A very real and serious question here. I know a lot of people who post here, and a lot who don’t, and I hear very varied opinions on how positive or negative the forum environment is here.
So I want to ask, do you feel safe here? Do you feel able to share your opinion without people jumping down your throat? Do you feel like a variety of topics can be discussed here, or are there certain community taboos? Do you feel overwhelmed with negativity, or overwhelmed with positivity, or generally just overwhelmed by how many posts there are to read? In short, do you feel safe to post on these forums?
The purpose of this, in my mind, is to get a bit of overall forum feedback… How does the community at large feel about this? Due to the mix of opinions I’ve encountered, I’m genuinely not sure. But I think that, good or bad, it helps everyone to hear a bit of feedback now and then, so that if the forums are largely non-inclusive, that can potentially be changed.
In the spirit of this post, I’d also ask that we try to avoid fights with people on this thread, no matter what opinions are voiced. I’d also ask that we avoid bringing up specific individuals we have taken umbrage with. I know we all have our gripes here, but the last thing I want to see is personal attacks and big arguments.
Well, it’s definitely subjective (which is why you made the thread haha), I’ll say for me: yes. I feel safe here, though I feel safe in most places. It’s probably a mix of confidence, optimism and idiocy.
I know boundaries here, and sometimes risk a temp ban anyway. And I’ve gotten them. It’s worth it though if it makes a few of you laugh IMO.
I’d say that I feel pretty safe to express my thoughts on here, but I’m still more of a lurker. I don’t like conflict, even online, but it doesn’t get to me like it does for some folks. I blame it on growing up in AOL chat rooms.
I feel safe here, despite the fact that I mainly lurk. I mean, honestly, this little corner of the forums is where I feel most connected to the WrA community as a whole. There’s good bits and bad bits, but that’s what a community is.
I’ve always found the whole Forum Cabal ™ thing rather amusing because, while obviously there are numerous regulars here, y’all are a rather diverse bunch: Alliance, Horde, super serious, super silly, lore nerds, etc. And I’ve never felt excluded by not being super involved-- I know what topics people can get passionate about, I get most of the in-jokes, and (most importantly) I know who wears the funny hats.
Nah. I’ve never felt particularly unsafe here. The people who I’ve seen complain most typically display the most troublesome behaviours. It’s not a cabal, just a forum with people that tend to be likeminded
The General Discussion forms are a mess. I wouldn’t say I feel unsafe there, just that it’s not worth the mess that’s going to be caused by contributing an opinion.
It’s a very legitimate question and I absolutely understand how a hostile environment can make people feel unsafe, even online. Words matter, culture matters, and I dearly hope that Wyrmrest Accord is as welcoming and pleasant a place to everyone as it has been to me. I don’t want to underplay some of the bad behavior and toxic individuals we’ve seen here, but I truly think we have a good community, especially for a gaming one.
With that said, I have to admit I do feel safe, but largely because I really cannot overemphasize how little any of you frighten me.
The forums have given me a lot of grief over the years. I’ve had stalkers, harassment, threats and obsessives because of my posts here. Heck, I still get them more than I’d care to. But chances are good that anyone who would do that over a forum post was always going to do it, so I don’t know if the forums are to blame for that.
Edit --> Good to know. If you ever have the forums call you out for not using a complete sentence, just add ‘complete sentence’ at the end and it’ll let it pass.
That’s the thing I’ll give these new forums the most credit for. I genuinely feel like I’m talking to people, not just talking at a wall like I used to, at times.
I should actually answer this, instead of just be naked.
I do feel safe, yes! Mainly because by this point I’m at least familiar with all you lovely people, and most people are very nice here. Even disagreements are fairly civil. People talk about “drama” but honestly the stuff is mild 9/10. I think the community here is a good one, and I feel like I can honestly share any opinion I may have, and not regret it later.
I don’t really chatter a bunch on the forums? But I will say, from what I see, I generally feel pretty safe on here. I know folks can get heated, but I guess I also have a lot of faith in the Wyrmrest community to, in the end, even out against the more… extreme, hostile stuff, and be reasonable and fair. And plus, I’ve been on Wyrmrest Accord for years. Not always very active, and certainly not very talkative, but I’ve seen you folks around for a long time. I’m familiar with the community here, and it’s home. Not always the most stable, but, y’know. XD
I tried to form a Forum Resistance against the Forum Cabal once but it didn’t work out because it ended up being comprised of Forum Cabal members wearing mustaches.
Except for one person. She wore a very nice beard.
There are opinions I have and would love to bounce off of people, but don’t post here because the vocals would probably misinterpret me.
I don’t mean like any weird kind of manifesto stuff, just things that I know can make people uncomfortable, especially coming from a near-stranger like myself. I’m not sure I’d give a rando the benefit of the doubt in that sort of situation, so why should I expect it from any of you?
I should’ve addressed this in my first post, but I didn’t so I will now.
There are topics that are considered taboo on the forums - topics that have caused a great deal of drama or frustration in the past. Mentioning these topics will generally get the reaction any of you reading this will expect - not a positive one. As a ‘community’, most of the people here try to shut that sort of thing down because we don’t want it to fester here and cause more problems - and it can come off as ‘forum cabal-y’.
Which is unfair because, as I’ve said before, that’s not how a cabal works. We’re just a large-ish group of people that have similar opinions in a lot of scenarios.
TL:DR There are taboo’s on these forums - things that will get bad reactions if you talk about them. There are reasons for those bad reactions, however, and before screeching FORUM CABAL at least go to the minimal effort of trying to understand why those things upset people.