Obsidian: Closure of Forums

[Arkan]

The move makes sense. Sacrificing team morale to a few "freedom of speech and insults" kiddies is not worth it.

Yeah, if a few kiddies spouting inane drivel hurst their feelings, wait until a displeased reviewer gets their turn. Oh wait, they have, and LA is in their own little uproar. Developers need to have thicker hides than this.

Average review score for KotOR 2 is 86%. good.
KotOR 2 will sell millions of copies. good.

If you think that the little uproar on the boards has any impact on sales, you are deceiving yourself. Based on that Blizzard would not even exist anymore, their boards have always been in complete uproar for any of their game, especially after the monthly bannings come in.

What the hell are you talking about? I never mentioned sales figures, and the point still stands. I've heard numerous times of the cut content, subpar ending and whatnot and that seems to be why Obsidian has their collective panties in a wad...not some mainstream review sites (because they are always correct, hmm?) If they don't have the hide for the job, then they should close the forums, I guess.

 

[Arkan]

. They'll close the boards, hire a community manage and then weed out people like Arkan.

if I ever used the expression "LOL" now would be the time. You've simply no idea what you're taking about...it's funny, really.

 

[errorcode]

i don't think it's a thin skin for criticism, but a lack of patience for stupidity that is pushing the idea to close the forums down forward. I mean, really, the Obsidian boards are full of fucking idiots.

I lurk around there and just start fucking hating " game fans" with a passion.

 

[Arkan]

full of fucking idiots.

You've stumbled upon the secret of every message board on the internets.

 

[space captain]

donkey balls... donkey balls, I say

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

full of fucking idiots.

You've stumbled upon the secret of every message board on the internets.

OHNOES!

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

That's what you get on boards with poor or lacking moderation..

Really?

Guys, I'm going to have to close down this forum.

 

[Surlent]

With all these totalitarism fascist moderators here and there, I have to counter the idea of excess moderating (so that Rex doesn't bad enough erection to blow his mind out and start getting any ideas) with freedom of speech. That's one thing I like about Codex, everyone's free to voice their own opinion no matter how sophisticated it is. Heavy moderating just kills it coughgamefaqscoughufagscough.

 

[roguefrog]

If The Codex got floods of n00bs like Bios or Obsidz, I think it would be pretty hard to maintain the same level of sophisticated discussion/isolated surround & pound noob beatdown. When noobs vastly outnumbering regulers, stupid threads start spawning, it gets harder to find good discussion, thus the entire forum gets watered down. For this reason, its better when forums have a smaller cult following, opposed to being grand central station. Quality over Quantity.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

When noobs vastly outnumbering regulers, stupid threads start spawning, it gets harder to find good discussion, thus the entire forum gets watered down. For this reason, its better when forums have a smaller cult following, opposed to being grand central station. Quality over Quantity.

RPGdot's forums are living proof of this.

 

[Vault Dweller]

That's one thing I like about Codex, everyone's free to voice their own opinion no matter how sophisticated it is. Heavy moderating just kills it .

Expressing opinions is one thing, spamming is another.

 

[Seven]

Speaking of which when are we going to start cracking down?

 

[Taluntain]

Saint, I was talking about boards that don't make "anything and everything goes" a mission statement. If you decide to run one like that, no problem, all fine and dandy. You won't have anyone to blame for it but yourself if you don't like what you get. I like Codex for what it is, it's just not my idea of running a message board, that's all. But we all have different tastes and opinions and in the end it all comes down to the preference of the users. Most of your members agree with how you run your boards and that's all that matters.

As for this:

That's one thing I like about Codex, everyone's free to voice their own opinion no matter how sophisticated it is. Heavy moderating just kills it.

Nah, that's nonsense. Good moderating just prevents discussions from degenerating into flame fests. Our forums are pretty heavily moderated, but people can still discuss pretty much anything they want, provided they stay civil. It's just this last bit that's an alien concept to most people who think moderating is inherently evil or Nazi or fascist or whichever stupid comparison you want to put on it. If lawlesness were really that great human societies wouldn't need any laws to keep them in check. But there's no working society in existence that could function without laws. The more freedom you give to people, the more it is abused. Especially on the Internet where the cloak of seeming anonymity tempts even normally rational people to do really, really stupid things they'd never dare to in real life.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Speaking of which when are we going to start cracking down?

When's the next leap year where they add a day to January? We'll start around then.

 

[z3r'0']

I wonder where all of the forum denizens will go to now.

I think a few forumites there have migrated here. Surlent, zer"0", stark... I'm sure there's others. There's also the old BIS remnants like the Winterwind forums, or even Missy's Lair. And Bioware, even.

Actually I have lurked here for a long time now. Registered Jun'04.
What brought me out of the woodwork was the Fallout license deal between Interfag and Bethsoft/Bethesda.
Anyways I don't post much ...

Regarding OE forums, Its pretty tame and relaxed over there. Mostly because the old ex-BIS crowd kind of manage themselves. After the Kotor2 and NWN2 anouncements their board activity shot through the roof. Especially on the Kotor2 fora the Signal-to-Noise ratio is deafening.

I'll probably stick around here till Bethesda publishes FALLOUT 3...
These forums close or WWIII starts/ends... whichever happens first.
Meanwhile I lurk @ DAC, post rants @ OE fora and look at Fez's photoshops of Rex,
and wonder what crazy shit ~Aphatmc will post next.

 

[Surlent]

Expressing opinions is one thing, spamming is another.

True, good point.

Good moderating just prevents discussions from degenerating into flame fests. Our forums are pretty heavily moderated, but people can still discuss pretty much anything they want, provided they stay civil. It's just this last bit that's an alien concept to most people who think moderating is inherently evil or Nazi or fascist or whichever stupid comparison you want to put on it.

I have only taken short glimpse on SC's forums, seemed like peaceful place as not many people spamming or posting profanity. It's good if your style of moderating works for your site. I'm just saying there are extreme examples on both sides and strict moderating isn't inherently bad, but it can fast turn to that if the admins and mods are control freaks.

I think a few forumites there have migrated here. Surlent, zer"0", stark... I'm sure there's others. There's also the old BIS remnants like the Winterwind forums, or even Missy's Lair. And Bioware, even.

Actually I have lurked here for a long time now. Registered Jun'04.
What brought me out of the woodwork was the Fallout license deal between Interfag and Bethsoft/Bethesda.

I remember there was also downtime on Obsidian servers at the same point, which led others to look different sites. Kinda same way like now though the Obs forums are still there.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Saint, I was talking about boards that don't make "anything and everything goes" a mission statement.

I was just teasing you, Urby! But it was kind of funny it was said on this forum, which is pretty light on the moderation.

 

[Taluntain]

Yea, but you're not running official company forums and you can afford it. Obsidian can't, and it only dawned on them now, and there's immediate panic and the "let's just close the whole thing down, that'll solve all our problems" gag reflex. Running an online community isn't as easy as just setting up a message board...

 

[Kamaz]

DIE BITCH!!!! SUCKERS!!! FALLOUT ROXOORRZZ

LARP UUBER ALLES!!!

 

[PennyAnte]

I think Retardo Land gives an adequate amount of moderation here.

But I don't think it works for a company like Obsidian, which can't afford to enshrine profane and sexually explicit posts for all time as a monument to the more regrettable facets of human nature.

I hope they just get a community manager instead. At some point they will need a place at least for official announcements, dispelling rumors and creating buzz for marketing purposes. It's just part of the business.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Actually I have lurked here for a long time now. Registered Jun'04.

Oh, sorry about that -_-

 

[magerette]

just a word from a lurker--this is the only board i've seen that can render volourn at least temporarily speechless-major accomplishment.

as far as more stringent protocol and moderation needing to be required by "official" forums--that never seemed to bother the Atari people(...can you say Grok...)


as far as obsid--their forums were a lost cause after the KOTOR2/NWN2 announcements-every maniac on the web who can spell "light sabre" or "Aurora toolset" --and many who can't--popped out of the rpg dumpster and began the chest thumping, finger pointing and ignorant ranting which should be restricted to sites like codex.

btw you guys are beautiful when you're angry

...fades back into the steamy darkness of cyberspace..

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

the chest thumping, finger pointing and ignorant ranting which should be restricted to sites like codex.

Yessssss, we musssst contain the preciousssss virussss and only infect from a dissssstance.....

 

[Avin]

Wow, I just want to say that Feargus totally rocks.

Sad that a few posters with an overblown sense of entitlement have to ruin it for the others. The Bioware forums certainly have no shortage of them, and sometimes it makes it seem hardly worth it.

now if you guys are going to kiss each other let me know because i want to logoff first

 

[NeverwinterKnight]

i still say its silly to close the forums over some trolls.

thats what the ability to ban people is for.