LordOfTheWaffleHouse
Explorer
Challenging moderation
My dude, I should introduce myself properly: I'm a Private Detective and Investigative Journalist that got tips to how your mod team was going crazy about the 2024 election, after creating an echo chamber over about the last 2 and half years that's led to a 62% drop in site traffic, and that your might be causing some stirs in your investors after some of the moderation team here at ENworld were alleged to also be on the moderation team for the (now torched) official WotC discord. Hence the entire reason I came to your site and documented it all, including your moderation team getting really bent out of shape when questioned about it. I know you read my email asking for an interview and/or statement on this. I sent it with a read receipt. I'm here for the story.
Speaking of that, and because I assume this isn't what you intend to have as your official statement on the matter, I'll give you the rundown so you can prep:
The vast majority of the TTRPG community, whether they use your website or not, have expressed overwhelming concern with the quality of the writing, the push for digital products, and the push for "diversity" from WotC. In just the last two years this has become even more pronounced after the OGL scandal, Paizo's shakeup, and with the push toward digital gaming by WotC, compounded by thousands of layoffs and and increasingly politicized hobby. Industry giants have collapsed after having "the best year ever", and many new 3rd party content creators are throwing their hats into the ring. Most of the people I interact with and speak with in this hobby seem to be of one particular mindset; they are closing their wallets as a whole to creators in the TTRPG industry, as well as making entire new communities, because of the problem of echo chambers and selective moderation.
Your site in particular tends to sit in the top 5 for TTRPG related content, I believe hovering between #2 and #3 primarily for D&D, Pathfinder and Warhammer, but has seen a significant drop over the years. Now I've been asking some questions and the most common answer I've gotten is that your moderation team allows violations of your own rules, in many cases flagrant violations, as long as it is an opinion they agree with. Most of the people I've reached out to either just don't post anymore, post very rarely, or have left the site altogether for this reason, or worked on the site in various capacity. In particular, I had a name come up frequently as one of your users who is "in with the owner/mod team". And after a small bit of research, I found that user was also a mod on the D&D official discord, and was the very center of the firestorm there that closed the discord after investors got involved (one of his posts below) and the massive public fiasco that caused.
Now I cruised through the forums for about 6 months before bothering to post and I gathered quite a number of examples of exactly what I had been told I would find; a handful of people insinuating, or directly stating outright, that other users were racist/bigots and promoting "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion", as well as "Safe Spaces". I've seen quite a number of posts that begin with some iteration of "Drow/Orcs are racist and here's why" or "this content is problematic because it's offensive", and then I've seen a decent number of users who attempted to engage with and give a differing opinion on the matter. Most of those users seem to have gotten similar warnings from your moderation team, publicly being shamed by the Mods in more than half of those cases. In many of those cases as well, the mods cite "no religion/politics" or, as you've just done above "no insulting others" while turning a blind eye to exactly that exact behavior. A regular sentiment I am also being told is many hobbyists are simply no longer willing to tolerate or ignore these things, and a growing number of these hobbyists are echoing opposition to things like "safe spaces", DEI, and content warnings. One particular point that comes up a lot is "legacy content labeling", and these assertions of racism or bigotry in the hobby. Needless to say, references to Kyle Brink's now infamous "White guys like me can't leave the hobby fast enough" statement seem to be pretty much the norm.
Now, from my experiences during my investigation, I've witnessed your moderation team selectively enforcing your rules and in effect creating an echo chamber extremely similar to what was present in the D&D discord. We've got one right above in this very thread. I'm also privy to a number of investor concerns and conversations that this may be affecting your bottom line.
Question 1: What is your official stance on moderation for ENWorld?
Question 2: Does your moderation team consist of volunteers, or are they paid?
Question 3: Do you agree with the assertions made by many TTRPG hobbyists and enthusiasts about your moderation team?
Question 4: What is your stance on the OGL scandal, and the growing sentiment of opposition to WotC, as well as industry creators? Similarly, what is your opinion on the hobby and it's direction?
Question 5: Do you agree with statements, assertions, or opinions that have been promoted by content creators such as Clownfish TV, Diversity & Dragons, DungeonCraft, AJ Pickett, Bob the Worldbuilder, DND Shorts, or Esper The Bard, that the hobby is or has been going in the wrong way and is now "Course correcting"?
Question 6: Do you agree with recent statements, both public and leaked, made by various industry heads insulting or deriding the hobby community? In particular those aimed at "Grognards"? Do you believe that the actions of the companies combined with these statements are counterproductive, or incompatible with the simultaneous messages from the same companies such as "Warhammer is for everyone"?
Question 7: Do you believe that the TTRPG hobby community "has a racism problem"?
Question 8: Your moderation team had made a number of statements in relation to the 2024 United States presidential election, citing opposition to the incoming President, Donald Trump. Many of those have been taken down. Can you explain why they were taken down?
Question 9: What does ENworld have planned for the future in 2025, with the upending of the hobby landscape, the increasing politicization of the hobby and industry, and the uncertainty that seems to be gripping the hobby as a whole?
Question 10: Do you have any other clarification or statements you'd like to add?
You can send the response to lordofthewafflehouse@protonmail.com. I'm perfectly fine with having a zoom interview as well, if that suits you more.
