Recent Forum Discussions & Locked Threads

[Neddie]

First, I should preface this thread by informing the community at large that I am now a Forum Moderator, and thus have the authority to discuss these matters and arbitrate over matters of policy in a direct manner. There was no official announcement, so I make it now to clear up any remaining doubt or ambiguity.

Of late, we have had to step up our moderation efforts to control and minimize conflicts between different members of the community within a number of different topics. In the course of monitoring the forum, I have encountered every Felony and Misdemeanor offense at least once over the last two weeks, some as many as twenty times. If we were to moderate retroactively, I would be compelled to warn about forty users via private message, thirty or so for Felony offenses. This would be on top of the considerable work already put in by the moderation team.

This is unacceptable. Moreover, it will not occur again. In this case I do not feel that I personally have the authority to conduct moderation retroactively, as I was not appointed until after the fact. However, I am informing and warning the community at large that we will not permit serious abuse of community members, we will not allow unmoderated flamewars, and we will not condone retaliatory attacks. The forum rules will be enforced and the peace will be kept.

I will now open this thread to discussion.

[Snipawolf]

Go for it. Too bad you now have more work to do, though. Gives me more time to prepare for your expansion of Spring though

[FLOZi]

/me pulls on neddie's puppet strings

[iamacup]

ok let me sumarise a conversation i had with someone about this forum recently

cup: The forum is a steaming pile of shit
someone: yeh
cup: i can get away with anything lol
someone: why are you not a mod yet you would have banned them all
cup: thats why
cup: when i used to have a clan, people who stepped outside the forum rules were banned.
cup: the forum worked
someone: thats what a forum should be like
cup: same for the game server... (more about how cup maek nazi over his gameservers of time past)

ok this is a very shortened verison of the conversation but it sumarises it nicely.

[iamacup]

see facepunch for the way a forum should be

btw i should be banned for this post as it is a double post.





i expect to be banned for at least a day if you are really going to implement fixingz00rs

[iamacup]

oh wait i dont think the mods on this forum can ban

what a shame.

(ban for this post aswell)

cruel to be kind anyone?

[rattle]

The forum rules will be enforced and the peace will be kept.

Looking forward to.

[LordMatt]

iamacup for mod, even if he bans me

[Saktoth]

In the end it doesnt really matter. The people who participate in these flame wars know what they are getting into, its only e-drama.

All the actually constructive stuff that goes on in these forums is usually somewhere else.

Also, ITT neddie gets drunk with power (woohoo!).

[LordMatt]

I think someone who has admin powers here and can easily look up all the mods should post a list somewhere. Timely moderation starts with users reporting problems to the mods, as mods tend to be busy, and not always see a problem right away.

[SwiftSpear]

Facepunch is an elitist moronic cesspool of a circle jerk. Forums are for talking. If you tell people what they can say, you're telling them what they can think, and that's the point at which you're quite literally being a nazi.

I strongly believe no one has the right to not be offended by others, and I strongly believe that everyone has a right to contribute whatever they can.

Every community is going to have people who like the way it's run and people who don't. The only difference is here we don't ban you for it.


I'm well aware we need more forum mods right now to enforce our rules more timely and unilaterally. That being said, we're always going to make this community about the users who use it, and not about a bunch of rules and protocols that squeeze the life out of normal human interaction.

[hunterw]

I strongly believe no one has the right to not be offended by others

THIS OFFENDS ME!!!!!!! RARRRRRRRRRRR

[Felix the Cat]

On the other hand, is trolling considered normal human interaction?

Do I need to go back to my ways of a couple of months ago where I was trolling to make a point? (Actually not necessary, see also SmuG.)

[Warlord Zsinj]

I'm quite glad to see you've got a moderatorship here, neddy, you tend to have quite a level head in most situations.

I'm looking forward to seeing you lay the smackdown on any misbehaving parties :)

But for the love of god, why is it that as soon as people gain a little power here they all have to lunge for their thesauruses?

[SwiftSpear]

On the other hand, is trolling considered normal human interaction?

Do I need to go back to my ways of a couple of months ago where I was trolling to make a point? (Actually not necessary, see also SmuG.)

Fishing for a specific reaction is normal, having opinions others disagree with is normal... The problem with "trolling" is that when I ask what it means and why I should ban people who do it, the answer I get is "Trolls are people who intentionally try to aggravate and anger other people", but when I see people calling others trolls, what I see is 90% someone just disagreeing with an argument, or playing devils advocate to make a point. There is a double standard in which the world can be meant to mean anyone who angers other people for any reason, or it can mean those who intentionally fish for reactions JUST for the sake of aggravating people. The former is fine and valid, the latter is already bannable under our flaming rules, and anti flame baiting clauses, however, it's also very rare.

[Neddie]

My speech has always been rather verbose.

[Ishach]

ive been banned from eerything like 4 times

[tombom]

But for the love of god, why is it that as soon as people gain a little power here they all have to lunge for their thesauruses?

Neddiedrow always posts like that.

Also I agre with SwiftSpear.

[KDR_11k]

Swift: Let's not forget arguing a point in a way that causes more friction than necessary, e.g. by calling anyone who disagrees an idiot. Expressing dissent should be done in a way that does not unnecessarily aggravate people, deliberately adding an offensive tone to a statement is no different from just flaming.

[SwiftSpear]

Swift: Let's not forget arguing a point in a way that causes more friction than necessary, e.g. by calling anyone who disagrees an idiot. Expressing dissent should be done in a way that does not unnecessarily aggravate people, deliberately adding an offensive tone to a statement is no different from just flaming.

When intentional, yes... I'd agree. However, the vast majority of people use these kind of argumentative fallacies just out of habit. Also, it can be really hard to moderate stuff like that unless as a moderator you understand the context of the argument, which is why it often gets missed when it is being used intentionally, especially in the content creation forums where we currently don't have many active moderators who know what they are talking about.

Ideally when we catch people doing stuff like that, we give several fair warnings and then start taking action if they continue getting caught.