An Open Dialogue Regarding Forum Moderation

All this gnashing of teeth and wailing "are we using these forums or that nasty place Reddit??!" DBG were quite clear that they wanted to use Reddit for Rum Cellar feedback. This thread has nothing to do with that, so why would it be on Reddit.

For the record, I personally live on Reddit and use it multiple times daily for everything from cute kitten gifs, news and discussion about the forthcoming UK parliamentary elections, and works related stuff. I don't think it's in any way useful for beta feedback, seeing as you already have perfectly good forums and /feedback function in game. If DBG are unable to make use of feedback provided on their own forum, and through in game tools, that seems like an issue that they need to urgently turn their attention to, rather than diluting the channels of communication even further.

Hope I dont get banned for spamming this notice but there is so much that people can get banned for I am surprised were all not banned

So how do you determine permanent ban vs a temporary ban in these forums and have you deleted peoples accounts?

Daybreak Games Forum Guidelines


1) Be respectful and courteous
- The purpose of these Forums and other official, Daybreak Games-maintained communication channels is to create a positive and constructive atmosphere for discussion about Daybreak Games Games and topics meaningful to our communities. While we may at times disagree with one another, it is important to maintain an atmosphere of civility and respect so that all voices may be heard. Disagreements with others are acceptable, but must be expressed in a reasonable and polite manner.


2) Communicate constructively
- It is important for any communication, whether between players or directly with Daybreak Games employees, to be constructive. Posts without constructive commentary distract from or otherwise reduce the visibility of valuable communication and discourages others from participating in the conversation.


A few examples of non-constructive communication are as follows:

• Off-topic commentary for specific forum - topics or conversation inappropriate for a particular area is unlikely to be seen by the intended audience and can spawn distracting and non-productive discussions, as well as splitting otherwise useful discussions into multiple channels. Political and religious discussions are considered non constructive on Official Daybreak Games Forums.
• Spam - communication without meaningful content that does not add to the conversation. Some examples are: +1, first, bump, /agree, etc.
• Cross-posting - posting the same topic or conversation repeatedly and/or across multiple avenues of communication in an attempt to gain attention for an issue. This splits conversation into multiple channels. If a conversation is relevant to multiple groups, players may post a link to the main conversation. We also do not allow posting a new thread on a topic that is already being discussed, as it spreads conversation out and makes it harder to gather the appropriate feedback.
• Naming/Accusing - Openly accusing another player or group of misbehavior results in non-constructive discussion and is not allowed. You may discuss the type of behavior at issue, but specifically naming individuals or groups is not allowed. In cases of exploiting, harassment or other violations of conduct, please submit a ticket to Customer Service for investigation.
• Disrupting Official Threads - these are created to gather feedback on specific issues or topics relevant to Daybreak Games. Do not post about other topics, or use the thread as a platform to attempt to advance another agenda.
• Polling/Petitioning – The creation of petitions or polls are not permitted in Daybreak Games communications channels.

3) Do not troll or make personal attacks - Trolling and attacking others is not allowed on Daybreak Games Forums or other Daybreak Games-maintained communication channels.

• Trolling is posting provocatively with reasonable expectation of provoking an emotional response (intentional or not). Trolling can include:
• Non-constructive feedback or comments.
• Nerf Calls - Openly calling for "Nerfs" (blanket reductions to abilities) is not allowed. If you feel something is overpowered or needs to be toned back, post your constructive comments and explanations.
• Accusing Others of Trolling - Calling someone a troll or accusing them of trolling is a form of trolling in itself. If you feel someone is behaving in a manner not consistent with these rules, please use the "Report this post to a Moderator" function on the forums.
• Excessive Reporting of Posts - Using the "Report this post to a Moderator" function of the forums to draw attention to a specific cause, to target an individual or to bypass a forum suspension or ban is considered trolling, particularly if it is used frequently for the purpose.
• Personal attacks - Do not insult, degrade or criticize any person or group of people. Personal attacks are hurtful, often lead to response in kind and destroy useful discussion.
• Examples of personal attacks include calling someone stupid, saying "You suck," "I wish you would die," or "You should be fired."
• Attacking groups of people, companies, and other countries is similarly prohibited.
• Attacks specifically regarding race, religion or sexual orientation are grounds for immediate suspension or banning.

4) Do not reveal account information
- While most areas of our games are valid topics for discussion, Customer Service (GM) interactions are sensitive, due to privacy concerns. If discussing CS interactions, the comments must be kept constructive, civil and without revealing personal or account information.

5)Profanity
- Because Daybreak Games appeals to a broad audience, the use of profanity is not permissible in any Daybreak Games communication medium. Do not intentionally evade the word filter or partially mask profanity by the substituting characters or words. The intent will still be clear. Either use all symbols or find another word choice (preferable).


6) Signatures are welcome
- Daybreak Games forums allow posters to use custom signatures. The current maximum size allowed for a signature is 350px tall, 500px wide (including any text) and1500KB. Any signatures considered inappropriate may be removed. Repeated violations may result in the removal of your ability to use custom signatures.


7) Abide by moderator direction
- If you disagree with a moderator or employee's actions, do not discuss or challenge the matter in forum posts. Contact a member of the Community team and clearly state your concerns.


These rules are not comprehensive and are provided as a general outline of conduct for Daybreak Games-maintained forums and communication channels. Failure to follow these rules or any direction from Daybreak Games staff or volunteers may result in your posting privileges being suspended, either temporarily or permanently.

Yeah i got nothing to say to that lol /shrug "apologies"

Then do make a sticky thread where you post when someone gets suspended from forum:
[name] [duration] [reason, references]

that's transparency.

Was that not Errrorr?

Reddit does not automate gameplay. Neither does EQ2U. Automating gameplay is a key part of the rule you are misquoting. Also please stop making me break my promise not to post!

Technically there's lots of third party software that doesn't involve automating gameplay and still constitutes hacking.

lol sorry Feldon . i been up since 2 am im not thinking straight.

I just don't see the need for Reddit. To me the voting structure is an insignificant reason to change. I wouldn't register over there, and I sure as hell wouldn't let my kids on that site. It's easy enough to stumble into the wrong forums.

If only there were these things called ESRB ratings.

I tried Reddit as an additional outlet for posting to the EQ2 ones and I dont like their lack of a forums structure like we have here.

I have a lot of respect for you in opening this up. I hope it will clear up a lot of misconceptions some folks may have.

This place seems unfriendly now to me and not because of the players posts.

It seems unfriendly to remove the fansite area and the guide area and the pvp area with no consideration for where that information would be placed. It seems player unfriendly and unwelcoming to me. It seems arbitrary. Now that information is mixed in with other forum areas and a total pain in the butt to locate.

I mentioned that because to me it illustrates a general non-transparent, non-communicative, arbitrary method of ignoring the impact of actions made, whether they be removing forum areas or banning people.

I hope this doesn't get me banned. If it does, its been nice knowing you other forum posters. I won't bother to try and get unbanned. If you get perma banned from forums are you banned from the game too? Hopefully not. Also, "ban to open dialog" and you then can't message or post so therefore no dialog? geez louise thats weird. And then implying that is the "forums fault" is .... I don't know what to say about that.

turtle-is-disappointed by Katz McKatz, on Flickr

Yeah, it'll dispell many misconceptions for people who are gullible enough to think that it is in any way sincere. This is yet another thinly veiled PR attempt that will likely end up stagnating with no noticeable change.

What this fellow said, and more.

It's pretty much a given that EQ2 has a much higher proportion of older players than other MMO's do...yet we are asked to go to that wretched hive of scum and villainy that is Reddit to communicate on certain parts of this game.

The same Reddit, mind you, that proudly has a Jailbait thread. A site barely a ratonga's whiskers better than 4chan in terms of trolling, childishness, pure antisocial misbehavior, and crudeness. The veritable 'Barrens Chat' of forum posting.

I don't think it should be much of a stretch to understand why an older group of players who have remarkable amounts of time invested in this game and franchise would be unwilling to jump into a pool of Lord of the Flies refugees...and equally it shouldn't be a stretch to understand why they would be dismayed at being asked to do so....especially when a coterie of nitwits can engage in a campaign of forum terrorism by downvoting anything topical as a group.

Not all changes are good. And change for the sake of change is frequently not good. Don't get mad at us for being mad.

Apparently you attended the Barrack Obama School of Transparency.

That is a really BAD idea. Companies have been sued for less.

I think the main concern with moderation for me right now is because of the lack of activity from a community person (I think most of them were let go) we're mostly just locked in a padded room, occasionally someone goes crazy and starts screaming and then there is silence and they are gone. It's like a spooky movie plot where people start slowly going mad and then get spirited away. They might be getting taken to another room for icecream but our imaginations are running wild and we assume something is feasting on their tasty brains.

That prolly made little sense but I know watching peoples post disappear on this forum without a word creeps a sense of dread into me every time I see it happen. Heck I tend to open up forum threads in multiple tabs so I can watch what disappears. I used to think I was just going crazy and that I was imagining bits of conversation.

As far as reddit it's young and trendy. And I find it completely annoying to search through. I'm one of those people who likes reading through posts to see how everyone is feeling about something and try to glean information. Reddit constantly is hiding peoples comments from me because someone downvoted them. Which means I have to remember to look for the tiny lil +'s to open up. It isn't really accessible to those who aren't as tech savvy and I would have preferred them to have said "we've also started watching the r/everquest2 as another avenue for people to post their thoughts" the way it was worded in the initial post sounded like they're only looking at reddit.

A lot of the issues I have on these forums could be solved if we had an active DB representative talking to us about the issues like you are doing -right now-. This is the sort of thing we need to have happen.

You can sue anyone for anything at any time. Whether or not it gets immediately thrown out is up to the discretion of the courts. I'm thoroughly amused that you believe there is any chance that this has a potential for litigation.

As someone who browses /v/ on 4chan, this is incorrect, 4chan gets a bad rap for being mainly anonymous but that works to the advantage by people being allowed to speak their mind instead of getting banned/downvoted to all hell. Of course /b/ is a different story, never touch /b/.....ever