Why every flaming post is being locked?

franckynight

dont wanna sound like a jerk here or an old timer, but i remember a time when this forum was alive and kicking.. there were some controversies that stired up passion.. 5d/shield, xmen against every top team etc.. 15 or so pages of flaming posts.. it was not always pretty (i see you Nazerith,klingsor or psykopathic) but it was fun.. ppl took sides.. bullets were flying.. now, we're stuck with endless threads about isos or covers because every bit of seemingly flaming post is locked right from the start..personnally, i didnt see anything in valeyard or freelancer posts that deserved to bring the hammer down.. some mods are too much sensitive it seems..

JamieMadrox

I remember those days and I also remember that mod involvement was nearly non-existant (sorry former mods that had lives). That said, as fun as they can be sometimes, these types of threads violate the rules of the forums and as mods we're required to adhere to those rules. Yes we can use our own discretion, but it's better to err on the side of caution than to let something get out of hand. Good natured ribbing can easily turn bad, quickly, and the consequences of that can be all too real and devastating. Just because the majority of people can handle it, doesn't mean that everyone can and I'd rather have a million locked threads than one kid who takes his own life because of something someone on here said to/about them. You may laugh that last part off, but as someone who has lost friends, parents of friends, colleagues, friends of friends, etc to suicide, it's no laughing matter.

Dartmaster01

Can we get this thread locked..........JK, I see both points of view but I have to side with Jamie here. A heated debate is great, on the other hand there are a lot of people out ther that just want to poke others out of meaness. Should free speech be allowed-yes. Do these heated arguments get out of hand-yes. Most locked post Ive seen were justifibly so.
So keep up the good work Mods. Thank You for making this one few decent places on them interwebs.

Unknown

I'm kind of surprised the flame threads aren't outright deleted or soft deleted. I think there's a general consensus that those sorts of posts do more harm long term than good for both the community and the participants. I agree that the mods here do a better job than most. I only wish they'd merge more threads instead of locking them, but maybe that's a separate permission.

Lidolas

I think that there is a difference between these forums and the groups on facebook and other sites. This is hosted by the publisher of the game, it's official. These forums should be about the game; strategies, functions, events etc. There are set rules here about what is allowed, rightly so. I saw the screenshots between the two individuals. I'm mostly in Fr3's camp about what happened. I like the thread on facebook. But that stuff doesn't really belong on here, the official forum.

franckynight

Lidolas wrote:

I think that there is a difference between these forums and the groups on facebook and other sites. This is hosted by the publisher of the game, it's official. These forums should be about the game; strategies, functions, events etc. There are set rules here about what is allowed, rightly so. I saw the screenshots between the two individuals. I'm mostly in Fr3's camp about what happened. I like the thread on facebook. But that stuff doesn't really belong on here, the official forum.

i can see your point..

NorthernPolarity

I didn't take a look at the Vale / freelancer threads, but I saw Kozmik's thread, and at the very lest posts like those have no place on any forum. What really got to me in that post was how his last lines were "oh hey whats up devs", followed by a paragraph of "Look at me I'm a cool kid" smiley faces followed by a wall of laughing faces. I don't know about you guys, but I actually like the generally mature tone of this forum, and prefer to not read posts that I would expect out of an immature middle schooler posting on a Runescape forum.

user311

So you didn't laugh - or crack a smile? I guess Im the only one. Seriously though the topic of sniping is a legit topic for discussion and I think its those who choose to PM harsh notes are those ones who need a talking to. While the tone of the locked threads may not have been to your liking, it seem like locking the threads add protections to the ones who are harassing via PMs. What do you think? Maybe post a sticky with instructions on how to block PMs on here (and popular clients)?

NorthernPolarity

user311 wrote:

So you didn't laugh - or crack a smile? I guess Im the only one. Seriously though the topic of sniping is a legit topic for discussion and I think its those who choose to PM harsh notes are those ones who need a talking to. While the tone of the locked threads may not have been to your liking, it seem like locking the threads add protections to the ones who are harassing via PMs. What do you think? Maybe post a sticky with instructions on how to block PMs on here (and popular clients)?

I mean I don't necessarily mind the trash talking (although I don't care for it), but when the trash talking devolves to the point of spamming a wall of smiley faces, it's a bit much: I felt like I was losing brain cells while looking at that.

Unknown

I'm new to the game/forum but a vet of app games (early early RoB) and online gaming/forums in General all the way back to Everquest or earlier Diablo/Brood Wars days.

Imo the mods over stepped. They didn't allow for expression and created a bigger mess then allowing people to vent, warn if it goes too far then lock it up. They didn't allow it to develope and thus allowed fear to predicate their decisions. Because of this You had follow up threads locked and now this. Rules are fine but mods needs to also step back and actually wait for them to be broken and not intercede beforehand.

Unknown

There's been more censorship lately, but things were probably too lenient before, considering the things that were said on the forum, who started to become normal.

I have trolled myself a lot, criticizing because I had wrath against myself to have spent so much on the game.

That being said, I agree in some way with the OP. There's been excessive censorship lately, and the forum is becoming more "noob oriented" with questions we find boring, because we answered them a long time ago, or simply did not have the problem at all.

JamieMadrox

It's like this, as mods/community members we encourage a mature and intelligent discourse on the forums about any topic that is PG/PG-13 appropriate, but posts like the ones being discussed are not being made in that way. If you want to have a good discussion about sniping, great! I'm all for it and I have very strong views on the topic. Calling out someone on the boards because they messaged you on Line asking you if you'd not snipe them (or whatever)? Get. A. Life. If you want to make joke posts, we have a forum for that too. Off Topic.

Unknown

I tend to agree with the mods on this one. This is generally a polite and respectful board, and we tend to stay away from blatant flamebait, and, when we've gotten it, it's never resulted in anything that remotely resembles a useful or productive discussion. I think keeping it off the forums is good for the forums.

JamieMadrox

Oh and as far as off band communication (forum PM, FB, Line, smoke signals), if someone is harassing you via one of those mediums; report it. Most platforms have a method of reporting/blocking users that harass you. If it's the forums, forward it to a mod and we'll deal with it.

Unknown

Jamie Madrox wrote:

It's like this, as mods/community members we encourage a mature and intelligent discourse on the forums about any topic that is PG/PG-13 appropriate, but posts like the ones being discussed are not being made in that way. If you want to have a good discussion about sniping, great! I'm all for it and I have very strong views on the topic. Calling out someone on the boards because they messaged you on Line asking you if you'd not snipe them (or whatever)? Get. A. Life. If you want to make joke posts, we have a forum for that too. Off Topic.

Here is the problem. You have a game designed around PvP which is a competitive and volatile environment. The PvE is a joke as it doesn't reward for time spent similar to PvP and because of that PvP is the only source of true progress once You hit a certain point.

So the kind of posts you used your personal opinion and judgement of rules instead of literal interpretation of a broken rule causes further issues then it prevents. I've actually been debating making this same post since I saw the locks. Personal interpretation prior to actual rule breaking is beyond the scope of a mod imo.

JamieMadrox

From the rules; emphasis mine:

D3PADMIN wrote:

4. No vulgarity or profanity.

5. Treat your fellow users kindly. We will not tolerate any of the following:

a. Trolling, or posting something just to get a rise out of someone. b. Flaming, or insulting / bashing / harassing another user. c. Posting offensive material. This includes anything that could be considered racially, religiously, or sexually demeaning or insulting. Posting a link to material of this nature is equally forbidden. d. Posting threatening material of any kind. e.

Acting like a jerk.

See that last one?

D3PADMIN wrote:

6. We reserve the right to delete any material that we deem inappropriate for our forums (offensive topics, advocating cheating, hack links, insulting others, spoilers, etc.)
.
.
.
8. If you notice another user doing any of the above, please contact our moderators rather than trying to correct that person’s behavior on your own.

I'd like for people to do more of that last one.

D3PADMIN wrote:

9. Please don’t restart discussions that already exist. Before starting a new thread, search our forums to see if a similar topic already exists. If you find one, contribute your content to the thread that is already established.

10. Please keep discussions in the appropriate category.

The two above are amongst the biggest offenses and most locked threads fall in to that category.

D3PADMIN wrote:

11. No spamming. This includes posting off-topic content, advertisements, low-content posts like lone emoticons, or any other posts that do not actually contribute information to the topic at hand.

So yeah. All in the rules and lots of leeway for us to make judgement calls. I'm not saying we're right all of the time, nor am I saying that we catch every infringement of the rules, but it is what it is. We do our best. Like it or leave it. Yadda yadda yadda.

Edit: Thread locked because there is nothing more to say on this topic that needs to be said publicly. If you have a problem with a post or another user, report them to a mod. If you have a problem with a mod, report them to David [Hi-Fi] Moore and/or IceIX.

GothicKratos

I'm going to abuse my powers a little here to make a statement, since I'm the one that locked two of the questioned threads. Also, please note that this statement is my own statement, and not one of official stature.

Freelancer's thread was not a thread created with the intention of a creative discussion. It was created to be an ***hat. He was personally calling out a specific player for behavior he personally deems beneath him. To be quite frank, he's lucky I didn't just warm him and delete the thread, but I try not to be hasty on first offenders. If he was interested in constructive conversation, he could have done any or all of the following; created a less aggressive post (which would have been quite simple by redacting the names), joined in one the several other conversations on the subject (before or after the thread locking), or PMed me asking me what the problem was. All these things are obvious and none of these things were done. I don't feel an ounce of sympathy, not do I feel like I am censoring him in any ways - his message is still visible (against my own better judgement) and he can even still edit it to be less aggressive and I'd probably re-open it.

Valeyard's post was not toned in the same phallic-faced demeanor as Freelancer's, however, it served exactly the same purpose - he was calling out a specific player for behavior he deemed as an evil. There was no discussion to be had here. There was no silver lining. It was nonconstructive and was an obvious candidate for locking, not just because of it's content, but because the other thread was locked.

As for this OP, I'll give him the credit in as far as to say that I agree with his point that the forums are a bit stale lately. A lot of over the head "fix the game" discussion or "balancing /y/ character", and that stuff gets boring - really fast - especially with as bullheaded as our community can be in a debate. Outside of that, I honestly believe this to be a pretty shallow attempt at what I've mentioned above. I've thought about way to expand the way the community can interact with each other, but I always get back to this sentiment of "why"/"is it worth it". I'm really getting to a point where I feel like the majority of the forums frequent posters are immature wastes of space. Week after week of complaining about the same things over and over, asking for hand outs, arguing over who's "OP", campaigning on how to "fix" the game. It's bothersome, boring, and irritating all at the same time, but I find myself time after time telling myself not to step away like some others because there are still quality posters/members of the community like ThugPatrol, locked, atomized, NothernPolarity, Phantron, mischiefmaker, and more - I don't always agree with these guys/gals, but they almost always hold themselves to form and hold actual discussions.

If I take this thread seriously, all I am taking away from it's sentiments is the forum is so boring that controversy is welcome. There's such a lack of imagination, creativity, or persuasiveness within our community that we should let some hotheads duke it out for our amusement. Not only do I think this sentiment is wrong, but that sentiment is completely asinine.

Now, I'm going to take mys serious pants off, and go back to posting memes and making jokes about wieners. Good day.

*Slightly Admin edited with friendly asterisks. (3/6/15)