Why are video game forum mods such snowflakes?

Put a touch of sarcasm in a post critical of their game's development and they will jump right to the delete button soon as they have a few reports, even if the post states opinions and feedback on the game that is based in fact. You know how the saying goes, flak is always heaviest when you are over the target.

hoho yes.

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ExsiliumUltra wrote:

Put a touch of sarcasm in a post

Sarcasm cannot be read. Thus what you right is no longer sarcastic, it's earnest. Meaning what you said is what you said in earnest. Saying "It's the worst game I've ever played" might be heard as hyperbolic sarcasm, but it's read earnestly. And a moderator is forced to treat it as such.

Second, Mods deal with so much crap from people, you lose all willingness to cut slack or be reasonable. That the GGG forum mods haven't banned 80% of its users is nothing short of proof of their immense patience. I know I've had banned a number of people long ago if I was in charge of the moderation team here (speaking as a 90's forum moderator and a present discord one).

Thank you for that perspective. So what are your thoughts on how many supporter packs one has influencing how lenient the mod is?

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ExsiliumUltra wrote:

Thank you for that perspective. So what are your thoughts on how many supporter packs one has influencing how lenient the mod is?

Fucking zero.

Source: Ruler of Wraeclast. Also have spent several months in the naughty corner. They're more apt to probate their biggest financial supporter than they are take punitive measures against one of their active earners. A whale only supports now and then; a popular streamer is a constant source of income.

Now that there is 0% ownership? Probably not many fucks given at that level any longer, if there was any to begin with. What incentive would there be one way or the other? Perhaps some job security in the past, but not at the moderation tier.

I suppose you could toss on a tin foil hat and say that they could, or would be, directed to be more sensitive to China related topics, because on the financial side, GGG truly are, in a factual sense, complete sellouts to Tencent. But that's conjecture.

Anecdotally, I've spent thousands on PoE, not as many as Mr Chan, but significant none the less. I'm certainly near the end of the probation escalation system, so spending hasn't mitigated that. But in fairness it's been over a decade, and the change to the updated CoC was dramatic. I would agree, in my experience, that financial contribution didn't seem to matter much in terms of how moderation was applied, but my personal opinion still is that there is some favoritism and targeting that happens. Maybe that's to be expected as Mods are people too. Admittedly its mildy annoying at times to see things posted that I'm confident would get the hammer put down on others. (Again, imo)

Overall I think it's worth noting how much the forums have been abandoned anyways. Nostalgia is nice and all, and it was cool back in the day when we had a more direct line, and significant impact. It's just not that anymore, and posting isnt worth it most of the time. Hell lurking is barely worth it, and with PoE2 coming who the fuck knows when, what exactly would one be coming to the forums to see? Most of the time for me, it's just to check if I have a PM, or see if a familiar forum friend has posted anything of interest.

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ExsiliumUltra wrote:

Why are video game forum mods such snowflakes?

Why are you? ohh boo hoo they are mean to me because (stupid reasons) how dare they punish me in any way.

Back when some of us were actually volunteer forum mods, the PoE forum was a very different place. Things which would get you probated now were largely tolerated, including swearing and such. It was the "wild west" of game fora.

Now, as a rather higher profile business in New Zealand (to say nothing about any standards required by TenCent, whatever those may be), GGG has to maintain a more socially acceptable public image, and today's standards are a bit more exacting, particularly where Kiwi internet law is concerned. GGG is obligated to keep the forum din to a dull and tolerant roar, as epitomized by the sorts of topics which are not permitted (you can look them up yourselves), as well as (ostensibly) the sort of interpersonal conduct which will be tolerated.

That said, a lot of current day moderation is rather subjective, and depends largely on how a given moderator perceives and interprets a given post or other action. Best simply to keep your head down and be polite, if you don't want to spend some time in the penalty box for behavior unbecoming. ='[.]'=

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ExsiliumUltra wrote:

Thank you for that perspective. So what are your thoughts on how many supporter packs one has influencing how lenient the mod is?

Near as I can tell, zero, I've seen more "On Probations" by members with very large and very old supporter packs, and I've gotten warnings more than once and my list of packs isn't small nor cheap, and I'd like to think I behave myself pretty well, even if I can be snippy.

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ExsiliumUltra wrote:

Put a touch of sarcasm in a post critical of their game's development and they will jump right to the delete button soon as they have a few reports, even if the post states opinions and feedback on the game that is based in fact. You know how the saying goes, flak is always heaviest when you are over the target.

If you want an honest answer to that just google "Twitch deer mod" and you'll see what you're up against.