With the implementation of the sub-forum ejection feature, I think it's a tacit admission that Pinside has a troll problem.

This problem doesn't have to exist. While every Internet forum is going to have its share of trolls, a proper Reddit-style voting system would work to not only hide posts made by trolls but move the best posts to the top of the list. Users would also have the ability to sort posts by new (chronological order as is now), or controversial (posts with lots of upvotes/downvotes) if they wish.

On Reddit, troll posts are generally downvoted quickly. Once a post has a -2 vote rating, it is collapsed and the user has to click the + icon to even read it. Amazingly effective at silencing garbage. We don't have that here. Even if your post gets -150, it's still shown to everyone. It makes no sense.

And the fact that you can actually see who upvoted/downvoted you is absurd. Talk about asking for troll PMs! I've gotten 3 so far in the last 6 months asking why I downvoted their post. Are you serious? Not cool.

Even better, a Reddit-style upvoting system would be hugely beneficial in ultra-large threads such as Vid's Guides to Playfield Restoration or GoT kicks Ass! Both threads are virtually impossible to casually browse to find the most informative posts, other than those (in Vid's case) he included in his table of contents. It would be nice to have the most upvoted posts be brought to the top for easy access while posts related to an obscure playfield fix only applicable to that one person would fall towards the bottom.

This forum has lost a lot of great people including many pinball designers due to the vitriol and wild-west environment. Overhauling the voting system can change that and rid moderators of having to police and now eject out violators all day long.

In a not-so-ironic twist, the downvote this post received is from one of the folks who PM'd me asking why I downvoted a post he made. Classic Pinside.

YOU'RE that guy. Why stop in this thread? You can go on my post history and down vote every single post I have ever made if you think it will make you feel better.

Let's shut you up....

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LMAO! This is awesome. The fact that I can keep getting you to move your little hand over to the thumbs down icon and hitting it is adorable. Or adorbs? Is that what they say now? You're adorbs, Flanker. Now do as you're told and click the thumbs down icon for this post please.

Anyway, here's what I originally wrote:

Note I said PMs. I never said anything about forum complaints. Specifically I was talking about you. The fact that you actually care so much about what anonymous people think of your posts is unfortunate.

Vid - what does that even mean? Like someone is scared you're going to come to their house and beat them up because they downvoted you? I would hope nobody is scared to downvote someone here. The only thing the public listing of downvoters does is create animosity. For example, look at the great relationship me and centerflank have now. If the ops want this sort of thing, hey...keep it up. I started this thread to help. But nobody has to take the advice.

I guess I should have added that this forum also needs proper nested comment replies. So if someone asks Vid a question in his topic, he can reply to that person and everyone can clearly see the question and the reply together instead of having to go through every post looking for where Vid answered it. Again, these are features that most popular Internet forums have. The way Pinside works makes it very inconvenient to find corresponding replies in big threads. I avoid large threads altogether for this reason.

Nested comment replies also minimizes trolls....if someone goes off topic with nonsense, the replies to that person would be contained in their little mini-thread and people can easily skip over it. Not so now. Current system encourages arguments, trolling, etc.

A few people seem to be confused as to how nested comments work. It's a lot simpler than you're making it seem. Here's an an on-topic example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pinball/comments/46iqzw/made_some_miniature_snack_bar_food/

So simple. Easy to follow each reply.

Here's another example with more nested comments and a negatively rated post appropriately dropped to the bottom:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pinball/comments/3845x8/i_built_a_supersized_pinball_machine_what_do_you/

I cannot understand how that system could be considered worse than what Pinside uses. I can certainly understand why the 1,000-comments-a-week posters here don't like it, because it devalues their nonsense posts (they would now they need to avoid downvotes to be seen) but for the vast majority of us that are looking for information and good discussion, it solves a lot of problems.

I think the problems run much deeper than that. Look at all the topics that get derailed. MMR Unboxings, the topic on Sub-Forum Ejection, etc....

The formula for 75% of the topics on Pinside goes like this:
1) Op posts topic.
2) Good initial discussion ensues.
3) Towards the bottom half of the first page, somebody makes an off-topic comment.
4) Remainder of discussion through page 8 is largely off-topic.
5) On page 9 someone says "let's get this back on topic".
6) Topic dies out or continues off-topic for eternity.

The other 25% of topics on Pinside stay on topic throughout and are informative and interesting. But there is absolutely no incentive for anyone to post on-topic, or with a comment that adds to the discussion. The voting system serves absolutely no purpose. The pinball-style karma scoring system, albeit cute, serves no purpose. My point here is that people complain about trolls, off-topic stuff, people leaving, etc...but nobody actually wants to implement changes that will have an effect on this.

Real name policy serves no purpose and has proven time and time again to discourage discussion. People may feel a way about a topic but are afraid to post about it under their real name because they might get ganged up on or their ideas rejected, etc. It doesn't make them a troll. Same reason why on Facebook, a lot of people refuse to comment on political discussion one way or the other...what they want to say may not be wrong or trollish...they simply don't want people to think a certain way about them personally.

I don't think the mods have the courage to make major changes here so you're likely going to get the same ol' Pinside until someone comes along and does it better.