This just in: This forum SUCKS now. (TL; DR)

THIS IS NOT A TROLLING THREAD

Before I even get into the context I want to say, I want you guys to keep in mind what trolling is.

Trolling: In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
-Wikipedia

This is not a troll thread because I have no intention of arousing an emotional reaction out of anybody. I'm not saying this to laugh about how mad people will get. I'm not trying to keep you guys dragging on into a big wall of text war. I just want you to understand what the general consensus of the community has become of these forums. I feel that, from a business, marketing, and public relations point of view, you at Uber may want to know this.

Exactly what I said would happened has happened. A few months ago, I made a few threads that were silly, harmless games. When they were deleted, I asked why. In response to me simply asking why my threads were deleted, Ekanat told me that I was trolling. I responded by saying that I didn't feel like I was trolling in those threads, and that if your criteria for trolling is so strict, it's going to kill the community.

This is essentially what has happened. People are fed up of not being able to have fun on these forums. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be rules - there absolutely should. But I'm telling you right now that the criteria for things like trolling and spam and other things is simply too strict for your target market.

Organous said in another thread that these forums are not a democracy. He said that the people here have no power. I promise you, however, that he is incorrect. We are customers who make up at least 60% of the online base, and 90% of the competition. I guarantee you that if the community starts to die, the game will, as well. More than anybody realizes it, this is true.

I understand that it's your game. You do as you please with it. But when the vast majority of the players that know this game and community think that the decisions made on this forum are ridiculous, you have to understand that people are going to get rowdy.

Look, I understand that I'm not supposed to say this, but the fact that Organous is a moderator is absolutely ridiculous. There is not a single person I can think of that supports this. I will not name names, but at other moderators have personally told me they think he's a retard and should not be a mod.

You are talking about modding somebody who says that he will enforce the rules of Monday Night Combat for everybody except his friends. Why does common sense not tell you that he will retain that same moral code for the forums? What makes you think that he won't let his friends get by with whatever while banning the people he dislikes for ridiculously insignificant things? You gave somebody who has something against most of the people on the forums a position of power.

Jon, Tom, and who else got banned for trolling the yesterday/today? Yes, they were completely out of line. But why do you think they did that? Because they have grown so tired of this place's absurdity that they didn't care about trashing the very community that they helped build. Before this episode, look at any post made by me, Jon, Tom, or anybody else that was banned. Nothing but helpful tips for newer players asking questions. They even started and endorsed the adopt a noob program to try and help fix the skill gap problem. Why would somebody like these guys end up trolling this place?

Look, I understand that I'm probably going to get banned for posting this. Obviously, like them, I don't care (it sucks anyway, remember?) But I feel like, whether you do something with it or not, this is something you should see. I am not speaking for myself. THE MAJORITY OF THE COMMUNITY FEELS THIS WAY. It won't be strongly voiced here. But within the late night private matches to the pubstomping parties going on 24/7, I can assure you that this is the majority opinion of anybody who has been around this community for a fair length of time.

20-30 year old internet nerd stoners. That's your target market. You may not like it, but that's, I think it's fair to say, your biggest demographic. Right now, you are running your market off. This is a fantastic game. It really is. I couldn't be more impressed - I've legitimately spent more time playing this arcade game than I have any 60 dollar console or PC game in the last 2 years. I really do love the game, and I'm just saying this because so far, everything I have predicted has come true. I've been around forums that have this same demographic for years and years and years. I've modded some of them.

I'm not saying demod Organous. I've played with him before, and personality-wise, he's not a terrible guy. I'm not saying that stupid things like senseless, repated 1 word posts shouldn't be deleted and bannable. I'm not saying that senseless trolling isn't bannable. But playful trash talk to one of your buddies is something that is going to go on with guys. Sometimes a one word post is just the perfect response to something to make it really funny.

All I'm asking is for EVERYBODY, even the people on my side of the spectrum, to lighten up and remember that it's a ******* game - have fun with it.

I mean no disrespect, but I agree with one of the messages of this thread. Just chill out, everyone! :|

Unfortunately, I have to somewhat agree with this.Lord Almighty, please don't let me get banned for saying that. You basically summed up what I thought about the forums as of late. Things have gone badly.

Your point of view is out of context all those people who were banned were in fact trolling one or two people or in the case of Cup of Rage a whole group of people.

Also the rules of these boards have never changed the only difference is they have more people to enforce their rules.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=444
That thread has always been there. We cannot excuse users that did not read it. That is not our problem.

Snarf's 3 D's of Fixing a Forum

Determine your boundaries. If this game was Disney's The Lion King video game forum, your rules would make more sense. Figure out what your target audience is. You game is rated Teen. It has sexual references, violence, and other crude humor and some cursing. Common sense would be to set the boundaries somewhere around where you set your boundaries for the game. Right now, I would say that you are not where the game's boundaries were set.

Define your rules. What is trolling? Help us understand what constitutes trolling and what doesn't. A lot of people feel that some people are getting away without a warning with doing things that others are banned for. Don't just say "don't do this." Explain what "this" is, and provide a couple of examples so that the forum members can clearly understand what your boundaries are and what they are not.

Delegate authority. This, so far, is already taken care of. However, I do not feel that the authority is all on the same page as the members, or even necessarily each other, on other 2 D's.

I guess you didn't go to that link I posted?

Also we are in the process of writing some new rules explaining everything and letting the community know where they stand and where the line is.

I stated that I knew they were trolling. What I'm trying to look at is WHY they were trolling. NOBODY TROLLS A BOARD THAT THEY CARE ABOUT. These are some of the most prominent and original veterans of this board whose only intention has ever been in this place's best interest. They just got fed up with this place's BS.

First let me copy and paste because I don't think you are reading it:
"Trolls - Anyone deliberately antagonizing other forum users by posting 'flame bait' type messages is not welcome. You will be banned (possibly without warning depending on the severity of the issue) if you persist in this behavior."

Second, are you saying the longer you have been here and more you contributed you get a free pass?

This is what I mean by making a clear, defined TOS.

http://www.ign.com/board_rules.html

And no, I didn't imply that veteren MNC players are exceptions to the rule. What I am saying is that if vetern MNC players who are normally great, helpful users are suddenly up and rioting and breaking the rules, and it's far more than just 1-2 users doing it, that there may be a problem aside from the players themselves.

I like the Cracked PWOT style of forum moderation. If someone acts like an idiot and isn't at least funny about it, they get sent away. The Numbers Brothers are funny. Bro and Feedle are unfunny eejits.

Your sig is halariously relevant.

I heard there is something called the new MNC community. I'll post up the link about it. It kind of reminds me of this forum due to its format.

http://www.cupsofrage.freeforums.org

I totally found the best MNC related boards, but i'm afraid if I post the link, the world will explode. Suffice to say that those who know of it agree with me.

don't worry i already posted the link. didn't you see it when you replied to my comment.

He was just using them as an example of how shitty this forum has become.

They basically nurtured this forum into adulthood and it became a philosophy major at community college.

It's disappointing.

Although Tom has been going on and off for me, I know Jon's a good guy. They probably don't deserve much of a ban.

But ya Snarf, I agree with you. I've been incredibly cautious with my posting because people here are always trying to find a way to persecute a post. We should lighten up a bit, we know who we are. We're gamers, not politicians.

The guys at Cups of Rage are doing a good job of nurturing the community too, since there's a huge influx of new players.

Most of all, I've been here since day one and Ekanaut banned me for this:

A post were I was trying to chillax a fight with a picture of a panda and the song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" and I was banned for trolling.

I've done plenty of sorting teams and making guides. I made 2 different Sniper guides and made a team with 5 different people in it. Sure I've been a little off topic but it's only because the forums have been really tense lately. I worked for this game and got the game with my own two hands and sweat, and I've been a loyal customer for a really long time. Yet I was still banned, along with lots of other forum members.

Maybe mods need a better definition on what is and isn't trolling. We should all just make a thread in a place like Gamefaqs were banned people and regular forum goers alike can talk things out like mature adults, which I know you all can.

I don't mean to single you out Runie, but I think I've seen your name somewhere before. I know I've played against you a few times, but I remember it being in a youtube video somewhere... Hmm. Sorry for wandering.

I'm pretty terrible so you've probably seen me getting killed a lot.

Meh. I'm really just about set to give up on the forums. I love the people, and the exchange of ideas.

But, really, it's a video game forum. While things shouldn't run rampant, it's just been taken to far by those up top. Things should be silly, and occasionally drift to far off topic and be locked. People should be able to have fun and joke around, and be able to voice their opinions, no matter what it's about, unless it's against an actual government law, or completely totally wrong (see pornographic material). Not every single post needs to be completely regulated, on topic, and politically correct. That's just how it is for the demographic.

Bungie, Valve, and other popular, respected developers' forums are like this, and still thrive. The Admins don't really comment on actual stuff, for an understandable reason. People'll just demand more and more until they get sick of it. The Mods, similar to ours, are quite clever, witty, and all around fun to have around, while still doing a good job of getting rid of things that truly shouldn't be there, with the community's help, of course.

Completely shutting down a core part of what attracts the audience is a bad way to keep things going.

That, ultimately, is the choice of those who made the game and the forums, and theirs alone. Whether or not it'll actually be influenced by those who would like the game to succeed and community to live is more or less irrelevant, it seems. But, just keep that up for the first hundred bans or so, and the end result will be clear.

Still, regardless of all this, this game has still been a huge success, and I doubt that Uber will be stopped here no matter what happens.

This is my biggest problem with these boards. Not the moderators, not the devs, not the trolls, not the community. Yes, everything that goes on contributes to the problem to a degree, but they aren't the problems in and of themselves. The problem is the fun. I used to love coming to these boards. Now all I see is over-moderation and locked threads everywhere.

One words posts don't seem to annoy anyone but the mods. The post meme again, doesn't seem to bother anyone but the mods. I do not understand this. Moderators are there to keep order in a forum, not to ruin a forum's fun. Unfortunately, that's what they are doing.

Tone down the moderation, and lighten up. That goes for everyone. Stop trolling. Stop flaming. What does it prove? That you have nothing better to do with your time than annoy others. Yeah, that makes you cool right?

Let's get this forum back to where it used to be.