New rules are coming - here's a look and what they are going to be!

[Elric1]

In other words, you have the right to remain silent or we WILL silent you. Temp or perma. So behave and compliment us.

Yeah, we got it. Find another forum to be honest on.

[Indra Echo]

yes or no; no.

until stability, new content and open world expansion happen, i have to say no.

snipped

Agree here. After seeing the twitch feed and thinking about it all-what really are the DLC2 plans? A new arkfall type and a change to grenade mechanics, as well as something to bump HP, EGO, et al. In other words new ways to do old stuff.

Just what exactly was the official suggestions thread and poll on google all about anyway if "new" content means smaller arkfalls (that might even be fun, but they're more arkfalls), and "fixing" grenade mechanics that were not a problem?

The biggest hurdles in this game are lag and lack of content--I can get by on lack of content to some extent if lag cooperates, but lag is killing the fun.

[Sanguinesun]

Generally done on most good sites now that require login. But on one site I modded the only answer to spambots was for us mods to read and approve every post-I can tell you that was so much fun.

It depends on the forum software that is used to in relation to the type of double layering. You cant 100% get rid of all spam but you can certainly cut it down dramatically. The next layer is having really bad spam bot's IP's notified if they are from legit providers. It doesnt help against the 3rd world ones necessarily but in those cases if the sheer volume of it becomes too much you just simply ban the entire provider(as usually they're providers that will not have actual patrons of the forums to begin with anyway).

[drackiller]

agreed. also, the way the forum moderators(not community folks) act is sort of high and mighty. now, i may be missing them posting as normal people, but all i see are very scripted responses in thread closings. that miffs people. if all you're here for is to close threads and delete posts, then whoever hired you for the job needs to have their requirements reevaluated. the idea of a forum moderator is to have someone involved with the forum, not being the stasi running around, jumping out of the shadows and disappearing immediately afterward.

Well said. I think that we , as a community, have been dealing pretty fine with each other, more or less.
But i also agree with some aspects of the "new rules". What most annoys me is the spam in the General Discussion, the rest i just ignore.
But, all in all you hit the most dangerous aspect of tighten rules.

[Indra Echo]

It depends on the forum software that is used to in relation to the type of double layering. You cant 100% get rid of all spam but you can certainly cut it down dramatically. The next layer is having really bad spam bot's IP's notified if they are from legit providers. It doesnt help against the 3rd world ones necessarily but in those cases if the sheer volume of it becomes too much you just simply ban the entire provider(as usually they're providers that will not have actual patrons of the forums to begin with anyway).

That was the other way we dealt with it-banned the spambot IPs but of course didn't stop more from coming. I got sick of modding there because the devs didn't ever do anything to help and it ended up with two of us constantly going through hundreds of posts per day to decide what made it through--worst system I'd ever encountered--well worst is letting them get through in the first place but I digress.

[Indra Echo]

Well said. I think that we , as a community, have been dealing pretty fine with each other, more or less.
But i also agree with some aspects of the "new rules". What most annoys me is the spam in the General Discussion, the rest i just ignore.
But, all in all you hit the most dangerous aspect of tighten rules.

What I found worked best in sites I moderated was to treat all sides with the same intent. Love the game or hate it, your comments are moderated the same. And no instant lockdowns unless the topic or intent of a thread is so out of bounds (vulgar, insulting, racist, or such). In post moderation also works well-editing posts for vulgar content and then addressing in that post the reason for edits or stating that a post is an example of what not to do and why. And warning of impending lockdowns.

I often actually ended up with people that got bans thanking me for being honest and fair, even if they didn't agree with me. The point is moderators cannot ever take a side, even on developer-owned sites. Criticism can be revealing and helpful.

[N3gativeCr33p]

What I found worked best in sites I moderated was to treat all sides with the same intent. Love the game or hate it, your comments are moderated the same. And no instant lockdowns unless the topic or intent of a thread is so out of bounds (vulgar, insulting, racist, or such). In post moderation also works well-editing posts for vulgar content and then addressing in that post the reason for edits or stating that a post is an example of what not to do and why.

I often actually ended up with people that got bans thanking me for being honest and fair, even if they didn't agree with me. The point is moderators cannot ever take a side, even on developer-owned sites. Criticism can be revealing and helpful.

Even moderating on a small, independent video game forum... I have noticed similar things. LOL, I still can't believe that site has been running since 2003.

[Sanguinesun]

Just what exactly was the official suggestions thread and poll on google all about anyway if "new" content means smaller arkfalls (that might even be fun, but they're more arkfalls), and "fixing" grenade mechanics that were not a problem?

Busy work, kiting issues mechanism, using google+ in a work setting to seem innovative for a resume bullet point, etc etc etc :P

[Sanguinesun]

That was the other way we dealt with it-banned the spambot IPs but of course didn't stop more from coming. I got sick of modding there because the devs didn't ever do anything to help and it ended up with two of us constantly going through hundreds of posts per day to decide what made it through--worst system I'd ever encountered--well worst is letting them get through in the first place but I digress.

In my experience the forums Ive seen things clamp down also became extremely draconian as well with members and simply ran off not just bots but everyone. Forums, for the owners, became a nuisance over being a community and preferred to make them low maintenance through such polices. The same pattern is becoming all to familiar here.

What I found worked best in sites I moderated was to treat all sides with the same intent. Love the game or hate it, your comments are moderated the same. And no instant lockdowns unless the topic or intent of a thread is so out of bounds (vulgar, insulting, racist, or such). In post moderation also works well-editing posts for vulgar content and then addressing in that post the reason for edits or stating that a post is an example of what not to do and why. And warning of impending lockdowns.

I often actually ended up with people that got bans thanking me for being honest and fair, even if they didn't agree with me. The point is moderators cannot ever take a side, even on developer-owned sites. Criticism can be revealing and helpful.

Indeed. What is happening here imo is a shift from seeing the forums as a functioning community and vehicle for game/trion improvement and instead as a perception of that used to misdirect the reality of it being of no consequence to them and a nuisance as mentioned in the example above.

The sense is that they seem to feel that they know best, they know better, and they do as they see fit versus involving us in those considerations. Its an us vs them environment that, not unlike the San Diego offices similar environment and degradation, is heading for a crash and burn. The gasoline on it certainly has been thoroughly doused. And all because of the epistemic bubble with higher management in regards to things.

[SymbolicGamer]

I don't understand why people are throwing fits over these rules. This is common stuff for most popular gaming forums.