Meanwhile at the Paizo head office...

[kmal2t]

I found a leaked tape of a Paizo seminar on how to moderate forums

HERE

Let's see if people can take a joke.

[Jim Groves]

I think a joke has to be funny.

But seriously, I don't think there's any concerted effort to tell anybody what to think or how to feel. There is a standard by which people are expected to adhere to when communicating with others.

[kmal2t]

Btw, for anyone wondering about the full context of this clip and with 20 minutes to spare here is the classic episode

[kmal2t]

Jim Groves wrote:

I think a joke has to be funny.

If that were true then Dane Cook would just be telling a very long series of stories in his set.

Quote:

But seriously, I don't think there's any concerted effort to tell anybody what to think or how to feel. There is a standard by which people are expected to adhere to when communicating with others.

If you watch the episode the camp people talk about being intolerant of intolerance i.e. being the gestapo of tolerance. Watch the whole episode to get the full drift.

[Adam Daigle]

kmal2t wrote:

Jim Groves wrote:

I think a joke has to be funny.

If that were true then Dane Cook would just be telling a very long series of stories in his set.

Nah, I'm pretty sure Dane Cook would still be telling other comedians' jokes.

;)

[Jim Groves]

kmal2t wrote:

If you watch the episode the camp people talk about being intolerant of intolerance i.e. being the gestapo of tolerance. Watch the whole episode to get the full drift.

Actually, I like South Park. I don't watch it much often any more, but I always felt they were equal opportunists in their sarcasm, and often they had a point to make.

It's not really South Park that made me reply as I did. It was the comment you're making about Paizo Staff and moderation.

What they do is pretty thankless, but it keeps this community from becoming a cesspool of vulgar crap where I can't talk about games. I appreciate that, even more so because I know they hate doing it.

And while they have their own opinions about society and politics, I have never seen them force those views on the community like in the cartoon clip you showed.

Instead they make this safe place for anybody who loves games.

So I'm not trying to win a "COOL GUY" merit badge, but I am trying to explain why I don't think a little moderation is a bad thing.

[Vic Wertz]

Hey, if you don't like the moderation around here, you are welcome to leave.

[Orthos]

I'll crosspost what I posted in 3.5 Loyalist's complaint of the same nature over in Website Feedback.

Orthos wrote:

I've been a moderator (and administrator) on gaming forums before. A good lot of the conversation that goes unchecked on Paizo would have been instantly or rapidly closed on any other forum I've spent any appreciable amount of time on.

I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I think the quick lockings did good to dissuade certain kinds of conversations from ever happening (*cough*politics*cough*). On the other, just when you think there's only downhill to go, you'll stumble across a thread where people are being surprisingly civil, and you're thankful for the extremely lenient stance on moderation Paizo has.

So yeah, I don't see this whole Paizo strict-moderation conspiracy plot. Everything here's a lot more tolerant of these sorts of discussions than anywhere else I've ever been, for the good and ill of those discussions both.

[kmal2t]

Adam Daigle wrote:

kmal2t wrote:

Jim Groves wrote:

I think a joke has to be funny.

If that were true then Dane Cook would just be telling a very long series of stories in his set.

Nah, I'm pretty sure Dane Cook would still be telling other comedians' jokes.

;)

lol exactly. *cough* Louie C.K. *cough*

[_Cobalt_]

I've participated in some of the social/political threads, and let me tell you, they got ugly. Some I thought went on too long, even.

Also, keep in mind they are a company; not just a venue for hosting forums. If someone were to visit the site for the first time and saw a lot of hateful speech (from either side of any topic), they might assume things about Paizo that wouldn't exactly be flattering to a business. So, really, it's a smart move to close feral threads.

Also, the people here have to be one of the nicest groups I've come across on the internet. It's nice to come to a forum and not be instantly attacked.

[kmal2t]

Has anyone actually been sued for their forums? Whether its paizo, BB.com, 4chan etc? I doubt its ever yielded more than a laugh by a judge.

[Gary Teter]

When we talk about moderation policy, I have to say that the topic of lawsuits really never comes up. The goal is to create and maintain a place where people feel comfortable, welcomed, included and respected, and conversation is fun, friendly and useful.

[kmal2t]

On other forums, at least, I've heard the argument that they do it largely for legal reasons, yet I've never heard of a suit for a forum.

[Jim Groves]

kmal2t wrote:

Has anyone actually been sued for their forums? Whether its paizo, BB.com, 4chan etc? I doubt its ever yielded more than a laugh by a judge.

Litigation isn't the issue. You're the only one to mention it.

Gaming is a social hobby. Playing and interacting with others requires a common standard of behavior and conduct. This is summed up with the one message board rule, "Don't be a jerk."

Paizo endeavors to foster a community, because without community you really don't have social gaming like tabletop RPGs. This isn't just marketing, but sure there is an element of enlightened self-interest. That's not such a bad thing.

Let's get back to the real issue. You posted a cartoon clip where you implied Paizo Staff were being trained to make people think in a certain way. You got called on that.

Perhaps its time to just chalk it up to a joke that bombed, and we all go back to talking about games, comics, music, video games, or whatever?

No hard feelings and we all just walk away. You, Kmal2t, lead the way and I'm sure the rest of us will follow.

[kmal2t]

I took two seconds to bring something else up and you come in as the comedy police to declare what is or isn't funny? Wow. How sad.

[Jim Groves]

kmal2t wrote:

I took two seconds to bring something else up and you come in as the comedy police to declare what is or isn't funny? Wow. How sad.

Well, another way to look at it is that I actually paid attention to you, and whether took any pleasure from it or not, I treated you as an adult.

I won't engage you any further. Best of luck!

[kmal2t]

Ya../rolleyes. I'd reread the last 5 sentences of your post before you try to stand on your pedestal. Anyway, this thread is more directed at 2-3 mods as opposed to the 10+ of them. I'm not going to mention them by name because this isn't supposed to be an attack on people, just an amusing comparison considering some of the threads/posts I (and others) have seen arbitrarily closed based on personal views.

Vic WertzHey wrote:

if you don't like the moderation around here, you are welcome to leave.

lol

[Gary Teter]

We only have a handful of moderators, and they're all Paizo employees who have other actual jobs to do. I'm not willing to have a discussion about our moderation policies in the off-topic forum. If you want to actually discuss how we do things around here, please feel free to create a new thread in website feedback.