Forum attitude

[Lisnpuppy]

I thought we were discussing forum politeness or lack thereof?~Lisnpupy

 

Edit: Let me be more specific in that we are wondering about how people react on forums...what is criticism...and how that differs from flaming and bad attitudes perhaps? I am wondering if this needs moved to the debates thread at this point.

[Stemin]

Edit: Let me be more specific in that we are wondering about how people react on forums...what is criticism...and how that differs from flaming and bad attitudes perhaps?

 

I was just interested in whether or not the bad attitudes are against policy and I got a resounding "maybe". Its is of course your prerogative to move the thread to debate, but I'm not really interested in continuing it there.

[JimboUK]

Moving it the debates section would make sense.

[MrTastix]

TL;DR: I have no problem with the negative nancies so long as they don't go around insulting people. There will always be the ignorant posters who wish to rant and moan without putting forth any constructive comments but these people shouldn't be outright banned just because they have problems with something. Everyone has problems with something, banning someone because of them is a pathetic knee-jerk reaction. It is better to ignore them and carry on rather than feed their hatred with replies.

 

"Common courtesy" and "ranting" should be properly defined in the context the OP is questioning.

 

Common forum etiquette generally dictates not to harass or grief fellow forum members for any reason. Being rude, ignorant or not using common sense tends to go against common courtesy rules and is usually a bannable offensive on most forums I've been parley too.

 

Ranting, on the other hand, is completely different. Expressing negative opinions about a game, a mod or any other topic is a matter of personal opinion and should not be against the rules. Punishing someone because you do not agree with them is a pathetic knee-jerk reaction. You'll always get negative people in a group environment - those people who can only see the bad in everything - but so long as they're not outright insulting somebody for their views then it should never be against the rules. No member of any society should be bashed for their opinions, as those who complain are just important as those who don't. Afterall, if nobody complained, how could we ever hope to improve?

 

Like I said though, common courtesy and simple ranting are two, very distinct subjects. I rant all the time without aiming insults at any particular person and that's the key thing people should keep in mind. Criticism should never be shunned so long as it's constructive. Merely stating you dislike something for no reason isn't constructive and is completely non-conducive to any topic. It is, simply put, a waste of time. I don't consider such responses insulting but I also don't believe they coincide with "common courtesy", either. Likewise, it should be obvious that if a person is ranting but insulting somebody at the same time, this wouldn't be classified as courteous at all.