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[Discussion] Is the fear of not being able to speak your mind ruining the community?

Promathia

Social Distancing Since '97
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It seems whenever someone wants to speak their mind, or have a different opinion....the pitchforks come out. The police come to look over your shoulder.
 

cazador

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Shhh..don't rile up the villagers Promathia..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kelmo

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Can I say that it is not by accident that I am here? And ya have my attention now.
 

BrianFreud

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Promathia

Social Distancing Since '97
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Can I say that it is not by accident that I am here? And ya have my attention now.
Not only do you mock the very community you are visiting, but you are overzealous in your moderating.
 

kelmo

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I. Publicly discussing actions by moderators or administrators is prohibited.

This includes, but is not limited to: bans, warnings, locks, and moved threads. Any inquiries or comments on bans, warnings, or other moderator actions, are to be sent in private messages or via email. A moderator may choose to publicly inform the participants of a forum about bans and warnings if this is in the interest of the forum.
 

kelmo

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I did not mean to mock any one.
 

cazador

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Hey now! Laws are laws guys..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kelmo

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There are a million things I would rather be doing now... Move along.
 

Flutter

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There are a million things I would rather be doing now... Move along.
Go do them. I got this ;)
If anyone does anything bad I will tattle (after ICQing them first to let them know they are gonna get in trouble if they don't change it first).
 

kelmo

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OK... If ya say so... I will just keep shooting until it is done... I hope ya settle this.
 

Smoot

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it would nice if stratics were an open forum, but its not :(
it would be fun if it were more like the hot forum, but im sure the carebears and soccer moms would have a heart attack.
so put on a clean shirt, button up, and take it for what it is :)
 

lineman

Rares Fest Host | Ches Jan 2011
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I have been trying to speak my mind for years as you are well aware =). I get shut down all the time. I pretty much gave up. Just when threads start getting interesting they usually get locked.
 

yardman

Sage
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Open Forum WOOT woot woot!!!!!!
So as everyone knows I sell my wares for what ever price i choose to put on them. But always get trolled by the trolls. My response is until I see a global price guide for UO pixels and is a true RL commodity that we can exchange. I will ask whatever I want for somthing and the actual value of any thing I sell is worth whatever someone is willing to pay. Now shame on me if I ask for a price check on something technically its worth ziltch, the item is just a damn pixel that Broadsword, EA, Mythic whoever is the owner to the rights of the game at the time. So I am going to ask it now, if you dont like my prices dont buy from me. Thats all for now. Now I need a hug.
 

Aiden O'Connor

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Watch out for the community to band together and declare you the boogieman! Would hate for you to have a bunch of trolls after you...

**Sounds like yardman might now a thing or two about trolls and how to exterminate them...
 

claudia-fjp

Lore Master
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I have been trying to speak my mind for years as you are well aware =). I get shut down all the time. I pretty much gave up. Just when threads start getting interesting they usually get locked.
That is the reason I'm going to U.hall less and less over time and a big part of the reason it has become pretty stagnant in recent years. It's becoming like the Diogenes Club from Sherlock Holmes.
 

Picus of Napa

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This forum has done as much to both further the game and hinder it as the dev team. Open forum is a joke when money is involved.
 

Longtooths

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On a serious note I have tried, unsuccessfully, to address this matter through IM's.

I was met with ridicule and threats. I was told that there was no way the moderator in question could have made a bad call at locking a thread. Basically, you are dumb, go away peon.
 

Nails Warstein

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I am a proud contributor and support of Stratics. However, since the beginning of Stratics, they have always employed strict rules of conduct to squelch free speech, create a chilling effect, and therefore control the zeitgeist of all the games they promote as a fan site. There is a culture of personality that we all must conform to, comply with and abide by in order to keep our threads alive. Many players have tried to recreate a fan site forum for ultima online, and failed. People respond to authoritative administrating by continuing to participate here, and Stratics is all we got, so no point in complaining about it, it just gets deleted and locked.
 

yardman

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Nails You know me and I agree and disagree ....rules are in place to protect the unknowing and young, stratics have language filters in place so the young dont hear it and well the mods know who we all are, the problem i see in any debate there is stuff certain peeps dont want to hear but needs to be said at times, the marshmellow effect some mods have on um the site i will not mention due to i may get booted from the thread, is that they want outsiders to think this is a carebear happy go lucky game I dont care what anyone says but yes there are great friendships, great times, great fun, but with that there will be great discussions, great fueds, and great debates, but the later half of what i mentioned ends up being deleted locked ect because the mods dont want anyone to know there is conflict in the game.
 

Flutter

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Here´s every thread on the Hot forums:

A: You suck.
B: No, you suck.
A: No, you suck!
B: No, you suck!!

... with the occasional screenshot of what illegal programs they run.

Now back to rares...
{insert perverted comments or swear word here}
 

Flutter

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Remember first and foremost, aside from donations (totally voluntary) Stratics is a free site that does not get paid by the games they support. The people who work here as moderators are not paid employees, they try to keep the peace in their spare time, and most of all we are human beings. We make mistakes, we get emotional, annoyed, fed up and sick of BS just like everyone else.
On that note I am going to bed... you all need to "police yourselves".

Seriously guys just be chill. We are all cool people with cool personalities and I stand by my theory that if you get to know each other better you turn out to kinda like each other... maybe a little... most of the time.
 

yardman

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"and most of all we are human beings. We make mistakes, we get emotional, annoyed, fed up and sick of BS just like everyone else."
@Flutter that is the best quote ive seen so far from a mod...Maybe others need to follow lead and realize we are all human and we all have a voice whether they like it or not let us exercise our right of free speech.
 

Captn Norrington

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To me it seems like alot of the hate directed towards moderators is caused by the fact that the majority of them have been here for years and years, so it gives the apperance that stratics is not willing to listen to anyone that they haven't already been listening to for years. If a few people of different gameplay styles became moderators I believe it would fix some of the issues...currently it seems like 90% of the mods are the roleplay or oldschool (siege) type of players....which isn't bad, it just looks somewhat odd from an outside perspective that so many people from the same shard and guild became mods. (I'm not saying it's favoritism)

Also I think it would be beneficial to let the mods that "officially" take care of the forums be the final judgement, so for example a Uhall mod would not accidentally anger the other communities by locking a thread that was not in their "jurisdiction".
 

Longtooths

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I have been making monthly donations for the past few months to Stratics. I do this of my own accord and because I think this site is important to the UO community. I would hate to think what we would do without it. That being the case I would like to see it improve. Lately I have noticed posts being locked, I feel prematurely and without cause. I questioned the Modorator through IM's. I was told that they could tell forums were going to go bad or that the topic was finished based on experience. What I found amusing was that this person had a Signature banner that trumpeted their prowess at locking threads. It was obvious to me that this was an ego thing and I was not going to change this persons mind. The impression I got was, I know what I am talking about and you are just a peon, get back in line sheep.


Then a couple of days later the same thing happened. This time the thread was closed because this moderator could tell that something bad was going to happen. So, knowing that I would get nowhere with the moderator, I reported the lock post. I was sent an alert (with no name attached mind you) stating that this person respected and trusted the moderator and because of that fact my reporting them was an affront, rude and unwelcome. Not a single word about the subject, just a defensive stone wall if you will.


Would you continue to make donations for a product when your concerns are not taken seriously and moreover they are met with rudeness and threats from staff?
 

Blue Fly

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I have been playing UO for officially 199 months. I have only used Stratics for the past 3 years. I think we should take into account that the majority of the UO community doesn't even use Stratics. Many people in game I meet don't have a clue what it is... As helpful as it is, its not a necessity to play UO. There is a very fine line between healthy discussion and trolling. Certain people have certain peoples back, and will argue their points, furthering agendas, etc. I doubt anything will change with Stratics unless a drastic measure is taken. Stratics might be free to users, but they still generate money as a business. What do you do when a business doesn't meet your needs? Do you continue to patronize said business? I try to steer clear these days from posts that could turn into an argument or be perceived as me arguing. The problem in general, and not just on these forums, with speaking your mind, is you are bound to offend someone... I wouldn't be surprised if what I just wrote offended someone some how... ;) Surely having Stratics moderated is better than complete chaos like the HOT forums...
 

Petra Fyde

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A few facts
1. Everyone here agreed to abide by the rules of conduct when they made their account. Some people seem incapable of doing that. It's not within the rules to call anyone who disagrees with you nasty names.
2. Most moderator actions result from someone putting in a report. We action such reports if we feel the complaint is warranted. If there were no abuse there would be no reports. If there were no reports we wouldn't have to check them out and action them.
3. Anyone who has known me any length of time knows I am NOT on an ego trip. I'm just trying my level best to keep the forums civil and within the rules. Yes I have a 'thread lock' siggy, it's not a boast, it's a joke.
4. Certain topics have always proved to be toxic. We try our best to let these topics run as long as the thread remains within bounds. When they don't we lock them to prevent further abusive posts. Remember you may not have seen the posts we have removed, and may not be aware of just how nasty the thread became.

Lots of people post here and have never had a warning or infraction. That's because they're not abusive to their fellow posters. They can make their point without feeling the need to attack other posters.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
'you're a liar' is unacceptable
'I think you might be mistaken' is acceptable.

'You're an idiot' is unacceptable
'I think there may be a misunderstanding' is acceptable.
Don't post abusively, do post civilly. Don't criticise destructively, do criticise constructively. We don't want to lock threads, having to carefully watch threads so that someone's ego doesn't get to badly bruised is a pain in the rear. I, and my moderators, would much rather just answer game questions and go play the game.
 

Smoot

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
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Personally i dont think a videogame forum should be so politically correct and strict. theres really no other good forum tho so until someone makes one ill stick here.
I dont understand why in a game based on killing and blood and stealing and being burned and gored to death by dragons a little name calling or language is a big deal. hell, stratics ToS is more strict than the actual game (which is rarely enforced btw) , maybe the volunteers for stratics should volunteer for broadsword instead.

Bottom line is, stratics is a business that was sanctioned by EA, so as much as we might like looser rules, rlm money transactions, selling securtiy, scammer list, all very helpful and normal things to most gamers, its just not going to happen.

locking threads at the slightest hint of personal disagreement or feelings toward another person is overdoing the censorship tho imo. I realize its a pretty dry forum, but if its ever going to transform in what i think Taylor envisions its gotta lighten up a little. Its video games people not the office.
 

Riply

Lore Master
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Perhaps they should make one Forum Labeled "Mud Slinging" with no holds bard on any topic related to UO. Would probably be the most active forum on the site, I'm just wondering if the rules are in place due to the banners that they sell. But in the long run it's better to have Stratics the way it is then no stratics at all.
 

Lt.Snuggles

Seasoned Veteran
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maybe we should try and improve our personal attitudes and the way we react before we start lobbying for a change in the way the moderators go about their business.
 
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