[Rant]Anyone else annoyed to hell with Wizards "no novel discussion in our boards"

[Incenjucar]

The WotC boards have the huge number of flamers and such because they're the most obvious D&D board. Just means that, like the novel writers should have done, you have to develop a tougher skin.

That said, yeah, they should have banned the jerks who were making threats and such without so much as a warning. You can seriously disagree with something without going flipping nuts (otherwise WotC would start banning 2e PS fans ).

Heck, I utterly despise most of Crabapple's work, doesn't mean I wish the guy ill, just that he'd draw for kids books or cartoons instead.

 

[maddman75]

There are many, many reasons to not visit the WotC boards. This one is way, way down on the list.

 

[Gez]

Not sure if Crabapple McClain would want to draw for kids books. If you Google for his name, the first non-RPG related site you get as a result is one that moderators here may object to if I were to post it.

This convoluted sentence can be sumed-up as "he already has an illustration job outside of RPGs, and his books are not for kids, nor for Eric's Grandma."

 

[Ranger REG]

as far as i remember it went further than that.

more like "I know where you live and when I come to town I'm gonna... for doing that to my favorite character."

By legal definition, that is outright terroristic threatening.

As for thick skin, there is so much of a thick skin you can have for a human. More than that you might as well be a rhino.

They should enforce the personal attack ban.

 

[Incenjucar]

Not sure if Crabapple McClain would want to draw for kids books. If you Google for his name, the first non-RPG related site you get as a result is one that moderators here may object to if I were to post it.

This convoluted sentence can be sumed-up as "he already has an illustration job outside of RPGs, and his books are not for kids, nor for Eric's Grandma."

Ahh. So he's like that guy in the furry art groups who applied to draw for Disney by giving them pornographic versions of Tiny Toons, but not insane. Gotcha.

 

[molonel]

It would be better if those individuals were banned, rather than the whole discussion supressed. Every crowd has it's problem members, and it's better to remove the problem members than to terminate the whole crowd.

That is, unfortunately, easier said than done sometimes. I've moderated a few forums, and trolls on a forum are more like 2nd Edition AD&D trolls. Especially when they mutate into hydras. You can end up having to ban entire IP ranges, especially in the case of high school and university students, and even then it's not uncommon for them to have access to multiple libraries and buildings with different IP schemes. It's very, very annoying, and although I'm a free speech advocate, I can understand why if all the flames were coming from a particular topic, the decision to close down particular discussions might seem very sensible.

As to the choice between authors and obnoxious fans, WotC is a business. Their novelists make money. Rapid, venomous discussions do not.

 

[Janx]

WotC has forums?

Actually, I knew that they did, but why would I ever go there. Given that before them was TSR and rec.games.frp.dnd and then forum sites came up, why would I use a publisher's forum. It's only going to be a house-organ...

Granted, some publishers have nice forums, but in general, the non-affiliated forums are usually better.


If I were WotC, I wouldn't let my employees (writers, designers) post anything in my forums except in a controlled environment (moderated chats). Too many loose cannons.

Janx

 

[Ranger REG]

Granted, some publishers have nice forums, but in general, the non-affiliated forums are usually better.

How so?

If I were WotC, I wouldn't let my employees (writers, designers) post anything in my forums except in a controlled environment (moderated chats). Too many loose cannons.

Only WotC? The reason I post on web-based messageboards (including this one) is to get answers straight from the game designers.

 

[diaglo]

...Given that before them was TSR and rec.games.frp.dnd and then forum sites came up

hiya from an old timer from the good olde dayes.


i still goto the WotC forums using www.tsr.com

 

[Mystery Man]

hiya from an old timer from the good olde dayes.


i still goto the WotC forums using www.tsr.com

on a 9600 baud modem?