Blizzard you can lock threads too you know.

#0 - March 19, 2010, 4:56 a.m.

Okay. I understand the strict moderation this forum always perpetuates. Some people just think they can get away with really dumb threads. It just doesn't help the customer service staff if they start receiving complaints because of some sort of crazy psycho religion thread has reached 10+ pages on the general forum.

Sometimes however...and I refuse to believe I am alone in this, I will click a normal thread, read it, maybe even leave a reply, then go do something else for awhile. Then I'll come back and even seemingly harmless threads could be obliterated.

At which point I can't help but wonder what kind of maddening conversation happened while I was away. Sometimes I can't even fathom what could have possibly happened. What kind of horrible obscenities does one have to spew to have everything said in an entire thread erased from existence by some silent moderator?

I really hate it when--despite all odds--a group of people begin to have an almost intelligent conversation about something...and it just goes away. As if it never existed.

Meanwhile the front page could have 10 topics on why tanks or healers are superior and damage dealers are inferior, five topics complaining about some facet of the gameplay with arguments that have no basis in reality, and some blue-thread about something nonsensical to help facilitate the idea that customer service reps have some sort of relationship with the player base.

Oh, and don't forget at least one cyclical lore thread perpetuated by a few forum regulars who hold no interest in unbiased discussion.

And by god, we can't forget the thread about waffles or other internet trends that can plague internet forums. Those have to stay, clearly! Because we all need to hug everyone of every race every day forever!

It would at least be nice if some of these threads could be locked, and maybe even given a reason as to why it's not valid discussion.

Nethaera

#12 - March 19, 2010, 6:31 p.m.

I'm going to give you a lock and respond both to this.

First off, if you have forum moderation feedback, this isn't the appropriate place to share it. Please feel free to email to [email protected] if you have specific questions or feedback about our performance or suggestions. We don't generally answer, but we do read through the emails.

Second off, locking threads is all well and good until you end up with too many locked threads which only prompts people to comment on them further or question whether or not "x" thread should have been locked etc. We occasionally will lock threads such as this to get out a message, but too many of them just looks messy and prompts discussions that aren't appropriate for the forum or just block it up for other more pertinent discussion.

These forums are meant to be used to discuss World of Warcraft in a general gameplay sense. As a part of our roles, we prune back either inappropriate posts or posts that aren't particularly constructive. This helps us foster better discussion where we can.

Reporting threads or providing feedback:

- Biohazard symbol for reporting posts that violate policy
- [email protected] for reporting posts that violate the Code of Conduct or sticky requests
- [email protected] for feedback on Community Team performance. Please note that while emails sent to this address will likely not receive a response, each one will be read and handled accordingly.

The Forum Code of Conduct is available via the top most thread in the forum and I would encourage everyone to read the thread it's posted in as well as the Code itself. It will give better insight into why we do what we do. In the end though, there are gray areas for a reason and that gives us more flexibility to exercise our abilities as Community Managers and moderators for the betterment of the community as a whole whether the reason is obvious or not. There is always a method to our madness.

As to other inappropriate posts or posts that need moderation, please feel free to report these so the moderation team can take care of them appropriately. We don't always catch everything and reporting threads or posts is still a great way to help us find these inappropriate posts.