Been playing on and off since vanilla. Thinking back, I don’t recall so many posts on the forum rapidly devolving into some sort of grudge match between two people like they do now. So many class forum posts seem to have this happen.
Personally, it seems very polarized like much of real life lately. Perhaps I’m just misremembering or pining for the good ok’ days…
There’s a lot of tension in here, when people disagree with you they push it a bit far honestly. People take this game way too seriously.
Yes, yes there is.
I agree to disagree. Also, I love the monologues.
I think the pandemic did a number on people
I know it did a number on my tolerance for stupid. And cemented my love of the hermit lifestyle.
Meh the forums have stayed the same for as long I can remember, at least since cataclysm when I started lurking around in them. I believe that the removal of the downvote button has made people say more about why they disagree with another post perhaps and maybe that contributes to what you see. It’s about the same to me tho.
The moderation went down a little bit too. So now we have more topics that don’t really need to exist on here but do. The new website has had a negative effect on the atmosphere here maybe.
I miss that button
Removing it was a mistake 
This. I also think that, not to mention this particularly, but the climate in America (and the world) over the last year or so did a number on people.
For the most part the forums are far less mean spirited than in say, Burning Crusade era. But these last few months have been really tedious. I wish the ones who want to play FFXIV would just go do it rather than play for attention here. The ones who come to the general forums to scream about bugs yet never actually report them can go too. This game has problems, some of them serious, but the disruptive and hyperbolic cryfest that this place has devolved into lately isn’t accomplishing anything but making matters worse.
I agree with you a lot. Things have gotten crazy. People become militarized in their thinking and can’t seem to let go at all, or see the other point of view…
The more angry people are with the game, the more angry they get with each other it seems.
We live in a day and age where many people act on nothing more than pure emotion. A simple disagreement anymore means the other person is trolling and toxic. People aren’t the same as they were years before. The fake outrage crowd is real.