In recent weeks it has become quite apparent that the rules of censorship have become very open to interpretation when it comes to locking topics on these boards.
I can understand the need to curb flame-wars and put a stop to spammers and trolls.
But here have to be clear guide-lines on what is what. Especially because I feel that the Mods recently have adopted a rather bitter attitude to the large amounts of Blizzard-critical posts in recent months.
In fact, I just came back from a 3 day ban for starting a thread on how to put the 12 Mio. subs into perspective.
Or just a moment ago a thread was closed for discussing quotes on the official forums: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-Soviet-Russia
Now the offocial guide-lines state:
And yet we debate Politics and Religion on a regular base in the Off-Topics and despite heated debates, the discussions mostly remain within reason.The following subjects are not allowed on MMO-Champion:
- Gold-selling/Account selling or trading websites
- Buying or selling of items in-game or in real life
- Keyloggers
- Hoaxes/phishing websites
- Activities considered illegal by Blizzard Entertainment (botting, hacking, cheating, exploiting,...)
- Politics
- Religion
- Nationalism (Example: US vs. EU threads)
- Pornography
- Content that is considered illegal by law
About trolling
Again, the general problem is that many of those points are either very open to interpretation or simply aren't enforced. Personally I have no problem not having them enforced but then at least make it official. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could browse MMO-Champion at any time of the day and find at least 3-5 Non-Constructive posts on the front-page. It's not a problem, but again, make it official.This includes but is not necessarily limited to the following:
* Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish
* Creating threads for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forums
* Causing disturbances in forum threads, such as picking fights, making off topic posts that ruin the thread, insulting other posters
* Making non-constructive posts
* Abusing the Reported Post feature by sending false alarms or nonsensical messages
* Numbering a thread, IBTL, TLDR, or any other fad statements
* Thread-necro: Reviving an old thread for no reason other than bumping it to the first page
* Replying to a thread simply to call the author a troll (regardless of whether the post is actually trolling)
* Don't abuse or misquote Blizzquotes.
So we're supposed to use the search function, yet bumping and necroing threads is prohibited? Sounds a little contradictory to me.13.3. Use the search function before creating a new thread
On an active community such as MMO-Champion, a lot of new threads are made every day. So before you start making your own thread about a topic, first use the forum search function to ensure that nobody else has already recently created a thread about the topic you wish to post about.
Quite often, a similar thread already exists, and there really is no point in restarting a discussion in a separate thread when a subject can be discussed in one thread.
And let's face it. Not many people use the search function to begin with.
Now I realize I could be infracted for disregarding...but that really isn't the point of this thread.11. Discussing disciplinary actions, moderators or Moderator actions
Actions taken against a member of the community are not to be discussed in public on the forums. Opinions about specific moderators or moderator actions (locking, deleting threads, etc) are also not to be discussed in posts or threads.
If you have questions, remarks, suggestions or complaints about moderating in general or specific moderators, please contact our website admin through a private message.
If you have questions, remarks, suggestions or complaints about a moderation action, such as a ban, deletion or lock, feel free to contact the moderator in question, or any moderator on our team.
I acknowledge that moderating such an active board is never going to be easy, but I would like to encourage a revision of the posting guidelines and a clearer distinction between what is acceptable and what is not. The guidelines were probably written a long time before MMO-Champion evolved into what it is today (afaik the 2nd most active WoW community aside from the official forums). The guidelines just need to be brought up-to-date and exclude things that you aren't realistically able to enforce and to include more recent trends (no idea what those might be though, possibly a Titan sub-forum?)
I think part of the solution is accepting MMO-Champion for what it is, and not trying to make it the way you want it. MMO-Champion threads are generally very short-lived and all boards are highly frequented. The same questions will be asked on a regular basis and will fall of the first page just as quickly as they're posed. It's just what makes these forums what they are.
We aren't elitistjerks.com here and we should try to be. We come here to discuss EVERY aspect of WoW without the threat of censorship including various other nerd-friendly topics.
And that is all I'm asking for.