World of Forum Bans

Firstly, let me get this one straight out of the closet - you break the rules, you live with the consequences.

However, in almost every country, crimes have prescription. If enough time passes, your crime become void. Irrelevant. And with all due respect to the readers, but when a "fuck" is due, a "fuck" shall be given. Same goes with other words, found inappropriate by forum rules and whatnot. In terms of World of Tanks EU Forums, rules are followed tightly ... whenever seen fit. Sort of a Top Gear's approach to things - ambitions, but rubbish. The reason I'm saying this has nothing to do with Private_Miros or anyone else who got mopped up by the mods, while trying to appeal to have his forum ban revoked. It has to do with me, clearly using bad language, in forum posts ... and yet remaining undetected (so far), by the ever-reaching hands of the likes of BigBadVuk. I guess it's because I've only used foul language in the "Suggestions" sub-forum, where clearly no mod ever reads anything from. Surprised ? I am not ! I used to be a forum moderator for a small MMO game myself once. A tiny, but hyper-active forum community, over what was a Korean export to the western world. And I was doing a helluva good job, keeping in check a daily forum of activities of 200 new posts per day on average, with an active user database of around 10,000 people. Let me tell you a secret now - that sub-forum, where you post your suggestions, is there only to make you feel better. The best case scenario is that the topic links are just forwarded to the developers and it's up to them to decypher it. Or just don't bother and go listen to their native speaking Russian community instead. Or in my case, their Korean speaking community. Still surprised ?

There was an old story my father told me once. I'll try to pas it on to you, using my poor English.

"A man asked an old Muslim Judge:
- How do you make up your mind on judging a crime ?
- I decide according to our country's laws.
- But what if the laws doesn't cover his crimes ?
- Well, then I'll judge him according to the Quran.
- And if the Quran doesn't touches on his doings ?
- Then I'll use my common sense."

I'm using this little story, just to point out the common sense, which seems to lack a lot lately. Maybe I'm a bit hasty here, but follow along and you'll exactly where this is heading to. Like I've said it already - when a "fuck" is due, a "fuck" shall be given. And with all due respect to the average Joe playing this game, but next time I see a topic about "which Tier 10 tank is the best", I'll just go straight out and call you stupid and useless. A waste of oxygen. Why would I do that ? Because firstly, there isn't an end goal in World of Tanks. It doesn't take thousands of games to realize this. Getting a Tier 10 won't make you a better player. Or some sort of Clan-worthy material. Nope, those guys from PTS aren't looking for your E-100 mate. Secondly, a tank is only as good as it's driver. I've seen an E-50M makes 7 kills and carry his team of donkeys to victory, despite that the enemy had a pair of T57 Heavies, a Foch 155 and 3 (!) FV215 183s. And to be honest, I wouldn't even put the E-50M in the Top 10 of Tier 10s if it was up to me. Or when you see the 10th topic on should you buy a VK 30.01 H before 8.8 goes live and are you certainly sure that you'll get a free VK 30.02 M with a 100% crew and a free garage slot ... Honestly, I used to enjoy posting on the forums. That time is gone thou. I start to post less and less and just don't bother with it. Clearly for the better, as I see that I can only get in trouble if I try to "contribute".

In the case of Private_Miros, that whole contribution thing springs even harder in play. Comparing my forum posts to his makes me feel small and useless. Might as well not post at all, like the thousands people we already have in the game, which are daily "shocked" by the 250,000 credits they get. It's hard to check the launcher's news, let alone see the web page or read the forums. Back to Private_Miros thou. We're talking about a guy with well over seven thousands posts, pretty substantial game experience and knowledge. I mean over 17,000 games played. The guy is probably more knowledgeable about the game, then most World of Tanks EU employees. And then this - the biggest "glitch" in the system, is that the guy cussed himself in his last warning, for playing crap lately. Did you get this one thru yet ? He actually didn't offended anyone. I'm sorry, but if a person feels and describes himself as a "fuck", then I guess it's his right to express it. Seems kinda logical if you think about it. If you feel "homophobic" - go ahead, describe yourselves as one. I don't give a damn. If you feel you're a "scrub" - go ahead, who am I to argue. I think it's our right to "label" ourselves anyway we want. We're nerds, gamers, weed-smokers, beer-drinkers, shaggtastic sons and daughters of ... our mothers. Nothing wrong with being a bit of a fuck once in awhile.

Playing bad is not approved by Moderators !

Yes, children eyes are not fit for such words. We should tread lightly when posting and keep that in mind. Or perhaps forums aren't places for children ? With the amount of "trolling" going around, I know for certain, that I will not allow my kids (if I had any), to visit forums and post on them. We often see cases of fragile young minds, to crumble and shatter, when facing the rage of a forum troll. Or any other sort of Internet troll as a matter of fact. I don't want to be going into details, but I'm sure you all have an idea about the subject I'm touching on. In that case, I'm completely certain that forums should not be allowed for people with fragile minds. That I'm afraid, often refers to children. But then, there are those amongst the under-aged, who actually contribute, ask the right questions, give the right answers, benefit knowledge from reading the forums, create video content for the rest of the community or amazing skins that we use in our game ... So where the fuck is this heading to then ?
 
I guess nowhere. I mean, I've heard words far more disturbing from children, making the humble "fuck" used by Private_Miros, to look like its been taken from a 3-years old story book, so there's no excuse to actually apply the foul language rule so strictly. Specially when it doesn't offends anyone in particular. Oh, I'm sure some smart ass troll is going to jump out and point that Private_Miros offended him personally, by stating that Private_Miros played badly and was fucking angry at himself, because you see, he considered Private_Miros to be a better player then him, and if Private_Miros' play is bad, then obviously the troll one is shit. Or just "even worst", if we have to put it mildly. Ex-moderator here ! I'm used to that sort of trolling.

"Thank you Stalin, for the execution of our parents!"

Then come the "Other" and "Unknown" warnings given out with the recent "Historically accurate" re-introduction of the Stalin inscriptions. A lot of people, me included, were opposed to those. Of course that's a whole different subject, which I won't go in details now. But the case is - a lot of people got warnings for ... not sure exactly, but it looked to me like hate towards the Stalin persona. Can I have an infraction for hating Miley Cyrus then ? OK, I don't hate her, just generally dislike her. It seems like Moderators sometimes go ahead of themselves, trying to please their employers. Something's fishy here. Other times localized Moderators quickly "slay" whomever is not writing in their respective sub-forum language with a warning. I've seen that happen over the Balkans sub-forum, on a topic about where is the Bulgarian language and why is not included. I mean, if you look at the Balkans map geographically, you're going to realize where is it immediately. Right there, in the fucking middle of it ! But not according to World of Tanks EU forums. Nowdays, if you post in Bulgarian over the Balkans sub-forum, you'll only get neg-repped to death. Think about that next time you visit your local language sub-forum. Poor Romanians who aren't part of the Balkans geographically, doesn't even have a sub-forum. And it's not like they're a tiny minority in World of Tanks. This isn't coming close to bad forum managing. It's the worst without much contention.

But let's cut the "local affairs" and how a forum should be ran. Fact is, I've used foul language on World of Tanks EU forums at least on 3 occasions, but didn't received any warnings. There are other community members, who have over the magical 10 warnings, which are claimed to be "the perma-ban count", but are still lurking around the forums, posting actively. Double standards ? Yes. I'm pretty sure at some point, once upon time, Private_Miros' profile had a good look from a Moderator, maybe even got bookmarked for further usage. Then occasionally, that profile was checked, seen all posts made by the user and dish out the punishment, if he had been found naughty. How do I know all this ? I'm an ex-moderator who did exactly that. You need about 60 hours per day to read what is being posted, on a forum as populated as the World of Tanks one. You basically can't keep up. So how do you do it ? You pick randomly. Read diagonally thru the most populated area of the forums. You come across someone who broke a rule - you bookmark him and check him once every 3 to 7 days. It's not like you have a quote to make, of infractions and warnings, but you'd like to keep your employers happy. Pretty much everyone that has broken the rules once (and has been detected), has a guaranteed place in the Moderators' "hearts". It's even easier if you're an "old gun", like Private_Miros, who's been around since the Moderators and the general forum popluation was rather low. Easy to pick an eye over a forum with under 10,000 users. I did it for over 2 years and never missed a bit.

WG EU, u mad bro ?

In a completely convenient way, few days after the outrage about the Private_Miros ban, WarGaming EU came up with an interesting post about "Warning points and you". All of a sudden, there was a mention that all "hard fought and well earned" forum warnings, will get removed over time. I'm pretty sure that wasn't there when I've read the forum news right after version 8.7 rolled out. Ah, you see, I actually do read things like Terms and Conditions. Forum rules and such. An interesting read for those that are or were in the business. Maybe they're trying to correct themselves ? I wish that is the case. Don't get me wrong - I love World of Tanks, with all it's stupid randomness and fail match maker. I still love it. As far as the game is concerned, I think they're heading in the right direction. As far as the forums goes thou ... I wish someone could gather all the moderators and remind them what exactly is their job. The amount of trolling and just generally stupid treads we see daily, in just the General area of the English speaking community forum, is insanely huge. Topics get derailed, same question asked and answered about ten times, people posting in the wrong sub-forum, neg-reppers wielding proudly their negative scores and so on and so on. I'll be serious now, but lately I ask myself "why do you bother". Seriously, last night I've spent a good 20 minutes, writing a reply to a topic, a good one, fairly lengthy, explaining a lot of things ... and then I just didn't hit the button. I just sat back, re-read the question of the tread creator and just went "fuck it, not worth it". I was 101% sure that had I posted this reply, I would've gotten 10 more questions from other people, completely derailing the topic. Or trolls, questioning my judgement. Or just blunt idiots who can not read long posts. Having said that - I am getting a bit boring, am I ?

Conclusion ? Whatever Private_Miros did to get up to 10 warnings seems to be lost over the fact on what his last infraction was. On that account alone, I'd go ahead and say that he was a victim of an angry Moderator. Maybe someone spilled his coffee or ate his sandwich. Bad hair day or something. Who cares ? Not me. Do I wish to know about Private_Miros' previous wrong doings ? No. I don't know the guy. I know some of his posts and none of them looked offending to me. I think he had his place in the forums, with his knowledge. But if I was in his shoes right now, seeing as how the forums are turning out, with the everyday influx of "OMG TDs ARE OP !", "Nerf that, Buff this" and whatever else you can come up with, I'd be praying they don't lift my forum ban. Those that know how, and Private_Miros is one of them, know how to keep up with the news much better then most World of Tanks EU employees. Thanks SilentStalker and ForTheRecord ! Those like Private_Miros, also know how to read those news, instead of going around asking random strangers on the forums, if this or that is true or false. I'd say WarGaming EU did the guy a big favor. Turned him into a star that almost rivals the ranks of The Mighty Jingles himself. Too bad it didn't improved the forums.