The almighty banhammer and me?

[GAME OV3R]

Right, I'm a new member to this site so i'd like to start off by saying hello to everyone.
that done i'd now like to get straight to the point.
I'm a long time viewer of Zero punctuation and in celebrating the final release of the borderlands review i decided to had a gander at the topics posted about it but my attention was immediately drawn to multiple tabs saying "user suspended, user put on probation blah blah.."
and after seeing the first post were some blatant prodigy of einstein had put "first" and only "first" i thought god i hope yet another forum hasn't fallen prey to complete fuck wits but after reading one or two posts which had been condemned a little alarm started flaring up suggesting things weren't right, just a couple of examples that got people either suspended or put on probation were "thnx for the vid" and "been waiting for this for ages"

now before you start to think I'm just a random troll roaming the interweb to slag people off let me say that i myself am a global moderator of a forum not unlike this one and i was actually gob smacked when i saw people had been condemned for basically saying "good job well done".

Now yes, someone putting "first" at the beginning of a topic can be annoying but what happened to just taking the complete piss out of them for utterly embarrassing themselves? It's both enjoyable and lets you get out your creative side (i.e coming up with smart insults that won't get you banned)
but the real problem i had was with seeing users being penalized for complementing good work, if i'd have made a ground breaking video series and someone put "thanks for the vid" the first thing to do would be maybe say your welcome? or at the very least a *nod* at the monitor.

now no doubt i myself will be in for some prosecution after this but before you do so please let me inform you that I'm merely on a fact finding mission, the fact is a fairly simple one:

Why are you guys so hard on your users?


Now going on previous forum experience I'm aware that a reply from from someone actually in power here is somewhat to far over the rainbow so if there are any other experience forum users (experienced meaning you don't put "ferst" at the beginning of a topic) that would like to give me a hand grasping this it would be appreciated.
but however if i do fall victim to the "banhammer" before this get out then all i can say is elvis isn't dead.

Ta.

 

[Daffy F]

Well, I can't say I'm an experienced member, and I also think it is a weency bit ridiculous that some people are permanently banned for simply saying 'Good Job' on the first post. Something that makes this doubly weird is that on later pages, someone saying the exact same thing would not get reprimanded. Seems silly to me. Perhaps others are jealous about someone else having the first post? Meh. Anyway.
[sub]Welcome to the Escapist! Here's hoping you won't suffer the wrath of the Bannhammer.[/sub]

 

[tomtom94]

The people who get suspended are those who comment before they could possibly have watched the video.

Hope that clears everything up.

 

[Daffy F]

The people who get suspended are those who comment before they could possibly have watched the video.

Hope that clears everything up.

Yes. Yes it does. Now I understand!

 

[oppp7]

We have high standards here. Trolling and gramer mistakes wil nawt b toleratd,
Anything even remotely trollish will receive banhammer attention.
Although some of it is kind of a stretch.

 

[Frequen-Z]

I've heard people talk about being put on probation for having low content/value posts. Ass licking Yahtzee by telling him what a great job he does 3 minutes after his latest video comes out is extremely low value.

 

[DuplicateValue]

The people who get suspended are those who comment before they could possibly have watched the video.

Hope that clears everything up.

Yeah, pretty much this.

But the moderation here has been getting much stricter of late, I've noticed.
There are a ridiculous amount of people on probation/suspended at the moment.

----------

Edit: Oh and, welcome to the Escapist.

 

[Sir Kemper]

Welcome to the escapist! Actually i belive the reason is becuase the mods check when the people posted, and if it's about a minute or a few second after the video was released, it's obvious these people haven't actually watched the video and are simply posting just so they can more or less be FURST! without saying it.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

They punish people who they can see haven't watched the whole video. I know, I was once probated for it. It's... not something I'm proud over. Dammit, I wish I hadn't done it, that way I'd have my Neo badge soon!

But the reason the mods are hard is because they want this to be a clean forum. High standards demands sacrifice, and for those who've been able to stay away from the banhammer will probably agree when they say that it have improved the community very much. Most members are very intelligent and fun persons, and most trolls/flamers are taken care of as quickly as possible. The Escapist is the successful Rapture.(.. for now...)

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Your not allowed to put a comment before you could of viewed it. Saying things like "Good Job" and "Great vid" give off the impression that they have already watched it and enjoyed it. keep in mind that a good bit of them are repeat offenders, as well as past First-ers.
They want people to watch the video before they talk about it.

Also, you may want to read this for future reference
Have fun as an Escapist.

 

[Simalacrum]

Welcome to The Escapist!

We here are so hard on our users because it keeps this forum free of trolls.

Unlike most videogame websites, the rules are hard and set in stone - it makes sure that standards are set, and set high.

On video's, people who post a message straight after the thread has been set up are obviously trying to get in there first... even if it is a compliment, if it comes in less than a minute after the video itself has come up, its obvious that they haven't actually watched it, and are infact trolling.

Also, if you are a moderator, then I am sure that you will be most welcome at the Holy Church of Moderationalism [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Church-of-Moderationalism]

 

[Magnalian]

Right, I'm a new member to this site so i'd like to start off by saying hello to everyone.

Welcome to the Escapist, don't drink the water etc. etc. There was alos something about a basement, but I forget what it was. Why don't you look for it and see for yourself?

No seriously, welcome.

...a little alarm started flaring up suggesting things weren't right, just a couple of examples that got people either suspended or put on probation were "thnx for the vid" and "been waiting for this for ages"

now before you start to think I'm just a random troll roaming the interweb to slag people off let me say that i myself am a global moderator of a forum not unlike this one and i was actually gob smacked when i saw people had been condemned for basically saying "good job well done".

While it's true that sometimes people get suspended over seemingly harmless things, I suggest you take a look at the timestamps of those comments. If I'm correct, you'll find that they're probably posted at 6:01 or 6:03, while the video is usually 4 minutes or longer and posted online at 6:00.

Do you see the math? These people post without even watching the video, just for the sake of posting, which is no better than the cave-dwellers (trolls) who post 'first' on everything their eyes glance over.

 

[Yopaz]

They aren't hard on their users. They're fair to the community. These users break the ToS when they post like that. If you didn't know that you now proved you don't read it and probably don't care about it. The posts are pointless and often posted before it was possible to watch it at all. There's no reason they should post, they got nothing good to say, but they deliberately choose to avoid that and avoid the ToS just to be first to post.

Well, I can't say I'm an experienced member, and I also think it is a weency bit ridiculous that some people are permanently banned for simply saying 'Good Job' on the first post. Something that makes this doubly weird is that on later pages, someone saying the exact same thing would not get reprimanded. Seems silly to me. Perhaps others are jealous about someone else having the first post? Meh. Anyway.
[sub]Welcome to the Escapist! Here's hoping you won't suffer the wrath of the Bannhammer.[/sub]

They aren't usually banned for those posts, it's either probation or suspension based on their history. And they write good job without even knowing what the job is and post it before it is possible to read it.

I hope this cleared up some things.

 

[JanatUrlich]

Haha I have personal experience with the strict mods on this site. They're completely ott

For example, I am currently on probation for using a line of caps lock in a post. What.

 

[Pimppeter2]

As it has been said, the people who post those messages could not have possible watched the video to form an opinion on it.

If the video is posted at 11:00 and is 7 mins long, then how could someone post at 11:03 saying how great the video is.

 

[DuplicateValue]

Haha I have personal experience with the strict mods on this site. They're completely ott

For example, I am currently on probation for using a line of caps lock in a post. What.

Wow, that's kinda ridiculous.

Is there some new mods around or something?

 

[kalakashi]

I like to spend some of my time dancing around the banhammer, posting short comments and then adding a small more OT post. I'm going to consider this another sidestep.

If I do get probation for this, it will merely feed me. Do not feed the animal.

 

[Daffy F]

they deliberately choose to avoid that and avoid the ToS just to be first to post.

Oh, I see! Like Shouting "FIRST!" but more... subtle?

 

[Composer]

they deliberately choose to avoid that and avoid the ToS just to be first to post.

Oh, I see! Like Shouting "FIRST!" but more... subtle?

ya like whispering it
[small] fiiiiiiirst~~~~~ [/small]

 

[Olikunmissile]

They say "great vid" but if you look at the time of posting, they couldn't have watched 5 mins of video in 2 mins that's just silly.