Originally Posted by
Clementine
This forum was allowed to go unmoderated for quite sometime. Folks were allowed to attack and insult others (other members of the community, the company staff, and the company). By having minimal moderation this forum became virtually uninhabitable for users, except for a select few. We saw fewer new members joining, and those that did join were often pushed out by the current members. Seeing this, and wanting this to become a place where all would feel welcome, we knew a change needed to be made. So we added the Forum Moderator program, rewrote the Code of Conduct, and started enforcing the rules more rigorously. This was and continues to be the right decision.
We understand that many of you are deeply passionate about these games and that your frustration is due to the fact that there are many issues in games that you love (or at least enjoy). However, that passion and frustration does not give you the prerogative to continually attack and aggravate each other, the moderators, or the staff. Yes, these forums are here so that you can air your grievances and share your concerns, but they are also here so that you can meet new people, make friends, and have conversations with individuals who share similar interests. Instead of this, we see people being persecuted for differing opinions. We see needless name calling and insults being slung. We see harassment and trolling.
On the subject of "Trolls", myself, Bolt, and Relic have all been working in community for a very long time (between the three of us we have over 30 years experience). We understand that every community will have these types of individuals; they are part of the territory. However, when the behavior of these individuals begin to drive away other community members, or prevent them from participating in the conversation, action must be taken. You have noticed that recently we have clamped down on this kind of behavior. We will not tolerate the inflammatory posts that are meant to do nothing but insult others, or aggravate the volunteer mods or the paid staff. And yes, we have been quicker to lock or remove threads that go significantly off topic. We do this to prevent them from becoming unnecessarily inflammatory. If folks do not want threads to be locked, we ask that you examine why they are being locked, and stop engaging in that type of behavior.
We are working our hardest, every single day, to make this a better place to be for all. While we, the Community Management staff, have no control over the state of the games (we are not Designers, Product Managers, Engineers, or QA), we convey every legitimate issue and concern to the Developers as soon as it comes to our attention. The same is true for our Customer Support staff. Together we work to champion your needs and concerns. Does it mean things will get fixed right away? No, but we will make sure it is not ignored or forgotten.
In regards to the desire and need for more information, we are constantly working to improve the process, get more information in advance, and share more with you, our community. However, it is important to understand that there are times when our hands are tied, when there is a piece of information that you may want but we are unable to share it with you. This is the nature of business.
On a regular basis the Community Management staff receives PMs from community members thanking us for trying to clean up the forums, and for trying to remove the negativity. We also receive messages from community members who ask us to do more, to come down harder on the "trolls". They feel as though they can not participate in the community for fear of being attacked, or bullied. This is not acceptable. This is what we are working to change.
I know that this community is filled with intelligent, passionate, individuals, even if it is sometimes hard to see. It is time we work together, community members, volunteers mods, and Community Management staff, to make this place a better place for all.