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[LightPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Rolflyn

I meant a combined Pro-4E and Anti-3E outlook. There are those that are pro-4E that go into 3E threads and post how awesome 4E is and thus they aren't negative, but they aren't creating goodwill. Or those that drop a note that they left 3E long behind and are very happy that they did so.

That's pretty much the exact definition of thread-crapping, and these posts should, hopefully, be reported.

Originally Posted by Morrus

It could be that folks on both sides of the coin are experiencing exactly the same thing in opposite directions, and so everyone sees EN World as being anti-them. The only answer might be for EN World to stop trying to accomodate everyone and plant a flag firmly one way or the other, ensuring a more harmonious membership more in tune with each other.

An equally drastic alternative would be to ban anti-edition threads/comments altogether. In essence, apply the idiom, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

I don't either option actually solves the problem, they're just sticking heads in the sand and hoping the problem goes away. The problem is a small subset of posters that will deliberately go out of their way to start edition wars. Any solution has to deal with that subset, and not with the community as a whole.

I've mentioned a couple options earlier in the thread, but I'd like to put forth a specific option with regards to posters inciting edition wars. The only* real way to "punish" posters, regardless of the infraction, is to ban them from using the site and the boards. I use the term punish loosely here, because I question whether that is really a punishment to people who break the rules. Perhaps it is better to say it is the only way to make breaking the rules have consequence. Any solution would have to be necessity stem from that. I would suggest making the bans for edition war nonsense twice what they would normally be for other infractions. For example, if a temp ban for attacking another poster is one day, make it two days if it's an edition war situation. Make this known with an announcement. Make it clear that it won't be tolerated.

I know it sounds a little draconian (and more than a little jerky), but it would work. The reason it would work is because the repeat offenders would simply offend themselves into a long-term temp ban or a permaban. The people who want to keep posting will learn to behave themselves. After a while, the edition wars should reach some sort of minimal level.

I'd point out that the edition war ban here earlier when 4E came out did a significant amount to minimize this stuff, even if it left it simmering. That's why I think a flat out moritorium on it isn't the ideal situation.

Another suggestion is to point banned members towards the boards at RPG.net or Paizo or WotC. If they really want highly-polarized partisan discussion, those boards may be more to their liking. Perhaps with an outlet there some of the offenders will simply leave it be here, or stop posting.

Of course, it does require more work from the moderators, and that's the downside. After all, who wants to constantly moderate? It's a crappy job having to be the parent all the time. So I don't know if that's something to be considered.