4:33 AM
I still haven't accepted that this room should exist, so I'm not going to engage in extended discussions here; if you want to discuss with me, you can do it in the main room. But I figure since I'm one of the people involved in the bot's image collection, I'll at least comment on it.
My opinion on the matter is that, yes, the images probably do have a small effect of turning some new users away from chat, and that furthermore, this is a net *good* thing. It creates an atmosphere that is more familiar and comfortable for serious anime fans, while gently informing casual visitors "maybe this isn't the best place for you".
In fact, this sort of exclusionism is the basis on which Stack Exchange itself works so well (or in some cases fails to work). This video by Joel explains the basic principles in far more detail than I can here:
So if we lose a couple new users from the bot, that may still be a net positive thing in terms of the culture we are trying to create here. And if a new user really wants to participate but doesn't want to see the bot images, it's 2 clicks to ignore it (compared to thousands it took us to set it up), so I think we're already accomodating the vast majority of people.
I don't really have a problem if other people want to be allowed to inspect the images to look for NSFW ones before they're added (I've offered many times but no one has taken me up on this), or if we decide that more moderation features are needed for the bot (e.g. binning/editing NSFW images). And if other people want to add their own images, be they cute girls or anything else, I've offered to help before and that offer is still open.
On the other hand, I'd definitely have a problem if we decide the bot can't be allowed to post images any more (or if it's only allowed on command). I've put many dozens of hours into my part of this, gathering, sorting, and uploading images. I've attempted to incorporate every guideline I can to ensure the images are appropriate.
I've spent a lot more time on other aspects, such as making thumbnails to ensure that the bot isn't interfering with anyone's ability to use chat (and I'm not the only user who has worked on it a great deal).
At this point, I don't think it's exaggerating to say that the bot is the most important reason I'm still in chat, and I think that goes for at least a few other users.
I still get very vague complaints which can't explain why a particular image isn't appropriate fairly frequently; I've often asked for clarification about what made someone thing a given image is "sexualized" or "suggestive", but I've never gotten any useful feedback to refine my methods and (except in the few cases where I legitimately made a mistake) I still don't understand what the problem was.
If people can now provide me with more thorough explanations of what is causing the problems, I'm happy to listen.
But in most cases so far even other users in the room haven't understood the complaints being made, so I don't know how I can translate that level of imprecision into a method for sorting through thousands of images in a reasonable amount of time by hand. I'm quite sure that the images I've added recently would be classified as "safe" on all major image boards (danbooru, sankaku channel, e-shuushuu, konachan, yande.re, etc.) so I really have no what it is that people are complaining about.
Honestly, it feels very hypocritical, given that many of the regulars who have complained have also posted worse images in chat themselves.
It isn't as if this is a new thing; we were posting tons of (often more) images even in 2013 long before the bot existed; it was mostly a way to automate this activity. In fact, the collection of images the bot is now using started as a collection of things for me to upload in chat the same way the bot is now, and eventually got big enough that it was worth automating.
Finally, I'll say that I think the name of the room "Maid Cafe" and description have a much bigger effect on newcomers than the messages posted intermittently by a bot. The majority of new users won't even stick around long enough for the bot to be the reason they leave. The room name is already somewhat extreme and possibly off-putting to many non-anime fans, and the description is, for lack of a better term, incredibly weeaboo.
I don't think these are bad things; rather, they quite automatically separate the users who really want to be here from the users who really don't, in much the same way that the bot does.
To be honest, now that for whatever bizarre reason meta discussion doesn't belong in the main room, the bot is the main reason I've stuck around there. If that is also removed, I'm not sure I'll have any further reason to chat at all. But if accomodating a few new users is more important than that, feel free to go ahead and get rid of it the same way you got rid of meta discussions in the main room. Just keep in mind that no one is going to chat if there's no reason to chat, and more often than not, the bot is helping to create new discussions rather than quenching them (at least by my esti…
Now that we've made it past the one year mark, lets take sometime and consider if we should have a fancier name for our main chatroom.
The previous post from over a year ago favored, the generic "Anime and Manga Chat" name as the name. I personally think we should come up with something unique l...
Name: Lollipop Heaven
Description: General discussion for anime.stackexchange.com. Where the loli lovers thrive.
anime loli manga
The Great MadaraUchiha-sama proposed this on chat, and people seemed to like it there. So the name has been changed to this as of Dec 22nd 2013.
Does not mean ...
The "Meta" Cafe
