Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Snoopy]

The difference between Ree and Gaf is Dubs/Nep don’t own the site. They’re janitors. So why would they give a fuck if the peasants revolt

[DocWager]

Dang took a north east eye quadrant to the face in south tampa and all you guys could do is 10 pages

Instead of page begging, why not go dig up the corpses in the neighborhood!

[Rendle]

Whoever was summoning me in the early hours of this morning is a dick. The tit-light woke up the missus.

I do appreciate y’all though 

Did they get the right goth girl at least?

[nampad]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/VOOK64/status/1844328503715787211?t=KMqf0OXe899ae1TsaY2HnQ&s=19[/tweet]

Alarmo lottery

People are stupid, Nintendo isn’t.

Again it shows how fucked up those Nintendrones are. Their nostalgia would make them buy shit. Figuratively, they have been for a while already anyway.

[Jansen]

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the Ori guy is going full Gamergate:

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

So you're grummz huh.

Uh, my top of page is bottom of last page.

I don't feel safe anymore 

[Jansen]

This Mahler drama is delicious! Has that girl established her bona fides yet? Or is that just something the twitterati are just cruising by without comment.

Also I do love watching B-Dubs put down an uprising, but ALSO I find myself unusually sympathetic to his position. Ashes of Dreams does, in fact, Know What He Did. You can't be in the top 0.0001% of users by post count and not understand how this works lol.

"I just want to understand so I don't bweak da wools again"

Take the L, bitch. 

If ashes of dreams said they were autistic I'd absolutely believe them. They literally don't understand and can't let it go.

[Jansen]

This post is unworthy of the stated intent of the thread, and outright breaks multiple rules laid out in the OP.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Lmao 

Bdubs put these bitches down already

[Jansen]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/this-is-incredibly-lame-but-ive-made-a-work-friend-at-work-is-it-weird-to-ask-for-his-number.1006176/

Baffled by basic human interactions

[books]

So the guy who made a game i played and enjoyed ten years ago is a gamer gator?! Oh no!

[DavidCroquet]

but like... is he though?

"I worked on Ori"
"...did you?"
"WOW, GAMERGATOR MUCH"

Even if he loves Mark Kern and sucks him nightly, I don't even see how it's relevant.

[books]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/this-is-incredibly-lame-but-ive-made-a-work-friend-at-work-is-it-weird-to-ask-for-his-number.1006176/

Baffled by basic human interactions

I predict an HR complaint in op's future about uncomfortable work environments and keeping work professional.

[DocWager]

Hey what happened to the person that would make complaints on Era about people hating their guts at work?

[kaleidoscopium]

Hey what happened to the person that would make complaints on Era about people hating their guts at work?

Believe that is Lokiduck, who lectured his coworkers on the evils of JK Rowling after a coworker talked about having a harry potter birthday for their kid

[Jansen]

From bionic at the old place

Quote from: lokiduck, post: 100898410, member: 55351
I was at working trying to get stuff done when my coworkers started talking about Harry Potter. One of my bosses actually threw her baby a Harry Potter Birthday party and everyone thought it was just so fucking darling and cute, and all started gushing about how much they love HP and have reread the books recently and i was basically shut down unable to work emotionally, because I'm honestly getting to the point where even mentioning words from the series infuriates me.

ANYWAYS, I realized part of why they could have such a positive conversation was probably because they were unaware of what Rowling has been doing as they aren't active on twitter and social media sites like that. I didn't want to go butting into their super happy positive conversation about their love of HP to tell them the truth, but I'm on the equity team at my job and part of my job is teaching people about social justice and equity issues in a civil and educational way.

I'm thinking of talking with my other boss about it in our private meeting tomorrow to see if there's a way i can use this moment as an educational moment to teach my coworkers about Rowling is doing and let them form their own opinions from there. I think if she's involved I can make sure it's done in a professional and civil way instead of just angrily calling Rowling a terf and horrible person like I do in online circles LOL.

I guess the main thing will be finding the best sources I can use that work in a work based setting, but I really want to do it, just to use this moment to teach things and hopefully give myself some peace of mind at work lol

Quote from: lokiduck, post: 100937761, member: 55351
Thanks everyone for your well wishes and concerns. I had concerns of my own, which is why I wanted to talk about it with my boss first. The meeting itself went very well, and she agreed that something needs to be done just because she wants the office to be a safe place for everyone. She just wasn't sure how to go about it, so she suggested reaching out to the rest of our Equity team and seeing what they suggest since some are more experienced at having hard conversations over micro-aggression. I sent an email summing up everything, and one member is already being supportive so I have some hope but still am wary anything will happen.

My entire goal with this is to educate and hope that my coworkers understand where I'm coming from. The hard part is unlike the internet, I have to see these people every day, but again if I can find a way of presenting it in a professional and civil way, maybe there's a chance. Anyways, we shall see.

Today:

Quote from: lokiduck, post: 101626864, member: 55351
Update on the situation at work. I had the meeting. Due to scheduling conflicts it almost got pushed to another month from now, but but was pretty gun ho about making it happen so we had it yesterday with just a few people. Over all the meeting itself went well but there was some discussion about it, as it happens one of my coworkers who is queer is very pro HP still and while hating Rowling with every fiber of her being still supports the series. We talked for a while about how to present the information to the office in the best way, and some debate of "do we want to get in the way of people's joy came up." A hypothetical was even put forth about "what if a trans friend of yours still finds joy in the series but doesn't know about Rowling, do you tell them?" At which point I said yes to both.

People should know what's going on, so they can be informed and decide on their own whether they want to still engage with a series.

Anyways, the conclusion was to write a email explaining the situation and once it gets approved send it to my office. That way people can choose to read and engage with the email on their own time and privately debate how they will handle it. I felt this was the best way of doing it because people who were going to ignore the topic can continue to do so, and there should be less push back on "why are we taking time away from the meeting to talk about this?" from the assholes in my office lol.

I wrote the email draft and sent it off to the team for review, so we'll see how that goes.

Additionally, my boss sat down with me to discuss it and made it clear that I am 100% valid in my opinion and stance on things, but I also can't be critical of others and need to let people do what they want. She approves of me informing others, but doesn't want any issues in the office because people disagree with each other. I also have to accept that people will probably still talk about the series in the office, and I can't tell them not to talk about it.

So basically my conclusion is that this whole thing has been a failure LOL. While I'm being told my feelings are valid and I'm allowed to educate people, I'm also told to respect "whether people continue to enjoy this series or not" but honestly this is what I should have expected.



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Margs

[HaughtyFrank]

If this doesn't pull the trigger on lesbian Lara and specifically Lara/Sam I will scream.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/all-episodes-of-tomb-raider-the-legend-of-lara-croft-are-now-available-on-us-netflix.1005939/post-129977490

This comment from resident lesbian PB got me thinking... how many modern female main characters are there even in gaming that are just straight? I get the impression they're either not sexual at all or at least Bi. Honestly just keeping Lara straight would almost feel.... bold

Edit: just remembered Bayonetta is straight. (Which also caused like a shit storm)

[Uncle]

If this doesn't pull the trigger on lesbian Lara and specifically Lara/Sam I will scream.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/all-episodes-of-tomb-raider-the-legend-of-lara-croft-are-now-available-on-us-netflix.1005939/post-129977490

This comment from resident lesbian PB got me thinking... how many modern female main characters are there even in gaming that are just straight? I get the impression they're either not sexual at all or at least Bi. Honestly just keeping Lara straight would almost feel.... bold

Edit: just remembered Bayonetta is straight. (Which also caused like a shit storm)

how many modern games show evidence of heterosexual romance/love that doesn't involve the player's custom character?

I feel like this is the new bechdel test

at the end of mario odyssey, the most quintessetial "hero saves girl" series,

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

mario offers peach a flower and she rejects it and almost leaves him stranded on the moon

any games that have reasonably prominent characters who are a husband and wife with a good relationship who are obviously in love? or boyfriend/girlfriend?

[Jonsey]

I’m so pro lesbian it’s the only porn I jerk off to

[Jansen]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/friend-facing-endless-online-harassment-from-ex-friend-advice.1005759/

[DavidCroquet]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/friend-facing-endless-online-harassment-from-ex-friend-advice.1005759/

I have a simple trick for solving any of these interpersonal conflicts. Hopefully Prax posted the relevant info necessary to...ah yes, here it is.

Dre is a queer black woman who claims to be a victim of many things and claims they are now homeless, plus many think she is undergoing a manic episode or some psychosis, so would that make things better at all? Chira themself is brown latina-berber and part of the letters crowd so this is Very Intersectional.

Dre wins this one. But hey, Chira can use her higher position on the privilege ladder to power through this, I'm sure. Right now though I think you (and Chira, of course) owe Dre a heartfelt apology + mutual aid (cash only).

Sorry Prax, I don't make the rules.

[Nintex]

any games that have reasonably prominent characters who are a husband and wife with a good relationship who are obviously in love? or boyfriend/girlfriend?

Nintendo hooked up Link & Zelda in BOTW and expanded upon that in TOTK before the gays could ruin it.
The main plot of TOTK is basically a tragic love story with a happy end. I think Aonuma is moving towards the: "Ganondorf kidnaps the child of Link and Zelda" plot. 

Also, Peach is Mario's side piece, we all know his heart belongs to Pauline. 
Can't turn a cheating princess in a house wife.

Noah & Mio in Xenoblade 3 are a couple too. An essential part of the plot even.

In most modern Fire Emblem games the male/female match-up is the one that is story cannon with the most benefits.

Samus is also straight but her husbando is a computer now.

[D3RANG3D]

any games that have reasonably prominent characters who are a husband and wife with a good relationship who are obviously in love? or boyfriend/girlfriend?

Nintendo hooked up Link & Zelda in BOTW and expanded upon that in TOTK before the gays could ruin it.
The main plot of TOTK is basically a tragic love story with a happy end. I think Aonuma is moving towards the: "Ganondorf kidnaps the child of Link and Zelda" plot. 

Also, Peach is Mario's side piece, we all know his heart belongs to Pauline. 
Can't turn a cheating princess in a house wife.

Noah & Mio in Xenoblade 3 are a couple too. An essential part of the plot even.

In most modern Fire Emblem games the male/female match-up is the one that is story cannon with the most benefits.

Samus is also straight but her husbando is a computer now.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Uncle]

any games that have reasonably prominent characters who are a husband and wife with a good relationship who are obviously in love? or boyfriend/girlfriend?

Nintendo hooked up Link & Zelda in BOTW and expanded upon that in TOTK before the gays could ruin it.
The main plot of TOTK is basically a tragic love story with a happy end. I think Aonuma is moving towards the: "Ganondorf kidnaps the child of Link and Zelda" plot. 

Also, Peach is Mario's side piece, we all know his heart belongs to Pauline. 
Can't turn a cheating princess in a house wife.

Noah & Mio in Xenoblade 3 are a couple too. An essential part of the plot even.

In most modern Fire Emblem games the male/female match-up is the one that is story cannon with the most benefits.

Samus is also straight but her husbando is a computer now.

I would consider fire emblem to be an example of "playersexual," your custom character you name and make roleplaying choices with

notably these are all nintendo games...

[Greatness Gone]

From bionic at the old place
 Logged
Margs

I bet there's an entire Teams group chat about this motherfucker at his job. 

Imagine going on a power trip at work about YA fiction.

[Jansen]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anyone-here-ever-experience-anything-paranormal-or-unexplained.1006554/

When I was like ten, I was talking to my friend in the schoolyard. And suddenly everyone stopped talking and a sound said "my son" to me. I still can't process it.

[BIONIC]

Don’t hate myself quite enough to read this entire dreck, but I’m sure benji does

Hi friends. I'll give this a crack. I have a moment and a lot of thoughts on this. I'm not going to pretend I haven't looked at something in surprise the user didn't get it but at the end of the day we come from different backgrounds, we have different experiences. What is obvious to me is not to you sometimes. The reverse is also true. I've asked thousands of dumb questions and I've forever been saying that this shit can be complicated and it sucks.

Firstly I am on break so I can't actually even look at stuff to check anything but I'll weigh in. I don't think I can give an answer anyone really wants because well, I don't really have an answer. We've tried things and see some improvements but there is always some that don't understand and our responses or lack of isn't good enough. The first thing I want to make clear is that I'm definitely here to acknowledge the problem, that it isn't great and I'd like to see improvements too.

Users not understanding bans and moderator actions has been an issue since... forever. It was a thing when I joined back in 2018 and is still a thing today. It has improved in some areas but also not in others. It is a constant point of frustration for our members who want to improve, our members who read and don't understand, the mods who read and don't understand, the brains who are trying to find the answers for us and honestly just about everybody. No one is benefitting from this and no one likes how this plays out. That said, if it was so easy of a fix we wouldn't need this discussion and it would have been resolved years ago. We have certainly tried and sometimes, time permitting we still put in a lot of effort. It really is never enough and I am also disappointed but unfortunately this is what we have at the moment.

Right, so our responses are kind of shit sometimes with canned messaging that doesn't help our members understand the issues. Let me tell you about a conversation I had during the early years with mods/admins. I was not satisfied with how things were going. We were ghosting users more frequently back then or just not getting to them in time because often we had no response and I was watching users get banned and again and then lash out or fall into theorizing mods were targeting them specifically. There were some members where I felt that their hearts were in the right place only the way they approached or the wording could land them in reports. I felt that the users often could better follow moderation if they understood exactly what the issue was. I threw an idea to reach out to users who we think were generally good users and try to guide them through conversation and discussion. It was never shot down. I only ever received caution from the mods where were there at the time, mods who had experience I did not.

We are not educators. There are a lot of topics that we will try our best to inform ourselves on through research and such so that we can moderate the forum. But we typically don't have the knowledge to really help people understand complex topics as much, we similarly aren't expected to teach members how exactly to follow the rules if the general stuff isn't working. Not everyone is good at explaining or summarising things in a professional or appropriate way etc. Sloppy responses can potentially cause more issues for us as well. For each example I am able to show a user being great after reaching out there were others that... weren't. It is ultimately very time consuming and exhausting. It is, like everything else we do, a voluntary thing that we do if we choose to. It is also important that we don't give false information, remember that most of moderation is a team effort but this sort of reaching out is often a 1 on 1 thing (we report it so it does get logged into the system for other mods to review these days, unless for whatever reasons it needs/deserves more confidentiality etc). So over the years I've tried it and yeah, mixed results but it doesn't change the fact that if users are not understanding something then perhaps the rules could be clearer or the banners could have been better. Prevention would have been a lot better honestly. This stuff can and has in the past lead to harassment of individual staff who tried to help so there is stuff like that to consider as well.

Spoiler: "On banners" (click to show)(click to hide)

We have tried to improve them over the years and I'd like to think we are in a better place than we were. Banners are meant to be a bit consistent and somewhat professional. Which can make coming up with new ones harder when my brain says "You're right but you're also being a gloating asshole about it. Stop it." We can still do custom banners but we also don't want to make it a spectacle or degrading or risk identifying the mod placing the banner.

So common and simple banners are a thing and they are great when it correctly covers what the issue is. Obviously this isn't always true and so we want to be accurate but also not editorialize. Staff has said it before but majority of the short bans we hand out tend to be to de-escalate a situation. Perhaps its time to review and come up with more common issue banners.

We rarely get feedback on good banners. Mostly someone doesn't understand and this might be because the banner isn't exactly right. It might be missing something like "over multiple posts" or "history of similar behaviour" or "across multiple threads". Even then, users might have time really understanding what is happening. They only see that the problem might not just be with this post in isolation. Other times a banner might be wrong entirely. Might be on the wrong post because the user was reported multiple times in the same thread and we pooled the discussion of the issues into a single report and didn't pick the most accurate post where the issues are more obvious. The are of course entirely bans as well.

So tickets. I'll try to talk a little about some of the process from this side of things.

Spoiler: "Tickets" (click to show)(click to hide)

As you may know, reports are generally handled by 1 or more mods each. Usually if it isn't a super obvious troll on a rampage, we want discussion before moderating it. By the time the ticket comes in, there is a chance it is a different set of eyes viewing it. I've talked about tickets being one of the more difficult parts of the job before. We have a lot less staff working in tickets than we do in reports. Tickets work best when a few mods schedule time in to try and resolve as many as we can. I haven't been involved in many as of late, they aren't that frequent any way. We mostly try to chip in when we can. The last time I remember doing this it was a 6~ish hour block with mods working on resolving tickets. We would discuss issues then one person drafts while the rest looks through other tickets. Some tickets can be resolved easily with a single mod, so we call it out so we don't double up on drafting a reply for the same thing, anything complicated we bring back and do the same which can disrupt the draft writing but discussion takes priority since it isn't as common these days to have many mods on hand working in tandem like this. When a draft is done we ask for quick review, fix things then fire it off. Sometimes we even get a quick reply and can work on that while it is fresh on everyone's memory too. This also helps as often there is an admin around so we can sign off stuff like complicated histories and specials cases. Sometimes we take a break and come back later to finish where we left off. When the queue is crazy big I also don't even finish the draft and just note what I want in the draft to complete over the week so I can have more time to get a deeper understanding and discuss the other challenging tickets. Often, these sessions would be on weekends. For the US staff, their Saturdays are my Sundays. Sometimes we do Sundays which is actually my Monday and there has been more than a couple of late night ticket romps. Just typing this out I can say with confidence that this system feels a bit broken and needs something to help it. If anything, we would benefit if we had more sessions like this but I also don't think any of us could put the time in for it as a regular thing.

So what about other times when we aren't scheduling it into our lives? We chip in when we can. We chip at it however we can. Discussion is slower. Motivation is lower. Sometimes singular mods will do a long session and leave a bunch of drafts for reviews while other times we might post just the one or spend the time following bread crumbs and discussing an issue.

If you ask me, it would be great to have 2 new people on this. Perhaps twice a week they crunch some tickets together. This should be what they do, not reports, not warnings, not banning or unbanning or title changes. Just straight up investigating issues and answering questions, drafting replies and communicating with staff and members, maybe even popping into this thread at time maybe.. They should be able to access other staff to help them when needed. They should be experienced in customer support because that is what this part of the job is. They should absolutely be paid for this.

So next I want to talk about how or why some of this is difficult and I'll just use some examples and you can probably fill in the blank with a banner you've seen before or an experience that might match it.

Lets start with something simple like trolling.

Spoiler: "Trolling" (click to show)(click to hide)

I am sometimes a troll. I like to prank people for a laugh now and then. I try not to make it personal or have any seriousness to it but at the end of the time I'm still trolling when I do it. That said, trolling can happen in a lot of ways and moderating it can be difficult. For one the definition of trolling suggests posting to provoke or bait others. This can also be done entirely unintentionally. There are tickets that are basically "How can this be trolling? I'm just posting my genuine feelings and opinions. I am not trying to troll any one. Is this opinion not allowed?" The user is confused. They don't understand so I look into it and say I read through the stuff and... I think they were trolling. These conversations can go a few ways. Semantics and definitions. Interpretations vs intention. Ultimately there isn't a lot to say that can change the user's mind.

Another issue to look out for is that sometimes, you could have said things in a way that didn't cause the reactions that it did. When you evidently pissed people off how you react comes into consideration. This isn't great though because sometimes, well, the reactions might be understandable but are some not always helpful and so the ticket replies "I gave my opinion and Snormy basically said I was an idiot. Of course I defend myself, I'm not going to just take that." which is... also pretty fair but while the logic is fair the issue comes from the actual post and responses. The general feel of the thread, the escalation or de-escalation etc. Whether or not the members manage to settle things amicably or not or maybe they are turning the entire thread into a needlessly hostile environment. It is essentially a break down of communications and sometimes as a moderator we might be reading it wrong because at the end of the day words can be read harshly quite easily online because tone is absence. It takes greater effort to ensure things go smoothly but this also means spending more time which not every one has. And then people like myself ramble and waste everyone's time also, which can maybe even be considered trolling for example...

Trolls can also come in a variety of flavours. We all know trolling can be subtle. It can be careful. When we use things like concern trolling it is usually because we feel it more accurately describes things. No, it isn't in the rules but it is under the trolling umbrella I guess. The rules are unfortunately never going to be exhaustive because people will always find ways to troll and similarly a troll can also be harmless and fun sometimes, I think. We certainly have users who aren't serious and are more like a running gag or meme most of the time and this isn't what the spirit of the trolling rules are about.

In the earlier days of moderation we were much stricter about tying things back directly to a rule in the book. And over the course of many years we have relaxed this because there were a lot of trolls that cleverly danced on the side line of the rules. These days we might be a bit more relaxed so we can catch some of the people that have been annoying communities.

Here is some trivia for you. Years back Snormy asked "What they hell is concern trolling?". And I was given some brief explanations. I followed by reading up some online. I then reread the report and conversations in thread. I'm not surprised this isn't well understood and I hate the response that users can google it just like staff and everyone else can. Some of us try not to use it and leave it as trolling. Another issue I took with concern trolling is that, sometimes members are just having a conversation and say the first thing that comes to their mind. Social media habits are weird. This can sometimes fall into concern trolling like behaviour. I have seen these play out where members of the forum respond and after a few exchanges will point out that their posts are disruptive and then the user doing it realises and excuses themselves with an apology as it was never their intention. I just try to close these reports. Only if there was a massive shit fight between the start and the end would I consider needing to moderate it. Just write it off as lesson learned etc. That said, it doesn't always go this way. So sometimes the hammer comes down.

I don't expect the examples fit anyone perfectly. I guess I'm just trying to explain that to really elaborate and pin point trolling can be more complicated than one might initially expect. Sometimes we look at something and a snap judgment is enough and then we can read a bit more to make sure, other times not really.

All right. One more. Surely console warring isn't complicated.

Spoiler: "Platform wars" (click to show)(click to hide)

Lets keep this simple. I'm tired.
"Why was banned. How is this wars?"

Sometimes it is time and place. Sometimes it is a pattern of behaviour. Sometimes you're just weirdly defending a company/box from valid criticism or whatever. These are, like everything else, sometimes horribly inconsistent. You say "Mario sucks" and it might be ok in a Smash thread. In a Nintendo thread, in a Sony thread maybe. But then you go post it first post in the sales thread in a month where Mario and God of War or something like that are directly compared in the top spots... Well...

And don't get me wrong. I'm not angry or anything. Obvious to you is like alien science to me sometimes right? There is also the same conversations we had in trolling above. Interpretation vs intention. Reaction and responses. "I'm not warring, I'm just giving my opinion on the games I've played from the list." type stuff.

Again. I don't expect these to be perfect examples. Obviously these are made up and I'm trying to illustrate that sometimes explaining things in words is difficult and for convenience I've painted the console war example in a pretty bad light for my example. No doubt there are more complicated cases so you can imagine that diving into it takes more time and is sometimes harder to explain.

Two more things before I'm done. One is a related idea that I've been entertaining for a long ass time, save it for last. The other is just how I tend to work on these tickets sometimes. Not the process but just... Well, ok maybe more about the process.

Spoiler: "Moderation inquiry" (click to show)(click to hide)

If you don't understand a ban there is a chance I won't understand the ban at a glance. This means I'm going to start reviewing the report. Look for chat logs of moderators, sifting through posts of the thread. I might review your history. Search for other reports that might be related, sometimes multiple posts are reported, we discuss in one but banner on another that is more appropriate and forget to link it back. I am not in the US nor am I consistent in my time commitment any more. The chances of me being familiar with the ban is probably slim, the chances those who worked on it are still online is also pretty slim usually. Any questions sent that way will be some time away. I can either pause here and work on another thing or dive deeper.

The thing is - and this is purely a me thing - at this point I'm a bit invested. I want to know why you were banned both so I can unban your ass and move on and so I can spot it next time. I want to get to the bottom of this. So while I'm waiting for my questions to be answered I continue to look into it most of the time. I am going through the motions of a ban review, maybe even if an small account review. When you say you don't understand the ban. I check and I don't understand the ban. I am almost always switching to review mode. If it doesn't make sense I will try and see the ban lifted. If I can explain it, I will. This procedure makes sense to me. It doesn't always work out and that sucks. For me at least, these can often feel like more work than a ban appeal. Ban appeal generally gives me something to work with. Here I start from 0 and often take a round about way back to doing an appeals style review. In a work stand point, they are not that far apart. I know your intention is entirely different but I'm not ignore it if I've done the work already. If I think its right to I'll try to lift the ban if its wrong, adjust the banner, reduce the ban or sometimes give out a bonus.

I can be one of the harsher mods. We all have blind spots I guess and some of us are more lenient in some areas than others. I think I type things like this a lot "This needs more than a warning." "This needs a longer ban. I'm happy with ___ if we want to be lenient. ___ feels about right." "This user needs an admin review."
I know I can be harsh so when people try to learn I really do want to explain it in a way they can understand. It just isn't always easy. I don't always succeed and that sucks and I'm sorry for the times it doesn't work out. There are probably ways to explain things better, I don't have this skill. There is probably a way for say what I wanted in this post in less than half the words. I don't have that either. Looking at this post, it doesn't really answer any ones question. There is no answer I can give. I can only acknowledge the problem that has existed since the time I've been here. I can talk about some of the things we've done to try and help. I can explain that sometimes when we have less going on we're more on top of it.

The moderation inquiry tickets that live rent free in my head aren't these ones though. It is not the ones that don't understand an issue that I regret the most being unable to answer. It is the ones that understand a greater issue, one that has no good answer if it has any answer at all. I've seen these, I've been in mod meetings about some of them and we have no answer. I never want to close out the tickets because I feel it deserves an answer but really sometimes we just can't fix some of the problems on the internet and the behaviour of others. We can warn and ban, we can try to make space for people to speak about the issues but trying to keep contentious issues from spiraling is a nightmare and not sustainable. Concessions have to be made somewhere and in a way that is manageable by staff. It isn't always balanced, it isn't always fair, it isn't always even practical for us. It doesn't work and sometimes we don't have answers to these questions or tickets.

All right. Thanks for reading. The last thing I wanted to mention is that related to exactly this issue. Members not understanding bans and thus bans are less effective at guiding members to better fit in with the forum. I was floating the idea in some staff channel of doing a series of threads. Probably locked threads so it doesn't get slammed with posts left and right. The purpose is for moderators (who are able to post in locked threads still), to talk about 1 item in moderation per thread. So for example 1. Trolling. It might be different experiences we have since some mods focus more on gaming while others focus more on etc. We might point out things we look for. We might try to dive into the more peculiar ones such as sea lioning, JAQing off, concern trolling, we might have recommendations, we might have explanations. Users could then also send suggestions such as things to include or maybe rewording for clarity or some questions via PM or through reports. This sounds cool yeah? But it also sounds like a massive time sink. I also quickly realised I'm not keen to run this solo because ultimately I only have my own experiences and moderation is a team gig. There are plenty I miss. Plenty I don't know as much of so it isn't just my time but others and we're not exactly in great supply of free time. It obviously also needs more time in the oven, there are a number of concerns that I didn't really get into, this post is 3800+ words right now. If that is the shape of such threads fine but while we're floating the idea it would be good try and shape it to be better.

Also, no. The flopped ticket responses aren't related to me being on break. We ALL do try our best to give a good response when we can. I've used the templates too. I'm not trying to throw other mods under the bus or anything like that. I'm on break. Its easier to be less grumpy I think.

4000+ words. One day I will participate in the monthly writing threads, actually have some fun typing stuff and maybe just as much anxiety thinking about responses.

[Taco Bell Tower]

So the guy who made a game i played and enjoyed ten years ago is a gamer gator?! Oh no!

He's a bitter bitch too! 
https://www.resetera.com/threads/why-are-gamers-so-eager-to-trust-and-even-forgive-the-snake-oil-salesmen.372420/

[Nintex]

The hype got to me, I just bought it on STEAM.



We are so back dragon bros

[Taco Bell Tower]

If this doesn't pull the trigger on lesbian Lara and specifically Lara/Sam I will scream.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/all-episodes-of-tomb-raider-the-legend-of-lara-croft-are-now-available-on-us-netflix.1005939/post-129977490

This comment from resident lesbian PB got me thinking... how many modern female main characters are there even in gaming that are just straight? I get the impression they're either not sexual at all or at least Bi. Honestly just keeping Lara straight would almost feel.... bold

Edit: just remembered Bayonetta is straight. (Which also caused like a shit storm)

Yeah but Ree hates her voice actress 

[TylenolJones]

If you are writing 4000+ words while on break from a volunteer position, you should rethink some things. 

Also bdumbs vs noodlesoup fight getting kicked off. 

https://www.resetera.com/threads/biden-administration-no-longer-supporting-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-lebanon.1005735/page-6#post-129994656

Edit: RIP

User banned (1 month): dismissing concerns of ethnic cleansing

[Cauliflower Of Love]

imagine knowing who bdumbs is