Ned Flanders
Banned
Once again I'm confronted with assholery by the NeoGAF brass, and reluctantly forced to call a spade a spade.
Lets review:
Early on the 25th, I start my first ever "official" thread about Far Cry 2, a pretty substantial title less than a month from release with seemingly no major hype/discussion thread.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336428
If I can be so vainglorious, it was a pretty solid OP, and I had already made a couple of edits and additions within the first several hours of posting it, planning to make more at the suggestion of other posters in the thread (suggestions that I explicitly invited in the OP). As you can read for yourself, it was a pretty productive thread, with some worthwhile sharing of information...some with concern for the quality of the game, others who were sold by the thread itself into checking the game out. Lets look at some of the quotations:
"Finally an official thread! I can't wait for this game."
"Shit.. Sold. All I need to decide is.. PC or 360.. Hmm."
"Nice job OP."
"Great OP! Glad you started this thread, Ned. FC2 is one of my most anticipated games after watching the videos."
"I've been hot on the tail of this one for a while. I'm really excited for it! Great thread."
Etc..
So I arrive today to make some updates to the OP and see how the discussion is progressing, only to find my thread locked and bookended by this:
(in response to my statement in the OP that this was my first official thread)
Now, aside from being unncessarily SUPER SNARKY PERSNICKETY CUTE with the condescension, lets take a look at the ACTUAL LANGUAGE of the Thread Ettiquette guide that MEGASTAR and SOMEONE SPECIAL, EVILORE linked:
Now am I the only one who makes a distinction between "make an official thread a week before the game comes out" and "ONLY make and official thread one week before it comes out"??? One sounds like a suggestion, the other sounds like an explicit guideline. If I violated the latter, I'd expect a thread lock, but violating the former sounds like I just chose not to take someone's advice. In addition, were'nt the other two suggestions sufficiently met?
Furthermore, the "don'ts" further makes my point, as it is less ambiguous:
Now this is an EXPLICIT guideline, however, it is one that my thread was not in violation of. My thread wasn't even ONE MONTH in advance of the title's release, much less multiple months. And again, the other two guidelines are followed as instructed.
So, given these circumstances, does this in any way merit a thread lock and a degrading quip from a mod? Is the point of this message board to facilitate ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE AND INFORMATIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT VIDEOGAMES? Because if it is, locking a thread like this, in this fashion, would appear to run counter to these goals.
The thread was moving along nicely, with many contributers and a lot of useful information being shared. The thread was NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY SPECIFIC GUIDELINE delineated in the ettiquette thread, but rather fell outside of what appeared, as per the verbage, to be a SUGGESTION on the part of forum moderators. Any responsibility for this ambiguity and its consequences falls on the shoulders of the moderators and not the posters.
Making things even more difficult, unless I'm mistaken, the words "Far", "Cry", and "2" all fall outside of the necessary standards for search criteria, making finding worthwhile discussion and useful information regarding the game a far more tedious process than it would be with threads for other "Official" threads.
Given that it was my first "Official" thread, couldn't a more prudent course of action been taken? You couldn't have extended the thread a pass, made the clarification about time limits (that again isn't EXPLICITLY merited by the ettiquette guide), and allowed the thread to continue for the sake of PRODUCTIVE GAMING DISCUSSION?
Or is this place all about looking cool and being persnickety? Gotta have those SLY MODERATOR QUIPS TO PUT DOWN THE INSUBORDINATE POSTERS who aren't aware of EVERY SINGLE GAF CONVENTION or RULE. Is this some kind of fucking country club, or are we all about games? Well if it is, discard my membership, and I'll go play at the municipal course because I'm done with this stuffy bullshit. Unlock the thread and apologize, or ban me.
I'm sure that egos would dictate the latter is more likely, in which case, fuck each of you who are deserving. Thanks..
Lets review:
Early on the 25th, I start my first ever "official" thread about Far Cry 2, a pretty substantial title less than a month from release with seemingly no major hype/discussion thread.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336428
If I can be so vainglorious, it was a pretty solid OP, and I had already made a couple of edits and additions within the first several hours of posting it, planning to make more at the suggestion of other posters in the thread (suggestions that I explicitly invited in the OP). As you can read for yourself, it was a pretty productive thread, with some worthwhile sharing of information...some with concern for the quality of the game, others who were sold by the thread itself into checking the game out. Lets look at some of the quotations:
"Finally an official thread! I can't wait for this game."
"Shit.. Sold. All I need to decide is.. PC or 360.. Hmm."
"Nice job OP."
"Great OP! Glad you started this thread, Ned. FC2 is one of my most anticipated games after watching the videos."
"I've been hot on the tail of this one for a while. I'm really excited for it! Great thread."
Etc..
So I arrive today to make some updates to the OP and see how the discussion is progressing, only to find my thread locked and bookended by this:
(in response to my statement in the OP that this was my first official thread)
EviLore said:
Now, aside from being unncessarily SUPER SNARKY PERSNICKETY CUTE with the condescension, lets take a look at the ACTUAL LANGUAGE of the Thread Ettiquette guide that MEGASTAR and SOMEONE SPECIAL, EVILORE linked:
Mega(Official) Thread Etiquette:
Do's for game specific megathreads:
- Create a thread for a game 1 week before it comes out.
- Include lots of relevant information to help people learn about the game. Not necessary, but a nice gesture would be to update the thread with links to answers to commonly asked questions.
- Ask questions relevant to the game in official threads
Now am I the only one who makes a distinction between "make an official thread a week before the game comes out" and "ONLY make and official thread one week before it comes out"??? One sounds like a suggestion, the other sounds like an explicit guideline. If I violated the latter, I'd expect a thread lock, but violating the former sounds like I just chose not to take someone's advice. In addition, were'nt the other two suggestions sufficiently met?
Furthermore, the "don'ts" further makes my point, as it is less ambiguous:
Don'ts for game specific megathreads:
- Do not create a megathread months in advance.
- Create a thread and never update the first post
- Post a thread with no information in the first post(Lock worthy)
Now this is an EXPLICIT guideline, however, it is one that my thread was not in violation of. My thread wasn't even ONE MONTH in advance of the title's release, much less multiple months. And again, the other two guidelines are followed as instructed.
So, given these circumstances, does this in any way merit a thread lock and a degrading quip from a mod? Is the point of this message board to facilitate ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE AND INFORMATIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT VIDEOGAMES? Because if it is, locking a thread like this, in this fashion, would appear to run counter to these goals.
The thread was moving along nicely, with many contributers and a lot of useful information being shared. The thread was NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY SPECIFIC GUIDELINE delineated in the ettiquette thread, but rather fell outside of what appeared, as per the verbage, to be a SUGGESTION on the part of forum moderators. Any responsibility for this ambiguity and its consequences falls on the shoulders of the moderators and not the posters.
Making things even more difficult, unless I'm mistaken, the words "Far", "Cry", and "2" all fall outside of the necessary standards for search criteria, making finding worthwhile discussion and useful information regarding the game a far more tedious process than it would be with threads for other "Official" threads.
Given that it was my first "Official" thread, couldn't a more prudent course of action been taken? You couldn't have extended the thread a pass, made the clarification about time limits (that again isn't EXPLICITLY merited by the ettiquette guide), and allowed the thread to continue for the sake of PRODUCTIVE GAMING DISCUSSION?
Or is this place all about looking cool and being persnickety? Gotta have those SLY MODERATOR QUIPS TO PUT DOWN THE INSUBORDINATE POSTERS who aren't aware of EVERY SINGLE GAF CONVENTION or RULE. Is this some kind of fucking country club, or are we all about games? Well if it is, discard my membership, and I'll go play at the municipal course because I'm done with this stuffy bullshit. Unlock the thread and apologize, or ban me.
I'm sure that egos would dictate the latter is more likely, in which case, fuck each of you who are deserving. Thanks..