Lokiare said:
I do not edition war. Critiquing an editions rules without insulting it is not edition warring, by EnWorlds own definition.
With all due respect, you should not presume to know the rules of EN World, or how they should be interpreted, better than the moderation staff. And don't mistake this for a negotiation, or an instance where "rules lawyering" will at all be useful to you.
You might instead want to consider this as an opportunity for learning something.
Critique is, of course, allowed. When we see a constant stream of it from a user, however, it is pretty clear that there is something else afoot.
"Calling people out" is the essence of keeping it civil especially if they are using personal attacks, dictating opinions, and other things that are disruptive to constructive conversation.
We have a "report a post" feature. When you feel someone is getting into personal attacks, or other violation of board rules, we expect you to use it, and ignore the attack.
On an internet messageboard, "calling out" turns a reasonable or logical discussion into a battle of egos. You have no authority, no recognized and accepted expertise, and no non-verbal cues that normally help humans resolve such things - you lack any route to resolve the issue, except by simply not allowing the other guy to have the last word. EN World does not recognize, "I win because I didn't give up," as a valid rhetorical technique.
Meanwhile, the moderators have authority to end clashes. Thus, we ask you to not enter the ego-contest. Say your piece, and leave it at that, please.
If EnWorld is not a place to lobby for a play style to be added to 5E, then what is it? Its supposed to be a place of discussion. You have a 5E section of your forums. I'm discussing 5E. That is in no way a violation of your terms of service.
"Lobbying" and "discussing" are not equivalent. In fact, they are rather opposite. A discussion requires a two-way exchange of information. Lobbying is activism for a cause, and admits that your idea is fixed, and you will not actually accept any other opinion as accurate or acceptable.
I also don't have any negativity in my posts. Any negativity is assumed on the part of the reader.
A constant stream of what amounts to "this is a bad mechanic", "this will make a bad game", and, "WotC is dishonest" is most assuredly negativity.
Go engage in discussion that isn't about what's wrong with 5e. Make some posts about how awesome your favorite game is, and how great your last session went, without comparing it to any other game or edition, or using it as an opportunity to criticize in a backhanded manner. Then you may see the difference.
My posts are accurate, to the point, and fact filled.
"But it is Teh Trvth!" is probably the most common defense we see from edition warriors. You realize that even if you are correct, that doesn't prevent you from being an aggravating jerk about it, right?
There is no emotional connotations within. I seek out the truth and point it out to others. That they refuse to engage on an intellectual level and instead use disruptive emotional outbursts is not a problem stemming from me. It is a problem stemming from them and they should be the ones receiving warnings.
We will deal with others as seems appropriate. We are talking about you, right now, not them.
As an author, you must consider your audience. If you have already realized that your current approach does not reach the audience, then it is time to change your approach.
I'd like to appeal your rash decision to give me a warning with other moderators, or perhaps your supervisor. Please forward me the details on how to do that, so I don't have to PM every moderator on the board to get the information.
You are, of course, free to do so, and we make no secret of how to do so. There is a thread stickied to the top of the Meta forum titled, "How to contact a moderator". Or, you can send a Private Message to anyone you choose - just click on "send new message" in the sidebar under your Inbox, and type in their username. Morrus owns the site, and is the ultimate authority.
So you are aware, the text of all warnings are recorded for all the moderators to see, so it isn't like this was secret. I think you'll find the rest of the staff does not feel giving warnings is "rash".
-Umbran, EN World Moderator