Escapists: Why are we so different?

Boneasse

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Jul 16, 2008
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That's right, I'm talking about us, the Escapists in general.

Now, whereever you go on the internet, whether it's forums, game-sites, news-sites, youtube etc. we see spammers, trolls, people with bad personalities and other negativities.

But then we come here. To the Escapist. Here we can dwell in the forums, have meaningfull conversations, reasonable discussions and talk about ourselves and our feelings without being attacked by the general populus.

Occaitionally there will be a black sheep somewhere, who will eventually be weeded out or find out that he/she does not belong on this site, but it's rare.

So I'm asking you, one escapist to another;

Why are we so different? What makes this site, better than most places in this aspect?
 

Drakmeire

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Jun 27, 2009
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The mods keep us all in line. if you troll here you don't receive any mercy and rightly so.
There my be trolls from time to time but they vanish quickly.
 

Zenode

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Jan 21, 2009
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Personally i dont see this site being more "intelligent" in terms of the forums, just that the trolls are banned quite quickly which doesnt make it degenerate into a pool of rage.

Its the mods keeping an iron fist on the trolls, not the people that keep this place "better" than other sites
 

Boneasse

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Drakmeire said:
The mods keep us all in line. if you troll here you don't receive any mercy and rightly so.
There my be trolls from time to time but they vanish quickly.
That's true. But that doesn't explain why the overall responses are so positive in this site? Except for the occasional slap across the fingers if you make several repeat-threads, the general attitude towards others is positive.

Certain discussions can trigger a bit of name-calling, but even that it is possible to resolve, again, with reasonable discussion.

It amazes me, and I'm glad of that.
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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The lower popularity curve (relative to other sites) + more specific demographic (primarily hardcore gamers) + good moderation staff = better conversations.

Once the site becomes populated to the point where the moderation staff cannot keep up, the average quality of conversation/topics will drop. It's happened everywhere else I've been to, it will happen here.

Wherever there are concentrations of nice/decent people, they will inevitably attract assholes, because assholes prey upon decent people. Someone out there is always looking for something to ruin or conquer.
 

D_987

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Jun 15, 2008
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This again?

There's nothing special about this forum, bar the fact people like to pretend the community is somehow superior to other forums...
 

Boneasse

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D_987 said:
This again?

There's nothing special about this site, bar the fact people like to pretend the community is somehow superior to other websites...
Again? *Sigh*, I guess I'm still not too adept at using the search-option.
 

scw55

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Nov 18, 2009
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Specific demographic. We have shows like Movie Bob, Extra Creditz, Zero Punctuation, Loading Ready Run etc which panders to the more intelligent, synical but still fun happy people. And other articles.

There's also no troll bait.

Also the Thought Police make trolls vanish before they click the post button.
 

D_987

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Boneasse said:
Again? *Sigh*, I guess I'm still not too adept at using the search-option.
No don't worry, I don't mean I've seen this thread recently, it just seems to pop up every few months or so. It'll no doubt receive the inevitable responses of people believing themselves to be more intelligent than they are because they post on a certain gaming forum...

scw55 said:
Specific demographic. We have shows like Movie Bob, Extra Creditz, Zero Punctuation, Loading Ready Run etc which panders to the more intelligent, synical but still fun happy people. And other articles.
Ok, let's not delude ourselves...all those shows, including Zero Punctuation, appeal to the masses because they aren't particularly in-depth or intelligent when discussing their subject matter particularly the likes of Movie Bob. Or at least, when doing so, they discuss their topic in a way it'll still be interesting to watch - that's how it should be, and Zero Punctuation does it better than most [there're a lot of small jokes and details you often miss when watching said videos] but there's still a reason all these video-series flash the words "long word" or "difficult discussion" or whatever when talking about certain subjects or using a word not found in the common vocabulary - because they're not trying to appeal to an overly intellectual audience.
 

Boneasse

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D_987 said:
Boneasse said:
Again? *Sigh*, I guess I'm still not too adept at using the search-option.
No don't worry, I don't mean I've seen this thread recently, it just seems to pop up every few months or so. It'll no doubt receive the inevitable responses of people believing themselves to be more intelligent than they are because they post on a certain gaming forum...
Ah, roger that! You had me worried there. And to your other repose, I guess that's true but some people are just like that, I suppose?
 

Yagharek

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Jun 9, 2010
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It's certainly a decent forum, but definetely has negatives aswell, just not necessarily the ones people think of when they think of the "bad" parts of the internet.

In many ways, the irritated replies often seen in "Am I the only one?" threads apply here.
 

manaman

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Sep 2, 2007
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Boneasse said:
Why are we so different? What makes this site, better than most places in this aspect?
It's all because I am here. Ready to give anyone that needs it a swift kick in the pants.
 

Jim Grim

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Jun 6, 2009
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scw55 said:
Zero Punctuation... No troll bait.
Heh.

Anyhoo, I get really ticked off when people get it into their heads that this site is special somehow. Seriously, it's all down to the mods, and even then if you just take a few minutes trawling the internet you'll find plenty of forums of similar quality.
 

tomtom94

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May 11, 2009
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A severe lack of tolerance for trolling (which can occasionally lead to rants from those who believe themselves to be exempt from criticism, some guy with I believe Hammy from Over The Hedge's avatar being a good example) and the fact that the sort of people attracted to the site (well, those who are for non-Yahtzee reasons) in the first place require a certain frame of mind.

Plus in a way it becomes a self-fulfilling stereotype: you expect things to be a certain way thus they are.

(You'd be surprised but the rest of the internet don't like us. I've noticed it frequently while browsing TVTropes.)
 

Nifty

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Sep 30, 2008
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This place certainly isn't more intelligent than any where else, generally speaking. Have you seen what happens when someone makes a thread about Call of Duty or Halo or Final Fantasy? It degenerates into a bunch of gibbons hurling shit at each other at a startling rate.
 

SovietSecrets

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Nov 16, 2008
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Because all of us are afraid to be banned by the mods. Though were not better than everything. People still troll to a lesser extent.
 

D_987

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Boneasse said:
Ah, roger that! You had me worried there. And to your other repose, I guess that's true but some people are just like that, I suppose?
True, but it's part of the reason I dislike these type of threads - people often use them to congratulate themselves, when it's usually the small minority of the forum community that create thought provoking or interesting threads.
 

D_987

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tomtom94 said:
(You'd be surprised but the rest of the internet don't like us. I've noticed it frequently while browsing TVTropes.)
That's because of the elitist attitude threads like these only encourage. The issue being this forum doesn't have anything to be elitist about...

Not to mention other sites dislike the way The Escapist reports news and handles its online media in general.