Dear God, if the D&D forum isn't one of the friendliest, least conspiracy-theorist, most company-appreciative on the Internet.
I mean, hoooooly ****, there was one forum where I was simply receiving personal threats for daring to post rational arguments for both sides of a debate. Forums where there was so much seething hate against the game company whose forum it was that there was no forgiveness for ANY action made by the company. Forums where heated debates involve outright racism and, if you start arguing back, the racist messaging an administrator to have you banned for being argumentative. Forums where there was one answer to any question ("That's how the game was DESIGNED!"), even if it was a non-sequiter, and if you questioned the legitimacy of the argument you had your account suspended.
These are official company forums, by the way, not 4chan or something.
So, D&D fans... and Wizards crew... and the awesome moderators and volunteer community leads...
Be more appreciative of how wonderful this forum is, because holy **** if it's not the most congenial, polite and rational one on the internet...
And I'm familiar with the practices around here, I've been lurking and posting a lot longer than my join date says (my old account was 'lost' when we shifted to these new forums...). But it's still x1,000 more polite and reasonable than other places.
But if I were to respond to your sarcasm with cursing you out and telling you "I can find you and your mother and make you suffer" and then I could finish the evening by screaming in all caps on the D&DI forums about how D&D is actually owned by Microsoft now (in all literal seriousness) and Wizards doesn't actually have any ability to edit content or publish materials. I could create multiple threads, interrupt everyone else's conversations, and in general be a jerk, capslock on.
Well, that doesn't fly around here. I'd be so fast banned and my posts removed I wouldn't even have time to see the thread views increase.
Other companies? I could do that, then I could ask a moderator to give you a temporary ban for being snide at me, and then I'd be called a credible source of information.
The Internet: a scary place, man.
Be sarcastic if you want, but at least you're doing the right thing and being sarcastic here, where I can't respond by combining you, lewd acts, and barnyard animals.
Because some video game companies just haven't learned that the Internet is, in fact, a place they should probably police their little corner of as a face of their company.
I like civil. Civil conversation. Civil discussion. In IRL people can sense humor and body language. On the net using well thought out statements or at least courteous words should be required do to its impersonal nature.
Differing or disliking something a company or individual says or does is not a bad thing. Bashing, trolling and flaming about said topic is futile and annoying.
There are plenty of dissenting threads on these boards, they are just generally well thought out or at least polite.
So kudos to wizards for keeping this board the opposite of the cesspool of places like Bl****rd.
Almost every time I have suggested a thread be closed or a post be deleted or edited, which I don't do very often unless it is obvious baiting/trolling or personal insults, it has happened.
The Internet: a scary place, man.
Quotable.
The Internet: a scary place, man.
Quotable.
The mods are alright, people should be glad I'm not one.
I visited some other forums recently around our little Interwebs, for different companies.
Dear God, if the D&D forum isn't one of the friendliest, least conspiracy-theorist, most company-appreciative on the Internet.
HEY! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!
MEANY!
I'LL TELL 4-CHAN ON YOU!!!!
I visited some other forums recently around our little Interwebs, for different companies.
Dear God, if the D&D forum isn't one of the friendliest, least conspiracy-theorist, most company-appreciative on the Internet.
HEY! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!
MEANY!
I'LL TELL 4-CHAN ON YOU!!!!
Oh god, don't do that
I visited some other forums recently around our little Interwebs, for different companies.
Dear God, if the D&D forum isn't one of the friendliest, least conspiracy-theorist, most company-appreciative on the Internet.
There are worse, but this site is far from the best in terms of civility. ENWorld is the gold standard for RPG websites - www.enworld.org.
There are two places I go to, that frankly make this place look lousy. But there is a long list of places I know of that make this place look like gold.
I don't really know of any other rolegaming sites I care to mention. But I haven't found an interest in chatting about any other rolegames either.
Also I feel wotc should give warning before ever deleting a thread. Are there worst forums on the internet? Definitely. Are there better ones? I believe so but no one site is perfect.
I visited some other forums recently around our little Interwebs, for different companies.
Dear God, if the D&D forum isn't one of the friendliest, least conspiracy-theorist, most company-appreciative on the Internet.
There are worse, but this site is far from the best in terms of civility. ENWorld is the gold standard for RPG websites - www.enworld.org.
Yep. ENWorld's Grandma Rule, moderation that is somewhat moderate, and not being gaming-company run forums is an excellent combination.