Why so toxic?

[Jpec07]

The forums have become more vitriolic of late, I'll concur. It could be because we're bored while we wait for the next patch. It could be because we all have some discontent with the game, and none of us can agree on what the source of that discontent is. It could be that there is a growing chasm here between elitists and us "filthy casuals," and both sides forget that the other is also human.

Things could get better once 3.5 drops, and they could improve dramatically when 4.0 drops. It remains to be seen.

Web forums tend towards toxicity unless they are moderated pretty strictly (I've been on a lot of forums in my day, and this is pretty consistently true). As awesome as the moderating staff is here, they are not very strict (and nor can they be without substantially bolstering their numbers, and establishing some kind of due process for moderating decisions that can exempt them from legal recourse).

[Sciwolf]

This is nothing like the WoW forums. They had to fire a mod because he lost it and started replying to all the trolls.

[DarkblueMateria227]

The in-game community is the nice one, and the reputation is well-deserved. The people who post on forums aren't really part of that. Lack of /flexing male Roes to calm everyone down makes everyone snippy, is my guess.

I 100% agree

[Newmanxeno]

Snip

I think it was just how terse it was. The follow up Tex did was better.

[Miste]

My mother tongue is German and not English

Well you actually pointed out one of the reasons why you shouldn't assume tone in a post of text. Yes, how you write posts makes a difference, but the problem with assuming without asking for clarification is that not everyone who posts here has English as their mother tongue. Even people with English as their mother tongue have varying degrees of knowledge about the language, the size of their vocabulary, and specific connotation.

@Miste: Well I can only speak for my reasons but Texas post did feel a little toxic. Why is it necessary to ask this question?

You could easily turn that around on the OP and say their post felt a little toxic and ask them why was it necessary to come and post in here asking why these forums are toxic (just an example, I don't actually see it that way myself). It is kind of like you are asking why do people ask questions at all. I don't feel like that is a good argument against what Texa asked. People ask questions because they want information back. Why they ask is reasons they have or because they are unable to understand something so they ask for clarity. Just because we don't understand why someone asks a question doesn't mean that question is inherently toxic.

Its like you are in a topic that talks about the bad things of the game and someone comes in and write "if you dislike X why do you still play it?"

Why is this a toxic question to ask? If someone posts a lot of things they dislike about a game is it wrong to ask what keeps them still playing it? You could infer the negative that this person is actually trying to say 'well if you don't like it then leave', but why is it we go to the negative interpretation instead of the positive one that they are just asking because they are curious about what the poster does enjoy about the game or to just stay neutral about it?

Also I am not saying that people don't ever post things and they ARE actually trying to be toxic, but making negative assumptions all the time is toxic too if you wanna go that route.

The OP said that she still enjoys reading here (only likes reddit a little better) and only wonders why its getting more toxic now. Nothing in her post suggest that she hates this forum and absolutely love the other one, just that she noticed a change and wanted an answer.

Nothing in Texa's post suggests that she hates OP either so why are we assuming the negative? Also if we are just going to go on negative assumptions here then we shouldn't have double standards.

You could easily assume toxicity from the OP's post too. You could assume based on what they said that they came in here asking 'why are you guys so toxic and why aren't you guys as nice as Reddit people'. That also sounds just as toxic as the negative assumption of what Texa wrote which would be something like 'well if you don't like it here go back where you came from and don't post here'.

Thing is, did either of them actually write those things? No. I just wrote the negative way you could interpret their posts.

Also since nobody can see the other person one can only imagine how they mean it and its seems that there were quite some people that read it in the negative way.

My response was basically we should stop doing this (even if Texa could have worded it better). Instead of making assumptions just read it in a neutral way or have the benefit of the doubt to use the positive interpretation instead. If you ask me not reading everything people say negatively would help with toxicity problems.

[Maero]

Other ffxiv forums are not toxic, just this one is rather bad.

People love to quote each other and start arguements for the sake of arguing

[Hayward]

Enjoy if you don't already know about this, a whole thread dedicated to mocking the NA FFXIV forums. It's fun to read.
https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/11...meant-for-alts.

Typical of that lot. They've defined toxic since 2005.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Want instant toxicity here? Just praise the game or the devs themselves and wait for someone to shame you for liking something.

[Remus]

snip

That can also work the other way round when pointing out the bad things haha. They both always lead to arguments. I have to say though from what I see when people make positive threads majority of the posts are positive and the people who think other wise ignore it. When a thread is about the bad parts of the game and given good reason for it the positive people will hop into that thread and ask why they still play if they think it has so many bad points even when the game isn't perfect. I see so many people say people give bad feedback but anytime I read feedback people say what they hate and why they hate it and then a potential solution.

That's just from what I have seen though. Also I prefer reddit over the official forums as well. There is quite interesting discussions there sometimes compared to the official forums which is just full of can i have certain glamour/housing/minion... you get the idea. Some people like it so I won't say they are not allowed to ask for it. It's just when something isn't related to those things it just dies which is quite sad too be honest because some people have thought of some good ideas.

I find it amusing how even Yoshi-p references reddit during tokyo fanfest and not even the official forum when it comes to speculating his shirt.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Dont forget popular (but deleted) topics like "Wonderous Tails is pedophilic" and "That native american gear is racist" ; )

To be fair, I don't think I have ever seen this forum more united than when that second thread was posted. It's like the moment Tumblr nonsense creeps its way over everyone just stops and forms a temporary truce, xD