An appeal for moderation

[ShadowHM]

I don't think it's just the grammar corrections that scare a lot of people away.  It's the reputation of elitism that does it.  Granted, this elitism has toned down quite a bit over the years (with minor flareups every so often), but a lot of people still expect to either be ignored completely about a point they're trying to make or bug they've found or whatever decent post they're trying to make  or else are pummeled into the ground (figuratively speaking) for daring to have an opinion while not being a Good Ol' Lurker™ (GOL).  It really did feel like this was a good ol' boy network.  If you weren't a known code diving monkey or hadn't been an active poster since DSF, you were nothing.  You could have screenshots showing your point, have a detailed explanation of how you tested whatever you were testing and it would still go unnoticed unless one of the GOLs happened to decide later on to test it.  Yes, random posters who claimed to have found something out shouldn't be believed without question when they post, but a lot of things seemed to be completely dismissed and not even looked into or corrected if they were known to be wrong.  For a while it seemed that GOLs would only respond to GOLs, with the exception of flames and unnecessary negativity.  Those were spread around to everyone; some deserving, some not.

I'm not referring to the off-topic forums much, but that's because I tended to avoid reading it much of the time.  I frequently came here strictly for good behind the scenes info and seeing how people were treated in the game forums, I didn't want to see how people were treated in the off topic forum (which are typically worse).  I did poke in there now and again, but ran off without ever posting because my opinion on the OT stuff wouldn't matter anyway.  Now, as I said at the beginning, this has toned down but people's perceptions can take longer to change.
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I have been thinking about the point you make about the 'on-topic' forums.

I used to read them faithfully, in the hope that I would be able to substitute knowledge of game mechanics for failing reflexes. :blush: There were times when there was a dismissive tone in reponses to a 'newcomer' who posted observations about the game. There is an understandable desire in all of us to have our favourite experts validate observations before we accept them as fact. But the dismissive tone does not help us welcome new members. I hope the same pattern will not extend itself to the WOW forums.

The off-topic forum is another ball of wax though. We all come from wildly varied backgrounds, with knowledge and opinions from many different experiences. My own reticence about posting in the 'on-topic' forums because of lack of game knowledge has not stopped me from being the opinionated person I am about other topics. :rolleyes:

In terms of forum style, I tend to offer criticism and/or small corrections via private message, rather than via a post. However, I have also been known to post something scathing after those private messages are ignored. I will be taking Pete's admonishment to heart (well, at least trying ;) ).

I suspect that in this forum, it could be very daunting to jump into a new topic, when one is not familiar with the place. There have been some very spirited debates here. Further, for a newcomer, it must be disconcerting to see some of the GOL's disagreeing so emphatically. They would not know that some of us have managed to disagree strongly and then agree to disagree afterwards. For example, I have disagreed strongly with Occhi on quite a few topics, but I still value his viewpoint, as I do many others with whom I often disagree. In the best case scenario, I learn something and change my mind after reading differing opinions (VanDiablo comes to mind - he gave me the most gentle slap on the wrist I have even received and it sank right in because it was so gentle). On the other hand, there are others that make me think of stopped watches - they might be right twice a day, but that doesn't make them worth my attention. We all have to work out for ourselves just which ones we feel that way about.