Why so hostile!??!

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Well, how shall I start?
When I first entered these boards, I was a glad, happy fella. I asked a few questions the first day, and was relieved that I finally had found a place where I could get some questions answered.
I wrote about, perhaps, 5 posts that day. That covered the questions going through my head that day. When I came back the next day, I had gotten some answers. In about three of them people were complaining over me. "You can use the search option! Stop making stupid posts!", "Oh, no... Another newbie who is doing double posts! *sigh*" and "Read the Faq's now! You will be banned from this forum if you do something like this again!" was a few of the messages I got. (It sounded something like that, at least.)
So, ashamed and angry I went to look at the Faq's and I read them.
The same day, when I was going to write something new, I was banned!!
I did not even get a chance to read the faq's, or appologise or anything. So, I made a new name! I made some topic, and logged of the internet. The next day, I logged on again to see if I had my post answered. What did I see? I had been banned again! So I made ANOTHER nick! I posted a topic and when I came back the next day, this is what I find (Taken from memory, not exactly these words):
"Why do you make a new name when I already banned you?? I waited for you to email me and say that you were sorry, and here you go making another Nickname!"
So there I stand. Angry, pissed of, irritated, mad and felt like killing someone. Real fast.
I wrote an appologie to Tal, and I got back my original nick.
A few days went by, and people answered my questions well and so on. But as I entered the forum one day, a guy was complaining again. In the middle of my BG2 forum, saying:
"You have been asking things all week now, and I´m beginning to think that you just want to level up your Avatar!"
Another thing, was when I emailed Taluntain. Simply was trying to help, but no, no....
Why are all of you people so HOSTILE!?
I come here, trying to get my questions answered and well sometimes simply discuss different things. Am I not allowed to? Is this a place where everybody should be quiet? Why care all that much about double posting, stupid questions and so on!???!??!

I say, BE NICER FOOLS!

PS. Ban me if you want to, right now - I don´t give a damn!! A*sholes...


/Zaragoth the

 

And for many of us here, it is very important that the rules are obeyed. If everything goes crazy, at least I would leave.

 

Zagaroth - I believe there is a section in the FAQ regarding flipping out on the boards...You might want to check it out:
www.sorcerers.I'mjustkiddingaroundwithyou.net

Anyway...Relax, have fun, it's just that a lot of us have been around a while and we've answered many similar posts in the past. Hopefully the responses you got were just folks trying to point you in the right direction.

By the way....You don't work for the US Postal Service by any chance, do you?

Sorry - couldn't resist poking a little fun! I hope you take it in the spirit it was meant!

~Bel

 

Err, sorry but I can't be nicer.

Especially now when you copy me with bunch of smilies. What happened to your smiley?

 

Hmmmm. I thought about replying or not for some time. Eventually I thought why not so here goes. Firstly, let me say I have some sympathy for Zaragoth's plight as he outlines it. I am not saying that I think he is innocent as he himself admits that he broke the rules. However, he also says that he apologised for those mistakes. In my expereince people who take the time out to apologise are not arseholes.

The second thing is that he says that people seem to be getting hostile is their responses. I think Zaragoth is probably overreacting a bit to this because of his earlier expereinces. Unfortunately though, I think I can understand why he feels like that. It was mentioned in the chat room recently that there seem to be a lot of posts that appear very blunt and dismissive often without giving any help at all. I can see how this makes people feel uncomfortable especially when they are new.

My view is that yes there are lots of 'silly' posts that we have read before. But no one is forcing you to read them again if you don't want to. Also if we banned every topic that had been discussed before there would be no new posts and the board would die.

If you have been here long enough to have seen these discussions before, then you should also have noticed that the membership of the boards is a continuously changing thing with people coming and going. We should welcome these people and share our knowledge not chastise them for daring to talk about something already discussed. OK I know there are always exceptions - even I get annoyed when I see someone post a question immediately below another topic that answers it but hey come on let's all be nice.

Also, if you know something has been discussed or answeared, why not give a brief summary of what you know and post a link to the earlier post or put something more positive and construction like 'if you'd like to know more, why not use the search option'. Those of you who remember Nobleman will recall that he turned into a very positive link poster - always trying to help people out. When he started though he was as guilt as most of us for not using the search option......Think about it, a little positive encouragement could lead to the development of another Nobleman

One more thing on this. I know the boards have tightened up lately and, as I have posted elsewehere, I agree that is the right thing to do in view of the increasing numbers. However, if you look at the top of the Forum page you will see that the moderators are Tal, BTA and Darien. Those three do a good job and tend to be constructive, firm, fair and accurate in what they say (God bless em). So there is no need for anyone else to join in and start jumping on people. If you really feel someone has broken the rules, tell them about it positively and advise them nicely about how they can improve don't start throwing your weight around. (Of course now I'm guilt of the same thing doh )

Anyway, all I really wanted to say was:

The guy doesn't seem to be an arsehole if he is prepared to apologise and perservere, however non-administrators here should ask themselves if they are making the effort to make people feel welcome. Remember you were new once as well.

Happy thoughts everyone, group hug

[This message has been edited by Slappy (edited July 12, 2001).]

 

Not to mention.

Written words don't have a voice and therefore can be misconstrued quite easily. Sometimes it is hard to tell if someone is being dismissive, or just to the point. Or whether someone is makeing a joke, or actually trying to be crude. Ect....

It does not hurt to address that person and ask them what's up and exaclty how you should take what they posted. You might find they didn't mean it the way you took it. Espeacially if you are new and don't know anyone here all that well.

[This message has been edited by Satiana Fearbringer (edited July 12, 2001).]

 

I must say, I'm not sure when all this bashing of new people who don't use the search engine started, but I for one don't like it. Let's face it folks, I'm sure we've all asked a question or three ourselves that has been answered before. And many of us have been here quite a long time. There are lots of new people on these boards who don't understand how things are usually done around here because, guess what, they're new. Maybe they don't realize that their question has been answered a million times (and most have in the BG2 forum anyway). All I'm trying to say is, enough with the search engine answers. If you can't be bothered to actually say something to answer the question yourself, don't answer.

Now, on to another rant : on people who don't read the FAQ. There are very good reason's why people snap at new posters who do things prohibited in the FAQ. For those who have been around long enough, we've seen periods of great influx on these boards. Many times, they bring with them lots of undesireable elements that a lot of people around here don't wish to see tarnish the great reputation these boards have. Hence, they are quick to snap at anyone who doesn't bother reading the FAQ and imediatly comes in and starts violating the rules. Also, this is why Tal has started insta-banning new troublemakers (at least I think he has from something I read a while back, who can be sure these days). Lots of veterans around here just don't want to see those types of posts, so they snap. Sometimes, it can lead people in the right direction; sometimes it can run them off. Either way, they don't have put up with them anymore. Is this the right thing to do? I really don't know. I've been guilty of it in the past, I'm sure. But it is rude, regardless. And I do think we should all do whatever we can to be friendly to new faces, regardless if they haven't yet "earned their stripes" so to speak around here.

And finally, yeah a lot of people around here do seem to be on edge lately. I'm not sure why, but that's the case. Maybe we're all still realing from the last round of tongue lashings from the mods a month or two ago(actually, from Darien, how bad could that be? ). Or perhaps we've all had too many 24 hour throne of bhall playing sessions Anyway, everyone should just mellow out. I thought posting on the boards was supposed to be fun

[This message has been edited by Crawl (edited July 12, 2001).]

 

To Crawl and others:

Can you draw a line between FUN and ANNOYING?
I think you can. Very easy. I.e. Extremist and his notes are not funny but pestering.

And where did you spot flames on newbies or others to use Search option for ALL questions? If I remember right those flames are used only in cases of questions that were chewed over billion times.

 

Personally, I don't mind the repeated questions here. We're all playing the same games- we're bound to have the same sort of questions when we get started. I know I posted some common ones when I first started on these boards. If it's a common question like "How do I build the Crom" I think we should answer the question briefly and encurage them to search the boards for more detail. Or better yet, provide a link.

If it's an opinion question like "Which class should I play", I say keep them coming. I could read opinions on different classes, kits or parties all day. Funny thing is even if it seems I've read 1000 posts on a certain topic, I'll still find some useful info. or an interesting point of view from someone replying to the 1001th post.

The one type of post that does bother me is the "I killed ******" type topic. Then you read the post... "Yeah. I killed 'em. I was tuff but fun." My personal response is "So what?" we've all played or are playing the game. You're telling us nothing new.

However, I love the "I killed ******" topics when the poster actually gives useful information. Tell us what worked for your party, what didn't, what spells you used, how many NPCs you had to raise from the dead afterwards, etc. Doing this usually leads to some interesting topics on strategies (though just as often it leads to the 'are traps cheating' debate ).

 

Zaragoth, can you please, pretty please show me a link to some "hostile" topics and to were banned for? I'm quite intrested to know if what you are saying about the hostillity is true or you are exaggerating. For all I have noticed this boards aren't all that hostile as some other boards I've been to.
I was to diabloii.net recently but I left since whenever someone writes a thread asking something or suggesting something the only asnwers ever got were flames! I mean there wasn't even one useful answer. And that wasn't in only one or two threads.
And anyway every forum seems hostile at first - I know this since sorcerers.net is about the fifth forum I've been in.

I'm sorry if what I said was already said, but I havn't read all the replies yet. I was hasty to answer.

edit> I read all the replies and I can come with some feedback.
Some people are just acting stupid. For example there was someone who didn't see the reply button and posted a new thread every time he wanted to reply.
About the FAQ I hadn't read it untill I had about 100 posts but i still didn't brake the rules although I din't know them. I guess it was comon sense that people don't like to see all the messages in caps or 3 messages of the same person. Also if you are here long enough you really get pissed when some qusetion is asced for a twentyeth time so they just reply: use the search engine.
I'm still curios to know what did you do to get banned, and to know Tal's opinion about this.

Oh and what happend to nobleman? He registered about the same time I did, but disappeared later. Anyone know where he went?

[This message has been edited by Vicsun (edited July 13, 2001).]

 

Nobleman is on his summer break from Univesrity. Hopefully he will return in a month or so.

 

I'll be waiting for him *evil grin*

 

Nobleman won't be here untill summer ends...

 

At last someone apart fomthe usual have spoken out! Congratulations Zaragoth! you speak well! I look forward to seeing you further!

 

Now now people. Let's not spam. Rememeber what the topic was created for. We can dicuss nobleman in a new topic that someone can create if he really feels neceserry(we don't want braking any rules now do we ).

edit>I just read sniper's reply.
Well you're right - it's good to see that someone is complaining. Around all those new improvements introduced by Tal noone has been complaining. It was about time


[This message has been edited by Vicsun (edited July 13, 2001).]

 

yeh dammit lighten up people that's why this is called 'Whatnots' it's where you post what you want, if you dont like it don't read it.

Simple, non?

 

Hostile hostile ??? ... well, I can remember a, ahem, very clear post of mine ... as a result the extensive abuse of the smiley which considerably irritated me ... no insult was intended in this rant. And in fact I did my very best to help as good as possible and I will go on trying to do so. So just ask on ...

 

My name was not Zaragoth during those days, it was Melkhior. I tried the search engine for my name, but most of my links does not work.
Tell me if you can find any
Anyway, I just had a bad day - So just forget about the whole deal. Sorry for bothering.

------------
I´d like to edit something; I had a REALLY bad day. Don´t worry about it.
Tal, feel free to put "thread closed" on this
one. I`m not mad at all now, I just wanted some people on this board to cheer up and not taking all "stupid" posts so damn seriously.
thx.

[This message has been edited by Zaragoth (edited July 14, 2001).]