RECENSEO — for those who prefer a Discord server, feel free to join the Story Forum discord! https://discord.gg/VsybVQr
It only took me three tickets and one email to the Community Team to get approval for this - so here it is, the first Story Forum Lounge, approved personally by our fearless and brave Community Manager, Aerythlea.
I’ve noticed that a lot of topics tend to derail sometimes (I know that, deep inside, we very much like each other), and since it’s best if we keep the discussions as clean as possible, I think we should redirect our offtopic discussions to this thread. We have the freedom to talk about whatever we want here, whether you want to share your love for Greymane, Anduin or… uh, Gamon, or maybe you just want to talk about something that’s not even remotely related to WoW.
Everyone is welcome! Apart from Void Elves.
Alright, alright, even Void Elves are fine as long as you don’t start creating Void Portals or whatever it is you do.
I’m actually not that sure about that. There are different kinds of going offtopic, and I would say that while some are harmful, others can be quite helpful.
If we are talking about the same old discussions that seem to creep into every second topic, like faction bias, faction morality, how characters x and y are badly written/evil, how the whole story is just badly written, etc., I’ll agree that it doesn’t help discussion threads. But those are exactly the kinds of discussions that you cannot really take out of the threads, because they are always related to the topics and if you try to redirect them… you usually fail and just multiply the problem, by having simultaneous discussions about different aspects of the same problem that no one is willing to solve. We have done that often enough.
But I do believe other kinds of offtopic conversations can be invigorating for discussion threads. They can allow players, who are entrenched behind their position and just throwing their arguments at each other without even trying to listen, to take a step back and leave it be, without having to concede the argument to the other guy. A few well placed jokes and memes can stop an argument that is becoming ever more hostile, and allow other players, who wouldn’t really get between the fighting parties, to have their say on the original topic.
Staying on topic can be hard work and can often take quite a lot of discipline. And… that’s just not what we are here for. We are here to talk about a mutual hobby. We are here to find a sense of connection with each other and to share our passion. We are here to have fun. There is aboslutely nothing productive that will ever come out of these forums, that isn’t related to our enjoyment of it (Edit: well I guess there is the possibility of philosophical insights, but it’t not really a prominent one…). So joking with each other and letting the discussions go where they will is mostly reasonable, and I wouldn’t want anyone to censor themselves, just to preserve the direction a topic is going.
I’m certainly not against the idea of an offtopic lounge, but I do think it is wrong to expect it to change anything about the discussions in other threads.
Those were the topics I was talking about. And sometimes it’s fine and even necessary to take the edge out of a discussion, but it becomes a nuisance if it’s turned into a meme/joke-topic, since that’ll litter the whole topic, and that’s not supposed to happen.
Just an FYI, people have been banned for a week because they were ‘derailing’ the thread. Someone got banned a few days ago for eight hours because he posted a video that didn’t have anything to do with the topic. We’re talking about simple offtopic replies.
Going offtopic is simply not allowed. And regardless of whether we agree with it or not, the moderators are not too happy with people going fully offtopic in a thread.
I don’t think that every discussion that tends to go offtopic should literally be redirected to this thread. This topic is shouldn’t be some kind of official thread that is the only place where it’s allowed to make jokes or post memes. But it at least provides the opportunity to go offtopic (since that’s the whole point of this thread) without repercussions.
Also, we have a place where we can get to know each other, and that hopefully will reduce the amount of heated arguments.
I’ll share some love for the Illidari, the Blood Elves, the Nightborne, the Highborne, the Sunfury and my own fan-fiction that I’m writing that is actually getting me very excited.
I’ll also share some love of how the events in TBC have linked to Legion that makes me all excited about my own stories, that involve my Blood Elf Warlock, Blood Elf Demon Hunter and Night Elf Mage.
That’s ok, I don’t have to care. I’m certainly willing to risk that as I have risked it for years. I wouldn’t have fun censoring myself more than I myself think fitting, so why would I want to post here, if I couldn’t have fun posting?
Of course I can never know if my attitude towards forum posts is shared by many, but I myself could never recommend holding back, if you aren’t just being mean, and I would always rather mock the guys who actually report derailing. Blizzard mostly reacts to reports, they don’t come into your thread to see if you’re staying on topic. And I’ll be damned if I let the tattletales set the tone. In any thread.
or… uh, Gamon, or maybe you just want to talk about something that’s not even remotely related to WoW.
You shouldn’t be allowed to waste story forum space by talking about gag characters, for obvious reasons. It should be a rule that people who open stupid threads surrounding useless meme caricatures like Gamon and Hogger should be punished accordingly. Hopefully this thread will help reduce the number of those irritating threads.
Spare your breath and don’t you dare tell me that you can have serious discussions about the aforementioned caricatures, because you can’t.
Oh, shall I remind you the heinous insults that you directed at my persona in that thread about the choice of Alliance players that I made in the old forum? Shall we talk about the fact that you believe that anyone who likes Anduin or Sylvanas is a stupid kid? You are in no position to point fingers.
No, because I no longer have the Ignore function to hide your garbage.
If you get offended, by the fact that I insult two fantasy pixels, then that’s up to you.
Likewise, if you get offended by some people acting like 13-yo-old, that’s your doing. Spare the time wasted on your pathetic excuse, I am making the effort of not reading it.
I recommend imagining Arctur with a red Rudolph nose. It makes anything he says funnier - and more christmassy! It’s harder to feel insulted by Rudolph.
