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I use the XDA app on my Incredible way more than I actually come online these days, which recently imposed a problem for me.
I never knew this Incredible Q&A sub-forum existed. I ended up getting flamed in the Incredible General sub-forum for posting all of my questions in there. When I click HTC Droid Incredible in the Forums (XDA app) all that comes up is General, Development, Accessories, and Themes and Apps.
Is this Q&A sub-forum new?
What is actually supposed to be posted in the General topics forum? Looks like all random questions to me, that's why I've always posted mine there.
Sorry, I know this isn't actually about the Incredible itself and please don't flame if this doesn't belong in this sub-forum. I'm just trying to keep the peace with the rest of the contributors in here. Thanks
The Q&A sub-forum is a new feature as of the last 24-hours as I did not see it yesterday when checking or any time before that. Some people flame because they see the same questions being asked a lot. That is not a valid reason to flame someone, but if you are running into an issue or have a question about something, it's likely someone else has as well =p.
A stick quote from a mod at the top of this thread, describing the difference between it and "General" would be helpful, but I am going to guess that the Q&A is for exactly that and General would almost be where you go when you have something to say about the phone that doesn't fit any place else (i.e., if Verizon announced a release date for an OTA, that should probably go under "General"). I hope I was able to help.
P.S. - Also if you feel you are being unfairly flamed in any way, don't be hesitate to flag the flamer's post so the mods can take a look at it. Not something to be abused, however if mods notice a pattern of a specific user making a lot of heated comments, they are more likely to be temp-banned sooner than if not flagged.
I went to Android with the sweetest phone on the market (Samsung Galaxy S) and never looked back. However I still have my Tilt and Tilt2 and I thought I might try and install Froyo or something tastly on my old phones...
THESE FORUMS ARE A MESS!
So here I am, and by the look of it there is nothing going on but people flooding the forum with cries for help and people waving the white flag. I assume the big boi dev's moved on to better devices as I did or they got tired of you clowns flooding this forum. ANYONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS. IF THERE IS ANYTHING GOING ON MAYBE WE SHOULD STICKY IT OR MOVE ALL THESE QUESTION THREADS, THIS ONE INCLUDED TO A SUBTHREAD.
If they have it working on my Tilt half way decent I cant belive the Tilt2 is getting ditched.
What are you talking about dude? There's a sticky thread already. There's just too many people who can't read FAQ's and are asking the same questions again and again. As this project gets more popularity, more people flood the forums.
how do you have almost as many posts as I, and not even know about the biggest project on rhodium?
do you even read anything in these forums?
and as far as i know, we have the best devs right here on site giving constant top tier advice, updates, software, hacks and mods.
what white flags do you see, besides "iphone" users who try their hand at a real device.
stick to ur samsung, this is HTC.
kroniced said:
I when to Android with sweetest phone on the market (Samsung Galaxy S) and never looked back. However I still have my Tilt and Tilt2 and I thought I might try and install Froyo or something tastly on my old phones...
So here I am, and by the look of it there is nothing going on but people flooding the forum with cries for help and people waving the white flag. I assume the big boi dev's moved on to better devices as I did or they got tired of you clowns flooding this forum. ANYONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS. IF THERE IS ANYTHING GOING ON MAYBE WE SHOULD STICKY IT OR MOVE ALL THESE QUESTION THREADS, THIS ONE INCLUDED TO A SUBTHREAD.
If they have it working on my Tilt half way decent I cant belive the Tilt2 is getting ditched.
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You're dumber than the noobs on here, at least they had the sense to check STICKY at the TOP of the page. And I'm gonna tell you what all the noobs get told...SEARCH!!!
TP2 (XDandroid) XDA App
So, you open a new thread to ask a question which was answered in the very first thread on the forum, that was also stickied. Then you begin to use vulgarities to debase other forum members? I'm glad you use another phone, and don't come to this forum anymore.
Not to pile on but that first stickied thread has over 9,000 posts and 1,000,000 views. Even a noob like me knew to go there first.
*giggle*
Thread cleaned.
Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules regarding flaming, language and respect for other members.
pulser_g2 said:
Thread cleaned.
Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules regarding flaming, language and respect for other members.
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Thanks Senior Mod.
Wondered whom the person was calling clowns. Unless we have an apology, the person should be suspended.
I'm sure all of you are getting sick of the flood of questions that come in and the single question and answer thread is just too long to go through to find questions let alone answer them. Hopefully we can get enough people on board to let the moderators know that this is a welcome addition. Seeing as how many phones have highest number of threads in the Q&A section, I think it is a worthy addition.
Problems:
1) Lack of moderation - the volume of posts, especially from new users is higher than the what can reasonably be moderated by the current number of moderators.
2) Relevant threads containing real information are buried by new threads (many which are off topic or not posted in the correct forum)
3) The forum is disorganized, which exacerbates the issue of new users asking duplicate, off topic, poor, misinformed questions.
4) There is an incredible lack of information for new users on usage, which creates a contentious atmosphere between new users and senior members who re-answer the same questions over and over, most of the time about HOW to use the forum and search features.
5) User modifiable resources like the wiki are unknown or obfuscated from new and long time members alike, thus rarely used. (On a side note....we should all be using the wiki to push pertinent information, valueable posts, references and guides up so that noobs (and experienced users also) can find them easier.)
Proposed Solutions:
1) Create additional subforums to help organize posts into relevant categories. (I vote for at least Q&A. MOST popular forums on XDA have this, so there is certainly precedent.)
2) Better sticky posts, with clearer titles. "Hello from your moderator." is not as clear to a new user as "[MANDATORY README]-[FORUM RULES][QUESTIONS][INSTRUCTIONS][If you don't read this you will be flamed, harrassed, possibly shanked in your sleep!]" You are reading this thread because of the title...that or you saw the DVDA postfix...you sick sick bastard...either way I win.
3) More moderators. It is far too hard for Whosdaman to constantly update sticky posts with relevant info. It is up to everyone here to get that info out so we aren't bombarded with questions that have been answered a hundred times. Wiki anyone?
4) We have a great resource in user editable wiki. There is a lot of stuff that can be done BETTER on a wiki than in a 1000 post thread, like reference material, guides, and instructions. We need to make it obvious to ALL users that the wiki exists and get people on board with updating it. Threads are a great way to hash out possible solutions and have a group discussion, but a lot of times what people need is a reference or guide and they shouldn't have to search a 1000 post thread to pull the relevant information.
5) Original posters need to update their OP when new information is revealed or when there is misinformation in a post. Having a post that's title says your flash cell is about to explode only to have to read 600 posts to find out that this information is untrue helps no one. Discussion is GREAT. Misinformation is NOT, and only fuels the confusion and duplicate thread issues.
From The Front Line:
Thanks for the outpouring of support and ideas to help get the ball rolling. Several of our ideas have been recently implemented so I am really hoping for some good news next war update.
20110109: Woot! We now have Q&A. Thanks mods and supporters!
20110109: My social experiment of double entendre "sticky posts" has 2000 views in only a couple of days. I'm not going to call this one confirmed, but if it stopped even 1 bad thread it was worth it.
20110109: We have sticky wiki in all the subforums. Now we need to add content to the wiki before people stop using it.
One Last Thing:
There are very few things we can change with regard to how many new users visit this forum, or the knowledge level of these users. The only thing we CAN do is make what they need to do as obvious as possible to these users, so that we can spend more time coding and writing relevant posts, instead of redirecting people to the search button, or frustration flaming newbies.
+1 agreed. This is ridiculous, it's a clusterf**k in these forums. Q & A is exactly what we need.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I will say yes to the q&a it will cause less clutter.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
muyoso said:
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
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what you are saying isn't wrong but i want one
muyoso said:
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
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That is EXACTLY what the Wiki is for. But people either don't know about it, use it, or update it. Anyone can update the wiki. Leaving all of the cleanup to moderators isn't fair, or effective at getting stuff up quickly. There should be better indication to go to the wiki and more people need to start using it.
plapczyn said:
That is EXACTLY what the Wiki is for. But people either don't know about it, use it, or update it. Anyone can update the wiki. Leaving all of the cleanup to moderators isn't fair, or effective at getting stuff up quickly. There should be better indication to go to the wiki and more people need to start using it.
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Thats fine, but where the eff is the wiki? A person who just bought their epic and signed up would NEVER find it. There needs to be like a flashing light and have the font in size 4.2 million saying "Epic 4g XDA User Manual" or something like that.
muyoso said:
Thats fine, but where the eff is the wiki? A person who just bought their epic and signed up would NEVER find it. There needs to be like a flashing light and have the font in size 4.2 million saying "Epic 4g XDA User Manual" or something like that.
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I agree. Or a sticky at the top of ALL of the subforums linking to the wiki. There used to be a STICKYWIKI post, but the title got changed.
I agree the wiki needs serious editing and updating, and we should all be somewhat responsible. Maybe if you flame a newbie, you have to add a paragraph, like a swear jar smoothone, get typing hahaha.. sorry... had to... but I get the feeling you dont mind.
Honestly, I wish sprint would just say screw you, no froyo. This way, people would move on, keep developing, not thinking to wait on that elusive source code... and stop *****ing. The repeat questions, etc werent that bad until that stupid 26th thing brought a bunch of new people at once, so everyone here who was already waiting and annoyed, then get bombarded with new people who heard about XDA from engadget.
BTW... wheres those two who had those super secret sources?????? Kinda quiet....
Bloggers: do not cite an XDA member, or their word they have a good source unless they show you the goods! Somehow, everyone thinks XDA really knows more than the average joe... and dont trust Sprint sales info or personnel!!!!
Sure, let's create yet ANOTHER ignored forum that the mod(s) get to monitor and spend more time on while every single new user here ignores it and the search button just to post the question anyway.
Instead of making a new forum, we need another moderator added to help manage the forum.
And make a post count minimum to START a new thread!! Too many ppl coming over straight from google and, not knowing how to use xda (or their effen owners manual) to its fullest.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
othan1 said:
Sure, let's create yet ANOTHER ignored forum that the mod(s) get to monitor and spend more time on while every single new user here ignores it and the search button just to post the question anyway.
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Dumping questions to a Q&A forum creates less clutter for the other forums, thus relevant threads will more likely be in the first two pages.
lazydazed said:
And make a post count minimum to START a new thread!! Too many ppl coming over straight from google and, not knowing how to use xda (or their effen owners manual) to its fullest.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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I love that idea, but there are occasionally relevant posts from new users. I would like to think that not EVERYONE that initially comes to XDA is a moron. But I guess I'm a glass half full kind of guy.
It looks like a lot of people are in favor of it.
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
muyoso said:
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
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That's ok, as long as the questions aren't in the other forums. But I agree, sticky to the wiki should be on all subforums.
Personally I don't care if the Q&A forum is filled with spam repost topics. All I, and others, want is for the it to be quarantined.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
muyoso said:
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
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That will happen in any forum. We do need a sticky, but don't expect that to stop the noobs from asking before reading.
I see that some of the other Galaxy phones here on xda have a Q&A in addition to a general section. General is used for general discussion and Q&A is for all questions. It seems like it would be more obvious for noobs to wander into the Q&A section to ask questions and hopefully save the mods some effort while also cleaning up our little corner of this website.
DiGi760 said:
That will happen in any forum. We do need a sticky, but don't expect that to stop the noobs from asking before reading.
I see that some of the other Galaxy phones here on xda have a Q&A in addition to a general section. General is used for general discussion and Q&A is for all questions. It seems like it would be more obvious for noobs to wander into the Q&A section to ask questions and hopefully save the mods some effort while also cleaning up our little corner of this website.
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Exactly my point. Also, as someone mentioned...the cycle of useless questions that cant be prevented will at least be quarantined.
In a few places that I mod, I know that it is actually easier to move a thread and leave a place holder if I think that a thread is in the wrong forum than it does to type an explanation and then lock a thread.
But I am not moving it simply because it is easier. It is the better thing to do. But then again, I don't get the satisfaction of locking the thread then beating my chest when I get home to my woman proclaiming..."Me HE man. Close thread today. Me want sex NOW"!!!!
I posted a thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1904115 and it was locked. What is so hard about moving it and leaving a place holder referring to the new location if you think it is in the wrong forum? It clearly applies to the general forum as it applies to all phones with the recent lawsuits that have been flying around. Not only just apple lawsuits, but many others involving cell phone manufacturers including Apple and six other mfgs getting sued by another company.
Sure there may be another forum that it may fit into. But that can be said about many posts here. Just move it if it is questionable.
Hell, I have even had a post where the mods didn't even know where it went. One mod moved it to another forum, and the FSM in that forum said it was in the wrong forum and locked it. LOL A mod moved it to where he thought it went and then another mod thought it was in the wrong place!!
All I am asking is move the darn thing instead of locking it if it is questionable. It is not like I posted the thread in Near Field Communications Forum or the Job Board. Sheez... Use a little common sense. If it is clearly in the WRONG place, then by all means close it. But if it is a subjective call, use a little common sense.
Takes 5 seconds to do either one.
Just a few clicks to move. But you have to type words to close and provide an explanation. Besides it was a rhetorical thread title I posted. Everybody knows the answer. I was making a point for mods to use some common sense.
Sent from my Kindle Fire running CM10 Jelly Bean
It's up to the individual mod what they'd like to do with it.
A lot of the time, a mod will close the thread rather than move it because people should read the rules and stickies before posting and therefore know that it's in the wrong section.
Whereas, sometimes it will be moved rather than locked because either it's easier for them, or they just don't want to lock it, for whatever reason.
In regards to the mod moving it to OT and it then getting locked whilst in OT, it's not very often that happens anyway.
If a mod of a certain forum sees a thread which shouldn't be there, they probably haven't got enough time to be thinking whether or not it would get locked in OT. So the best thing to do is just to move it there and leave it down to the off-topic mods to do what they wish with it.
''Evil corrupts the mind of the weak but fails to feed off the mind of the strong''
KidCarter93 said:
It's up to the individual mod what they'd like to do with it.
A lot of the time, a mod will close the thread rather than move it because people should read the rules and stickies before posting and therefore know that it's in the wrong section.
Whereas, sometimes it will be moved rather than locked because either it's easier for them, or they just don't want to lock it, for whatever reason.
In regards to the mod moving it to OT and it then getting locked whilst in OT, it's not very often that happens anyway.
If a mod of a certain forum sees a thread which shouldn't be there, they probably haven't got enough time to be thinking whether or not it would get locked in OT. So the best thing to do is just to move it there and leave it down to the off-topic mods to do what they wish with it.
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Point taken Kid. I can see locking the thread if I went into the Kindle Fire forum and was talking about the headphone output on my RAZR MAXX. Lock the thread for me being a dumbass and posting in the wrong section.
But it was a thread about patents and prior art, which has had SPECIFICALLY had a huge impact on the people/developers here at this site as of late.
"Anything that involves all of the phones and doesn't fit in any of the other fora." hmmmm. It could "fit" into a couple of "fora". If it is questionable then move it. Use some common sense. That is all I ask.
At least I can say one thing for the mod that locked it. He left an explanation. That is an vast improvement from the way things have been in the past.
As for the really old topic that I referred to getting moved then locked..... It wasn't moved to OT. One mod thought it belonged in another forum because I used a question mark somewhere in the post. The mod that is "Guardian of the Question Mark" moved it to Q&A because there was an interrogative in the post. Then a mod in Q&A thought it was in the wrong forum and locked it IIRC. LOL
85gallon said:
Point taken Kid. I can see locking the thread if I went into the Kindle Fire forum and was talking about the headphone output on my RAZR MAXX. Lock the thread for me being a dumbass and posting in the wrong section.
But it was a thread about patents and prior art, which has had SPECIFICALLY had a huge impact on the people/developers here at this site as of late.
"Anything that involves all of the phones and doesn't fit in any of the other fora." hmmmm. It could "fit" into a couple of "fora". If it is questionable then move it. Use some common sense. That is all I ask.
At least I can say one thing for the mod that locked it. He left an explanation. That is an vast improvement from the way things have been in the past.
As for the really old topic that I referred to getting moved then locked..... It wasn't moved to OT. One mod thought it belonged in another forum because I used a question mark somewhere in the post. The mod that is "Guardian of the Question Mark" moved it to Q&A because there was an interrogative in the post. Then a mod in Q&A thought it was in the wrong forum and locked it IIRC. LOL
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But there's already threads that exist which are about the patent war between Apple & Samsung and even if a thread gets created which speaks of patents regarding other companies aswell, it's still similar in its content, so naturally it could be placed in an existing thread.
But your threads been reopened now anyway, I believe.
And if your think a mod could deal with a particular thread differently, then the best option would be to PM them and speak to them about it.
''Evil corrupts the mind of the weak but fails to feed off the mind of the strong''
KidCarter93 said:
But there's already threads that exist which are about the patent war between Apple & Samsung and even if a thread gets created which speaks of patents regarding other companies aswell, it's still similar in its content, so naturally it could be placed in an existing thread.
But your threads been reopened now anyway, I believe.
And if your think a mod could deal with a particular thread differently, then the best option would be to PM them and speak to them about it.
''Evil corrupts the mind of the weak but fails to feed off the mind of the strong''
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I understand your point about PM'ing a mod. To a point.
I don't fault the mod. I fault the system here.
If I feel something is going on too much here that I disagree with by several mods, I like to make a post in here so users can read it and also put in their feedback. That is why I did so. It is not attributable to a single mod, but the way things are done a lot as a policy. (Hence the argument that my post could really apply to a few forums) In that case err in the case of caution. I did the same a while back when I thought it was wrong to simply close threads without any explanation. (and that was rampant for a while) It is right to close if it is posted obviously in the wrong forum, and the rules were not read. But explain why it was closed so other readers can head the warning to make sure they post in the correct forum. I am not saying I corrected that policy, but I would like to thing I was instrumental.
If I report the thread, I am not sure how many mods read it before it is acted upon. If the problem involves a policy, it may just be the mod on duty that sees the report and takes action either way. No other mods see the complaint to take it into consideration and think, "maybe he has a point".
If I PM the mod directly, I will only do that if I think that particular mod was wrong in his actions. Like it was an action the HE took that other mods have not taken in similar situations. That way, I KNOW that only that mod I disagree with reads it and I can air my disagreement with them personally.
I have only found that necessary a few times and I accept the answer. I don't always agree with the answer. But if I don't, I may escalate to report post in hopes that other mods may see it and voice their opinions in the mod forums. (One case comes to mind on removing a picture in the OT images thread. God it was a funny pic. It may have been offensive to a select few, but funnier than hell. The thread was taking a turn towards memes on the Grand Theft Auto game. I posted a pic of an advertisement for GTA Somolia. It had a Somli with a gun in a wheel barrow with another Somali pushing the wheel barrow through battle ridden streets. LOL)
The mod chose to remove it and I accepted his answer. (Didn't like it.) GRIN. But I accepted it.
But in this case, the closing of a thread that "might" fit better in another forum happens a lot here by several mods. Like it is a systemic policy. If it is clearly in the wrong forum, close it and explain why so others will learn. But it was a thread that could fit in more than one forum. Just move it with an explanation if that is the case.
And after I made this post, I did report the thread to see if other mods might review when no other mods commented. The luck of the draw was that bigjoe was on duty and got the report. He took into consideration my thoughts and re-opened it. I truly wouldn't have minded if he moved it to OT. And he provided an explanation in the thread why he did what he did when he closed it. My disagreement was just simply closing it because he thought it "might" better fit somewhere else.
Kudos to bigjoe. 1. He did provide an explanation when he closed it. and 2. he listened to me and considered my argument. A few months ago that would have never happened here. There was a short period here when threads were simply closed with no explanation. Thankfully that period seems to be over.
Again kudos to bigjoe and to XDA for relaxing the policy of simply slamming down the hammer and not allowing discussion.
And posting it in another patent thread would have been useless and would be buried. They are usually specific flame wars posted by fanboys from both sides. That is why I chose start a new thread in the General Forum. That is where I fell it would reach the biggest target audience.
Again to kudos to bigjoe for having an open mind. the topic of the new site is going to make a big difference (hopefully) and nip the frivolous IP phone patents in the bud for the betterment of the cell phone/tablet community which is where many of the BIG patents wars have been as of late. And those affect US specifically even though the site will help in other areas as well.
Generally speaking we will endeavour to move all threads to the correct location, unless of course a similar thread already exists there. We also try to leave and explanation upon closing a thread.
Obviously this doesn't happen every time but feel free to PM a mod if you would like an explanation. We don't bite.... That costs extra.
What are you doing outside of OT anyway?
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
conantroutman said:
What are you doing outside of OT anyway?
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
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Somebody left the door open and I escaped!! LOL I guess I need to get back to the basement.
Since this section is pretty big an Yall don't have a dedicated thread to have a general chat. I decided to give you one.
So pull up a stool, drinks are on the house.
*rules still apply here*
Thanks to TheArchangel, this is actually his OP from the S3 forum.