WotC boards (slighty ranty...)

[Pazu]

I just want to say to everyone, thanks for not flaming Me and respecting my view. Now that I read other peoples thoughts on it, I have a different view. But i'm getting flamed on the WOTC boards. LOL

No, you're not.

Although, after your initial post, you deserved it.

--Pazu

 

[blackshirt5]

Although I'm loath to defend the WizOs(I think that their moderation is often completely ludicrous, like closing down a thread that's been going for over a year and 9 pages for "being on the wrong boards" when it isn't and telling you to restart it), is it any wonder that they get a bit touchy and crazed when they get threads like this? WizO hate much???

And people complained about me and Angcuru complaining about Eric Noah a few months ago; at least we were civil and worked it out.

 

[Farland]

Actually I hang out there a bit, and the mods don't tend to lock threads that criticize WOTC. They lock threads where the people who are doing the criticizing have violated the COC in some other egregious way.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

They actually have a thread reserved for complaints. Complain anywhere else and you get banned - or at least bitched at and threatened with banning. How on earth can you have a discussion on, say, the nerfing of spell focus in a 200 page thread filled with complaints about haste, the ranger, half-orcs, dr, monks, harm, complaints about complaints, kissing up to the mods, flaming the mods, flaming everyone else, orc and pie, etc, etc.

Here, if I want to complain about haste, I start a thread on it, or reply to an existing thread. There, I get banned. Wonderful way to do business if you ask me.


Especially since 3.5 was built on complaints.

 

[Farland]

Complain anywhere else and you get banned - or at least bitched at and threatened with banning.

Simply not true. It takes alot for the mods at the WOTC boards to ban anyone, and complaining about them or WOTC is not enough to get them to ban you. In any case, except in very extreme cases everyone gets three warnings before banning.

 

[Dismas]

I frequent the d20 Games area of the WotC site and away from the DnD sections. I have not come across any problems with the moderation.

Explainations are given as to why a thread is closed or moved. Locked threads stay visible so that you can see why. I have only ever seen one thread deleted (today in fact in Meta) that was basically a foul mouth rant on the sexual preferences of various WizO's that would make Bill Hicks blush.

Charles Ryan, Eric Cagle, Stan! and Rich Redman hang out the d20 Modern boards, and help with rules questions and the like, even the moderator chips in on threads with idea and the like.

Maybe I am just staying away from the bad side of town

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Simply not true. It takes alot for the mods at the WOTC boards to ban anyone, and complaining about them or WOTC is not enough to get them to ban you. In any case, except in very extreme cases everyone gets three warnings before banning.

I was not exaggerrating. Go to their 3.5 board and read the top thread. As far as I know, no one has been banned. But they have certainly been threatened, and before the fact, too.

 

[Dismas]

I was not exaggerrating. Go to their 3.5 board and read the top thread. As far as I know, no one has been banned. But they have certainly been threatened, and before the fact, too.

Can you point me to the exact post, I have looked at this first thread (the 3.5 complaints thread right?) and skimmed through the 11 pages. I've seen the WizO's remind people that the CoC will be enforces and even seen the WizO give advice and the proper way to complain on the boards

WizO_Sith
There is and will always be a place for constructive negative feedback on these boards. Knowing what works and what doesn't, what is well-written and what is confusing, etc... is vital to the creative process, it helps the designers make the game better and more playable.

But I have not seen the post threatening to ban people before the fact.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

At the Something Awful forum, they banned 210 people last month.

I think if people reported more often the boards would be a better place. However, there's little point of reporting in a 3.5 thread - you know it's going to be engulfed in flames.

 

[Coreyartus]

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WizO_Sith
There is and will always be a place for constructive negative feedback on these boards. Knowing what works and what doesn't, what is well-written and what is confusing, etc... is vital to the creative process, it helps the designers make the game better and more playable.


I don't know where Otherniceman got this quote, but I think this has been the crux of my problem over on the WotC boards. The definition of "constructive negative feedback" is a total judgement call based on how each moderator feels that particular day... Threads that I would consider constructive criticism have been interpreted by the mods as insulting, and therefore locked. Other threads that have been informative on one board have been shunted (rather curtly) to other boards, and those that are browsing the relevant subject simply miss out on interesting info because it's been moved to other, relatively unrelated boards. What constitutes "constructive" and "on topic" seems to change day to day, to the point that I sometimes feel I can't really discuss anything that I would like to field opinions on simply because it will probably be considered negative, and therefore locked. I find it very very frustrating to feel genuinely about something, only to find that the mods feel it's drivel and tripe and not worth allowing to be expressed in the first place.

I guess I've learned that sometimes sharing my thoughts with others isn't worth it, and I should simply let my direct emails speak for me. Maybe I'm taking this to the extreme, but I would think that conversing with other players would actually save WotC the time and headache of an avalanche of "constructively critical" emails. It makes me feel kinda "divided and conquered..."

Just my two cents!

--Coreyartus