New Gamers' Hangout Policy

[Guest]

Agreed, it does seem like a turf war at times. So long as those pesky sharks stay out of our neighbourhood we're fine!

Though quoting yourself did cheer me up though :p

Seriously, we're not even member of the gamers hangout, we're members of neowin. The only things we should hate are macs, chavs and spammers!

You hate Macs? :cry:

[popisdead uk]

You hate Macs? :cry:

I love the simplicity of Mac's

[Coldgunner]

I love the simplicity of Mac's

Thats why I hate them, overpriced fashion accessories.

this ain't the place though.

[Sethos]

Holy off-topic batman

[popisdead uk]

Thats why I hate them, overpriced fashion accessories.

this ain't the place though.

I like the simplicity, hate the price :)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I have a suggestion for moderation/Neowin.

I do believe one of the biggest problems we've faced with members in the GH is people either

a) Not using the report feature and/or trying to self moderate

or

b) Using the report feature, but still wanting to self moderate and comment on the post

I'd say a good 80-90% of arguments have kicked off in the GH because of this. Members also get drawn in, while their own fault for participating, they're not the cause of the problem but will still get warned/in trouble (rightly so, but you see what im saying).

We don't actually have very high levels of trolling at all in the GH, most of our arguments and/or locked topics end up the way they are as one bad post is made, then 50 posts follow discussing that bad post.

I thought of a way that if implemented could

a) Encourage people to report more often

and

b) When something is reported, prevent anyone from being able to self moderate

This is the idea,

say I post this

That would clearly be useless, flaming and/or something that's going to cause trouble.

Now people probably would 9.9/10 report that, but you can bet your boots they'll be a small army of people who will quote that post and end up in an argument with me. Ask me why im calling them idiots, call me an idiot in return or just generally derail the topic with garbage.

How about when someone reports a post, this happens

Basically, when something is reported it will go to staff reviewing until either unblocked as a legitimate post, or deleted as something that breaks the rules. If it's unblocked as a legitimate post, it can't be blocked/reported again (unless the user edits the post).

And if the post has been quoted before it was reported, any other instance of the text above in the thread is also replaced with that line.

There would be the drawback of members abusing that system to hide peoples posts, but I would think that when you report something your name is tied to that report - Therefore you could be banned/warned and/or have reporting rights removed for reporting perfectly okay posts?

It could also be deemed that only MVC members get to do this? Therefore trust worthy members unlikely to abuse the system?

I know it's a bit of an extreme method, but I think something like this, maybe if it's only even applied to the GH, will cut down on so much of the unnecessary bickering in here - Most of which as I said above, starts when one snarky comment is made, then half the board flood in to have their say and/or argue.

As seen earlier in regards to a "STFU" comment, while apparently no malice was intended, if that post was reported in the system above, the comment would've been hidden from public eyes and no one could've started quoting and making remarks on it.

[Sethos]

Why must everything constantly adjust to us? "We" in the GH just need to get our flippin' act together, not have systems and clever features to keep us on track.

It's sad actually.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Why must everything constantly adjust to us? "We" in the GH just need to get our flippin' act together, not have systems and clever features to keep us on track.

It's sad actually.

Well it's a suggestion the whole board could take. I didn't necessarily mean just for the GH.

I'm sure most sections on the board have issues with members not using the report function.

The gamers hangout is the most active specified section on this board, only having less posts to the "general" section.

We have two very active mods in there, but they can't be around all the time, so people need to start using report more often so other global mods can do the job when the gaming mods are offline.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

It would be abused to hell and back

[Kushan]

QFT.

Report issues and be done with it.

Starting this labelling fest with sections only further creates a divide among the community, and it's pretty sad some of you are doing it :no: (N) Issues are never with a section as a whole, they're with individuals who are maybe in that section.

Don't taint anyone and everyone who enters a section just because you feel you don't get on with some specific members.

If you don't hear anything from reporting, contact moderation if you feel you need to.

If you're upset with what someone has done personally, contact them by PM? I done that the other night, and low and behold, an understanding was reached - Both parties walk away without a wall of whining and moaning in the public that only drags other members into the mix.

Why involve others when it's not necessary?

Did you just...quote yourself, then say "QFT"?

[Coldgunner]

Why must everything constantly adjust to us? "We" in the GH just need to get our flippin' act together, not have systems and clever features to keep us on track.

It's sad actually.

Exactly, we don't actually need expanded rules as such, nearly every other section manages it, why not us?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Did you just...quote yourself, then say "QFT"?

Yes.

I said why I done that.

[Coldgunner]

Did you just...quote yourself, then say "QFT"?

we've been there lol

[RadishTM Veteran]

The staff will take care of posts when required, all we need you guys to do is report them - that is all.

Radish?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

The staff will take care of posts when required, all we need you guys to do is report them - that is all.

Radish?

O(Y) (Y)

Just a suggestion.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Okay (Y)

Just a suggestion.

And one that would also require an adjustment to the coding of the entire site from my understanding of things.

[+Mystic MVC]

The staff will take care of posts when required, all we need you guys to do is report them - that is all.

Radish?

Exactly. I have found myself reporting more instead of needlessly getting involved in an out of control thread. Almost all of the time after I report something, I have seen swift action by the mods.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

And one that would also require an adjustment to the coding of the entire site from my understanding of things.

I know.

However I have very little coding knowledge so I have no idea how hard these things are to implement/change. Neowin is already complex as hell to me as it is.

So sorry if it was totally infeasible in the first place. We've tied it up anyway.

[Cormier6083]

I'm just putting in my word here, and I'm not mentioning any names.

I decided to see how many times a person posted a news article about his favorite console versus his least favorite, how many bad articles would come up.

I only did this on the first page.

On console "A", there were twelve articles, with 2 that were criticizing a small downloadable video game, with the rest positive.

On console "B", there were seven articles, with 4 of those that were criticizing the console, and 1 that like console "A", criticized a video game.

This wasn't today, it was at a time in the past. But do you see what's going on? Yes, there are constant fights on the forum because those who critize some regulars are those who start the trouble by deliberatley posting negative attention grabbing articles to argue and "ePwn" people. But, they have an excuse. "Cormier's crazy! I don't post negative articles, see? I post positive ones too." All the more to cover up your intentions.

But, I guess that's the way it will be. Underdogs will remain underdogs, while the ones on top get all the credit for being good forums citizens. And I'm not arguing with any of you, because with my warning level at 100, and some people (most likely) at a mere 20, I don't want to get banned, and watch people use me as an example of "forum trash".

[Kushan]

People need to understand that Gamer's Hangout isn't special. It's just like any other forum on the internet, so why is it just this one section that has so much trouble? What's setting it apart from the rest?

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I'm just putting in my word here, and I'm not mentioning any names.

I decided to see how many times a person posted a news article about his favorite console versus his least favorite, how many bad articles would come up.

I only did this on the first page.

On console "A", there were twelve articles, with 2 that were criticizing a small downloadable video game, with the rest positive.

On console "B", there were seven articles, with 4 of those that were criticizing the console, and 1 that like console "A", criticized a video game.

This wasn't today, it was at a time in the past. But do you see what's going on? Yes, there are constant fights on the forum because those who critize some regulars are those who start the trouble by deliberatley posting negative attention grabbing articles to argue and "ePwn" people. But, they have an excuse. "Cormier's crazy! I don't post negative articles, see? I post positive ones too." All the more to cover up your intentions.

But, I guess that's the way it will be. Underdogs will remain underdogs, while the ones on top get all the credit for being good forums citizens. And I'm not arguing with any of you, because with my warning level at 100, and some people (most likely) at a mere 20, I don't want to get banned, and watch people use me as an example of "forum trash".

You know, it's not hard to work out who you are talking about when there is only 3 members who really post news in a mass amount. Nobody comes up with these stories, we just post them. If you don't like them, don't read them.

It's no wonder you are on 100% when you come out with stuff like that above.

[Cormier6083]

It's easy to just ignore it when someone who shall not be named post news, but it's not easy to ignore it when someone takes it to a personal level.

"I'm not joking, especially with what went on today."

That's only going to start trouble, yet that un-named person gets away with it every time, while others suffer.

(okay, not every time, but it doesn't seem that this one offense rule is underway for some people)

Edited August 16, 2008 by Cormier6083

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

You think what ever I say I get away with and mods favour me? Please, it's not like that at all and I have been warned and restricted in the past.

But believe what you want to, I really don't care. What you are talking about now has nothing to do with posting news at all and you clearly just want to rant about me.

[Cormier6083]

I'm sorry if you think I'm talking about you. I may, I may not be.

[soniqstylz]

It would depend on the article, really. Take this for example, is that flamebaiting, or is it a genuinely concerning article about the PS3's latest firmware update?

There are a LOT of grey areas for things like this.

TBH, I see thread titles like that, and I know already either a) what's in it, or b) where that thread will end up going. After having already read things like that on n4g, kotaku, or gamespot, no reason to rehash it or get into a pointless back and forth over opinions or unsubstantiated rumors. So I tend to avoid them, and post in threads that are actual news or are something more positive.

For instance, take the "Sony: you're paying for potential" thread. I don't blame DM for posting it at all, but I don't even need to read the thread to know where it's gonna be headed. And then I wonder who hired Ari Fliescher to do Sony's PR.

Edited August 16, 2008 by soniqstylz