Poll: So some people don't like the Escapist...

[klaynexas3]

Am I really the only one curious as to why the OP had to use the term "Feminist" when describing a straw-man argument? Granted, their group does use them, but so do Christians, Atheists, Satanists, Hindus, Muslims, Odinists, Democrats, Republicans, Anarchists, Banana Republicans, IT Department, human relations, mechanics, dentists, people in sweat shops, or any group consisting of people with a pulse.

OT: I actually haven't met anyone with any hatred for the Escapist. Some don't know it, some don't care for it, but any of my friends that have actually heard of it don't care strongly enough to even dislike it.

 

[krazykidd]

A lot of people here a pretty damn hostile , especially if you don't agree with what they say . Especially on topic like sexism and games as art . The forums have more arguments than discussions . I can definately see why people don't like us . The important thig is that we like us .

 

[Soviet Steve]

From what I've seen people don't abide by the rules, get banned, then blames the escapist for being elitist.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Generally people don't like this site because of the moderation. I for one like being able to go through a thread without seeing posts that are just an image response or just a string of swear words joined together. Some of the members here can come off as high and mighty but we're all the same here. We're people who like video games and talking about video games.

We're allowed to disagree here. We're not allowed to resort to personal attacks.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Without a doubt its because its perceived as having a very elitist attitude and culture. To a point they're right. I mean looking in the mirror a lot of people here can easily come across as pretentious. Add to that the rather strict rules on content, post length, and peoples' attention to grammar/capitalization and a lot of people are not going to care for the board. Hell when I first got here I was quite annoyed by a lot of these things, but I got used to it.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You guys really don't know? There's a pretty big list of reasons, but the biggest two are the massive numbers of "games as art" hipsters we have around here (which has fortunately dropped since Extra Credits went to Penny Arcade) and the draconian[footnote]and blatantly profit centered, in the case of the piracy and ablocker rule -- in fact, one of the major complaints is just how far the management will go to turn a profit[/footnote] rules, which also seem to have lightened up recently. There's also that whole "The Escapist: The internet's library of Alexandria" and "The Escapist: The last bastion of intelligence on the internet" thing. They were a couple of taglines for the site back in the day, and they were really obnoxious. For an answer straight from the horse's mouth, go onto 4chan sometime and ask, you'll get a lot of responses. The Escapist really isn't well liked by the internet as a whole.

There used to be an article going into it in detail on a wiki called the Dead Horse Interchange, but the site is apparently down at the moment, and I can't find the article on the Wayback machine.

Note to mods: I'm not saying I agree with the stuff I just wrote, especially since most of the complaints are outdated, but the OP wanted to know. That's why.

 

[Dryk]

What I mean by that, is the forums are much more strictly moderated than something you'd find around 4chan, Youtube, Destructoid, possibly Reddit, etc. leading to many zero-tolerance policies concerning things like trolling or low-content posting (which covers a multitude of things that a lot of people seem to view in different terms). You'll never find a thread outside of Forum Games that is a stream of reaction GIFs in response to one person's post.

I've posted on a few forums in my time, I'm also currently lurking GAF pretty often. I'm not finding the stricter moderation's effect on posts to be that strong, it mostly seems to just serve as a system for rotating active posters in and out.

 

[nexus]

The overbearing "sexism" rants and political attacks push a lot of people away. I would say that is one of the biggest nonpluses of the Escapist.

 

[jamail77]

Am I really the only one curious as to why the OP had to use the term "Feminist" when describing a straw-man argument? Granted, their group does use them, but so do Christians, Atheists, Satanists, Hindus, Muslims, Odinists, Democrats, Republicans, Anarchists, Banana Republicans, IT Department, human relations, mechanics, dentists, people in sweat shops, or any group consisting of people with a pulse.

OT: I actually haven't met anyone with any hatred for the Escapist. Some don't know it, some don't care for it, but any of my friends that have actually heard of it don't care strongly enough to even dislike it.

I chose to use the term "Feminist" because it's a recent topic I've been debating with people who hate feminists, calling them "Feminazis" and saying they ALL hold double standards, and such without understanding the actual movement. Since it was a recent debate it stuck out in my mind. I use terms relating to religious and political affiliations just as much.

-Snip-

It's not that I don't know. It's that I want to hear people's opinions. A lot of people see these discussions as pointless, wasting your life and productive time. I like to think it gives me a chance to talk with people and get feedback I wouldn't get from people in my little geographical and cultural bubble. Perspective and experience and reliable statistics are all very important things to me. It also gives me a chance to practice my writing outside of school. My biggest problem is my inability to make a well-structured argument concisely. Had that problem since middle school; it gets better every year though.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Am I really the only one curious as to why the OP had to use the term "Feminist" when describing a straw-man argument? Granted, their group does use them, but so do Christians, Atheists, Satanists, Hindus, Muslims, Odinists, Democrats, Republicans, Anarchists, Banana Republicans, IT Department, human relations, mechanics, dentists, people in sweat shops, or any group consisting of people with a pulse.

OT: I actually haven't met anyone with any hatred for the Escapist. Some don't know it, some don't care for it, but any of my friends that have actually heard of it don't care strongly enough to even dislike it.

I chose to use the term "Feminist" because it's a recent topic I've been debating with people who hate feminists, calling them "Feminazis" and saying they ALL hold double standards, and such without understanding the actual movement. Since it was a recent debate it stuck out in my mind. I use terms relating to religious and political affiliations just as much.

-Snip-

It's not that I don't know. It's that I want to hear people's opinions. A lot of people see these discussions as pointless, wasting your life and productive time. I like to think it gives me a chance to talk with people and get feedback I wouldn't get from people in my little geographical and cultural bubble. Perspective and experience and reliable statistics are all very important things to me. It also gives me a chance to practice my writing outside of school. My biggest problem is my inability to make a well-structured argument concisely. Had that problem since middle school; it gets better every year though.

Okay, this confused me seeing it twice, but I'm guessing you meant this quote for this thread instead of the other one? I've been drinking, so I'm probably a bit more easily confused than I should be

Anyway, my post in this thread was less aimed at you than the other posters, most of whom were giving reasons that people might hate this site that are pretty far removed from the reasons people actually dislike the site, or at best giving real reasons filtered through a pro-escapist bias. Like, the way Fappy worded his post. The moderation /is/ one of the complaints, but it's not because it makes it impossible for people to call you out on your beliefs. If anything, the rules tend to reinforce certain beliefs, to the point that the other side /can't/ properly call them out without getting in trouble.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Well, when you think about it, we're a big bunch of wankers, really.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Were you ever here for March Madness?[footnote]A tournament to see who the community thinks is the best developer. Users voted for the devs they liked best and see who comes out on top and see how many of the ones you picked won.[/footnote] Now THAT was pretty ugly, the amount of fighting that went on was pretty bad, they cancelled it this year because they want something more involving than just filling out brackets.

In 2010 the community pulled together in a collective 'fuck you' to Zynga, it was fun.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Donno, but if moderation is a reason.


Good, it keeps out the undesirables /elitism

I've been on forums with out Mods that do anythings, I'll take a forum where the mods do they're job and break out the ban hammer over one that just let the posters run wild.

 

[deathbydeath]

I agree with some of the reasons people don't like the site. When i get back to my computer, ill find some posts from other forums and put them on this thread. They're not that bad. Not to the extent they do, clearly, but the community here definitely has its problems quirks, and I've pretty much been staying for the RP section for a while now. I pretty much only leave that abode when I feel like trolling arguing in a constructive, grammatically correct, and good-natured manner, I swear!!

Please don't hurt me, mods....

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Between the circlejerking that the old timers enjoy so much, the air of superiority and the somewhat draconian moderation, I can see it.

I honestly think it's mostly the moderation. There aren't a lot of sites where you can't insult someone in any way unless you're very clever or good natured about it. It can get pretty irritating that you can't just call someone a complete fucking ignorant idiot and be done with it.

I for one appreciate it. It's why the internet is so beautiful. I can start my day over on 4chan and run my mouth as a homophobic, sexist, psychotic little shit and then hop over here for some well moderated, intelligent discussion about the current state of nerd culture and gaming and neither place knows me as anything but what I show them.

 

[Phlakes]

Everything is hated by someone. Being up any mainstream gaming website that isn't RPS or Giant Bomb and people will go on about how it's a disgrace to journalism.

 

[Dragoon]

Were you ever here for March Madness?[footnote]A tournament to see who the community thinks is the best developer. Users voted for the devs they liked best and see who comes out on top and see how many of the ones you picked won.[/footnote] Now THAT was pretty ugly, the amount of fighting that went on was pretty bad, they cancelled it this year because they want something more involving than just filling out brackets.

In 2010 the community pulled together in a collective 'fuck you' to Zynga, it was fun.

Remember how angry people were that Zynga got to the semi finals a few years back? That was not pretty.

Oh man I remember, MM always leads to fun times in the forums.

OT: Like most people have said it's mostly due to moderation, you can't get away with being an ass here unlike most other forums.