I have a question though. I often times see threads for games like The Order and Driveclub/Forza Horizon 2 derailed by people coming in and complain about it being filmic, or having quick time events (or being 30FPS in the case of the two racers). There's nothing any amount of complain will change since those things are just the way the devs have decided to make their games so my question is, can anything be done about that derailment?
Is it not right, in that case, to just say if you don't like it, don't buy it. We know exactly what the Order is offering, we know exactly what the devs are trying to do, so why are threads continually derailed by people coming in and complaining about core elements of the game that they dislike. It's no better than if I, as someone who dislikes MOBAs (for example), went into a Dota 2 thread and complained about it being a MOBA.
Similarly, complaining about 30 FPS in a game like Horizon 2 or DC serves no purpose since that won't change no matter what. So it's a very simple, don't like it don't buy it, no? Heck, the whole 30 vs. 60 FPS debate often time derails just about any game and it's annoying. Would it be possible to do anything about stuff like that. Like similar to the "No Port Begging" tag in the title of certain posts, couldn't a "no 30FPS whining" tag be made or something.
"If you don't like it, don't buy it" and "Don't shit up a thread about a game you don't care about with driveby criticisms" are two very different concepts.
"If you don't like it don't buy it" isn't necessarily bad in and of itself, but it's largely irrelevant in the contexts it is often used. You can choose to not buy a game, and still have a discussion about the things that it did wrong. Or you can choose to buy a game even if you dislike some aspects about it. But you shouldn't be discouraged from talking about something just because you don't like it. Very often when this expression is used, it is in the context of "If you don't like thing, just leave so we can talk about how much we like thing," which is exclusionary and it leads to echo chambers, so it's ultimately bad for discussion. Now obviously critical posters can devolve into trolling, but that's completely separate from issue at hand, and they obviously shouldn't be allowed to troll.
I've seen different moderators, numerous times warn members that comments along the line of "don't like it then don't buy it" are considered detrimental to a conversation and that moderators will regularly begin cracking down on those sorts of posts.
Granted though, this was a month or two ago and I can't actually find the thread where particular lip was given.
My above response applies to this post as well. The issue is not recommending people not buy things they don't like. For instance, if someone is getting dramatically upset about the business model of a game they were looking forward to, it's not a bad thing to recommend they not play a game that would cause them further emotional turmoil.
Where it becomes a problem is when it is used to shut down dissenting opinions.