Update on the Wrecking Ball

Thanks to the suggestion of a Community MVP poster, I sent an e-mail to wowreportedpost@blizzard.com. I sent them the exact post I put on the forums, and received this response:

Greetings,

We moderate the forums according to our Forum Guidelines here: (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/forum-coc.html). All forums have an additional sticky thread with a subject title along the lines of “Welcome: Please Read!” These threads provide additional information for the intended purpose of a forum.

While I am unable to comment on specific instances, masked profanity and prolific 'trolling' are common reasons for a post's removal. There is no need for such language on the World of Warcraft forums. Threads containing any masked or unmasked profanity would likely be removed at mininum.

Should there be a need to report a post in the future, it helps to include any notable trend / contextual information similar to the situation that you have described for an unconstructive poster.

-The World of Warcraft Community Team

Didn't really tell me much, at all, and I love how I can constantly say "I have read the rules" and they'll keep linking it to me. So, I took the Blue's advice to send my concerns to wowcmfeedback@blizzard.com . I sent this one (it has a couple paragraphs from the original, but many points are new):

I wish to begin this by stating I am not against forum moderation, and I actually applaud that the CM's have taken a more active role in their community. However, I do have some issues which I feel need to be cleared up.

On the Dark Iron realm forums there now seems to be over moderation where once there was little to none, and it is wrecking the community. Every other post is deleted, every other thread is deleted, and most of them are barely or seemingly completely not in violation of the forum rules that it is confusing and off-putting. People now post on the forum less; at the time of writing this e-mail, the Dark Iron (US) forums had not seen a new post in two and a half hours, where once there was constant communication.

It is actually disconcerting to read what seems like completely harmless posts that are then removed and deleted. I have read the forum rules multiple times in an attempt to understand what is going on; however, most of the deleted posts seem like such a stretch I cannot believe they have been removed. Many people have been suspended or banned, and the community has taken a great hit.

Some examples of deleted posts include:

-A post asking if someone was still on the server or had left/quit the game
-A post thanking a guild for friendly game play
-A post asking where someone had gone

To give a more elaborate example, this is how the third instance ("A post asking where someone had gone") was dealt with. The post was laid out like this:

Subject: @[Playername]
OP: Inquiry as to the location of [playername]
1P: Polite, short response
2P: Insult directed at [playername]

The first deletion was the OP. This was shortly (perhaps an hour) followed by the deletion of 1P. Then the thread was left with 2P (the insult) as its first post for almost a full day before the entire thread was deleted.

Not only is this sort of deletion trend disturbing, it goes in stark contrast to what happened only a few weeks ago. An individual was spamming the Dark Iron forums, literally, with posts that contained the same two words (if I recall correctly, they were "and again") ad nauseum in a block/wall of text. He did this in multiple threads for an extended period of time. Many people reported him for spam, as did myself. His posts were never deleted and, from that, I can only garner that he did not receive a suspension. Only a few weeks later now and it seems almost impossible to know what to say, when even nice, friendly posts are being deleted under the heading of "spam."

I understand the forums need to be moderated. I appreciate the CM's time and effort; it's obviously not a job that comes with a lot of perks and probably has a lot of pressure. Knowing that, I still wish to ask for a little bit of leniency when it comes to the forums. By no means allow people to "get away with murder," but when every other thread (or more) is being deleted, it really harms the community of players. I have heard more than one person say to me that it was not worth going to the realm forums anymore. I do not wish for them to become a wasteland.

If there is no community, there is no reason to utilize the boards.

I thank you for your time and hope you will consider what I have written, and understand both my confusion and my concern.

I have yet to receive a response to this e-mail, and I sent it yesterday. In the meantime...the forums just aren't fun anymore. If this ends up becoming the norm, I guess I'll have to find another way to waste my time in between classes.

/mourn

Like a Wrecking Ball to a Community Building

For those of you who don’t know, I spend a lot of time on my realm forums. I enjoy the community, which is not as “trollish” as most people assume. It does have its own subculture with rules and traditions, but it is an amazingly good way to build a community in WoW. It’s where you find out about the ninjas, the bad raid leaders, coordinate cross-faction events and trading, and even make friends.

And, well, lately, it’s been a little crazy there. Here’s what I posted on the Customer Service Forum:

I would like to preface this with stating I am not against moderating the forums, I am simply confused about certain decisions and the increased, if activity, and wish to have this confusion cleared up if at all possible.

Lately, on my realm forums (and perhaps others), there has been a rapid increase in the amount of threads and posts deleted, as well as a sharp rise in suspensions and bans. While this in itself is not bad, the choice of what stays or is deleted, as well as the sudden activity when prior there was little to none, is off-putting and confusing.

For example, it was only a few weeks ago that an individual was spamming the Dark Iron forums, literally, with posts that contained the same two words (if I recall correctly, they were "and again") ad nauseum in a block/wall of text. He did this in multiple threads for an extended period of time. Many people reported him for spam, as did myself. His posts were never deleted and, from that, I can only garner that he did not receive a suspension.

Now, posts and threads disappear without warning and, as far as I can tell, little reason. Posts which have been deleted have included:

-A post asking if someone was still on the server or had left/quit the game
-A post thanking a guild for friendly game play
-A post asking where someone had gone

To give a more elaborate example, this is how the third example ("A post asking where someone had gone") was dealt with. The post was laid out like this:

Subject: @[Playername]
OP: Inquiry as to the location of [playername]
1P: Polite, short response
2P: Insult directed at [playername]

The first deletion was the OP. This was shortly (perhaps an hour) followed by the deletion of 1P. Then the thread was left with 2P (the insult) as its first post for almost a full day before the entire thread was deleted.

I have reviewed the rules for the forum recently. I have been able to find nothing wrong with the prior stated posts, as well as many others which were deleted. I understand that it cannot always be revealed why things were deleted or suspended, but I am honestly unsure of what I am allowed to post at all anymore without worrying it will be deleted or I will receive a suspension/ban for what I say.

Thank you for your time.

I can only hope it receives some attention, and the confusion can be cleared up. It is absolutely ridiculous what is going on. The community is dying because it seems like no matter what people say, half of the time it’s deleted.

Another forumite of DI introduced this thread to the Customer Service Forum, but the response was…less than satisfactory. We can only hope it becomes more stable and predictable sometime soon. I want to get back to talking to my friends cross-faction, the ones whom I can't in game.

Taking One For the Team

I know a lot of my fellow bloggers and blog-readers and web-surfers and WoW-players avoid the official WoW forums like the plague. And truly, it is a terrifying place. There are keyloggers and trolls and jerks, oh my. But in between all of that, if you can stand to look for it, are gems of threads, whether they go into theorycrafting or are just plain fun. And since I regularly chill in the druid forums out of some vague hope (or just simply masochism), I thought I would share my findings with all of you, so you don't have to wade through the muck to get there.

Let me warn you, though, do not click on any links unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE it is a safe link. The keyloggers are getting craftier, and I don't want anyone's account hacked. These links I'm posting here sometimes contain randomly placed keyloggers, but Blizz generally grabs them in a few hours. Just, please, be careful.

Best Topping For Waffles
I'll start off with a silly, not-really-druid-related post about waffles. Druids on the forums developed the waffle post to try and dissuade trolls, but this one is just for waffles and what tastes good on them. Apparantly, blackberry sauce or mage tears.

Most Stupid Things Said to a Druid
Another fun thread, this is full of hilarious anecdotes involving stupidity, oversights and just plain ignorance of the druid class. Read if you want to feel smart about yourself, or if you want to feel like you're not alone in the mistakes you've made.

My Boomkin :) 1221 spell dmg unbuffed :)
Despite the title, this is not an epeen thread. It is full of helpful suggestions for improving moonkin gear, as well as some inight into crit and hit. Some of the language is a bit rough, as is found often in the forums, but the ideas behind the words are worth looking into.

To Be a Tree: Evolution of Healing
This is a long thread full of tips and tricks of the trade, theorycrafting, explanations, and overall advice on how to heal as a restoration druid.

Viability of a Druid Tank on Illidan?
This thread explores the question of whether or not a druid with a full set of avoidance gear can tank Illidan or whether it's Warrior or nothing. There's some rough language and a bit of yelling, but it gives a unique perspective of the Illidan fight and stretches the boundaries of what is and is not possible.

To all Druids: Thank you.
This is a very old and oft-bumped thread, written by a shaman. If you read nothing else on the forums, you should read the original post in this thread, especially if you're having a bad day. Torkhal, thank you, too.

That's all for now. I hope I found you some fun reading, and please, only feed the trolls waffles.