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That's the thing we're all ostensibly trying not to be.
Yesterday in the Pathfinder Second Edition General Discussion channel, a thread was posted expressing consternation about a perceived lack of communication, spurned by the Runesmith/Necromancer playtest ending without a post about it on the website; though there were posts to Facebook and bluesky, and a concern for the company given the departure of certain developers.
It was not, general, a happy nor positive thread, though there was some push back trying to paint a somewhat brighter picture.
As of when I last read the thread, last night, the mood was dour. However, it had not devolved into personal attacks, hatred, or the like.
So I was very surprised this morning to find that thread deleted. Not shutdown, not locked, simply gone, as though it never existed.
Now, PF2 General may not have been the best venue for that thread, so I see every potential reason to move it somewhere more appropriate.
It's possible it might have devolved into something awful, as hinted at above. Perfectly reasonable to lock the thread and delete the hate.
But I think deleting the thread entirely goes too far, into the realm of over-moderation. I've done a bit of community moderating, certainly not on the scale of Paizo, though. One thing I've found pretty consistent is that the best way to upset people who are discussing something they don't like about an organizationis to shut down that conversation. It swiftly takes people from reasonable and upset/unhappy to furious and vindictive.
It's a great way to get people to leave your community forever.
It's kind of sardonically funny. The thread with a major theme of concerning lack of communication gets silently deleted.
I love Pathfinder. I quite like Paizo, generally. I disagree with the way they handled this situation and I think it does themselves more harm than good.
If you, fellow forum poster, feel a desire to post in this thread, I implore you to keep a civil tone. Open, honest, but self-restrained dialogue is incredibly important to me and is a benefit to all of us here.