Thank you for your answers, especially the moderators! It's nice to see something like this being discussed.
BlindTyldak wrote:For example, the "only meaningful posts, please" rule. Yes, I know that to forum regulars posts like "+1" can get on nerves, but they are in response to the original post and while exceedingly short, not a "bad" thing. "I agree" may not be much better, but not everyone has much to say beyond that, but they want to contribute.
Flanker305 wrote:While I see your point, I have to say I do this too sometimes. Most of the times I did it was because the suggestion just sounded good to me and I was giving my vote to such a plan. Example here. (What do I have to say more? Just a good plan, bring it on.) It will be good to refrain from doing this too much, but my point is: let people give their vote the way they like it. If they wanna explain why, go ahead. The forum is to express opinions, and before we get threads filled with only +1's and +1000's I personally see no problem.
DriftPrize wrote:so you mean 2+2=4 and I have to discuss more about it than I agree or being sarcastic about it?
LordBazooka wrote:And because i care for the feelings of others, i will explain why: Alot of players have the feeling, that if for example a suggestion reaches a large enough response in the forums, the devs will consider it. Don´t know if it´s true, but i guess so.
Also, what do you expect, if you visit a thread like "look at this pic, isn´t it a nice rifle you would like to have?" A bunch of repeating adjectives, how much people would like to have it? I rather go for 7 replies of +1, scroll past them and notice, that alot of people like it for the exact same reason as the op and then read the reply from the guy who doesn´t. Saves time.
There's other ways than writing a superficial +1 to show your support for a suggestion or a post in general. This forum has a poll function people could use to give their +1's or -1's if they don't want to discuss why they think it's a good idea or not. I don't know if everyone can create a poll or if it's only the moderators (I sure can't find the button described in the FAQ so I guess the latter) but it would be a lot better way to show your support for an idea instead of drenching a topic in numerous posts. A poll would also be much easier for the developers to use as a basis if they implement the forum members ideas in their game, since you can with a glance see how many people have voted for a suggestion instead of make an estimate of how many +1 you see.
BlindTyldak wrote:One also has to be careful of discouraging new posters or less-than-regular forum members from discussing the game, particularly the topics that we see time and time again. There is only so many new things that can be said about a video game, particularly one that has a very static gameplay mechanism and endgame such as this (no matter what, you hunt and your "endgame" is killing something). Because of this, topic repeats are going to happen and happen often, especially in the eyes of those of us who are here daily or several times a week. Part of supporting a good game community is making sure that no one feels embarrassed for posting a legitimate question, even if that question was asked over and over again by other people. Ones that fall within a day or two can be merged, yes, but having only ONE thread for everything we see often would end up being pages of threads that people were expected to exclusively post on; confusing to new folks and a real headache for mods.
Although I can appreciate you wanting to make the members feel free in posting whatever question they have, even if it has been answered a hundred times over. But that also makes the search function quite obsolete... if people never even bother to search for the thing they want to ask then it's completely worthless in my opinion. I always make a habit out of searching for if anyone else had the same question I do and if they already got an answer for it.
I can also understand the headache about having a big thread for every topic but searching for an answer to a problem within a thread is a lot easier than trying to search for the correct thread out of dozens, in my opinion.
BlindTyldak wrote:Forum rules are not designed to be a burden on the community, they are there to provide a guide that can be enforced if there is an actual problem such as spam, bots, inflammatory behavior (or worse, which we have all seen), etc.
I don't think more strict forum rules would be a burden for the community, just the opposite. More strict and clear directives with what's allowed and tolerated would make the forum easier to navigate in my opinion, since there's less wiggle room for how to act.
Flanker305 wrote:When a thread is going in circles though, with several interventions by mods, and people keep getting off topic and such, why should we keep cleaning this thread up over and over again? In such cases I see no better solution than to lock it. I don't do it too often, and I am not triggerhappy to, so to say, but sometimes letting a thread be is just a waste of everybody's time.
Just extinguishing the flames of a fire won't prevent future fires, it's a lot better to take care of the problem at its roots. If people actually got suspended and in extreme cases banned for repeatedly going off-topic even after a moderator has given a warning, it might give them something to reflect about and prevent future problems. It's harsh but I think it might be effective.
Tod1d wrote:That's what the Report button is for. Please feel free to use it liberally.
Then I will!
DriftPrize wrote:This post is nothing but hate and discrimination.
Do you care to elaborate a bit with what you mean about hate and discrimination? It feels like this might go off-topic so you're welcome to write a PM!
Edit:
LordBazooka wrote:Also, who cares for post counts? Seriously.
In an ideal world, no one gives a damn. But I've seen numerous occasion when people actually use their own post count to validate that their opinion has a higher value than others with lower post count. It's very sad.