Getting the Most out of the Forums

We've gone through a lot of changes in the last year together. Between a brand new community site and a brand new expansion, there's been a lot to adjust to. We want to make sure that the experience everyone has on the forums is the best it can be and wanted to take some time to remind everyone of the things that haven’t changed and the conduct that is expected while in them.

We wanted to remind everyone first and foremost to please read the Code of Conduct (http://us.battle.net/en/community/conduct) and the Forum Guidelines (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/900930866#2). These will help you to avoid common pitfalls that may result in the removal of a forum thread or in having a thread closed for additional conversation. While these aren’t all inclusive, we've tried to give you the best possible means for ascertaining whether a post should or shouldn't be made here.

We understand that this is a passionate community and appreciate it for what it is. We understand that if you are here talking, it means you care and we want to continue to encourage that as much as we can. That said, we also want to make sure that if you are here posting, that it is for a constructive reason. The community is made up of a lot of differing opinions and thoughts, and it's important that when you are sharing those thoughts, that it is done in a way that can be used for the betterment of the community and the game as a whole. This should go without saying, but this includes refraining from harassing or defamatory language toward others, and profanity or masked profanity. Also keep in mind that we will remove threads that are not topical to World of Warcraft as noted in the forum guidelines. These forums are meant for the World of Warcraft community to discuss the game with each other, and so we ask that you refrain from posting on subjects not about the game.

Please use the search feature that is within the site. This should hopefully help you find already existing threads on a topic of interest. While a post may not directly violate the Code of Conduct, it may be removed for being a repeat topic. Unfortunately, with enough repeat topics, new topics can quickly and easily be drowned out and we’d like to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to share their thoughts and viewpoints with others. By searching for a topic and adding to it instead of creating your own, you can help keep information organized for us, and keep the front page from scrolling so quickly with repeat topics for everyone else.

Lastly, while we understand that there has been a lot of discussion on Cataclysm and what the community likes and dislikes about the game, we request that you ensure your thread title and content remains constructive and clear. "I quit" as a title, "Stop whining" as a post, or "If you don't like it leave" are all unhelpful, will likely result in a deletion, and potentially even a suspension in the latter cases. These types of posts are not constructive, they don't help us learn anything, and are often disruptive to the community. If you do intend to leave the game, we of course would love for you to stay and would maybe even like to talk to you about it, but understand as well if you choose to do so. But, please be respectful of those that are here and still engaged in the game.

We've said this before, but it bears saying again, these forums are here as a means by which the community as a whole can share their ideas, help each other learn and grow, and be a common meeting ground for discussion on World of Warcraft. While the community team is here watching, reading, participating, and trying to answer what we can for you, this forum is here for you to talk with each other as a community first and foremost. We want to make sure that it's a great place to come and meet up with others to share your ongoing adventures in Azeroth with each other, but need all of you to help us make that possible.

Just to follow-up with everyone. We are always looking at ways to improve communications and moderation. We will continue to lock threads and delete as we feel are necessary, but will try to be better about communicating why a post was locked. Please do not create new posts asking why.

We appreciate the constructive feedback on ways we can improve the forum search feature among other things and will relay that feedback to the appropriate people.

This thread was simply meant as a means to remind everyone of the Code of Conduct and Guidelines and open up a better dialogue with you all on the current state of the forums. While we understand that everyone wants an answer, or to voice their ideas, we want to make sure that we make it known that we can only answer so much before we are simply repeating ourselves and that if you truly want to be heard, doing so in an existing thread is far better than creating a new thread. We read through a lot in a day and even if you don't see us actively answering something that day or even a couple of days later, does not mean we aren't discussing this here. (Though we try to at least make our presence known even if it seems non-productive to you.)

We could jump in every thread we see and say, "we hear you" but we know that doing so isn't the comfort to everyone that they would think it to be. There is always someone who doesn't like to read (as evidenced on this thread) that "we hear you" because they want action not words. Our actions are slow. Answers take time as does development. If you want us to "fix" things, we all need to be patient. What some may think is a solution, may not be the solution they think. World of Warcraft (as I've said in the past) has a lot of moving parts. It's never as easy as adding "X" or "Y" and calling it good. It's all interwoven and we have to be careful we don't pluck at the wrong thread and unravel it all.

We've also noticed that a lot of people are missing information that we've been putting out on the front page/blog. This is a great place to find more information on topics and we'll continue to find ways to deliver interesting information there for you. We also flag Blizzard posts for tracking here on the forums. Everyone can see them all off of the index page of the forum. We'll continue to find ways to make these more evident as well as make everyone more aware of what we're doing on the blog . We'll keep doing what we can to get the word out and appreciate everyone that has taken the time to post here. We know you wouldn't be here posting one way or another if you didn't care. We care too and will continue to find ways to do better.

I don't understand why you don't "cut and paste" your blog post into the relevent forum as well. It also makes for better discussion.

We're trying to avoid splitting the conversation as much as possible. The idea would be to have people talk with us there on those blog posts rather than splitting up the conversation into additional threads as well as trying to make sure that the information is visible to as many people as possible. We're working on ways we can better direct people to these though and highlight them so that they aren't missed.

While this is a bit much, I would imagine people would feel "better" if there was a "thread read by Blizzard" tag. This could easily be automated on your end and provide reassurance that at least the points were looked at.

This suggestion has come up before, but it has its own issues as well that make it a less than advantageous feature.