While i applaud the efforts of all moderators and argue they almost always moderated to the rules the trouble was that the only people being banned were those with the strong and well thought out opinions.
Becoming tired of the stale nature of this place. I found myself on Discord recently.
To my surprise here was a group of so called troublemakers all getting a long like life long friends. I guess thats what happens when they all feel they have been treated poorly by those they had looked to to validate their right to have an opinion.
It was and still is a thing of beauty. I myself have mended a few bridges and now get on well with people who i had fell out with on this forum. Why, well thats the million dollar question.
What I don't understand is - if "other types of fans" created their own way of supporting the club, and found that the new "thing" was good and worked for them, why the need to come back to the forum, or complain about the forum, or ask the owner to change the style of the forum - or any combination of those?
I mean if the Discord experience is that good for the Discorders, they can't be happy with that? I don't use the Discord because I only need / want 1 outlet for my Tigers thinking. I don't have the time or desire to manage multiple social media presences.
I believe you that there are disgruntled or disenfranchised former forum contributors. There are also hundreds or thousands of active members in the forum under it's current set up - many of those must be OK with the way it's been running. It remains to be seen if the member experience will improve or not during the next few months.
Personally I've experienced the opposite of what you are explaining. I think this Forum is a standard above any other rugby league social platform I have yet experienced. I agree sometimes the mods have been heavy-handed, but like referees, they are human and don't have their best performance every week.
I think it's a naive statement to say that only "strongly opinionated" people were being banned. I have seen a lot of petty short-term accounts come and go, starting arguments then disappearing. I'm not a mod, but I would guess the "well thought out" posters are on the minority of those banned. Truly, by definition, well thought out posts should not require moderation... otherwise they are not so well thought out.
Re your last paragraph that was the entire problem. "well thought out posters" who were not getting banned was up to the descretion of the mods. That's not fair.
@chicken_faced_killa said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509187) said:
@gnr4life said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509163) said:
@the_patriot said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509157) said:
@jirskyr said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509152) said:
@the_patriot said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509143) said:
@cochise said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509142) said:
@the_patriot said in [Another Quick Forum Update](/post/1509138) said:
Having been on this forum and previous forum incarnations for a number of years ive enjoyed the banter and many differing opinions put forward by its members.
There is no better site on the internet or social media platforms to gauge what the Wests Tigers community is thinking about certain topics. It has been a reflection of the ride that we have all been on.
What i love more than anything else is someone with a strong opinion. Someone who is not afraid to speak their mind and offer pure opinion based comments. What i hate more than anything else on here has been people who react negatively to these strong opinions while hardly ever offering their own . The guys who come out of the woodwork and harrass the OP for that opinion. Banging on and on trying to force a reaction or make them regretful of ever commenting in the first place.
This has been an issue for many years. Willows moderation style was to ban the person forced into a reaction rather than pull up the person responsible. The person who was not accepting of other peoples opinion. It was a style Cochise also fell victim to.
Over the years many many previously decent contributors were banned. One by one they fell on their sword while trying to defend their opinions.
While i applaud the efforts of all moderators and argue they almost always moderated to the rules the trouble was that the only people being banned were those with the strong and well thought out opinions.
Becoming tired of the stale nature of this place. I found myself on Discord recently.
To my surprise here was a group of so called troublemakers all getting a long like life long friends. I guess thats what happens when they all feel they have been treated poorly by those they had looked to to validate their right to have an opinion.
It was and still is a thing of beauty. I myself have mended a few bridges and now get on well with people who i had fell out with on this forum. Why, well thats the million dollar question.
The answer it seems is that when you allow people to express themselves to their full extent, like minded people with strong opinions come to respect those who disagree with them.
This has all come about not because of Discord but because someone posted a thread on League Unlimited about how bad this place had become.
The forum was not just over moderated but also housed a small group of guys who were chiefly responsible for many people being banned or turning their backs on the forum. The general consensus on League unlimited was that the moderation of this site was not paying enough attention to these agitators and had made this place a less enjoyable place to post.
Kul was made aware of the League Unlimited thread and i am not shocked at all he has made this decision.
Former user after former user of his forum all come forward with testimony to the same story. These were not Discord people these were League Unlimited people and their opinions carried a certain level of impartiality. A few of the Discord lads posted and told a similar story however the point is that they were not alone in this common story. A large section of of our fan base had turned their back on Kuls forum.
The issue was the style of moderation.
Let me be clear the issue was not the existence of moderation and rules. Everyone understands that it needs to exist and most people want a forum with clear guidelines and a family friendly environment.
@Kul appreciate you looking to improve this place. I have no doubt that many will return if the moderation style changes.
A thread that contained many personal attacks such as
There is another moderator called Cochise (we all call him ck cheese), who still gets bullied. He is a fat ugly baldy headed ginger [censored] with a big fat gunt. This guy is possibly the biggest fanboy loser I’ve ever encountered. He runs that soft ck supporters group ambush which gets ridiculed everywhere. He bans people who disagree with him as his intellect and knowledge are sub par.
Plus more against other posters here. That is where kul took his advice.
No I'd say that is where KUL asked himself why they are so upset.
No that stuff is unacceptable for any reason at all. The kind of person that tees off like that on a forum should be banned, deserves it.
100% no issue with a banning for that kind of posting.
But as ive said if it was my forum id ask why are people so upset. I suggest you try and see it from Kuls point of view.
Where do you draw the line? What if it was a death threat? Do police ever look at it from the POV of someone making the threat?
Where do you draw the line?
Personal threats should be out and personal attacks should also be out.
People seemed to be getting banned for minor things like disagreeing with someone and calling them a fool, Saying ‘punt him’ multiple times, criticising others. These things are all okay for a forum as long as they don’t get personal. Posts were getting deleted for any minor reason that could be found. There are pages of threads ‘this post has been deleted’. It’s not really the moderators fault as they were working within the current guidelines but some discretion could have been shown or posters could have been worked with to readjust their behaviour.
I asked this earlier but what do people want the place to look like moving forward?
Now’s the chance to focus on the future of the place.
I'd like a place where we can talk as we do in real life, that includes swear words and banter. I'd also like to see personal attacks eliminated. I'd like a less hands on approach from the moderating team than previously existed.
I love the current forum structure and would like that to stay.