On toxicity in forums

[Tsunenori]

In general I've found that the "suck it up" and "thicker skin" types are the ones with the thinnest skin. A little empathy and compassion never hurt anyone, and part of growing is realizing that what you say and do to other people has a real effect. Nobody's perfect, and we'll all have days where we're snippy with someone because of what's going on with us, but what's important is trying your best to control it and defuse a situation if one arises.

As far as forums themselves, the only way to discourage the kind of hostile and low effort arguments we're thinking about is heavy moderation. Communities won't police themselves, and toxic people corrupt those around them by driving away reasonable people who are discouraged by the vitriol, and encouraging those that remain to play at the same level. Of course, heavy moderation brings its own set of problems. I always hear people say you'll get banned easily on these forums, but I've taken some hard stances over the past few years on controversial topics and I haven't seen a ban once. I think what's most important is, if you're going to make a strong statement, to make it in good faith and with a clear contribution to the discussion as opposed to flame bait or drive-by posting.

[micropanther7]

In general I've found that the "suck it up" and "thicker skin" types are the ones with the thinnest skin. A little empathy and compassion never hurt anyone, and part of growing is realizing that what you say and do to other people has a real effect. Nobody's perfect, and we'll all have days where we're snippy with someone because of what's going on with us, but what's important is trying your best to control it and defuse a situation if one arises.

As far as forums themselves, the only way to discourage the kind of hostile and low effort arguments we're thinking about is heavy moderation. Communities won't police themselves, and toxic people corrupt those around them by driving away reasonable people who are discouraged by the vitriol, and encouraging those that remain to play at the same level. Of course, heavy moderation brings its own set of problems. I always hear people say you'll get banned easily on these forums, but I've taken some hard stances over the past few years on controversial topics and I haven't seen a ban once. I think what's most important is, if you're going to make a strong statement, to make it in good faith and with a clear contribution to the discussion as opposed to flame bait or drive-by posting.

I agree with the heavy moderation point,the problem is the moderation isn't nowhere near enough on most forums these days. Or the mods aren't visible at all, like here for instance, the only time anyone gets a ban hammer/temporary ban is if you swear (which I understand why they do that, I'm not arguing with that). I used to be a mod for ChickClick (sister site to IGN, got shut down in 2002, had huge forums!) where you'd have one or two mods in each subforum lol, that was heavy moderation for you Any trolling/baiting/flaming and your butt would be out of there Most forums nowadays seem pretty much like a free-for-all, especially gaming forums :P

With that being said, I personally feel that these forums are the best gaming forums I've been on, without heavy moderation that says a lot for our community as a whole.