Forum Toxicity

I think people first need to understand the difference between an opinion and an attack on someone’s character.

The examples I gave were attacks on a persons character. Not opinions on the game.

My 0.02 cents

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Hey I’ll rub your tummy if you want.

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I’m only a recent convert to the forum so can’t really comment on the ‘good old days’ when everything on here was rosey and we all loved each other…

However, having visited many forums over my years I don’t really find this one all that toxic.

I do find that in this day and age though people do feel they have a god given right to be offended by anything that doesn’t match their view and, excuse the stereotyping, it’s does seem that there are more and more snow flakes around.

I’ll happily engage in debate with anyone to discuss different points of view but if things start getting messy there’s a very easy solution… JUST WALK AWAY!

Arguing, flaming, trolling and getting personal is such a pointless exercise that I honestly don’t know why people waste time and energy on it.

I’m not going to change someone elses point of view, they’re not going to change mine so i’d rather spend the time I could have wasted in an argument going off and doing something constructive, like cutting my toe nails or cleaning mold from round the bath which is not much less tedious but certainly more rewarding :wink:

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Tuesday

rub Brobbs tummy
Always at your service!

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Click my profile

Read some of the posts and threads i’ve been involved in

Good examples of the behavior people are talking about. If you want direct links, that can be arranged

Personally i do not care how this forum stacks up to other forums. This is the only one i am involved in, the only one that directly effects my pass time. The only one that matters to me. Other forums are irrelevant to the conversation.

Regardless of what level toxicity this forum is at, it’s much higher than it used to be and progressively getting worse.

If it hasn’t hit the level you deem it should be at for necessary action then just consider this thread as damage control to prevent it from getting there.

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This is helpful advice.

I can’t speak for the other moderators and staff, but I read a lot of the Forum posts, and still sometimes miss or am behind on threads that have posts in violation of Forum Rules.

Flagging is a helpful tool to raise the question or suggestion that something may violate a rule, or be otherwise inappropriate.

Obviously flagging shouldn’t be abused (that itself is a Forum Rule too), but if a post or thread is heading toward personal attacks, naming and shaming, or name calling — then it’s good to be proactive and flag it for attention.


The Forum Rules are referred to often, it’s perhaps worth a reminder of some of the basics.

Forum Rules

Anything violating one or more of these is appropriate and helpful to flag.


Community Guidelines

Anything in this list is great to do yourself, and to encourage when others do.

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I think people first need to understand that it is your choice to be offended. This is just words written on the internet, from someone who you will never see in your life and dont even know who they are. Offense is taken and not given.People have different standards for what is ofensive and some chooses to be offended.

Do you remember that very old Meme about special olympics and arguing in the internet? Its probably not political correct anymore, but you may get the reference.

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It’s not as much about being offended as it is about informative discussions being derailed by people screaming for attention and lashing out at whoever they can find to get it.

This is a game forum
Not a social media site

Should be treated as such

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Excellent initiative @Rigs - very sensible and constructive post. I would like to also point out that to extend the actual forum rules, we have created Community Guidelines to highlight the values (thank you @zephyr1 for linking it).

Criticism and constructive feedback are always welcome and while we cannot respond to all posts, we do actively read and discuss the points raised here internally.

Personal attacks are never tolerated here and any toxic behavior should be flagged so we can take appropriate action.

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There is a way we should discuss game content and there is a way we shouldn’t.

Once name calling, personal attacks, irrelevant content material, and tantrums get involved then it becomes toxic and not constructive.

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Welcome to 2019, lol.

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One of the best community managers I’ve ever seen. Thanks @Petri !

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This might be a silly idea @zephyr1 but would it help to have a reference thread of commonplace ‘hypothetical’ examples of the types of posts/behaviour that you have seen that are disallowed.

I know you posted the forum rules and community guidelines but sometimes people need to be spoon-fed examples.

And maybe model answers (what you should have said) as some people don’t know how to express disagreement

Or is that too much spoon-feeding :joy:

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It’s an interesting idea, I’ll raise it with the moderators and staff. Thanks!

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This is absolutely true, and I personally have never been offended by anything I have read on the forum. However, SG has set out some reasonably clear rules for forum use, reproduced by @zephyr1 above. By participating in the forum we are agreeing to abide by those rules. (Some of us fail, at times.)

So even if I personally don’t see the harm in a bit of jolly vulgarity, it is specifically proscribed by the rules. Similarly, I’m always up for some name calling and a bit of flaming, but that’s against the forum rules, too. I’m not so into NSFW material, so I’m happy that is also against the rules. Mostly this stuff is pretty clear.

There are borderline cases, of course, and one might argue that mods and forum participants are at times too willing to shut down conversations or posters who ride the ragged edge of reasonableness. But better too strict than too lax.

If I were assigned the task of rewriting the forum rules I might make them quite different, but I can understand why they are as they are. Without reasonable standards of behaviour any Internet forum gravitates towards 4chan, which is a sewer of toxicity. Most people don’t like playing in sewers.

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Well what is also something that is not helping:
The people replying in this thread are people I see posting frequently constructive and helpfull messages.
The ‘toxic’ toppics are often topics started by someone that throws in a online (or maybe 2 when you are lucky) and have never ever posten before on the boards. Just a way of venting the heart and leaving again.
No this is not an attack on new kids around, there will always be new kids and maybe one of those will be a very welcome addition to the family. What I am trying to express is that the most ‘commen visitors/contributirs’ know what is excepted and normal (most of the time, we all have an off day once in a while).
So maybe we should be so smart as not to put fuel to the topics we know will be easy spiraling out of control…
Just leave it where it is and bleed to death is a way, do not feed the troll is what I was tought before when I still was a young boy.

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I’m sorry, i play devils advocate here.
I’m totally fine people say whatever they want. Yes, even useless rants and personal attacks.
There’s rules in here, i let moderators and developers do what they want about it.

It was more constructive before? Maybe, but there was much less people around, and many of them were really interested in the game.
Now it’s much more popular, and people just write solely to complain and disappear.

Yeah there are some trolls. People who invested in the game and not have the outcome they desire. I can’t blame them. I don’t even want to.

I honestly think people should be free to say whatever they want. If it’s within the rules, it’s fine. Not costructive? I just skip it.

I’m sorry but i’m not the kind of person that defend who run away.
Saying that the forum must change because otherwise “wise” people are afraid to get trolled it’s not something in my veins.

If someone don’t want to post anymore is fine for me. Happen everyday.
But it’s his/her choice.

If one day i would decide to stop posting, that’s my responsibility.
You can post same as always.

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For example I was always arguing with @Brobb…I definitly not share most of his opinions…nevertheless I am polite to him (and make some harmless jokes).
Not a behaviour which is hard to achieve…just be nice, listen to what people say, think about it and give an polite answer in which you explain your thoughts…

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Most of the people who are primary drivers of toxicity don’t have long post histories. They basically only speak up to complain. …when they do so, they don’t listen to reason or research that others have done and are not here to learn. They simply want to vent and yell.

At first I wanted to respond and help those people. They’re obviously frustrated and not playing optimally, not understanding the system. I got yelled at by them for this.

Then I stopped speaking back to them and basically just started dropping links and leaving the thread. This lead to me feeling like I’m helping, while not vesting me in their thread or topic of toxic goo.

I’ve now learned that if they can’t use the search function, which is automatically built into the original post creation process, then those individuals and threads should be auto-ignored, basically. They are not here to add to the community or body of knowledge, nor are they here to learn. They are here to be toxic.

Those threads should be ignored and hidden.

Maybe we need a new forum filter that funnels those posts into a new category of “RNG Discussion on Colors and Summons”. A graveyard for the inevitable toxicity associated with such rants. Then those of us Regulars can change the category for it (from General to RNG)… and we can exclude that particular forum from the regular feed of things.

It’ll allow them to see their post where it should be, hopefully find the resources already there, and keep their toxicity out of the limelight.

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Agree wholeheartedly with the first post. When in doubt, read Forum Rules before posting. Things that get flagged and silenced typically break one or more Forum Rules.

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