Off topic, troll, hijacking... out of control!

posted on October 27th, 2011, 1:02 pm

It has come to my attention that ppl here seem to be helping themselves to other ppl's topics. This became clear to me as I even opened my first topic. Not only is this impolite, it can also ruin a potentially constructive conversation!

If a person opens a topic and adds a little something unrelated to it then you cannot just barge in and comment or reply to that small matter. If its a question then answer it on a personal message, if its not and you feel it merits attention then you 2 take it ouside in a new topic. If somebody criticizes you for going off topic then don't reply to his critics because you inflate the problem even more.

If this is beyond your comprehention then here is an example:
(underlined is from the topic starter, strikethrough is clutter and doesn't belong here)
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[i]I was playing red dominion yesterday and I went against a blue fed.  I was spamming S-2 and was doing fine untill he got 2 sovereign's to elite rank and pretty much wiped me out. How did this happen?
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Yes, well, those ablative armour sovereign's love those S-2's!
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When a sovereign turns elite it gains a signifant resistance against non-ranked ships and that was propably your undoing...
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Those players that have picked a dark blue colour are a little difficult to see on the minimap.
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Yes, sooo tipical, completely impolite ppl!
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How does him being blue do with the fact that I lost?
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Yeah, well, I just wanted to say that blue players are hard to see on the map...
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Im really not sure why you lost there...
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Ehm, guys? Can we get back to the matter at hand?
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Just ignore these trolls, you'll be fine
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Well, S-2 is a bad counter for elite sovereign i believe...
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While we are at this matter, might i just ask what ablative armor really does?
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Ablative armour gives 50% resistance against short range ship at the cost of slower hull repair.
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You forgot to say that its also a liiiiitle fragile against long range ships...
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Guys, come on, you're stealing my topic here, all I want to know is why did I loose so badly...
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You heard him, take it elswhere!
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Don't be so mean, we are just debating a few things...
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Hahah, those spammers are so rude!
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Just tell him how he can counter those sovereigns already!
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Baah, this ablative armor's weakness against long range is only 10%

CONGRATULATIONS, WE HAVE RUINED HIS TOPIC!!!

posted on October 27th, 2011, 1:09 pm

How about you leave forum moderation to the moderators, if you have a problem with someones post click the report button and if that persons post is completely irrelevant to the topic the mods will delete it.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 1:34 pm

And why should we rely on outside regulation? Im sure the moderators are doing a great job, it is we, the users, who don't have any discipline and self restraint.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 2:11 pm

I get you have a problem with trolls Beef (I must admit to being one occassionally ) but you'll find that many topics will stray at some point. It usually ends up going over to balancing issues, or completely new and great ideas, or even just random jibberish. However, not every post goes off topic; I can name 5-10 right now that don't, and they have been going on for awhile.

My point is, things usually go off topic because there's more to the problems than at first glance. I understand how you feel, but on nearly any forum it becomes hard to keep a single subject going for very long without going into a tangent about why these particular problems exist, as well as ways to fix them. In short, trolls are much like an annoying coworker; can be irritating at times, but potentially helpful too.

In respect to your wishes, I shall do my utmost not to troll you

posted on October 27th, 2011, 2:17 pm

I definitely agree it is getting bad here.  Probably because of the huge influx of new members this site has had in the past year.  Though I don't wish for a strict crack down, it would be nice to see some intelligible discussions that don't turn into some kind of random off topic argument or political debate about why people hate or love anything to do with VOY, ENT, XI etc.

Then again, the non serious nature is something some like about this forum.  Maybe the mods could just protect the feature requests section a bit?  It seems that the major problems happen in that section when a new or old member post an idea which gets immediately shot down and the whole thread goes crazy.  I for one enjoy reading new or even restated ideas when they come from a different person with a different perspective.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 2:32 pm

it is we, the users, who don't have any discipline and self restraint.

Speak for your self.

And why should we rely on outside regulation?

Its not outside regulation it in internal regulation.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 2:35 pm

We are still responsible to keep threads on topic, and not make the moderators jobs difficult.  They are there in case someone severely breaks the rules or we as the members just can't get an issue sorted out.  Other than that, respecting other members and their topics is entirely up to us.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 3:21 pm

Yup, Adm. Zaxxon said it pretty well - unless a thread veers horribly offtopic, generally we aren't going to moderate after a few offtopic responses. Many times offtopic responses tend to indicate non-interest in the original discussion or wanting to discuss another issue, perhaps related to the original. There's a thin line between overmoderating and laxity 

posted on October 27th, 2011, 4:28 pm

This isn't about the moderators, it is about us, the users - and our manners.

As much as it is bad manners to barf in public and cough without putting his hand before his mouth, so much is it what we are are doing in digital public spaces.

I did not start this topic to criticize, but to raise public awaness. Internet is not the low bandwith heebie jeebie it used to be. It has become the pinacle of freedom and free flow of information, but as we do online what we want, we must have some consideration for others that do so as well.

posted on October 27th, 2011, 4:39 pm

It's an online forum where people spend free time.  You have to expect a little bit of ... "filler" I suppose.  It's in human nature to want to interact, and I think given the behavior record of Trekkies in general this forum is remarkably civil

posted on October 27th, 2011, 4:46 pm

not to take this off topic, but I think barfing in public is somewhat uncontrollable...  

posted on October 27th, 2011, 4:49 pm

I've barfed in public it was a Saturday Nite/sunday morning Good times 

posted on October 27th, 2011, 5:27 pm

It's an online forum where people spend free time.  You have to expect a little bit of ... "filler" I suppose.  It's in human nature to want to interact, and I think given the behavior record of Trekkies in general this forum is remarkably civil

There is no human nature, there is only human behavior! If you were raised by indians then you would hold their value system, if you "scalp a pinkskin" today, you would go to jail. Public forums are not being taken as a serious form of communication and just thrash out as they see fit. Sure the staff slams down a few out of control lunatics, but about those who are being just inconsiderate, there is really nothing "illegal" (in terms of forum rules) about it, more like impolite.

Teaching people not to be intrusive is just as learnable as not-to-scalp people which brings me back to why i started the topic...

posted on October 27th, 2011, 5:34 pm

Because wandering off-topic is like scalping a pig-skin.  I get it now!!!

posted on October 27th, 2011, 5:37 pm

People can be just as inconsiderate - or more so - outside of the forums In forums you often associate with many more people than you do in face-to-face communication, as well as many varieties of people you wouldn't necessarily talk to daily. It is reasonable to expect that not everything you say will be taken seriously or will be derided/ignored when the conflux is so different.