it was around 9300 something… I cant remember the exact figure - but I did take note somewhere, just out of pure curiosity really.
(edit - although my memory is poor and it could have been 934, but I seriously doubt it)
It has got a bit rough. Even the regulars are grumpy.
I have seen it mellow a little since I last posted. Also there aren’t as many “Make my game” posts anymore. I think the speculation about people dropping off is true, yes unity is free but it still takes hours to make a game.
Well, people still need to be articulate enough both for writing here and making Unity work. Do you think THEY are?
edit: whizzy .gif of unconnecting kids removed as for RHD request
Trolls are trolls whether they have been here for a decade or 10 min. Of all the forums I spend time in, I think this forum stands head and shoulders above others in terms of how friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable the members are.
Regarding the new influx of users, I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone could see this as anything other than a great thing for Unity and for the forum. Imagine the expertise and creativity those people will bring to the Unity community! And as the user base grows, Unity’s ability to make a fantastic game development environment even better will of course increase, and this will benefit us all as well.
Regarding the “search the forums idiot!” and “check the docs moron!” posts, I fail to see the point of posting anything at all unless you intend to actually help someone. While there is nothing wrong with telling someone that there question is answered in the documentation or in a particular thread, there are, of course, polite and impolite ways of doing so. Simple: please be polite, or please be silent. Like being rude? That’s what slashdot and Usenet are for.
By the way, I personally hope that the new forum will include a couple of much needed-features:
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A way for the forum community to rank the value of members posting responses. Stackoverflow’s forum really excels in this regard. This will make it much easier to discern between people looking to actually help and those looking to ring the number of posts bell, or troll.
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The ability to systematically filter out all posts from some members. This eliminates the troll problem. Once they become systematically ignored by all, they’ll go find another bridge.
Finally, it seems to me that there is a bit of positive correlation between response rudeness and the English language skills of the person posting the question. The implications of this, frankly, bother me much more than the fact someone is being rude…
I don’t think it’s the English language skills so much as the perceived attitude that provokes less helpfulness. The recent djoscar fiasco springs to mind.
It may be that some languages in half translation come across as more user friendly than others but I think most people are capable of reading intent over second language grammar and I always feel humbled anyway as my second language skills mostly stretch to asking for coffee.
I do think that peoples patience with technical questions is wearing a bit thin. A few months ago I got fantastic help when asking newby questions but more recently, although I was trying to be more sophisticated about my scripting requests for help, I’ve been pretty much ignored. Not in a “read the documents, search the forum” way, I didn’t get that response because I did that, but just that people don’t have the time or same sense of community.
It’s not unreasonable, it’s just what happens when things get bigger because you lose the personal touch.
I totally agree though that if people are going to take the time to post at all why not post something constructive instead of discouraging. Why waste their time being mean to someone who is asking for help? Aren’t there special websites for that sort of thing?
Plus, off topic, but Giusco’s all singing, dancing, yelling movie thing is really distracting and do we have to have this sort of thing?
Isn’t Facebook or Twitter the place for that stuff?
It’s not that I have no sense of fun it’s just I think a witty aphorism (that doesn’t jump up and down) is a far more interesting and appropriate signature.
RHD,
I don’t disagree. What bothers me, though, is this: I see more annoying, please-do-something-completely-unreasonable-for-me posts in well written English than not, yet when I see someone ranting on the subject, they seem to only cite those that were posted by people for which English is not their first language. (Ironic, indeed, given that the majority of people on this forum probably speak 3 or 4 different languages.)
If it’s just coincidence, great. if it’s not… there are all sorts of web sites and forums for that kind of stuff. This is not one of them.
My feeling is that it’s people asking the unreasonable that attracts trouble rather than the quality of the English but I haven’t been especially looking out for it.
PS. Very kind of you GiusCo, thank you.
Dear kids,
Get off my damn lawn.
I’m a newbie around here, and I’ve posted a few times when I got stumped and needed help. I haven’t encountered any rudeness or anything like that. I got some awesome answers that really helped me along, in fact.
I think it’s because I read the manual thoroughly, I searched the forums repeatedly, and mostly I just played around with Unity BEFORE actually asking any questions. That last bit is really important for newbies–just play around with it and get a feel for how it all works. Don’t try and make an AAA game as a first project, and spend some time getting acquainted with the basics. Eventually, you’ll reach the point where you can make some pretty cool games, but Unity or any other inexpensive middleware tools are not gonna turn you into the next John Carmack in 3 weeks. :lol:
More to the point, it would seem that newbies with realistic expectations don’t get their heads bitten off every time they post something that triggers a global facepalm and groan from this community. 
I’d just like to say that this was pretty apparent, and it would be great if more people did this. It’s a lot more fun answering questions when the person actually groks the answers. 
–Eric
Guess the answer is easy: They are pissed by “I don’t want to invest the time myself, please help me” kind of questions which are appropriate for the gossip and gossip board only (if at all) but aren’t appropriate for any developer targeted board.
Even though the approach the people use isn’t the most efficient, its better than just do nothing as most people commonly do if they don’t like something because not do something does not change something and thus not solve problems.
Those who rant at least ensure that there will be someone looking into the why it happens and people start to think about possible solutions for the problem.
That does not only hold for the board but generally for anything in the life.
For example, any aspiring dev posting with the desire to create an (M)MO and not invest any realistic amount of cash just does not deserve anything different than a harsh posting because they obviously didn’t invest a single minute in research onto the topic and storm right in with unrealistic daydreams and expectations. They don’t deserve it because they are bad but because their soap bubble needs to be burst as soon as possible so they can start with the real work which in the end will help them and the community.
@Misanthrope: You are fully correct
People with realistic expecations that ask questions within their reach that show that they have put some thoughts into the topic never get their head bitten of but are directed to potential options if they exist, otherwise they at least get potential ideas on how to approach the problem.
I think the “biting someone’s head” approach is never okay. If it is apparent that someone hasn’t made any effort, then, sure, there is nothing wrong with telling them that they should first make that effort. And, of course, you can just ignore the question.
I guess it’s all in the delivery. Most people, possessing at least a basic set of social skills, wouldn’t speak that way to someone in person. So why should it be any different here?
I disagree. You’d have to be a coward not to speak up when someone is rude or selfish or oblivious. People do need to be put in place.
For example, if you don’t read the manual, and blather the boards with questions that can be answered with RTFM, then you deserve what you get.
Of course RTFM can be made more helpful by letting them know (the first time) where to find the entry in the manual. But who has time for more than shouting RTFM?
I rest my case.
Most of the time I see something which could warrant an argumentative response, I pass over it. While I do like to engage in arguments or debates on other forums, I have found the Unity forum to be a very professional setting.
Most of them time I observe people responding to abusive posts, it simply leads to enflaming the issue, not resolving it. Encouragement of trolls by giving them responses and attention doesn’t help anyone. It has nothing to do with being a coward, or a hero. This is the Internet, and there are different levels of response you can give to trolls and I would encourage others to strive for a professional nature in responses on the Unity forum, and leave the more argumentative, and insulting ones for other forums.
Tempers can be short now and then on this forum, especially when you consider the clientele of Unity. It doesn’t take long to see how many people are working professionally on small or non-existent budgets, and how critical each project is to their continuation of game development. There have been several people who constantly remind us that their time is money, and every second can be translated to some monetary value. These people are both new, and older users of Unity, but their interaction with the forum often leads to short, rude comments simply because of financial pressure.
I think people need to keep in mind that regardless of how ‘new’ people are to Unity, it is a struggling industry, especially for independent developers. It’s going to happen. People will sometimes post rudely, even if they don’t intend it. Your own forum etiquette in responding is just as important as theirs. Some of us view other members as friends, but not everyone will view this forum as a cozy community. Some people will view with the mindset that time is money, and their business ventures come before social relations.
I have found, in general, without wasting alot of time, I can’t answer or ask questions because the barrier to entry has been lowered too far for all kinds of IT niches.
And I’m certainly no guru or genius unlike many who work in IT seem to think they are, but I don’t ask questions until I have actually gave a concerted effort to figure out the problem myself. And even then I’ve asked maybe 10 questions in 10 years and maybe answered 100.
Why? It’s because the questions I ask are too difficult for noobs with no work ethic and no knowlege to even attempt to answer. Not that 99% of them would be courteous enough to help those who have helped them anyway. The questions they ask are invariably ‘I’m a noob and don’t have the time to do this work. Here, do it for me.’
It is too easy with keyword filtered resumes, commoditized intelligence (no such thing), and drag and drop IT experts for those with only very lightweight problem solving skills to worm their way into jobs they have no business at given their work ethic.
But it’s just not in IT, it is always the same even when I was working farm fields as a kid. 20% of the office pulling the weight of the whole team and those being pulled along griping about how tough they have it. LOL
It can be fun if they don’t, though. You can tell them anything you like.
That’s just mean. :lol:
–Eric