How to Constructively QQ

[Deleted]

Welcome to Blacktomato's Guide on how to get Blizzard/The rest of the world to listen to your whinging about your class without being listed as either a 1.Troll, 2. Flame-baiter or 3. Complete idiot.

There are several skills involved in getting someone to listen to your point without them instantly /ragequiting the post or leaving an unhelpful remark on what is essentially a post with a good point, but delivered in a terrible way!

1. Do your research
2. Topic name
3. Topic content
4. Don't stand in the fire
5. Mind your manners

1. QQ, a Brief History

One of the most important things you can do is WAIT!! watch in the shadows as other members make stupid posts and get banned. learn from other players mistakes. i will pull an example..

Death knights have way too many possible interrupts they can use on a healer (3). With necrotic strike added to this it is IMPOSSIBLE for almost any healer to live through the dps of a solo death knight for more than 15 secs if the DK knows what he is doing. Resilience won't fix it since necro strike isn't rly affected by resilience that much.
Also their anti magic shield makes them immune to your CC. So you basically can't do anything as a healer vs a DK.

I would like to point out a couple of things about this post. Firstly, nearly all of the comments were flame. no-one took this comment particularly seriously, and every DK in Azeroth flocked to the post to rage. Secondly, and most importantly is the Post title : Necrotic strike needs to go...
Okay...dont COMMAND blizzard or the community to do things, we don't like it , and it is considered feeding the troll, bad poster...bad.
also, did you really think that they are going to remove one of only 3 new abilities that DKs get between 80-85? are they going to give one class 2/3 of the fun because you dont like it? nah.
think about your complaining before you do it, don't try and make suggestions based on poor personal opinions.
If i think rejuvenation is overpowered for some reason, i don't just flat out say it needs to go, i might say that based on research i have made (go look on recount, it tells you alot!) it heals well over 90% of blah blah blah ( this is completely made up btw, i have no interest in druid healing and as such have no idea how over or under-powered rejuvenation may or may not be) and that i think it should have its healing lowered slightly for X reason, i.e that it ticks so high the it heals a tank to 100% from 2%
giving examples and data like this validates your point and puts weight behind your point, making it difficult to argue with you

By watching posts like this you can also observe and understand the fundamental mistakes that people make in what is essentially "Persuasive Writing" really look through the forums, and see where people get flamed. there will always be the odd troll who either disagrees with you (which is okay, people are entitled to opinions) or who just want to be a pain, but besides from these, you can normally spot a good thread a mile away in which most people /agree and move on, and blizz takes note of these!

If you want to QQ about another class, do us all a favour and actually research the subject, understand the subject / spell, and then report on your findings.
screaming in the forums "OMFGMAGE HIT ME FOR 100K" just to realise that this is not normal and that he was actually a top geared PVP mage with all cooldowns and procs on, a player for whom the stars had truly aligned, will probably get you thrown out of the forums unceremoniously.
if there truly is a problem with a spell, again take a look at the tooltips , the specs e.c.t so that you cant make silly noob mistakes.
i recall an occasion in which someone was being particularly insulting to a "stupid idiot elemental shaman wearing frigging healer gear with spirit on" who obviously knew so little about shamans that he had missed the main change to pretty much all hybrid casters in which we gain hit rating from spirit.
mistakes like this just drown your thread in posts like "omg noob doesnt know wtf shamans do" and the point you are trying to make is lost. the guy complaining about the shaman was actually making a decent point about the LFG system being completely crap in terms of rooting out people who have no idea what to do, or really judge their gear, but i don't recall seeing one further post on the point, they were all just trolling the guy for being too thick to research his point properly.

2. Name Calling hurts

Choosing your topic name can be difficult, but deciding on a name that will both intrigue readers to look at your topic, and not make you out to be a cry-baby is the most important thing you can do after actually knowing what your going on about.
try asking a question in the title, like instead of writing "necrotic strike needs to go" try "Healers, what do you think about Necrotic Strike?"
or if your not asking generally try something punchy and journalistic like "Necrotic Strike : The Healer Killer" sure it might be a bit presumptuous, but as long as you make your point clear in the text of the post, it will draw attention and not illicit too much of an emotional angry response from those who disagree, remember, its those who will initially disagree that your are trying to convince, not insult!
its not always easy, and you might not always strike gold, but don't forget that the topic title is the first thing people will see , that all important first impression, and you WANT people to read your post, so take the time to think about it, if your really struggling, try writing the body of your post first and perhaps use some literary genius from your post to come up with a witty and convincing title.

3. Its all about your body, baby

Arguably the most important part of a post is its content. getting your point across happens here , and it ain't easy ladies and gentlemen. there are again a few things that you can take into consideration here that can really nail your point and get it across without luring the many interweb demons that reside on forums.
1. try a poll?
2. Avoid Text-walls
3. use the correct words
4. keep it simple, stupid!

If your asking a question, as i so magnificently suggested in the previous section, try putting a poll to that, its a fun and easy way to gauge how the thread is going, how people feel, and more importantly its a source of interactivity for the user. also, alot of people are more willing to answer a poll than write a comment, so you will probably get more response-per-view.
people like to see how things are getting voted on, using my example earlier, how many people think Necrotic Strike is over-powered and how many think this is not the case.
you must be careful in introducing questions however, as there be fanbois lurking in them waters near the poll, and for every good question, there is a swarm of fanbois who will completely break the poll by all voting for garrosh because they think he is the best thing since sliced bread.
My point is that no matter how good the question, the results might not always be what you would expect, as the individuation and anonymity that comes with the internets, comes complete idiot voting. (using the words individuation and anonymity actually completely invalidate my point of keeping a post simple, but ill talk about that later)

When your typing an emotionally driven point, even after researching and taking the time to chose the title properly, most people get into the habit of just typing and typing without thought to how it will read. you need to use good grammer, think through your sentences and most of all, use paragraphs
see i just used one
and again
its easier to read a post when its fragmented. not to the point of it being over here and everywhere, but to where there is enough space to see where your reading, and not have more than 15 lines in a paragraph.
also this can feed the troll by provoking the dreaded TL;DR
to long, didnt read
dont make it too long unless it needs to be, like a guide or a walkthough.

Avoid using emotional or silly words in a post, ill again use our Death Knight challenged friend above as an example.

Death knights have way too many possible interrupts..... it is IMPOSSIBLE for almost any healer to live through..... if the DK knows what he is doing..... anti magic shield makes them immune to your CC...... So you basically can't do anything

Saying that it's impossible to survive any DK onslaught is untrue, and it invalidates your point as your clearly not well enough informed to put it into perspective, also writing in capitals is just annoying, please don't do it UNLESS ITS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
which it was there honest.

if your going to cry about something too, don't put it in a context in which it is only OP in the hands of an expert, this is how the game is supposed to be played, and will draw little positive attention, if the DK knows what he's doing and the healer doesn't, damn right he should win 1 on 1.
now if a healer finds it excessively difficult to outheal any Death Knight's attack, then that is a problem, i.e all DKs are just spamming NS and winning.
dont rely on a classes cooldowns that mitigate your damage to call your abilities underpowered. if a rogue cloaks a polymorph, he obviously used his cooldown well, if a DK is fast enough to AMS a CC, then kudos, you can probably CC him again during his 2 min CD though....so its not an OP class, its just good use of limited duration and available abilities.

And lastly, have you thought that i'm talking gibberish sometimes? people loose interest when the entire post is recount spam and techno-babble that noone understands. its okay to occasionally use complex data to back up a point, but make sure there is a simple explanation to it, so that all can bask in the glory of your findings.
avoid overly complex words or people just wont read, its as simple as that!

4. Sir, your boots are on fire

one of the things you will realise after you have made a few constructive posts, is that claiming an ability is OP, UP, or a class for that matter, is a touchy subject. people are passionate about this game, and they will be as passionate in their posts, if not very delicate. people will Troll, Flame and flail their way into making a point or disagree with you, and it can really kill a topic that you have spent all your precious time planning ( or thats what i'm trying to get you all to do here :P )
If your topic goes off the rails you can do one of 2 things.

1. join the flamefest and shout as loud as you can in capital letters until you get banned and you post gets locked

2. try and put it back on the rails, throw water on the flamers by saying " i understand where your coming from, and i can see that you are obviously very emotional about the subject, but i politely disagree, if you cannot constructively state why you are unhappy with what i have posted please remove yourself from this topic" or something on those lines. alternatives could also be somewhere between flaming and a polite responce, but be careful, feeding the troll will only hurt your topic and get you a ban.

Here are some good examples:
" i started the topic, if you don't like it, get out, or start your own bloody thread"
" You are obviously uneducated in this matter and i would appreciate it if you would take your flames where they are appreciated, perhaps a cold urban tramp is shivering, and you could help the world by heating him up with your ramblings"

Here are a couple of BAD examples:
"GTFO noob, isnt it past your bedtime"
"Wrathnoob is a F*****g idiot, i played in Vanillia"

the assumption that your bedtime has a factor on intelligence is a fallacy, as most teenagers do not observe a bedtime, and they are the most likely to flame

also how long you have played the game does not make you a better, more knowledgeable player, don't make this mistake!

5. Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?

one thing that is really helpful is avoiding personal insults. if someone calls you an idiot for making a crap post, ignore it! move on and avoid feeding the trolls, it will only debilitate your thread into a downward spiralling vortex of hate and ban-hammers, no matter how good your point was. if it turns out you are just talking utter crap, leave it and move on! it doesn't matter if people disagree with you.
This is the last point as i want it to drive home with everyone, and i has more uses than just the internet! being polite will help you everywhere and people are much more likely to listen or help a polite and well informed individual than a rude, obnoxious, ill-informed, insulting pig-boy.

I hope that you can all take away just a bit info from this guide , and that in future when you feel like QQing about your class, an ability, someone elses class, your neighbours dog, your sisters radio being too loud e.c.t you will get your point across in a polite and well thought out manner.

and to anyone who wants to disagree with any of my guide, i would like to simply say

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Now post to your hearts content my pretties!! post properly and informatively so that blizzard might actually tune the game to those individuals who are well spoken and voice their opinions and findings in a controlled manner!!

Peace out
Blacktomato