So what ever happened to the transparency that era was founded upon?

[Hecht]

This doesn't mean I want to be banned, but even my ban history isn't really consistent. I am not 100% accurate on the actual ban lengths cause I don't keep track but I figure my trajectory has been: warning, 2 day suspension, 3 day suspension, 5 day suspension, 2 week suspension to a.... 3 day suspension? I'm going to assume there's different categories for what someone is actioned for?

Again, not looking to be perma-baned, but ya know, even I find this odd.

Click to shrink...

Depends on the infraction. If you were banned for a series of events in an escalating manner, and then got a ban for something wildly different (like, say you had four bans for hostility and then got one for console warring), then it could differ.

I will just say it is not an exact science. Even if the reasons are different, if they happen close enough to each other, the escalation may happen along both of those bans. If we notice a wild difference in the pattern, it may be a different ban. There are tons of factors that go into each ban

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

what

Someone that accrues ten infractions over 6 months will be looked at different than someone who does so over 6 years

Click to shrink...

If you've been posting here for 6 years your basically a god, or a timelord.

 

[julia crawford]

I do wish i could see my ban/warning history. I legit don't remember if i've had any or not. Maybe there is, but i haven't seen found it honestly.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Can mods and admins see someone's ignore list? Is it taken into account if they are using it in an attempt to self-moderate and avoid conflict?

 

[Hecht]

If you've been posting here for 6 years your basically a god, or a timelord.

Click to shrink...

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN DAMMIT

 

[Shy]

Shy, I don't think you are a bad person, but it was never just the one post. If someone has one infraction each for:
- console warring
- antagonizing other members
- disingenuous arguments
- ignoring modposts
- thread derails

We are still going to escalate it. It doesn't matter if the person has a "pattern" in the sense that we would ban someone for a specific thing, so much that we would ban someone for frequently, generally, ignoring the rules. It's nothing personal, but eventually there is a breaking point.

Click to shrink...

Wait!!!! i've got a ding for disingenuous arguments.
When the fuck did that happen ? I honestly don't remember being told off for that. (or doing it for the matter, because i'm not that kind of person)

DOUBLE WAIT!!!!!. Console warring. When did i do that shit ?!?!?!??!?!
Are you sure that's my rap sheet you're looking at. I find console warring to be fucking infantile. So i don't know when i did that.

And as for the nothing personal. Mate i want to believe you. But that ban (and more importantly the message) about my fears of being Doxxed. Was personal, you guys didn't have to take a swipe at me in that.

I almost asked for my account to be deleted because of that. And it still hurts.

 

[Hecht]

Can mods and admins see someone's ignore list? Is it taken into account if they are using it in an attempt to self-moderate and avoid conflict?

Click to shrink...

There might be a way, but I'll be honest I've never looked. But I also don't understand the question - if you're ignoring someone who may be baiting you I imagine you wouldn't respond with anything antagonistic

 

[Hecht]

Wait!!!! i've got a ding for disingenuous arguments.
When the fuck did that happen ? I honestly don't remember being told off for that. (or doing it for the matter, because i'm not that kind of person)

DOUBLE WAIT!!!!!. Console warring. When did i do that shit ?!?!?!??!?!
Are you sure that's my rap sheet you're looking at. I find console warring to be fucking infantile. So i don't know when i did that.

And as for the nothing personal. Mate i want to believe you. But that ban (and more importantly the message) about my fears of being Doxxed. Was personal, you guys didn't have to take a swipe at me in that.

I almost asked for my account to be deleted because of that. And it still hurts.

Click to shrink...

I wasn't reading your sheet. I just picked a bunch of infractions out of a hat. Figured it was better than airing all of your infractions in public :P

 

[daegan]

It was turning into a boil of complaining about mod actions because mods were very poor to take feedback in the first place. Just go back to the last incident here, mods didn't react until it was explosive and a lot of people complained. Between then a lot of people got swept under the rug unfairly and with little transparency.

Click to shrink...

It says what that person was banned for right at the top of the image...? Spamming something like this gif to complain about being moderated is going to be actioned? Just because the people in the thread did not like it doesn't necessarily mean it was wrong. Not my thread, not a thread I lurked, and I am not staff, but I don't see what they expected to come out of that.

 

[MrLuchador]

Forum was set up as a business, 3 months later Era Clear and the 'Big Funding Debate' was floated out.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-big-funding-update.17194/

A forum that had inherited a large amount of an established database of users from NeoGAF, which we know before things went to pot was making some decent money through ad revenue. I don't think people really thought about this at the time, but looking back it's a wonderful business move to acquire that ready made userbase (which at the time was said to be 34,000 active members).

on our 34,000 active members.

Click to shrink...

In fairness, the big funding update to outline what the advert money would be used for.

Funding Priorities

Our first and foremost goal is to cover the operating expenses of the site and secure its long term existence. Should we earn a surplus we aim to build a warchest that can carry us through any rainy days ahead. We also have long term ambitions to reinvest in a number of technology and software upgrades; later this month we hope to be able to improve our hosting in such a way that will ensure the site will be able to handle any traffic without a hitch, even during the very heights of E3.

Click to shrink...

I guess there is some evidence to support that some of those points were met. At the time a number of asked if making a profit for personal gain was an intention, which I feel was understandable given how previous forum owners (that some strongly disagree with morally) had made bank from adverts and might not want to have been suckered into it again.

Another question I have is who is getting all the ad money?

Click to shrink...

https://www.nycompanyregistry.com/companies/resetera-llc/ aka https://www.resetera.com/members/cerium.3/

Eventually, it was explained that a Limited Liability Company had been founded, which basically means if it all went to pot the person in question wouldn't lose everything other than assets tied to the company. I doubt the modding team see any of this money for the actual work they're doing. Modding a forum on the internet is a thankless task.

Other Things

There are a few other things that I've seen since the start of Era that I find confusing, and I put it down to the modding team not able to be impartial or lack of personal interest in the issue. It was suggested several months ago by Coldsun that I post about this. I no longer have the specific examples I had early in the year, but a quick search of the forum shows it's still around:

1. The allowance of threads and discussions promoting the complete destruction of an entire breed of dog as being 'dangerous', despite research and evidence to show that stats aren't accurate 1
2. Israel and Palestine talk
3. Blame placed on Jewish communities for Anti-Vaxxer movements and viral breakouts 1
4. Slurs and 'casual racism' towards Asian and Latino communities
5. The outright hatred for China
6. The US-Centric feel to the forum in terms of belief, laws, and political structure and issues. This one is somewhat understandable given the large portion of users are probably from the US. The ignorance that non-US members should instantly be aware of the issues, would be akin to expecting people to be aware of the issues happening in Poland, or the impending implosion of the NHS.
7. Hostilities towards established communities - I find this one ironic given it was the communities that came together and gave Resetera credibility during its formation.
8. Lack of transparency about the adverts - who is advertising through Resetera, is it a conflict of interest for Era to be advertising one platform over another, are users still able to criticise a product that is being advertised through Era, etc.
9. The backtracking and demeaning nature mental health issues are handled across the forum

Admin Staff and Moderators appearing on offsite Discord communities, enforcing site rules and shutting down negative comments regard ResetEra the forum and the modding team. At the time offsite discord communities were not official, yet suddenly they were being moderated as such.

Rules for one users, different rules for another. It seems that some members can openly provoke and banbait other users.

I do miss SweetNicole's community updates, and feel like the forum experienced a large disconnect between 'staff' (volunteers) and users when they stopped. The forum started off really well, I enjoyed the early months. It was fresh and exciting, it felt as though things would be different. Yet here we are. Is this due to the userbase being largely the same as NeoGAF?
Is it due to the mods being volunteers?

 

[Deleted member 12790]

There might be a way, but I'll be honest I've never looked. But I also don't understand the question - if you're ignoring someone who may be baiting you I imagine you wouldn't respond with anything antagonistic

Click to shrink...

Just in general, like you said you look at someone's intent and history. Wouldn't a long ignore list be an indication that they're trying to purposefully avoid conflict when it arises?

 

[Ichthyosaurus]

And I would also add that banning people removes the temptation of a flashpoint - if posters are aggressing each other and end up banned, they can't then spill into other threads when they should be cooling off.

Click to shrink...

Except the banning happens long before it gets to any flashpoint, this isn't a Three Strikes situation it's a one strike and you're out situation, including from the mildest of offences of simply disagreeing with a moderator or siding against a group a mod takes the side in while operating in good faith. This ignores how this site has a terrible history of bad actors, of numerous variations, doing dog piles and openly racist or bigoted remarks including against minorities, and getting away with it in large groups. They're not hiding, they know they're safe and protected.

Plenty of people think their responses are eloquent when they're not. Also sometimes the mods assume bad faith when it isn't there- for various reasons, not all of which are bad.

I do think if someone has a generally good history, they should be given more benefit of the doubt, or they should be given a chance to explain their reasoning if they get banned, and then get it reduced/overturned.

Click to shrink...

They should but they don't. This is completely unavoidable if you happen to be be arguing in good faith and a mod thinks you're a bad faith actor. Trying to get it reduced is a bad idea, and can make it worse and you won't get a single word in a PM from a mod about it to defend yourself. You're on your own.

Warnings are reserved for very small things. I'm not gonna warn someone for calling someone a n***er, for instance. Console warring? Ok. We all get heated and we all have favorite things.

I've always operated on one rule, and one rule only. Don't be a dick.

If someone doesn't like the game you like, then ok. That's fine. If someone is enjoying a game, you don't have to jump in and tell them how "wrong they are."

It really is that simple. That is literally the ultimate rule to follow here.

Click to shrink...

Warnings are like unicorns, I never see them anywhere - just instant banning.

Except more often then not being a dick is supported here, and sometimes required to defend yourself against other dicks while the mods do nothing or openly side with the dicks. This happens with an alarming frequency, and I don't know what's worse when mods side with the dicks or an entirely absent from the conversation letting the dicks do everything they can to shame, humiliate and bully people off the site. Sometimes they'll do the right things, and we'll get a banning that deserves it but this is not as common as it should be.

OT is the worst at this, why is this much rougher than the Hangouts? It's like Thunderdome in here.

Everyone has a history. Now if there is, say, a gap of a year since their last infraction, I'm happy to give them a pass of sorts, but density is a factor.

Click to shrink...

Density is part of the problem. The numbers of the trolls and bad actors are far too high. Everyone does have a history, but sometimes a mod makes a bad call and you're stuck with it and bad actors will weaponise that against you to chase you off the site. The best behaved people won't last a year between infractions, all it takes is a tiny mistake or bad actors trying to make them look bad and they won't be a warning it will be a banning.

 

[Hecht]

Just in general, like you said you look at someone's intent and history. Wouldn't a long ignore list be an indication that they're trying to purposefully avoid conflict when it arises?

Click to shrink...

Again, if you are ignoring people, you are clearly not responding to users whom you are ignoring. So either you are responding to the OP or some user you are not ignoring. The same general rules are in place, don't be a dick. We don't make connections between users and the users they ignore because we can't - but we also assume that you are referencing them because you can't see them.

 

[Shy]

Right. I'm off to bed. As it's way past my bed time.

I wasn't reading your sheet. I just picked a bunch of infractions out of a hat. Figured it was better than airing all of your infractions in public :P

Click to shrink...

Ohh. Also i don't mind my shit being aired in public. TBH.

But i would like you to make note of the this part of my post. Because that's something very personal to me, and stings every time i come on this site.
"And as for the nothing personal. Mate i want to believe you. But that ban (and more importantly the message) about my fears of being Doxxed. Was personal, you guys didn't have to take a swipe at me in that.

I almost asked for my account to be deleted because of that. And it still hurts. "

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

Forum was set up as a business, 3 months later Era Clear and the 'Big Funding Debate' was floated out.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-big-funding-update.17194/

A forum that had inherited a large amount of an established database of users from NeoGAF, which we know before things went to pot was making some decent money through ad revenue. I don't think people really thought about this at the time, but looking back it's a wonderful business move to acquire that ready made userbase (which at the time was said to be 34,000 active members).



In fairness, the big funding update to outline what the advert money would be used for.



I guess there is some evidence to support that some of those points were met. At the time a number of asked if making a profit for personal gain was an intention, which I feel was understandable given how previous forum owners (that some strongly disagree with morally) had made bank from adverts and might not want to have been suckered into it again.



https://www.nycompanyregistry.com/companies/resetera-llc/ aka https://www.resetera.com/members/cerium.3/

Eventually, it was explained that a Limited Liability Company had been founded, which basically means if it all went to pot the person in question wouldn't lose everything other than assets tied to the company. I doubt the modding team see any of this money for the actual work they're doing. Modding a forum on the internet is a thankless task.

Other Things

There are a few other things that I've seen since the start of Era that I find confusing, and I put it down to the modding team not able to be impartial or lack of personal interest in the issue. It was suggested several months ago by Coldsun that I post about this. I no longer have the specific examples I had early in the year, but a quick search of the forum shows it's still around:

1. The allowance of threads and discussions promoting the complete destruction of an entire breed of dog as being 'dangerous', despite research and evidence to show that stats aren't accurate 1
2. Israel and Palestine talk
3. Blame placed on Jewish communities for Anti-Vaxxer movements and viral breakouts 1
4. Slurs and 'casual racism' towards Asian and Latino communities
5. The outright hatred for China
6. The US-Centric feel to the forum in terms of belief, laws, and political structure and issues. This one is somewhat understandable given the large portion of users are probably from the US. The ignorance that non-US members should instantly be aware of the issues, would be akin to expecting people to be aware of the issues happening in Poland, or the impending implosion of the NHS.
7. Hostilities towards established communities - I find this one ironic given it was the communities that came together and gave Resetera credibility during its formation.
8. Lack of transparency about the adverts - who is advertising through Resetera, is it a conflict of interest for Era to be advertising one platform over another, are users still able to criticise a product that is being advertised through Era, etc.
9. The backtracking and demeaning nature mental health issues are handled across the forum

Admin Staff and Moderators appearing on offsite Discord communities, enforcing site rules and shutting down negative comments regard ResetEra the forum and the modding team. At the time offsite discord communities were not official, yet suddenly they were being moderated as such.

Rules for one users, different rules for another. It seems that some members can openly provoke and banbait other users.

I do miss SweetNicole's community updates, and feel like the forum experienced a large disconnect between 'staff' (volunteers) and users when they stopped. The forum started off really well, I enjoyed the early months. It was fresh and exciting, it felt as though things would be different. Yet here we are. Is this due to the userbase being largely the same as NeoGAF?
Is it due to the mods being volunteers?

Click to shrink...

Thanks for taking the time to research this. I also miss SweetNicoles community update topics, I wish there was someone that could carry that on.

 

[Lant_War]

You won't, but it's a lot like when a cop drives behind you, you instinctively change how you drive but then you see the cop speed past ya cause you went the speed limit and they got places to be and then you sigh in relief.

Click to shrink...

But they ain't police, what are you talking about lol. They aren't going to ban you for having a different opinion, hell even most of the time you have mods disagreeing.

 

[Ichthyosaurus]

But they ain't police, what are you talking about lol. They aren't going to ban you for having a different opinion, hell even most of the time you have mods disagreeing.

Click to shrink...

It happened to me because I disagreed with a mod over Snowden.

 

[Bengraven]

The transparency was a flat out fucking lie, and was dropped from almost the first day.

You're just an ad revenue stat to this place.

For all the talk about this being a safe space for people is a fucking joke (the biggest one of all) as the admin are far too concerned with optics from the off-site places of all things.

Constantly pulling the "clean slate" for people who just go of-site and just laugh and laugh how they're constantly given another chance. And flat out say they're going to make trouble, and yet nothing happens.
And the only reason those people are kept it, is for the numbers. Cause it's all about the $$$ baby.

I'm still genuinely hurt by my banning when opening up about being afraid of being doxxed. And then, AND THEN. The staff fucking mock me publicly.


This place was created by white feminists, for white feminists.

Click to shrink...

You had me until the end.

 

[subpar spatula]

But they ain't police, what are you talking about lol. They aren't going to ban you for having a different opinion, hell even most of the time you have mods disagreeing.

Click to shrink...

Even though staff say mods won't do it, no one wants to risk it. Authority being around always freezes an environment.

 

[Hecht]

Just in general, like you said you look at someone's intent and history. Wouldn't a long ignore list be an indication that they're trying to purposefully avoid conflict when it arises?

Click to shrink...

Again, I don't believe I can look at a user's ignore list (if I can, I don't know how, and I've been here since the beginning), so I can't use that as evidence. But also, if someone's ignore list is that big, are the ignored users the problem? If the list is mostly banned members, then fine...

 

[Hecht]

Even though staff say mods won't do it, no one wants to risk it. Authority being around always freezes an environment.

Click to shrink...

?

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Again, I don't believe I can look at a user's ignore list (if I can, I don't know how, and I've been here since the beginning), so I can't use that as evidence. But also, if someone's ignore list is that big, are the ignored users the problem? If the list is mostly banned members, then fine...

Click to shrink...

I heard you the first time! :P

EDIT: Oh wait, this wasn't a forum glitch?

 

[Deleted member 227]

It says what that person was banned for right at the top of the image...? Spamming something like this gif to complain about being moderated is going to be actioned? Just because the people in the thread did not like it doesn't necessarily mean it was wrong. Not my thread, not a thread I lurked, and I am not staff, but I don't see what they expected to come out of that.

Click to shrink...

You are completely missing the point. If a large group of users feel like the moderation is biased and inconsistent, then express that as a group, but are met with "stop talking about us" and are swept under the rug with mass bans until they comply, does that seem transparent to you?

It literally happened this week again, but with a new community.

 

[subpar spatula]

?

Click to shrink...

I can't be the only one who reacts that way when a mod comes in with an opinion on a thread. There's always the air of, "Uh, can we disagree with a mod?" I am not saying a mod will abuse their power, just how I figure a lot of people will react because a mod is in a position of power and you assume what they say is correct because they are a mod.

 

[Hecht]

I heard you the first time! :P

EDIT: Oh wait, this wasn't a forum glitch?

Click to shrink...

LEARN TO READ :D

 

[Vern]

Terms I have come to despise:

"Actioned"

"Prior severe infractions"

I don't care how well intentioned it is, it reeks of 1984

Click to shrink...

"Inflammatory generalizations"

 

[Hecht]

I can't be the only one who reacts that way when a mod comes in with an opinion on a thread. There's always the air of, "Uh, can we disagree with a mod?" I am not saying a mod will abuse their power, just how I figure a lot of people will react because a mod is in a position of power and you assume what they say is correct because they are a mod.

Click to shrink...

I mean it depends on the thread. If you walk into a thread where a mod is agreeing that "trans rights are human rights" and disagree, then yeah, I won't be surprised if you are banned.
If it's a thread where a mod says "Bloodborne is the best game ever" and you disagree, there shouldn't be a worry. If there is I will ban Morrigan

 

[ZeroX]

Forum was set up as a business, 3 months later Era Clear and the 'Big Funding Debate' was floated out.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-big-funding-update.17194/

A forum that had inherited a large amount of an established database of users from NeoGAF, which we know before things went to pot was making some decent money through ad revenue. I don't think people really thought about this at the time, but looking back it's a wonderful business move to acquire that ready made userbase (which at the time was said to be 34,000 active members).



In fairness, the big funding update to outline what the advert money would be used for.



I guess there is some evidence to support that some of those points were met. At the time a number of asked if making a profit for personal gain was an intention, which I feel was understandable given how previous forum owners (that some strongly disagree with morally) had made bank from adverts and might not want to have been suckered into it again.



https://www.nycompanyregistry.com/companies/resetera-llc/ aka https://www.resetera.com/members/cerium.3/

Eventually, it was explained that a Limited Liability Company had been founded, which basically means if it all went to pot the person in question wouldn't lose everything other than assets tied to the company. I doubt the modding team see any of this money for the actual work they're doing. Modding a forum on the internet is a thankless task.

Click to shrink...

So basically we switched from EvilLore to Cerium, at the end of the day all the power and money is still in the hands of one person?

 

[Deleted member 12790]

So basically we switched from EvilLore to Cerium, at the end of the day all the power and money is still in the hands of one person?

Click to shrink...

A LLC is one that divorces the owner of the company from the company itself. Hence, if the company goes down, the owner doesn't, and vice versa. So kinda-sorta, unless they also incorporated which would mean there is a board and ownership is driven by stake.

NeoGAF was more like a monolith, if Evilore became broke or whatever, the site dies with him. Or vice versa, if GAF became a huge financial liability, it could have actually drained Evilore's finances. In that essence, NeoGAF and evilore are basically one and the same thing.

 

[subpar spatula]

I mean it depends on the thread. If you walk into a thread where a mod is agreeing that "trans rights are human rights" then yeah, I won't be surprised if you are banned.
If it's a thread where a mod says "Bloodborne is the best game ever" and you disagree, there shouldn't be a worry. If there is I will ban Morrigan

Click to shrink...

I get that. It's just still there is that aura that happens when a mod appears. The original conversation thread was about when a mod enters a conversation. The weight of a mod title is strong. If you're in an argument with someone and a mod comes in and joins the opposing argument, I don't doubt most people will instinctively, ya know, just kind of throw in the towel, not because the mod will abuse their power, but that a titled and appointed authority is disagreeing with you. It's not a bad thing per se, just that, I don't know, it's hard to mitigate that irrational fear. Ya know?

Maybe it's just my drunken Baltika ramblings. I doubt it's of any importance. *enters those bushes Angie posted*

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

A LLC is one that divorces the owner of the company from the company itself. Hence, if the company goes down, the owner doesn't, and vice versa. So kinda-sorta, unless they also incorporated which would mean there is a board and ownership is driven by stake.

NeoGAF was more like a monolith, if Evilore became broke or whatever, the site dies with him. Or vice versa, if GAF became a huge financial liability, it could have actually drained Evilore's finances. In that essence, NeoGAF and evilore are basically one and the same thing.

Click to shrink...

Right so if Era goes down as a financial liability, then what?

 

[LewieP]

Right so if Era goes down as a financial liability, then what?

Click to shrink...

Gets bought by THQ Nordic.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Right so if Era goes down as a financial liability, then what?

Click to shrink...

Then oh well, I guess. The ownership or finance of the site honestly don't bother or concern me personally.

That said, I'm inherently and fundamentally for the idea that a business can fail without ruining a person financially. Ideally, you want people to be productive members of society, and that entails being able to produce money unfortunately. Letting something fail without ruining someone for the rest of their life lets them become productive members of society again the future. So ResetEra being an LLC is just natural to me. I own my own incorporated LLC, for example (I own 90% stake in the company).

 

[Doober]

"Inflammatory generalizations"

Click to shrink...

A new one that popped up recently is, "attacking the community."

That one is a real head-scratcher because the banned poster was basically pointing out how abrasive, sensitive, and confrontational the forum can be.

But I've seen other posters lambast the forum as a den of "neckbeards" with "cheeto-crusted fingers" or do variations of the whole "ugh, fucking gamers/men/white people/cishets" diatribe (bearing in mind that this is - nominally - a gaming forum) without censure.

Hell, just last week some members of transEra were literally trashing the forum and its leadership and received nothing but deference.

So what constitutes an attack on the "community" here?

 

[Darksol]

Like any forum, this is a place I visit when I'm on the can or absolutely bored. I don't care how it is moderated. If I don't like it any more, I'll leave.

 

[ZeroX]

A LLC is one that divorces the owner of the company from the company itself. Hence, if the company goes down, the owner doesn't, and vice versa. So kinda-sorta, unless they also incorporated which would mean there is a board and ownership is driven by stake.

NeoGAF was more like a monolith, if Evilore became broke or whatever, the site dies with him. Or vice versa, if GAF became a huge financial liability, it could have actually drained Evilore's finances. In that essence, NeoGAF and evilore are basically one and the same thing.

Click to shrink...

But regardless of liability, to the end user it's basically the same thing right? ResetERA's company isn't multiple people, it's still essentially everything on one person?

 

[Hecht]

So basically we switched from EvilLore to Cerium, at the end of the day all the power and money is still in the hands of one person?

Click to shrink...

1. The allowance of threads and discussions promoting the complete destruction of an entire breed of dog as being 'dangerous', despite research and evidence to show that stats aren't accurate 1
2. Israel and Palestine talk
3. Blame placed on Jewish communities for Anti-Vaxxer movements and viral breakouts 1
4. Slurs and 'casual racism' towards Asian and Latino communities
5. The outright hatred for China
6. The US-Centric feel to the forum in terms of belief, laws, and political structure and issues. This one is somewhat understandable given the large portion of users are probably from the US. The ignorance that non-US members should instantly be aware of the issues, would be akin to expecting people to be aware of the issues happening in Poland, or the impending implosion of the NHS.
7. Hostilities towards established communities - I find this one ironic given it was the communities that came together and gave Resetera credibility during its formation.
8. Lack of transparency about the adverts - who is advertising through Resetera, is it a conflict of interest for Era to be advertising one platform over another, are users still able to criticise a product that is being advertised through Era, etc.
9. The backtracking and demeaning nature mental health issues are handled across the forum

Admin Staff and Moderators appearing on offsite Discord communities, enforcing site rules and shutting down negative comments regard ResetEra the forum and the modding team. At the time offsite discord communities were not official, yet suddenly they were being moderated as such.

Rules for one users, different rules for another. It seems that some members can openly provoke and banbait other users.

I do miss SweetNicole's community updates, and feel like the forum experienced a large disconnect between 'staff' (volunteers) and users when they stopped. The forum started off really well, I enjoyed the early months. It was fresh and exciting, it felt as though things would be different. Yet here we are. Is this due to the userbase being largely the same as NeoGAF?
Is it due to the mods being volunteers?

Click to shrink...

Christ.

All right let's do this.
1. It's one thread, and it is a specific instance of said dogs attacking another dog. You will see people discussing both the topics of pit bulls in general and those espousing concern for the dog that was attacked.
2. If we are pro-Palestine, we are apparently anti-Semitic. If we are pro-Israel, we are anti-humanitarian. There is a reason we have a staff post in every. single. one. of those threads. Israelis!=Israeli government, and we support the idea that people should be allowed to exist without conflict.
3. One post, and I checked, it was never reported. We get thousands of posts per day and we do not manually see them all, as that is nigh impossible.
4. While we could certainly be better, there was an instance in this thread where someone was permed for defending his "rike" comment.
5. You're going to have to be more specific here, because in recent months I don't see any reason why people wouldn't be outraged by things like China's treatment of the Uyghurs.
6. You said it yourself, it's a largely US-centric forum. Wanna change it? Get more non-US people to sign up.
7. Gonna need more specifics. Apart from us wanting communities to be more accepting of new users, or wanting them to not antagonize other established communities , I don't know what you're talking about.
8. Adverts are not generally controlled by site managers. It's a pool of advertisements that are tailored to individual users. What you are browsing will ultimately determine your ads. We make an effort to correct any malicious, screen-blocking ads, but just like literally any site out there, our control is only as far as the complaints that we get.
9. Again, need more specifics. We are consistently handling things like mental health on the forum. We support the Mental Health community, and if anyone is in imminent danger, we will take steps to help them.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

But regardless of liability, to the end user it's basically the same thing right? ResetERA's company isn't multiple people, it's still essentially everything on one person?

Click to shrink...

I guess it depends on your history with forums shutting down. A site like this not being tied to the financial stability of a single individual is a big deal to me. I've been online since 1989, and a number of really important communities to me have shut down in the past because of that. Coming from Sega demoscene circles, the very first big Sonic hacking sites were a constant problem of this.

Actually, in game preservation circles, this is currently a huge topic, because one of the pillars of the community, AssemblerGames (which is like 20 years old) is shutting down for this very reason.

To your point, yeah, the leadership of ResetEra isn't a huge change in that regard, but the durability of the site related to liability is much stronger. If the owner of this site goes broke, but the site is self sufficient, it stays running, as you'd hope.

 

[Hecht]

I get that. It's just still there is that aura that happens when a mod appears. The original conversation thread was about when a mod enters a conversation. The weight of a mod title is strong. If you're in an argument with someone and a mod comes in and joins the opposing argument, I don't doubt most people will instinctively, ya know, just kind of throw in the towel, not because the mod will abuse their power, but that a titled and appointed authority is disagreeing with you. It's not a bad thing per se, just that, I don't know, it's hard to mitigate that irrational fear. Ya know?

Maybe it's just my drunken Baltika ramblings. I doubt it's of any importance. *enters those bushes Angie posted*

Click to shrink...

Staff tries to take part in the various communities we are already or want to take part of. As I said in an earlier post, I am in the Mafia community, and I would be immensely disappointed if they acted differently because I decided to show up. We want to be part of the communities because the main reason we do any of this is that we love this community - we aren't looking for trouble. I would be incredibly happy if no one was being an asshole and we could just discuss the newest game around.

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

Then oh well, I guess.

Click to shrink...

But you were just making the point that the company would still survive without the owner as a benefit of the LLC, so either way the net outcome is the community dies.

 

[Eumi]

I get that. It's just still there is that aura that happens when a mod appears. The original conversation thread was about when a mod enters a conversation. The weight of a mod title is strong. If you're in an argument with someone and a mod comes in and joins the opposing argument, I don't doubt most people will instinctively, ya know, just kind of throw in the towel, not because the mod will abuse their power, but that a titled and appointed authority is disagreeing with you. It's not a bad thing per se, just that, I don't know, it's hard to mitigate that irrational fear. Ya know?

Maybe it's just my drunken Baltika ramblings. I doubt it's of any importance. *enters those bushes Angie posted*

Click to shrink...

Honestly you're echoing a lot of thoughts I've had too. I've stayed out of a lot of these discussions since I don't think I'm the kind of person that needs to be listened to here, but there is absolutely a power imbalance when a mod gets involved with a conversation that makes it off putting to engage them.

Of course there shouldn't be any issues if you're following the rules, but mods are far from perfect, and I can't see any reason why the power imbalance should be hand waved away, when it absolutely is having an affect on the way people post.

I don't even think it's a bad thing, but it should be acknowledged. Like, yeah, of course a mod shouldn't ban someone for disagreeing with their opinion on bloodbourne, but I personally don't think I'd ever disgaree with a mod's opinion on it directly out of worry that I'd piss them off, which would put my account under extra scrutiny that others don't have. And I know the immediate response there is "well there shouldn't be an issue if you're following the rules anyway", but we've seen time and time again that mods are fallible. They do reverse bans, which shows that they're not always made when they should, and there's no reason I can see to put yourself on the bad side of those with power when you can just ignore it and start talking about games with people who don't hold that power over you.

 

[karl's wood]

It's kinda amazing to see people owning up to catching multiple bans that they're still mad about to the point remembering them years later say they think a simple warning would have been a more effective deterrent.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

But you were just making the point that the company would still survive without the owner as a benefit of the LLC, so either way the net outcome is the community dies.

Click to shrink...

The community only dies if the site itself dies. You're asking me, what if the site dies, and that's why I said "oh well." Like, that's beyond anyone's control. But a LLC ensures that a major reason a lot of sites die is eliminated. That doesn't mean the site is guaranteed to live, just that it has less ways to die.

 

[Speevy]

Did this forum's members buy stock in it when I wasn't looking?

 

[subpar spatula]

Did this forum's members buy stock in it when I wasn't looking?

Click to shrink...

I bought majority shares. Y'all under my control now.

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

The community only dies if the site itself dies. You're asking me, what if the site dies, and that's why I said "oh well." Like, that's beyond anyone's control. But a LLC ensures that a major reason a lot of sites die is eliminated. That doesn't mean the site is guaranteed to live, just that it has less ways to die.

Click to shrink...

I'm obviously not as well versed in this topic as you are so correct me if I'm wrong. But if a company that's an LLC gets in financial trouble the owner can bail out, but the company still exists. So somebody else can pick up ownership of that company with its debts and try to make it work. But the original owner keeps what they have made and can cut financial ties?

Am I in the right ballpark with this or am I missing something?

 

[subpar spatula]

I'm obviously not as well versed in this topic as you are so correct me if I'm wrong. But if a company that's an LLC gets in financial trouble the owner can bail out, but the company still exists. So somebody else can pick up ownership of that company with its debts and try to make it work. But the original owner keeps what they have made and can cut financial ties?

Am I in the right ballpark with this or am I missing something?

Click to shrink...

*salivates endlessly*

 

[ZeroX]

I guess it depends on your history with forums shutting down. A site like this not being tied to the financial stability of a single individual is a big deal to me. I've been online since 1989, and a number of really important communities to me have shut down in the past because of that. Coming from Sega demoscene circles, the very first big Sonic hacking sites were a constant problem of this.

Actually, in game preservation circles, this is currently a huge topic, because one of the pillars of the community, AssemblerGames (which is like 20 years old) is shutting down for this very reason.

To your point, yeah, the leadership of ResetEra isn't a huge change in that regard, but the durability of the site related to liability is much stronger. If the owner of this site goes broke, but the site is self sufficient, it stays running, as you'd hope.

Click to shrink...

Uh, I'm less concerned about the financial stability of an individual or forum - by all accounts GAF was racking in the cash, Era isn't as big but it should be more than self sufficient - it's that the previous forum collapsed because of the corruption and moral failings of one person who held all the money and power. I mean EvilLore's behavior toward women was known on the forums for years before the exodus, he just erased any posts that were critical of him or revealed information he didn't like (which I saw happen in real time once, a user and their posts just completely vanished). It took outside websites and an onslaught of posts that he couldn't erase fast enough for everything to finally come to light.

My problem is more how this website was supposed to fix GAF's issues, but it seems there's just as much potential for what happened there to happen here? There's no checks or balances in place (that I'm aware of), one person still has full control and we have no idea where any money is going. Am I wrong?

 

[Speevy]

I bought majority shares. Y'all under my control now.

Click to shrink...

 

[subpar spatula]

Uh, I'm less concerned about the financial stability of an individual or forum - by all accounts GAF was racking in the cash, Era isn't as big but it should be more than self sufficient - it's that the previous forum collapsed because of the corruption and moral failings of one person who held all the money and power. I mean EvilLore's behavior toward women was known on the forums for years before the exodus, he just erased any posts that were critical of him or revealed information he didn't like (which I saw happen in real time once, a user and their posts just completely vanished). It took outside websites and an onslaught of posts that he couldn't erase fast enough for everything to finally come to light.

My problem is more how this website was supposed to fix GAF's issues, but it seems there's just as much potential for what happened there to happen here? There's no checks or balances in place (that I'm aware of), one person still has full control and we have no idea where any money is going. Am I wrong?

Click to shrink...

If staff is open to communicating and advocating / helping vulnerable communities, there's no reason that wouldn't eventually rise up to make the place better overall. I highly doubt what happened to GAF will happen here.