Is it just me?

[AfRoMaN36]

Lately I've found myself visiting the Dog Pound less and less because of a problem I feel may be going on with it. I may be the only one who feels this way but I think this forum is becoming over moderated. Chances are this thread will be locked but I feel I should share my concern regardless and hopefully something will be done.

In the last few days we've had more than a share of threads close, some without explanation given. The one about Umagas death stood out the most because no one was really arguing and the discussion was still about Umagas death. IMO theirs no reason to lock that thread. Not only that but we've combined all TNA and WWE threads into two threads in order to reduce clutter. I don't know about you, but there was hardly any clutter to begin with and in fact i've found it cluttering to navigate through an entire thread to talk about wrestling. I just thought it was unessesary.

There's more but it's early so I can't think of them now. I'm a moderator at another website and I have been since maybe 2006 and one thing I've learned is that it's better to slightly under mod than over mod. When you over mod and (I hate to use the term, but it was used on me once) and you '****-Mod' you turn people off. This is a non-topic zone but we seem to not be able to do that anymore. And I won't even bother trying to post political threads up anymore. I used to come to this place fir that kind of stimulating conversation, even if it ended up in arguing, but it feels like even if it doesn't... it will. Which stinks because I've been wanting to put up a thread about Obama for a while now.

So that's my beef. Like stated, I'm not tring to ruffle feathers, just share some concerns. I feel like to some guys (like me) the dog pound is a place to just have fun, talk sports and clown around. I just don't want to lose that. I'm also wondering if I'm the only one with this concern or if I'm just overanalyzing.

[Self]

I do think there have been a few 'early stoppages' when it comes to closing threads. I remember the old religion thread being an utterly fascinating discussion of differing views and opinions and lifestyles, until one guy came in with a bad attitude and BAM! Closed! Ultimately that might have been the right call, the trolling could have escalated, but I still felt the match was stopped a tad early.

I like the WWE/TNA threads though. They're the equivalent of the "Small Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread" thread in the TEW08 forum. Back in the day it wasn't worth making a new thread just to make comment about the Dudebusters or my man-crush on Zack Ryder, but now I can do it whenever I want.

[AfRoMaN36]

Originally Posted by Self

I do think there have been a few 'early stoppages' when it comes to closing threads. I remember the old religion thread being an utterly fascinating discussion of differing views and opinions and lifestyles, until one guy came in with a bad attitude and BAM! Closed! Ultimately that might have been the right call, the trolling could have escalated, but I still felt the match was stopped a tad early.

I like the WWE/TNA threads though. They're the equivalent of the "Small Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread" thread in the TEW08 forum. Back in the day it wasn't worth making a new thread just to make comment about the Dudebusters or my man-crush on Zack Ryder, but now I can do it whenever I want.

for those reasons you sited I think the threads aren't totally bad, but some things do warrant a new thread only to be told there's already a thread for WWE discussions. I just don't wanna have to search through posts to see if someone else has already said what I am about to say.

[alden]

I might be way off base here but i look at it like this. this is not a forum that is soley a forum.....this is the forum of a software company. That is the main thing to remember....this entire web site represents greydog software.....I think they are right to early lock any topic that could offend anyone......and i do mean anyone.....I think that might be the strick stuff on piracy......drugs....profanity and so forth. I think if it was a simply community forum for the game it would be diffrent. Again i might be way off base on this one but that is just my opinion.

[AfRoMaN36]

Originally Posted by alden

I might be way off base here but i look at it like this. this is not a forum that is soley a forum.....this is the forum of a software company. That is the main thing to remember....this entire web site represents greydog software.....I think they are right to early lock any topic that could offend anyone......and i do mean anyone.....I think that might be the strick stuff on piracy......drugs....profanity and so forth. I think if it was a simply community forum for the game it would be diffrent. Again i might be way off base on this one but that is just my opinion.

You make a fair point, but my one quarrel with this is that this isn't EA. GDS does not cater to the mainstream crowd but a small but loyal fringe group. We on this forum, make a nice chunk of that fringe group. And if we aren't cursing or flamming (which then it's justifiable to close the thread) why alienate that group? If we want to talk about Drugs in the wrestling industry so what? If a heated debate comes up and everyone remains respectful, well I see only good in that. If we make a pointless thread were we jut joke around and as long as no feelings are hurt, why close it? Better to do it in the Dog pound than in the TEW thread.

I've spent countless dollars on Adams games while running an outside efed based soley on his game where I blatantly advertised it. and I'm not trying to use that as a crutch to do whatever I want, I'm saying that because I'm part of this fringe group that will buy GDS games. If closing these threads and over-modding has to do with trying to protect and not offend customers, he doesn't need to do that. Kids cannot comprehend these games so I'm sure there contribution to sales are virtually non-existant. I say as long as we don't flame or curse, te Dog Pound should be left alone.

[Adam Ryland]

Originally Posted by AfRoMaN36

If closing these threads and over-modding has to do with trying to protect and not offend customers, he doesn't need to do that.

Yes, apparently we do. The last time we went with "under-modding" and just letting debates continue resulted in the Anubis fiasco that saw a large chunk of people leave and set up their own board rather than deal with the Dog Pound - several very good posters no longer regularly come here as a result.

It has been proven time and time again that unless we're fairly strict about the rules, there's a minority of posters who aren't mature or respectful, and they'll cause more trouble than it's worth. Relaxed rules may be appropriate on other boards, boards that are set up entirely for the purpose of discussion, but these are forums to support GDS as a company, and we're not going to run them in a manner that may lose us customers (and yes, I think the constant flame wars and insults from "under-modding" lose us a heck of a lot more customers than those who feel alienated by "over-modding).

[Nedew]

...There was a fiasco? Why wasn't I informed!?

[darthsiddus2]

I can think of on instance where someone was constantly flamed for not releasing his japan mod to the public (thank god he's no longer with us)

[Franchise22]

my only beef with wwe only thread is alot can get lost in ONE thread. i always like to see topics and click and read accordingly. after working all day, doing the family thing, i may have to read through pages of random wwe chatter during my 1 or two daily visits here. that has no focus vs a specific topic to discuss.

just my opinion.

[Wrestling Century]

Originally Posted by Adam Ryland

Yes, apparently we do. The last time we went with "under-modding" and just letting debates continue resulted in the Anubis fiasco that saw a large chunk of people leave and set up their own board rather than deal with the Dog Pound - several very good posters no longer regularly come here as a result.

It has been proven time and time again that unless we're fairly strict about the rules, there's a minority of posters who aren't mature or respectful, and they'll cause more trouble than it's worth. Relaxed rules may be appropriate on other boards, boards that are set up entirely for the purpose of discussion, but these are forums to support GDS as a company, and we're not going to run them in a manner that may lose us customers (and yes, I think the constant flame wars and insults from "under-modding" lose us a heck of a lot more customers than those who feel alienated by "over-modding).

I'm new here, so what on earth was the "Anubis Fiasco"? Anyways, I actually think that the Umaga thread had run its course. Nobody was saying goodbyes anymore, they were just starting unrelated conversations.

[Wrestling Century]

Meh, I should've included this in my other post, but I'll post again anyways. Back on topic, it has been a little bit over-modded, but I've seen some boards that don't have any modding, and those boards became the digital equivilant to graffiti! It is much better to have over-modding than no modding at all! Trust me, that board I was on sucked!

Also, has anybody noticed that there has been very little posting that past few days? I thought that the boards would become overflowing with posts and conversations due to the 2010 developer's journal, but nothing. If anything there are less conversations and posts. Why?

[CQI13]

If you search "Anubis" you can see part of the fall out from the original thread. I don't remember it when it happened (I may not have been here). But just seeing some posts, I can see how it could have degenerated quickly.

As for the WWE/TNA only threads, it would be nice if there was a link on the first post for relevant topics within, but that would be pretty time consuming for whoever is editing it.

[Wrestling Century]

Originally Posted by CQI13

If you search "Anubis" you can see part of the fall out from the original thread. I don't remember it when it happened (I may not have been here). But just seeing some posts, I can see how it could have degenerated quickly.

Yeah, um, I can't find anything about the Anubis incident. Can you give me a link to it? It must be pretty bad if it made a whole chunk of people leave!

[The Masked Orange]

I like this forum because it is over-modded.

If you want interesting discussion, then yes, that should be allowed, but time and time again people have shown that they (not everyone) want to cause offense.

Other forums end up as unusable because there are constantly people using the internet as a means to bully and flame other people.

And if people decide to leave because the rules here are a little tight, let them leave. There are places for talking with no restrictions, and that certainly isn't on the website of an independent software company. They really do not want to end up with a reputation for flaming and the behaviour of vagabonds rather than a reputation for the great quality of thier games.



Yes people like starting up threads to do with politics and all the more risque topics because this is a small, friendly board with a lot of well-informed people, but even the worlds smartest man will turn a conversation nasty if he is offended, and that is easily done. So when an un-informed man is insulted a lot worse happens.


Things are much better the way they are, conversations may end early, but noone get's majorly affected.

[Derek B]

It's really not worth looking up unless you have a desire to punish yourself... but even then, if you are that way inclined there are better ways to do that. The point is, it was a horrible time and the poster caused a lot of trouble by crossing all kinds of lines back then.

Now, things are moderated and I'd say that a good job is generally done. This is a forum designed to support the games that GDS make and it needs to be kept pretty "clean" compared to an ordinary forum. There are a lot of touchy subjects out there and there is a track record of certain types of threads being closed due to content. The past has shown that while some are clearly capable of mature and eloqeuent debate, others are not. And because of this things tend to be moderated before they get out of hand and degenerate into an "incident".

All in all though, I think that things are generally done pretty well around here. The WWE/TNA threads are for those little bits of news that would otherwise get a handful of posts and die off... but things like Hulk Hogan, wrestler deaths and the like, they deserve their own threads and get them. Seems about right to me and is good for keeping people on point, which is something that rarely happens when everyone is leaving comments on 5 WWE related threads.