Recent Rash of Rather Harsh Responses

[kjnelan]

I've been doing quite a bit of reading on the forums and have been finding more people than I thought possible responding to questions people pose with utter disrespect and at times complete lack of humanity.  I find this rather disturbing.

But then I came across this...

I could totally wrong here, but this just shows me that the person behind the character has feelings. This means that we should all play respectfully with each other. If we don't then we might take a chance to loose a great player such as (name removed due to great admiration and respect)...

...I have complete respect for you (name removed due to great admiration and respect).

[yes I know you can just go to the appropriate thread and read the name.  Still.  I wish to show my absolute respect to the individual.]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!  [applaudes]   Shouldn't that be true then for the forums as well?  If someone asks a question or makes a response to someone else, don't call them lazy or wantless, or in any other way demoralize that person.

I've read plenty of posts that do exactly that. 

While I realize that we shouldn't be hand-holders or anything like that, I also realize that this world of information technology has allowed a sense of distance from the other person reading the screen.  We would all do well to remember there are HUMAN beings on the other sides of those words.  Real people with Real feelings.  Those feelings can easily find their ways into our characters.

[silently sits back to wait for...]


[I too am human and have feelings.  It was pointed out to me that the sentence which was originally here seemed to attack the forums.  Since that was not my intent I have removed the statement. Thank you for your patience and understanding.]

[Hrothbert]

Now I totally agree with all of your post except that last part in brackets; Unfortunately you did exactly what you were trying to help resolve with that last comment. It wasn't a direct attack on any specific person but it was and attack on the forum culture as a whole.

if you feel that it is too harsh here please try not to propagate the problem. I just suggest to edit that last part out of your initial post.

Again I do agree there have been many harsh responses and most from specific individuals and there are steps being taken to repair those problems that I have seen from the Admin team.

[kjnelan]

Now I totally agree with all of your post except that last part in brackets; Unfortunately you did exactly what you were trying to help resolve with that last comment. It wasn't a direct attack on any specific person but it was and attack on the forum culture as a whole.

if you feel that it is too harsh here please try not to propagate the problem. I just suggest to edit that last part out of your initial post.

Thank you.  I will...  rephrase the sentence.

Peace to you.

[Mathy Stockington]

I have never been quoted before. My words were written in all honesty though. My opinion on this thread is that the players have been requested to contribute to the game. We do so with all our hearts and souls due to the fact that we love PlaneShift so much. As was all things in life nothing is perfect though. So being given complete freedom to speak our minds we do so without a thought of who it might hurt by how we say what we think. I wrote this http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=30231.0 in hopes that people would start to say kind things in these forums.

I hope that we remember that people looking to play a new game might look at this forum and judge the game by it. Using respectful words and making suggestions to improve this great game would be better then just complaining and wining. There is an old quote: “We don’t know how good we have it until it is gone.” I wonder if people realize all our volunteer developers, testers and prospects could quit if we are mean enough. We could be left with nothing.

So take your love for this game and make useful posts and please be respectful. Most of all remember it is a game for us to fun.

Respectfully yours,

Mathy.

[kjnelan]

I have never been quoted before. ...

Great and wonderful words such as the ones you spoke should be quoted more often.

I wrote this http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=30231.0 in hopes that people would start to say kind things in these forums.

I like the idea of telling people how wonderful they are BEFORE they leave!  It is a great Idea Mathy!!!!  I hope people start posting in that thread more! 

Kudos!

With Deep Respect,

Ken

[kjnelan]

Someone sent me a pm regarding this issue and I would like to share part of my response.

[quote from pm]
I guess I should have also mentioned that when I read the post I quoted from [raises pants in an attempt to look macho] I got misty.  I suddenly knew that post had to be shared and told to everyone who would listen. ...

Apparently someone else thought as much too as they moved this from where it was originally posted to the Forums section (and thanks for that!!!) and didn't delete it as I personally thought might happen.
[/quote]

If I have disrespected anyone regarding this issue, I apologize.  It was not my intent so please re-read my original post.  The intent of this thread is to get everyone to treat each other as human beings and not as pieces of binary code attached to a keyboard and mouse.  I quoted the person I thought most reflected the attitude of kindness and humanity.  I'm sorry if I was wrong to do so.

Thanks.

[Scuzzle]

I'm so glad you posted this. I was actually thinking of posting something just like this. I've been a registered user here for months and have played planeshift nearly everyday for a year but never post anything on the forums. The reason being that a few always seem to think that just because a post exsist that their negative opinion is wanted.

The guild section seems to be one of the worst sections. Someone comes up with a guild and many feel they automatically have to bash everything about it.

There are a few that are almost always blatantly rude and/or negative . They are not better than anyone else like they think they are. One person in particular that is almost always rude gave a hint at their age and that did help explain a lot however. Perhaps one day the forums will be rid of these people and then maybe others will start posting here or posting here once again.

This is the first post I've felt led to respond to in, well, ever.

[Waylander]

The forums are actually quite nice as of late.  There have been much worse periods in the life of the forum.  But, I guess we can always improve.

I don't quite agree with the guild forums part.  The criticism there is usually warranted and most of those threads are attacked because the poster hadn't read the stickies or done any research.

[Candy]

Well yeah, but people do tend to word their posts a little more harshly than is needed there anyway.

I think forums in general just tend to make people forget that there's more to the other user than the text they see on the screen.

[Tuxide]

I've been a registered user here for months and have played planeshift nearly everyday for a year but never post anything on the forums. The reason being that a few always seem to think that just because a post exsist that their negative opinion is wanted.

The guild section seems to be one of the worst sections. Someone comes up with a guild and many feel they automatically have to bash everything about it.

There are a few that are almost always blatantly rude and/or negative . They are not better than anyone else like they think they are.

I 100% agree with this part.  I've been playing PlaneShift for almost six years now; I've been a guild leader for about a year and I don't even bother to make my own promo thread on this board because I can't stand the rudeness I see on the promo threads of other guilds.  There's a difference between being open to feedback and being open to persistent rudeness.

Perhaps one day the forums will be rid of these people and then maybe others will start posting here or posting here once again.

I disagree; the enemy here is rudeness, not individuals.  Considering this is a volunteer project, we shouldn't even be tolerating such attitude.

[Eliseth]

I am a great believer in forum etiquette, and I agree with the original poster (About Mathy as well ). I only wish more people had the attitude of those in this thread.

The only thing we can do is lead by example my friends, and if someone tries to insult us, we must simply turn the other cheek. I've tried to get this idea across in the guide I wrote earlier this year, and I can only hope that people who read it keep what I said in mind whenever they make a forum post.

Thank you for the positive thread kjnelan.

[Tuxide]

The only thing we can do is lead by example my friends, and if someone tries to insult us, we must simply turn the other cheek.

I'm not convinced that'll do anything, but maybe I don't understand what you mean.  Newcomers will always be a problem but without them this forum cannot grow.  I'm more concerned about rudeness coming from established users here.  What kind of incentive or mechanism do we need on this forum to encourage everyone to be civil?

I've tried to get this idea across in the guide I wrote earlier this year, and I can only hope that people who read it keep what I said in mind whenever they make a forum post.

I know of no such guide, please provide a URL.

[Beniel]

I suspect I might be one of the people that kjnelan refers to when he speaks of "Harsh Responses". So I formally apologise for any offence for my post. 

I would like to say a couple of things about it though. I was in a rush when posting, as I needed to leave the comp in a few mins. So all I was doing was attempting to keep you informed about how the issue had been reported and confirmed as a bug. "Too lazy" was also a bad choice of words, I kinda meant, "and if you can't be bothered to read the posts, here are some things that might help you to get around the issue. Rather ironically, after making that post I was kind of pleased with posting something useful, as opposed to random on the forums. But the more I read it the colder my post gets

Thus I have rewritten my post here

Yeah, I've found this bug really annoying as well, but thankfully it has been reported on the bugtracker already here.
There is also another thread on the forum also discussing a few ways to sidestep the problem  here.

To save you the trouble of reading those threads, two possible ways to avoid the stamina dump is to:

1. Sit then stand before moving after standing for long periods.
2. Turn left and right before moving after standing for long periods.

I hope they work for you

[Parallo]

tl;dr

But seriously, its a forum for a roleplaying game. If someone says something here that is rather short but intended to help and you get your panties in a twist over it, I think you have more problems than the content of their post.

[Mathy Stockington]

I have one more thing to say: http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=28270;sa=showPosts;start=240