As a rule, I try to let the comments section of these blogs run wild - people can post anonymously if they want, and the only things I tend to delete are abusive comments directed at other users. Unfortunately, owing to the continued bad behavior of some repeat-offenders I'm going to have to start getting more strict. I don't like it, but there it is.
From now on, the comments sections will be moderated by me on the following criteria: No abuse of others, no soliciting, no intentional derailing and try to stay on-topic to whatever degree possible. In other words, attempting to hijack any given conversation or spamming the recurrent "gotcha" lines into every damn post is a good way to get yourself consistently removed. Several recent posts will have their comment-sections culled in this manner once this message is posted.
I don't like it, but that's the way it has to be. Hopefully this will not overly impact the vast majority of commenters who don't make trouble.
16 comments:
Yeah, makes sense. I've seen you get a lot of hateful bile over stuff you didn't even deserve.
"wah wah wah HOW DARE YOU think THE ARTIST is just OKAY?! You DISGUST MEEEEEE!"
I've disagreed with you on plenty of topics before, but MAN OH MAN do some people get but hurt over you not liking a movie or game.
Well, good luck Bob.
Hang in there.
noted.
I don't get a lot of annoying commenters but I can tell why you think this would be helpful. Seeing as you're about to start on Call of Duty, it'll be particularly important since that's a very well-known game, very divisive...
What Bob, are you so wet behind the ears you can't appreciate the aesthetic sense of the Fifty Hitler Post? I'm disappointed that anyone took that as anything other than an attempt to harken back to the good old days of livejournal trolling.
Bob, I've been watching your show since day one. I like what you've been doing here. I don't always agree with you and honestly, I'm not a fan of the story segments but, I still like that someone like you has the guts to express your opinions and get people thinking more about games. It saddens me to know that you feel the need to be more strict in terms of moderation because I was under the impression that your OverThinker blog was a place for intelligent and mature discussion but, that apparently isn't the case.
I honestly don't know who to even blame for that either. It's not GameFAQs bad over here but, seeing you resort to what is basically censorship to combat like how many users, 6?; is actually kinda pathetic. Do you ever feel like you're wasting your time trying to debate with people who bark ad hominems at you? I'm not saying you should quit. I'm literally asking if you think this is even worth it or do you even care any more how many people see things your way?
This is the main reason I stopped posting in internet forums and haven't bothered to update my blog. Opinions don't work on the internet apparently and, to be perfectly frank, your reputation seems to be going down the tubes at a steady rate. I've always wanted to have a voice in the gaming community but, now I wonder if it's worth it.
Why not just get a moderator other than you?
You're far too busy to post in the comments sections yourself - we know this - but surely there must be people who read your blog all the time and who will be able to just root out the obvious trolls?
@PadMasher
I think he's reffering more to people like shadowhikari(who would attack anyone who liked anything from Japan) and the anons who bash him for unnessary crap.
I'm just suprised it took him this long.
@RaikuNH
I get what you're saying. Funny you mentioned shadowhiraki because I haven't seen him in a while. :P
I don't mind that Bob wants the comments section to be cleaner but, it just seems that Bob's entire blog is pissing people off. I'm not sure if it's him or them at this point. Bob can be condescending at times and I feel like people are just getting sick of him based on their knee-jerk reactions. The whole point of the Overthinker was to get people to think deeper about games. Now I barely see any thinking at all.
The fact that Bob doesn't even have the time to enter the comments section himself only serves to alienate both his fans and bashers. I understand why this is but, it's hard to really get anything out of a blog that encourages deep thought when Bob just spouts his opinion and we fight each other like wild dogs over it. Those asinine story segments don't help. I fear that whatever shining message of truth Bob may have ever wanted to engrave in gamers' heads is going nowhere fast.
@PadMasher
True. Well said. I couldn't have said it better.
I mean people attack him over the stupidest stuff. There was a comment on the Escapist where they he he DESERVED to be bullied growing up over him saying stuff like he dosen't like The Expendables(which I disagree with). People flip their shit over everything he says(even his "Open the Vault" and "Setting Sun" episodes, which are my two favorite topics to talk about.)
I really like your work, Bob, keep it up.
I think what Bob is ACTUALLY doing is getting rid of people who engage in personal attacks against the other commenters. He doesn't care about himself getting criticized, but he's had enough with people starting fights against others in the comments.
I'm honestly surprised it hasn't come to this sooner. Hopefully it helps the issues it's intended to.
The nature this moderation takes will be more revealing than the post itself. If the level of moderation is reasonable, only punishing people who present their arguments in an obviously trollish manner, then fine. If, however, Bob is going to moderate for content rather than packaging, that would seem to contradict the concept of a blog created by somebody who himself has very strong opinions, and who (I think this can be said fairly) sometimes characterizes the "other side" in a manner some would consider unfair or insulting.
So I'm withholding judgment. Some people say "a little censorship" and it becomes a virtual police state, others don't want that at all. We'll see which is accurate.
I don't know what "gotcha" lines are. Will our post get deleted if we say Halo was good? What about if we say Uprising sucked? I just want to know what level of jack-booted oppression we're looking at, here.
For what it's worth, I'm cool with anything up to "Comic Describing A Black Tie Event Hosted By Penny Arcade" level of self-censorship. Not the black tie event itself. That would be a bit stifling if you had to adhere to it every day.
I don't think Bobs ever gonna go Tim Buckley on us.
"He is a tireless enemy of censorship,"
Oh Bob.....you've changed, bro.
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