Negative Fan-boy-ism Article
- Thread starter Raze
- Start date
I like the censoring of the word. It's a practical reminder that ******s are not welcome. It says "you have no use for that word" or "why would you want to discuss that anyhow?". Having to misspell it drives the point home.
And they do exist here. The good news is that even to most hell-bent manage to type out coherent posts. (For the most part.) And there's really little reason to call anyone out on it*, as the posters here are generally pretty smart and already know who's a console warrior and who's not. The key to dealing with it is to not take things too seriously. That's exactly their problem, afterall. Taking things too seriosuly.
A few weeks ago I recieved a nasty PM from an apparently civil poster accusing me of being a ******! And I got an orage square to go with it! All for (jokingly! with a damn smilie!) suggesting a certain game's framerate could be higher than 30. When the bad rep came, I was pretty pissed off. I sent Steven a pm pointing out the malicious neg-rep and then went on to post an off-topic rant about it in the thread. Generally became disruptive because I forgot that I post here for fun.
Then when the confrontational PM's started coming, I saw that the sender was obviously very concerned with the competition between systems. They were actually more interested in getting into a non-reffed pissing match via pm than to sort out any possible misunderstanding or bad blood. I realised that this person actually was holding back alot and making an effort to be civil in their public postings, despite passion for their war effort.
So even if all is not pefect, I am thankful for the overall quality of postings and posters here, and the great moderation and community policing that I can enjoy on these forums. And I am thankful for the restraint shown by those who privatly are really invested in their "good fight".
*I have, on two or three occasions, pointed the finger at egregious offenders, and have regretted it everytime. I was fanning the flames, and not saying anything that the regulars don't know anyhow.
And they do exist here. The good news is that even to most hell-bent manage to type out coherent posts. (For the most part.) And there's really little reason to call anyone out on it*, as the posters here are generally pretty smart and already know who's a console warrior and who's not. The key to dealing with it is to not take things too seriously. That's exactly their problem, afterall. Taking things too seriosuly.
A few weeks ago I recieved a nasty PM from an apparently civil poster accusing me of being a ******! And I got an orage square to go with it! All for (jokingly! with a damn smilie!) suggesting a certain game's framerate could be higher than 30. When the bad rep came, I was pretty pissed off. I sent Steven a pm pointing out the malicious neg-rep and then went on to post an off-topic rant about it in the thread. Generally became disruptive because I forgot that I post here for fun.
Then when the confrontational PM's started coming, I saw that the sender was obviously very concerned with the competition between systems. They were actually more interested in getting into a non-reffed pissing match via pm than to sort out any possible misunderstanding or bad blood. I realised that this person actually was holding back alot and making an effort to be civil in their public postings, despite passion for their war effort.
So even if all is not pefect, I am thankful for the overall quality of postings and posters here, and the great moderation and community policing that I can enjoy on these forums. And I am thankful for the restraint shown by those who privatly are really invested in their "good fight".
*I have, on two or three occasions, pointed the finger at egregious offenders, and have regretted it everytime. I was fanning the flames, and not saying anything that the regulars don't know anyhow.
JacksBleedingEyes
Regular
The solution is simple. You're a negative ****** if you say product A is a POS but product B is the holy grail. So I guess all you have to do is just say Product A is a POS and if you don't mention Product B then you aren't a fan boy.
Thanks for the compliment.
It's indeed a difficult endeavour to moderate the discussions in such a way that the said discussions remain intellectually interesting.
The simpler solutions would be not to moderate, save for some rare cases like spam and direct insults or to apply a heavy moderation, without discernment, permanently banning people, who commit infractions to the forum rules, without proper warnings issued.
But we prefer to display that moderation is around and available, as well as we prefer to remind, from time to time, in threads the proper conduct expected from all on the forums. That way, even people who are used to other forum "bad posting habits" can, if they are honestly interested in proper debates, adapt their posting style to what is acceptable on B3D.
By the way, after reading this thread, we decided to turn off the censorship of the word fanboy, which was a legacy of the old forum software and the product of times when moderation wasn't as strict as it is now and when people used to call themselves names every now and then. Since those time are long past and since we don't censor any other words, including cuss words, we just removed it from the list.
Obviously, it goes without saying that the fact that we removed it from the censor list does not mean that we condone its use when refering to another member on the forums. It's still considred as an improper way to characterize a person.
Now, sorry for the thread derailing, let us get back on topic since there are some pretty interesting points discussed in this thread.
Personally I don't think there should be any moderation,no offence I think the mods here are great as well.
But I guess from a business standpoint you don't want your forum becoming known as the cess pool of the internet. Maybe this site is different but I'm assuming the readership is tied to advertising.
But I guess from a business standpoint you don't want your forum becoming known as the cess pool of the internet. Maybe this site is different but I'm assuming the readership is tied to advertising.
All places of intelligent debate and discussion have moderation, normally in the form a chairman. Human beings are apt to digress and so just to stay on topic within the remit of the discussion, moderation is needed. It also has the task of 'bouncer' to keep the clientele to those preferred persons. In that respsect moderation is no different to letting in invited guests and kicking out stray dogs. You don't let just anyone/thing in your house. Doing away with any moderation means chaos and no capacity to develop the particulars of the community you want.
well said XB
@Crayon: Ok Crayon this thread isn't about expanding on our own personal experiences with fanboyism y'know? Your indirect - yet lengthy - mentioning of somone in that post is the exact sort of thing that might turn this into a battleground thread instead of a Geneva thread... so, please refrain from speaking on specifics and speak instead to the larger topic.
It's not about business at all. Extreme free speech advocates always puzzle me, and mind you I'm a fan of free speech. But consider the desires of the site creators - are they not entitled to create a site that reflects their own vision in a free society? In this case, they created a site to focus on intelligent discussion of graphics/computer technology. And if by the owners design the site has as part of its structure a mechanism in place via which certain posts and posters deemed as 'unwelcome' may be removed, is that not the site owners right in having license to achieve their vision? Think of Internet forums like this as a private residence with an open invitation to visit - but if you're not here for the party, or have intentions of causing trouble, you'll get kicked out.
As I mentioned earlier, there are sites on the Internet that provide a full-on unmoderated environment; your presence here rather than on those implies that on some level, that structure fails to provide. For its part B3D is blessed in having a very mature membership by Internet standards; frankly the site is more or less self-moderating.
It's not about business at all. Extreme free speech advocates always puzzle me, and mind you I'm a fan of free speech. But consider the desires of the site creators - are they not entitled to create a site that reflects their own vision in a free society? In this case, they created a site to focus on intelligent discussion of graphics/computer technology. And if by the owners design the site has as part of its structure a mechanism in place via which certain posts and posters deemed as 'unwelcome' may be removed, is that not the site owners right in having license to achieve their vision? Think of Internet forums like this as a private residence with an open invitation to visit - but if you're not here for the party, or have intentions of causing trouble, you'll get kicked out.
As I mentioned earlier, there are sites on the Internet that provide a full-on unmoderated environment; your presence here rather than on those implies that on some level, that structure fails to provide. For its part B3D is blessed in having a very mature membership by Internet standards; frankly the site is more or less self-moderating.
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Hey I'm not trying to tell you what to do. When or if I get my own site I can do my own rules. I wouldn't be here if I didn't like it.
I just happen to think your site works because of the lack of moderation. I find the peoples silence towards bad posters speaks more strongly than a slap. I've felt it myself and it's more effective.
I think how the fellow posters treat the bad ones is more effective than the big hand of an official moderator. I guess we are both talking about moderation,but just different forms.
Yeah, looking over it, I was too wordy getting to the point.
Point being was that there are those who show restraint in their public postings in an effort to maintain quality discussion, even tho their private opinions might be alot stronger. And I think that is good. Afterall, everybody has preferences. And those the amount of conviction behind those preferences obviously varies greatly. So posters with strong preferences who can turn it down a notch and be open minded -or at least civil- are welcome in my book. Including the poster I described who makes sure their public posts are worthwile contributions.
So that was the point. :smile:
I dont think there can be "true objectivness" in the console world. In the end, the consoles are just means to an end - playing games. And with games one can never be "completely objective". There are prefferences derived from each and every personality and backgroud.
What is needed is that people be civilized and polite (and inteligent if possible) - and this is the reason I loved this forum from the start. There are a lot of fans here too (myself included), but most of them are nice people, so it's OK. Of course moderation is necessary, to keep things this way.
What is needed is that people be civilized and polite (and inteligent if possible) - and this is the reason I loved this forum from the start. There are a lot of fans here too (myself included), but most of them are nice people, so it's OK. Of course moderation is necessary, to keep things this way.
Agreed. All the mods here do a great job, but I feel it's worthwhile to specifically recognize StefanS and Vysez. Best mods I've ever seen.
Personally, I hate fanboys of any ilk. If I was in charge I'd permanently ban everyone of them. Obviously, I would not be a good mod.
Speaking of moderation, what would be so wrong about just being alot more liberal with the banstick? I understand there's some delicate discression involved with that sort of thing. For example when someone makes a insubstantive and short post that is nonetheless funny, the posting regulations can be fudged a bit for them..... ahem.
But if you have a poster who is obviously a fanboy, in the sense that they inhibit discussion with their rhetoric on a regular basis.... Who's going to miss em? In every forum I've ever been on, there have been cases that are so obvious that I don't understand why they aren't just booted in the interest of preserving discussion.
I guess that's why I'd be a bad mod. I'd not bother offering any explanation for the banning, and assume it was implicit that the banned member was a jackass. And further that anyone who had any questions about it could soon join him. =p After a month there would be noone left.
But if you have a poster who is obviously a fanboy, in the sense that they inhibit discussion with their rhetoric on a regular basis.... Who's going to miss em? In every forum I've ever been on, there have been cases that are so obvious that I don't understand why they aren't just booted in the interest of preserving discussion.
I guess that's why I'd be a bad mod. I'd not bother offering any explanation for the banning, and assume it was implicit that the banned member was a jackass. And further that anyone who had any questions about it could soon join him. =p After a month there would be noone left.
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