Addressing Moderation Concerns

#1 - Sept. 4, 2013, 10:19 a.m.

Greetings,

We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns with the sub-forums and moderator procedures this weekend. The Community Team hopes that this post will help explain more of our processes and goals, which should foster better communication all around. It is important to show that while we might not respond to everything, we do pay attention to what the community is saying. Specifically, we’d like to touch on our processes and procedures.

Our Forum Code of Conduct is very clear regarding what is acceptable discussion. It’s true; we do not allow “I quit” threads or threads created simply to complain. We DO allow negative threads, as long as it remains constructive and respectful. Not just respectful towards each other, but also to our staff, which includes the Moderation Team, Dev Team, and more.

We also realize that we can make mistakes, and sometimes things might get handled incorrectly. This is the main reason why we have an escalation process, so you can easily submit an appeal, ask questions, and bring things to our attention. When this process is followed, our team is able to step in and take a better look at the entire conversation and mood. Alas, this did not happen, and many people decided to start spamming the sub-forums. Our Moderation Team handled the spamming posts as they are instructed, which included handing out some temporary suspensions.

You may contact the Community Team directly at [email protected] if you wish to discuss moderator actions, the Code of Conduct, or our processes.

Instigating spamming and breaking the forum rules is very disruptive and completely buries any real feedback that the Dev Team can use; the signal-to-noise ratio will defeat any positive discussion and information gathering.

Our goal is to allow our community to express their thoughts and desires for the game, but not at the expense of our welcoming and respectful spaces.

We discussed leaving this thread open today, so you can ask questions, and share your concerns. Also note that if the discussion does not stay civil or constructive, we’ll close the post.

Our hope is that by leaving this for discussion, we can show that we are listening and working to improve our processes.

#7 - Sept. 4, 2013, 10:46 a.m.

saVdoom.2067:

CC Danicia.1394:

Also note that if the discussion does not stay civil or constructive, we’ll close the post.

Will you close the post ? Or the whole thread ?

We as players cannot control other players, in a lot of closed or moved threads there was a huge amount of good feedback which is what decent players try to post after big complaints. I understand the need of modding, but how about you mod and move/delete the post and not the entire thread when the main text is not offensive or against the code of conduct (in reference to Xeph’s thread when it was deemed acceptable by John himself for example).

My 2 cents..

I believe you have a very valid concern and it is definitely one that has been on my mind a lot. I do believe that there is a lot of great feedback and content and we can do better at keeping it visible.

And yes. The entire thread. Thanks for catching that.

#8 - Sept. 4, 2013, 10:49 a.m.

Mrbig.8019:

the post the whole forum was spammed with was not breaking any single rule.

Whilst the post itself is a different topic, spamming is against the rules. Numerous people spammed the same post, and when members instigate others into spamming, it created an even bigger problem. The folks who were suspended will be back, but we are very clear in our rules about spam and duplicate posting.

#12 - Sept. 4, 2013, 11 a.m.

Rome.3192:

That being said, I know there are a lot of people that disagree with the way ANet has handled things in the past, and emotions run high within these people because they love the game, not because they detest it. Now, I’m in no position to tell you what to do, but it would seem as a community coordinator, it should be your job to ensure the negativity on the forums is toned down not by censoring the material that may incite it, but by properly communicating with your community on why things are the way they are (like you have done now).

As someone who got her first gaming gig being hired right out of a game community, I absolutely grok what you are saying. You’re as passionate about playing games as we are about playing and making games.

We are working on our processes, and it’s feedback like this, which helps the Community Team make the changes so we can all enjoy the ride together.

#13 - Sept. 4, 2013, 11:02 a.m.

anzenketh.3759:

Personally I think I quit threads should be locked not deleted. They will usually get buried by themselves.

I always appreciate those who use the reporting functions; it definitely helps! Also, the line of yours I quoted? I will bring that to our team for consideration (along with everyone else’s great feedback).

#17 - Sept. 4, 2013, 12:05 p.m.

Helseth’s stream links belong in linksville because they are links. If somebody was starting a discussion, and happened to link his stream as reference to a point they were making, that would be different. What’s been happening is his stream is linked either with no discussion or with a transcript of his stream. In either case those belong in linksville, as that is what that subforum is there for.

#21 - Sept. 4, 2013, 12:33 p.m.

Ideally, a thread to discuss content of the video would start with the points for discussion, then lead into the link and possibly a transcript.

Past threads linking to Helseth’s videos (including a duplicate for this week) tend to be just a link and the word “discuss”. The one you linked happens to also contain a transcript.

Because of the length of the transcript, I missed the points for discussion in the OP’s last post. So, on good faith, I will return that thread to the sPvP subforum so that discussion can continue.

In the future, please open with discussion points to clarify that the thread is a discussion thread and not just an advertisement for a stream or blog post.

#23 - Sept. 4, 2013, 12:50 p.m.

evilapprentice.6379:

Can we get an explanation as to why promoting the video itself (with the word “Discuss”) is banned? The point of the video/transcription was to generate a conversation about the current issues with SPvP – I understand how a rule might be against that in general, but why stifle something specifically designed to generate constructive criticism and help the developers understand our frustrations?

Promoting a video would be something for Linksville, which is for promoting interesting sites, videos, and whatnot. The discussion would be about the video itself and the content.

Really, we’d much rather just have all those points as a forum post for discussion, versus numerous people posting the same link in various areas of the forum, to advertise, as it were, the video.

Does that help?

#29 - Sept. 4, 2013, 1:09 p.m.

You are free to link the video itself. What we are asking is that you provide points for discussion in the first post. Commonly what happens is only a link or only a link and transcript are posted, and points for discussion are not brought up by the OP. That is what is seen as promotion.

By providing discussion points first, it tell us and others that you have watched the video and these points stood out as something you would like to discuss with others. By just posting the link, it feels more like somebody coming to the forums and saying “hey, my friend/guild mate/whatever made this video, everybody go watch it”.

Think about how many PvPers have youtube channels or twitch streams. Now think about what the PvP forum would look like if we allowed all of those people to post a link to their videos and streams in a new thread with every new stream or video.

That is why we have linksville. It serves as a place for people to promote their videos, streams, blogs and whatever else they want without pushing discussion threads out of the other subforums.

#38 - Sept. 4, 2013, 2:18 p.m.

Please remember that while we do have moderator coverage over the weekend, the community team is not in the office during that time. If you send an email to [email protected] during the weekend (particularly during a long weekend like this past one), you won’t receive a response from us until after we are back in the office.

#42 - Sept. 4, 2013, 3:13 p.m.

If we make an exception for Hellseth’s rants, we have to make an exception for everybody.

#45 - Sept. 4, 2013, 3:44 p.m.

gwawer.9805:

delete this thread! it’s not constructive anymore cuz ppl are arguing! don’t just close it, delete it like you always do! delete all the thoughtful criticism! flush all of it! i hope danicia made a backup!

I come from the IT world before my 6 years of game industry. I always have back ups. And back ups of back ups.

#47 - Sept. 4, 2013, 4:08 p.m.

Like I said earlier, provide discussion points in the post and not just a link to the video and yes, it can stay in the PvP forum.

If all you want to do is toss up a link and “discuss!” it will be moved.

#52 - Sept. 4, 2013, 5:42 p.m.

Just touching base again. We thank you all for the great feedback, including those which came in privately via our Appeals Process. Hopefully, this will have given you a better understanding of our Moderation & Community Processes.

As posted earlier, we’ll close this thread. If you still have questions or concerns, you can submit them to [email protected]

Cheers!