On the subject of community

[Guest]

This is that one post I have dreaded writing.  I have thought about it for weeks months.  You can agree with this, disagree with it, or even completely ignore it, however it is something that I am posting from my heart, and out of care for the well-being of this wonderful community.  Now, onto the post.

When I joined the forums, I was quite the lurker.  I was scared that I wouldn't be accepted because I hadn't already been a part of it.  I then made a little post for a plugin I had made based off of one of regex's plugins.  It was only me learning how to mod KSP.  I then started making posts here and there, and finally made it a daily activity to check in on the forums to see what was going on.  I began improving my skills in KSP, and also started experiencing the classic "I'm on the forums more than I play KSP."  The KSP community has become my home in the past year.  I've had my share of disagreements and "scandals" along with the best examples of how we could be so strong together.  Our community is like no other.  Just go on the some other forums, and you'll see.  Our moderators are actually community members themselves.  Pretty much all of them started off just like we did.  Post a little thread in welcome aboard, and all of the sudden, you're part of the KSP community.  This makes something special.  We know the moderators, the devs, and each other better than we know some people in person.  We have the good times, the bad, and the great ones.

In recent days, we have been drifting from this way of doing business.  People say that the bugs in 1.1 are the end of the world, x is having a problem, etc. – and they're doing it in good reason, however both sides need to take a step back, and breath.  Some people instantly shoot down the threads with complaints about 1.1 which then prompts many to compare it to the Elite: Dangerous forums.  Both responses are absolutely absurd.  You cannot shoot down something which brings up a valid point, and attempts to help make KSP better, however the OP needs to be more constructive in said post.  This also relates to what has been going on with CKAN as of late.  The same kind of thing has happened.  We need to remember that these kinds of things do need to be discussed, but in a civil fashion.  Now, please don't think that I am talking about these two examples specifically.  That is the opposite of what I want to get across.  All I am trying to say is this: we need to pick and choose our battles.  We can't continue like we have been.  If we don't pause and think about what we truly believe, we will fall into the grips of Imgur/Reddit syndrome.

Now you might say that the people that have come along from the release of 1.0/1.1 don't quite grip how we run this community.  That is true, but if we don't set a good example of it, they won't get it, and it'll continue to go downhill as more and more people are sucked into this false belief that we're just another internet forum.  We need to show that the proper way of submitting a bug report is x is having a problem, and it may be because of y and you might be able to fix it with z.  We need to abide by the forum guidelines, not just the rules, because most of the time new members don't take the time to read them.  @sal_vager's good conduct guide is something that I personally think we all need to read over again.  In the section "Be kind to newcomers," he sums it up perfectly:

Quote

Newcomers may be annoying. They ask the wrong questions, including ones that seem obvious (or whose answers seem easy to find). But lots of valued contributors started out this way, and treating newcomers kindly makes them more likely to turn into the valuable community members we all know and love (and cut some slack when they mess up).

So while you don't have to humour them or suffer them gladly, and it's fine to point out when they make mistakes, point newcomers in the right direction in addition to turning them away from the wrong ones, and be kind to them in the process of correcting their transgressions.

So remember that new members are the breath that gives life to this community.  Occasionally we'll have to point them in the right direction, or remind them to read the posting guidelines of the particular sub-forum, but the biggest part that makes them who they are is us.  For the sake of us, them, and most importantly the community, we need to just be plain nicer.  We aren't, and will never be Reddit.  

[cubinator]

I totally agree with what you said about newcomers and us setting a good example. I don't think we need to worry about turning into Reddit, though.

"People aren't going to change, for better or for worse. Technology's going to be so cool. All in all, the future will be okay! Except climate; we ****ed that one up." -xkcd

 KSP is nurturing a new generation of rocket scientists. We see many people just starting and knowing little about how to use the game, or long-timers who have complaints about how it is not as good as they'd like. Even though there are shortcomings, I think we all know just how far this game has come, and we're all proud of that.  KSP will always be our great little space game, so deceptively simple-looking and containing infinite fun.

[Snark]

I dunno, I haven't been particularly noticing that things are going "downhill."  I've been posting regularly in the forums for over a year, and was lurking for a while before that, and in terms of overall "quality," it seems fairly consistent to me-- I'm not seeing a crisis.  Lots of really nice people.  A few "neutrals" that are just popping in for practical advice in tech support or gameplay questions.  And yes, a few unpleasant ones, or even downright trolls-- but those have always been there.

Back around February I became a moderator, which means I now see a lot more of the "seamy underbelly" of the KSP community-- I can see the stuff that you don't, because moderators are there to clean it up:  the worst of the KSP community.  When I became a moderator, I was really curious what would crawl out from under those rocks once they're flipped over.  Just how bad is "the worst," anyway?

And you know what?  Once I became a mod and could see all that stuff... it actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as I imagined it might be.  As a group, we KSPers really are a remarkably civil and decent online community.  Yes, there are occasionally a few toxic apples in the cartload, but by and large there's remarkably little venom, considering how many people use the forum.  Because of that, moderators can tread very lightly-- which is great for everyone, moderators and "civilians" alike.  It's been an incredibly pleasant surprise to discover that fact, given the sort of radioactive miasma that permeates so many online communities.

And I don't see that that's gotten a lot worse lately.  As I said, I became a mod back in February, a month or two before 1.1 hit with all its associated drama, so I've had a chance to see some of the "before" as well as the "after".  And yes, as pretty much always happens with a major release (or so I hear; 1.1 is the only one I've been a moderator for), there was a certain amount of drama... but by and large, I think the ship has been weathering the storm pretty well.

With a few notable exceptions. 

...but only a few, and that's my point.