The forums need more mods....

wrenaq · May 2013

It is getting silly on here and everyday it is getting worse.
Threads with links to how to cheat, threads which are just flame wars.
I thought D&D was supposed to bring people together not make them want to rip each others throats out.

If I quit this game it will not be because of the game it will be because of the community.
Forum banhammers need to start swinging to make examples because the T&C are just being ignored and people are running rampant and destroying the forums.

So please try and get more mods....please.

Lots of love with a cherry on top W xx

skalt112 · May 2013

The Purpose and Structure of Message Boards.

Why do these boards even exist?

Before we get into the management of the boards we probably need to settle on the reason why the boards actually exist. The boards for Neverwinter are basically a customer service/data gathering tool. They give insight into the satisfaction level of the customer base, and allow those customers to give feedback they feel will make the product more desirable. They also give customers a place to come and engage socially with the company and each other. Message boards have proven to be extremely valuable in this regard, and that is the reason why so many companies use them.

Boards cost money.

We need to understand that message boards have costs associated with them, and therefore must provide value to the company in order to justify their cost. Like any segment of a business, Message boards must be constantly monitored and assessed to get the maximum value out of the company’s investment. This leads us to......

Management.

As previously stated, it's management's job to get the most value from the asset they are assigned to manage. When we apply this to a message board, we consider feedback. Feedback, like any asset has a value, and individual feedback has differing values. In order to get the most value from the boards we must encourage and manage the feedback. Management sets the policies and procedures needed to achieve this goal. This leads to…..

Moderation.

Moderation is a tool used to manage feedback. As stated above, policies and procedures have been put in place, and moderators are trained in the use of procedures to make sure the policies are adhered to. Ideally, moderation occurs only when there is a breech in policy.

Now that we know what the boards are for, and roughly how they are managed, let’s take a look at how we can get the most out of the boards, and how we can avoid getting moderated.

1.The boards are not a soapbox.
Beliefs shape who we are and how we look at the world. They shape our opinions, and the way we handle every situation we encounter. We have to be careful how we apply our individual beliefs to message board discussions, as they will tend to lead us into an area of discussion that becomes more about our individual philosophy, and less about how to make the game better. I’ve been guilty of this in the past, and I will be the first to admit that it is going to be a hard habit to break. If you feel the need to be Socrates, you should expect to be moderated.

2.The boards are not a whipping post.
Feedback must remain coherent and objective. Well thought out and presented feedback has much more value than rants or tantrums. If a poster cannot put together a well thought out post without resulting to threats to quit, or never spend money or whatever, then they should expect to be moderated. Try not to weaken your feedback’s value by making threats.

3.The boards are not a battleground.
As stated above, the boards are a customer service tool. Debate should be about stating your position and the reasons why you take that position, and not about trying to change someone else’s opinion. If your position is strong and well thought out, there is really no need to keep reinforcing it.

4.You do not get Glory for posting.
Name calling, personal attacks or any other form of Poster vs. Poster does not belong on the forums. If you call someone else anything derogatory, it only weakens your position. If you feel the need to spew venom in a thread, no matter how justified you feel you are, you should expect to be moderated.

5.The Company does not need anyone to White Knight for them.
The game speaks for itself. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to enter into a war with another community member over derogatory remarks about the company. “White Knighting” for the company results in nothing but venom and counter- venom, and does nothing to add value to any discussion. No matter how good your intentions are, if you feel the need to wave a sword on the company’s behalf, you should expect to be moderated.

I hope anyone who reads this will consider what has been presented here when they decide to post on the forums. We should all work together as a community to ensure the boards are a productive avenue for all of us to provide the feedback that will help move the game in the best direction it can go.

wrenaq · May 2013

Yup what skalt said

Oh and I would offer but I can't do it due to my work

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

I think the solution is more active mods. Fortunately I know a couple mods from this board (for instance, Bubba and I are mods for RaiderZ) but I also know he's really busy of late....I don't know much of the rest of the mods.

zurkhon · May 2013

The ONE thing I will agree with from all the whiners is that Cryptic should be in damage control mode.
They should have Customer Relations Rep in the forums tossing around rainbows and flowers and showing their pearly white teeth.

One of the first rules in Customer Relations is to NEVER ignore a customer no matter how busy you are.
Even with the fickle MMO crowd you still need to make your presence known. Nothing says that you do not care as much as silence.

l1d3n · May 2013

They also need more Customer Service Reps to take our phone calls and answer tickets.

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

l1d3n wrote: »

They also need more Customer Service Reps to take our phone calls and answer tickets.

They're hiring for those already: http://www.pwe-inc.com/career

Doesn't mean they'll be instantly able to hammer this mess out. That takes training and a working giveadamn.

The Purpose and Structure of Message Boards.

Why do these boards even exist?

Before we get into the management of the boards we probably need to settle on the reason why the boards actually exist. The boards for Neverwinter are basically a customer service/data gathering tool. They give insight into the satisfaction level of the customer base, and allow those customers to give feedback they feel will make the product more desirable. They also give customers a place to come and engage socially with the company and each other. Message boards have proven to be extremely valuable in this regard, and that is the reason why so many companies use them.

Boards cost money.

We need to understand that message boards have costs associated with them, and therefore must provide value to the company in order to justify their cost. Like any segment of a business, Message boards must be constantly monitored and assessed to get the maximum value out of the company’s investment. This leads us to......

Management.

As previously stated, it's management's job to get the most value from the asset they are assigned to manage. When we apply this to a message board, we consider feedback. Feedback, like any asset has a value, and individual feedback has differing values. In order to get the most value from the boards we must encourage and manage the feedback. Management sets the policies and procedures needed to achieve this goal. This leads to…..

Moderation.

Moderation is a tool used to manage feedback. As stated above, policies and procedures have been put in place, and moderators are trained in the use of procedures to make sure the policies are adhered to. Ideally, moderation occurs only when there is a breech in policy.

Now that we know what the boards are for, and roughly how they are managed, let’s take a look at how we can get the most out of the boards, and how we can avoid getting moderated.

1.The boards are not a soapbox.
Beliefs shape who we are and how we look at the world. They shape our opinions, and the way we handle every situation we encounter. We have to be careful how we apply our individual beliefs to message board discussions, as they will tend to lead us into an area of discussion that becomes more about our individual philosophy, and less about how to make the game better. I’ve been guilty of this in the past, and I will be the first to admit that it is going to be a hard habit to break. If you feel the need to be Socrates, you should expect to be moderated.

2.The boards are not a whipping post.
Feedback must remain coherent and objective. Well thought out and presented feedback has much more value than rants or tantrums. If a poster cannot put together a well thought out post without resulting to threats to quit, or never spend money or whatever, then they should expect to be moderated. Try not to weaken your feedback’s value by making threats.

3.The boards are not a battleground.
As stated above, the boards are a customer service tool. Debate should be about stating your position and the reasons why you take that position, and not about trying to change someone else’s opinion. If your position is strong and well thought out, there is really no need to keep reinforcing it.

4.You do not get Glory for posting.
Name calling, personal attacks or any other form of Poster vs. Poster does not belong on the forums. If you call someone else anything derogatory, it only weakens your position. If you feel the need to spew venom in a thread, no matter how justified you feel you are, you should expect to be moderated.

5.The Company does not need anyone to White Knight for them.
The game speaks for itself. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to enter into a war with another community member over derogatory remarks about the company. “White Knighting” for the company results in nothing but venom and counter- venom, and does nothing to add value to any discussion. No matter how good your intentions are, if you feel the need to wave a sword on the company’s behalf, you should expect to be moderated.

I hope anyone who reads this will consider what has been presented here when they decide to post on the forums. We should all work together as a community to ensure the boards are a productive avenue for all of us to provide the feedback that will help move the game in the best direction it can go.

Agree with this....but moderating a board is a tricky line to walk. You have to allow free flow of thought without the board becoming a cesspool of negativity nor an unrealistic depiction of sunshine and rainbows.

fearthemajor · May 2013

wrenaq wrote: »

It is getting silly on here and everyday it is getting worse.
Threads with links to how to cheat, threads which are just flame wars.
I thought D&D was supposed to bring people together not make them want to rip each others throats out.

If I quit this game it will not be because of the game it will be because of the community.
Forum banhammers need to start swinging to make examples because the T&C are just being ignored and people are running rampant and destroying the forums.

So please try and get more mods....please.

Lots of love with a cherry on top W xx

yes I have been thinking the very same thing the forum community is horrid right now.
I understand peoples frustration with the current situation I do, but there is NO EXCUSE to act the way some of these people are.

I know "hiring" more mods may not be fiscally possible right now. but there is a solution to that to "INTERNS!" or volunteer mods from the community. all the power they get would be to shut down threads getting out of hand and edit and delete posts that are violating the TOS. other games do it and it works reasonably well if done correctly, anything would be an improvement over the hot mess we have right now.

and/or....

someone should probably start an independent community forum so we can some place to talk about the game we still want to play, with out all the haters and trolls coming to tell us how much the game suck and what losers we are for wanting to play it, and suck the fun out of it for the rest of us.

But most of all DON'T QUIT! if you still are enjoying the game and want to see it grow and flourish Don't quit eventually we can wait out these trolls and haters and they will move on to the next game. we have to stick together and stick it out for as long as we love the game or those jack holes win.
Don't let the jack holes win

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

fearthemajor wrote: »

I know "hiring" more mods may not be fiscally possible right now. but there is a solution to that to "INTERNS!" or volunteer mods from the community. all the power they get would be to shut down threads getting out of hand and edit and delete posts that are violating the TOS. other games do it and it works reasonably well if done correctly, anything would be an improvement over the hot mess we have right now.

Community managers and lead GMs are PWE staff. All mods (those with green/blue names) are volunteers.

dobies4life · May 2013

The forum community gets horrid, when the game/bugs/customer support gets horrid. If the game halfarsed work properly the last 3 weeks with accurate communication AND fixes, you would not be having this issue with the forums. I joined this game thinking it was a beta. Thinking a game using DnD lore would be a good one to be apart of. Well I was wrong. They have no intentions of doing what is needed to fix things. If they did it would not have gotten this far. They rushed this pile of HAMSTER to release to get your money. They do not care about you, your forums, or your game play. They will dangle crappy costume pieces in your face to sucker you into giving them more money. they are preying on you being a fan boy to line their pocket. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, bugs would not have persisted this long. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, the 2 mil AD you got in your founders pack would still be worth something. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, epic items would not be for sale for 5-15g per piece. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, you would not even had to make this post.
Keep chasing that carrot on a stick.

cpc2011a · May 2013

Well, I'd volunteer because I genuinely enjoy the game and want to see it do well. However, being bipolar I'm unsure of the standards of mods banning other mods lol (that would be ME getting the ban)

faamalosiblue · May 2013

Well I hope you dont go if you enjoy the game but leave because of the state of the forums.

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

cpc2011a wrote: »

Well, I'd volunteer because I genuinely enjoy the game and want to see it do well. However, being bipolar I'm unsure of the standards of mods banning other mods lol (that would be ME getting the ban)

Mods can't ban. Sure, you can moderate another mod's post, but only staff can actually ban others.

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

dobies4life wrote: »

The forum community gets horrid, when the game/bugs/customer support gets horrid. If the game halfarsed work properly the last 3 weeks with accurate communication AND fixes, you would not be having this issue with the forums. I joined this game thinking it was a beta. Thinking a game using DnD lore would be a good one to be apart of. Well I was wrong. They have no intentions of doing what is needed to fix things. If they did it would not have gotten this far. They rushed this pile of HAMSTER to release to get your money. They do not care about you, your forums, or your game play. They will dangle crappy costume pieces in your face to sucker you into giving them more money. they are preying on you being a fan boy to line their pocket. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, bugs would not have persisted this long. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, the 2 mil AD you got in your founders pack would still be worth something. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, epic items would not be for sale for 5-15g per piece. If they gave a HAMSTER about you, you would not even had to make this post.
Keep chasing that carrot on a stick.

Forum mods don't have anything to do with ingame issues. Nice try, though.

malakhglitch · May 2013

I was a community forum moderator for several MMOs before (I am NOT going to say which and by what name I went) and I know how hard it is to maintain an orderly community forum unless you have 1) a team of moderators willing, ready and able to come down hard on forum infractions, and 2) full support and open lines of communication with the game developer/publisher. If you lack even one of those elements then you will wind up with a toxic forum community.

asakochan · May 2013

l1d3n wrote: »

They also need more Customer Service Reps to take our phone calls and answer tickets.

mate your sig hurts my eyes, seriously -.-

Lower the font or change color please.

dobies4life · May 2013

"The forum community gets horrid, when the game/bugs/customer support gets horrid"

Who said mods? Obviously you didnt read my post

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

malakhglitch wrote: »

I was a community forum moderator for several MMOs before (I am NOT going to say which and by what name I went) and I know how hard it is to maintain an orderly community forum unless you have 1) a team of moderators willing, ready and able to come down hard on forum infractions, and 2) full support and open lines of communication with the game developer/publisher. If you lack even one of those elements then you will wind up with a toxic forum community.

LOL dude, I'm one of those (1) mods...but the hell I catch for coming down hard...I think I've been compared to every despot in history.

kimonagi · May 2013

wrenaq wrote: »

It is getting silly on here and everyday it is getting worse.
Threads with links to how to cheat, threads which are just flame wars.
I thought D&D was supposed to bring people together not make them want to rip each others throats out.

If I quit this game it will not be because of the game it will be because of the community.
Forum banhammers need to start swinging to make examples because the T&C are just being ignored and people are running rampant and destroying the forums.

So please try and get more mods....please.

Lots of love with a cherry on top W xx

If the only thing that bothers you with the game is people in the general chat you can avoid all of that just by not paying too much attention to them or this section. Its mostly for Doomknights venting their frustrations and for Whiteknights to treat them like idiots. Banning people because they are frustrated is a bad idea and a good way to make people rage even more.

asakochan · May 2013

lewstelamon01 wrote: »

LOL dude, I'm one of those (1) mods...but the hell I catch for coming down hard...I think I've been compared to every despot in history.

owhi lewstela i remember you

Don't believe this guy, he's an angel really ahahaha

faamalosiblue · May 2013

lewstelamon01 wrote: »

LOL dude, I'm one of those (1) mods...but the hell I catch for coming down hard...I think I've been compared to every despot in history.

I can live with a despot if hes fair and impartial....... wait....... just as long as you came down hard on *everyone* that guy calling people trolls and idiots or whatever even if hes right............. just as much as that annoying guy who keeps posting HAMSTER that you never agree with.

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

dobies4life wrote: »

"The forum community gets horrid, when the game/bugs/customer support gets horrid"

Who said mods? Obviously you didnt read my post

Honestly? Couldn't be troubled to read a wall of text with no page breaks or clear flow of thought. Anyway, there's no reason for the community to get as bad as they are, and that was what the OP was attempting to address.

Community rage at how issues are handled is no excuse to break the forum rules, nor does it justify the same. That I do see happening. There are ways to express displeasure without being needlessly vitriolic.

However, this IS a gaming forum. That sort of behavior seems to be par for the course.

malakhglitch · May 2013

lewstelamon01 wrote: »

LOL dude, I'm one of those (1) mods...but the hell I catch for coming down hard...I think I've been compared to every despot in history.

I will bet you a Hero of the North Founder's Pack that whatever they called you was nothing compared to what they called me.

cpc2011a · May 2013

lewstelamon01 wrote: »

Mods can't ban. Sure, you can moderate another mod's post, but only staff can actually ban others.

Lol ok then I might get by with a warning the first time..then again when my brain to keyboard filter shuts off my fingers type some pretty bad things. Regardless I doubt they'd want me anyway

uristqwerty · May 2013

I wonder how much of this ongoing negativity is because people see all of the existing negative threads and either decide not to post their less negative one (it would be lost without anyone ever having read it because it was only on the first page for 15 minutes?), or decide to join in the whinefest, because that's what everyone else is doing.

I hope that the people demanding wipes have almost entirely given up within a week, as that would help a lot.

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

malakhglitch wrote: »

I will bet you a Hero of the North Founder's Pack that whatever they called you was nothing compared to what they called me.

LOL if I were a betting man, I'd probably take that. Some things I've been called I can't repeat as they would violate the rules

But I've been compared to Hitler, the HAMSTER...Stalin, the Chinese....North Koreans....etc....

Lol ok then I might get by with a warning the first time..then again when my brain to keyboard filter shuts off my fingers type some pretty bad things. Regardless I doubt they'd want me anyway

Couldn't be worse than having ADD and modding a board at 3 AM with no sleep.

s3pt · May 2013

The mods here seem pretty bad, from what I've seen so far. Threads that are total troll threads that degenerate even further into total flame wars 20+ pages long and the like, I've even seen a mod not only join in on a discussion and take a side, but then went on to abuse his "power" to moderate the opposition and delete their posts.

If the mods themselves need policing, how can these forums be anything but a cesspool over and above the usual fanboy vs everyone standard MMO forums?

lewstelamon01 · May 2013

s3pt wrote: »

The mods here seem pretty bad, from what I've seen so far. Threads that are total troll threads that degenerate even further into total flame wars 20+ pages long and the like, I've even seen a mod not only join in on a discussion and take a side, but then went on to abuse his "power" to moderate the opposition and delete their posts.

If the mods themselves need policing, how can these forums be anything but a cesspool over and above the usual fanboy vs everyone standard MMO forums?

There's always the option of PMing the CM of the board or using the ticket system if you disagree with the actions of a moderator.

Mods are players, too, though. They are volunteers--they don't get paid by PWE, nor do they represent the opinions or position of PWE. They do have the right to take a side in any issue, or to take none if they so choose. However, it is in their enforcement of the rules that they must be impartial. They can't permit some to flame others and then crack down if the other person flames back.

Myself, I usually let pages go on for only a while and if I see them becoming flame wars (or the potential to become a massive flame war), the lock gets used. Unless it's happened while I was asleep.

cpc2011a · May 2013

lewstelamon01 wrote: »

LOL if I were a betting man, I'd probably take that. Some things I've been called I can't repeat as they would violate the rules But I've been compared to Hitler, the HAMSTER...Stalin, the Chinese....North Koreans....etc....

Couldn't be worse than having ADD and modding a board at 3 AM with no sleep.

Ok you got me with the ADD thing. As for being compared to [enter despot here] my kids do that to me on a regular basis lol.

sockmunkey · May 2013

Give it another week. Most of the disgruntled will grow bored and move on. It will be quiet again with the exception of a few scattered trolls and soapbox preachers who typically never leave. They stay like its a mission.

This will continue until the next perceived "disaster" and the cycle will repeat.

battlechant · May 2013

..../signed

The forums need more mods....

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