Is The Forum Getting More Antagonistic?

[pogre]

I've been lurking here for... a year? Two now? And I enjoy looking at people's thoughts on all kinds of TTRPG stuff. I enjoy the "what piece of art made you love X" threads, I enjoy the breaking down of game mastering styles, I enjoy having a place to check for RPG news.

But I feel like I'm seeing a lot more bickering over relatively minor things since the 1DnD playtest started, in particular. And it kinda makes me sad, because this has been a place I enjoy coming to check and now I feel like I'm seeing posters that I tend to like the posts of getting snarky with others, I'm seeing more moderation actions, and pretty much every thread that goes past 10 pages I feel like I need to mentally prepare myself before checking it out because it's almost a guarantee that people have gotten mean.

Is this all in my head? Is the prospect of the new edition making people more testy? What's going on, here?

I have been on here pretty much since the beginning. It goes in waves. Sometimes you need to just take a break from the boards.

It still is heaps better than Twitter and Reddit IMO.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't really understand what you are on about at this point.

Just noting that, barring moderation powers actively shutting this down, if you wait for this to stop happening because it makes no sense, you (and anyone else who feels that way) is fundamentally asking for disappointment.

 

[MNblockhead]

I gather I'm in the minority here, but I don't necessarily use a "like" to mean "I agree."
It often does equate to a "high five," but I also use it to mean "I acknowledge" or "I think this post is a positive contribution even if I don't agree." It depends on the thread.

Exactly. I like a lot of posts that I don't agree with, including posts strongly disagreeing with a post I made. If it is well thought out or interesting, I tend to like it. Do I feel it is adding something to the conversation, I'll reflexively like it.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

i feel that this was once the safe place to talk about pretending to be an elf... it is not going to last at this rate, it seems my opinions is block everyone that disagrees with me, let personal attacks keep coming at me or leave... and none of those seem good.

Even when mods tell ME to drop something i get tagged multi times about it sometimes...

 

[CapnZapp]

These last years have cultivated an atmosphere where if I feel offended, you have done something wrong. Not specifically talking discussions about table-top roleplaying games now, but seemingly everywhere

The correct solution when I feel offense... is me walking away. Art absolutely requires the freedom to offend. If I don't like it, I can instead look at some other art.

The wrong (and unsustainable) solution is to turn the discussion into what punishment is appropriate for you (for offending me).

What precious few people realize, is that in the (well-meaning and entirely understandable) effort to create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe and included, you risk ending up with figurative or even literal book burnings.

But the idea to discourage (or ostracize) everything that someone gets offended by is entirely and utterly unworkable.

Currently the discussion climate is circling the drain. In our genuine efforts to be open-minded, inclusive, and liberal, we are walking into the exact opposite situation, where people feel they don't dare express themselves because someone, anyone, out there could be offended.

We simply must switch direction. It absolutely must be possible (if only an in avant-garde sort of way) to offend men, women, minorities, majorities and everyone else too. Otherwise we're crushing the very freedom we work so hard to protect.

To be honest, the discussion climate (overall, not talking specific communities here) is headed toward something resembling a real good old communist or witch hunt, and very few of us are seeing it coming.

 

[Zardnaar]

These last years have cultivated an atmosphere where if I feel offended, you have done something wrong. Not specifically talking discussions about table-top roleplaying games now, but seemingly everywhere

The correct solution when I feel offense... is me walking away. Art absolutely requires the freedom to offend. If I don't like it, I can instead look at some other art.

The wrong (and unsustainable) solution is to turn the discussion into what punishment is appropriate for you (for offending me).

What precious few people realize, is that in the (well-meaning and entirely understandable) effort to create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe and included, you risk ending up with figurative or even literal book burnings.

But the idea to discourage (or ostracize) everything that someone gets offended by is entirely and utterly unworkable.

Currently the discussion climate is circling the drain. In our genuine efforts to be open-minded, inclusive, and liberal, we are walking into the exact opposite situation, where people feel they don't dare express themselves because someone, anyone, out there could be offended.

We simply must switch direction. It absolutely must be possible (if only an in avant-garde sort of way) to offend men, women, minorities, majorities and everyone else too. Otherwise we're crushing the very freedom we work so hard to protect.

To be honest, the discussion climate (overall, not talking specific communities here) is headed toward something resembling a real good old communist or witch hunt, and very few of us are seeing it coming.

Well there's been articles over here written about out not sure your part of the world.

 

[Morrus]

The correct solution when I feel offense... is me walking away. Art absolutely requires the freedom to offend. If I don't like it, I can instead look at some other art.

Insulting somebody on a messageboard is not art.

It’s also against the rules.

To be honest, the discussion climate (overall, not talking specific communities here) is headed toward something resembling a real good old communist or witch hunt, and very few of us are seeing it coming.

And this forum is not the place to share your general thoughts on 'cancel culture' (or 'witch hunts'). Drop that line of conversation, please.

 

[Cadence]

I'm kind of imagining a world where there's an AI that can tag something as looking like a draw-by-repetition in chess. "Hi, PosterX and PosterY you've had several back and forth posts where my language parser can't detect any new points being made. Consider moving along or taking the conversation to the Battledome sub-forum where it can continue without these or similar warnings. Yours truly, EN-AI."

 

[BookTenTiger]

For myself, other places on the internet are so full of vitriol and hatred that I'm glad ENWorld has a culture of etiquette and consequences for those who don't follow it.

It's not like anyone is lacking in dozens of methods to spew hate on the internet. I really don't need my D&D forum to be one of those.

For my own part, I'm trying to not fall into the trap of denying people's opinions and experiences. To me, there's a big difference between "You're wrong" and "In my experience, I've seen something different." It can be frustrating when others assert their own opinions as universal truths, but because this is just a forum and not, say, my classroom, my responsibility is to moderate my own behavior, not that of others.

 

[Reynard]

I'm kind of imagining a world where there's an AI that can tag something as looking like a draw-by-repetition in chess. "Hi, PosterX and PosterY you've had several back and forth posts where my language parser can't detect any new points being made. Consider moving along or taking the conversation to the Battledome sub-forum where it can continue without these or similar warnings. Yours truly, EN-AI."

I can't think of something less conducive to meaningful discussion than AI moderation.