Why is everything non-constructive all of a sudden?

AgaTheGreat

I find this forum to be heavily censored and moderated at the moment. I don't remember it being this restrictive. Many posts go missing because they're "non-constructive". Threads get closed. Discussions get cut short even thought they are not at all extreme when it comes to so called flame or baiting. What's going on...


Anyone else sees the change in the forums?


(This topic is going to get closed because it's not constructive in 3... 2... 1....)

jcm2606

Probably because most people on here are unhappy with the current state of the game, to varying degrees, and aren't at all afraid to make that known, so ZoS is going in extreme damage control mode to keep everything under control, even if they're going way overboard.

Contaminate

Silence the criticism in an attempt to hide how widespread all the issues are.

It's not working but they sure are trying

Kel

It seems to be one overzealous mod at the moment. No name and shame, but sometimes seem to be an over reach of power.

I got a 3 day ban for trolling, for example, because I made a joke about someone's comment.
They suggested taking a shot for every PS4 bluescreen, and I said that he was going to kill the forum with alchohol poisoning.
3 day ban for trolling 😁

Edit: and if I get banned for saying that's an over reach of power, nice knowing y'all.

Ohtimbar

I’m closing this thread due to its non-constructive nature. Move along, citizens.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FaJJP_7jbxs

jcm2606

Kel wrote: »

It seems to be one overzealous mod at the moment. No name and shame, but sometimes seem to be an over reach of power.

I got a 3 day ban for trolling, for example, because I made a joke about someone's comment.
They suggested taking a shot for every PS4 bluescreen, and I said that he was going to kill the forum with alchohol poisoning.
3 day ban for trolling 😁

Edit: and if I get banned for saying that's an over reach of power, nice knowing y'all.

Really don't get why the forums are so heavily mediated, when they're for a game that's not even meant for kids. We're mostly all adults here, with the occasional teen who would have heard worse anyways, so what's with the censorship of such basic swears, as ***, ***, or ***?

Mancombe_Nosehair

It's just frustration with the game's performance boiling over. There is a lot more bickering between forum users recently.

As some point, some of these people will realise that they need to move on. There's only so many times you can smash yourself in the face with a brick.

GhostofDatthaw

My old account was banned because I kept asking about a shadow image fix. It was banned for "bumping"

Tommy_The_Gun

Technically we are not allowed to discuss that but, if you will read forum rules, you will realize that those are written in a way that allows anything to removed / locked / deleted for virtually ANY reason, or without a reason at all....

Edit: inb4tl

FierceSam

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

Hallothiel

Kel wrote: »

It seems to be one overzealous mod at the moment. No name and shame, but sometimes seem to be an over reach of power.

I got a 3 day ban for trolling, for example, because I made a joke about someone's comment.
They suggested taking a shot for every PS4 bluescreen, and I said that he was going to kill the forum with alchohol poisoning.
3 day ban for trolling 😁

Edit: and if I get banned for saying that's an over reach of power, nice knowing y'all.

I agree @Kel.

Sandman929

The thread closing continues until morale improves.

SeaGtGruff

There are many, many posts and threads which are critical of the game and of ZOS, so it's difficult to understand how anyone can think that threads are being deleted for being critical. If something gets deleted or edited, it must have been a lot more objectionable than just criticizing the game or ZOS.

CassandraGemini

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

Up until a little while ago I would have agreed, but lately the censoring really seems to lose its focus. I have written a comment a few days ago about a person here who keeps baiting and flaming basically the whole console-population. I tried hard to stay very calm and civil, only quoting and referencing things that this person had said while trying to explain to them why the behavior they displayed over and over again was triggering people.

Well, what happened was, my comment got heavily edited and censored for alleged "baiting", while the comment of that other person that I was quoting at the time stayed almost exactly the way it was with just some very minor adjustments. I had also reported that person before - less than nothing happened.

What I take from this is, that people who are being critical of the game and its performance lately definitely get silenced faster than people who are generally being supportive of ZoS - like that other person I was talking to. Which is more than questionable IMHO.

I don't even care anymore if I get banned for saying this. It's the truth.

Tandor

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

I agree very much with this.

I also think that one thing that has changed recently is the number of ex-players who have pretty much given up on the game now for one reason or another but who still hang around the forum. Their comments are increasingly toxic and it's right that they should be moderated.

It also needs to be born in mind that a lot of the closed and deleted threads are moderated not because they are non-constructive, but because they are unnecessary duplicates of existing threads.

I'm yet to be convinced that if you post an original topic in a civil and constructive way, no matter how critical it may be, it will be moderated other than by possible action against a few individual replies that don't in themselves meet those criteria.

Nemesis7884

i mean looking at legends you see their priorities...money money money...and id assume most eso players are rather casual so seeing a lot of negative threads might hurt business especially with regards to new players...

Hallothiel

@CassandraGemini

Yes, this happened to me too in the same thread.

rpa

I find it slightly annoying when another thread disappears just after I've posted a comment in it or I discover that another English word or phrase I thought was fine is actually highly obscene but it's fine. As far as I can tell, it's not criticism which is moderated but presenting it in torches and pitchforks style.

There are less strictly moderated forums around and those tend to be rather unreadable.

TheFM

Check out the bethesda forums, the mods there pretty much crusade against any criticism , here is pretty tame in comparison from what I see.

CassandraGemini

Hallothiel wrote: »

@CassandraGemini

Yes, this happened to me too in the same thread.

Yeah, I'm not surprised, a lot of us who wrote similar things, got edited or our comments were removed altogether. The thing that I really don't understand here is that yes, there were one or two little jabs in my comment that were probably unnecessary and I wouldn't complain if only they had been edited. But there were whole sentences that are just gone now, where I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would feel the need to remove them, because there was nothing wrong with them! Sure I might be biased here because it was my own comment, but... yeah, it just seems very one-sided. People are basically allowed to run wild with expressing their arrogance towards a big part of the player-base just because they are on another platform, and when we try to defend our system and ask these people to stop we get edited? That just seems wrong to me, sorry, ZoS.

jcm2606

Tandor wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

I agree very much with this.

I also think that one thing that has changed recently is the number of ex-players who have pretty much given up on the game now for one reason or another but who still hang around the forum. Their comments are increasingly toxic and it's right that they should be moderated.

It also needs to be born in mind that a lot of the closed and deleted threads are moderated not because they are non-constructive, but because they are unnecessary duplicates of existing threads.

I'm yet to be convinced that if you post an original topic in a civil and constructive way, no matter how critical it may be, it will be moderated other than by possible action against a few individual replies that don't in themselves meet those criteria.

These ex-players you refer to, including myself, generally left because of the downward trajectory of the game, and so any toxicity brought on by them is 100% Zenimax's doing.

You can't expect to ignore an entire community, ignore some very real problems with the game, and have the community treat you with respect. Want to be respected? Earn it. Listen to us, actually put some effort into the game, try to pull the game out of this nosedive instead of milking more and more players.

It sucks that it's gotten to this point, but you're either incredibly naive or woefully ignorant if you're at all surprised over how the community is responding to everything going on.

jcm2606

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

i mean looking at legends you see their priorities...money money money...and id assume most eso players are rather casual so seeing a lot of negative threads might hurt business especially with regards to new players...

So it should. They've ignored very serious problems with this game for years, let them build up until the servers practically exploded under the pressure, then pulled a classic "what happened...?" when the community blew up along with the servers.

They've continuously demolished core gameplay mechanics and concepts that made the combat and general gameplay enjoyable, by constantly catering to casuals who refuse to accept that they have to put effort into the game if they wish to improve.

Had they have done everything they're doing now a year or two ago, had they have told casuals to suck it up and learn, had they have tweaked the leveling experience to make learning a smoother experience, the community wouldn't be so toxic.

Kel

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

My issue is the ban.
If my comment wasn't palpable, they could've just removed or edited it. That it was in response to another posters joke made it seem even worse.

CassandraGemini wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

Up until a little while ago I would have agreed, but lately the censoring really seems to lose its focus. I have written a comment a few days ago about a person here who keeps baiting and flaming basically the whole console-population. I tried hard to stay very calm and civil, only quoting and referencing things that this person had said while trying to explain to them why the behavior they displayed over and over again was triggering people.

Well, what happened was, my comment got heavily edited and censored for alleged "baiting", while the comment of that other person that I was quoting at the time stayed almost exactly the way it was with just some very minor adjustments. I had also reported that person before - less than nothing happened.

What I take from this is, that people who are being critical of the game and its performance lately definitely get silenced faster than people who are generally being supportive of ZoS - like that other person I was talking to. Which is more than questionable IMHO.

I don't even care anymore if I get banned for saying this. It's the truth.

I was also in that particular post, flagged that users comment as baiting, because that's all he does, and responding to topics he's admitted he knows nothing about and has nothing to do with him or his platform.

Yet his comments remain. Leading me to believe he's either a mod himself or has some working or friendship with a mod here. After all, he trolls and baits two entire platforms of players and the mods don't bat an eye. And if that's true, Zos's opinion of console users as 2/3rds of thier customers is indeed bleak. That that persons baiting/flaming comments remain while other reasonable comments and rebuttals get edited or erased is beyond troubling.

Hallothiel

Kel wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

My issue is the ban.
If my comment wasn't palpable, they could've just removed or edited it. That it was in response to another posters joke made it seem even worse.

CassandraGemini wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

Up until a little while ago I would have agreed, but lately the censoring really seems to lose its focus. I have written a comment a few days ago about a person here who keeps baiting and flaming basically the whole console-population. I tried hard to stay very calm and civil, only quoting and referencing things that this person had said while trying to explain to them why the behavior they displayed over and over again was triggering people.

Well, what happened was, my comment got heavily edited and censored for alleged "baiting", while the comment of that other person that I was quoting at the time stayed almost exactly the way it was with just some very minor adjustments. I had also reported that person before - less than nothing happened.

What I take from this is, that people who are being critical of the game and its performance lately definitely get silenced faster than people who are generally being supportive of ZoS - like that other person I was talking to. Which is more than questionable IMHO.

I don't even care anymore if I get banned for saying this. It's the truth.

I was also in that particular post, flagged that users comment as baiting, because that's all he does, and responding to topics he's admitted he knows nothing about and has nothing to do with him or his platform.

Yet his comments remain. Leading me to believe he's either a mod himself or has some working or friendship with a mod here. After all, he trolls and baits two entire platforms of players and the mods don't bat an eye. And if that's true, Zos's opinion of console users as 2/3rds of thier customers is indeed bleak. That that persons baiting/flaming comments remain while other reasonable comments and rebuttals get edited or erased is beyond troubling.

Again, seconded. And it was all done in quite reasonable tones that did not deserve such treatment.

(If now do get a ban, see you on the other side 😉)

rpa

If you honestly feel someone is trolling / baiting you could try reporting their (trolling / baiting) posts instead of swallowing the bait and responding. As you have found out, it's a moderated forum. Embrace it!

StabbityDoom

I wonder if someone stole their sweetroll.

CassandraGemini

Kel wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

My issue is the ban.
If my comment wasn't palpable, they could've just removed or edited it. That it was in response to another posters joke made it seem even worse.

CassandraGemini wrote: »

FierceSam wrote: »

I haven’t found that the moderation here has had any bearing on my ability to be either supportive or critical about the game.

While I found Kel’s remark about bluescreening to be amusing, playful and non-threatening, I could imagine the notion of the game’s failings being responsible for widespread alcohol poisoning might not be appreciated....

I think it is important to try and separate criticism from anger or abuse. I have found you can be as critical of the game (and to some extent other players) as you like as long as you can keep it civil. I’d rather have coherent discussions/arguments/debates with forum members than slagging matches.

We should remember that we’re all here because we feel strongly about the game.

Up until a little while ago I would have agreed, but lately the censoring really seems to lose its focus. I have written a comment a few days ago about a person here who keeps baiting and flaming basically the whole console-population. I tried hard to stay very calm and civil, only quoting and referencing things that this person had said while trying to explain to them why the behavior they displayed over and over again was triggering people.

Well, what happened was, my comment got heavily edited and censored for alleged "baiting", while the comment of that other person that I was quoting at the time stayed almost exactly the way it was with just some very minor adjustments. I had also reported that person before - less than nothing happened.

What I take from this is, that people who are being critical of the game and its performance lately definitely get silenced faster than people who are generally being supportive of ZoS - like that other person I was talking to. Which is more than questionable IMHO.

I don't even care anymore if I get banned for saying this. It's the truth.

I was also in that particular post, flagged that users comment as baiting, because that's all he does, and responding to topics he's admitted he knows nothing about and has nothing to do with him or his platform.

Yet his comments remain. Leading me to believe he's either a mod himself or has some working or friendship with a mod here. After all, he trolls and baits two entire platforms of players and the mods don't bat an eye. And if that's true, Zos's opinion of console users as 2/3rds of thier customers is indeed bleak. That that persons baiting/flaming comments remain while other reasonable comments and rebuttals get edited or erased is beyond troubling.

I actually had the same suspicion, but then dismissed it again as me just being paranoid. Glad to see I'm not the only one having these thoughts.

rpa wrote: »

If you honestly feel someone is trolling / baiting you could try reporting their posts instead of swallowing the bait and responding. As you have found out, it's a moderated forum. Embrace it!

May I refer you to the post I quoted above and also my own first post in this thread? We tried using the report function. It didn't do anything.

ZOS_Adrikoth

Hey folks, we figured we would come in this thread and try to clear some things up. Criticism is perfectly fine and we do not remove comments simply because we do not like the poster's opinion.

With that being said, our moderation team does remove posts that consist of bashing, trolling, inappropriate or rude commentary. These, along with our other Community Rules, are enforced to ensure that discussions stay civil:

We understand that sometimes tempers rise, but it is never acceptable to resort to rude comments and insults. This goes for rude comments and insults directed at other community members, and ZeniMax Online Studios employees alike.

We do not expect forum members to be completely happy about every single thing all the time and a major reason that we have these forums is for you all to express any issues that feel exist in your experience with ESO. It is okay to express frustration or disagreement, as long as it doesn't cross the line of one of our Community Rules. Trolling, baiting, or directing rude comments to your fellow community members does not contribute to a healthy discussion.

Please keep in mind that discussing disciplinary action is also against our forum rules. Our team is happy to discuss any action that is taken on your forum account, and you can appeal any forum action by reaching out to our moderation team or by submitting a support ticket at help.elderscrollsonline.com

We hope that this clears up some of the concerns mentioned in this thread.

TequilaFire

@ZOS_Adrikoth would you not consider constant multiple platform war posts in multiple threads by one individual baiting, bashing and trolling? Don't console users also have the right to have a discussion with out being told we are inferior because of our platform?

ZOS_Adrikoth

TequilaFire wrote: »

@ZOS_Adrikoth would you not consider constant multiple platform war posts in multiple threads by one individual baiting, bashing and trolling? Don't console users also have the right to have a discussion with out being told we are inferior because of our platform?

Hello @TequilaFire

We do not comment on a specific user or specific posts publicly. Additionally, we do not discuss any disciplinary action taken on an account with anyone other than the account holder.

If you feel that a comment violates our rules, please report it and a member of our team would be happy to look into this. Our team aims to moderate fairly and consistently regardless of platform preferences that community members have. We ask to please keep in mind that Naming and Shaming is a violation of our Community Rules.

theyancey

I am glad to see some needed moderation here. The forum had devolved into nothing but a troll fest. I have friends who decided against even trying the game out during free play times after reading posts here. That is detrimental both to the player base and to the game itself. There have been many excellent posts regarding game issues and ways that ZOS could improve our experience. Sadly those have become lost in this tempest tossed sea of vitriol that the forum had become. No doubt there will be some instances of over moderation while they are trying to reign in the rowdies but hopefully we will settle into a much more peaceful environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking of what they like as well as improving areas that cause them gaming agony and ennui.