Message Board Help

Board Title
Message Board Help
Board Type	Site
Board Number	2
Entry Requirements	None

Message Board Help, commonly referred to as MBH, is GameFAQs's main help board. It is intended for people to come and ask questions regarding the boards or the site in general. This includes issues with accounts and questions about the Terms Of Service. MBH has many dedicated regulars, which range from regular users to Moderators and occasionally Administrators. As with many board communities, the regulars welcome input from any user regarding inquiries, but are concerned about inaccurate information provided by newer users.

A Social Board for MBH has often been requested, though it has been turned down countless times. There are a few on-site boards which serve as unofficial MBH Socials, such as Data Analysis and KGB, as well as off-site boards such as MBHShield.

Board Issues

Snack Attack

In the past, people often mistook MBH for a sort of Message Detail 2, coming to complain about violations they had marked that hadn't been deleted. In 2005, a disclaimer was displayed when users tried to create a topic, containing a list of things that MBH was not meant for. Much to the delight of the MBHers, who were unhappy with the volume of unimportant and often irrelevant complaints, they could now mark posts which violated the rules given in the warning. Not long afterwards, Snack Attack was claimed as an unofficial Message Detail 2. Snack Attack removed most of the complaints about marks not being handled from MBH, although it was never endorsed by Moderators as an official solution, and was subsequently shut down in August of 2006.

To deal with influxes of violation complaints and to provide an official alternative to Snack Attack, an accelerated moderator notice topic was created for faster reporting on serious and bannable violations. After the 2007 batch of moderators was selected, the violation topic was removed as it was deemed no longer necessary.

Required Reading

With the advent of sticky topics in April, 2005, the disclaimer was removed and replaced with a "Required Reading Before Posting" sticky. This contained a long list of the most commonly asked questions on MBH in an effort to reduce repetitive inquiries. As of current, the "Required Reading Before Posting" sticky is version 3.0, and covers newer board issues such as signature divider policy.

Moderation Clarification

Thanks to the creation of the "Required Reading Before Posting" sticky and a new, more efficient moderation contest system, questions regarding clarification, and complaints, about users' moderations were deemed off-topic on Message Board Help. Users making topics of this nature were instructed simply to use the contest system if they felt the moderation they had received was in error, or to ask for clarification regarding it. Feeling that there was still a need for a centralized location for users to question their moderations, some users claimed the board Hellhole and designated it as a "Contest Preview" board.

External Links

Message Board Help at GameFAQs