Yes and no.
I like the strict moderation keeping trolls and spambots out, but at the same time its making me use these forums less and less, and start actually hating them. These days I honestly don't want to post all that much, and I have to put it down indirectly to the moderation on the site.
Now, its not because I'm scared I'll get warned. Think I've got two warnings, one was definitely for a low content post that I'm somewhat against [It answered the question in the OP. Yeah I could have added on "That series really needs another installment" and been fine, but I'm not seeing how that adds any more content than my answer TBH] but W/E, moderators discretion and I'll add in that extra line from now on, just to keep them happy. Other one I think was also a low content post, not entirely sure though. Might have posted something that someone got offended by, but I generally stay pretty safe with that.
That does, however slightly preface my larger problem; moderation is somewhat flawed thanks to the rules. As I said above, I generally stay pretty safe when posting something someone may get offended by. How? Instead of saying "You're an idiot and a troll" I write something more along the lines of "You are acting like a troll" or "I feel like you're acting intentionally dense". Rather than outright calling someone something, you put in a "It looks like", "It feels like" or some other qualifier and it gets passed off as you're not insulting them, you're saying that they are acting/looking like someone who you would insult, or they come across that way to you. Basically, you're putting it as an implied "I'm not calling you this, but its how you're acting". This, along with all the "STRAWMAN!", "FALLACY!" and other inflammatory responses that don't get moderated as they're not directly insulting make these forums unpleasant a lot of the time.
I've seen people in this thread, and in others, say things like "Just stay away from topics on...", "I only post if a thread is less than 3 pages long" and other assorted "Just stay away from certain threads and you'll be fine" types of posts. Do you not see how WRONG that is. Forums are for discussions. If you have to stay away from discussions in order to avoid getting banned, there is something wrong. Really, the only reason you have to stay away from those threads is that someone in those threads will be passive aggressive towards you, or indirectly offensive, and you'll come out and be obvious about it rather than hiding behind what could be considered loopholes in the forum rules, and you'll get a warning whilst they get off scott free. TBH I'd gladly take a bunch of warnings for all the times I've posted something like that, and probably get banned in the process, if it'd set a precedent for everyone else receiving the same sort of punishment, as it'd IMO make the forums a better place.
The rules really focus on the wrong things, or are too vague in some areas, for the moderation to make this place a really pleasant place to be. Honestly the post Vault got banned for was nowhere near as insulting, hostile or offensive as half the posts I've replied to in gaming discussions. Hell, I'd struggle to call it any of them at all, but subjectivity and all that I guess. Really, this forum is a place of "So long as you're careful about how you do it, and don't do it openly, you can insult people as much as you want!". Its as unpleasant to post in as the Sins of a Solar Empire forums are to read. I remember when Skyrim was released, and I got into a massive 3-4 page argument with someone over whether the Stormcloaks or the Imperials were better [God knows there's a repeat of that thread around now too], and I enjoyed it. Neither of us were aggressive, we bought up lore and had a long discussion before deciding to put aside our differences in order to fight the greater threat of the Thalmor. The long arguments I've gotten into since then makes it feel like, were I to have the same argument again, it'd be implied that I'm a neo-nazi who supports the oppression of minorities, and that I consider non-white races less important than myself, and that's why I'd choose the Stormcloaks. Whether that'd happen or not IDK, with discussions about games its a bit more of a flip of the coin as to whether you'll get insulted for your opinion as opposed to general discussion where its normally a 9/10 chance of that happening, but every time I go to post it feels like I'll be attacked for what I post instead of getting a reasoned and logical response.
Recently its been happening less to me, but I'm not sure whether that's because most of the passive-aggressive posters have finally been banned, or because I've stopped myself from posting in a lot of threads that I normally would post in because I know I'll get a passive aggressive response and I don't want to have to deal with that because the person won't get banned. Really, I don't care to find out either, I'm not up for making that sort of gamble.
TBH there's probably 4-5 posters around ATM that make me like these forums. Once they're gone... I'll probably disappear. No offence to anyone else, most people generally aren't offensive or aggressive in their posts, but the interesting posters are disappearing, and the people who do make these forums unpleasant have left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'd also like to point out that its not necessarily the moderators I have a problem with. They're all nice people who are generally fun and I'd probably enjoy the forums more if they participated in more discussions, as they are often interesting posters, they just don't seem to appear very often, but the fact that the rules make it possible to write offensive or aggressive posts, and then not receive any sort of warning for them because you really haven't broken any rules, makes this place rather unpleasant at times.
