Oh where, oh where, did the thread go

[Teto Frum]

Was wondering where the thread "why istaria has so few residents" went. Last time i was on it, didnt appear to have broken any forum rules, and actually 4 of the last ten posts i saw were post from developers, two different ones. If it was considered a dead issue, why was has it disappeared and not just been closed.

[velveeta]

are you sure it went away? i was reading it yesterday at work......

[Teto Frum]

Well i can't find it anywhere, and none of my post from it show it my statistics anymore. Thought it was just moved and id find it by my last post to it. But no history of it even existing in my post history.

[Zexoin]

I can't find it either

[Mensar]

THIS IS SO WHY ISTARIA HAS SO FEW RESIDENTS LEFT! haha Just thought I'd make you feel better.

[LaughingOtter]

The thread was removed because of excessive player baiting. The rules still apply, even in rants.


"I am standing up for what is right. You are being stubborn. He is a freaking moron with roadkill for brains." - How arguments work on the Internet.

[Teto Frum]

OK, Thank you for your response LO, though i disagree that the thread crossed any forum rules, its your forum. Do find it kinda funny though that, that thread crossed the lines in your eyes but the grammar nazi thread, a whole thread dedicated to insulting people who give you their money isn't crossing any lines.

Looks alot more to me like it matters whos being offended than there being actual offense being given. I'm sure im now guilty of moderator baiting, though thats not what i started out to do, so delete this, ban me whatever, im moving on wont be back to forum or game. Best of luck too all of yas hope Istaria remains an option for those that want it for years to come.

[Mensar]

OK, Thank you for your response LO, though i disagree that the thread crossed any forum rules, its your forum. Do find it kinda funny though that, that thread crossed the lines in your eyes but the grammar nazi thread, a whole thread dedicated to insulting people who give you their money isn't crossing any lines.

Looks alot more to me like it matters whos being offended than there being actual offense being given. I'm sure im now guilty of moderator baiting, though thats not what i started out to do, so delete this, ban me whatever, im moving on wont be back to forum or game. Best of luck too all of yas hope Istaria remains an option for those that want it for years to come.

Moderator baiter..

Sounds like.. well.. something not good, haha.

[LaughingOtter]

I'm sorry you feel that way, Teto. As always, if you disagree with the moderation of the board, please send a PM to Amarie and handle it that way. As for the other thread you mentioned, if it is indeed that bad you should report it and let the moderators take whatever action is needed. Just because bad behavior exists, that does not mean that it justifies further bad behavior.

Good luck, wherever your travels take you.

[LOVWYRM]

I do not miss this special thread.
I understand why it has been closed.
I do not agree with Teto saying that it `s depending on who said something to someone when a thread/post is censored.
As I metioned before: I dislike censoring and banning.
Threads with my input have been deleted, posts of mine too.
Sometimes I understood- sometimes I did not.
I listened to the mods citing the forum rules all over again, giving me a headache.^^

I`m still here- I enjoy -I play

happy fall festival- let`s have a drink at Hammer`s Rest, and celebrate life.
In Istaria, or where ever you all are

[Sigi]

happy fall festival- let`s have a drink at Hammer`s Rest, and celebrate life.
In Istaria, or where ever you all are

That's an excellent idea
Cheers all!

[velveeta]

well, i didn't think there was anything baiting about it, unless something happened between the time i last read the thread and the time it disappeared. if i am not privy to all the info, then i apologise.

however, like teto, i didn't see anything horrible going on. i thought it was a lively conversation but not a flaming one.

i respect the right of the mods to do as they will with their own thread, and i certainly will not be giving up my throne for a forum thread. to me, a more sensible and enjoyable solution would be to quit the forums, not the game.

but i am such a noob, what do i know?

[Tcei]

I think the difference is that someone complained about post on that spacific thread in a pm to the mods but never about the grammar nazi thread or its sister spelling thread, tho I do know of at least one post from the spelling thread was deleted for the same reason as here. I know several of the last post on the "why istaria has so few" were deleted - repeatedly.

I was always surprised that the gramar nazi and spelling thread were never deleted, especialy in the early post as they are little more than a direct attack on one very nice individual here on the forums IMHO. Now that I know that such threads have to be reported via PM first I will keep it in mind for the next time.

[Deth]

I use the little triangle with the ! in the corner myself. It was made for reporting a post so the easiest way i would think to report post or threads I would think.

[Takora Drakan]

I was always surprised that the gramar nazi and spelling thread were never deleted, especialy in the early post as they are little more than a direct attack on one very nice individual here on the forums IMHO. Now that I know that such threads have to be reported via PM first I will keep it in mind for the next time.

Well, they seem now to be gone. A good thing IMHO.

[Shur]

whoo boy! that thar thread con-tains some stuff that might oh-fend somebody. We had better de-leet that en-tire thread and all the dis-cussion that was accomplished. Yup, we should certainly de-leet all that val-u-able dis-cussion, so that no-body gets oh-fended.

You don't think the people that were dis-cussin' it will mind at all, do ya?


It's no bloody wonder 95% of the players stay off the forums. You say anything that goes against the grain, the yes men flame you back to the stone age, then when you respond in kind the mods wipe away any actual discussion that might have gone on around the flaming. You wanna talk about driving off players, that crap will drive the playerbase into the ground like a drunk in a Mazerati.

[Creme]

There has been a lot less flaming (i.e., the fanboi vs. critics) going on. Arguments have tended to be more point/counterpoint; however there do still seem to be persons posting that get touchy when their points are not agreed with.

I had not followed that thread in a good number of days, so I cannot say that it hadn't turned the corner where instead of being valuable discussion material, it started heating up.

Regardless, IMO that was a dead horse beaten to death many times and I think that good points were made (i.e., improving death dialogue) and that information has been noted.

Besides, any thread that goes more than 3-4 pages gets tedious to read

Especially when it's all the same stuff restated many times.

There is a forum rule not to post the same stuff over and over again, in hopes that THIS 20th time you post it, it will strike someone differently. I paraphrase, but you get the general idea.

That the thread was allowed to perpetuate the same things being posted repeatedly for so long, you should consider a blessing .

[Shur]

as teto pointed out, towards the end we had finally got some developer response out of it. now that's gone and the issue is back to square one.

all i'm asking for here is reasonable moderation. taking a battleaxe to a topic that large might seem like a good idea if it goes south, but before you do, would it hurt to pick up the scalpel and split out the useful information (IE: the new responses from the devs we didn't have before) so that they can be properly discussed?

in the final analysis, devs, mods, it's your forum, do with it as you please. but arbitralily deleting a huge thread because you felt it might cause someone to feel as though they had cause to possibly be offended is only going to serve the purpose of irritating the people who were trying to have an actual -discussion-

[Amarie Ancalimon]

Please keep in mind that although the thread looks nice in neat, it generally takes hours of pruning (yes, deleting) comments that were not a nice, lively part of the discussion. Once a thread begins to rise to multiple hours (a day) spent on making it courteous to all players, it reaches the point where it is a losing battle on our part, and we decide to end or delete it. In the case of the aforementioned thread, deleting was the answer.

My best suggestion for discussing issues where you'd like developer input would be to place the thread in the Question and Answers forum, rather than in the rants. Generally, rants are not formed to ask and answer questions, they are there to get something off of one's chest (and doing that in a courteous manner can be difficult sometimes). Instead, forming a Q&A forum along the lines of "I don't really enjoy the DP system, and this is why... What does everyone else think? What do the Dev's say?" will yield many responses, a lively conversation, and create an environment where posters can remain understanding and courteous of other people's opinions (even if they differ from one's own opinions).

Although we ask (and hope) that our community remembers to remain courteous and open to the fact that everyone has differing opinions, it is the poster's responsibility to create a welcoming environment, even within a 'heated' discussion. When that does not happen we must step in and remind/edit/remove issues. So keep in mind, if you'd like to see your posts untouched, be courteous and understanding, even when disagreeing!

[Pharcellus]

besides, if you REALLY want to rant, there are good boards where you can go and pretty much get whatever you want off of your chest.

Unfortunately, I can't post the URL to one of the more "infamous" "Istaria"-inspired ones here, as simply posting the link is a ban-able offense. However, if you want to know, feel free to PM me.