An appeal for moderation

[Taem]

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.
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There appears to be a consensual agreement generating in this thread that there’s a problem with the way Lurkers are dealing with [new] posters. For reasons pointed out by Pete, various people have noticed a trend of Lurkers to scrutinize posts for grammar and syntax cohesiveness, and the subsequent response rendered from this scrutiny makes some people feel inadequate and unwelcome at the Lounge; this is especially true for [new] posters.

As a community, it is important for all of our thoughts and ideas to be [spoken] and [heard]. That’s why the LL works so well because everyone helps to moderate the boards, yet if we can't “moderate” appropriately as a group then shouldn’t the next logical course be to rely on the designated moderating staff to enforce the LL's standards? I know this is what the [REPORT!] button is for, however I feel this would put an unnecessary strain on the moderating staff, and our community as a whole.

I would like to propose a solution: on various forum boards I have encountered throughout the net, there are some forums that require you to run your post threw a spelling and grammar checker before you are allowed to make your post. What usually happens is you write your post and click ENTER. Before being posted, this spell-checking program pops-up, usually hosted on the web site of the forum, and – starting at the top – starts showing you mistakes in the post. You can either change or ignore all the suggestions in the spell-checking/grammar program, however you must let it examine the entire post and give you the [GO AHEAD AND POST] or [DELETE] option before actually posting. It could be argued that this wouldn’t really be helpful at all because people could easily bypass the programs usefulness by simply clicking ignore for the whole post, however it will be obvious who came to the Lounge to post seriously and who is here to play games. With my proposal for a program like this, [grammar-nazi’s] would be nonexistent and the LL would not be a [dying] board – although to be honest, I thought it was growing.

[EDIT] - Syntax error :P