System dictates that what needs to be done and how they are carried out.
We can see a recurring inconsistency in alot of things that the company performs.
Taking an example, Moderation. The COC is the system that is like the rule book, but if we see different standard in that application, then it indicates either a lacking of the COC clarity or the system where the Mods are disciplined to carry out their task.
If there is no system to discipline the Mods, then Mods have no constrains to implement what they interpret from the COC.
Again we look back at the past ‘actions’ in this forum. We can see there is a system in place but they are very geared towards certain aspect. Active, 2-way communication is not one of them.
Even when there MIGHT be Mods that wants to have a casual communication with forum members, the “hidden” system may be to blame that restricts them to do so.
I think it is not restrictions in above case, rather a lack of restriction that they have to do so.
Interestingly, we can see a difference in communication management between Bliz US and Bliz China…even thou Bliz US is the Main.
Also, I make clear distinction between Mods interaction from Dev interaction, as in initial OP. Dev have a more close knowledge of in game developments while Mods are more focus on forum maintenance.
As such, it still falls under the system which the company employs. Since there is no ‘system’ to dictate that Dev NEED to communicate via this forum, then it is normal that they can choose their preferred method.
If you really want to consider how much they pay attention to this forum, consider for a moment how many things we’ve been postulating on, especially regarding the Dormant keyword and some explosive minions that utilize it.
I hit up Celestalon’s Twitter today and asked him about copying Magtheridon post-dormancy. I had my answer from him within 2 hours.
They engage with the playerbase, but they do it on 3rd party services rather than their own forums. Whether this is better or worse is up for the individuals to decide, but that’s exactly how it is now.
And it goes back to my linked sticky above… It serves absolutely no purpose. You know what WOULD serve a purpose as a sticky? One regarding the upcoming HoF cards, especially as its happening BEFORE this years rotation. That is valuable info worthy of being pinned.
IDC about their internal politics, whatever they may be. I do care about the fact that they are not treating the forum community with the respect it deserves!
As such, the opposite applies.
If the system dictates that you shall not place you hand in a boiling pot (Safety Policy)
If the system dictates that you shall not “take a car or purchase a bus ticket to enter a building one block away” and claim mileage (HR Policy)
etc, etc.
While some may sound stupid, such system exists to dictate company operations.
What I am addressing is that system that dictates how Mod or Dev communicates in this forum.
If that system does not dictates the employee, then they could CHOOSE to do whatever they prefer. If the system states, that all communication must be done via the forum, then they have to abide.
And its great that you are taking this thread in that direction, as it now allows us, the forum community, to raise our concerns on that “system” which, I believe, many regulars consider to be flawed. Its now a place where us forumites can provide feedback on OUR expectations of these forums but, like always, communication is a 2 way street.
I would hazard a guess that (most) regulars do not agree with the current system, in one way or another. So our feedback is the best way to instigate change to the current system.
Blizzard’s history of interaction with their fanbase on their own forums has historically been sub-par, at best. In some rare exceptions, they’ve had employees like Ghostcrawler (Greg Street - former WoW dev) that would interact with people on the forums. But typically, total radio silence is the norm.
Their policy has been to mostly avoid interaction on the forums because they don’t want to ‘get the thread off track’ with people asking the ‘Blues’ all kinds of off-topic questions because they showed up in a thread. That is paraphrasing from one of the Blues (might have been Ghostcrawler) response as to why they don’t interact more.
Personally, I’ve always thought that logic was self-fulfilling prophecy because the more rare Blizzard interaction is, the more likely people will use the very infrequent times they do interact to try to ask them about other stuff. If interacting with us was common, that would be less of an issue, especially if they had dedicated threads to ask questions.
And that is what we are trying to raise awareness of. What they want is clearly not what WE want.
We dont want little “mod notes” tacked on to the last post in a thread when its locked explaining the reason, we want to see BLUE TEXT explaining the reason a thread is being locked, for example.
I mean, they arent even doing basic housekeeping - sticky threads - that to me is completely unacceptable, regardless of what “system” they have to follow!
The reason I chose examples of what not to do was to be whimsical; disagreeing with you always makes me feel bad, and I wanted to keep our discussion lighthearted.
Having said that, I did choose my phrases with care, with respect to developer interaction.
It is common sense to use your own official forums as your primary mode of communication, or at the very least to post all relevant news there even if they were first mentioned elsewhere.
It is simple logic that people follow developers, and not the other way around; and if news were to be posted on these forums, many more people would refer to and even post in them.
It is basic decency to treat the players who take their time to provide feedback, help others, and otherwise contribute to the community in your official forums with a modicum of esteem – we afford the developers respect by posting here, and they should return the favor.
Moderators might well have to follow certain stipulations that limit their interaction, and there is nothing we can do about this if that is the case. However, I would contend that effective moderation can only be accomplished by integrating with the community a given moderator wishes to watch over. Indeed, we see so many disproportionate punishments and biased actions precisely because the mods do not know this community, the posters in it, how it runs, and how most people tend to act.
Because if we look at cross platform of how communication are done at WOW, Overwatch, etc, etc, does the same system applies across the company?
or simply why the differences between US and EU forum?
(even the layout is different for HS US and HS EU)
If not, then does the system requires alignment?
Going into this direction, it is much progressive in terms of discussion.
I do not assume them as whimsical examples. IRL there are such examples.
Wear your safety glasses when doing drilling. It is common sense, yet we continually see workers get eye injury due to failure to comply.
Bring back to forum, there are many common sense things. But, since there is no ‘safety rule’, then there is no hold on what they have to do.
Again, I like to make a distinction between Mod and Dev. Since, the OP stated more specifically on Mods, then we can explore the difference between Blizzard’s platform and also other Forum’s management.
If we look back at JH as a Mod/CM for this forum, I would have questioned why the same level of representation is not available in the new forum. Where if the system dictates, then there MUST be a regular assignee to perform the role.
The absence, show that it is not in the system.
As a player, then I questions that system. However, I probably would not get a reply since, again it is not in the system.
However, with this approach. It better shows the lacking of a company rather than individuals.
or a “Hidden” Policy that has been circulating within the workforce.
Reddit is headache and maintenance free platform for blizzard. They can rely on the moderation to come from Reddit. This way, they don’t have to directly deal with customers. If they use these forums, they have to do the work.
I’m quite certain that the question of “Why do we need to pay mods when you don’t use the forums, you do use reddit which mods itself?” came up when they were deciding to move to a completely automated system.
