query re policy on 'bigwigs'

[S'mon]

I would have asked this on Rasyr's thrread, but Dinkeldog has closed that. I want to know if there is an official moderator policy that 'industry bigwigs' in particular, as opposed to general posters, are not to be criticised in a manner that could be construed as derogatory? That is the impression I have gathered from Ryan Dancey's WFRP review thread and from the response to Rasyr's thread here on Meta. I have not seen moderators leap in to protect members of the public from criticism in the same manner, although moderators may disagree. I can understand why you might have this policy - if industry bigwigs feel this is a safe place to venture, they are more likely to post to these forums, which is presumably good for ENW's business. In Dancey's case it seemed that he posted his controversial reviews then posted to ENW either fishing for support from D&D enthusiasts or looking to stir up a hornet's nest. I think a strong reaction was understandable but I haven't seen anything that breached forum guidelines that I'm aware of.

-Simon

 

[Plane Sailing]

We have a clear general policy which is summed up in the first part of the rules

Keep it civil: Don't engage in personal attacks, name-calling, or blanket generalizations in your discussions. Say how you feel or what you think, but be careful about ascribing motives to the actions of others or telling others how they "should" think. People seeking to engage and discuss will find themselves asking questions, seeking clarifications, and describing their own opinion. People seeking to "win an argument" sometimes end up taking cheap shots, calling people names, and generally trying to indimidate others. My advice: don't try to win.

As far as is possible we try to ensure that derogatory criticism isn't levelled against any of our posters on ENworld, and we are always on the lookout for it. Sometimes it is dealt with within a thread, sometimes we email someone privately and ask them to tone it down.

There are a lot of threads going on at any one time, and although we are active in the boards ourselves, often the first we know of a problem is when someone reports a post to us, and it may be that posts involving 'bigwigs' are more frequently reported. I have certainly seen 'bigwigs' attacked with more vitriol and more frequently within such threads than our other posters, which just isn't on.

But if you haven't seen moderators leap in to protect members of the public in the same manner it may be just that you've not been looking in the places where it has been happening. My moderating experience is overwhelmingly not related to industry figures.

Cheers

 

[S'mon]

So you don't aim to apply different standards to criticism of industry professionals as to members of the general public?

I'm also unclear as to whether the discussion of controversial issues such as Dancey's apparent illicit monitoring of a GAMA board mailing list as part of a takeover attempt of GAMA is allowed? This seems to influence some posters' opinions of his trustworthiness.

 

[Morrus]

So you don't aim to apply different standards to criticism of industry professionals as to members of the general public?

No. Although some people seem to think that the rules don't apply to criticising industry professionals. The rule is clear and applies to every member.

I'm also unclear as to whether the discussion of controversial issues such as Dancey's apparent illicit monitoring of a GAMA board mailing list as part of a takeover attempt of GAMA is allowed? This seems to influence some posters' opinions of his trustworthiness.

It's fine. Just be polite about it.

 

[S'mon]

OK, thanks. I'm not totally clear where the line is re what consitutes a personal attack, but thanks for advice.

 

[Dinkeldog]

If you say that only an idiot would develop a ruleset like xxxx, then you're making a personal attack on the developer. This happens a lot.

If you say that you would like to take pieces of this ruleset and that ruleset, then you're not.

In general, if you think you're skirting the borderline cleverly, you've probably crossed it.

 

[Belen]

Actually, I would not mind if they did coddle the bigwigs a bit. One thing I love about ENWorld is having the opportunity to interact with Gary Gygax, Monte Cook, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas etc. I do not want to lose that.

Heck, I think that may be one reason that the Wizards people are not around as often these days.

 

[reveal]

Actually, I would not mind if they did coddle the bigwigs a bit. One thing I love about ENWorld is having the opportunity to interact with Gary Gygax, Monte Cook, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas etc. I do not want to lose that.

Heck, I think that may be one reason that the Wizards people are not around as often these days.

OTOH, if they did coddle the big-wigs and they started acting like jerks, that could turn people off from their products. I think it's best to just treat everyone the same across the board.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah. As far as we're concerned, everyone's a member and everyone's equal.

The problem lies in the fact that some people think that because someone is an "industry bigwig" they don't have the same right to be addressed courteously and politely that everyone else does. Then, when they get called on it, they claim that we're "siding with bigwigs" or whatever. The fact is, we don't allow ANY member to be insulted here.

 

[BSF]

I do think that the threads with 'bigwigs' have more activity and visibility. I know I certainly disagreed with some of Dancey's statements in one of his threads. But I didn't have anything to add to the conversation other than simply disagreeing. So, I didn't post. Admittedly, I don't have the same passion for WHFRP as other folks do. When somebody says something you disagree with passionately, it is a lot harder to ignore it.

Dancey is vocal about his opinions and I think he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But that is no reason to shove polite disagreement aside. The fact that he is a recognizable name for many people, and the topic was growing heated, I imagine more people were inclined to use the 'Report this Post' button. *shrug* I could be wrong though. But if you see somebody being singled out and attacked, then report the post. There are a lot of posts on the board and the moderators can't see them all. So help them out when you can.