Poll: New forum rules - Yay or Nay?

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Disgusting...

snip

Excellent points all around. Given your prodigiously high post count, it looks as though you've invested more into this site than I have, so what I'm about to say may not be very comforting.

If they ban you, they lose. Maybe not if they ban *just* you, but if they, as a rule, ban people like you, it hurts the quality of the site, and it hurts their bottom line. They don't want to just pull in advertising revenue from people coming in once per week to watch Zero Punctuation. They're aiming higher. If they drive off their community, then they'll have killed the goose that's laying their golden eggs.

And you'll always have somewhere else to go. The internet is a big place.

Maybe part of the reason why my post count *isn't* so high is that I don't think this is the best place for intelligent discussion on the internet. It's relatively devoid of rudeness and obvious trolling, so that's nice, but it's also an awfully young and immature site. Can't even tell you how many times my unconscious reaction to reading a user-created thread has been to roll my eyes and sigh audibly. Talking to people on this site makes me feel downright old, sometimes.

Considering the pattern of events and "new mod/rule ideas" of the past few months, and the effects that has so obviously had on the community, I don't think they care any longer about trying to maintain it. Or, at least, that effects simply are not observed. The unfortunate fact is that, right now, this doesn't seem like a community anymore. Instead, it feels like we are just anonymous playthings to a handful of people who enjoy being above others. Acting out fantasies of being in control, not caring at all about what that actually means for individuals.

As for me having other places to go, that is true. I do quite well, actually. I won't lose anything no matter what happens on this site.

And i've felt a bit old here sometimes too.

But... I am just really disappointed. I don't like the direction this site is taking. The content is good, but... the authoritarianism here is killing the community. It has been for a while. Yet... this keeps going on, getting worse with each "rule update" made that, apparently, would make things better. All it ever does is piss more people off, drive more people away, and pretty soon... what is left?

This, on every conceivable level.

OT: With all due respect to Escapist staff, I in my honest opinion, believe the new rules are a train wreck. :L

And, I may be taking a leave of absence soon. :L

Also, this coincides perfectly with a few Escapees posting some not so nice things on my YouTube channel. >.>

You know who you are.

Hey, don't leave. Yeah, they made a rule almost certainly just to target you (that is my opinion, whoever's finger is hovering over the ban button), but that doesn't mean you should let them win.

I say we give them what they want and leave the site bare. Maybe they will change their minds if the forums become a ghost town.

 

[Trolldor]

The only reason this system is questionable is because the mods are flawed. If they could go about their business without ever making a mistake then this sort of 'pass/fail' system would be fine.

They can't. They will make mistakes, and there will be gross mistakes on their part. The system needs to reflect this.

My very first probation was overturned because what I recieved the probation for wasn't even what I'd written. It was what the mod had assumed I'd written, and what the mod had added on to my post.
I was successful in this appeal, how many people might not be when the situation is precisely the same?

 

[Daedalus1942]

Disgusting...

snip

Excellent points all around. Given your prodigiously high post count, it looks as though you've invested more into this site than I have, so what I'm about to say may not be very comforting.

If they ban you, they lose. Maybe not if they ban *just* you, but if they, as a rule, ban people like you, it hurts the quality of the site, and it hurts their bottom line. They don't want to just pull in advertising revenue from people coming in once per week to watch Zero Punctuation. They're aiming higher. If they drive off their community, then they'll have killed the goose that's laying their golden eggs.

And you'll always have somewhere else to go. The internet is a big place.

Maybe part of the reason why my post count *isn't* so high is that I don't think this is the best place for intelligent discussion on the internet. It's relatively devoid of rudeness and obvious trolling, so that's nice, but it's also an awfully young and immature site. Can't even tell you how many times my unconscious reaction to reading a user-created thread has been to roll my eyes and sigh audibly. Talking to people on this site makes me feel downright old, sometimes.

Considering the pattern of events and "new mod/rule ideas" of the past few months, and the effects that has so obviously had on the community, I don't think they care any longer about trying to maintain it. Or, at least, that effects simply are not observed. The unfortunate fact is that, right now, this doesn't seem like a community anymore. Instead, it feels like we are just anonymous playthings to a handful of people who enjoy being above others. Acting out fantasies of being in control, not caring at all about what that actually means for individuals.

As for me having other places to go, that is true. I do quite well, actually. I won't lose anything no matter what happens on this site.

And i've felt a bit old here sometimes too.

But... I am just really disappointed. I don't like the direction this site is taking. The content is good, but... the authoritarianism here is killing the community. It has been for a while. Yet... this keeps going on, getting worse with each "rule update" made that, apparently, would make things better. All it ever does is piss more people off, drive more people away, and pretty soon... what is left?

This, on every conceivable level.

OT: With all due respect to Escapist staff, I in my honest opinion, believe the new rules are a train wreck. :L

And, I may be taking a leave of absence soon. :L

Also, this coincides perfectly with a few Escapees posting some not so nice things on my YouTube channel. >.>

You know who you are.

Hey, don't leave. Yeah, they made a rule almost certainly just to target you (that is my opinion, whoever's finger is hovering over the ban button), but that doesn't mean you should let them win.

I say we give them what they want and leave the site bare. Maybe they will change their minds if the forums become a ghost town.

That's most likely not going to happen. Better to take up arms and join the cause.
We could use you in our group, and anyone else you know you may be dissatisfied.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapists-against-the-machine
Come join us.
-tabs<3-

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Disgusting...

snip

Excellent points all around. Given your prodigiously high post count, it looks as though you've invested more into this site than I have, so what I'm about to say may not be very comforting.

If they ban you, they lose. Maybe not if they ban *just* you, but if they, as a rule, ban people like you, it hurts the quality of the site, and it hurts their bottom line. They don't want to just pull in advertising revenue from people coming in once per week to watch Zero Punctuation. They're aiming higher. If they drive off their community, then they'll have killed the goose that's laying their golden eggs.

And you'll always have somewhere else to go. The internet is a big place.

Maybe part of the reason why my post count *isn't* so high is that I don't think this is the best place for intelligent discussion on the internet. It's relatively devoid of rudeness and obvious trolling, so that's nice, but it's also an awfully young and immature site. Can't even tell you how many times my unconscious reaction to reading a user-created thread has been to roll my eyes and sigh audibly. Talking to people on this site makes me feel downright old, sometimes.

Considering the pattern of events and "new mod/rule ideas" of the past few months, and the effects that has so obviously had on the community, I don't think they care any longer about trying to maintain it. Or, at least, that effects simply are not observed. The unfortunate fact is that, right now, this doesn't seem like a community anymore. Instead, it feels like we are just anonymous playthings to a handful of people who enjoy being above others. Acting out fantasies of being in control, not caring at all about what that actually means for individuals.

As for me having other places to go, that is true. I do quite well, actually. I won't lose anything no matter what happens on this site.

And i've felt a bit old here sometimes too.

But... I am just really disappointed. I don't like the direction this site is taking. The content is good, but... the authoritarianism here is killing the community. It has been for a while. Yet... this keeps going on, getting worse with each "rule update" made that, apparently, would make things better. All it ever does is piss more people off, drive more people away, and pretty soon... what is left?

This, on every conceivable level.

OT: With all due respect to Escapist staff, I in my honest opinion, believe the new rules are a train wreck. :L

And, I may be taking a leave of absence soon. :L

Also, this coincides perfectly with a few Escapees posting some not so nice things on my YouTube channel. >.>

You know who you are.

Hey, don't leave. Yeah, they made a rule almost certainly just to target you (that is my opinion, whoever's finger is hovering over the ban button), but that doesn't mean you should let them win.

I say we give them what they want and leave the site bare. Maybe they will change their minds if the forums become a ghost town.

Yeeees.

Jooooiiinn ussssss.

We're not a cult at alllllll.

 

[Slycne]

It seems very hypocritical to me and thank you for bringing this to my attention. I was not aware of this, but yes, it does appear you're correct. God I love the double standards on this site...
-.-
-Tabs<3-

Yeah, I know. The average forum poster risks loosing posting privileges, but it's our jobs that could potentially be on the line. Where's my equal treatment!

 

[megapenguinx]

Er... wait we have actual health bars now?

*Checks profile*
Wait...when did I go from green to yellow?
/me is severely confused.

Kind of makes me want to post less

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

I do, for things that happened over a year ago. This really is a pathetic system and if you disgree with the way the team are moderating this website, come join my group!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapists-against-the-machine
-Tabs<3-

I just want to point out how ironic it is that your group there thinks the mods treat them unfairly when those same mods allow that group to exist in the first place. So the groups existence stands as proof that they aren't as strict as you want to think.

Or something like that.

That is even more strict than the US Judicial system.

I read this and lost the rest of my respect for what your guys stand for. THe US supreme court has ruled in favor of slavery, it has ruled in favor of segregation, it has ruled that speech promoting rebelling against the government is illegal, during world war 2 the US government took all Japanese Americans an put them in concentration camps for gods sake and the supreme court ruled that that was constitutional.

So you are now telling us that the new rules (that I just read) are equal to that history??? You can't post what you want on someone else's site and you think your rights are being just as violated as victims of wartime racism?

I'm sorry, I'm new here. I don't fully understand how things are here. But from what I can tell the mods are pretty patient. Freedom of speech doesn't apply online in the first place.

I'm used to posting on sites that require all posts to be viewed by a mod before they can bee seen. I've been on sites that have way stricter rules. It will take me some time to get a better handle on this place but I think things look pretty fair here comparably.

 

[Nazulu]

What! No aggressive ranting? But they're funny.

See how this works out.

Edit: Actually, the permanent probation seems a bit much. I reckon it should go down by one every year at least.

 

[Trolldor]

I think the new rules are the DRM of the escapist.
It might stop a few bad eggs, but it won't stop them all, and you're going to lose a few good ones in the process.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

It seems very hypocritical to me and thank you for bringing this to my attention. I was not aware of this, but yes, it does appear you're correct. God I love the double standards on this site...
-.-
-Tabs<3-

Yeah, I know. The average forum poster risks loosing posting privileges, but it's our jobs that could potentially be on the line. Where's my equal treatment!

Your equal treatment is that you are not judged by the same criteria as everyone else. Let's take the Golden Goose Yahtzee for example. If I made the same gay jokes and remarks about women that he does in his videos I would be banned so fast it would break the sound barrier. Yes, he makes money for the site but it's because of people like us coming to see the videos the site is able to make that money.

Now one person on here doesn't make a difference at all, but with these rules they can conceivably ban themselves out of business. Not to mention all the times they beg for us to vote for stuff like the Webby awards. When they want something from us like that we are their best friends but once that's over we are treated like criminals before we commit any crime. Did they put off posting these until they made sure they had enough votes to win their award? It really seems that way.

 

[Eri]

If I made the same gay jokes and remarks about women that he does in his videos I would be banned so fast it would break the sound barrier.

This is pure truth. I love Yahtzee, but it's absurdly hypocritical that we can't make jokes or remarks around the same lines.

 

[Daedalus1942]

I do, for things that happened over a year ago. This really is a pathetic system and if you disgree with the way the team are moderating this website, come join my group!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapists-against-the-machine
-Tabs<3-

I just want to point out how ironic it is that your group there thinks the mods treat them unfairly when those same mods allow that group to exist in the first place. So the groups existence stands as proof that they aren't as strict as you want to think.

Or something like that.

That is even more strict than the US Judicial system.

I read this and lost the rest of my respect for what your guys stand for. THe US supreme court has ruled in favor of slavery, it has ruled in favor of segregation, it has ruled that speech promoting rebelling against the government is illegal, during world war 2 the US government took all Japanese Americans an put them in concentration camps for gods sake and the supreme court ruled that that was constitutional.

So you are now telling us that the new rules (that I just read) are equal to that history??? You can't post what you want on someone else's site and you think your rights are being just as violated as victims of wartime racism?

I'm sorry, I'm new here. I don't fully understand how things are here. But from what I can tell the mods are pretty patient. Freedom of speech doesn't apply online in the first place.

I'm used to posting on sites that require all posts to be viewed by a mod before they can bee seen. I've been on sites that have way stricter rules. It will take me some time to get a better handle on this place but I think things look pretty fair here comparably.

When i said the us judicial system, i actually meant the criminal record system, how after a certin number of year it is wiped clean. thank you for pointing this out and i shall correct this immediately.
We'd like you to join if you still wish to do so. we need every level-headed mind we can acquire.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Why do none of the Red Guards have Forum Health Meters?

Shouldn't they be judged just as we are?

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

I do, for things that happened over a year ago. This really is a pathetic system and if you disgree with the way the team are moderating this website, come join my group!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapists-against-the-machine
-Tabs<3-

I just want to point out how ironic it is that your group there thinks the mods treat them unfairly when those same mods allow that group to exist in the first place. So the groups existence stands as proof that they aren't as strict as you want to think.

Or something like that.

That is even more strict than the US Judicial system.

I read this and lost the rest of my respect for what your guys stand for. THe US supreme court has ruled in favor of slavery, it has ruled in favor of segregation, it has ruled that speech promoting rebelling against the government is illegal, during world war 2 the US government took all Japanese Americans an put them in concentration camps for gods sake and the supreme court ruled that that was constitutional.

So you are now telling us that the new rules (that I just read) are equal to that history??? You can't post what you want on someone else's site and you think your rights are being just as violated as victims of wartime racism?

I'm sorry, I'm new here. I don't fully understand how things are here. But from what I can tell the mods are pretty patient. Freedom of speech doesn't apply online in the first place.

I'm used to posting on sites that require all posts to be viewed by a mod before they can bee seen. I've been on sites that have way stricter rules. It will take me some time to get a better handle on this place but I think things look pretty fair here comparably.

When i said the us judicial system, i actually meant the criminal record system, how after a certin number of year it is wiped clean. thank you for pointing this out and i shall correct this immediately.
We'd like you to join if you still wish to do so. we need every level-headed mind we can acquire.
-Tabs<3-

I'll like the community so far. Seems like nice people for the most part. Thanks for the level headed response yourself. Good luck with whatever your doing man.

 

[Rottweiler]

I'm not sure, I'll have to see when it pops up for me.

EDIT: Ah hah, that's what you meant. Well, my only concern is the 'offensive' content. If it was based on what a reasonable person would find offensive, well and good. If it's based on someone so sensitive- or claiming to be- that they use being offended as a weapon...will be a problem.

 

[Yureina]

I pointed out earlier that Spinwhiz or one of the mods has said that the severity of the current infractions will be taken into account in the future. I don't think it's a perfect system by any means but I understand the reasoning behind it. I believe that a more definite system was needed or you get posters who are almost constantly on probation, but never actually banned. (A bit of an exaggeration, yes, but I'm sleepy.) I'm not sure what "fair" about that system either.

And the result is to create a system that punishes people for very old, sometimes very minor offenses that no sane mod would bother keeping track of. Obviously it is a management nightmare to sort through -every- person who has ever been modwrathed, but treating people like criminals for the smallest of warnings? No. Just... no.

 

[Julianking93]

Why do none of the Red Guards have Forum Health Meters?

Shouldn't they be judged just as we are?

They are but it's not visible on profiles.

Of course, any mod would tell you that, but why exactly won't they show it? The answer should be pretty fucking obvious.

 

[powell86]

Can somebody explain to me why Robot Overlod got suspended due to this post????

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.283499.11144036