Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Perhaps excessive moderation
Tarka
Member Posts: 1,662
Before I saying anythng I would like to point out that I fully appreciate the fact that the site and forums over on SWTOR.com belong to Bioware, so in effect they can do what they like.
However, I'm starting to wonder if the mods over there are not being a little "over zealous" in their distribution of infractions.
For instance, someone tried to flippant with me yesterday by implying that the amount which I post indicates that perhaps I post a little too much. My reply was thus:
"WoW, I AM honoured that someone is taking the time to go through my entire post history to subjectively mark down whether each and every one of my posts are "positive" or "negative". And THEN take time to publish the results of such accurate assessment on here.
Many thanks. Perhaps you should do the polls in future for Bioware 
"
Now for that, I got an infraction. Does anyone else think that such an infraction was a little unnecessary?
Comments
I don't think that was deserving of an infraction...
But then again, you might get one for posting this here
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Guess that infraction is for being a smartass. You know you shouldn't reply to people who post stupid remarks.
Still, gotta agree, a bit over the top.
I was expecting to disagree with you. . most people that post "I gotz banned for dis!?!?!>!>?!" should have been. . but yeah that seems a bit much. . like you I can't let crap posts slide and it tends to get me mired in endless bouts of conversation with trolls. My advice. . just don't do it!
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
You came to mmorpg.com to escape corrupt and overzealous moderation. L-O-L
Actually you were goated into your response,to which the other poster was not on topic and was more or less flaming/insulting you.That person SHOULD have been warned and your response should have been ignored,since it would have never happened if not for the other asshat.
Something VERY similiar happened here on MMORPG,one of the mods said something bad that was against the TOS here ,however he was actually goated into his response,so it should be looked at in a totally different manner.It actually takes common sense to understand what is going on,something that is often lacking.
Of course two wrongs never make it right,but i see no problem with your response,off topic yes,but it was a statement directed at you personally ,so you should have the right to respond.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I got infraction for calling a post 'useless' on mmorpg.com and you are complaining about excessie moderation of Swtor forums? hahahah!!
90% of haters are begging for love. 10% just want a little attention -- Paulo Coelho
definitely chuckle worthy
No comment , should avoid the weekly one day ban....
Top tip: most moderators are the equivalent of Traffic Wardens the feeling of power suits depending on the type of day they are having. They can log on and whack a massive hammer on some unsuspecting person, insta feel good factor.
The general line these days is not to react to goading , don't goad just report.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
To be honest with you I've recieved a few infractions either in mmo's (one in WOW), a few on mmorpg, and one on STO and the only one I ever thought I really "deserved" was the one I got in WOW, because what I had said to another player was totally out of pocket (though justified). The STO one was for an "I'm out of here post" though I didn't really insult the game or devs, and the two or three from here were for retaliation that rose no higher than your retaliation so I can't consider that excessive moderation because everyone does it. Not sure if I can get another infraction but the last one I got was for saying "I guess you did that around the time that Al Gore was creating the internet.". That was the entire post, nothing more nothing less taken into context of the discussion though you get the point.
In a perfect world forum masters wouldn't expect us to all be robots but *shrugs* what can you expect with all the bashing this game is already taking for no good reason.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Or you should have the self-control to ignore it and write the guy off as an idiot.
TOR's forums are filled with bazillions of people. You think it's bad here? Hah. They need that moderation to keep any semblance of order. Go there to discuss the game and leave the personal attacks (or responses) at home (or here on MMORPG.com, because it's fun to do it here). It's very likely that the person who insulted Tarka was warned or otherwise reprimanded. You have to assume that he was. Don't be surprised if you get warned for responding in the same manner.
You probably didn't get an infraction for this specifically, you probably had a few warnings beforehand, and this time they gave you an infraction. The mods over there are at least consistent for the most part, giving warnings and infractions. It seems it was responding to the troll instead of reporting. What you posted wasn't that bad though.
Happens on forums in general at times.
Mods are people too which means they're just as prone to overreacting, misinterpretation, or simply being an idiot.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
The answer is yes, you are being passive aggressive and baiting the other guy into getting angry.
I.E. Trolling.
one simple solution:
READID with your home address underneath, trust me that will be the end of all fanbois and trolls...
I know where you live!
It has been strange to see how quickly and how deeply the tenor of swtor.com has changed.
For a long time after the game was anounced, there was nothing but slavishly favourable comments on the forums. At the time, they were largely self-policing because anyone who offered up any criticism of the game was pounced on by all the frienzied fanboies. I remember one guys getting pages of abuse from almost everyone because, after he had said how much he was looking forward to almost every aspect of the game, he had gone on to say it was unlikely wookies would be playable characters.
Then, sometime after the first footage of combat was re;eased, the tone slightly changed. You began to see mild criticism appearing about the game on the forums with people defending their right not to swallow every positive being forced down their throat by Bioware's marketing machine.
Of course, after the release of the deeply disappointing news about flight combat, the floodgates really have opened. The forums seems balanced pretty equally between an old guard of fanbois and a new wave of people who despise the simplistic, patronising and money-grubbing machine that the game has finally been revealed to be. Argument is harsh and almost immediately descends into the exchange of abuse. This in turn is moderated with a heav hand that leads to more bad feeling about the game.
IN my opinion, Bioware/EA/LA have royally screwed up the pre-launch marketing of this game.They started talking about it far too early, they have not always been honest about the information that they have released and by issuing information only in small doses, they have ensured that speculation has run rampant, first with madly optimistic interpretations and then a backlash of negativity and pessimism.
The marketing of SWTOR - or at least that part of it which deals with managing the expectatiosn of its buying community - will I believe become a textbook case of what not to do before a game is launched. And the funny thing is, I do believe that this marketing was strategically planned and implemented - and yet Bioware/LA/EA still have no clear how badly they are coming across or what they should do to fix the problem.
Yes. The moderators of Bioware esp. SWTOR are indeed overzealous. I have had a similar experiences on Bioware forums.
Giving you an infraction for that was unnecessary, unfair and absurd.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
ROFL. I know people will probably flame me for this, but I've just received an "infraction point" (formal warning) for the following. It was in response to someone saying along the lines of "anyone else think SWTOR is going to be awesome?":
I'm unsure of that one tbh. Time will tell one way or the other. Right now, I have certain issues with some of the design decisions which annoy me, such as (but not limited to):
* The Space combat Tunnel Shooter.
* The fact that Jedi can use red crystals, and Sith can use blue/green crystals.
* The Jedi "Wizards" class name.
* Lightsaber type restrictions.
* Crafting being ".....like wow but with a twist".
Of course, I'm trying to remain open minded about the crafting situation, but that phrase is not giving me much hope.
Apparently I am being accused of "Hijacking" the space combat thread by posting the above. Notice the first item on that list.
It wasn't as if I followed it up with a further post either. ROFL. Looks like someones trying to earn their pay.
My advice to anyone posting on there.....don't post after 10pm GMT. That's when the mod stick comes out lol.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
Yeah, some mods can be jerks or stuckups.
Then again, I've also had some of the weirdest warnings and bans on these mmorpg.com forums here too, and seen some surreal moderating on other game forums too.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Lol, I gotta admit, its the first time that I've witnessed forums mods being so over-zealous with their "powers", as if they've got some quota to meet. I liken them to the car park attendants you see with chips on their shoulders.
It's quite amusing, I think I must have "hit a nerve" at some point lol.
Still, to me the SWTOR forum mods are not acting in the company's best interest. Editing posts I can appreciate, posting IN the thread to remind people about rules again I can understand. However, wildly "pruning" threads and then giving people formal warnings is just over the top, in my opinion.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
A warning does not mean that much.
I got a warning last week for mentioning Jesus in a post (not in a derogatory manner even), in an off-topic thread with Jesus in the title (also removed). I've ranked up plenty of warnings in my time on the official site, but have never gotten infraction points.
If you follow the rules most of the time, the mods really will not trouble you that much.
And tbh, being quick with reminders is necessary in a forum with that many members and a game where the tempers can quickly go out of control. If you look at what still gets through when most mods are asleep, during European hours; I'm happy they moderate so heavily, or the whole thing would spin out of control very fast.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Once again completely off topic and clueless. You see a new post and rush to leave another hate reply regarding TOR.
Tarka didn't got his infraction because he posted something regarding the game. He replied to a person who made a comment about his posting habits on TOR's boards. It was a dispute between two forum members. Try first to comprehend what you're reading before replying.
And to answer Tarka's question, yes i believe that his infraction was unnecessary. That moderator overreacted in my humble opinion.
I gotta be honest, after recently being in an 'altercation' myself, this made my day.
Basically you responded to a thread that someone created about the space combat specifically and then used it as a way of pointing out all the other things you didn't like, which is basically the definition of hijacking a thread.
Your original post was an attempt at trolling a troll into posting angry things back at you on the forums. Even if someone else trolls first trolling is still not allowed.
I've noticed people get all sensitive over infractions. Forums use an infraction system so that they don't have to do instant bans. Most sited let you get a good amount of infractions for little things before any actual things happen to you. It is a form of policing. Many mods will hold people to the exact letter of the CoC, and then people get all hurt by it.
It is an infraction, it doesn't mean anything. Just go on about your day. And this is from someone who doesn't even like SW:ToR and thinks it will be a crappy game.
Lol Snarling, if you knew the thread in question, you'd know I wasn't "hijacking" it. Why? Because I am one of those who tries to keep people generally ON the subject matter and not to drift away from it for very long.
The second post that I detailed wasn't purely in response specifically to the original reason of the thread (though it was connected with it), that particular post was in response to the question "does anyone else think this game will be awesome" (or words to that effect). In short my post was a correct response to his question and didn't flame him in any way. Deviation from the original thread in just one post certainly doesn't count in my book as "hijacking" an entire thread. If it was multiple posts without any sign of returning to the original subject, then that would be a different matter.
And whilst one could argue that they are correct in their actions (in respect to the rules), sometimes you have to wonder if the moderators are just doing it simply "because they can". Certain moderators don't use a certain degree of common sense when performing their duties.
By the way, don't think for one minute that I'm that upset by this, in fact I just find it a hilarious example of "over moderation".
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
They don't get paid much, they have to read the crap people write all day long, and they have a set of rules to follow.
It's easy to criticize someone else doing their job just for doing their job. Like I said an infraction doesn't matter. I haven't used their forums as I don't care for the game in any way, but what is it 10-20 points gets you a couple day forum ban and each infraction was 1-2 points? Certainly nothing to care much about.