What's with all the anger and flaming? (Healing thread)

[Becca74]

Really? I have been a member of various forums for 25 yrs and I have seen lots of forums where the behaviours allowed to run rampant here are not tolerated in anyway. In my opinion it all comes down to the modding. I know its a thankless job that seems endless but they signed up for it and if there was zero tolerance for the flaming, rudeness and insults that are hurled around here all day, everyday then they would swiftly end.

To be honest i was very shocked by what was tolerated on these boards when I first signed up but I told myself thats what I get for playing a game that is mainly populated by teenage boys. However once I thought more about it i realized that I was a member of many game boards that were probably populated by the same demographic but where nowhere near the same behaviours occurred. That's when I decided its all about what's allowed, on those other boards such behaviours are swiftly nipped in the bud by the mods whereas here people see it being tolerated so they think its ok to be rude inflammatory and trolling themselves.

Culture is a funny thing. once it develops, its tough to change...and perception is a critical variable. I was actually surprised at how tough the mods here are, so my perception differs there. The other difference between how you and I view this is tougher to define. Being sarcastic, poking fun, or just chiding a noob is not the same thing as flaming, imho. Personal attacks to someone just coming in with a question is flaming. Being a bit sarcastic over a new three by a user who clearly hasn't read any stickies is sort of like immunity policing.

There are natural and logical consequences in life. Your kid might refuse to shower at home no matter how many times nd ways you tell them...or threaten them...but when they get to school and their friends say "You reek!" - that has more power. When members police, a bit, by reminding ppl (with a bit of sarcasm) to check/think before you post- thats not a bad thing.

And Im curious....what forums where you visiting in 1988? I was playing number crunchers on our Apple 2GS but pretty sure any forum would've been pretty tough to smtp% your way into.

[Forte]

Given that the noob problem is a constant, doesn't that mean the problem (and hence solution) lays at the door of the forum elders?

Perhaps what is needed is the capacity to realise that noobs and trolls will be what they are, and a corresponding drop in sarcasm and flaming from existing forum members.

The culture of a group is driven by the long term members, not by new members (regardless of how annoying their posts may be)

True man.

Look I'm fairly new to the forums,but I've posted quite a bit in my short time. I haven't gotten the noob rage because before I started the forums I just read a bit,before I actually posted, with my first post being a thoroughly detailed post on how to solve the builder lag issue(You want proof, it's on page seventeen of the main thread on the issue).

I've tried to and have decently succeeded in trying to be nice in the majority of my posts. If nothing else, at the end of every discouraging or angry post throw a sorry in there, so that way they know that the forums are a nice place.

[Stefm211]

There was an online text based trading and base conquering game set in space that was like an incredibly SLOW(you have no idea how slow the internet was then) precursor to COC that I played that had their own forums(or what you would probably call very primitive precursor to forums that were part of their server meant for trade alliances but where we ended up discussing all aspects of the game). I know it was before 1989 because I stopped playing when I hit high school and that was in 89. I just did a quick search on the Internet looking for the name of it but can't track it down right. Would you like further details? (See? I have nothing against sarcasm)

i don't see anything wrong with telling people that they shouldn't make multiple post or that reading the stickies is always a good idea but there is absolutely no reason or excuse for doing it rudely. If you wouldn't say it to someone's face then you probably shouldn't say it on the Internet. Anonymity is no excuse for bad behaviour.

eta: the game was TradeWars. It was BBS based and originally released in 1984. Anymore questions?

[zachUVA]

There is plenty of blame to go around for these sorts of issues, really. Yep, mods/staff could always tighten down more if they wanted. Yep, the more longtime/frequent posters could always be more polite/nicer. Yep, the flamers/ragers bear responsibility for their own actions. And yes, SC does things from time to time that creates legitimate complaints, but those often find less-than-ideals means of expression.

Obviously, the more important thing here is to look for reasonable solutions. SC can't be expected to change because they create some rage on here from time to time and the ragers will always rage too. In my opinion, it basically comes down on the established community and the mods/staff to keep the place friendly and polite.

Mods are in a tricky spot, though. Clearly, they close down the most blatant troll-fests and wildfires, but there is always a gray area where the answer isn't always clear. Personally, I would almost rather see a little bit too little moderation than too much, but others, I'm sure, disagree. I think that's about where we are now. They could do more, but should they?

As for the community, it is what it is really. Threads like these that get people thinking about their behavior on here make a real difference I think, but in the end, other than heavy moderation, the community isn't likely to change much overall. Granted, I have only been here since December (forums have been around since last August), but I can't really say that the community (excluding mods/staff) has changed a whole lot either way. If anything, I would even say that there are significantly LESS ragers/flamers now, but those people aren't the core of the community anyway.

[childish]

Hmm, I'm not sure how many of you have been around since about September (whether you had an account or just read the forums as I did) but those were the best days of the forums. The community was fairly small, perhaps that's why everything worked better. Debates were friendly, and no one was oversensitive. Mods were a bit more involved in the usual discussions and banter, instead of primarily keeping everyone in line and cleaning up the forum (like nowadays). You could ask little questions like "what should I upgrade next" without getting jumped on by 10 people who would tell at you for making an unnecessary thread, instead advice would be freely given, without so much as a problem.

Generally I stay away, or at least sit back and observe the forums around update time. It gets a bit boring reading all of the when is the update, pre-update whining, post update whining, supercell is greedy, etc. threads. So that could be the cause of some of this. Also, as mentioned before, there are a ton of people on the forums now, with a community so large you are sure to get some hotheads, idiots, trolls, etc.

100% agree.

Update time is the worst time to be around the forums. Regardless of what they bring out for the community everyone just get aggitated easily. I feel bad for the moderators. Hard to get excited to bring new material to the table when so many are hatin..

I made an account around Jan but lurked around oct/nov - your right. Things are way more intense all around on the boards. ;(

~C.

[OJM]

Very enjoyable stuff to read, keep em coming folks

Blaming, guilt, accusations... They all hail from the eye of the beholder. How we judge others according to our own beliefs and values. When we see a post on the forums, we have quite limited information as we cannot see the person writing, so the overall mood is more tricky to pick up. Smileys help, but they are quite limited means of expressing the full range of emotions that go along every post. So what information we then get? We see the post count, avatar picture and name (and mod/staff or not). If we "know" the person from earlier posts, we already have an image of the person which also alters our perception of the post. I know I get the "Oh man, that guy again posting"-reaction... Still got lots to learn myself, too

So when we see a post and have judged it, good or bad, then might come the thoughts of punishing the "bad" or rewarding the "good". But will a punishment really do any good? Or will it just make the person even more angry? Will a reward make a person keep doing a good job the next time?

[Sandalhat]

So the question is: Why are you angry and what's pissin' you off so much that it spills all over the forums?

The thing that pisses me off is that there are idiots everywhere asking stupid questions, giving stupid suggestions, and making stupid complaints.

It's almost as if everyone here is dumber than me.

Also, those who are smarter than me also ♥♥♥♥ me off. They always act like a know it all.

So, that's about it. Two types of ppl ♥♥♥♥ me off, those who are dumber than me and those who are smarter than me.

Bottom line, i'd prefer that everyone is exactly the same as me.

[Thebrandong]

Nothing really.

[PedroLee]

Walls and walls and walls of text... That's what's making me mad.

[OJM]

The thing that pisses me off is that there are idiots everywhere asking stupid questions, giving stupid suggestions, and making stupid complaints.

It's almost as if everyone here is dumber than me.

Also, those who are smarter than me also ♥♥♥♥ me off. They always act like a know it all.

So, that's about it. Two types of ppl ♥♥♥♥ me off, those who are dumber than me and those who are smarter than me.

Bottom line, i'd prefer that everyone is exactly the same as me.

Let's see if I heard you right...
Your observations of others makes you feel inferior or superior towards the others. Perhaps you are self-consious and have hard time understanding others who are not like you. Am I anywhere near or way off? If I'm off the mark, could you explain how are you feeling about this?

(And if you thought to just throw that as a joke, perhaps there is a hint of truth there anyway )