Here are some things we consider unconstructive:

• Long lists of gripes with few specific details and little useful feedback

 

Really? It's no longer allowed to post a list with things I do not like, unless someone over there judges it as ''specific enough'' or ''useful''?

 

That is indeed new, never seen this in any of the games I played before.

 

Thank you for the warning!

Think this is nice, dont have to see the same old accounts do nothing but hate and bash the game

because they enjoy hating on others. Just dont be to trigger happy with removing posts in the pvp forum

that have valid points even thou the user is raging(like most pvp players do now and then)

So Joveth says the Community team will be more active with the Community... And the first taste of that interaction we get, is a "we're going to swing the banhammer faster" post?

 

Not really sure thats the best way to start off. Perhaps answering some questions from people about upcoming content or changes would have been a better first step?

 

I love you guys, and the game.. But this is really an example of "one step forward, two steps back".

 

Edit: posting from phone leads to bad spelling

Edited August 8, 2012 by Kaywinnit

I don't think they're doing anything wrong with closing down threads that are entirely pointless (the three million I'm quitting, game sucks, look at this new thing about how much money they're losing, and general F U Bioware and BW fanboys threads).

 

I honestly get sick of seeing the same damn threads always showing up that restate the same crap that's been spewed out a million times before. I will admit that it would be nice to see a few more posts about new upcoming content but I have this feeling that will be coming in a few weeks so I feel that this is a step in the right direction.

Finally:cool:

One of the most common criticisms we see is that the forums are ugly and that trolling and negativity drive away players who DO want to contribute constructively. We want the forums to be a friendly place to discuss the game, and we want to protect players that want to use them that way. That doesn't mean we want to eliminate negative feedback, but we do want to cut down on the insults, hostility, and other behaviors that sometimes make the forums inhospitable. We want to encourage people to provide us with useful feedback that we can take to the developers. We also want to remove people who are just here to insult others and bash the game for entertainment.

 

Thank you. Often I won't post because most threads just become too bothersome to sort out the real posts from the trolls. Hope you guys are able to keep the forums clean.

 

*EDIT* My signature says it all.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Xiij

This is excellent. I always wondered why all those negative posts were tolerated on the forums to such extremes, they do absolutely nothing for the community or the game. As a regular forum goer, I am really looking forward to this change.

Bravo!

The forums have become a cesspool and this change will help to weed out the trolls and make the forums a better place, right now is depressing to visit the forum and see all the baseless complaints and rants that plague the place specially the General Forum.

I am glad you have decided this, whatever problems the game may have, the negativity on the general discussion forum has been insanely negative, completely out of proportion. I've only been reading the dev tracker to avoid all the trolls, hate, childishness and overabundance of unconstructive, negative topics that are just copies of one another. I hope general discussion will have some discussions about game stuff again soon.

We've seen leaders associated with this game make similar promises over and over again with zero follow-through. Not just you, Joveth, promising to increase and improve your team's forum presence and improve communication, but others, too, for example promising to increase the cadence of content releases.

 

Why should we expect it will really happen this time? What's different now?

As a result of the recent changes (discussed in Joveth’s note), we’ll be enforcing our forum guidelines and Rules of Conduct more strictly than before. If you are being rude, disrespectful, and insulting towards others and are not civil and constructive in your posts, you will find your posting privileges removed more quickly than in the past.

 

Note that this doesn’t mean we’re going to shut down legitimate criticisms and feedback, but it does mean we will be making an effort to remove members of the community who prove that they do not want to contribute in a constructive way. We encourage you to provide feedback regarding the game (even about things you don’t like!), but we ask that it is detailed, specific, and constructive. Also, while disagreements are fine, insults and rude posts will not be tolerated. We expect community members to respect each other and differing viewpoints.

 

You may find that threads that are not constructive are removed or closed without warning. Here are some things we consider unconstructive:

• Long lists of gripes with few specific details and little useful feedback
  
• Threads that bash the game or BioWare
  
• Threads about quitting the game
  
• Callouts towards specific developers
  
• "Haters" vs "fanboys" arguments/unconstructive community commentary

 

We strongly recommend brushing up on the Rules of Conduct, as violations are generally more serious now.

 

We do need your help, though! If you see someone you think is breaking the rules, please use the "Report Post" feature! The best advice we can give is to report and move on – responding in kind to someone who is breaking the rules only makes flame wars and other disruptive behavior go on longer. If you just can’t agree with someone and feel like they may provoke you into breaking the rules, please use your ignore list. Remember: there are people out there who just want to make you mad and get a rise out of you. Don’t give them what they want!

 

We appreciate your help and are looking forward to creating a friendly, welcoming community!

 

*CHEERS*

 

You may find that threads that are not constructive are removed or closed without warning. Here are some things we consider unconstructive:

• Long lists of gripes with few specific details and little useful feedback
  
• Threads that bash the game or BioWare
  
• Threads about quitting the game
  
• Callouts towards specific developers
  
• "Haters" vs "fanboys" arguments/unconstructive community commentary

 

Pleased to read that, it was getting extremely annoying and definitely didn't put the game to justice.

Thank you so much, this has been well overdue and I for one look forward to being able to provide accurate feedback without post being over run by people that just hate. Yesterday I was to the point I decided to not every read anything but the dev tracker cause most of it was too depressing to read thru to find legit info.

 

thanks guys

Thank you, Bioware, thank you very very much this has literally made my day. The forums are once again hospitable! Thank you thank you thank you!

One of the most common criticisms we see is that the forums are ugly and that trolling and negativity drive away players who DO want to contribute constructively. We want the forums to be a friendly place to discuss the game, and we want to protect players that want to use them that way. That doesn't mean we want to eliminate negative feedback, but we do want to cut down on the insults, hostility, and other behaviors that sometimes make the forums inhospitable. We want to encourage people to provide us with useful feedback that we can take to the developers. We also want to remove people who are just here to insult others and bash the game for entertainment.

 

Let's hope it works out well.. I'm concerned that the 'stricter' enforcement will lead to squashing any thing resembling negative criticism of the game.. and to succeed.. you guys need criticism positive and negative.

The intent here is not in any way to silence complaints or criticisms, but to ask that players that have them take the time to be specific, provide details, and be constructive. It's not "long list" that's the problem, it's long lists that don't take the time to be constructive. So, in short, if you take the time to provide thoughtful feedback, you don't have anything to worry about - that's the kind of thing we value.

 

One of the most common criticisms we see is that the forums are ugly and that trolling and negativity drive away players who DO want to contribute constructively. We want the forums to be a friendly place to discuss the game, and we want to protect players that want to use them that way. That doesn't mean we want to eliminate negative feedback, but we do want to cut down on the insults, hostility, and other behaviors that sometimes make the forums inhospitable. We want to encourage people to provide us with useful feedback that we can take to the developers. We also want to remove people who are just here to insult others and bash the game for entertainment.

I think you've just given yourself enough 'grey area' to ban pretty much anyone.

 

When players encounter a bug or a source of frustration, not all of them are as keen to the forums as you may think, and will often post in frustration and anger. I think your new policy insisting players be "specific, provide details, and be constructive...or face bans" comes off as quite threatening.

 

I'm all in favor of cutting out the trolls, the rude people and anyone touting GW2 (or whatever the fotm MMO is), but to threaten people for posting about an issue that draws them to the forums to begin with is just silly. Not everyone who posts cares what your rules are, they may simply be upset by something they just encountered and they came here to tell you about it and complain about it. Every complaint, no matter how it's phrased, should be valid to you. Every CUSTOMER should be treated with some amount of respect by you, not threatened for not having a 'constructive' enough complaint. Threatening to ban an already upset customer just seems entirely counter productive to me.

Let's hope it works out well.. I'm concerned that the 'stricter' enforcement will lead to squashing any thing resembling negative criticism of the game.. and to succeed.. you guys need criticism positive and negative.

 

I think they've demonstrated a commendable amount of long-suffering against criticism and negative feedback, and I'm not worried at all about a stricter enforcement to make such conversations more constructive. This will be better for players who have a vested interest in the game improving, and not so much for the folks who simply want to vent their bitterness. Thank you, Bioware.

Thank you and it is about time.

 

Some of the topics and posts in these "community" forums was really just about disrupting the community and really led to zero discussion.

 

If people really want to vent, please create a subforum under General where you can just move all their posts to.

Hello there,

 

well since you are feeling so chatty today, I thought i will give it a shot and try to ask you to change 1 of your forum rules.

 

What I wanted see change is long threads that are 50+ pages... I understand that it may be easier for you to just follow one thread instead of 10 different threads but sometimes I'm interested in reading feedback on just that one guys opinion not reading 100's of different posts that are swinging from right to left before getting back on track what I was trying to read upon.

 

So please is it possible to let people create their own threads instead of merging all posts into 1 big thread...

For anyone who's afraid of BW just swinging the ban hammer around willy nilly, I don't think they're just going to be banning people who are just upset, it's really pretty obvious when you get a troll posting just to troll and a legitimate complaint, if it means that people will actually have to spend more than two minutes writing out a complaint that's actually legible (IE not full on AOL chat speak and use of paragraphs) then they'll have to spend more than two minutes writing a legitimate complaint.

 

I really wouldn't be worrying about it.

 

EDIT: Heh looks like Allison came out and said pretty much what I was thinking about how they would handle it

Edited August 8, 2012 by Twickers

I for one and glad to hear of this change and hope the Bioware community team sticks with this strategy. It would be nice if these boards were a place to post suggested changes and fixes and also strategy among people who enjoy the game. As it is today I try and avoid everything but the Dev Tracker entirely.