A comment on webboards and why over-active moderation sucks

[AzBat]

The wayback machine says ~April 97, as it doesn't seem to be on the Jan 97 snapshot (that had a guest book though)

That's odd. I know for sure it was 1996. Definitely had them before that design. That was the design where I completely customized the wwwboard perl scripts. Plus, July 1996 was when Jon Peddie started sponsoring the site & I had forums before then.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

It's okay, if I had to apply the off-topic rules too literally I'd have had to ban myself a long time ago! (and don't try using that as an argument with another mod or they might go around and delete my posts to make me pay for giving you all the wrong idea - and you don't want that... right? right?)

I didn't understand a word you said.

Tommy McClain

 

[Arun]

Arun, your love was and is the NV30. I think that no punishment is necessary for a man that has suffered so much

I'm not sure I ever mentioned this, but at about the same time as I was obsessed with the NV30, I was also overly enthusiastic about Tabula Rasa despite the complete lack of info. I stopped caring after a while, but I played the public beta when it came out nearly a trillion years later, and needless to say I wasn't impressed.

So yeah... I think that's a good point.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Hey, I did say it took a few years ... just wanted to make it clear by example that I've always been foul mouthed and I remembered making this thread.

My implementation of policy comes from here, the console FAQ appendix A, dated 10th April 2006:

Profanity - swear words - curse words

As much as some seem to think that curse words and other colorful usage of the English language are a part of the required grammar or punctuation of a proper sentence. In reality, in the facts, swearing to express your, thoughtful, opion is not a prerequisite to any form of discussion, that is tolerated on this forum.

Some of us thought that a rule as simple as this was not required, but the number of posts reported these days, due to foul language, is at an all time high. Forcing Mods to edit or prune a lot of posts for nothing.

So let us explain this plainly, any type of swear words are not tolerated on the forums.
If your post contains any, it will be pruned (deleted) and your posting rights will be removed, temporarily or permanently .

Good ideas have strong words to back them up, and swearing has next to nothing to contribute to an intelligent debate except emphasis for effect, which is lost if swearing is habitual. Vulgarities and profanities don't add anything to a debate, but can get people's backs up. That said, we don't rule contributor's lexicons with an iron fist and apply Nazi levels of editing all cussing, but your remark used the swear word in an extremely argumentative fashion. Responding "bullshit" to someone's opinion isn't saying, "I politely disagree," but, "you're a moron who doesn't know what the hell you're talking about," and that type of confrontational position isn't good for discussion. Lose the swearing and you lose the negatively emotional impact of what's just a difference of opinion.

For the aid of discussion, here is the post which I infractioned. To the forum at large, do you see this choice of language as confrontational or not, the sort of thing that'll invite considered responses or the sort of thing that'll annoy people into more emotional responses like insults?

Xbox360 has been a big success towards their goal of winning the home dominance battle.

Bullshit, iPad is much more effective in that regard.

PC gaming was a rock fucking solid niche, console gaming was a big money loser with temporary impact at best. XBOX was nothing more than a colossal waste of money and focus. If they don't regain focus on what's important (Windows) they will lose the consumer side of things entirely and after that it's just countdown to oblivion IMO.

For those really wanting to know the ins and outs and form a considered opinion, the whole thread is here. The infractioned post is number [strike]6[/strike] 8, very early, and the response is there to read. I didn't edit out the swearing as it had already been replied to, and IMO AlphaWolf didn't take nicely to his idea being called bullshit. It's all there for anyone else to review. It'd be good for the mod team and the board if we get real independent user evaluation on this.

 

[AzBat]

Shifty, read your post here & the thread of the infraction & I still stand by my original comment that moderating cursing is a waste of time & insignificant to other mod issues. Your long winded post here just reaffirmed my thoughts on that. You should have better things to do that trying to infer his exact emotions from his written words, which in my opinion is impossible. Personally I didn't have a problem with the cursing & don't think AlphaWolf did either. If following the rules is your hang-up, then may I suggest a RFP for scaling back the Console Forum FAQ to understate cursing & for it to match the rest of the forum rules?

Tommy McClain

 

[Squilliam]

So... which forum areas can I call Digi my b1tch! And which areas are those which I cannot?

 

[Neb]

For those really wanting to know the ins and outs and form a considered opinion, the whole thread is here. The infractioned post is number 6, very early, and the response is there to read. I didn't edit out the swearing as it had already been replied to, and IMO AlphaWolf didn't take nicely to his idea being called bullshit. It's all there for anyone else to review. It'd be good for the mod team and the board if we get real independent user evaluation on this.

Post number 6 is yours?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Post number 6 is yours?

Yeah, and I gave myself a good ticking off! I meant post 8

 

[Neb]

100% respect Shifty.

 

[Squilliam]

100% respect Shitty.

You're spamming!!!

 

[Neb]

You're spamming!!!

Dont mind me I have fever.

 

[erickscomeback]

It seems my original account also fell victim to over-moderation.

Thread: Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech

I was given a ban for "not doing my research" and "derailing the thread with pointless debates" after I expressed doubt if MegaTexture is at all different from other "texture streaming" solutions that introduce texture pop-in.

It later appeared that I was correct, as someone posted a video demonstrating that very pop-in in Rage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c5oEdfT4OWY'

Also, Rage's own boards are aflame due to texture pop-in issues: http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1236325-i-think-i-got-the-wrong-textures-in-my-download/

So it would appear that my "derailment" was actually justified concern over the viability of texture streaming techniques.

I would kindly request that my account be restored on account of it being wrongfully banned.