These forums are weird

[Knot_D]

Why...do... you use...so many...ellipses...?

Typical oldies always use it on social media

Also forums are weird indeed I agree

[VelKallor]

Typical oldies always use it on social media

Only I dont use any social media. Try it some time, its good for your mental health.

[Renalt]

Why...do... you use...so many...ellipses...?

Commas killed my family.

[NekoMataMata]

Echo chambers. Besides that though... a lot of people in-game are absolutely fake. Worse case scenario is that people are passive aggressive with you most of the time because GMs will take action in most cases, so any rudeness, any meanness, any negativity in general is going to be found outside of the game.

[BRVV]

Seems like a stark contrast of those inside the game. Everyone's so nice and positive, and the story generally seems to be well liked by the players.

Then I come here and it seems like every topic on the front page is just negative, angry, or bitter.

What's the deal?

By nice and positive do you mean saying only "o7" and "gg" in chat?
I saw my fair share of negativity in the game, not from the bots or the always afkers of course. Those don't write at all.

[Aword3213]

The Forums:

[TowaIsBestGirl]

snip

Honestly, the prevailing forum headcanon around here is so supremely intriguing to me. It's like people have forgotten that this forum is the only viable place to actually voice feedback, to the point where the devs themselves all but informed us to post said critiques specifically here. And yet despite this obvious truth, somehow all the less positive posters are mere hecklers? Strange.

If you were Genuine in giving feedback for the game, you wouldn't insult people who Love the game as "white knights". People who use that insult are here just to fight and bring the mood down.

It is literally always used as an insult unless you're praising them for their chivalry. When you call people white knights, you're calling them blind contrarians. Yes, that is very much an insult. Don't lie about it. Either own the fact you're insulting people or stop insulting people. You VERY CLEARLY don't mean it as a positive or praise.

You possess the temerity to prove how the calling out of "White Knights" is any different than the calling out of "Negative Nancies"? I'll highlight the difference for you, to your benefit. Morally, there is no difference. The difference lies in that one is called out with relish and frequency (and rightly so), while the alternative is ramping up rapidly due to going unchallenged. I can see the unfairness of what is actually occurring here on these forums in regularity with ease, why am I seemingly unique in this? The achievement poses no difficulty.

VERY few people are saying the game is perfect. They're saying the hyperbole is just that, over the top hyperbole, and they're pointing out the good parts of the game and measured changes needed to improve it.

For all their fabled negativity, all the legitimate critique I've seen posted here thus far has come from the "Negative Nancies". The rest pose things they may not have liked, but they segue into declarations of liking Final Fantasy XIV in spite of what they didn't like and thus their critiques are drowned out and forgotten about. It sometimes does begin to resemble wishy-washy poor-faith posters who have no clear grievances they actually wish to air, but that's naught more than a hunch on my part I'll freely admit.

People who want to be mad and salty also want the illusion that they are an unchallenged majority. Many also want to bring other people down to their level to join them - "Misery loves company...even if it has to make it." This, they think, improves their chances of getting the changes they want. It also means they will attack and attempt to run off or silence dissenting voices, since that breaks the illusion that their positions are universal and unchallenged, and those voices of dissent would imply they need to compromise and reach neutral ground with those they disagree with, something they very much don't want to do.

So they get into personal attacks to try and drive off those people and/or silence them. Ironically, these are the same people that will defend their toxicity as "well, we've just been ignored and silenced, so that makes what we're doing understandable and okay".

See, this right here is a picture perfect example of the Men of Straw I've come to expect seeing from some of the more famed members of the segments of posters here accused of white knighting. When presented with such an inaccurate and poor representation of themselves, is it any wonder at all some get fed up and begin to simply snap their jaws at people? Everyone has a limit to their patience, and perhaps it might behoove you to examine the possibility that the reason boundless negativity you find so prevalent is as such because it was intentionally baited to occur.

"Forum culture" is what the moderators make it. Allowing people to openly criticise the game itself is not the same thing as allowing personal attacks on those who disagree, or allowing the same person to flood the forum with multiple threads on slightly different versions of the same complaint.

Active moderators could be managing the forum so much better without having any impact on people's ability to post criticism of the game itself.

Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced active moderation would change these forums in as drastic a manner as some feel it would. Or if it did, they'd suddenly find themselves unsatisfied with the outcome and wishing for a return to how things used to be. Specifically, I do believe a good portion of posters here aren't actually as familiar with the typical definitions (and of course, how to properly differentiate the two) of critique and personal attacks as they ought to be.

Simply put, I do not believe there's any way to properly satisfy all or even most parties. Not with the way Square has intentionally designed these forums to operate.

[VelKallor]

For all their fabled negativity, all the legitimate critique I've seen poster her thus far has come from the "Negative Nancies".

If you call Aveyonds diatribes and rants, "valid feedback". Which no one does, because it isnt, it wasnt and it never was.

poor-faith posters

Oh you mean people who actually dare to disagree? Sorry, Towa, barking up the wrong tree there.

[TowaIsBestGirl]

If you call Aveyonds diatribes and rants, "valid feedback". Which no one does, because it isnt, it wasnt and it never was.

The fact that that poster is apparently the only qualified reference says so much more about you than it ever could about me. Frankly, that poster wasn't even on my radar as to posters with valid critique so I'm not even entirely sure which angle of attack you're even attempting here.

Oh you mean people who actually dare to disagree? Sorry, Towa, barking up the wrong tree there.

How odd. In the past, the same has been insinuated of others but from the opposing angle. I suppose we're operating on the philosophy of "Regulations for thee, but not for me" here? I'll adjust my conduct appropriately, then. Regardless, this isn't going anywhere productive and I've said all I intended to. Good day, Sir VelKallor.

[Renathras]

HAnd yet despite this obvious truth, somehow all the less positive posters are mere hecklers? Strange.

Nice strawman you've got there.

There are people with honest critique. Then there are the people who are hecklers. The former actually have good arguments, and will engage in discussion with people they disagree with, defending their points and answering counterpoints.

The hecklers don't do that. They just call people names, berate and belittle people, often insist if you haven't cleared the latest Ultimate you can have no valid opinion, and generally are just total dicks to people. These people then get 10-20-30 likes and upvotes for low effort posts.

I make a distinction between people who have arguments and engage in discussion and those who engage in namecalling, personal attacks, and heckling those who ARE trying to.

.

I can go through and dismantle the rest of your post as well, if you like, but I thought I'd start with dispelling that strawman you have. Though I do want to mention specifically this:

For all their fabled negativity, all the legitimate critique I've seen posted here thus far has come from the "Negative Nancies".

Have you read any of my posts where I critique or call out things I dislike about the game and offer arguments in support of those critiques as well as suggestions for solutions? I'm clearly not a "Negative Nancy", yet I've done so. You say "all the legitimate critique", meaning none at all comes from those who are not "Negative Nancies". So can you tell me which of my critiques was illegitimate and why it isn't legitimate?

...or did you just pull that out of your keister and not think you'd be challenged on it?