Why has WotC stopped posting on ENWorld?

[Ruin Explorer]

You learn from mistakes and admitting them (failure) while hard, teaches you things.

Does changing your mind without the stigma of failure teach you the same level of things, or different things? Interesting quandary.

I think it's pretty easy to show that the fear of loss of social status and/or embarrassment or the like causes people to be far more defensive of what they've said and less open-minded. Our society as a whole tends to sneer at people who change their minds as "flip-floppers" and the like, unless the change is emotional in nature. We're expected to have the right of things instantly, or to be treated poorly and reminded of how we got that thing wrong that one time, so maybe no-one should ever listen to us, eh? (I've seen this on messageboards countless times, I've probably been guilty of it).

So you also learn that admitting failure can cause serious problems, even if it is honest and right, because our culture doesn't treat admitting failure with much respect.

 

[DMZ2112]

That just takes one software developer to create the right application. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

I think we might be past the timeframe for "surprise" and into the timeframe for "bemused resignation." The interwebz have had ample time to fill this gap and they have either chosen to not do so or found that it is impossible. I tend to think it is the latter. No matter how intuitive and accessible the app, the posts will still be made to the topic, and not to you.

Fundamentally, a community on Facebook or G+ is a discussion forum. It has a subject, members post topics related to that subject, and other members reply to that topic. They are inarguably less robust, but that's because no one is a member of Facebook or G+ for the communities. They're on these services for the convenience that is their "wall."

All of their posts go up on their wall. All of their friends' posts go up on their wall. The posts from any communities they are a member of are posted on their wall. Can you imagine what a member's wall would look like if ENWorld were a Facebook community? I can, because I'm already a member of enough G+ roleplaying groups that my wall is essentially useless. It populates so quickly that I'd have to watch it constantly to catch everything. It's not that I'm not interested in the content; it's that it's not organized in a useful fashion.

And it's that organization that slows forums down. Makes them more challenging to interface with. As [MENTION=697]mearls[/MENTION] said earlier, Facebook and Twitter and G+ aren't about in-depth back and forth. That loss of focus on trackable discussion is like a warp drive.

I think [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION]'s observation is apt -- social media creates the illusion of community, but fundamentally you are friends with whom you are friends with and interested in the things you are interested in. Social media does not easily initiate change in those categories. You might send the second-chair violinist of your high school orchestra a note congratulating her on her newborn, but you're not going to her baby shower. She's a number in your Following/Followers readout.

By the same token, you are a member of a social-media community because the overarching subject interests you. Other members will occasionally post things of value to you, but you aren't there for other members' comments or Likes on those items, you're there for the item itself. Membership is fundamentally just a way to personalize your profile and collect recipes for rugelach.

I'm not saying discussion forums are the better form of social expression; I think the ship of public opinion has sailed on that one. I'm just saying they're different, and that I'm not sure the app you describe is a possibility.

 

[Umbran]

You learn from mistakes and admitting them (failure) while hard, teaches you things.

Well, the modern response to the pressures we feel for admitting failures... is to not admit failures. It tends to teach us avoidance behaviors.

Turning this back to why WotC doesn't regularly post here - the hyperbolic nature of much of our discussion often teaches people to not engage.

 

[Morrus]

Well, the modern response to the pressures we feel for admitting failures... is to not admit failures. It tends to teach us avoidance behaviors.

Turning this back to why WotC doesn't regularly post here - the hyperbolic nature of much of our discussion often teaches people to not engage.

It's worse in the unmoderated wilds of social media. There's some pretty nasty stuff out there!

 

[Bawylie]

Well, the modern response to the pressures we feel for admitting failures... is to not admit failures. It tends to teach us avoidance behaviors.

Turning this back to why WotC doesn't regularly post here - the hyperbolic nature of much of our discussion often teaches people to not engage.

I believe it teaches people to engage defensively with the hyperbole. It's much better to train yourself to ignore the sturm und drang and see if there's a legitimate point that merits addressing (especially if you're interested in addressing legitimate points).

 

[gamerprinter]

It sounds like you're talking in a computer/technical sense of being able to form a group. I'm talking in the human emotional sense, of becoming part of a group. G+ and FB can give you groups of people, but I don't see* those people as having a sense of "belonging", in the more psychological sense of the term.

I don't know, the only G+ communities that I regularly frequent (other than my own) are RPG mapping communities, which there are several, and there is a definitely sense of 'belonging' among those communities. While many members, like myself, are members in all RPG mapping communities, there are regulars in each that only post to one community. I think more general RPG communities are less likely to create a sense of belonging, but the more specific concerned communities seem to be.

 

[Schmoe]

There's a couple of year wide gap in my attendance, too.

Thaumaturge.

Hi, my name is Schmoe, and I stopped reading ENWorld around the time 4E was released. I'm slowly starting to read again.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It's worse in the unmoderated wilds of social media. There's some pretty nasty stuff out there!

Sure, but a dozen abusive tweets are lost in the wind, and conversations about them are spun off from your original post, not tightly linked to it. Whereas if you make a post and people get into a scuffle about it, however polite and well-moderated, that's what that thread is about, forever, amen. People having an argument - not what you originally posted.

 

[Nagol]

I don't know, the only G+ communities that I regularly frequent (other than my own) are RPG mapping communities, which there are several, and there is a definitely sense of 'belonging' among those communities. While many members, like myself, are members in all RPG mapping communities, there are regulars in each that only post to one community. I think more general RPG communities are less likely to create a sense of belonging, but the more specific concerned communities seem to be.

My guess for that is the sense of community is inversely proportional to the number of members. You are more likely to develop a sense of community with a group under 100 people because there is enough bandwidth to pick up the habits of the other members. People get seen as individuals with personal style rather than part of the anonymous horde.

 

[Umbran]

It's worse in the unmoderated wilds of social media. There's some pretty nasty stuff out there!

Yes, but there, the basic format is broadcast, not back-and-forth engagement. You can send something out to Twitter and never respond to any comment made, ever, and nobody will notice.