The AV Club is switching to Kinja in the very near future, and this has terrified many of the AV Club commentariat, who have developed quite a fun community over the years. I’m just an occasional AV Clubber, but I suggested to some other folks there that they might consider this board as a backup if the Kinja transition is too unwieldy.
That got me thinking – one of the great things about the AV Club is the gimmick accounts. Some of the more notable are “Frakes” and “Sirtis” from the Star Trek TNG discussions, “Rappin’ Jake Sisko” from the DS9 episode postss, and multiple great gimmick accounts for the Game of Thrones posts. The gimmick accounts are almost certainly secondary accounts from other AV Clubbers.
On the off chance that they do come, the current Dope rules wouldn’t allow this. I understand socks aren’t allowed, but I don’t think those sort of gimmick accounts would violate the spirit of the rule (even if they would obviously violate the letter).
I propose the following, at least for consideration: gimmick accounts could be allowed, but ONLY in Cafe Society, and ONLY when pre-approved and vetted by the moderators – i.e. someone wants to make a gimmick account, and they contact the moderators to explain what the account will be (say, GRRM’s Refrigerator, who provides commentary to Game of Thrones episode threads from the point of view of the author’s fridge), and the mods let them create this account. It can even be marked as “Gimmick Account” where “Member” or “Guest” usually goes. And maybe other restrictions. No one but the mods would know who it was unless they decided to reveal themselves.
Not a huge deal, but considering how much fun I’ve had reading a lot of those gimmick accounts at the AV Club, I thought I’d throw it out there. Nothing like the Grapist, or nothing disruptive in any way – just a possible additional way for posters to have fun when talking about books, movies, TV shows, and the like.
For those wondering what Kinja is - it’s the execrable platform that runs on Gizmodo sites, like Kotaku, Jezebel & Deadspin. I would be alarmed, as well.
That said, I wouldn’t like approving gimmick accounts for this site. If AV club comes here, they should match our rules - specifically, the current board rules on joke or parody posts. (Yes, I do hate fun. Why do you ask?)
On the other hand, I would be happy to hear what GRRM’s Refrigerator had to say on any number of topics, including sports, local elections and gay marriage. I would be especially delighted if GRRM’s Refrigerator got all salty in the Pit. I see no reason why GRRM’s Refrigerator couldn’t become a valuable member of this community.
Sounds like a great idea…for a different board. It just doesn’t fit the culture here.
If these gimmick accounts are allowed to comment in any CS thread, that could get annoying quickly - usually I want to have an actual discussion about a GoT episode, not read a bunch of jokes from a refrigerator. And if they’re constrained to a single area, what’s the point? There are other places better suited for it like Twitter, and nothing’s stopping anyone here from creating a joke thread for “Ask GRRM’s Refrigerator” under their own user name.
I’ll admit, I haven’t spent enough time on the AV boards to see how these accounts are used and would potentially fit here. But for now, I’m not seeing it.
I think it would be a fine idea. The danger of socks, which I have always heard as “well then someone would just make socks to agree with themselves, so their arguments in great debates look better!” has always seemed weaksauce to me.
Frankly I think we could revisit the “alt account” rule, although I’m sure the old-timers will reflexively disagree. Multiple accounts per person are really only a problem if those account are behaving badly. Ban THAT, instead of things in that penumbra.
I read the recaps on The AV Club website and the comments section because I want to talk about the episode or movie or hear what others have to say. I have no interest in a bunch of jokes sidetracking the comments section. I already ignore these weird threads when they pop up there and don’t want them to start up here. (I’m still on the lookout for a message board to replace the one dropped by the IMDB a few months ago. Nothing else matches what that had for traffic. I could ask questions about really obscure movies and get responses.)
The benefit is additional color and amusement for the boards, which have been declining in membership last I checked. It’s minimal effort for the moderators. And the difference with the grapist is that account added nothing of substance to any discussion.
How long until we’re in another Game Room/Thread Games situation where Cafe Society gets supersaturated by joke accounts and posters start leveraging for a quarantine zone?
Or maybe we can allow joke accounts, but only in Thread Games.