty moderating by tools who view their green name as their biggest accomplishment in life.


You disabled a cool feature on your website before you rotated the mods and showed respect to the community that keeps this place going. Take some responsibility people want new moderators not the ones who drive funny posters away.

How come Felice has to create a new username 2-3 times a week?


This is a niche website now it seems like only ski crazy enthusiasts post. Hey, I fit that mold...but there was a time in my early-mid 20s I only skiied 1-2 days a year due to lifestyle and priorities and I was just another casual skiier who'd crowd the lift lines on MLK weekend and not ski again until the following winter. You simply need to appeal to people who like to ski but don't revolve their lives around it and the easiest way is to have a funny off topic forum. People are still going to come here to watch edits but they aren't going to engage with the community if it isn't worth their time. Moderators who treat using the N or F word like its pistol play or choking out while driving and permaban someone need to go.


When you guys refused to let Frenchy back on before his deployment you probably lost 100-200 semi-active members permanently. Funny dude who was passionate about skiing fishing and protecting his country but his views didn't correspond with the mods and he was axed permanently...well it wasn't just him you drove away.

Just want to point out that this thread already proves taking out the votes works well in getting people to reply rather than just vote.

PeppermillRenoDude....stop being emotional you are better than this. I haven't seen any bad cyber bullying on here and Ive been around for a while but I have seen pathetic shitty moderating by tools who view their green name as their biggest accomplishment in life.

Well you don't see it because we remove it.

Yeah I'm a fan of the no more down votes. Hopefully it makes discussion better both in sg and nsg.

No more upvotes/ downvotes will definitely help with adding discussion, just today I've replied to 2 threads where I would have previously just clicked an upvote

I bet karma ratings start being used a lot more again.

Mr.BishopWell you don't see it because we remove it.

Well...as you should I guess....its just the internet after all fuck people taking shit too seriously.

Just saying we used to have threads about how to get high by sticking drugs up your ass and people posting up pictures of slutty teenager girls facebooks. Those days are a distant memory. I sure do want them back Bishop....

:(


Why not meet in the middle? Let some permabanned members back on and make them moderators and let the fun begin again. Turn some green handles to blue. Let people post anonymously? Maybe?


Need to get back to the days of this place feeling like 'fuck Ive been in the lodge drinking for 2 hours is it really 230....fuck it I'll go up with ya for a couple more runs.'

VinnieFI bet karma ratings start being used a lot more again.

agreed. This is gonna be cool to watch play out.

Chubz.agreed. This is gonna be cool to watch play out.

I've got the lowest post to karma rating on this website of all regular posters.

I think I even have skiierman and minggg beat.

And Im damned fucking proud of it.


Im going to create a new goal of mine for newschoolers to ski double digit pow days weather permitting and to get my posts to karma ratio down to 3-1 before 2017.


BRING IT!!!!

VinnieFI bet karma ratings start being used a lot more again.

PeppermillRenoI've got the lowest post to karma rating on this website of all regular posters.

I think I even have skiierman and minggg beat.

And Im damned fucking proud of it.


Im going to create a new goal of mine for newschoolers to ski double digit pow days weather permitting and to get my posts to karma ratio down to 3-1 before 2017.


BRING IT!!!!

Can't even see the karma graph or rate in the profiles R/N. IDK if it is even a thing any more but we will see.

PeppermillRenoJust saying we used to have threads about how to get high by sticking drugs up your ass and people posting up pictures of slutty teenager girls facebooks. Those days are a distant memory. I sure do want them back Bishop....

Dude....

So make a thread about getting high by shoving drugs up your ass instead of whiny posts complaining that nobody does it anymore.

If its actually funny then boom, problem solved.

PeppermillRenoJust saying we used to have threads about how to get high by sticking drugs up your ass and people posting up pictures of slutty teenager girls facebooks. Those days are a distant memory. I sure do want them back Bishop....

Maybe you should just leave NS and live a life of slutty teenagers shoving drugs up your ass.

Also, your idea of 'meeting in the middle' is unbanning members and making them mods, haha!

hanksyMaybe you should just leave NS and live a life of slutty teenagers shoving drugs up your ass.

Also, your idea of 'meeting in the middle' is unbanning members and making them mods, haha!

you sound annoying

It will be dead if pussy ass mods keep suspending members for nothing.

PeppermillRenoI've got the lowest post to karma rating on this website of all regular posters.

I think I even have skiierman and minggg beat.

And Im damned fucking proud of it.


Im going to create a new goal of mine for newschoolers to ski double digit pow days weather permitting and to get my posts to karma ratio down to 3-1 before 2017.


BRING IT!!!!

pfffttt
2.73 and i don't even really try
and everydays a pow day if ya search hard enuffs
most adult websites moderate the sad poliassfuckers to a dungeon or closet
done killed the lutz
i feel privaged one of you butthurt cybernannies posted on my profile

Mr.BishopAt a certain point, we have to make a decision. Do we want to be the slightly skiing-focused 4chan that is a wasteland of ski related content, or do we want to clamp down on the small group of people who are here for the 4chan experience and allow the rest of the people looking for skiing to re-grow?

I think we should be a skiing website. We should be fun, reckless and loose... but not absolute fucking cunts.

You "clamp down" at your own risk.

I remember when this site was more "just about anything goes", which is what made it fun. People came on to talk shit to each other, share pictures of half-naked women, and occasionally have legitimate discussions. No one is interested in coming on to a highly moderated PC wasteland. Even just a year ago, this site was far more active.

OregonDeadCan't even see the karma graph or rate in the profiles R/N. IDK if it is even a thing any more but we will see.

True I really want karma graphs back.

ToursYou "clamp down" at your own risk.

I remember when this site was more "just about anything goes", which is what made it fun. People came on to talk shit to each other, share pictures of half-naked women, and occasionally have legitimate discussions. No one is interested in coming on to a highly moderated PC wasteland. Even just a year ago, this site was far more active.

This guy fucking gets it. And it all starts with mods who think they have all this power. Especially the cunt green name

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/832977/JAMES-BROWN--amp--THE-J-B---39-S---DOING-IT-TO-DEATH-70S-SOUL-DANCERS




done cybernannyed it onto life support
pathetic fanboi threads
lame shred sauce musings
and bickerin about style vrs tech aint gonna save shit

ToursYou "clamp down" at your own risk.

I remember when this site was more "just about anything goes", which is what made it fun. People came on to talk shit to each other, share pictures of half-naked women, and occasionally have legitimate discussions. No one is interested in coming on to a highly moderated PC wasteland. Even just a year ago, this site was far more active.

I mean are you talking about NSG only?

I absolutely know that its affecting the NSG experience to do what we're doing. We're focusing on the rest of the site - that's the whole idea.

I mean keep giving your feedback, its always important to listen. Every time NSG runs wild, the rest of the site complains. Every time NSG is held back, everyone in NSG complains. It always seems we have a very conflicted user base.

No shit its at my own risk, my entire livelihood is tied to this site. I think about these things a lot before making decisions.

Surprisingly interesting discussion, so Imma call threads here.

cydwhitSurprisingly interesting discussion, so Imma call threads here.

You are someone who I view as a more skiing-focused member. What is your take on all of this?

Mr.BishopYou are someone who I view as a more skiing-focused member. What is your take on all of this?

Ha.


This is going to be long and rambling, one of those posts you write in google docs and copy + paste...



Overview

I joined toward the tail end of NSG's reign of terror, if that's an appropriate term. For a long time NSG was actually what kept me from joining, the site seemed rad, but there also was so much crap in NSG that I just didn't want to be associated with. (remember, take that with a grain of salt, I'm the conservative christian nut job with 6 siblings).

When I did join I got torn apart a few times in NSG (and other parts of the site) before I figured out how to play this game. Once I did things got easier, and I started to read NSG a lot more, but that was toward the end of its gnarly period too I think, Skiierman was getting banned those last few times, and mods were getting more agro.

Then, when NS started to really clean things up, made lady gabber, made some lady mods, etc, I was stoked. Most of that was because I have a little sister, and if she gets into skiing I want NS to be there for her, and honestly, I'd be pissed if my sister had to deal with old NSG. It was hurting both guys and girls, it was teaching girls that they were worthless, and teaching dudes to be dicks.

I have no problem with people talking trash, and making fun of each other, especially if its done in a creative way. Heck, I have 5 brothers, our favorite sport is making fun of each other. But it's done in a creative way, its entertaining, it's the sort of thing where you yell "BUUUURN" at each other after somebody drops a zinger, but nobody is going home pissed, or with their love of skiing gone. The old NSG was not that, it had its hilarious moments, but too often it devolved into just really dumb, violent, and immature trash talking. So I'm really glad the mods have taken a more active role there.

However, on the flip side, I think the fact that it has become a more positive environment / a less scary one means that more stupid stuff gets posted, just because there is no one to tear your face off if you do say something dumb. So there's been a little bit of a growth in stupid, whinny, complaining, attention seeking posts. Which are annoying, but not as bad in my opinion as some of the straight up nasty stuff that was going down before.

Up / Downvoting

I initially thought the voting thing was dumb, but it grew on me. I liked being able to quickly assess what the community thought, and a small evil part of me liked being able to anonymously judge people. I think it got more page views from me too, because I would sometimes go back and check a thread, just to see if I'd gotten any votes on my post.

However, it definitely slowed my interaction. I didn't post quite so much, instead choosing to vote as a way of showing my opinion.

I bet I'll be posting more now that it's gone, but we'll see. I don't really think it's the deciding factor in what Rusty is calling NSG's death.

Back to Your Actual Question

So, as a more "skiing-focused" member how does this affect me?

It's funny, because I at least feel like I am checking NSG way more than I used to. Honestly there is not a ton of discussion SG that has gotten my attention so far this summer, and I still check "Post what's on your mind" and "Post your latest purchase" pretty much daily. I read some of the political threads, and I get a lot of my pop culture "what are the kids talking about these days" news from NSG.

Part of that is I've changed a lot as a skier. I am not as in touch with park skiing as I was two years ago. I'm doing a lot more stuff in the backcountry, which means I'm checking NS's AT/BC forum more.

I also think that social media has played a roll in that. I'm accessing most of my ski content on FB, Insta, and Snapchat. I'm still watching videos on NS, but it's because they are linked from the NS FB page. My social media feeds are 80% skiing, biking, climbing, and art, and 20% current events. So I'd actually rather come to a skiing website (NS) for my non-skiing content (NSG) because there is often a good discussion here.

So, I'm checking NSG the most, after that it's probably, in order, SG, AT/BC, Gear Talk, Ladies Men, Lady Gabber. I used to be more like: SG, M&A, Gear Talk, NSG. But I feel like M&A and Gear Talk have slowed down (or I've grown to a point where I need less advice from both of those forums?).

Just to Throw a Wrench in the Mix

What I really used to care about on NS was the content. And, for me that's never been video as much as it has been news and photos.

I think there were a couple years when the content teams were picking up momentum that I was incredibly high on both photos and news on NS. And, while I was blown away by both programs this year, they did start to feel more.... hmmm, what word am I looking for, it's not "corporate" or "mainstream" but it's something similar. There was still some great content being put out, and some great member-submited stuff, but I feel like the fact that NS did such a good job being "on brand" is telling. That means you had a cohesive "brand" you were promoting, a voice, and editorial staff that helped maintain it. Which is great, it's quite literally a recipe for success, but it's also just what everyone else is doing.

The fact that NS has a "brand" no matter how irreverent, and counter-culture it is, means it has created its own culture, its own club. Which is fine, but in some ways it feels a little less pure than the content of old which was pretty hit-or-miss I'll give you, but it had a innocent lack of establishment that made it very attractive. Maybe this is treason, and maybe I'm just way out of touch, but I am starting to perhaps sense a touch of establishment? At the very least I'd hope / assume that the increased organization and brand voice has payed off on the ad revenue side.

So, this last section doesn't really have a point, or a conclusion, I just figured I might as well comment on the direction it seems things might be going. I just feel like I used to see a lot more names competing in the content space, and the generation I came up in seems to be the ones I'm seeing now, but I don't really see people stepping up to the plate to challenge them yet?

Conclusion

Well, that was a long puke of words, and I apologize.

However, I:

- Like the new NSG a lot, and use it more
-Think taking votes away will probably motivate me to post more, but who knows?
-Am getting more skiing content on social media, and more non-skiing / community content on NS
-Am intrigued by where I think the content teams seem to be headed.

Hope some of that made a little bit of sense!

cydwhitJust to Throw a Wrench in the Mix

What I really used to care about on NS was the content. And, for me that's never been video as much as it has been news and photos.

I think there were a couple years when the content teams were picking up momentum that I was incredibly high on both photos and news on NS. And, while I was blown away by both programs this year, they did start to feel more.... hmmm, what word am I looking for, it's not "corporate" or "mainstream" but it's something similar. There was still some great content being put out, and some great member-submited stuff, but I feel like the fact that NS did such a good job being "on brand" is telling. That means you had a cohesive "brand" you were promoting, a voice, and editorial staff that helped maintain it. Which is great, it's quite literally a recipe for success, but it's also just what everyone else is doing.

The fact that NS has a "brand" no matter how irreverent, and counter-culture it is, means it has created its own culture, its own club. Which is fine, but in some ways it feels a little less pure than the content of old which was pretty hit-or-miss I'll give you, but it had a innocent lack of establishment that made it very attractive. Maybe this is treason, and maybe I'm just way out of touch, but I am starting to perhaps sense a touch of establishment? At the very least I'd hope / assume that the increased organization and brand voice has payed off on the ad revenue side.

So, this last section doesn't really have a point, or a conclusion, I just figured I might as well comment on the direction it seems things might be going. I just feel like I used to see a lot more names competing in the content space, and the generation I came up in seems to be the ones I'm seeing now, but I don't really see people stepping up to the plate to challenge them yet?

this, NS has been doing a great job in promoting media, however it definitely felt different (better?) a few years ago, not sure if thats because NS has changed or ski media has changed.