The state of N4G comments part 2

The initial blog posting got a bigger responce than I had hoped. For the most part, it was all honest and constructive debate that easily surpassed any article posted so far that week in terms of discussion.

I'd like to clarify a few things that were mentioned within the comments as I was unfortunately unable to comment at the time due to a 7 day ban. It would also be worth seeing if we can take this conversation further beyond those points because clearly, this is a topic on the mind of many.

First and foremost, I do not believe in heavy censorship of the comments section. Its important for people to be able to express their opinion regardless of it being shared by the rest of the community. The issue for me personally is when individuals only choose to express negative opinions in a consistent manner with the sole intention being to stoke the flames, derailing conversation and inciting arguments. Debates are a different thing. A debate, or true conversation can be had when a comment has some substance to it regardless of it being negative or positive. This isn't about shutting down opposing opinion, its about harvesting better conversation alongside fairer moderation.
Some of the admins and a handful of the community may not regard this as trolling. By definition, they are. Somebody whose sole purpose is to incite hate, upset or anger. Now, as some pointed out, we could just ignore these people and you are right. On the flip side of that coin, those same people could just not do it which solves the issue at the source. The ones who like true conversation shouldn't be punished or told to suck it up because thats the easy option. For reference, I haven't been upset or angered by any "Troll". I'm on this path due to the admins unfair and seemingly sporadic treatment which resulted in my banning but remaining ability to blog as an outlet.

Secondly, if what seems to be the majority (correct me if I'm wrong here) agree with the sentiment and have also been voicing their own opinions regarding what they believe to be poor administration + loss of control in the comments. What is the path forward? How do we as a community continue to build and push N4G to be a more solid community whilst retaining its openess?
The bubble system of old was great. It has been pointed out that it was open to abuse, which I do agree with.
One of the admins alongside a few members of the community believe that removing the dislike button could help in some cases as it only serves to cloud judgment for others. Building on this same idea, what if the like and dislike tally was hidden until you added your count to it? No sway then.
What if there was a new system that encouraged people to be more constructive in their comments? A system that meant rather than be banned from commenting on the website, you were muted from the article and similar tagged articles for x amount of days?

Alas, I have no idea how much time and effort the owners want to put into this website or even who is in charge. Maybe this in itself is something that could be explored more so that the community have more of an insight as to who has what jurisdiction. By doing this, we could look to generate better gateways for all round improvements.
What I do know is that I love N4G which is why I have a passion to see it continue to flourish.

[awiseman]

The bubble system in the past was good, but this site leans heavily pro Sony and anyone who didn't tow that line had one bubble. Notorious troll posters also had one bubble, but you had to be extremely blatant and annoying to drop to one bubble.

The bubble system may be gone but the heavy handed bans are even worse, make a joke about a certain popular console and you're gone. Use certain terminology that a certain admin doesn't like, and you're gone. Admin responds to your post and your follow up isn't to his liking? You're gone.

In terms of solutions, there isn't going to be a one size fits all because any system is going to get abused both by trolls and by the admins.

[Mr_cheese]

For those who have been on here long enough, they've seen the biased shift back and forth between Sony and Microsoft. There was a time during the 360 where n4g was heavily pro Microsoft.

It swaps and changes based on popularity of course.

[thecodingart]

This. Ultimately, I want to believe there’s sway in people rallying behind the experience and behavior most want to see. I have _never_ been a fan of Microsoft consoles, but man did I consistently run into conflict on n4g when it came to opinions around ANYTHING tied to ps3 vs 360. This site was extraordinarily bias. I still remember the Read Dead debates. Digital Foundary thrives out of these illogical arguments and unjustified attacks as a counter measure.

When people start mentioning the site bias, they need to understand this constantly sways and will not go away. Please dont treat the situation as zealot like.

I dont blame people rallying behind passion for the negative state of the site, but I do tie it to poor guidance and worse moderation. It’s not worth the backlash to course correct a situation if you’re just going to be banned..

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@Mr_chesse,

This, people forget how well regarded the Xbox was during the 360 days here, the bubble system was really only terrible for the worst of posters, most people seemed to do fine with it.

[anast]

When the writer asks for a real conversation the are 2 responses. When the writes posts something dramatic there are 220 responses. The interesting thing is that people do not understand what they actually like and their idea of what they like. This is kind of hilarious, if you think about it.

I pays to allow "trolling" and other controversy. This why they post console sales numbers and other like articles. They are both the problem and the solution. This also should be funny.

Lastly, The admins are more empirical than rational. I am not sure there is a way to fix this. It's completely normal and human.

[StormSnooper]

This

The issue for me personally is when individuals only choose to express negative opinions in a consistent manner with the sole intention being to stoke the flames, derailing conversation and inciting arguments.

Especially the ones who rush to be the first comment on the articles for the opposite side. We ALL know who they are too, as much as they pretend to be unbiased. Click 10 articles and you will notice a trend w certain individuals. Those are the problems.