Poll: Is it just me or is it too easy to get banned here?

[Zyxx]

I imagine it's like any other enforcement agency: some mods are sincerely motivated by a desire to create a civilized environment for intelligent discussion. Others simply enjoy the ability to ruin other people's day. These two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In any case, there's some degree of luck involved as to who checks your post, just like when you get pulled over.

I've managed to avoid infractions so far simply by trying to avoid my hot-button issues and only posting when I feel like I have something worth saying that hasn't been said (or at least phrased in the same way) already. While it does occasionally occur to me that "Huh, there seem to be an awful lot of suspensions and bans around", I then remember that if the same rules were suddenly applied to say, Youtube, something like 90% of the community would be banned within the week (if we're having a particularly intelligent and civil Youtube week)

 

[thiosk]

the part that bugs me is that when the new system was initiated, every infraction ever collected from years prior came loaded-up. I had 3 strikes left when the system was initiated, despite those being minor slaps on the wrist for some of the sillier rules (like the one time I posted a picture in a post a favorite picture thread, it was a cat that happened to have a caption that said 'cool story bro.' That cat is awesome. But apparantly, the caption means im'a'trollin'). I had been informed that some of those would be forgiven in the future, having made my case. Not forgiven afterall.

Now, i'm not long for this earth-- its only a matter of time before I say something someone disagrees with and then I will never be able to post here again on account of 'horrible trolling.'

 

[DigitalSushi]

Read the rules again, perhaps that would help?

Also, if you have a problem with a mod, it's best to send them a PM rather than making a thread about it.

No I thought this would be a generally good discussion about internet rules...

Absolutely, this can be a good discussion about the social interactions of the internet, but your thread pretty much states "here" implying you mean The Escapist forums.

I can see why this person was banned. The line "Was there really a point to such a stupid post like yours." is what did it. That is what we call flaming and the mods are not a big fan of it. I've never really had an issue with mod wrath, heal my record is clean.

Just remember, don't be a jerk, post more then one word, don't post porn, and don't talk about pirating, mostly what the rules boil down to. I find it not that hard to follow.

Those are pretty good rules to follow, remember people, if your being unpleasant, chances are a mod will be around and they will look at it.

 

[Lizmichi]

I can see why this person was banned. The line "Was there really a point to such a stupid post like yours." is what did it. That is what we call flaming and the mods are not a big fan of it. I've never really had an issue with mod wrath, heal hell my record is clean.

Just remember, don't be a jerk, post more then one word, don't post porn, and don't talk about pirating, mostly what the rules boil down to. I find it not that hard to follow.

Those are pretty good rules to follow, remember people, if your being unpleasant, chances are a mod will be around and they will look at it.[/quote]

Oh hey I see you're back.

 

[Active Schizophrenic]

I just got un-suspended becuase of low-content posts feelsbadman.jpeg

 

[minimacker]

It does seem like expressing ones own opinion is dangerous in the Escapist. I've seen many people who either talk about how they feel about certain companies or even this very thing, getting warnings, probation or even bans.

I was going to do a joke about the 1940s you-know-who's you-know-what-police, but I'd risk getting myself warned.

 

[Chris646]

I actually think that it's pretty hard to get banned here. Simply don't be a jerk, and explain your reasoning in more than just a word or two.

 

[OneEyeX]

I was going to do a joke about the 1940s you-know-who's you-know-what-police, but I'd risk getting myself warned.

Oh those Nice but Stern German fellows who helped my Grandma's Jewish Neighbors move out? Yeah, I heard that they started up a Game site a few years back.

Also, it's why I frequent Giant Bomb more often then Escapist. It just seems like a more open and relaxed environment, because you WILL get made fun of for saying stupid stuff but in a very laid back way.

 

[Whateveralot]

Just don't be an idiot, and you don't get banned. The low content rule is quite unique and very subjective to what's low content and what's not. But it never bothered me to have to add my actual point of view on things. In fact, it feels quite good. It actually works.

 

[Xealeon]

1. No one cares about reading the rules. We're on this forum because of a fast talking Brit who makes funny, slapstick videos. No one should have to give a damn what the "forum rules" are. If we all of a sudden have to care...then it means there's an issue with the rules themselves. Everything should be basic, down to earth, common knowledge. Which leads me to my next point...

If you're only here to watch Yahtzee then you don't actually need a forum account and could simply avoid being banned by never posting anything. By creating an account and posting you have acknowledged that you are here for the forums themselves. Saying "I'm only here to watch shows so the forum rules don't matter" is like saying "I'm only a tourist so the laws of the country I'm in don't matter."

Also, I'm relatively sure that at some point when you were creating your account/posting on the forums a little thing would've come up saying "here are the forum rules, please read them and click 'agree' if you agree or 'disagree' if you don't".

 

[00slash00]

ive never gotten so much as a warning, and ive never felt like i was walking on egg shells or anything. the mods seem pretty fair

 

[Phoenix_XIII]

I (surprisingly) HAVEN'T been banned yet and I have a weird tendency to piss everyone off no matter what threads I make.


But I did get a warning for having a short post. That's just silly.

And I've been having to add pointless sentences to my posts in order to prevent myself from getting another warning but I have no idea when enough is enough?

IS THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU, ESCAPIST?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!

 

[General_Potatoes]

I have noticed that people are getting banned a lot easier.

 

[Canadish]

Oh yes. It's all well and good to just say "follow the the rules", but that's kinda missing the point of the discussion, surely?

The way the rules are, and the whole "health meter" system are way to harsh when combined with over zealous mods and staff. Especially the ones that don't follow the rules themselves.

I got one once for talking about how reviewers are often "encouraged" to give games better scores then they deserve due to advertising. I said it was an industry wide problem, morally wrong and that I certainly wouldn't just assume the Escapist was immune to this.
"You've received a warning"
And a little message left to me telling me not to discuss this again. Not sure who sent me that one. It struck me as odd because certain staff have brought the topic up themselves for discussion. I guess the peasantry aren't allowed? Regardless, it just made me feel more suspicious about the review in question.

A couple of other times it was for "low content post". Once, fair enough, it was just an image, but that wasn't a rule at the time.
The next I had both an image and answered the question. No long answer needed. Still got a warning for it.

It hardly destroys the forums, but it's a downside. A shame as well, as I enjoy discussion with the Escapist community. It's a shame you can't have a "relaxed" discussion though.

 

[Telekinesis]

Pretty much, that's why I post on other forums instead like 4chan.

 

[Grand_Arcana]

The problem with this site is that the mods don't moderate people who mask their insults. They're almost bots. One word insults get moderated, but long drawn out things like:

"Your American ignorance is so apparent, I'm surprised you're not a member of Fox News. A child has stronger arguments than you, and children lack the cognition of an adult. Perhaps your development ceased at the single digit age range? I wouldn't be surprised if you're also overweight and can only speak English. Go watch Nascar with your trailor buddies and leave the discussion to the intellectuals, silly American."

Posts like that rarely if ever get moderated. Basically, flaming on this site is perfectly acceptable and probably encouraged as long as you're condescending while doing so.

I suppose insults are acceptable if they're refined and "civilized". We're a website brimming with snobby gaming liberals, what do you expect? Besides, crudeness is Yahtzee's monopoly.

Well, a big part of people getting "Banned too easily" is because people mistake privately owned virtual space for flesh-and-blood public ones.

Freedom of speech does work the same way when you're in someone else's territory. If Boy Scouts can discriminate against openly gay people, then certainly no one's going to fight for the privilege of random people on the internet to be disrespectful.

Well, that's just not cool.

 

[theheroofaction]

So,b I've been reading this thread and thought I'd chime in on something,
See in essence there are 3 core rules here

-Have something to say whenever you post
-don't encourage crime
-don't be a douche

do you have any Idea how many forums would ban for mentioning topics that us escapists talks about every day?
Topics like:
-sexuality
-violence ( as in real life violence)
-censorship

as well as many boards that are language sensitive.

Plus, how many of those let you
-have eight chances
-criticize the moderation methods

anyway that's my $0.02

 

[mysecondlife]

I like the rule as it seems to weed out the unpleasant people.

One time, I had a conversation with this unpleasant person on this forum. He wasn't explicitly breaking the rules here but if we were talking face to face, I would've eventually curbstomp him or something. I decided to ignore him in favor of following the rules here.

Few days later, he got suspended for something completely unrelated.

Bottom line: The rule seems to work for me. For people who knows to show civility and some restraint seems to settle here just fine.

About 200 posts without a warning... looks like I'm doing alright.

 

[Brandon237]

The mods are way too punishment happy.

With the implementation of the (fucking stupid) forum health bar thing bans are determined by amount of infractions rather than severity of infractions.

Oh this is going to end well. I guess I just have to post it.

That is all.

For instance^^^ the mods would consider this a low content post which used to be worth a warning. but if this guy has done this one to many times he could get banned for it.



The Escapist mods are power hungry I got put on probation for saying that Bungie has no reason to make Halo Reach any good because it's the last Halo game they were going to develop.

But in most cases Moderators on internet forums are completely unnecessary, all they really offer is a "tell on you" button for extremely thin skinned people. Maybe one in a hundred people actually deserve the ban their getting.

Here's a thought only let the mods delete specific posts and only use the ban hammer on advertizing and spam accounts.

The mods keep this forum clean, and if they hand out punishment, person appeals they can reconsider anyway, so if you can show the politeness in an appeal for a "borderline" infraction, nothing is lost anyway.

And someone who constantly makes useless and offensive / rule-breaking posts, is a scourge to the community, even if they never break 7 rules in one post, these infractions continually pester the community, they need to go.

He would have gotten 7 warnings for it in the past. And that is not low content, he has 2 sentences on top of the picture.

In what words did you say it? Because you could so "that is nice" in a manner that is worth a warning.

The report button is there because the mods can't be everywhere, and it has to be pressed at least 2 times on one post for that post to even be looked at.

And have you seen the comments on youtube? That is why we need our good mods here. And they are not too strict, I have nearly 3000 posts, no warning, some people who stick to religion and politics, >10 000 posts, no warnings. If they can do it, so can you.