Allakhazam

[Spider-Dan]

Seriously, why are the majority of alla complaints about ratedowns? Ignore it.

I also like how "safe face" and "taken for granite" are just assumed to have come from alla. I mean, how else could they have come about, right?

Next we'll be hearing how alla was the source for "WS can be paralyzed" and how alla had a prominent Mandau THF who didn't know how Trick Attack worked.

[Phraust]

Poster on Allah: "I like to wear the Opaline dress when I melee because it's fun and I look pretty swinging a G.Axe on my Dark Knight, but the parties I get into yell at me and tell me I should use better gear. I tell them that it's my $12.00 god, what elitist jerks, it's just a game."

Response on Allah: "Those guys are wrong lol play the game how you want lol rate up lol lol lol."

It's literally like discussing science to a fucking hippy 9/10 times. Sure there's a few there that pepper the landscape with some useful information, but the majority is all this unsubstantiated crap that's immediately trailed by an akward cult following, not because the bullshit had any basis in reality, but that it simply "Sounded Cool".

On top of that you got these idiots with like thousands of posts that get "Base Ratings" from other unrelated forums posting absolutely misguided advice that are believed on sight because they have 15k posts and a "sage" rating... The blind lead the blind.

[noodles355]

There's crap on both forums, the differance is here it's moderated/deleted. Alla it's just left there. But if you ignore the utter stupidity, there are some very good posters there. Quite a few post here too.

[mallister]

alla was my first FF online forum/info source. i hang on the drk boards and try to stop the worst of the retardation. i wish i'd have had a lot of the basic information that's there now when i started(yes, even if you have to wade through pages of crap). you have to start somewhere guys ~

[Milkster]

Poster on Allah: "I like to wear the Opaline dress when I melee because it's fun and I look pretty swinging a G.Axe on my Dark Knight, but the parties I get into yell at me and tell me I should use better gear. I tell them that it's my $12.00 god, what elitist jerks, it's just a game."

Response on Allah: "Those guys are wrong lol play the game how you want lol rate up lol lol lol."

Lawlz, Good read, totally true. Rate up. Who cares about trying to be the most product while playing.

[The Stig]

They wasted the Cheese Sandwich suggestion/chance.

[Correction]

It's all about the organization of things. BG is pretty strict about 'there's a thread for that over there' reminders, and in general doesn't tolerate duplicate discussions about FFXI, drama notwithstanding. There's plenty of nice posts going on in Allah but good luck finding a lot of them. The rate-filtering system Allah has is a bit too primitive and just doesn't work when new people enter a discussion.

[Rocl]

I also like how "safe face" and "taken for granite" are just assumed to have come from alla. I mean, how else could they have come about, right?

No I'm pretty sure they came from Allakhazam. If anything there were Allakhazam posters posting on BG, but I definitely remember screencaps of the posts on Allakhazam with those very quotes.

[Gere]

Safe face and taken for granite are actually much more common mistakes than your faith in humanity may lead you to believe.

[Rocl]

Safe face and taken for granite are actually much more common mistakes than your faith in humanity may lead you to believe.

More or less on this forum when you see and it is referring specifically to that whole taj debacle and allakhazam.

[Suiram]

I remember those coming from that thread too, and also thought they were both quotes from alla, but while search function still sucks, "Search this thread" owns and says we're wrong, granite was something someone said on alla (and later mocked in that thread), while "safe face" was something someone wrote here (and later mocked in that thread).

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1688958

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1691929

[Kaeko]

I remember those coming from that thread too, and also thought they were both quotes from alla, but while search function still sucks, "Search this thread" owns and says we're wrong, granite was something someone said on alla (and later mocked in that thread), while "safe face" was something someone wrote here (and later mocked in that thread).

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1688958

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1691929

Found the Granite guy

Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI

[Suiram]

Also I should maybe chime in on my opinion. I don't personally have anything against alla or its posters, I just rarely visit the site myself. People are right that they have some good posters, although most of any good stuff gets linked or reposted here (just as stuff here gets linked/reposted there and on other forums). A lot of the things people have against alla are valid complaints, and I imagine what they say on alla about BG is probably often valid, too. I think a lot of times people who complain here about alla are just doing so because they notice other people doing it and people tend to mirror the behavior of others to fit in? I don't know, and just like everything else that probably goes both ways, as well.

In short, both forums have good aspects and both have crap. I tend to think BG has a better ratio of good stuff to crap, personally, but that's just me. For whatever reason I don't mind parsing through the crap on BG to get to the good stuff, but don't really enjoy going to alla, so I don't go there, but I'm not a chauvinist about it.

[evilpaul]

This is pretty sad: "taken for granite" - Google Search

[Yugl]

I remember those coming from that thread too, and also thought they were both quotes from alla, but while search function still sucks, "Search this thread" owns and says we're wrong, granite was something someone said on alla (and later mocked in that thread), while "safe face" was something someone wrote here (and later mocked in that thread).

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1688958

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1691929

Why are all the screenshots in the OP's post gone? I tried looking at the links, but the links within those links give me the 404 message.

[Rocl]

I remember those coming from that thread too, and also thought they were both quotes from alla, but while search function still sucks, "Search this thread" owns and says we're wrong, granite was something someone said on alla (and later mocked in that thread), while "safe face" was something someone wrote here (and later mocked in that thread).

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1688958

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/48258...ml#post1691929

Kira is still justice btw 8)

[Kaeko]

I think both forums have pluses and minuses. When you say something like "BG is elitist" or "Alla is full of noobs" what most really mean is that there are some prominent posters on X forum that give you that impression - then you extrapolate that to assume the whole forum is like this. People just find it easier to think of things as black and white so they do, but it rarely is this way in reality.

My personal dislikes about Alla though:
(1) Have to pay to use the search function? I know you can google search but still.
(2) Rating system in general is bullshit (and I am a "Guru" status on Alla saying this)
(3) Job forums have WAY too many posts that are "guides". Also, the person writing the guide is almost never qualified to write it. It's painful. Just give people information, don't write it in guide form on a forum - use LJ or something if you want to write a guide.
(4) Endgame forum is dead and lacks readers / posters.

Good things about Alla:
(1) General forum is good. All you're looking for there is opinions, and they do this well. You may not agree with said opinions, but that's not the point.
(2) Job specific forums are sometimes helpful if you are learning basics about a job.
(3) Actually have connections with SE - Pikko can write an article about something (like enfeebling magic nerf) and actually get a response. BG cannot do this (the dude will just troll here but never post).

I'll also point out that some BG posters have an elitist attitude; however, some Alla posters are also elitist in their own ironic way (an anti-elitist elitism, if that makes any sense: basically I'm better than you because I don't do endgame or post BG or something to that extent)

[Suiram]

Why are all the screenshots in the OP's post gone? I tried looking at the links, but the links within those links give me the 404 message.

The screenshots were of the personal emails of ffxiclopedia admins detailing how they were arranging to sell the site to wikia just after (or possibly even during) a massive fund-raising drive that people had contributed to in good faith. This was the central drama of that thread. The two links I posted should have taken you directly to the original context (on BG) of "granite" and "safe face," respectively, which is why I posted them. Although I had also forgotten that "safe face" was essentially one person trying to turn something into a meme--Izzy even calls him on it later in the thread--but I guess it worked lol

[Yugl]

The screenshots were of the personal emails of ffxiclopedia admins detailing how they were arranging to sell the site to wikia just after (or possibly even during) a massive fund-raising drive that people had contributed to in good faith. This was the central drama of that thread. The two links I posted should have taken you directly to the original context (on BG) of "granite" and "safe face," respectively, which is why I posted them. Although I had also forgotten that "safe face" was essentially one person trying to turn something into a meme--Izzy even calls him on it later in the thread--but I guess it worked lol

Never heard about this, but it sounds like one hell of a drama scene. I also don't know about this Taj guy aside from the fact that he's a computer wiz and wrote a list of people using bots.

More on topic:

1. Opinion
2. Basics
3. Talk to a company that doesn't listen

1 + 2 + 3 = Noob. I'm using Alla math to get that too.

[TummieGaruda]

In short, both forums have good aspects and both have crap.

This is how I feel. Alla is more middle ground when it comes to the player base in that it presents itself more to casual players. BG seems more geared towards events that take place later on in the game, game mechanics/theories, strategies, etc. The two sites attract different groups of players, so there is bound to be friction between the two.

I don't really care much anymore because there are always going to be bad posts on both sites. I visit both and post on both...on alla, I mainly hang out in the server thread the most and pop into various job forums just to see what's going on. I do most of my posting on the main forums when updates come and I post my .DAT mining results.

My personal dislikes about Alla though:
(1) Have to pay to use the search function? I know you can google search but still.

My understanding of this, and I may be wrong, is that because Alla is a site that encompasses multiple MMO's forums (WoW, Everquest, EQII, Lineage, etc) into one domain/forum, they have a lot of bills to pay. Making it so you have to pay $20 a year to get the benifit of search and other extra addons (Avatars, ability to post pictures in posts, etc) is a way for them to recover the costs.

(2) Rating system in general is bullshit (and I am a "Guru" status on Alla saying this)

Never a fan of rating because you could make a completely valid point but rub someone the wrong way and they rate bomb you because they don't like you. That is a very common issue with a lot of forums that use the rate system.

(3) Job forums have WAY too many posts that are "guides". Also, the person writing the guide is almost never qualified to write it. It's painful. Just give people information, don't write it in guide form on a forum - use LJ or something if you want to write a guide.

Most of those guides are pretty old and came out before livejournal became popular. I think that people just use that option due to the simplicity of doing so instead of just opening up a livejournal account to post one guide.
But you are right though in using LJ for a guide, I think it is a better option. The idea is catching on though as I do remember seeing a COR guide on there that was linked to someones LJ.

(4) Endgame forum is dead and lacks readers / posters.

Dead because most people come here for endgame info lol.

Good things about Alla:
(2) Job specific forums are sometimes helpful if you are learning basics about a job.

This goes with my earlier comment about casual players. I think you can look at it as more for people who are just getting started in the game. I believe that Alla is more friendly for new players starting out

(3) Actually have connections with SE - Pikko can write an article about something (like enfeebling magic nerf) and actually get a response. BG cannot do this (the dude will just troll here but never post).

Thayos as well (I believe it was his post on elemental debuffs that helped to get SE's attention). Also being a premiere site they get to go to the yearly Premiere Site summit. Pikko and Thayos both write up separate reports which tend to have more information that the other sites report.