Moderators: A Global Perspective

[Woodruff]

Concise description:
The auto-response by moderators to player chat-abuse is and has always been (as far as I can tell) to simply say "Foe the person" and then drop the subject. This is not acceptable!

Specifics:
Simply FOE'ing one player does absolutely nothing about the multitudes of other crap-asses that seem to come to this site simply to spew their venom and abuse. I've even given up on FOE'ing players, because it simply hasn't reduced the amount of abuse I'm seeing in any way. This site is ENABLING this sort of abuse, and the abuse is happening to paying customers and newbies alike. Eventually, you are going to lose not only paying customers like myself (this is my last desperate attempt to not leave the site permanently out of frustration) but also new (potentially paying customers) who decide the site simply isn't worth the hassle due to the rampant abuse. And if you think the abuse isn't rampant, then you're probably part of the problem.

I recommend that when an abuse complaint is filed in the CHEATING AND ABUSE forum, that it be looked at seriously by the moderators. If warranted, then the offending player be warned. Once. With that warning, the offending player should be notified that continued abuse on their part would result in their being removed from the site (whether they're premium or not). Continued abuse would then result in said player actually being removed.

I'm well aware that not all abuse complaints are legitimate. That is why I state the the moderator determine if the abuse complaint is warranted or not.

This will improve the following aspects of the site:
1) A tremendously better atmosphere for the site in general.
2) You won't lose paying customers like myself who want to play a game rather than being heaped with abuse.
3) You won't lose new customers (potentially paying ones).

[Night Strike]

From the Rules Page:

"Trash-talking" can be a fun element of the game and we take a liberal stance on what is allowed to be said in game chat and in private messages. If one player offends another we generally do not want to get involved. However, in cases of extreme obscenity or extreme harassment (in our judgement) we may take disciplinary action against the offending member.

If you find yourself in a game with someone who offends you, simply add the member in question to your foes list and his/her comments will disappear from the game chat.

It seems like you may be confusing two different issues. If a player is making racist or similar remarks, then you would have grounds to file an abuse report to have that incident reviewed. If all they're doing is cursing or trash-talking, that's part of the game. Moderators do not have time to police every comment that people post in game chats just because someone else doesn't like the comment. You have control over who you choose to play here through the use of private games and the foe list.

Overall, just because someone calling me a F***tard may seem offensive to me doesn't mean it should be policed by the site.

[FabledIntegral]

Concise description:
The auto-response by moderators to player chat-abuse is and has always been (as far as I can tell) to simply say "Foe the person" and then drop the subject. This is not acceptable!

Specifics:
Simply FOE'ing one player does absolutely nothing about the multitudes of other crap-asses that seem to come to this site simply to spew their venom and abuse. I've even given up on FOE'ing players, because it simply hasn't reduced the amount of abuse I'm seeing in any way. This site is ENABLING this sort of abuse, and the abuse is happening to paying customers and newbies alike. Eventually, you are going to lose not only paying customers like myself (this is my last desperate attempt to not leave the site permanently out of frustration) but also new (potentially paying customers) who decide the site simply isn't worth the hassle due to the rampant abuse. And if you think the abuse isn't rampant, then you're probably part of the problem.

I recommend that when an abuse complaint is filed in the CHEATING AND ABUSE forum, that it be looked at seriously by the moderators. If warranted, then the offending player be warned. Once. With that warning, the offending player should be notified that continued abuse on their part would result in their being removed from the site (whether they're premium or not). Continued abuse would then result in said player actually being removed.

I'm well aware that not all abuse complaints are legitimate. That is why I state the the moderator determine if the abuse complaint is warranted or not.

This will improve the following aspects of the site:
1) A tremendously better atmosphere for the site in general.
2) You won't lose paying customers like myself who want to play a game rather than being heaped with abuse.
3) You won't lose new customers (potentially paying ones).

Suck it up - you consider it a better atmosphere, a large portion might also consider it worse. As Night Strike said, a policed site. If you're too lazy to click the "foe" button, that's your problem, it's not exactly a hard concept. It seems you want to limit what others want to say because it doesn't agree with YOUR personal idea of a comfortable environment.

Pussy.

[Dancing Mustard]

Don't talk crazy Woodruff,

We can't expect the moderators here to spend their precious time chasing out foul-mouthed bile-spewers. The fact that they might be cursing at children, launching homophobic verbal assaults on homosexuals, or ruining games for hundreds just isn't an important enough issue to waste mod time on. There's far more important things for this site's paid staff to be doing you see. I mean, for example: they have to dedicate their time to locking threads on the forums which contain jokes they don't understand, and to stopping anybody from ever leaving a rating lower than 5.

Look at it this way, which is more important: Having our moderators hunt down abusive game-spoilers that are here only to insult and offend others, or having them police the personal opinions of players in order to stop anybody from ever leaving a 1-star rating and ensuring that nobody's average rating drops below 4?

I think that the choice is a clear one and can't understand why you're making such an unreasonable complaint. Our moderators are quite right to tell you that they don't have enough time to pursue such a frivolous task. After all, since when did the community that pays for them have a say in deciding their duties?

Regards,
Dancing Mustard.

[Twill]

Fabled, don't attack a user outside of flame wars eh?

DM, I do love your mild mannered attacks on the mod team, always refreshing

Woodruff, as we spoke about, this site has always allowed "trash talking" and swearing in games. There is however a line which can be drawn between trash talking and abuse/harassment. If the line is crossed, we do warn them and will remove them from the site if it continues.

I think that you would like us to be more aggressive with where we draw the line, but generally we let the site keep a "bit" of an edge.

Twill

[Woodruff]

Suck it up - you consider it a better atmosphere, a large portion might also consider it worse. As Night Strike said, a policed site. If you're too lazy to click the "foe" button, that's your problem, it's not exactly a hard concept. It seems you want to limit what others want to say because it doesn't agree with YOUR personal idea of a comfortable environment.
Pussy.

Well, I can certainly see why you wouldn't like it, since you're clearly one of the individuals I'm speaking of eliminating.

You speak of my being too lazy to click the "foe" button, but all that tells me is that you were too lazy to actually read what I wrote. How sad for you.

[Woodruff]

From the Rules Page:

"Trash-talking" can be a fun element of the game and we take a liberal stance on what is allowed to be said in game chat and in private messages. If one player offends another we generally do not want to get involved. However, in cases of extreme obscenity or extreme harassment (in our judgement) we may take disciplinary action against the offending member.
If you find yourself in a game with someone who offends you, simply add the member in question to your foes list and his/her comments will disappear from the game chat.

It seems like you may be confusing two different issues. If a player is making racist or similar remarks, then you would have grounds to file an abuse report to have that incident reviewed. If all they're doing is cursing or trash-talking, that's part of the game. Moderators do not have time to police every comment that people post in game chats just because someone else doesn't like the comment. You have control over who you choose to play here through the use of private games and the foe list.
Overall, just because someone calling me a F***tard may seem offensive to me doesn't mean it should be policed by the site.

Night Strike, I certainly understand what you're saying about the time that moderators would find themselves in policing the ugliness, and that has to be considered. However, I would point out that such moderation would likely diminish significantly once it became clear that such abuse is not tolerated. A reverse snowball effect, if you will.

As I've mentioned to Twill privately, I am a strong believer in free speech. However, "free speech" does NOT equate to "say whatever you want with no consequences". Even free speech does carry consequences for those who abuse it.

Otherwise, you will simply end up with verbal anarchy as those with behavioral issues will have forced most of those with common decency away from the site.

I honestly don't understand why common decency is seen as such a negative thing. Particularly given that this site IS CLEARLY a family site, given the number of minors who frequent it.

[Woodruff]

Woodruff, as we spoke about, this site has always allowed "trash talking" and swearing in games.
Twill

Twill, I actually ENJOY "trash talking". But what I'm speaking of doesn't amount to trash talking...it's the sort of stuff that belongs ONLY in the FLAME WARS forum, where it's not being forced down the throat of those who prefer not to see it. At least in the FLAME WARS forum, someone knows what they're getting into by frequenting the area. Unfortunately, the games themselves are rapidly becoming a simple extension of the FLAME WARS forum, so I'm not sure why you'd even have that as a separate forum. Witness Fabled Integral's more than willingness to jump down my throat for making a simple suggestion.

And you think that sort of behavior is good for the site, rather than fun and reasoned discussions. I truly do not understand that perspective at all.