Well I WAS excited about this game..

You obviously haven't been around here that long. I've been here for over a year, now. I can say that this is probably one of -if not the- best forum/communities around. You just have to be careful of what you post.

 

I have been here quite a while actually. You guys are not all bad. Some are more hot headed than others, and some think they have to crusade the forums about things they don't like. I have never been attacked myself, but I see it happen to often and I do not like it at all.

 

I don't want to run a community where people have to walk on eggshells about what they post. This isn't 4chan. I want people to feel comfortable here.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

Guys, if you see anyone acting like a jerk towards another member or if you're feeling alienated by our community, please tell me or another mod and we'll address the situation. As a community manager, it's a little heartbreaking when I see that people feel uncomfortable here, or think our community is abrasive and rude. It's something I'd really like to fix.

People are allowed to ask questions-- yes, even if that question has been asked a million times before. If you don't want to answer it, or if you're annoyed that they've asked it in the first place, do everyone a favor and don't respond. Post somewhere else. The snark isn't necessary.

If you do respond, please politely answer their question or, better yet, point the OP to a thread that will answer their question at length.
If you don't feel like a thread should exist at all, report it to us and we'll take a look.

But snarky responses towards community members, particularly new ones, aren't helpful and are only going to earn us a crappy reputation. I really don't want that.

Then please report it.

 

Can we get a list of common duplicate threads?
Perhaps that will help reduce the number of them, if we include it in the rules or something.
(Not really rules, but guidelines?)

 

Will do.

 

It's not so much the existence of duplicate threads that bothers me as it is people's reactions to them. It's waaay out of line a lot of the time.
I'm not sure making a thread listing common duplicates would do much good, but it could be worth trying anyway.


A little hesitant to put yet another sticky topic in the General Discussion forums, too.

 

A. To each their own. Both things bother me, for example. I don't like it when people don't do a little research before posting a thread, and I don't like it when people bash on them, instead of getting to the point and bing helpful. I think if we could warn people about common threads, they wouldn't post them.

B. Could you put it in FAQ?

 

I don't particularly like it when people don't use the search function before posting a thread, either, but I like it less when people are rude to them about it.

And I could put it in FAQ! That's a point.

 

I really think that the option that pops up with similar existing threads once you type your topic's title is a great addition. I suspect that the number of duplicate threads would be higher if such device weren't present.

Duplicate topics don't really bother me much, to be honest, especially since it's not really that bad in the Starbound forums and when you boil things down, it's just a piece of text somewhere in the internet. Furthermore, moderators can take care of things on a more technical level, such as merging duplicate threads with existing ones. As mollygos has put it, there really is no need to be aggressive towards others. You don't even have to agree with the person, just mind what you say and how it might be perceived.

 

The larger an internet community becomes the larger the decline of intelligence and common decency becomes.
With a few very, very rare exceptions.

 

A few good points on this page, and to reinforce the statement...

Duplicate threads can get annoying after time, however being rude about it gets nowhere and the OP will likely respond in a much more positive manner if you are polite. The trick to this is to avoid any potentially offensive statements or words, and replace them with more positive ones... if you must insult the OP, call him a silly cucumber and add a smiley face rather than trying to attack him with a rusted pitchfork.
...Thankfully, the good deeds far outnumber the bad on the forum.

 

Kelp, you silly cucumber.

 

You silly cucumber >:c

 

How hard is this... why dont people understand this?

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about the community. Plenty of good games have forums full of annoying people.

Starbound seems to get a lot of followers from one such game: Minecraft. Lots of pre-teens believe that when they post on a video game forum, they are official wizards of the internet or something. (Understandable, but I'm not sure how to state this another way.)

Have fun, be hyped!

 

But... but... but that's, like, the ENTIRE INTERNET! If you take away snark, arrogance, and rudeness there will be, like, 17 websites on the planet.

No but seriously, that's an internet I'd subscribe to. Well said Mollygos.

 

I'm of the opinion all threads should have some inherent discussion value; a point raised or a new perspective on an issue that is worth nothing and discussing. You're in a Starbound community -- who do you think isn't excited for the game? While your previous enthusiasm was great, it's nothing particularly special and it certainly didn't warrant a new thread -- and the consequent monsoon of feces that resulted -- being created.

As to your being turned-off by the community, what can I say? It's silly to hate a game because of the people that play it, especially if said people cannot even directly influence your gaming experience. Molly already covered pretty much what I was going for -- if you see someone deliberately being a douche, report them and get on with your happy times. That's how we improve as a forum, and that's a very worthwhile cause to contribute to as a fan of the game.

 

Just my two cents, not trying to insult but just speak my mind:

Threads that do not add anything to the discussion other than "I'm really excited and I want to buy the game!" are not useful, and they take up space. Saying that the thread was okay because it was in general discussion doesn't make sense. I mean, what is there to discuss? It's either, "yeah me too" or "meh, not really". Trust me, if everyone who was excited for SB posted a thread saying so, the entire general discussion would consist of duplicate threads with little to no discussion value.

Second, whether you knew it or not, you did use a phrase which has been said about ten thousand times already with regards to SB. This phrase ("Shut up and take my money", along with "I'm throwing money at the computer screen but nothing's happening") has reached anti-memedom status - it's overused. For example, you know how Skyrim's arrow-to-the-knee joke was funny for a while, then it was amusing, and now people hate it? Or the original Portal's "The cake is a lie"? Same thing with this. It's an annoying meme, so people freaking out about it, while not a good thing, is an understandable and even expected reaction.

Third, the community has nothing to do with the business model. Chucklefish has no control whatsoever over who buys and plays their game, or who is waiting for it to be released. Saying that not banning/deleting certain posters/posts is a bad business model makes no sense and places the blame on the blameless.

Finally, while I do not by any means condone the rude things that were said in your thread, they were certainly nowhere near as insulting or rude as a TON of other places on the internet. As a matter of fact, the SB community is one of the best I've seen in a long time. No community will be perfect and there will always be some jerk or troll who has to get their fix. But if you let one locked thread full of people convince you not to buy the game, then you're probably better off lurking and not posting.

I'm not trying to be insulting, though I may come across that way. I'm just trying to write my opinion.

 

Pre-teens shouldn't even be on the forums, seeing that the age requirement that no one follows but should is 13+.