I'd like to open discussion on the following policies:
Goodbye threads
Off-topic posts
Hijacking threads
Bumping threads
Please jump in and voice your opinions. I am not looking for agreement here, just dialogue to explore the issues.
1. Goodbye threads
No one wants to wade through a lot of "Goodbye and good riddance" type posts. We are here because we WANT to play the game, and we post because we think voicing our ideas and opinions might help make it a better game. This being said, the forum community is distinct from the in-game community. The friends we make in the forums are different from the friends we make in the game. If one of those friends must leave for one reason or another, it seems to me that, within certain guidelines, a good-bye message should be allowed. Preventing all such threads because some people use them as an opportunity to rant shouldn't result in a policy banning all such threads. To me, this would be like closing down the forums because some people flame here.
A good example would be when the bio-engineers lost their correspondant Talthizar some time back. This player contributed greatly both to the game and to the BE community. The "official" BE guide was picked up from the FAQ that he compiled (and helped to author). Many of the articles that he compiled are still in the BE FAQ. Through the grapevine we heard that he had to step down due to real life demands. But he never posted after that, so we never knew if he left the game entirely or merely left in his position as BE correspondant. In his case, a good-bye thread would have been important closure for the BE community.
So my solution would be to delete the rants, but not necessarily every good-bye thread. It isn't always possible to say goodbye in-game, especially since we never knew each other in-game. Also, a single message and /salute seems much more efficient than to try to /tell everyone who has ever posted in your favorite forum.
2. Off-topic posts.
Callandry warned that moderation would increase in the forums. While aggressive removal of offensive posts is certainly a good thing, I'd like to sound out a voice of restraint when it comes to off-topic posts.
A small amount of side chatter helps create a bond between regular posters on a forum. This is most true on the professions forums. I liken it to a scientific meeting or convention. While sharing technical tricks and secrets is perhaps the focus of the meeting, the social aspect of the meeting is just as important. It helps create a network of friends who can help each other through issues--especially issues concerning their profession. Getting to know these people helps one to differentiate between a mere whiner and a rational member of the professional community with a problem that needs to be solved.
With this in mind, I would opt to be tolerant of a degree of off-topic chatter in the forums, while helping to prevent them from being overly cluttered with such chatter and watching out for genuine hijacking.
I realize this is terribly subjective. However, I have participated in many forums in which moderators managed a good balance without much controversy.
Similarly, a friendly reminder to try to get back to the topic seems more appropriate than deletion or locking in this case.
3. Hijacking threads.
I hate it when threads are hijacked intentionally. It is an underhanded technique to shut down the discussion of the topic. Such an action is a direct barrier to freedom of expression. The current policy of locking such threads actually plays into the hands of the hijackers, by further squelching that expression. I would like to look for an alternative to that approach. No good alternative comes immediately to mind, so I'm open to suggestions.
4. Bumping threads.
I agree that bumps are a nuisance. They contribute nothing and merely clutter the forums. But, like hijacking, the current policy of deleting bumped threads punishes the original poster of the thread for the action of one of the responders. In many cases, the thread is essential, and the person who bumped it is acting foolishly.
The best example I can see of this is in a recent case in which the same person repeatedly bumped a stickied thread. Fortunately, no moderator action was taken against the thread, but in a worst-case scenario a thread that was important enough to the community to be stickied would have been deleted due to bumping.
In both 3 and 4, an alternative should be created to deal with the offender, not the original poster. I don't claim to know all the alternatives. But that's what discussions are for
I'm interested in other users' honest (and calmly presented) opinions on these and other moderator issues.
And as a final note, I think it is important to affirm that I appreciate the vast majority of moderator actions. This is definitely not a complaint. It is merely a hope to polish up the policies in a way that might make them better.
Hylidex Lightstrider
AFS Outfitters, League of all Factions and Species (LAFS)
-6600, 4440, Theed, Naboo, Gorath
