Let's have a bit of a rundown of how to conduct ourselves during discussion of a Hot-Button Issue, so as to avoid things such as those that have been happening for the past few months. There was once a time when I believed that we could have discussions without these childish rules, but evidently there's quite a few children here pretending to be members.
So, someone posts a topic! And it gets you riled up! SO riled up!! Or, you see other people getting riled up! SO riled up!! What should you do?
Make an edgy, cynical comment about stereotypes?
Decide that if shit's going down it's gonna go down hard?
Pwn a noob?
Make a snarky comment that devalues the meaning of the word "troll"?
Go the all-sarcasm route?
Tell people to flat-out stop posting because they don't have the right perspective?
Declare that someone who's been here all this time is, in fact, an idiot in disguise?
No.
No.
NO.
NO.
No, you don't.
Why not? Because then, for whatever reason, it makes these discussions fall apart and become meaningless back-and-forth between people who are absolutely convinced that they're right. Perhaps with some red and yellow flying around and most likely with a closed thread. I'm pretty disappointed that we can't keep our collective cool in these threads and take a little sarcasm or whatever; the fact is that we evidently can't and so, rather than continue this cycle that will inevitably lead to otherwise good members racking up detentions and bans for unrelated offenses (we are a games & modding site after all, not a center of political and ethical philosophy), I think we need to establish a few things that shouldn't be happening.
I don't mind if you'll make a comment about perspective. When you decide to turn that comment into a declaration that nobody else should be posting, you've entered the problem zone. I don't (well, shouldn't) mind people weaving some jokes into their arguments. When your entire post is nothing but a joke, you've entered the problem zone (at least, when people don't recognize it for what it is). And for God's sake, everyone needs to calm down and stop throwing around "troll" like middle-schoolers with obscenities.
If you're going to swing in on a chandelier of facetiousness and ill-will, don't bother.
If you're going to save the day for the internet and single-handedly call out all the buffoons from your mighty throne of superiority, don't bother.
If you're not going to put some clear thought and effort into a post, don't bother.
Yes, we should be allowed to have a lighter, kinder atmosphere where people can crack a few jokes to make their point. We can't handle that though. We've had about 10 threads in the past 3 months or so that have become some form of debate or another, and very few of them have ended in anything other than verbal diarrhea and a staff member telling everyone to shut up. We've also had a few staff members behaving in less-than-exemplary manners, but that's another story for another day. What matters now is that these threads stop ending this way.A debate section may or may not be coming - that depends on if the staff team can get itself together and do it or not. Until then,I ask that you all stop being so damn crazy when it comes to topics discussing anything controversial.
Some of you reported posts. For that I'm at least grateful, and I'm sorry that lack of action - on my part as well as other staff members - led to this and once again added to the perception that the site is headed by incompetence. I accept blame for this and in the future I will try to handle situations like this better, so that people don't have the opportunity to turn them into this. The thing is, very few posts here would actually be bad on their own. Who can't take a little joke? Who can't spot an obvious troll for humorous effect? Well, evidently we can't. Not when we're all so excited and not when there are so many of them in one place. I have had (and continue to have, no matter how many times I admit this) too much faith that we as a site are capable of handling a touch of bumpiness in arguments.
I've been criticized for locking threads too easily, which is why I'm reopening the Wikileaks thread in hopes that it won't become a nightmare so easily after I've taken the time to write this. There are many infractions and warnings that deserve to be given out here. They will be taken care of in due time - a few users are on the threshold of a stay in Detention and I don't have the time to think those decisions through right now. Until then, I hope that you guys don't make me add to the list I have right now of posts that are getting a visit from the mod fairy in a few hours.
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