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Be that as it may Hal, the Mods actually have to do just that lol. Believe me, while I would never ever take anyone telling me to "kill myself" seriously, hearing "I hope you die", "die in a fire", or the like might be different.

Sure, the hard-ass in me wants to say "man up and deal with it", but I really can't; and I imagine that's the dilemma Audino's in as well (apologies if I'm speaking out of term, Aud).
 
I was pretty shocked seeing some comments on the flameboard in my first few days here. I'm glad this discussion is taking place, and I'm in support of having some restrictions.

Sure I may not know what's gone on there too much before, but I was really taken aback by some of the comments. Kudos to Audino and the rest of the moderation staff for their taking a look!
 
I think this is a very good idea. This is a forum for a game, and nothing in anyones RL needs to be discussed or brought into it. Obviously people can use the other areas in the forums to discuss whats going on in their lives and look for support etc. But I don't believe it has any place in the flameboard. Even though they weren't threats exactly, doesn't mean they should be left in posts.
 
Halifirien said:
That's one of the reasons I'm not a moderator. I don't want to babysit the lowest common denominators.
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I don't think it's about babysitting the lowest common denominators as much as it is requiring a basest amount of human decency in a section of the forum that is about as close to a free-for-all as it comes. If you're having an argument on an internet forum, you don't need to be telling someone to go kill themselves (or the most recent example that comes to mind is wishing divorce on someone who isn't even married yet because you don't like what they have to say and that they don't like you). For one, it's a weak response when someone is handing you your ass, for another, it's extremely pathetic to wish someone you don't even know dead over a video game, and lastly, if you can't be creative enough on the flameboard to come up with a real zinger without resorting to attacking someone's real life, then you really deserve the punishment.

And when I say "you" I'm talking generally.

I think it's a great idea to inforce the most minimum standard of respect in a place where almost anything goes. I don't think it's too much to ask.
 
I'm not opposed to minimum standards of respect -- I certainly didn't complain when Sculli started spraying Care Bear semen all over QCDN and suspended the Flame Board for awhile. I just think having a free-for-all zone where people are expected to argue and fling personal insults and baseless accusations at each other has already gone beyond that point.

Like Professor Farnsworth said: "Everyone wants to clone Hitler's brain, but you put in the body of a Great White Shark, and OOOOOH, suddenly you've gone too far!"
 
I actually agree with Hali's perspective on this, but it's also true that not every user will feel that way. For issues like this, catering to the lowest common denominator is probably best.

If you're going to kill yourself and/or others, you don't need to post about it. In fact, anyone actually likely to do such things would not post anything about it. Some people have a harder time with a printed word about a certain subject matter than they do the actual subject matter. Quirky.
 
Halifirien said:
I'm not opposed to minimum standards of respect -- I certainly didn't complain when Sculli started spraying Care Bear semen all over QCDN and suspended the Flame Board for awhile. I just think having a free-for-all zone where people are expected to argue and fling personal insults and baseless accusations at each other has already gone beyond that point.

Like Professor Farnsworth said: "Everyone wants to clone Hitler's brain, but you put in the body of a Great White Shark, and OOOOOH, suddenly you've gone too far!"
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I think I understand what you're getting at, Hal.

More or less, "be ye warned, there be monsters here" as a pre-emptive warning in a free-for-all melee area like the Flameboard instead of restricting it?

Personally, I think that "kill yourself" and it's ilk would fall under "real-life events" and don't have a place in the Flameboard, let alone anywhere else on this forum. However, maintaining a (largely)unmoderated place like it would bear its own difficulty especially when items of such a sensitive nature would invariably exist there.
 
Bear in mind this isn't something I'm going to lose sleep over. I'm pretty sure I haven't issued death wishes against anyone on the boards -- I was happy as a pig in shit when I heard Jesse Helms had finally croaked and somehow managed to restrain myself from making a thread about it -- and I'm not going to feel cheated if phrases like "Kill yourself" are discouraged.

Having said that, Audino made the point that the lines had been edited out but the intended meaning had been preserved. There's not much difference in my mind.
 
Typed words on a online forum can be interpted many different ways theres no emotion beside them other than what we the reader assign to them. Placing a smiley or a 'just j/k man' next to said words may give the author some form of immunity from what they just composed. I feel people should think a lot more before they put something into print, the consequence's of their actions can have varied results.

People sometimes type things online they would never say in real life to someone's face, its done for effect and because you never expect to ever meet someone you see online ever in rl. Somehow that makes it acceptible to insult and degrade people.

The internet is the great freedom for those that enjoy saying whatever they wish, they dont care for rules or regulations that restrict this freedom in any way, shape or form. You'll always have resistence to moderation.
 
That reminds me of Talladegha Nights:

"With all due respect..."

Putting a smiley or j/k doesn't give immunity to say whatever you want, come on...
 
sixpack said:
That reminds me of Talladegha Nights:

"With all due respect..."

Putting a smiley or j/k doesn't give immunity to say whatever you want, come on...
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Some people think it does, when you question their post later they say "Geeze man I was just joking see the smiley?

Talladega Nights?
 
Personally, I wouldn't say anything like that to someone for any reason. Morally, I don't agree with it, and I also think its the mark of a weak argument if that is all you can come up with. Everytime I see posts like that, I lose at least a little respect for the poster.

I think that comments like those should be allowed, though. Part of the reason I read QCDN - especially the flameboard - is to get a feel for a people's personalities. By censoring stuff like that, you don't get an accurate depiction of that person's true nature.

I agree that there are people who will really take that stuff to heart, and I feel bad for those individuals. Generally, people who are that sensitive "avoid the FB like the plague" (direct quote from one of those sensitive individuals). If they don't, they probably should, especially given the free for all warning. I don't see any reason to soften it up to help protect those people and draw them in when there is plenty of other content there that will be almost as offensive.

Halifirien said:
spraying Care Bear semen all over QCDN
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I lol'd
 
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If you're not going to censor, you need an age requirement to read. It's offensive to me, but I'm old enough to read it. Children under the age of 18 shouldn't be allowed to read the death threats or other explicit language. Explitive warnings need to be posted in highly visible places.

This brings up age verification issues, which when I just created an account I didn't see. There's no verification for the age you put in. Rather than putting the administrative staff through all this, why not have loose censorship. Don't allow things that are deemed extremely distasteful. Sure, children could get much worse on other sites, but why have any hint of it here.
 
Dino's onto something here. We tried to move away all types of moderation for the flameboard since that was what people really wanted. It really hasn't brought anything good. Flames are weak, most get derailed, and it's not as enjoyable as it once was. So I'm with Dino and I'd like to say this is the beginning. I don't want to go care bear at all, but at the same time it would be nice to have a good flameboard again.
 
sixpack said:
Rather than putting the administrative staff through all this, why not have loose censorship. Don't allow things that are deemed extremely distasteful. Sure, children could get much worse on other sites, but why have any hint of it here.
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I know you haven't been around here for very long, but there are a lot of people who are unable to control themselves. Enforcing the loose censorship would most likely require more work that putting up an age requirement when you register.
 
I'm gonna kill you Audino for having such ideas!!! nah just playing lulz.

I fully agree with what you have said here. RL attacks are generally wrong... Hell there always wrong really.
 
Linhjah said:
I know you haven't been around here for very long, but there are a lot of people who are unable to control themselves. Enforcing the loose censorship would most likely require more work that putting up an age requirement when you register.
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Oh ok, i thought those two comments that were made weren't the norm.

Age verification requires credit card input, which is a service, which costs money. Also I've read a couple of threads where people are having login information stolen by keyloggers...I don't know if this community is the type I'd have make login credit card information.

Having something like that on here seems like quite a bit of a hassle, whereas from the 40-50 pages of flameboard material I've read, this is the only instances where moderation even needed to be considered.

It's a no-brainer imo.
 
sixpack said:
Oh ok, i thought those two comments that were made weren't the norm.

Age verification requires credit card input, which is a service, which costs money. Also I've read a couple of threads where people are having login information stolen by keyloggers...I don't know if this community is the type I'd have make login credit card information.

Having something like that on here seems like quite a bit of a hassle, whereas from the 40-50 pages of flameboard material I've read, this is the only instances where moderation even needed to be considered.

It's a no-brainer imo.
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That is a lot of FB reading you've been doing! LOL I hope you don't base your entire decision about whether or not to play FFXI on the FB because the game really isn't like that (for the most part, anyway).

Aside from the death threats, there are plenty of things a younger person shouldn't be reading all over the board, especially the FB. While death threats and the like are especially heinous, there is a ton of content that, speaking as a parent, is completely inappropriate. It is up to their parents to moderate their internet activity, though, not the mods.

Basically IMO it boils down to how much work the mods want to do. Like I said, I find the content offensive, but I think it should be allowed. If the staff feels like its important enough to do something about, that is cool with me, too. I trust that the choices they make are with the intent of bettering the community. Sure, it could allow for me to misjudge someone's character slightly, but eventually I'd figure out that person is someone who I don't want to associate with. Whether you leave it in and save people in my boat a little headache or take it out and save a few other people a little headache isn't really a huge deal.
 
sorry for this derail but in addition to Linh's first statement


Don't take the personality you see on the FB or anywhere on the site qcdn.org as knowing all about a person, too many people I know have stopped coming to this site or don't come because of the "drama", just understand that there are many sides to a person and that under different circumstances different people act different ways which yes is a part of their personality, but it is not necessarily what they're all about(lack of better words there).


ninja edit: then again I guess it does relate back to the topic at hand, rl threats lowering the standards on qcdn does make an impression on people, one that can easily be seen as meticulous overall.
 
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