Positivity post are not ok?

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There were no other active posts on GD at the time. The first Btag request megathread was deleted, but no action was taken to stop a second version. The second version was unlisted and closed after it got close to 15k responses. The third version seemed to be relatively civil, despite the fact that generally the same handful of people did their best to derail it and provoke toxicity specifically to get it shut down, and it was deleted over the weekend. A fourth version went up and was deleted a day after.

None of those threads overlapped. The request for Btags to be used as a unique identifier on the forums with people’s posts in the hopes that it would help discourage trolling and sockpuppeting, give people greater controls over ignoring people they didn’t want to hear from and make moderation easier and more consistent isn’t much different from requests that Worgen have tails or that the game get a High Elf race. There was only ever one “megathread” up at a time (although there were at some points several “Don’t use Btags on the forums” threads that were all eventually taken down to consolidate the discussion to one post).

If the topic isn’t allowed to be discussed anymore, it would be appreciated that we have some clarity on the matter. But I don’t personally see why support for solutions to make the WoW forums friendlier and more useable is a verboten topic unless it’s intended that a few people should be able to shut down really any topic of discussion by consistently hammering any posts that come up on the subject with purposeful misinformation to provoke an argument.

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40

There had been others and many knew of the megathread. If someone decided they didn’t want to see yet another thread come up with the topic, they are allowed to flag it as spam. That’s not a false flag. It’s simply their opinion using the flagging options that exist.

From what we’ve gathered, the thread went downhill, as did others, so the moderators opted to delete it. Often times, when multiple of the same topic are deleted, it can be assumed that perhaps that topic isn’t the best idea, because it seems to breed too much negativity. Moderators will not comment on such things.

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That thread wasn’t deleted people just stopped posting in it.

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42

this topic was also made into a bigger spectacle than it had to be with other that linked it all over i just wanted a lo key ancer was not cool it being linked allover

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Unfortunately, once people begin linking other threads in this one, it then puts this one into that other thread as a link to a similar topic. I’m sorry this didn’t go the way you wanted it to.

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I’m sorry about that I was just confused on what was going and I forgot linking it across like that does that :frowning:

I can delete the posts so it doesn’t show up that way it isn’t linked in that other thread’s main line etc. I’m sorry again :frowning:

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ty for apologizing we are good

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46

There we go. I took the link out of the posts. :slight_smile:

That should fix it.

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Sorry this thread went badly. I did recommend an appeal, but it’s not guaranteed to work and you have no recourse if it doesn’t. This site is moderated incredibly poorly.

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I mean they can, I’m personally of the opinion that there’s no such thing as a “false” flag, that’s for the forum mods to sort out. I’m just questioning why, if there was no other active post up at the time, it was removed since it wouldn’t fit the criteria for spam. “I’m tired of this topic” is fine to flag for, but if it was grounds for actual post removal there’d be a lot that shouldn’t have been allowed to stand on the forums that are still puttering around out there.

First, I’ve seen that objectively not happen on many posts in a T-squad style, one of which is still out there, with flag protection, causing much more harmful negativity.

Second, it doesn’t seem fair to allow a handful of disruptors to determine if a discussion gets to happen or not when they can get theoretically get any topic of discussion that they don’t like shut down by going to threads on a subject and consistently causing fights specifically for the purposes of getting the discussion closed down.

If the forum mods are just like, “You’re not allowed to talk about this subject” that’s one thing. It’s a weird hill to die on, but it is what it is. But letting a few people control whether or not subjects are discussed at all by barging in with negativity because they don’t want the discussion to happen despite it being relevant, on-topic and productive doesn’t seem like a great idea.

At the end of the day, it’s Blizzard’s forum, their house, their rules. The discussion forum for a video game isn’t really high-stakes in terms of making sure that there’s “fairness” happening, the issues being discussed aren’t really life or death. It’s just unfortunate that there seems to be a lack of consistency and transparency in the moderation that happens sometimes.

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I did address this:

It was unflagged for spam, but deleted later due to the negativity that proceeded.

I did address this earlier, as well:

We cannot control what others do and the moderators make the decision as to whether the topic can be saved or not.

I don’t believe this is a common issue that would need its own solution.

I don’t believe that’s what anyone is saying. Just that some topics do tend to end up going downhill and we know what those topics are.

You’ll never get any sort of transparency, because the rules need to be vague in order to cover a multitude of different things that could go wrong. If they tried to create a black and white set of rules, we’d end up with a 10,000 page PDF file. :wink:

Moderation is never straightforward and there are many factors. The big thing to remember is that there are no mods specifically for the WoW forums, so you’re not going to get that personal understanding of how things go.

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While I think the comments about moderation and flagging and whatnot pertain to the actual question by the OP, does support or disagreement for the topics of deleted threads really belong here?

I suppose the mods could be locking them at this point for spam, but in my personal option, that’s a long shot:

  • Creating threads for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forums

It’s well known the topic deteriorates very quickly as mentioned above. :woman_shrugging: Is it fair to remove entire topics because some folks intentionally make it toxic? As a mod IRL, it’s hard to say. Those are definitely awkward to decide.

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I do feel the major disconnect shared between these threads is what constitutes a “false” flag.

Many years ago, a friend of mine ran into legal trouble after repeatedly making police reports against another individual. The individual in question didn’t do any wrong and wasn’t breaking the law in any way, shape, or form. My friend was then charged with making false reports to authorities and was sentenced accordingly.

In that instance, the police and courts looked at the frequency of the reports as well as the total number of reports. Only then was it determined that false reports were filed. Had it only been a few times, nothing would’ve happened.

In the case of the forums, everyone has the ability to flag a post or thread if they believe it goes against the Forum Code of Conduct. Being wrong in that belief doesn’t make a report “false”. If there is a pattern of the same person making the same claim against topics for the sole purpose to get it hidden or deleted, then it turns into a situation where false reports were made.

In the case of the 4 or 5 threads regarding BattleTags, there isn’t any explicit and clear language in the Forum Code of Conduct forbidding anyone from creating a new thread when the previous one has been locked. Moderators use their discretion when deciding what action, if any, to take against flags. It can be restoring a hidden post/thread, issuing a warning, issuing a suspension, or any other action deemed necessary by their policy.

With all of that said, the topic being discussed here has caused unrest on the forums, in which case (emphasis mine):

The bolded and italicized text would’ve applied. There was just way too much bickering on both sides to lead to any meaningful discussion about the topic, which is the most common reason why moderators would typically close or even delete a thread.

In addition, since it is known these types of threads do create unrest (the BattleTag threads), creating a new thread when one has been closed and/or deleted would also fall under this category.

I’m not going to speak about other threads, as that’s not the topic of this conversation.

The part about Abusing the Reported Post feature by sending false alarms or nonsensical messages would only really apply if there’s a history attached to it. Blizzard won’t action people for having an opinion and sending a report for something they believe is against the rules, but could definitely action someone if it is discovered the reports have been weaponized. That’s not for us to decide, it’s up to Blizzard to investigate that and make a decision using information only they can see.

In the end, accusing someone of “false flagging” will only lead to more unrest and bickering, thus making it even more likely a thread would be shut down.

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Orlyia, I have actually just recently submitted a ticket, but the main thread is actually locked, and I thought it was due to some toxic behaviour.

While the thread is there, it is locked, and unlisted.

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In that particular thread, it was mainly the same group of people going back and forth repeatedly, which made any meaningful conversation impossible. The moderators will allow some debate, as long as the debate is constructive.

It finally ended up in a circular argument from both sides, repeating the same information over and over again. That’s not constructive and would’ve been subject to closure and/or deletion at Blizzard’s discretion.

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Ok, so circular arguments. Is there any difference between why High Elf threads in GD are allowed to continue on, but BattleTag threads aren’t then, since both have “circular” arguments.

I mean, it does seem pretty contradicting that a topic is allowed to continue with so much circular arguments, but yet, one isn’t.

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It depends on the level of negativity in the posts and what is or isn’t flagged. It’s not just “no circular arguments.”

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At this point, we are getting extremely close to:

In short, the CS forum isn’t an avenue to discuss moderation or anything of that nature. If you feel a thread should be actioned, you’re free to report it. If one of your threads was actioned, you’d need to submit a support ticket. That’s the only recourse you have.

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58

That is excellent advice to end on Terise.

Thanks all!

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