The forum system needs to go, and here's why:
Improper Application - I just came off of a ban for b7 (General trolling of a single user), which hasn't existed in the forum rules for quite some time now, as b7 refers to sexual harassment. Apparently many other users have suffered the same fate, so if the people who run this game can't even be bothered to update the ban system to eliminate offenses that no longer exist, then why are we being banned at all? Meanwhile there have been many occasions of people being banned for things that aren't listed anywhere in the rules at all (discussing forum bans, posting ASCII, quoting yourself (supposedly considered spam), making a thread with just a smiley in the opening post (supposedly considered a blank post even though the rules make it clear that a post with a smiley is not blank), pointing out that someone cheated, etc). In many cases moderators have even admitted that they don't know what is and what isn't in the rules because none of them were ever trained on what the rules entail or how they should be enforced.
Unequal Application - The ban from which I was just released occurred because one nitwit was talking shit to another poster unjustifiably and incorrectly, so I pointed out that the nitwit was wrong. That nitwit in turn personally attacked me, which would be fine by me except that the moderators chose to ban me for chastizing the nitwit while that nitwit got off scott-free for his insulting behavior. This happens with regularity where two parties insult each other, yet only one is punished. Meanwhile certain users flagrantly violate the rules and yet nothing happens to them. For instance, one moderator bans people for posting "snark" in the FAQ forum and yet is one of the most consistently snarky himself. And in the past, examples were much more egregious such as Darkus Black getting away with every offense imaginable back when he was a personal favorite of DigitalDaggers. The reality is that all GLB participants are not held to anything like the same standard, which undermines the credibility of the system.
Inadequate Oversight - Despite what the staff claims about Pallow still being involved, the truth is that he's not. Logging in and posting in the mod forum periodically is not sufficient for "involvement." It's fine that he's moved on to things other than GLB, but treating the forum management system as if it can run without leadership is disingenuous. Meanwhile one lead moderator was removed while another is almost always absent. My own appeal went more than two days without comment, and ended up being handled by the support staff because there weren't enough lead moderators around to do the job. Throw in a lack of qualified moderators who even know the rules, much less show the ability to enforce them correctly, and there is not enough of a structure in place to run this system. And that's without even getting to some of the absurdities in the rules or the way that you never get to know who was responsible for banning you or deciding your appeal.
We're not 12 - Frankly, this is the crux of the matter. The forum ban system makes GLB worse, not better. I understand that all this derived from one of those surveys that said the biggest problem with GLB was the amount of trolls in the forums, but one of those surveys also lead to the "realism" craze that ruined the sim and nearly destroyed the game. Just as GLB eventually realized that "realism" was hurting their business, it needs to realize that draconian moderation is doing the same. This crackdown all started with the CPL forum, which I'm sure was a massive headache to those in charge, yet it was by far the most vibrant and active community on the site. People had a reason to be on the site that went beyond the game itself, whereas now every forum is varying degrees of awful.
The article ITS posted ( http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/mmo-dying-223042438.html ) had a couple of important points, and one of those was the importance of a community to games like this. When people get together on the internet they bicker and argue and insult each other, but the important thing is that interaction. It's inactivity that kills games, not rude behavior. People like me went to the CPL forum simply to read what those colorful personalities were posting. It was entertaining, and a reason to log in besides training players or fiddling with AI. The offensive against uncouth behavior initially pushed people from the public to private forums, but its continuance has ultimately pushed people off the site entirely. There's a reason so many people used to say "the forums are the game," and one of the things they meant was that the forums were their reason to log in. That's gone because this moderation system treats us like we're unruly children in middle school. The introduction of hall monitors through the implementation of the report function only exacerbated the situation, as people now use the report button as a weapon to focus attention on people they don't like. And just look around the internet. SomethingAwful is one of the biggest online communities precisely because of the personalities involved, whereas I can't think of any heavily moderated site with large participation. Treating people like they're 12 suppresses activity and involvement instead of growing the customer base.
Conclusion - I realize that doing away with the current system is a longshot, but at minimum the people who run GLB need to stop and think if this system is helping or hurting them. And even if they don't want to scrap or replace this system, they need to put it on hold until they have enough people to run it as well as the automation to enforce things that are actually rules instead of things that used to be. How many people need to be incorrectly banned for sexual harassment with the wrong number of days banned? I understand why GLB went this route, but it was a mistake. There are better ways to punish truly heinous behavior without treating paying customers like school-children.
Improper Application - I just came off of a ban for b7 (General trolling of a single user), which hasn't existed in the forum rules for quite some time now, as b7 refers to sexual harassment. Apparently many other users have suffered the same fate, so if the people who run this game can't even be bothered to update the ban system to eliminate offenses that no longer exist, then why are we being banned at all? Meanwhile there have been many occasions of people being banned for things that aren't listed anywhere in the rules at all (discussing forum bans, posting ASCII, quoting yourself (supposedly considered spam), making a thread with just a smiley in the opening post (supposedly considered a blank post even though the rules make it clear that a post with a smiley is not blank), pointing out that someone cheated, etc). In many cases moderators have even admitted that they don't know what is and what isn't in the rules because none of them were ever trained on what the rules entail or how they should be enforced.
Unequal Application - The ban from which I was just released occurred because one nitwit was talking shit to another poster unjustifiably and incorrectly, so I pointed out that the nitwit was wrong. That nitwit in turn personally attacked me, which would be fine by me except that the moderators chose to ban me for chastizing the nitwit while that nitwit got off scott-free for his insulting behavior. This happens with regularity where two parties insult each other, yet only one is punished. Meanwhile certain users flagrantly violate the rules and yet nothing happens to them. For instance, one moderator bans people for posting "snark" in the FAQ forum and yet is one of the most consistently snarky himself. And in the past, examples were much more egregious such as Darkus Black getting away with every offense imaginable back when he was a personal favorite of DigitalDaggers. The reality is that all GLB participants are not held to anything like the same standard, which undermines the credibility of the system.
Inadequate Oversight - Despite what the staff claims about Pallow still being involved, the truth is that he's not. Logging in and posting in the mod forum periodically is not sufficient for "involvement." It's fine that he's moved on to things other than GLB, but treating the forum management system as if it can run without leadership is disingenuous. Meanwhile one lead moderator was removed while another is almost always absent. My own appeal went more than two days without comment, and ended up being handled by the support staff because there weren't enough lead moderators around to do the job. Throw in a lack of qualified moderators who even know the rules, much less show the ability to enforce them correctly, and there is not enough of a structure in place to run this system. And that's without even getting to some of the absurdities in the rules or the way that you never get to know who was responsible for banning you or deciding your appeal.
We're not 12 - Frankly, this is the crux of the matter. The forum ban system makes GLB worse, not better. I understand that all this derived from one of those surveys that said the biggest problem with GLB was the amount of trolls in the forums, but one of those surveys also lead to the "realism" craze that ruined the sim and nearly destroyed the game. Just as GLB eventually realized that "realism" was hurting their business, it needs to realize that draconian moderation is doing the same. This crackdown all started with the CPL forum, which I'm sure was a massive headache to those in charge, yet it was by far the most vibrant and active community on the site. People had a reason to be on the site that went beyond the game itself, whereas now every forum is varying degrees of awful.
The article ITS posted ( http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/mmo-dying-223042438.html ) had a couple of important points, and one of those was the importance of a community to games like this. When people get together on the internet they bicker and argue and insult each other, but the important thing is that interaction. It's inactivity that kills games, not rude behavior. People like me went to the CPL forum simply to read what those colorful personalities were posting. It was entertaining, and a reason to log in besides training players or fiddling with AI. The offensive against uncouth behavior initially pushed people from the public to private forums, but its continuance has ultimately pushed people off the site entirely. There's a reason so many people used to say "the forums are the game," and one of the things they meant was that the forums were their reason to log in. That's gone because this moderation system treats us like we're unruly children in middle school. The introduction of hall monitors through the implementation of the report function only exacerbated the situation, as people now use the report button as a weapon to focus attention on people they don't like. And just look around the internet. SomethingAwful is one of the biggest online communities precisely because of the personalities involved, whereas I can't think of any heavily moderated site with large participation. Treating people like they're 12 suppresses activity and involvement instead of growing the customer base.
Conclusion - I realize that doing away with the current system is a longshot, but at minimum the people who run GLB need to stop and think if this system is helping or hurting them. And even if they don't want to scrap or replace this system, they need to put it on hold until they have enough people to run it as well as the automation to enforce things that are actually rules instead of things that used to be. How many people need to be incorrectly banned for sexual harassment with the wrong number of days banned? I understand why GLB went this route, but it was a mistake. There are better ways to punish truly heinous behavior without treating paying customers like school-children.
Edited by jdbolick on Aug 21, 2012 08:49:42
Edited by jdbolick on Aug 21, 2012 08:49:29
