My last PWNZ post, because it was only up for 5 minutes.

July 22nd, 2008 by Ostrakon

last post, lol

52 Responses to “My last PWNZ post, because it was only up for 5 minutes.”

  1. Ostrakon Says:

    Also, the image I linked was <a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/duanecmoody/610765646/>here.</a>

  2. Ostrakon Says:

    God dammit.
    admin power, go!
    <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/duanecmoody/610765646/”>Here.</a>

  3. Ostrakon Says:

    Oh, fuck you, HTML.

  4. Cipher Says:

    I’d actually been lurking in PWNZ for a while, because you guys frequently pointed out threads and behaviors I found amusing.  It served a similar purpose to, say, fandom_wank or stupid_free, except without the good sense of the “don’t shit where you eat” rule.

    At any rate, I think perhaps the latest round of moderation has gone a little far for my taste.  I’d never have seen anything wrong with “threads to watch” except in those (increasingly frequent) cases when PWNZ made the situation worse.

    Okay, TL;DR, I know.  To my main point:

    The real thing I find interesting is that, from my observation, PWNZ started out by pointing out the fact that, hey, it’s a video game forum and people get a little too serious about it.  Somewhere along the way, though, mocking srs bsns became srs bsns.

    Yeah, perhaps things have been a little heavy-handed lately.  But does it really justify all this sturm und drang?

  5. james_joyce Says:

    inserted your image. Looks like the comments are html encoded, so your < turned into &gt;. Yet another plug in to find.

  6. Cynergy Says:

    well, i have to say, now that i’ve seen the picture, you were right.

  7. Ostrakon Says:

    Cipher.

    It’s not like mocking srs bsns became that way because we started getting uptight about it. THEY were the ones who started being dicks about us having a few laughs at their expense.

    And it’s not just about the lulz. At least not for me. It’s the fact that content < appearance on the boards now. They’re trying to make a community that values a polite, false comment more than a true, angry comment.

    And now it’s gotten so bad that people get banned for not doing anything. Like Grinnz. It’s not fair, and it’s not in line with what a public forum should be.

    I’m not going to sit back and take needless, unfair censorship up the ass. It is srs bsns now, at least for me.

  8. Cipher Says:

    Well, first, I’d object to your use of the term “censorship” on trivial legal grounds.  But it’s because I’m a law student and I have to be picky about such things, so ignore that.

    For me, I think PWNZ operated at maximum efficiency when you (generally) weren’t trolling or even participating in the conversations you were following.  If people who posted in “threads to watch” hadn’t joined in those threads, it would have become a LOT harder to paint PWNZ with the “troll” brush. 

    I also happen to think that PWNZ kind of screwed itself with the “official title” business.  If every time someone mocks you, they have a PWNZ title, it becomes easy to paint PWNZ as a monolithic entity that exists only to ruin things.  That’s just a pet theory, though.

    Now, I happen to think you’re largely right on the other counts.  The valuation of form over content is… insulting, frankly.  Especially since the (okay, give me leeway to be a little cheesy here) “community” aspect of CoH is one of its greatest strengths.  We’re not the big MMO, but we have (or had!) really cool boards, boards that kept me coming back even when I got sick of the game.  “Keep criticism constructive” is something I understand, but there’s a point at which it becomes absurd.  (I contend that EXACT point is when posters have to include four paragraphs of meaningless verbiage when a simple “no” would suffice.)

    I can’t really speak to the Grinnz thing; I don’t know a lot about it beyond what I’ve gathered here.  I do know that moderators seem to be overreacting to things a lot more.  I can’t remember the topic, but I was in a semi-political discussion in “Culture.”  It was civilized, but clearly the mods had a problem with it.  Thread deleted in its entirety.

    You know what I learned in Moderator 101?  Lock > Delete, because a locked thread shows posters what content you consider unacceptable, while a deleted thread breeds suspicion and resentment.

    I’ve seen more and more of that kind of reaction on the part of the mods, and that concerns me.  Clearly, it’s proving destructive to the PWNZ community, and I think it impacts the forum as a whole.  And that — in theory — is what mods are supposed to safeguard: the community.  I mean, that’s the name of their field, “community.”  I know I’ve been posting less and less on the forum, and here I am posting on the blog for PWNZ refugees, so clearly the world is upside down.

  9. james_joyce Says:

    “I can’t remember the topic, but I was in a semi-political discussion in “Culture.”

    That would be the thread that turned into a debate about libertarianism. Man, I was really enjoying that thread, too. I mean, for serious reasons. Pax_ and a few others were actually arguing dispassionately about the topic. Very difficult to manage in politics.

    But those types of threads have been getting locked or deleted for a long time now. It’s a shame, too, ’cause I really love a good political discussion, but I feel weird going to a dedicated political forum. They tend to attract the crazies.

  10. Cipher Says:

    That’s the one.  I was enjoying that conversation, because everyone was staying pretty level-headed about things.  The thought that they’re going to delete — not lock! — a civilized thread simply because it’s “political”?  That strikes me as nonsensical and absurd. 

  11. MarcianTobay Says:

    “Something bad is happening in Oz” ~Elpheba, Wicked

    Osaka, I have a lot of respect for what you said I’m really unhappy with the community right now. We can’t be the only people. It’s hilarious to me that this fight for what the rules say vs. what the forums should be is happening epically in a very small corner of PWNZ. I don’t think that people get that this argument isn’t about any specific group. It’s about the fact that this direction will cripple the sense of community that is City of X’s trademark.

    I’m recording this audio blog I’ll try to post later. It’s salted with the tears of extra Emo.

  12. Spazz Says:

    Aaaaand I’ve completely lost all interest in coming back.  Everyone, take off your hats as Ozzy attempts another Star Spangled Bannar and PWNZ gets shot out with Spock in his photon torpedo casket.

  13. Spazz Says:

    Also, Ostrakon, if you live anywhere near me, I wanna buy you lunch.

  14. MarcianTobay Says:

    Hm. I’d like to meet most of ya. Anyone live near the Inland Empire?

  15. Spazz Says:

    Dunno what that is, so probably no.

  16. Ostrakon Says:

    Spazz, if I’m ever in Texas, I’ll hit you up. Is there a Lockheed Martin office anywhere in TX? I might be getting a job there once I finish my robotics project.

  17. Kid Says:

    Holy crap. I’m kind of almost depressed that I missed some of the draaaaaama. Honestly. Sad to see the state of affairs of things, but you gotta admit, for as much as we all laughed at how we would make the forums go crazy eventually, it seems like it’s working.

    Oh, and Cipher, you fail to forget that most of us don’t and never cared about the forums. It was our place to vent, laugh, and be a general community when we weren’t playing the game. With the new rules, ads in game, and talk of expanding the game, chances are the forums will become a very sterile and boring place. Kind of like the EU forums. The EU forums are what game forums never should be. The US forums, for a while, were what game forums were meant to be.

    Well played gentlemen. You all had your fun, and it was a semi-pleasure to be a part of it while it lasted.

  18. Cipher Says:

    Marcian, if something bad is happening, we should tell the Wizard.  That’s why we HAVE a wizard.  (Just saw it for the second time this Saturday; such a good show.)

    And, for my money, you hit the nail on the head.  It’s why I’m here.  Because I find myself increasingly… concerned at the direction the moderators are headed.  I think it’s a negative for the entire forum.  I think the forum would benefit from a discussion of the situation, but the rules specifically prohibit that.  It’s unfortunate, I do try to keep my feedback constructive and on-topic, but I get the feeling that the first rule of mod club is don’t talk about mod club.

  19. Cipher Says:

    How does “fail to forget” work?  If I “fail to forget” then I’m succeeding at remembering.

    So you’re saying “Cipher, you [remember] that most of us… never cared about the forum.”  If I remember that, why are you reminding me of it?

  20. MarcianTobay Says:

    “Marcian, if something bad is happening, we should tell the Wizard.  That’s why we HAVE a wizard.  (Just saw it for the second time this Saturday; such a good show.)”

    I was actually tossing this line over in my head. The situation in “Something Bad” is eerily similar to what’s going on in the boards. People are getting Permabanned (losing their power of speech) without everyone knowing the true story.

    Who are we supposed to go to and have them solve everything? The one whose job it is to solve everything! The Wizard/Mods! What do we do, though, when they themselves are the source of this?

    Meanwhile, people outside think it’s easier to paint PWNZ green witches than to admit that this is complicated, both sides are fucked up, and we need to work on this a bit.

    Like I said, an eerie similarity.

    Oh well, I told Ex a while ago: “The day I feel unwelcome on the boards is the day I quit City of X”. We are too close to that day.

    You’re right, though, Kid. There’s a lot of dark humor around what’s going on. A lot of hoo’s, ha’s, and “I say, good chap”’s based on a section dedicated to not taking itself seriously.

    Joker’s Speech, adjusted for City of X boards:

    “If I told you that Temporal was going to have a discussion about Stalkers, or Johnny Butane was going to disagree with all of Castle’s decisions, everyone would be okay. It all falls into the rules. But if I caught one thread off guard with one Rick Roll, well, everyone starts losing their minds!”

  21. Ostrakon Says:

    I lol’d.

    And it’s okay. I’ll put on my Wizard robes for this one. I have several plots cooking. One of them will hurt in a way they can’t afford to be hurt. I will attack their collective weak spots for massive damage. And it will be lulzy.

    I’d recommend signing up for the CO boards.

  22. Talen Lee Says:

    It’s the hipocrisy that bugs me. Consider that CAREZ - for all that it fell apart- was completely legitimate. Acanous’ stupid thread about ‘healers’ with Chieta on defenders was completely legitimate. Posting rape of Miss Liberty because it’s got a warning on it is completely legitimate. But calling something someone said stupid is not okay. That’s the thing: You can’t call people stupid. That, okay, I can get behind. But if someone tells me the moon is flat and the government put a chip in my brain when I gave blood because Jesus talks to him at night, I should have every right to say that’s stupid. Instead, we’re taken to the point where the appearance of content is more important than the actuality of content…

    … this is why I resent the idea there are ‘obvious trolls.’ I find the dickheads and jackasses like Butane, Temporal, Infinitum, and so on, are completely worthless to the boards, doing nothing but complaining petulantly about things they don’t understand. Work in game design or toy design for three months and you know more than all three of them put together. But they’re not trolls. They’re just expressing their very stupid and wrong opinion, so that’s okay.

    I left the Virtue forums because POPULAR! was more important than right. The virus has spread to a large number of the other forums. God, I could talk about the personalities I see in there for hours.

    In the end, it reminds me of religion. Sorry to all of you who are religious, but since I’ve had a day of reading the CoX forums and dealing with this Popular bullshit, I want to say that every last one of you religious types is a deluded follower of your failure to successfully bond with your father figure and when you die it’s all over.

    Holy shit, an opinion.

  23. ilr Says:

    Epic rant Ostra!

    I think these new policies (or atleast the new “Re-Interpretations” of them) are hilarious and it is very difficult for me to worry about any of it.  I’m havin’ more fun already cuz all these new technicalities just make it easier for me to troll the SRS BNZS dickheads and stealth-aggro everyone else.  …Sure I have to mix in some legitimate “feedback” where I can to avoid leaving a trail that’s too Obvious. But like I keep saying:  They’re only making things more difficult for themselves(NCNC) by going forward with this :D

  24. Alloric Says:

    Q.Q

    You’re now cleared to marry any of my children.

  25. Kid Says:

    Cipher - “How does “fail to forget” work?  If I “fail to forget” then I’m succeeding at remembering.

    So you’re saying “Cipher, you [remember] that most of us… never cared about the forum.”  If I remember that, why are you reminding me of it?”

    It’s just a saying you dick. lol

    Anyway, you know what I meant. Yes, it sucks that the Mods have become what we feared they would, but I’m still impressed. We pretty much forced a multi-million dollar game company to create a new sub forum to house a bunch of degenerates. If that doesn’t count as some kind of “win,” then I don’t know what is.

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    I suggest we start giving it a try. Give love to the ones that need it.
    God will appreciate it.

  27. Kossy Says:

    whut

  28. ilr Says:

    WHUT x 2

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