Why Are the FFXIV Forums So Bad?

[TomsYoungerBro]

Another alt, move along

[Ivtrix]

little moderation on top of the forums being hijacked by several repeat offenders who attempt to downplay and dissemination discussion they disagree with

[Fawkes]

Literally every discussion post is littered with lonely 40 year old women

[NekoMataMata]

Waits for inevitable reply/accusations pertaining to toxic positivity

What do you want people to say when this is clearly bait? Fresh character posting like a certain you-know-who. I don't like to witch hunt but they're not even trying to hide it at this point and you're sitting there lapping it up.

They're aware that they don't need to bait with outlandish topics when simply posting something about positivity/negativity/anything about the forums is such easy bait that most forumers find irresistible.

What makes it worse is the fact that this behavior is apparently acceptable to most of you as long as the sentiments provided by the OP align with your own.

[Daffidoodles]

I think message boards in general are a relic of 2000s era internet. So it already attracts a specific type of person who was probably active on the internet near this time which is usually older and more cynical.

[ZephyrMenodora]

What do you want people to say when this is clearly bait? Fresh character posting like a certain you-know-who. I don't like to witch hunt but they're not even trying to hide it at this point and you're sitting there lapping it up.

They're aware that they don't need to bait with outlandish topics when simply posting something about positivity/negativity/anything about the forums is such easy bait that most forumers find irresistible.

What makes it worse is the fact that this behavior is apparently acceptable to most of you as long as the sentiments provided by the OP align with your own.

I don't find the behavior acceptable and I have an extremely poor/comical vision of how I imagine such posters behind the screen. But...I can't put the energy in caring more than the moderation team, so here we are.

I am impressed with how disruptive ONE person is to an entire forum...not impressed with that person, but that it's allowed to continue.

[AnnRam]

Just curious, in-game its pretty pleasant, most people are reasonable and easy to talk to, the game has a pretty bustling social scene, I've made plenty of friends that I've linked with irl, but on here you're all like 12 year olds screaming at each other over who loves FFXIV more like you're some weird attention starved children begging for your parent's attention. Literally every discussion post is littered with lonely 40 year old women and neckbeards spurting Mean Girls comments over any and everything.

So what made you all this way? Was it years of neglect and moderation from Square-Enix? Lack of healthy social lives? Mental illness? I'm curious

Those fake PMA in game doesn't fool anyone with half brain, sorry buddy but most people in game are unlikeable. Also you can say anything or you get immediately banned.

[Orinori]

If you think these forums are toxic, go log into the General Discussion of another game whose name I shall not mention here (but it rhymes with Borld of Borcraft). The last time I was there, a little over a year ago, it was so toxic that if you spent much time there you would come out of it with white skin, green hair, a penchant for jokes, and a hatred of Batman.

This actually made me chortle, if I could commend you I would

[Orinori]

What do you want people to say when this is clearly bait? Fresh character posting like a certain you-know-who. I don't like to witch hunt but they're not even trying to hide it at this point and you're sitting there lapping it up.

They're aware that they don't need to bait with outlandish topics when simply posting something about positivity/negativity/anything about the forums is such easy bait that most forumers find irresistible.

What makes it worse is the fact that this behavior is apparently acceptable to most of you as long as the sentiments provided by the OP align with your own.

I'm really not baiting, though in hindsight I didn't mean to have the rude vibe the OP had, I was more or less in a joking manner trying to explain the demeanor and how ridiculous it is given the assumed average age of forum users.

I was actually genuinely curious why the forums just seem like an entirely different atmosphere and why this exact thing you're demonstrating here happens. There has been a ton of super interesting and helpful answers, basically summing up to lack of moderation and anonymity combined with a lack of punishment being tied to SE account.

[Orinori]

You basically said the most probable reason people acted as they act is because they "lack healthy social life" or "are mentally ill". You also described them as "children starved for attention" and "Neckbeard". You basically insulted 80% of the forum users. It's kinda mean spirited, and you didn't even realise it. This is part of the reason, people don't even realise when they stop being civil. As I said, it's very weird it only happens on english forums, and japanese, french and german ones are decent.

Someone explained this to me earlier, and I apologize if I offended you. English is not my first language and I didn't think I was actually insulting anyone, just trying to joke around but this isn't the first time I've had misunderstandings like this, so apologies to you if I offended you in the post