Hellmoob wrote on Jan 31
st, 2010 at 5:14pm:
Voluntary dishonesty is generally a safe assumption...
I agree that's easy to spot but what good would come from allowing us to call out dishonesty?
All I can think of is derailments. It's not like you can prove someone's dishonesty:
-"You're being dishonest!"
-"No, I am not."
-"You are."
-"No."
That's an utterly pointless discussion.
Honestly, the best tool against moron, dishonest or not, is to ignore them. If you don't reply to them, you don't legitimize them and they look, well, stupid. For example, imagine that Aspenor and I enter an argument but that Shade starts saying that rogues have poor DPS. We could either stop arguing one against the other and call Shade for his nonsense or keep arguing.
The latter is, in my experience, far more effective because it gives the impression that his position is so ridiculous that it does not need to be addressed. However, if we do reply to him, it might start a long argument about something that is just ridiculous. It will also give the impression that what he says is worth debating, which it is not.
That's how medias work: everyone remembers balloon boy because it made a lot of noise, but very few people will remember something only mentioned once on the radio while going to work.
Hellmoob wrote on Jan 31
st, 2010 at 5:14pm:
I really can't stomach this tendency towards wrapping everyone in a blanket of kind words and gentle disagreement so their tender feelings aren't hurt by a conversation about a videogame on the internet.
It's not about being hurt or not hurt.
I get a good laugh of people who are so insecure with themselves that they need to insult others to feel better about themselves or so intellectually unequipped that they need to use insults to have a shadow of a chance to win an argument, like Demoyn. If I was hurt by them in any way, I would have probably stopped posting a long time ago because I have
a lot of haters. However, insults still bother me because they create an unpleasant atmosphere and THAT is the problem.
If you forums are welcoming, they'll be more useful. If they are not, people will consider the forums a waste of time and will avoid them at all costs. The former is more productive to Turbine than the latter as it means it posters interested in honest criticism will do so, posters interested in build discussions will do so, etc. If you keep negativity creep in, the forums will simply devolve into pointless arguments.
Just like MMO live or die on their community, forums live or die on their community. If the forums are as fun as bashing your head against a wall for several hours, few people will bother signing in.
Hellmoob wrote on Jan 31
st, 2010 at 5:14pm:
As for the dilution of "productive" information with "unproductive" humor/trolling... I just don't see it as an issue. I guess that's one of the many, many places our attitudes differ.
They don't mind humor. In fact they embrace it. Think of their response to the broccoli thread or Memnir that was the first spotlighted player. Humor make the forums fun for everyone. It's not like an argument, which many might disagree on. Trolling, however, does not fit that description.
I think the last sentence is key: we're very different persons. Different communities appeal to different persons. I wouldn't fit in nor enjoy a community where most arguments are met with insults. On the other hand, others would LOVE that kind of community and would be utterly bored by a community tailored for people like me.
The question is, what kind of poster do you think would be in Turbine's interest to attract?