Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[JoeBoy101]

Uh-oh. Now Hecht is throwing his hat in the ring:

I want to touch on a few things that have been brought up. I'm gonna be a jackass, but that's just kind of my default state. If you actually know me, I'm a teddy bear and this is all just me finally having enough of everything. Apologies to those affected. Sort of.

1) Thread Activity

Replies is probably one of the worst ways to gather "activity." Views are a better metric. You all have to remember that this is a gaming enthusiast forum, and therefore gaming news, leaks, surprises, etc., are going to have much, much higher metrics than any other thread. That said, there are two threads I want to point out:

Our gaming hardware is linked to slave labour, concentration camps and genocide. Here's what to do about it.
This thread has 386k+ views. That's #412 (out of over 182.800!) in the most-viewed Gaming threads on this site. Most of the threads that have more views are OTs, Review threads, Conference threads, and threads that have been around for years longer than that one. As far as one-off topic threads, it's up there.

Yes, it is trans genocide (a FAQ and what you can do about it today)
This thread has 75k+ views. That's #1639 (out of 181,350!) in the most-viewed EtcEtera threads on this site.

And people just have to get it. We have countless threads, on a weekly basis, where bad news comes up. Layoffs, transphobia, homophobia, you name it. It's fucking exhausting. It's not that people are ignoring the issue, it's that there is so much fucking going on that it's hard to focus on every little thing that happens. We all still love gaming, and we want to talk about games, but there's so much bad shit going on that ultimately, each of us has to determine where to focus our energy. We can certainly post in all of these threads, in the sense that we can all post "fucking hell, fuck these guys," but eventually we're going to be picking and choosing where we post, based on when we see the threads, our mood upon seeing the threads, and our wherewithal to post upon clicking on threads.

The tl;dr of this section is this - people are seeing the issues. But they may not be contributing because they are distracted by all of the other billions of stupid, terrible issues happening elsewhere.

2) Banning "prominent" users and Discord

Let me start by saying that the two largest, by far, reasons we ban people are for the following reasons:

a) being dicks to other users
b) console/platform wars

If people could fucking grow up and stop doing those two things, I guarantee this forum would be the most enjoyable place on the internet for discussing gaming. I sure as hell know that our jobs would be easier. I could actually stop stressing about upcoming announcements for once.

This forum is definitely a product of the "lifeboats" from NeoGAF, where hundreds of users escaped to Discord and ultimately, ResetEra was born. In theory, there is nothing wrong with Discord. Hell, we use it for staff. But because of the nature of a lot of the Discord communities, they tend to become very insular - you aren't gonna find many Xbox fanboys in the Sony Discord, and vice-versa. They are communities focused on a specific topic/platform - and that's fine. The problem is that they become very, very protective of their own. A "prominent" member in those Discords could suddenly be banned on ResetEra, for a very legitimate reason, and then the rest of the Discord server becomes incensed because "hey, we love that guy, why did they get banned? I DEMAND ANSWERS AND RECOMPENSE!"

To put it bluntly, we do not give a shit, nor two shits, about who your favorite users are. If someone crosses a line, they will receive the same punishment as any other user. If you feel like your buddy is inching close to that line, it's on you to tell them "hey, dude, maybe tone it down a bit," if they aren't learning from their previous infractions on the site. We do not care if they are the person in your Discord that leaks the most information, provides the most insight, or helps the most people out - if they cannot control their behavior on ResetEra, then they will receive the same punishments as the users before them. If they cannot stop their disruptive behavior, then they won't be part of the site much longer. We. Do. Not. Care. Act like fucking adults.

We also are not oblivious to brigading. When a user from a Discord gets banned, we definitely see an influx of users that we know are a part of that Discord suddenly flood reports and tickets with appeals or not-subtle messages on what we can do with our mothers. For those of you submitting those, you certainly aren't helping your/their case. It just shows us that you're stuck in some sort of cult of personality and, let's be frank, we don't care about your cult.

3) Us acknowledging our mistakes

lol

we've done this tons of times. If you haven't seen it, congrats - you aren't part of some weird-ass Discord constantly demanding our heads.

4) Ban Histories

I can see the rationale regarding opening up ban histories. However, we also have an issue with people looking up users' histories and essentially going "this u?" If you find something suspect, report it. We'll handle it. You don't need to waste precious time in your short lives playing internet detective. That's my job, and I enjoy it.

What I don't understand is this - I don't understand what has gotten into your heads that makes you think that we're out to get you. Users are what makes this site actually, you know, work. There is literally no incentive for us to make shit up. If we put a banner on someone's post where they are banned, stating "prior infractions for X," then that's because we are acknowledging a pattern. If you have to sit back and wonder whether we are making shit up or not, please ask yourself, "why am I doing this? And what has gone so wrong in my life where I'm worried about whether or not the people running a fucking video gaming forum are being truthful or not?" You don't need to know. There has to be a level of trust where you assume we are actually acting in a way that benefits us all. We don't "win" if the site shuts down. We don't "win" if the site is overrun with Nazis. You think I want to spend weeks each year making sure the GOTY, or any other event we end up running during the years, is up to snuff because I hate you all? I mean, sure, there are a few users I hate, but they know who they are, and I appreciate them being normal members of society for the past year or so. But what the fuck? We have nothing to gain by alienating the majority of the uers! Why the fuck would we do anything that makes you go "oh, wow, staff is suddenly supporting bigotry."

Seriously. We have no reason to make up shit. Yes, there may be escalations of bans where you are not privy to the entire history, but I promise you we aren't just making shit up. We don't have the time, nor the mental wherewithal to fucking do that. It takes all of our energy to just respond to people questioning whether or not we made a decision because someone liked someone's Pinterest post in the past.

(Side note: I have way more MS stock than anyone else on staff, likely combined - I have no idea who else has any - I used to work for them, and fuck me if I ever defend those assholes at any point)

=========

I'm sure I'll think of other things as time goes on.

The gist of all this is this: Act like fucking adults. I own several different platforms, and while I can understand that I am privileged in the fact that I can afford those separate platforms, there is no goddamn reason to disparage anyone for liking some game or disliking some game. As I said, I have several platforms, but I don't have an Xbox. If the next Final Fantasy were to suddenly be exclusive to Xbox, I would be disappointed, but I wouldn't feel the need to be pissed off at a fucking user for being excited about it. Likewise, if it were exclusive to a platform I own, I also do not feel the need to shove that information in someone else's face. Because then I would be a fucking toddler, and not a relatively well-adjusted individual (emphasis on relatively).

I'll also say that, hey, I'm an alcoholic. Yes, that doesn't seem relevant, but let me explain: If someone is going to host an intervention for an alcoholic, you don't get a bunch of that person's enemies and lock them in a room. You get their friends and loved ones who will explain why their behavior is a problem. In the sense in how this scenario relates to this site - if your friend is acting like a shithead, it's firstly up to their friends and acquaintances to take them aside and say "hey. dude. you're being a giant jackass. It's fine. Either you get to play the game, or you don't. You'll still be you."

Lastly, again. We have no fucking reason to lie to you all. Sure, we're gonna make mistakes. And yeah, you're gonna have to make the enormous leap in trusting us when it comes to ban escalation (speaking of which, where's Twitter's ban history? Facebook's? etc.). We aren't "against you." Sure, there is a sense of "us v them" because we're management and we're the closest form of "authority" on this site.

It's fine. I get it. But we are not going to be able to solve your problems. And we certainly aren't going to be able to suddenly fix people's behavior. A user above (sorry, can't be arsed to scroll up) asked why we don't just perm everyone - it's because if it's something not completely horrible - e.g., hostility - maybe that person is just having a bad day and they just need a break. It is our honest hope that people learn from their mistakes. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. We all benefit when we can just have an actual conversation rather than shouting at each other into the void.

The post had an amusing followup.

.... And with that, I can rest.

Seriously, Hecht 's post addresses everything I could have further said about the matter. And I won't spend time on this in the future next time a ban backlash happens. It is what it is.

Please message Nep if you have any questions, I am closing mine for the forseeable future

Modding is a closed circle.