Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[JoeBoy101]

Ahhh... where to begin.

Without naming names, since I understand it's against the rules of the thread; I don't think it is wise, or helpful, to be actioning folks rightfully calling out that the Microsoft layoffs were an expected end result from the ActiBlizzard merger, and that the overall climate of Era leading up to this absolutely stifled folks that voiced those concerns in the first place. What good is there for us to talk about the layoffs if we aren't allowed to point out how predictable they were, and that normalizing these actions have ultimately made the industry worse?

You're more than welcome to do that, as has been pointed out many times. What you shouldn't be doing is taking this as an opportunity to platform war or attack other members. There's a difference between having the discussion that should be had and using the situation as an excuse to break the rules.

What exactly in her post was platform warring? It feels like the vast, vast majority of users aren't seeing it.

Should users not be called out for engaging in poor behavior? What should be the proper etiquette for critiquing our own community?

We're all human, we all make mistakes - even moderators on video games websites sometimes make mistakes! And that MS layoff thread is probably one of those times that staff should probably acknowledge they messed up and reverse the ban on the person who made that very well stated and well reasoned post that is getting quoted a bunch. I know I'm far from the first or last person to mention this, just adding to the feedback.

In general this forum over the past few months has not felt like a welcome place where your opinion can be voiced, from the Insomniac leaks going against forum guidelines, to the acquisition thread, to the MS layoff thread. I even opened a ticket to ask questions about the things I saw when the Insomniac leak happened and instead of getting an actual response the ticket was denied. There is a lot of silencing of discussion which basically makes threads echo chambers with no meaningful contribution.

I think the moderation team could do a better job of explaining during these events and having some clear guidelines on things, it just feels like an absolute mess right now. I have been here since the beginning and I have seen a steady decline in communication that is honestly depressing to see.

More open dialog between moderation and members would help, and having a clear understanding of those guidelines amongst moderations staff would be good as it feels like a lot of times same things are dealt with differently by each mod.

Alternate take: people in that thread have lost their minds just because one single person got banned.

Like fuck, almost 2,000 people lost their jobs today - that's 2,000 families that are potentially struggling to pay rent/mortgages and put food on the table. And that's in a games industry job market that is clearly absolutely brutal right now so where are they supposed to find new employment? And fine, even if you lack empathy and don't care about these people, how about this: the brain drain this will lead to, as those people seek employment outside the industry, will absolutely make the games you play worse. So this impacts you too.

And yet the community and that thread has taken it upon itself to turn that news story into creating a conspiracy theory about the forum's mods and a commentary on how the forum is run. Its such a bizarre thing to see posts about how awful the mods are in a thread about 1,900 people losing their jobs.

Honestly, I don't know or care whether that ban was warranted or not, but maybe lets focus on the important story just for today?

Ironic given their name. Also...

Seriously. It's like we've lost all perspective on the real impact of the breaking news and the thread has instead warped into people demanding to express themselves in a particular way when expressing themselves within the lines of the rules is more than reasonable and has been demonstrated by other people throughout the thread. Forget the 2,000 people that lost their jobs today, there's a conspiracy theory to unearth about the moderation staff suppressing opinions or something. Like if you feel the person's ban should be lifted, then that's fine. Report the post and express that. The moderation staff looks at everything that comes their way and have told us this countless times. But seriously, it's insulting to see how much that one post has become the dominating focal point in a thread that's about 2,000 games industry people being put out of work.

 

Honestly, this thread reads like when Republicans complain about Dems response to school shootings. "This isn't a time for politics."

User Banned (3 days): inflammatory comparisons

Love it when they post that shit and suddenly get shocked when they get insta-banned. "BBBbbut I never got banned before for it?!"