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I"m so done with the official boards

The Black Smith

Seasoned Veteran
UNLEASHED
If someone is banned on the forums they must’ve done very bad things.
And they should contact the police and have them arrested IRL because it was probably illegal what they said/did, and EA I’m sure have their address.
 

Larisa

Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
Editor
Reporter
Moderator
Professional
Editor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
I just want to make some things clear regarding the official forums.


No action by a moderator there has ever had an impact on any player's game account. I *think* that Bonnie might have said something about Infractions on the forums affecting your game at the 20th anniversary gathering but I am not sure, I am actually going through those videos now to see if I can find it, but obviously that hasn't happened since the inception of the forums. I DO however remember her saying something to that effect but I don't know where it was said.

Some actions by posters can cause a loss of their posting abilities, that may appear to be a ban, but have nothing to do with the moderators.

if a player stops paying for an account, they would lose posting rights, remember EJ accounts are not allowed to post there or anyone that doesn't have a paid account. Sometimes accounts lapse and people might think they were banned but they weren't.

If a game account is banned, the player of that account will lost posting rights. That has nothing to do with the mods there either.

I'm not condoning or condemning, but the mods there are just doing their jobs just like here.
 

Xare

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
If someone is banned on the forums they must’ve done very bad things.
And they should contact the police and have them arrested IRL because it was probably illegal what they said/did, and EA I’m sure have their address.
Your standard of bad is a lot higher than the power mad mods over at the official forums. I'd rather not see people who's sole job it is to squelch conversations that may hurt the ego of the small development team have the ability to request police showing up at my door.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I just want to make some things clear regarding the official forums.


No action by a moderator there has ever had an impact on any player's game account. I *think* that Bonnie might have said something about Infractions on the forums affecting your game at the 20th anniversary gathering but I am not sure, I am actually going through those videos now to see if I can find it, but obviously that hasn't happened since the inception of the forums. I DO however remember her saying something to that effect but I don't know where it was said.

Some actions by posters can cause a loss of their posting abilities, that may appear to be a ban, but have nothing to do with the moderators.

if a player stops paying for an account, they would lose posting rights, remember EJ accounts are not allowed to post there or anyone that doesn't have a paid account. Sometimes accounts lapse and people might think they were banned but they weren't.

If a game account is banned, the player of that account will lost posting rights. That has nothing to do with the mods there either.

I'm not condoning or condemning, but the mods there are just doing their jobs just like here.

You might be right about that as I sort of recall her saying something... though like you not sure where or when... but I made my mind up at the inception and after that statement that I was going to never ever post there and I haven't... never logged in there even... don't care to ever do that either. If I have something to discuss with them I just email one of them directly. But outside of wishing Mesanna a Happy Birthday or something, I haven't done that in a long while... gave up.
 

Mithryl Elves

Elves Suck
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I just want to make some things clear regarding the official forums.


No action by a moderator there has ever had an impact on any player's game account. I *think* that Bonnie might have said something about Infractions on the forums affecting your game at the 20th anniversary gathering but I am not sure, I am actually going through those videos now to see if I can find it, but obviously that hasn't happened since the inception of the forums. I DO however remember her saying something to that effect but I don't know where it was said.

Some actions by posters can cause a loss of their posting abilities, that may appear to be a ban, but have nothing to do with the moderators.

if a player stops paying for an account, they would lose posting rights, remember EJ accounts are not allowed to post there or anyone that doesn't have a paid account. Sometimes accounts lapse and people might think they were banned but they weren't.

If a game account is banned, the player of that account will lost posting rights. That has nothing to do with the mods there either.

I'm not condoning or condemning, but the mods there are just doing their jobs just like here.

Do you have any plans now or in the future for Stratics Mod Sensitivity Training?

No for real. Because there really isnt much humor allowed here. Even some minor trolling and fun wouldnt hurt these forums. I understand my bans 20 years ago for posting ******* images over and over, I probably deserved that lol. But now that im a big boy and know that I was wrong, and no longer posting anything near to the extent of *******, I'd personally love to see a more FUN forum.
 

Mithryl Elves

Elves Suck
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Wow did I have such a lasting affect that TU B GUR L is censored loL

Do you have any plans now or in the future for Stratics Mod Sensitivity Training?

No for real. Because there really isnt much humor allowed here. Even some minor trolling and fun wouldnt hurt these forums. I understand my bans 20 years ago for posting ******* images over and over, I probably deserved that lol. But now that im a big boy and know that I was wrong, and no longer posting anything near to the extent of *******, I'd personally love to see a more FUN forum.
 

Lord Frodo

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
If they ban someone on the official forums, they absolutely SHOULD ban them from playing.

Or what they're saying is, it's okay to upset someone in the game but it's not okay to upset someone on the forums... logic please?

Shows how little they care about the player community.
So someone thinks it is ok to go back to the OLD UO Forum way when you said something to piss off a DEV you not only got a timeout on the Forum but you also got a timeout in game. NO THANK YOU, that is the reason Stratics become so big with UO fans and then they shut down the UO Forums due to lack of use I think.
 

Lord Frodo

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I just want to make some things clear regarding the official forums.


No action by a moderator there has ever had an impact on any player's game account. I *think* that Bonnie might have said something about Infractions on the forums affecting your game at the 20th anniversary gathering but I am not sure, I am actually going through those videos now to see if I can find it, but obviously that hasn't happened since the inception of the forums. I DO however remember her saying something to that effect but I don't know where it was said.

Some actions by posters can cause a loss of their posting abilities, that may appear to be a ban, but have nothing to do with the moderators.

if a player stops paying for an account, they would lose posting rights, remember EJ accounts are not allowed to post there or anyone that doesn't have a paid account. Sometimes accounts lapse and people might think they were banned but they weren't.

If a game account is banned, the player of that account will lost posting rights. That has nothing to do with the mods there either.

I'm not condoning or condemning, but the mods there are just doing their jobs just like here.
It could have been along the lines of the way the old UO Forums were and she may have repeated the question to make sure she was understanding it and then made a remark after that it was not going to be that way.
 

Larisa

Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
Editor
Reporter
Moderator
Professional
Editor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
This is why we have the Unleashed forum....it's fun and you can take out all your frustrations there! But just like on the official forums; we try to show some modicum of professionalism here.

You just have to remember where you are and leave all your colorful fun stuff in Unleashed.
 

Luc of Legends

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
It was most likely something announce then scrapped without them telling us. Like this:

New Callback Service Offer
Posted on February 20, 2015 by Mesanna
Greetings everyone,
In an effort to increase the quality of support and streamline assistance for certain account and billing-related issues, Broadsword is now pleased to offer a new phone callback service to help resolve complex account and billing issues.
Please be aware that in-game issues are not part of this new initiative. Our Support team will attempt to resolve all account and billing-related issues via email first. The callback service will only be offered in situations where all attempts to resolve the issue via email have been exhausted. Our aim is to lessen the amount of back and forth sometimes required to reduce the total resolution time of complex, account and billing-related issues.
Tentatively, the Customer Support Team will be able to make callbacks between the hours of *12PM – 12AM EST* (noon – midnight) or *5PM – 5AM GMT*. Please keep that timeframe in mind when coordinating with the Support Team to setup a callback.
At this time, callbacks will only be offered in English.
Thank you,
UO Team
Yeah that disappeared rather quickly if it ever was at all. IMHO Mesanna lets her alligator mouth overload her hummingbird butt or she is working on a political career in DC (Making promises she can't/never intended to keep.) But, what the heck do I know. *-__(-.-)__-*
 

Captn Norrington

Stratics Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Do you have any plans now or in the future for Stratics Mod Sensitivity Training?

No for real. Because there really isnt much humor allowed here. Even some minor trolling and fun wouldnt hurt these forums. I understand my bans 20 years ago for posting ******* images over and over, I probably deserved that lol. But now that im a big boy and know that I was wrong, and no longer posting anything near to the extent of *******, I'd personally love to see a more FUN forum.
As Larisa said, we have Unleashed for that now. Aside from that, there’s actually quite a lot of leniency on things here now compared to how it used to be. I was hired right before the entire staff changed in 2014 and have seen firsthand how much leniency has been added (and have been constantly advocating more leniency myself to other staff the whole time too).

We barely delete posts or give warnings anymore, seriously. In 2014 I watched 20-60 deleted posts and 5-10 warnings a week go out routinely. Now, we have maybe 3 deleted posts and 0-1 warnings per week on average.

In the old days yes I agree, Stratics was extremely over-moderated. Now though, we barely moderate anything at all. It can’t be any more lenient than it is already without allowing free for all trash talk like the HOT forums did, and this site’s main target audience generally just doesn’t really want that.
 

Mithryl Elves

Elves Suck
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
As Larisa said, we have Unleashed for that now. Aside from that, there’s actually quite a lot of leniency on things here now compared to how it used to be. I was hired right before the entire staff changed in 2014 and have seen firsthand how much leniency has been added (and have been constantly advocating more leniency myself to other staff the whole time too).

We barely delete posts or give warnings anymore, seriously. In 2014 I watched 20-60 deleted posts and 5-10 warnings a week go out routinely. Now, we have maybe 3 deleted posts and 0-1 warnings per week on average.

In the old days yes I agree, Stratics was extremely over-moderated. Now though, we barely moderate anything at all. It can’t be any more lenient than it is already without allowing free for all trash talk like the HOT forums did, and this site’s main target audience generally just doesn’t really want that.

I do like seeing some of the mods here who are. And yes I'm positive that some are more forgiving than others. But I had 4 posts deleted yesterday alone for very minor trashtalk and for just poking a little fun. 2-3 warnings came with it. You are very right because pre2104 I'd been banned for a year or so probably.
As for unleashed, It doesn't work. You won't succeed by allowing more leniency in one area but then spanking us because whats allowed on one page isn't allowed in another and OOOOPS happened. I'm not saying allow people to make racist comments, post irl info, make rl threats etc. But poking a little fun in a lightly humorous like I did in a post that was deleted yesterday, C'mon now? If you are able to even go back and see what that was, please go look. @Larisa please do yourself too. It was harmless.
 

Xare

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
I do like seeing some of the mods here who are. And yes I'm positive that some are more forgiving than others. But I had 4 posts deleted yesterday alone for very minor trashtalk and for just poking a little fun. 2-3 warnings came with it. You are very right because pre2104 I'd been banned for a year or so probably.
As for unleashed, It doesn't work. You won't succeed by allowing more leniency in one area but then spanking us because whats allowed on one page isn't allowed in another and OOOOPS happened. I'm not saying allow people to make racist comments, post irl info, make rl threats etc. But poking a little fun in a lightly humorous like I did in a post that was deleted yesterday, C'mon now? If you are able to even go back and see what that was, please go look. @Larisa please do yourself too. It was harmless.
Just because you consider something harmless doesn't mean others do.

Be kind damnit. No reason not to. "Poking a little fun" and "very minor trashtalk" have a way of escalating and honestly, there's no reason to do it. If you can't make your point without being a jerk, maybe you should look into re-evaluating how you talk to people.
 

Keven2002

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Just because you consider something harmless doesn't mean others do.
This is the unfortunate thing about today's society; in some ways we are being censored into silence because of ultra sensitivity of a select group of people.

To be clear, I am not saying everyone should be able to say what they want but it's a hard line to draw as a moderator sometimes (which is why I'm not one) because there are certain people who literally take any type of opposition to their belief as "aggressive attacks" or whatever. While some things are overtly harmful and easily recognized; some people technically take something like "trammie" or "newbie" as harmful so in that case they should be censored/warned?

Don't people remember the saying "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me"? I know there can obviously be exceptions to that mantra but I'd say we are allowing the pendulum to swing too far the other direction and some people really just need to get some thicker skin.
 

Xare

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
This is the unfortunate thing about today's society; in some ways we are being censored into silence because of ultra sensitivity of a select group of people.

To be clear, I am not saying everyone should be able to say what they want but it's a hard line to draw as a moderator sometimes (which is why I'm not one) because there are certain people who literally take any type of opposition to their belief as "aggressive attacks" or whatever. While some things are overtly harmful and easily recognized; some people technically take something like "trammie" or "newbie" as harmful so in that case they should be censored/warned?

Don't people remember the saying "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me"? I know there can obviously be exceptions to that mantra but I'd say we are allowing the pendulum to swing too far the other direction and some people really just need to get some thicker skin.
While I don't disagree that people do need to be a bit more thick skinned, that doesn't grant people a reason to be insulting. It along the whole just because you can doesn't mean you should mentality.
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Read my goodbye post there if you give a crap, but I'm sick of it. Power tripping moderators don't belong on fan sites and they need to learn that moderating does not mean inserting your own personal opinion on a matter and then locking it because you think you're better than everyone else. You're supposed to MODERATE, not DOMINATE.
If this is a serious concern of yours, then why are you still posting on Stratics?
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
..........
What an odd reply.

Do you need clarification?

If so here it is: I've found Stratics to have those issues, yet you seem unconcerned here.

I've observed over the years that most people, including me, don't consider a forum to be over-moderated when that they agree with that moderation. (I'm sure exceptions exist but I haven't encountered them. At least, not genuinely.) I have over the years tried my best to stop pretending, which puts me at a disadvantage in these kinds of discussions.
 

Lord Nabin

High Council Sage - Greater Sosaria
Professional
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Glorious Lord
Each board or forum community you decide to join and participate in has its own set of guidelines/standards you agree to. Operating within those guidelines you decided to agree to creates a situation of little to no moderation.

I do not really see you at a disadvantage, You agreed to the guidelines/standards for moderation when you said. I accept the standards and create my account.

*stokes his fire and settles back into his chair by the fire.*
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Each board or forum community you decide to join and participate in has its own set of guidelines/standards you agree to. Operating within those guidelines you decided to agree to creates a situation of little to no moderation.

I do not really see you at a disadvantage, You agreed to the guidelines/standards for moderation when you said. I accept the standards and create my account.

*stokes his fire and settles back into his chair by the fire.*
*sighs* Context is important.

I said:

[ I have over the years tried my best to stop pretending, which puts me at a disadvantage in these kinds of discussions.]

We clearly were discussing moderation. And I was saying that the fact that I've just given up pretending that I'll complain about moderation when it agrees with me puts me at a disadvantage in conversations about moderation.

You, for some reason, seem to have chosen to read me as saying:

[I am at a disadvantage here on Stratics.]

Now, I surely could defend that position if it were the topic at hand. But, it's not.

I can see around 6 reasons why your interpretation of me is likely to stick, but it's not accurate, all the same.
 

GarthGrey

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
What an odd reply.

Do you need clarification?

If so here it is: I've found Stratics to have those issues, yet you seem unconcerned here.

I've observed over the years that most people, including me, don't consider a forum to be over-moderated when that they agree with that moderation. (I'm sure exceptions exist but I haven't encountered them. At least, not genuinely.) I have over the years tried my best to stop pretending, which puts me at a disadvantage in these kinds of discussions.
It was either ...... or ?????. You asked why I still post here, when my original post was regarding the moderation over at UO.Com, it's not always apples/apples.
 

Rickspanish

Visitor
UNLEASHED
Being banned over there does not ban you in game. They can not take the hit from losing the money from accounts. I don't think they really ban anyone anymore. they just make the numbers up for the news letter. UO need as much money coming in as it can for the sake of the game to keep running there not going to ban people unless your able to kill Mesanna in a fight that would be the only way someone would get banned. there forums are just for the Yes ma of the UO would.

We should open the forums here for everything. RMT, accounts and so fourth.
 

Keven2002

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
We should open the forums here for everything. RMT, accounts and so fourth.
No thanks. I honestly do not care to see John/Chuck/Avatar/Biden/Discount/etc/etc spam every single thread with DISCOUNTED GOLD BUY NOW! Bad enough I had to keep putting the EJ accounts on ignore in the game and now have the idiot paying to spam in general chat again.
 

Rickspanish

Visitor
UNLEASHED
No thanks. I honestly do not care to see John/Chuck/Avatar/Biden/Discount/etc/etc spam every single thread with DISCOUNTED GOLD BUY NOW! Bad enough I had to keep putting the EJ accounts on ignore in the game and now have the idiot paying to spam in general chat again.
If you look back they allowed it think they stoped around 2012 to become the official fourms and we all see how that turned out. Maybe a mod can jump in here.
 

Picus of Napa

Certifiable
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
A separate forum for transactions wouldn't hurt. It could require a contributory tag or the like for entry.
 

railshot

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
In my experience, Stratics, feature-wise is one of of the top forums I have ever experienced in my interwebs career. So, why do you think BS took that $300 from their development budget and spent it on a Craigslist web development specialist to make that state-of-the-art official forum? Featurewise, it is currently missing essentials that were standard in '97. And zero work has been done on it since it launched. They do have a Forum Feedback section that they completely ignore, so it feels more like a calculated insult than anything.
There is only one reason - so that they could control the narrative around the game. Their assumption was that everyone would migrate to the official forums once they launched, Stratics would be deserted, and they would have control of what is and is not said about the game and the devs. But this team being what they are, the effort has been about as successful as their average publish - half-assed, low quality, and ultimately - misdirected. End result - Stratics is still thriving, and the official forums are experiencing all the joys of a personal sandbox of a dot.com-era petty internet tyrant.
 

Stinky Pete

Babbling Loonie
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Their forum software is garbage. It is literally called "vanilla." EA uses it as well, they probably share the licence.

I got a warning for some dumb thing so I spent 10 minutes looking to see what rule I supposedly broke. After I found the tiny little ToS link at the bottom of the page, I tried to copy the rule into my reply to the mods. It turns out that you can't do that. It let me finish typing out the reply but when I sent it, it only had the part up until when I tried to copy the rule. I was going to retry but I quickly lost interest. Also, for the first year or so the site had changed language to German for no reason and I couldn't find the option to change it back. Luckily, I know enough German to get by so I really didn't care enough to look for the option to be anywhere but under my profile (where it would make sense).

Edit: Oh yeah, the warning was for referring to their forums as "a dumpster fire."
 

railshot

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Their forum software is garbage. It is literally called "vanilla." EA uses it as well, they probably share the licence.
One thing that the EA forums have that UO ones are missing is the thread page indicators. So, it you are correct, they could not even port a pre-made solution right.
 

petemage

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Edit: Oh yeah, the warning was for referring to their forums as "a dumpster fire."
They have awesome double standards. If you had called popps or anyone else who Petra dislikes names, it would be fine. I once got a post removed for expressing I don't agree with someone else saying "we all miss lady storm". Mesanna just build Petra her own walled garden.
 

Stinky Pete

Babbling Loonie
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
They have awesome double standards. If you had called popps or anyone else who Petra dislikes names, it would be fine. I once got a post removed for expressing I don't agree with someone else saying "we all miss lady storm". Mesanna just build Petra her own walled garden.
Oh yeah, I harass @SteelRust on those forums all the time. I never get warnings for that, just occasional DMs about how much of a tool that guy is.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I knew exactly what those forums were going to be like the second they launched... they don't care about any bug you report or any issue you might have in the game... they will ignore it unless it happens to bother one of the "precious" ones who have their noses shoved so far up the DEVs rears that it comes out their mouth when they speak... I find it toxic and disturbing... but I knew it would be that way... and I refuse to go around praising them for killing the game I loved.
 

Victim of Siege

Grand Poobah
Governor
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
. . . Also, for the first year or so the site had changed language to German for no reason and I couldn't find the option to change it back. Luckily, I know enough German to get by so I really didn't care enough to look for the option to be anywhere but under my profile (where it would make sense).
. . .
to change Language it's at the bottom, click on the yellow Engrish I have outlined in red. took a while to find it.

1617036122559.png
 

AdamPD

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Mesanna just build Petra her own walled garden.
And that's why the official forums were created. Mesanna no likey that her demands here fell on deaf ears, Stratics finally decided to no longer bow before her eminence.
As a result, the devs no longer post here, Stratics has been removed as an official fansite and Mesanna's pom pom waving friends are now mods on the official forums.
That's what happens when you defy an immature child with a narcissistic personality, who unfortunately is in the top position of power on our beloved game.
 

dvv

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Plenty of people are over there complaining about stuff... it’s not all “pom poms”.
 

AdamPD

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Plenty of people are over there complaining about stuff... it’s not all “pom poms”.
Indeed, but as mentioned by the last focus group they ran, they ignored 90% of the feedback they received.
It's always been that way, they ignore feedback they don't like or is negative and go with crap the minority want.
 

dvv

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
It is true. I essentially stopped reporting bugs because they don’t even reply. I have seen devs popping up over there a tiny bit more lately but idk.

It’s just really annoying... you type up the problem as clearly as you can. You take the time to include images... people may even pop in and say yes this is a bug and add more info... but all for nothing, it seems.
 

Lord Nabin

High Council Sage - Greater Sosaria
Professional
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Glorious Lord
Hey all you folks done with the "official boards" can show your support here Donation drives

Otherwise you all are just a bunch of drama queens. Prove me wrong!

*Taps his pipe and fills it with another plug**
 
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