EMC - Forum

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by neonkillah, Dec 10, 2017.

  1. This thread is my underdeveloped interpretation of the EMC forums. I'm not a psychologist, and I'm not making a thesis. This is just some aspects of the EMC forum that I see, that strongly bother me. Please read all of this before making a comment, because if you don't, I'll have to add another point.

    The "Stick-in-to-'em" bandwagon: It may be obvious that this thread is an indirect reply to a certain goodbye thread that received a numerous amount of replies for a simple goodbye thread. It sparked when one individual, who apparently knows the OP, made a statement that claimed that OP (my paraphrasing - it was more wholesomely phrased than this) was exaggerating. That's cool, that's honest. Unfortunately, many commenters took this as an opportunity to make drama of the situation and fail to make anything constructive out of it. What followed was only disrespect for the OP, and a large portion of likes. This matter is even more heightened by


    The Staff: I'll try to make this one short. When staff permits threads like the above to go on, you've got an issue. Going on 24 hours, the goodbye thread has hit over 9 pages, and has made no progress, yet has somehow gotten to the subject of human rights. Staff took note of the thread last night, and even made a public statement on it. This thread was doomed to become a flame war after the first few comments, and staff adding a reply that seemed to take a nod towards the first few comments only fanned the flame. Which leads me to my final point:

    The Likes: When I see a staff, particularly senior staff, post onto a thread, I usually get mad. Why? Because if you look a little bit below the content of the staff's post, you'll see a large portion of likes. The staff could speak their opinion in a sarcastic, rude, or distasteful manner to a personal subject. Did it get likes? You bet.

    The reason why these replies get so many likes, is because we forumers generally see staff as representatives of the community. They supervise and keep the server going. When a staff makes his/her opinion on the thread, their voice has more impact. Their opinion makes forumers that agree with the staff's stance go, "Aha, see, I was right the whole time!", or "O-ho, staff sure showed them!". Forumers that disagree with the staff's statement instantly lose credibility. Should someone speak out against the staff, the staff member rarely changes his/her opinion, and eloquently shuts down the response, with a few tons of likes to back the staff up.

    That's my speech. Please clap.
    If you have an issue, ok. Send me a private message, make a constructive comment, or start a flame war here.
    FoxyRavenger, mba2012, BenMA and 7 others like this.
  2. I really want to clap, but i'm afraid if I do i'll be the gasoline to a flame.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  3. I feel a little addressed here, not sure if that's true or not, but... I've definitely been a little critical, but I do not write those messages for fun or entertainment nor do I to talk down on someone. I take my time, I pick my words, and I'm also careful.

    My intent is to share what's "bothering" me in an attempt to shed light on what might be going on in the minds of others as well. If there's one thing I know, and that is also demonstrated in the thread you mention here, it's that very few people are capable to stop and think about how someone else would feel about a certain subject.

    Note: I'm not discriminating anyone here. I think this applies to both Finch and just as much as it applies to some of the more critical commentators.

    I don't think Finch means any harm, and I think she's honestly driven by her process of gender change. But if you're driven and passionate about something you also need to realize that this may not be the case for others. Not everyone will share your believes and your ideals. And if you then insist on pushing your ideas forward then... action = reaction.

    That's an unfair comment in my opinion.

    For the simple reason that one of Finch's critical points was specifically that staff didn't allow her to address certain topics. You can't have it both ways, that's unfair.

    Either you want staff to give you room to express yourself and not interfere (too much), but then you also shouldn't be surprised if you get both positive and negative reactions.

    OR you want staff to maintain control and order.

    But has it never occurred to anyone (including Finch) that the sole reason staff denied such topics from the get-go was to prevent things like this from happening in the first place?

    And what did staff get? Criticism that they denied people to speak up. So now that they gave room to speak up they still get criticism. That's not fair.

    (edit) * he = she. Slip of the tongue. Because of the sensitivity of the whole thing I correct myself in public.
  4. I was referring more towards those who would take advantage of those being honest to the OP. Comments that were either constructive or considerate were certainly present, and I would say yours was in that positive category. Only issue, however, is that comments brought in people who were looking for a fight. That wouldn't be the fault of constructive commenters, that would be the fault of the aggressors.

    (Correct me if my response is a little off target) It certainly is a difficult line to draw. Does the staff intervene by silencing the uproar before it starts, or do they sit alongside and try to have the community sort it out.
    This case I believe is very clear. Nearing the final pages of the thread, it's an unintelligible cluster of redundant statements, many being directly insulting/antagonistic/condescending. Preferably before the thread hits that point, which it seems to be very much at, punitive or silencing actions should be taken.
    ShelLuser and Equinox_Boss like this.
  5. Staff were a bit busy and not really focusing on the forums with a major update being released...

    Now that being said, I made a comment last night to directly combat some very critical claims against my staff team. That was my only interest in that thread. I have no interest in trying to convince a player to remain if they choose to not help me help them, nor do I condone players 'sticking' it to others. I instructed the staff team to not touch the thread, except to remove reported posts, if deemed necessary. There is a reason that other staff members did not post. I wholeheartedly agree that Staff are often over-idolized and that is the primary reason behind my decision to restrict their access, in an effort to prevent players from misinterpretting comments to lean one way or the other. May any fault you see in the Staff's handling of this be taken against myself alone.
    RainbowPony, _Devuu__, 607 and 7 others like this.
  6. I was gonna ask that this be removed, but if it was meant to be ironic, then that's kinda funny. If it wasn't, then that's even funnier. And the self-liked post is the cherry on top, lol.

    I am replying to Krysyy's post in a PM.
    ShelLuser and Equinox_Boss like this.
  7. two people kiddo
  8. The real cherry on top is your complete and utter overthinking of a single gif on a minecraft forum. Also, not sure what you mean by self-liked, but believe what you want, I guess?
  9. Here we go again...
    BenMA and Equinox_Boss like this.
  10. its posts like this that make these threads flame threads
  11. lol I even checked to make sure it wasn't an alt. Guess I didn't look hard enough :D

    Now I'm kind of wondering if it actually was intentionally ironic. Guess I'll never know. If you'd like to talk more about it, feel free to send me a PM.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  12. mermaid man. wat.
  13. Hm.
    I don't think I resonate with any of your points, here.
    What's the purpose of this 'speech'?
    I do really like the last sentence of the first paragraph. :p
    neonkillah likes this.
  14. I'm not Neon of course but I think it's to share his opinion about the whole situation.

    Sometimes you just want to vent a little and share your opinion, and I think it's awesome that EMC staff allows for that.
    synth_apparition, neonkillah and 607 like this.
  15. Way to blow a simple thread out of proportion.......
    neonkillah likes this.
  16. As in, my thread was blowing the whole issue out of proportion? Or something else?

    I'll try to make a tl;dr. Maybe it won't change your mind, but it might be easier for others to get.

    Tl;dr: Controversial subject appeared. First few comments lead to a "general consensus" illusion against the OP. Influential staff made a statement that appeared to side with the developing mentality towards the thread. Phrasing of the public statement, especially on a subject so controversial, did little to discourage the onset of disrespectful comments. In my belief, the statement indirectly encouraged them.

    Tl;dr: Controversial subject, plus negative response from players and staff, plus little staff intervention, lead to a bad flame war.

    Idk. Just trying to boil my own points down.
    ShelLuser likes this.
  17. Ah.
    I did read, though. :p
    Oh well. I think ShelLuser's explanation works fine. :)
    ShelLuser and neonkillah like this.
  18. Lol when I say tl;dr, I mean it more as a summary :p I believed that you read it, haha.
    ShelLuser and 607 like this.
  19. Quite frankly, I don't even remember which of us was the first to call them out, however that is irrelevant in the matter. It was not a bandwagon, it was a collective opinion which, by the way, we were all aware of what was going on at the time. Nobody "bandwagoned" to anything, because we all felt the same way long before this started.

    It's ironic you posted that last part, because it doesn't seem like you read much of the original thread. And I also feel like you've excluded yourself from the OP, but I'm more than happy to write it out for you if you really want me to.
    607, synth_apparition and neonkillah like this.