Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[Dreamsoap]

[...]
Same with art, and mostly it's with female characters in cosplay and art ( especially if they're feminine or show skin ).
The whole comment section becomes full of negativity.
I've seen a lot of artists talk about this recently and how they avoid Reddit like the plague because of it, and people always hide behind '' it's just criticism bro gotta learn to deal with it ''. [...]

You get those and then the other half is people directly tracing over a screenshot of their character passing it off as art, and then everyone is suddenly singing praises to the artist. It's the weirdest shit to me. I figure people should easily recognize a 3D character model from the game doing a dote emote, even if it's got very shaky linework scribbled over it.

But I think it's all just part and par of the reddit atmosphere in general, I've never posted on any art related subreddit and had a good time. I think the only one I ever did that reddit took positively was a portrait I did of my bf's toon (male Au RA) and that was out of spite because they were mad at all the cat girl art at the time.

[Lauront]

Reddit's problem is the downvoting system. It promotes hive mentality in active subs, since it's so easy to "censor" opinions that aren't part of the majority.
What the voting system was created for doesn't matter. People don't use it for its intended purpose, which was to discourage comments that don't contribute with the topic.
The people who pretend it's not an issue are usually the ones who WANT an echo-chamber, consciously or not. Reddit provides them with the perfect environment not to deal with people disagreeing with them or being reminded they have a very fragile thin skin but refuse to grow up.

Reddit is great for finding information/guides, but awful if you want to have actual discussion. Unless, again, it's a small sub with very few regulars.

The only way to make it work if you have contrarian views is to post rather strategically and amass upvotes on issues that garner easy upvotes, to offset the loss elsewhere. It's a very political way of handling discussions of what you do or don't like in a game, and it has led to it becoming something of an echo chamber, sadly. That kind of atmosphere will not engender open or honest conversation. With that said, the mods on the main sub are also very trigger happy with bans...

I don't bother with Reddit. The majority of users there aren't interested in a civil discussion and will actively abuse the downvote function at every possible turn. Often over matters that are entirely inconsequential such as liking or disliking specific characters in a fictional setting.

From what I've seen as well, Twitter is little better, forming little re-tweet lynch mobs to pursue those who espouse wrong-think, particularly on some "hot button" issues that segments of that site obsess over.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Social media is societal cancer.

[SturmChurro]

Realized how good I had it playing FFXIV when it came to wear and tear on my wrist/fingers. Not playing FFXIV as much (at all), and with Battlefield 2042 coming out, I wanted to practice my aim. For the past few weeks I've been playing competitive shooters, a lot. Even my index finger hurts right now. I guess I can't play them as much as I could as a kid anymore. What I get for try harding.

In FFXIV, I'm usually relaxed, sitting back in my chair. Most I do is press 1 repeatedly on my keyboard since it makes glare cast faster (it doesn't).

[Vyrerus]

Heh, I play with PS4 controller and for a long time when I first started XIV it was the game that completely destroyed my hands haha. I still play controller but I don't feel the strain anymore.

[Fukuro]

Heh, I play with PS4 controller and for a long time when I first started XIV it was the game that completely destroyed my hands haha. I still play controller but I don't feel the strain anymore.

I had to fall back on my ps5 to play xiv, since i need to fix my pc.
once you get your settings managed and get used playing on the controller it is actually so GOOD! it‘s just as good as mouse and keyboard if not even better. once my pc is set up again i‘m sticking to controller for sure!

[Rilifane]

I was on a forum that had a downvote button for a little while. It just encouraged people to downvote people they didn't like, whether they'd actually read the post or not. The button was removed in less than a week.

What I dislike about downvote buttons is that they are an easy way out to disagree with someone or trying to make their input look worthless without ever owning up to it.
Upvote is fine because if you agree with someone, the opinion has already been stated and the reasons for it aswell (usually). But if you disagree with someone, I feel like you're in a position of "having to deliver". You have to give a reason why you think differently, because a simple "You're wrong" is about as useful as a downvote or saying nothing at all.
It adds nothing of value.
But if you have to write an actual reply to something you disagree with you're putting yourself out there, the opinion has a name attached to it and it doesn't matter that it's only a forum name. That alone serves as a barrier that discourages many people from writing that they disagree without giving a reason for it.
But pushing a downvote button is easy and anonymous.

[ItMe]

snip

That is a keen observation, and one I haven't heard before.
I think you're totally spot on.

[SturmChurro]

Heh, I play with PS4 controller and for a long time when I first started XIV it was the game that completely destroyed my hands haha. I still play controller but I don't feel the strain anymore.

I've never used a controller for this, so I can't really comment on that, but on keyboard and mouse, I have things keymapped for more comfort. Plus this game is fairly slow pace, in comparison to other games in it's genre and other genres.

For shooters, I think I just need to get me one of those giant mouse pads or something (and a new desk), where I move my arm more often, so less strain on the wrist I guess. Lower sensitivity. Evidently, it's better for accurate aiming too.

[Nyarlha]

Are we really acting like fanart posts get downvoted on the main subreddit and that they are not flooding it? Well, maybe if you check by New.

But when you're browsing on "Hot", which is the default, out of the top 10 posts currently, 4 are fanarts, 2 have the fluff tag, 2 have the meme tag, one In Game Screenshot tag, and one Comedy tag.

So yes, a good bunch of posts on Hot end up being fanarts, and they wouldn't be there if they were getting downvoted. And maybe yes, people get sick of the umpteenth Miqo'te commission in a given week.

Edit : And even taking a look at the comments on these posts, they are overwhelmingly positive. I'm not seeing a single negative comment in there.