Important Changes

[Forlorn Drifter]

I haven't personally had any issues with the mods, to get that out of the way. I don't know how other members feel, so I'll let them put in their piece.

I'm ambivalent to the happenings around Luke. While he was valued by many here, and did create some good discussion on games, I often found him to be... well, an ass most of the time. When people get on a roll, it tends to be one of the little groups running a joke for a page or two, the whole community pouncing on a thread that's on fire, me being a whiny ass, or, as it often felt to me, "The Luke Show". God forbid you disagree with him on something, or else there was a whole back and forth, and it didn't seem like many would go against him. (Some of those that would have been banned, notably.) For someone who told us how often he didn't care what people on the internet thought, apparently not being able to choose words others disliked was too much for him. Still, many here valued his discussion and insight, so there's a loss either way.

I'd like to help with re-invigorating the site, if I could, but I don't know how much help I would be and my time is somewhat limited with school going on. Also, seeing as certain limitations limit things, my retro knowledge isn't even par for the course here, since I'm one of the horrible people that mentions a 7th gen game when I talk about what I'm playing.

[CFFJR]

Regarding Luke, I wish him well.

Regarding the future of the site, I'm very interested in helping out if I can. Looking forward to that post about what's to come.

[jp1]

*snip
And that's not to single out any moderator or drive any antipathy toward them. But the feelings I get from them is that they're off-limits criticism-wise.
*snip

I don't want to be dismissive of the rest of your post, I simply wanted to address this one sentiment. I have had disagreements with mods (many of them) and have never once been given a warning for it. I keep it civil, most of the time, unfortunately I have lost my temper here and there and I feel bad about that. Some might consider me a "protected member". The thing is we don't know what goes on behind the curtain. Those times that I've acted juvenile I've stopped to PM a mod or two and explain my frustrations and apologize, usually I make some sort of public note of it as well. It's simply good manners and they have (in my personal experience) gone a long way toward making up for bad behavior.

In short, I question mods and decisions they make all the time. With the same tone and respect I am expected to give any other member. With that in mind, the worse that has happened is I've received a PM politely explaining the decision and why it has been made. I don't know anything of your experience, so I won't discount it...I do find it much different than what I have personally seen though.

[Exhuminator]

All in all, if the place weren't so modern-centric today

I don't mind modern gaming talk interspersed with retro gaming talk, but I too have noticed the balance has strongly shifted towards modern. Perhaps this is a byproduct of there's only so many old games to talk about, and new and shiny is well, new and shiny. That said, I think there are deeper conversations to be had about ye olde games than what I've personally seen around here. That well's not dry for me, discussion-wise.

Just my two pence from an old member who feels way out of place here these days (and in all likelihood is forgotten as well).

I haven't forgotten about you! You're one of the best debaters on this site. You actually managed to change my mind about what "retro" means pertaining to gaming. That was no small feat I assure you. If anything I wish you'd post more often.

[brunoafh]

Totally understandable you are upset about your friend. I don't see how the inconsiderate behavior is helping anyone though. Did you notice that a female member addressed she was uncomfortable with the term, a very nice and valuable female member at that. Clearly it rubbed some people the wrong way, a simple acknowledgement of that and an adherence to the boards policies would have resulted in no banning. You are obviously ignoring the fact that many, many people have had disagreements with the mods without being warned or banned. The difference being that those people probably chose to work things out amicably and admit the possibility of some fault, which goes a long way with people understanding you having a lapse in judgment.

I'm sad to see Luke go too (really), I think he brought a lot to the board over the years and he will be remembered. It just wasn't the right way to handle the situation and spitting in the face of those who are asking you to adjust your behavior according to the preference of the community at large is simply asking for trouble. Honestly, this isn't your back yard...it is a private forum, they are free to set the rules however they like. Many people seem to be able to play inside of them just fine. Perhaps it isn't the community or the mods to blame, just perhaps.

I respect your opinion, and your freedom to express it. I also respect the right of the people who run the website to discern if that is how they wish to be represented as a community. I'm very sorry you feel persecuted, but you jumped in and said some pretty unprovoked and nasty stuff, why the surprise at the backlash?

Anyway, sorry if that rubs you the wrong way. I'm not poking I promise, just offering a different perspective. Reflection is always a good thing when you are running on emotion, I know this from experience. Best of luck.

I'm stepping off my soapbox, but come on guys...this nonsense has got to end.

No interest in posting in the thread anymore, or on this board at all. But, for whatever reason, I felt like responding to this, in case you care. You probably don't, I can't recall any encounters we had, but here you go anyway.

I don't think I was being that inconsiderate. What did you think was so out of line? It's typical for mods here to absolutely destroy people calling them pieces of shit and such. This board, much like the internet in general, is no stranger to massive shit flinging and brutal personal assaults. I don't care about that. An internet forum is neutral ground imo. But here, it's not strictly neutral. You've been here longer than me and have no doubt noticed this, I would assume? You can say anything you want to a new member, but for a respected member, you better not dare step out of line or you will be crucified, especially if they are a mod, in which case they will berate you to the point you will prefer to simply leave the board rather than stay/get banned.

For slamming me about the cunt thing, I was completely joking. Honestly, you are just dense if you couldn't tell that. My post was so absurd that it's not my fault if you actually thought I was being serious about talking about how it is the noble duty of a douche to sacrifice itself to a vagina in the glorious name of cleanliness. I mean... seriously dude. I'm not meaning to insult you at all, but go re-read what I said and imagine I was being serious. lol

About the poking, it's fine, that's not what I felt you were doing. But we obviously have a different view of the forum. I don't feel that members should have to walk on egg shells and be ultra polite in every situation when the mods are being giant cockbags. We should just be able to say so, it's not a big deal. But the circle jerk around here becomes devastated when people bring up the fact that they are being overly judgmental of newcomers (WE ALREADY HAVE A THREAD FOR THAT, FUCK OFF RETARD!) and suggest they should act otherwise. This is a major reason why board membership has come to a halt, and will continue to do so, until racketboy becomes a dead forum blaming everyone but itself (ie, extremely productive members like Luke, and in the past, myself) about the issue.

I used to call this place my home, but it feels like I've been cast aside because I don't agree with everything that's said by the majority. It sounds silly, but, I am most certainly not alone with that outlook and it's where much of my vitriol regarding this place comes from.

[brunoafh]

For the record, brunoafh reached out to me by PM to explain that his post had been in jest and to apologize if I had been genuinely offended. I didn't know him well enough to realize he wasn't being entirely serious, and we discussed whether or not to revisit the confusion in the thread in order to clear it up. He preferred to just let it go, so we let it be. It's all good. (I wasn't offended, but I did genuinely question whether people were aware of how the term is often perceived, so I decided to talk about it just in case.)

Back on topic though, count me among those who are confused by the claims of moderators lording their powers over the little folk. They made their judgment in this particular case based on several years' worth of incidents. That's hardly ban-crazy. If anything it's evidence that they try extremely hard to avoid this outcome, and give people third, fourth, and fifth chances in situations where other moderating groups might only grant a second. It's unfortunate that it came to this, but they put it off as long as they felt they could.

The only way I can possibly interpret the mods' behavior as being "strict" is by comparing it to the free-for-all of other forums which are either utterly unworthy of my time or have led to personal experiences of harassment. It's my opinion that Racket is not ruled with an iron fist -- it just actually has rules, and some kind of collective conscience.

I can't quite figure how the site rules are "stifling conversation," but I'm all ears if anyone has specific examples they want to discuss.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful post, Ack. It's appreciated.

Thanks for that, really. Don't feel the need to defend me though. I've been sufficiently muscled into "go away or get banned" PM warnings that I won't be posting with my terribly offensive poop and peepee jokes anymore.

But yeah, I do appreciate that you mentioned [your post]

See ya around, except not, and stuff

[jp1]

Totally understandable you are upset about your friend. I don't see how the inconsiderate behavior is helping anyone though. Did you notice that a female member addressed she was uncomfortable with the term, a very nice and valuable female member at that. Clearly it rubbed some people the wrong way, a simple acknowledgement of that and an adherence to the boards policies would have resulted in no banning. You are obviously ignoring the fact that many, many people have had disagreements with the mods without being warned or banned. The difference being that those people probably chose to work things out amicably and admit the possibility of some fault, which goes a long way with people understanding you having a lapse in judgment.

I'm sad to see Luke go too (really), I think he brought a lot to the board over the years and he will be remembered. It just wasn't the right way to handle the situation and spitting in the face of those who are asking you to adjust your behavior according to the preference of the community at large is simply asking for trouble. Honestly, this isn't your back yard...it is a private forum, they are free to set the rules however they like. Many people seem to be able to play inside of them just fine. Perhaps it isn't the community or the mods to blame, just perhaps.

I respect your opinion, and your freedom to express it. I also respect the right of the people who run the website to discern if that is how they wish to be represented as a community. I'm very sorry you feel persecuted, but you jumped in and said some pretty unprovoked and nasty stuff, why the surprise at the backlash?

Anyway, sorry if that rubs you the wrong way. I'm not poking I promise, just offering a different perspective. Reflection is always a good thing when you are running on emotion, I know this from experience. Best of luck.

I'm stepping off my soapbox, but come on guys...this nonsense has got to end.

No interest in posting in the thread anymore, or on this board at all. But, for whatever reason, I felt like responding to this, in case you care. You probably don't, I can't recall any encounters we had, but here you go anyway.

I don't think I was being that inconsiderate. What did you think was so out of line? It's typical for mods here to absolutely destroy people calling them pieces of shit and such. This board, much like the internet in general, is no stranger to massive shit flinging and brutal personal assaults. I don't care about that. An internet forum is neutral ground imo. But here, it's not strictly neutral. You've been here longer than me and have no doubt noticed this, I would assume? You can say anything you want to a new member, but for a respected member, you better not dare step out of line or you will be crucified, especially if they are a mod, in which case they will berate you to the point you will prefer to simply leave the board rather than stay/get banned.

For slamming me about the cunt thing, I was completely joking. Honestly, you are just dense if you couldn't tell that. My post was so absurd that it's not my fault if you actually thought I was being serious about talking about how it is the noble duty of a douche to sacrifice itself to a vagina in the glorious name of cleanliness. I mean... seriously dude. I'm not meaning to insult you at all, but go re-read what I said and imagine I was being serious. lol

About the poking, it's fine, that's not what I felt you were doing. But we obviously have a different view of the forum. I don't feel that members should have to walk on egg shells and be ultra polite in every situation when the mods are being giant cockbags. We should just be able to say so, it's not a big deal. But the circle jerk around here becomes devastated when people bring up the fact that they are being overly judgmental of newcomers (WE ALREADY HAVE A THREAD FOR THAT, FUCK OFF RETARD!) and suggest they should act otherwise. This is a major reason why board membership has come to a halt, and will continue to do so, until racketboy becomes a dead forum blaming everyone but itself (ie, extremely productive members like Luke, and in the past, myself) about the issue.

I used to call this place my home, but it feels like I've been cast aside because I don't agree with everything that's said by the majority. It sounds silly, but, I am most certainly not alone with that outlook and it's where much of my vitriol regarding this place comes from.

Well, two things.

First, I didn't mean to insinuate you were the one who used the term in question...I was speaking on the reason why it may have been worthy of a warning. I was talking about the venom you were spewing at Popo mostly. If that too was a joke, then excuse me for not finding the humor in it.

Secondly, I have often stepped in when a new member got a nasty welcome and said something about the way they were given a "We already have a thread for that retard!"
The thing is that more often than not, these were members and not mods that pulled that card.

I honestly feel as though you saw my post as an attack, which it wasn't. I can disagree with you without saying you are a terrible person or that you aren't entitled to an opinion, no? If not, then you are playing the same game you are accusing others of. I was only throwing in my two cents. I understand it is a hot topic for you, and I'm sorry you feel the need to leave because of the situation.

My support for the mods is not unwavering by the way. I've had more than my fair share of disagreements with them. The thing is, I understand that much like you and I they are individuals on the board and if I expect to say my piece, they should have the same right. Now, that said...I understand you do not feel the same. It simply happens that either you and I have had a different outlook on the board in general OR that we have had a different experience.

Sorry for any misunderstanding about my intentions. I wish you the best, and Luke for that matter. I was actually hoping to talk you into reconsidering the assault. I can see that was a fruitless endeavor, so do you man. I ain't mad at cha!

[8bit]

I for one am happy to see that the "circle jerk" with Luke has ended. His disdain for the forum, its members, its mods, and whatever else was in his sights that day was getting old and had moved way beyond reasonable. He will be missed by many including myself for the positive things he did around here but this is a shared space and as such we all have to show a little more restraint and respect towards others and those who run the place.

Thank you to the mods for making the hard decision and for being forthcoming with the reasoning behind the decision. In no way did I take this thread as a "you all have been warned, it can happen to you too" thread.

Luke, if you read this, I wish you nothing but health and happiness. I know you could give two wet farts about my opinion but I did enjoy the majority of your posts over the years. I hope you find a more suitable online home for your brash sense of humor.

[Gunstar Green]

Man, I think people just need to calm down and talk about video games.

Sometimes I really hate the Internet as a tool for communication. If we were all in a room together we'd probably have a great time. But sit somebody behind a screen and suddenly opinions become daggers, personalities clash and every discussion becomes a Shakespearean drama.

Anyway, communities grow and dwindle. Even websites that once seemed massive and eternal have fallen as quickly as they've risen. As stated by others, interests change. Even if you look at that lovely collection and say, "I'll never part with you," you might one day wonder why the hell you did it and what's the point of having it. Even if you think you can happily discuss retro games every day you'll still get to the point where you've got little else to say on the topic.

My cousin's husband has just gotten into collecting and it's been enlightening for me to see his energy and excitement about the hobby where as I'm at the point where there's little fire left for the hunt and the frontier of retro games that once felt like a vast ocean now feels like a well explored puddle. Even if realistically that isn't the case, the drive to explore that ocean is gone all the same. (As an aside the decreasing availability of those games may also factor into my malaise.)

It's left me, like many others, talking about newer games when I do talk about games which I guess makes me part of the problem in the eyes of some folks.

But whatever, I'm just rambling now. In regards to Luke I've had many arguments and agreements with him and never took any of his sometimes abrasive way of putting things personally. However, I tend to give people the benefit of doubt online, knowing that text is not always an exact form of communication. Even as someone with a degree in this language I can't always get across what I mean without the nuance of speaking to someone in person.

Here's to hoping Racketboy can move forward, as I've always viewed it as an island of sanity in the hellscape that is the gaming community at large and I'd hate to see it eaten alive by the same kinds of drama that plagues similar forums. Our hobby deserves a solid resource site.

[aaron]

thumbsup.jpg