Fanboyism in the Forums

[dr_jt]

Pachycephalosaurus

Edited June 6, 2013 by dr_jt

[angusmcbeth]

Also, remember there is a difference between "backseat moderation" and reminding people of some rules/giving advice/things like that. While some might do it in a not-so-polite way (not saying we're not polite there! ), I don't think we've had this kind of issue here.

If you mean 'here' as in this thread, then I agree. If you mean the forum as a whole, then I don't. Obviously we see things differently.

[sal_vager]

Then rather than bemoan it, suggest how it can be resolved, this is a place for discussion, not griping

[Specialist290]

If it is a Hive-Mind, then who's the queen?

Shouldn't that be obvious?

But anyway, on a more serious and on-topic note:

I've been an off-and-on member of various Internet fan communities for at least ten years now, stretching all the way back into my high school years. In that time, I've observed that both "fanboyism" and "fan-hating" are pretty much going to be constant undercurrents in any community of significant size. I've also noticed it's usually the extremists on both sides of the issue that tend to label everyone on the opposite side of the line as one or the other.

Often it's simply because they're "immature" -- not necessarily even in the negative, shallow sense of the word, but just in the sense that they don't have a sense of perspective to discern between objective and legitimate criticism on the one hand and emotionally-charged blustering on the other. They also tend to want to see themselves as part of a group of like-minded people, and thus take any sort of criticism of that group as a personal attack against themselves. I believe that that's at the root of the issue, right there.

The long and short of it is, we're always going to have fanboys and fan-haters. However, even they might sometimes have something worthwhile to contribute; it's just a matter of accounting for the signal-to-noise ratios.

(A lot of the above is based on my own experience, which has been at times both painful and embarrassing when I saw exactly that sort of thing happening to myself in hindsight. I don't know how well it matches up with others', but I thought it might be worth putting it out there.)

[Sir Nahme]

Who cares?

Seriously, I've never rated a thread, nor even looked at their ratings. I generally avoid the dev thanks threads like a plague (nothing useful to contribute, thanks devs, I love the game keep up the good work, but I don't feel the need to reiterate it repeatedly), but often read and comment in criticism threads. Said threads CAN often add constructive additions to conversation barring a certain few members on this forum who are clearly only here to put others down, to which I feel no remorse in delivering a snappy retort if they are being a bit of an ass or the report button if they are actually breaking any rules. Now, the complaint threads are something we can do without. If you have a bug, report it. If you have a suggestion, suggest it, if you don't like something, debate it. But so help me if I see one more "the dev's aren't working fast enough" or other childish sentiment I'm going to crash Bob into the sun.

But am I going to let any of this stuff actually worry or bother me? Heck no. I'm too busy playing KSP to care if the community is filled with fanboys, haters, or any other pointless labels we can use to lump people into groups to love/hate.

[angusmcbeth]

Then rather then bemoan it, suggest how it can be resolved, this is a place for discussion, not griping

I have already had this conversation (by PM of course) about fanboys with another moderator a couple of weeks ago.

[sal_vager]

What's that word the kids use now? Chillax? I think you need to stop worrying and learn to love the madness

[Matticus88]

Shouldn't this thread technically be in off-topic anyway? i mean, its not really about ksp.

[karolus10]

I'm little confused about what these fanboys (if this is good term in first place) really are.

Star rating can be given by any users and it's score is presented as average rating given by players... if only one guy give one or five stars - that's it and you cannot complain that people in general not vote about thread ratings (they not affect threads in any way, so this is not a big deal).

About people repetitively nagging others about their behavior, rules, or what they should do or not... This is moderators job to keep people in line and if you had some problem with forum or users, ask moderation staff for help or report disturbing posts.

If somebody can't accept that, he/she will must deal with that issue or (faster or later) share same bench with trolls, spammers and other redundant members.

Only thing what I can ask Is little more understanding, patience and kindness ,so we can avoid unnecessary friction and resolve conflicts before they became anything serious .

EDIT_1: I think that OP problem has been explained enough.

Edited May 30, 2013 by karolus10

[Good_Apollo]

Forums fall into some of the same social nuances as interactions offline. There's differences yes, but people tend to form cliques and groups, prejudices, based on communicated or perceived connections formed on attitudes, backgrounds, interests, ect. If you can't handle it online how do you handle it in the real world?

[air805ronin]

I have started to notice a pattern in the forum ratings per thread. And it shows "Fanboyism", slightly somewhat.

Threads that complain about certain things in the game will likely receive a one-star rating.

Threads praising the developers will most likely recieve a five-star rating.

I don't know if it is just me, but I just noticed a pattern. Please don't hate or anything, but I don't this to become like Minecraft, with users hundreds of users worshipping the developers and hating those complaints and such into obilvion.

This subject again.... For reference the "lets not" thread from the other night had a 4 star rating until it spiralled out of control and was brought down to a three. I don't know why I was paying attention to it but I was. Since we can't see how many people actually rated it (something I never do) it could have been rating #3 or #25. Since we don't know how many ratings it got, it could fluctuate quite wildly based off one vote...

As the mods have pointed out the stars have no meaning. Doubly so since the rating system is almost never used. You can see this by looking at any page on the forum at the list of threads.

its seems to me, in all of these threads, there are just as many people being critical as there are doing the praising. It seems that many of the critical voices lately feel they're being shouted down. they seem to feel outnumbered. Its a recurring theme in these threads.

I personally don't see it that way. I think we have a nice balance of people who are happy with certain things and people who are unhappy.

edit: clarity

[sal_vager]

We may all be so close to the issue that we can't see it though, we have to take that into consideration.

If examples can be found then we can all work to keep the KSP forums a good place for all our members

[ZedNova]

I really don't pay attention to thread ratings anyway. They tend to be Prejudiced and inaccurate.

[xandski]

There are thread ratings?

I don't really care about ratings for threads as I tend to read the threads that sound interesting or that I might be able to reply in at least a semi-useful or constructive manner to. If everyone followed this way of posting then any forum would be a better place to be.

[air805ronin]

Regarding the concept of people being drowned out by fanboys...I went through all the pages here and found 9 users disagreeing with the OP (I tipped the scales) and 8 agreeing with him. 4 mods have taken part in the thread, and roughly 15 people have posted about not caring, jokes, or some semblance of middle ground.

There has also been 2 skewing off on tangents: Minecraft related talk and Angus's backseat moderation.

This seems like a pretty fair thread. Most seem pretty fair to me. Seems to me, that like political discussions, people really don't like when someone doesn't agree with them.

edit: And this really is just a subjective analysis, other people may interpret posters differently than me.

[Specula]

Rofl, taking thread ratings seriously...

Have fun with that you lot.

[_Aramchek_]

I personally am starting to find it tiring that if you say mostly positive things about the devs/game, that there are people waiting to label you a "fanboy", I think that is more than slightly ridiculous.

[AlternNocturn]

It's just a thing people do. Every game has fanboys, and there is nothing you, me, or anybody can do about it except pretend it isn't there. :/

Also KSP is awesome 10/10 GOTY GIVE THESE PEOPLE AN AWARD.

[Frederf]

I like these forums. It doesn't seem people are so fanatical to be venomous to criticism. Everyone seems so positive and even disagreements which come naturally with passionate subject matter are treated lightly. The creators have humility so there is friendly understanding between the crowd and creators despite development tension. Most seem simply too busy creating, sharing, exploring, and helping to get side tracked building forum egos or stirring cloistered trouble. Any inciting incidents seem to be absorbed in a thick cushion of positivism that allows the little firecrackers of human nature to detonate and resolve harmlessly.

I could think of a half dozen communities right away that could use a dose of what KSP has.

[NeoMorph]

I think someone is misreading "I really like this game" for fanboyism. Also reminding people that this IS an alpha and things are going to change is not fanboyism but just telling it as it is. I think I would most likely be called a fanboy because I'm doing a hardware mod and doing comics but why is that bad. It doesn't hurt anyone. I tell my friends how good this game is even though it is in alpha (and even bought it for a friend on his birthday).

Fanboyism is very maligned I think.

[John FX]

Personally I play KSP because I like the game and I like the way it is being developed. When I like things I tell other people. If the game starts to head in a direction where my enjoyment will be reduced I will be vocal in stating my dissatisfaction.

Until then, Keep up the good work Squad!

[Yuming]

A rating is a users opinion. Not everyone will agree with what is said, but thats how life works. You can hold your own morals even if everyone else believes differently.

[Levelord]

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/6/7/3/HolyNecroPost_759032.jpg Edited June 21, 2013 by sal_vager

[Sirrobert]

Wait, there are stars on this forum?

[Danger2007]

If you want to see the extremes of the scale go check out the SimCity forums. There are some very angry people on there lol