Moderation overkill?

Community General Discussion
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**Mod Edit: **Discussing in-game for forum penalties is against our Forum Code of Conduct. Locking this down.

Has the moderation on the new forums felt crazy to anybody else?

Just wondering if anybody else has felt like it’s too much. Words, phrases, comments that are benign at best getting a suspension. These can be words and phrases that NPCs use in the game, and blues have used.

A great deal of faction conflict comments getting a suspension despite it being an expansion entirely focused on faction conflict.

When there’s no suspension or warning threads will still get deleted randomly without any feedback. I can only assume while it didn’t break the CoC a moderator just didn’t like it.

I’ve personally had suspensions overturned with an apology. One suspension was for asking for mog advice. And I know a bunch of responses will be:

  • We don’t know the full story (though this isn’t about any cases in particular)
  • Don’t break the CoC
  • Don’t say anything bad

Fair points, I’m just wondering if anybody else is finding the moderation lately to be overkill, too strict. Ultimately this is a forum for a game that features alcohol and getting drunk, curse words, blood, death and suggestive language. Yet on the forums moderators work hard with a goal towards purity. I don’t get it.

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I think it’s a matter of new moderators learning the community and the rules-- and us, as well. The best we can do is send in appeals and hope that we and they learn together.

The CoC is vague in areas because it has to be to cover a large amount of issues that can arise. So it’ll take time with a new system and new people.

But as a group, the users and the mods will all get a better feel for things as time goes by. We all are adjusting together. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Pretty much this, yes.

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I haven’t had anything of mine get moderated yet. At least, I haven’t been aware of any…

My posts must be too boring.

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That makes sense. At the same time it would be nice if there was a more mature approach to moderation. A basic example being language. If language is used in the game I don’t see why the same language would be a huge no on the forums. Ultimately everyone has a language filter.

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Nope, I think there is an appropraite amount of moderation compared to the old forums.

Also, creating threads discussing the moderators and their policies/punishments is against tos. If you have complaints, there is an email you can contact. Idk what it is, but it exists.

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…and which were used freely on the old forums, and are allowed by the profanity filter.

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were you ever on the Ysera realm?

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That’s my point exactly. Why would discussing moderation in the general sense be rule-breaking?

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That has always been the case, even in the old forums. Something to do with call outs, name and shame, and not being appropriate for the forum your posting in (e.g. general discussion is for the discussion of topics relating to Warcraft, not how blizzard employees operate.)

I’d find specifically where in the tos/Coc it is, but I’m too lazy to read that.

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Just assume you are in soviet Russia, don’t talk about the dictator’s secret prisons in Siberia if you don’t want to visit one.

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Pretty sure we have been over this - there are no NEW moderators. There are the same people there have always been. There are, however, new and better tools on the back end for them to use to more quickly handle reports.

If language is used in the game I don’t see why the same language would be a huge no on the forums. Ultimately everyone has a language filter.

Blizzard games are rated by the ESRB for programmed content that is reviewed. It states right there in the rating that Player interactions (chat and forums) are NOT rated. We have to comply with the Code of Conduct which has always said no profanity, or masked profanity. This is not new.

Profanity filter, is to prevent parents from having kids see things - it is not an excuse to violate the rules.

This is really not hard. Follow the rules you agreed to.

The forum CoC has not changed and people got suspended for profanity all the time, as well as masked profanity. The CS forums get threads about it plenty. What changed, is the ability to reply to reports faster. Much like speeding is not allowed, but sometimes they get better at detecting it so more people get caught.

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We had entire threads about what Lore called people on Twitter. Are we pretending no Activision CS workers saw those?

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I could understand that if we had any idea who the moderators are. However, they’re an unseen force that offer very little reasoning for their actions, if there’s any reasoning at all. Even appeals will often get a generic “the correct decision was made” without any dialogue regarding concerns.

You can appeal a decision, not get an answer.
Ask others on the forums, get a suspension for discussing it.

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I don’t know. It hasn’t affected me yet. I got in way more trouble on the old forums tbh. Some of it was warranted I guess, some of it certainly wasn’t. Oh well

:woman_with_headscarf:

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I’ve never realm changed any of my characters and I’ve never made one on Ysera. Sorry.

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I won’t even pretend - no Activision CS workers saw them. True.

Point here is - the rules have not changed. The system to report and act on the violations has. They are catching more people not, not changing the actual rules.

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Because discussing it on the forums isn’t allowed. It never has been. It’s none of your business if someone got suspended or otherwise, it’s between them and the moderators.

On the same note, if you (and I’m not saying you have or are) have received a suspension you shouldn’t be coming to the forums and getting the community riled up because you feel scorned.

Don’t do or say dumb things don’t get suspended, it’s really quite simple.

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I can testify that I got suspended on the old forums for referring to something as “chicken excrement”. I used a four-letter word for “excrement” but not the four-letter word. So, yeah, profanity (even masked profanity) was moderated on the old forums.

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And now we’re pretending something else.

All right, it’s harmless enough.

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