The Escapist Community is a tad too toxic

[Josh123914]

What attempts were made to be more inclusive?

How about the decision to allow GG threads to exist on the Escapist?

Wow. Yeeah, because suffocating discussion would have been so much better.

What is being discussed? It's all, "GG Talks about GG, What do you think?" There aren't even that many GG/Anti fights, it's just dead. You just had airplay, and shit has gotten QUIETER since.

Take the hint.

Oh God.

Please just make a thread about how Gamergate is dying or whatever in GID. I can already tell this is gonna sprout a whole page worth of responses.

 

[IceForce]

Some of the responses in this thread amuse me greatly. In particular the number of people saying that they lament how 'politicized' this forum has become.
Because only a few months ago, at the beginning of the year, there was a call from on-high to make this site more 'apolitical'. And people cheered and praised this decision.

Fast-forward to today, and The Escapist community is more politicized than ever. Apparently 'apolitical' wasn't something they were after afterall.

"Libertarians" always think they're apolitical, and it always goes sideways in a hurry.

From where I'm standing, it just looks like this site has replaced one brand of politics with another.

There are many words I would use to describe The Escapist, but "apolitical" isn't one of them.

 

[IceForce]

What attempts were made to be more inclusive?

How about the decision to allow GG threads to exist on the Escapist?

Wow. Yeeah, because suffocating discussion would have been so much better.

If you're running your own forum and the "discussion" your observing turns out to be mostly a bunch of primates throwing feces around your forum, then yes it's better to remove it from your forum entirely.
That's exactly the reason why GG/Quinnspiracy was culled from so many internet forums right at the start, because back then those were ugly times, and the primates were out in force.

 

[Josh123914]

What attempts were made to be more inclusive?

How about the decision to allow GG threads to exist on the Escapist?

Wow. Yeeah, because suffocating discussion would have been so much better.

What is being discussed? It's all, "GG Talks about GG, What do you think?" There aren't even that many GG/Anti fights, it's just dead. You just had airplay, and shit has gotten QUIETER since.

Take the hint.

Oh God.

Please just make a thread about how Gamergate is dying or whatever in GID. I can already tell this is gonna sprout a whole page worth of responses.

I'd rather cover myself in rotting herring and roll around with sea lions. It's funny though, that the GG reaction to someone saying, "GG is dying" is "Hey lets all talk about that!"

GG... GG's favorite (and increasingly only) topic.

You're the one bringing it up and taking potshots at GGers.

I just don't want this thread derailed.

 

[shrekfan246]

As Frappe has wisely pointed out, if people want more civil and collegial conversation they can foster it by behaving civilly and collegially...and not only with those who share their predilections. They can stop penning angry diatribes and bait threads, they can stop searching for the most volatile engagements to post in, they can stop combing threads looking for the one guy they disagree with so they can vomit forth a bilious reply. Those are all things people can stop doing if they genuinely want civil discussion and a reduction in forum "toxicity". I'm not sure any of the local cadre of drama addicts will ever do any such thing...for what should be fairly obvious reasons...but everyone grows out of a phase at some point. Maybe this could be that day! Anything's possible.

Of course, in my case doing so has resulted in a drastic reduction of posting quantity, because angry diatribes and bait threads appear to be the only things I can find anymore. I barely even open the actual GD or OT forums anymore, and every time I do I see the exact same threads that were on the first pages a week earlier.

I think we should all investigate ourselves. I'll start by looking into my conduct, interviewing me, and determining that I am awesome. You should do the same.

We can all report back with our findings.

I have measured myself and found myself wanting.

Conflicts on this site used to be funny. When was the last time we had a quality troll? What happened to all the playful teasing?

We're apparently not allowed to have fun anymore

I would actually pay money for another Karutomaru at this point.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Of course, in my case doing so has resulted in a drastic reduction of posting quantity, because angry diatribes and bait threads appear to be the only things I can find anymore. I barely even open the actual GD or OT forums anymore, and every time I do I see the exact same threads that were on the first pages a week earlier.

Make a new thread then! I'll post in it!

Probably!

If I see it!

Which I probably won't! Who am I kidding?

 

[Phasmal]

I dunno, man, I remember such riveting threads as `Can you turn a whore into a housewife` which were totally acceptable back in the day, The Escapist's ever-present lowkey obsession with rape (which I see has sort of made its way into this topic as well because disagreeing with someone is totes like victim blaming), and other such niceties.

Is people disagreeing with someone bemoaning the state of our culture because a comic won an award and he would really rather it hadn't- is that the step too far?

Doesn't seem particularly heartbreaking to me. If you wanna break out the tiny violins then fine, but I don't think that thread was very toxic. I dunno. Maybe I'm just part of the problem.

 

[IceForce]

Conflicts on this site used to be funny. When was the last time we had a quality troll? What happened to all the playful teasing?

We're apparently not allowed to have fun anymore

I would actually pay money for another Karutomaru at this point.

Maybe we should start a Patreon.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I would say... "Identity Politics" and "Puerile" would be the way to describe it. The kind of politics you get from people who think even their ignorant meandering thoughts must be an improvement on existing systems. It's hysterically funny when people like that collide with reality.

Interesting viewpoint, puts a lot of the things I was searching for a description of into a coherent thought. Thank you. Seriously, its been nagging the hell out of me to actually describe my perspective.

OT: The toxicity of this forum, from when I started here, seems to have peaks and valleys, though the peaks have been lasting a bit longer than the valleys recently. Coming to the discussion late, having read a sizable majority of the responses its all I can do not to respond to quite a few of them and call out some poor behavior but it seems that job has already been taken.
Honestly I'd like to see people use less snark and more coherent language that doesn't personally attack the person who they are replying to. No matter how subtle you try to make it, no matter how veiled your criticism of a person is, the fact of the matter comes out to this: Personal attacks are not a discussion, they're beyond even an argument. They are toxic in nature and not at all a valid way of pushing a discussion forward. It matters not what you say you're trying to do, such language does not a discussion make.

I have only this to say: Tacos rule.

 

[shrekfan246]

Of course, in my case doing so has resulted in a drastic reduction of posting quantity, because angry diatribes and bait threads appear to be the only things I can find anymore. I barely even open the actual GD or OT forums anymore, and every time I do I see the exact same threads that were on the first pages a week earlier.

Make a new thread then! I'll post in it!

Probably!

If I see it!

Which I probably won't! Who am I kidding?

For a while I was considering taking my old "Sonic '06 is objectively better than Portal" thread and turning it into a consistent thing, but now since I've assumed direct control of lacktheknack's [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/lacktheknack] Youtube channel I've decided that if I do that, I'd rather just make it a video series or something.

Even if it means less people would actually end up seeing it.

Conflicts on this site used to be funny. When was the last time we had a quality troll? What happened to all the playful teasing?

We're apparently not allowed to have fun anymore

I would actually pay money for another Karutomaru at this point.

Maybe we should start a Patreon.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but I'm not sure crowdfunded trolling and/or teasing/mocking is a very good idea. XD

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

I see a lot of pearl-clutching about the analogy, but no one seems to have anything else to say about it. So I guess I must repeat.

The only pearl clutching I see is about how inu-kun got disagreed at for something he said.

I also already addressed the comparison. First it requires inu to be a 'victim' of something. Nothing unfair was done to inu. Secondly it requires the reaction to not be appropriate. It was. Take those away and it's an empty comparison.

Well, lets see. There is the merits or lack there of of the comic as to why it might win in the first place.

The OP came out with the position it was undeserved. The OP failed himself to give much on this front. It is not unreasonable for people to expect the OP to back themselves up more.

There is the competition and their merits or lack there of in judging. There was competing stories in the same bracket. There is the controversy about the puppies stuff. There was the fact it is a comic and not a book or short story in a more conventional sense. Really, it had a lot to make a topic out of, some people actually tried to do just that, but others, well, they did what you just described, they saw the poster, leaped at it to take shots at them.

They leaped at the OP's claim becaude the OP provided nothing else material for people to discuss. Starting a thread suggesting it shouldn't have been awarded to Ms. Marvel then not providing any reason why is not a very good start. Do you really expect everyone else to provide the material for the OPs opinion when they provided nothing except an accusation in regards to why it won? I'd say it is perfectly reasonable to focus on the claim the OP made and failed to back up.

Yeah, the "woe is the culture" stuff is silly, but so what? If people didn't think there was anything on that bone, they should have, as the staff has said many times before, not posted. It still sounds like a weak justification because of how you look at them. Poland was just asking for that invasion, look how weak their military was, amIright?.

The mods didn't seem to believe any of it broke the rules so... They say that when they warn people for off topic posts and the like. They didn't warn people for it that I recall. So nah.

 

[Colour Scientist]

There are many words I would use to describe The Escapist, but "apolitical" isn't one of them.

How about assymetrical? Atypical? Asexual? Amoral?

 

[Colour Scientist]

I dunno, man, I remember such riveting threads as `Can you turn a whore into a housewife` which were totally acceptable back in the day

I'll always remember the classic "Should women be allowed to get breast implants?"

We need to protect them from their vain selves. XD

 

[Ricardo Lima]

Theres a lot of animosity and theres a lot of political crusaders.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

One thing I'd like to add, if any of you think the gaming community in general is toxic, try your hand at reading some Pro Wrestling forum discussions. Holy fucking shit those people make this forum look like the Kindergarten playground compared to the vile toxicity waiting in that basement. I call it a basement but it has no upper levels, just basements all the way down.

 

[vallorn]

What attempts were made to be more inclusive?

How about the decision to allow GG threads to exist on the Escapist?

I imagined that wasn't an attempt at inclusivity so much as it not being against the rules and them not being willing to take the step to say they didn't want it.

Because of course if one personally doesn't like something one should ignore all the rules and become a dictator. Obviously a benevolent one since one knows better than all the uncivilized proles with different opinions. /s

Back on point, There's nothing in what you wrote there which stands up to evidence based scrutiny. I refer to the GJP leaks where we see Ben Kuchera, failed head of the PA Report and professional hack, leaning on Greg Tito, a high ranking employee of one of his competitors, to try and get him to swing in with the narrative that the professional bullies, charlatans and arseholes, who mostly made up the GJP mailing list, were spinning. If the staff were as close to banning GG from the forums as you imply then the level of peer pressure felt by employees like Mr Tito would easily have enabled them to justify banning it somehow, that it was not banned seems to suggest that the staff at this marvelous website were not close to banning it but the records do show that they and the moderation team here policed the topic heavily for any rule breakers so as to keep the topic under control.

These are not the practices of a website who was barely allowing something, they are the practices of a website who are not going to punish innocent forumgoers and consumers of it's content because of some lies printed by their competition.

Lol what the hell? Perfect example of the kind of attitude that really does make it toxic. I say GG wasn't against the rules and would take an extra step to keep out, trying to point out that it wasn't allowed out of inclusiveness but rather allowing it was the passive position and disallowing the active... but apparently for at least one GGer this isn't glowing enough praise so I get this bizarre rant at me for things I never said.

I didn't make any suggestions there. Though you seem to fail to understand how rules on the site work. If they wanted something gone they could just make new rules, which is hardly ignoring the rules. But I didn't suggest they should.

Evidence based scrutiny? Maybe you should start by seeing what I actually said. I never said they were on the verge of banning it. I didn't imply it either. I said they weren't willing to take the step to say they didn't want it to point out disallowing it is an extra step to exclude it as opposed to allowing it being an extra step of inclusion.

God, talk about being insanely sensitive over anyone not praising GG and making up shit I never suggested or implied. Here's a perfect example of toxicity.

You know, simply clarifying what I may have misread would have sufficed rather than holding me up as a guy to be ritually burned. If you will accept my apology for misreading what you say you wrote then we can happily move past this.

And besides, you know this is how I conduct myself if someone disproves me. I apologize for being wrong rather than attacking the person, the latter of which is the kind of behavior that makes these forums hard to bear for newer members.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

What attempts were made to be more inclusive?

How about the decision to allow GG threads to exist on the Escapist?

I imagined that wasn't an attempt at inclusivity so much as it not being against the rules and them not being willing to take the step to say they didn't want it.

Because of course if one personally doesn't like something one should ignore all the rules and become a dictator. Obviously a benevolent one since one knows better than all the uncivilized proles with different opinions. /s

Back on point, There's nothing in what you wrote there which stands up to evidence based scrutiny. I refer to the GJP leaks where we see Ben Kuchera, failed head of the PA Report and professional hack, leaning on Greg Tito, a high ranking employee of one of his competitors, to try and get him to swing in with the narrative that the professional bullies, charlatans and arseholes, who mostly made up the GJP mailing list, were spinning. If the staff were as close to banning GG from the forums as you imply then the level of peer pressure felt by employees like Mr Tito would easily have enabled them to justify banning it somehow, that it was not banned seems to suggest that the staff at this marvelous website were not close to banning it but the records do show that they and the moderation team here policed the topic heavily for any rule breakers so as to keep the topic under control.

These are not the practices of a website who was barely allowing something, they are the practices of a website who are not going to punish innocent forumgoers and consumers of it's content because of some lies printed by their competition.

Lol what the hell? Perfect example of the kind of attitude that really does make it toxic. I say GG wasn't against the rules and would take an extra step to keep out, trying to point out that it wasn't allowed out of inclusiveness but rather allowing it was the passive position and disallowing the active... but apparently for at least one GGer this isn't glowing enough praise so I get this bizarre rant at me for things I never said.

I didn't make any suggestions there. Though you seem to fail to understand how rules on the site work. If they wanted something gone they could just make new rules, which is hardly ignoring the rules. But I didn't suggest they should.

Evidence based scrutiny? Maybe you should start by seeing what I actually said. I never said they were on the verge of banning it. I didn't imply it either. I said they weren't willing to take the step to say they didn't want it to point out disallowing it is an extra step to exclude it as opposed to allowing it being an extra step of inclusion.

God, talk about being insanely sensitive over anyone not praising GG and making up shit I never suggested or implied. Here's a perfect example of toxicity.

You know, simply clarifying what I may have misread would have sufficed rather than holding me up as a guy to be ritually burned. If you will accept my apology for misreading what you say you wrote then we can happily move past this.

And besides, you know this is how I conduct myself if someone disproves me. I apologize for being wrong rather than attacking the person, the latter of which is the kind of behavior that makes these forums hard to bear for newer members.

There's misunderstanding and then there's the point where I look at my post and I see no particular reasonable justification for the response I got, much less the tone of it. There's misreading and then there's building off it to something blatantly not there.

If you dislike the tone of my first response then maybe consider the tone of yours first.

 

[DoPo]

There are many words I would use to describe The Escapist, but "apolitical" isn't one of them.

How about assymetrical? Atypical? Asexual? Amoral?

I'd probably go with AAAAAAA!

Worth pointing out it'd be because of the apoliticalness[footnote]the spellchecker doesn't think this is a real word. It also doesn't think "spellchecker"[footnote]I know it's actually spelled "spell checker"[footnote]Aren't you glad you read the footnotes now?[/footnote][/footnote] is a real word, though, so I'm still going to use "apoliticalness". [/footnote] of the community. Or rather the lack of it.

On a completely unrelated note - you were gone for a while, so welcome back

 

[Scars Unseen]

And I just want to scream...

[HEADING=1]MAYBE PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS THAN YOU![/HEADING]

I mean holy shit is that so hard to understand that people simply like/hate things you don't like/hate, no it has to be some political motive!

You know who also liked different things than me? Hitler. And... um, Kim Jong-un! And ISIS too.

Actually, they liked all your favorite things. So for the good of everyone else, you aren't allowed to like things anymore. Think of the children!