in recent weeks, I’ve observed a noticeable increase in personal attacks and unruly behavior across several threads. It’s hard to ignore that the vast majority of these are directed towards players who identify themselves as gankers - a group to which I proudly belong to.
While we enjoy good banter here in our elite fighting unit, it’s clear that many of these insults are mean-spirited and seem more like cries for attention than genuine engagement.
Since we uphold the TOS and value civilized and cultured discussion, I wish to encourage you, and all forum posters, to similarly strive to uphold a respectable conduct and to leave comments in tasteful style.
This invitation also extends to our ISDs, who work tirelessly to make these forums an enjoyable space for everyone. A more active role in discouraging disruptive behavior from a few unruly participants would certainly be appreciated by many.
How you conduct yourself significantly shapes this forum and its community, so please post with respect, dignity, and an awareness of the broader impact your words have on the culture here.
The issue is there are a selected few that comment on the forums only to illicit a response but offer no solutions or logic other than opinion no one cares about. Discussion is the inteligent exchange of ideas, agreed to or not, in a comprehensive manner. There are too many forum troll alts that hide their mains, yet have so much to say. Likely because they are afraid to get their mains banned or recourse in-game for some reason or another.
The most frustrating thing about dealing with some people is that they always seem to know or think they know enough about a particular subject to think they are right… but never seem to know enough about it to know when they are wrong…
Me, too; especially from that other ‘Dark Triad’ of @Mr_Epeen (Who is customarily more restrained in his invective), @Smarter_ThanU and @YHWH_Is_Lord (who I believe has temporarily abandoned posting here).
It’s nothing new, of course. Sometimes I get drawn into it, despite myself, but I always try to remain aloof and humorous - more ‘tongue-in-cheek’ than ‘dagger-in-heart’.
I do try to answer their arguments rather than (or as well as) the tone or terms of their comments. That’s usually straightforward, in itself.
I don’t complain about moderation, because it’s there for everyone. I don’t complain about abuses of free speech, because - as I’ve said previously - allowing a termagant the oxygen of publicity usually just confirms and reinforces weaknesses in their attempts to brow-beat any opposition.
Comprehensive Internet Privacy is often a fine thing. Freedom of Speech was a largely beneficial notion, when societal norms themselves imposed certain restrictions on what one might say. Alas, legislation appears now to be the only means of reigning in excesses of this sort.
Appealing to the better natures of forum posters like those I mentioned, above, may have positive effects. Exchanges might become slightly less acerbic and more focussed on content than manner of delivery. God knows, there’s enough scope there for the intrepid investigator of inane ideas.
I fear, James, that your exhortations will fall upon deaf ears, and we all know that what the ears don’t hear, the tongue can’t speak. Or something like that.
I agree with one of the posts above that you should not be victimizing a specific group. The overall quality of discussion on this forum is just bad due to few individuals. I would love to discuss some aspects of the game with other players, but I just don’t do that - it’s just pointless to treat this forum seriously.
The obvious solution would be to follow the good old “don’t feed the troll” rule, but this forum is way to big for it to be applicable.
I think the real issue is that once antagonism between person A and person B has started, it then sours any further discussions and each then regards the other as automatically wrong about everything.
