My two cents

[rah]

I love the way people assume that Mods are watching every second of the day, and if we're not, we're not being fair. We do have real lives.

[SpencerH]

The question is why? Such threads may degenerate into nothing more than mudslinging, but I dont see any other threads that attempt to describe good and bad impressions and events of PtW from day 1. All I see are 'PtW is good vs PtW is crap' threads.

[Ming]

Your thread was really no different than the many, many, many, "look at my opinion of the game" threads.

Your opinions are welcome, just post them in a current thread. Is there really that great of a need to have it in your own personal thread?

[Anaximander]

Well, first of all I would like to say that I do not hate Civ III nor do I hate the PTW expansion pack. Nor do I consider myself a ranter. Furthermore, I fully respect the fact that Apolyton is a privately owned entity and that posting here is a privlege. I am also greatful that the moderators unlocked this thread, as it shows they are truly intreasted in discusing a possiable problem in the Apolyton community. Furthermore, I am glad that this thread was moved to this forum, as what I am addressing is not a gaming issue as it is more of a community issue.

I am greatful that the moderators are on the lookout for mindless ranting. Such threads accomplish nothing. However, I still firmly believe that ArmaGeddin's thread was a good thread, and that it should not have been locked. That is why I posted this thread. To raise attention to this in the community. We are a community, right? That's what I have been led to believe. The fact is that as a community we should discuss all aspects of the game, both positive and negative. So what if there is more than one thread? That just means that there is more than one opinion. If the persons opinion is valid then the thread has a right to exist. Let the people decide if they want to discuss that particular topic. If it somthing of importance people will post, if not it will get one or two replies and then quickly fade to the back pages of the fourm.

I ask our beloved moderators to have some faith in the community, and to have some faith in the "Free Market of Ideas", which I believe these forums represent. Dissenting opinions do not go away by ignoring them. Instead, you must deal with them out in the opinion. It is only there that issues can truly be resolved.

Thank you.

[SpencerH]

But my question still stands, which thread?

OK the problems I've encountered with 1.04 that werent there with 1.29 could go into the 1.04 bugs thread, but installation problems and random crashing isnt really a 'bug and I'm not looking for help so it doesnt fit in the help category. So, I'm at a loss.

I'd also need to start different threads for each improvement over CIV3, Hmmm....

[Ming]

Originally posted by Anaximander
Dissenting opinions do not go away by ignoring them. Instead, you must deal with them out in the opinion. It is only there that issues can truly be resolved.

You would think from reading this that dissenting opinion isn't allowed. As anybody can see from looking throught the Civ III forums, that is not the case.

It is your opinion that everybody should be allowed their own personal "look at my opinion of the game" thread.

This runs contary to the opinion of the owners of this private site. While the opinions being posted in these many threads are valid, there is really no need to have so many different threads on why they like or do not like the game. There are more than enough threads already where people can post their opinions of the game.

If everybody was allowed their own "personal, my opinion is so important that it needs it own thread" threads, thats about all their would be based on the number of people starting them. It would choke out other threads that discuss other issues.

So again... it's not the opinions that are being closed down... just the many individual threads. You are welcome to post your opinons in threads already started to discuss such things.

[Alex]

While the opinions being posted in these many threads are valid, there is really no need to have so many different threads on why they like or do not like the game. There are more than enough threads already where people can post their opinions of the game.

Hit the nail in the head.

[SpencerH]

Virtually everything on the site is an opinion so everything starts as "personal, my opinion is so important that it needs it own thread". If the thread is interesting others will comment and it survives if its boring it dies a quick death.

[rah]

Think of it as a newspaper front page. Too many headlines stating almost the same thing will push other important headlines off the front page, where almost 75% of readers will never see it. A little order and editing is critical to keep people informed.

[Rasbelin]

Rah has the clue, IMHO. The mods are here for maintaining a good order on the forums they govern. As I said, a society or community needs someone to enforce the mutually agreed rules so that the community could work. This is a very basic issue that you encounter in your real life too. of course we could have total anarchy and the "power and chaos" mentality if you want, but that wouldn't be constructive. So some order and disciplin is IMHO good to have as there's ~24 000 persons involved. I've seen several forums with real mayhem (e.g. Radio NRJ's forums, MTV3 Internet's news discussion forums and the forums of the Otava Institute; not to mention a few related to politics), so I would say that it's just good when someone is every now and then checking out what's really going on.

[Ming]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Virtually everything on the site is an opinion so everything starts as "personal, my opinion is so important that it needs it own thread". If the thread is interesting others will comment and it survives if its boring it dies a quick death.

One difference is that every thread don't have "My experience" or "My opinon" in the title

The real problem is that there are far too many "MY" threads, and they are indeed making it difficult to discuss game related issues.

Again... there are already more than enough threads to discuss opinions of the game. As far as specific bugs, there is a thread for that. That is the thread the people from Firaxis are reading regularly. The threads they probably aren't looking at are threads that have "MY" in the title...

[SpencerH]

I suppose its true that with the number of threads it must be difficult to do more than scan for (unsuitable) titles and sometimes do a quick read. I think that the mods do a good job for the most part in regulating the threads (except in closing my thread of course ) and they are pretty impartial on most 'fanboy/whiner-type' issues.

[Ming]

SpencerH... I know people hate having their threads closed/deleted. I feel the same way on other sites that I post at. If it was only one or two threads, nobody would care. But you have to admit that it is getting out of hand.

The real trick is to name your thread in such a way that we don't catch it... and that people from Firaxis might read it. Be creative, because "HEY FIRAXIS..." in the title is also raising a red flag

[rah]

You got that straight SpencerH.
When I started moding th OTF, I actually thought I could read every post.
There just isn't enough time in the day, or the desire on my part. Just like my job in Market research, sampling, and looking for outliers is the only way. If you want to stay below the radar on an issue, a good title is the best way to go. (that and not having a reputation )
Volume will always catch up to you also.

RAH

Darn, ming beat me to it on the crosspost. We're not twins, nawwwwww.

[Anaximander]

I have to aggree with Spencer here. I am all for the moderators lock posts that do nothing to add to the community. It's when they lock posts that have somthing real to offer that I take issue. Spencer is also correct in pointing out that every thread is really a "my opinion" thread. It is only after enough of these "my opinion threads" are created that someone comes along and puts togeather a comprehensive thread that covers all the aspects of the topic. But even that thread is still a "my opinion" thread!!!

One difference is that every thread don't have "My experience" or "My opinon" in the title

This is not a good reason for closing threads and if this is your only reason for closing a thread, then you shouldn't do it. The locking of threads should be based upon the content of the thread, not because of the title. I ask you Ming, if ArmaGeddin had entered a different title for his thread would you still have locked it? According to your quote above the title was the deciding factor. If it was, then I would argue that it was a mistake. If it wasn't, then what exactly about that thread doomed it to be locked?