Has anyone else noticed the drop in standard of the Escapist forums?

[Wicky_42]

The only thing I've noticed is a rash of 'the last thing you killed' threads, which rapidly wore thin and unimaginative to the point where your now a piece of meat somehow related to a game through several stages of remove. Don't get it, never will, please stop making them. thanks.

 

[mr_rubino]

The only thing I've noticed is a rash of 'the last thing you killed' threads, which rapidly wore thin and unimaginative to the point where your now a piece of meat somehow related to a game through several stages of remove. Don't get it, never will, please stop making them. thanks.

Actually I'd say "You're a steak being eaten by the dog of the main character of the last game your sister played" is quite imaginative and requires a lot of thinking. I don't even know what game my sister played last...
(I still avoid those topics though)

 

[RJFTW]

This post is directed as much to moderators as to us Escapist civilians, & I'd be genuinely interested to hear anyone's opinion.

As the subject says, over the last year or so the standard of the Escapist forums has taken a distinct turn for the worst. Compared to other public forums, from Steam to the truly mindless slough of YouTube, the Escapist has always firmly enforced its posting rules with rigid moderation. The guidelines can be seen here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.116827-These-forums-and-you-Forum-Posting-Guidelines

The posting guide is comprehensive, articulate & specific, covering anything from grammar to advertising. Unfortunately it's becoming more & more apparent that the posting guidelines no longer apply, or that if they do then only arbitrarily. To illustrate this I've given a few paraphrased examples below of what I consider to be the most chronic transgressions against both the guidelines & common decency. However please note that the paraphrasing isn't done for the sake of clarity, but to protect the names of the guilty:

1. Flagrant racism.
E.g. Post after post insists that a particular European country is a nation of cowards, or that a specific American country's citizens are all stupid & fat (both scurrilous accusations); post after post insists that skin colour X is inferior or superior to skin colour Y; etc.
There's a difference between citing official statistics concerning the demographic of a nation (religious or political inclination; economic or educational status; ethnic composition; etc.) & racism. In addition to contravening the forum rules, racism is actually illegal in many countries & yet it seems to be flourishing here at the Escapist.

2. Trolling & Flaming.
Perhaps a more difficult activity to categorically identify, there are hundreds if not thousands of examples of this from 'Aww U sad? Go cry to mom fanboi' to the efficiently economical 'You're an idiot'. What is really staggering is the number of times blatant abuse is hurled around, apparently without consequence. Not simple insults, but much more profound attacks alluding to other posters' & even their families suffering physical hardship, or even trauma from cancer to rape.
As with racism, there's a difference between the citation of empirical evidence to support an argument & simply casting an unsubstantiated aspersion on someone's character.

3. Homophobia.
As with racism, this is an illegal practice in many countries, yet on these forums it would seem to be thriving. Surely there's no need to even demonstrate homophobia with examples, I'm sure we all know it when we see it.

I just wonder what happened to the forums. I'm certain someone will attempt to argue that to prohibit certain posts is censorship of free speech, but bear in mind the difference between free speech & libel, & also consider that in order to join the Escapist & post on these forums we all agreed to abide by the guidelines.

So how can someone be suspended or banned for posting 'First!' but ignored for 'Faggots will burn in Hell' or 'Your mother is a whore'? Is it just me that thinks this is crazy?

Someone asked for a specific example, an easy one for the racism/nationalism problem can easily be found: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.246777-Zero-Punctuation-Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops?page=1

I think at about page 4 it starts to diminish into half the posters claiming how stupid and war hungry U.S. and it's citizens are based off a video game. And then anyone who tried to defend the country was flamed repeatedly being called stupid and other such things. I couldn't continue reading after a certain point, and looks as though the people who posted the Anti-American rant are still here and not punished. Example given.

 

[automatron]

The only drop I have noticed has been in all the repeat threads.
(E.g the last character you killed is after you, whats your weapon in a zombie apocalypse etc)
Other than that I haven't noticed anything too horrible.
I find this site usually a LOT better than most in terms of forums (just look at youtube)

 

[Lavi]

... No mention of Islamophobia? I am disappoint. Because seriously, Islamophobia is everywhere on these forums. Everything else? Not really

 

[AsianMafiaSin]

I don't know what you're talking about. The Escapist community has exceptional grammar skills for the internet as well as not hosting a large mass of people whoring for attention. I think it's fine but you can have an opinion.

 

[internetzealot1]

Uhh...no. When I first joined the Escapist, every other thread turned into a free-fire zone, and suspensions were being doled out left and right. I'd say its significantly improved since then.

 

[pyrosaw]

I've seen some trolling and flaming, but not homophobia or racism. I blame AAA games. Every time one comes out(Starcraft 2, COD Black Ops, Fallout New Vegas), a whole bunch of people flock to this site and troll. I see a few new people who look like they'll stay, but still. Espicially Starcraft 2 and COD Black Ops, more trolls flooded in than GameFaqs.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

For number 1, we were being SARCASTIC.

for number 2, where the hell did you find this?! the only time I found this was when they were hidden posts by retards that just got put on probation.

for number 3, where? I don't see it.

 

[Sparrow]

I don't see much of that. If any. The nationality bashing thing happens a lot though, but the racism and the trolling? I don't see it myself. You may be be confusing trolls with arseholes though, the Escapist does have a few of those.

I'm going to let you evaluate my performance, but we never let any of that stuff slide. If it's not punished, you're not reporting enough.

Or maybe, with all these racist people we have on the site, they're not reporting it because they don't see it as a bad thing! MY GOD, what else could we have missed?!

 

[ShadowKatt]

This post is directed as much to moderators as to us Escapist civilians, & I'd be genuinely interested to hear anyone's opinion.

As the subject says, over the last year or so the standard of the Escapist forums has taken a distinct turn for the worst. Compared to other public forums, from Steam to the truly mindless slough of YouTube, the Escapist has always firmly enforced its posting rules with rigid moderation. The guidelines can be seen here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.116827-These-forums-and-you-Forum-Posting-Guidelines

The posting guide is comprehensive, articulate & specific, covering anything from grammar to advertising. Unfortunately it's becoming more & more apparent that the posting guidelines no longer apply, or that if they do then only arbitrarily. To illustrate this I've given a few paraphrased examples below of what I consider to be the most chronic transgressions against both the guidelines & common decency. However please note that the paraphrasing isn't done for the sake of clarity, but to protect the names of the guilty:

1. Flagrant racism.
E.g. Post after post insists that a particular European country is a nation of cowards, or that a specific American country's citizens are all stupid & fat (both scurrilous accusations); post after post insists that skin colour X is inferior or superior to skin colour Y; etc.
There's a difference between citing official statistics concerning the demographic of a nation (religious or political inclination; economic or educational status; ethnic composition; etc.) & racism. In addition to contravening the forum rules, racism is actually illegal in many countries & yet it seems to be flourishing here at the Escapist.

2. Trolling & Flaming.
Perhaps a more difficult activity to categorically identify, there are hundreds if not thousands of examples of this from 'Aww U sad? Go cry to mom fanboi' to the efficiently economical 'You're an idiot'. What is really staggering is the number of times blatant abuse is hurled around, apparently without consequence. Not simple insults, but much more profound attacks alluding to other posters' & even their families suffering physical hardship, or even trauma from cancer to rape.
As with racism, there's a difference between the citation of empirical evidence to support an argument & simply casting an unsubstantiated aspersion on someone's character.

3. Homophobia.
As with racism, this is an illegal practice in many countries, yet on these forums it would seem to be thriving. Surely there's no need to even demonstrate homophobia with examples, I'm sure we all know it when we see it.

I just wonder what happened to the forums. I'm certain someone will attempt to argue that to prohibit certain posts is censorship of free speech, but bear in mind the difference between free speech & libel, & also consider that in order to join the Escapist & post on these forums we all agreed to abide by the guidelines.

So how can someone be suspended or banned for posting 'First!' but ignored for 'Faggots will burn in Hell' or 'Your mother is a whore'? Is it just me that thinks this is crazy?

Someone asked for a specific example, an easy one for the racism/nationalism problem can easily be found: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.246777-Zero-Punctuation-Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops?page=1

I think at about page 4 it starts to diminish into half the posters claiming how stupid and war hungry U.S. and it's citizens are based off a video game. And then anyone who tried to defend the country was flamed repeatedly being called stupid and other such things. I couldn't continue reading after a certain point, and looks as though the people who posted the Anti-American rant are still here and not punished. Example given.

And I'm relatively sure(correct me if I'm wrong) that yahtzee gets away with it because it's basicly satire with a comicly angry rant about a game. Only a fool would take any of that seriously. And even if they WERE all serious, it's not as if they're hurting anything, and they're certainly not bringing the quality of the forums down at all. For the most part, they're yahtzee fanboys, and Yahtzee's fanboys pretty much just follow him, so that problem is totally solved.

The only complaint I have as of late is the number of "User above you" threads that seem to be popping up like daisys. Forum games are great and all, but when I hit the Latest Threads button, there's always between 3-7 of them at any given time. And while I suppose that isn't really a problem, they do seem a bit...juvenille? But that's more my opinion than anything else, I'm sure the people that play the games would disagree.

 

[MrJohnson]

I think the pretentiousness of this site has raised, yes, with all the armchair moralists and heroes protecting the rights of trolls.

 

[Normalgamer]

You know what I hate more than racism, homophobia, or trolling on the Escapist? The fucking "The last enemy you killed is now..." threads. Seriously, is it the same person who creates every goddamned one of those?

Agreed, half the recent threads have been those, and frankly, it's becoming so annoying I don't want to browse the forums as much.

 

[PrimoThePro]

1. Flagrant racism.
E.g. Post after post insists that a particular European country is a nation of cowards, or that a specific American country's citizens are all stupid & fat (both scurrilous accusations)

I think I am guilty of this. Not against my European brothers, but against my American brothers. Being from Canada I usually take a stance of very slight enmity towards our neighbours to the south. If I think of it though, I am glad they are there and apologize now for any comments I have made in the past.

2. Trolling & Flaming.
Perhaps a more difficult activity to categorically identify, there are hundreds if not thousands of examples of this from 'Aww U sad? Go cry to mom fanboi' to the efficiently economical 'You're an idiot'.

I see it all the time here and I wholeheartedly agree. This needs to be cracked down upon. I may even have participated as troll/flame bait, and again, I apologize for such unsavoury behaviour.

3. Homophobia.
As with racism, this is an illegal practice in many countries, yet on these forums it would seem to be thriving.

This one had me a bit confused, I'll admit. You have a point with the other two, but I have only once or twice seen such acts of hate on this site, and every time they were reported the culprit was reprimanded to the fullest extent of Escapian Law. In fact, I have boasted to my friends of the welcoming arms of the Escapist in terms of sexuality. Religion, had you said it, makes more sense to me then homophobia, but there must be something going on, as you did say it. Why the hell lie about something like that?

All in all you have a point, but there are not many left who are from around those days. Perhaps this is just a phase in The Escapist's history? Maybe a wave of newbies who are well mannered and polite will come flooding through. We can only hope...

 

[kouriichi]

I havent seen anything like that.

Sure, ive seen threads relating to those topics, but never in a bad way.

I think its just you nitpicking.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I've only seen one user who openly supports racism on these forums, that's it. Thankfully, he doesn't rear his head a lot. I rarely see homophobia and when I do see it, it is usually locked and the user is punished almost immediately. Lastly, Trolls rarely appear here anymore and that will be something we see on all forums, from the Escapist to Youtube. We can't really control that.

The thing I find bringing down the forums are the repeat offenders. You know who they are. The ones who are on probation or suspension most of the month and are usually not off them for very long. The ones who go "THE MODS ARE TOO STRICT!" (and might I say that is bullshit. Its not hard to avoid mod wrath, you just need common sense.) The ones who, back in 08 and 09 would have been banned rather then placed on a 4th suspension. They set a bad example for new users and they end up keeping Max and NoMoreSanity's style of posting around (In which they insults most users or as many people as he possibly can as quickly as they can)

Honestly, I feel as though Moderation has become a little more lenient over the years, not bad enough that they won't do anything, but they give way too many second chances. If a user is getting off their 3rd Suspension, chances are, they're not gonna learn their lesson.

I blame yahtzee for attracting idiots to this site.
Im still here to stay, but the escapist is slowly becoming a car crash you just can't help but watch.

(well we still have the awesome mods though who filters the shit a little bit)

While it is warm heartening to see someone sticking it out, I don't think Yahtzee is the cause. He's brought almost everyone here. Good and Bad. Some people just refuse to listen to authority. No need to blame the man who pushed the Escapist through the door.