Thread locking and Four

[Lu Xun]

I'm not talking about alliance leaders, but alliance leaders matter. In a mob, there are always individuals who are more prominent and more influential, and targeting them for negotiation and discussion works better than targeting the mob itself. As to whether the game is actually based on individuals; well, at the end of the day, see how many users are posting here. It's a small minority; for the vast majority of players, community actually means their alliance. Politics usually pivots on the interets of alliances, not individuals, except when individuals are alliance leaders.

 

As I've mentioned before, an uncontrolled and unmitigated communications strategy is dangerous, because it allows players to have too much influence over the mod staff. I know that there are rumors that in certain games ban-evaders managed to become moderators, and my experience in yet another game is indicative of how players can screw moderation over: in Stratis Imperia, we had certain foreign members who were operating spy multis. When they got caught, our FA team managed to get the moderator involved fired and our player reinstated. Players are a major locus of power, but moderation's loyalty should be to Sheepy, and hence the game at large.

[LordRahl2]

You asked what % of p/w players post here. Interesting question. However, I think it is the wrong one. Who is impacted by moderation? Who contributes, positively and negatively, to the forum? 100% of forum users do so. So your point that there are silent p/w users is irrelevant.

 

Bottom line here: mod policies are for forum users.

 

Now your point about communication being "dangerous": This would be a non issue if moderators identities were known and they were open to discussion/criticism from the community. There is no doubt that potential harmful elements would be routed out by the forum.

Bottom line: your argument here is actuality for more transparency not the same or less.

[Avruch]

Last post in this thread from me I expect. To reply to Alice's post, yes I'm familiar with the rules. I just don't agree that it is preferable or healthy to have discussions about moderator actions be hidden behind closed doors. From a command and control perspective (i.e. imposing ORDER ON THE FORUMS!) perhaps it has its benefits, but it certainly won't lead to better moderation or support positive relationships between moderators and the posting community.