Videogame Recaps

[Jeanne]

It's that time again, people. Yup, "The Mods Got Fed Up With Off-Topic Stuff in the Recap Threads and General Wankery and Made Up New Rules" Time.

We love you guys. Seriously, we do. And not in the Squally/Seifer way, so stop calling the cops. But there has been some frustrating wankery on the boards of late, and that has led to your trusty admin having to whip out the banning stick.

That's right -- some of those people who have mysteriously disappeared have, in fact, been banned by yours truly. It's not something I enjoy doing, and not something I want to broadcast every time I do it, as it can create unnecessary drama and turn the focus away from the fun stuff. I have chosen to tell you about it now (after some suggestions from the other mods), so that you all know that there are consequences to acting like a spastic wanker.

So with that out of the way, I'd like to focus on a few things that have been vexing the mods as of late:

1) Fans of not-so-popular characters on VGR (mainly McWankerson), who can't act like decent human beings

As we've stated close to a billion times, we don't give a flying fuck what video game characters you all love or hate unless you choose to be a giant flaming dickcheese about it. If the mods tell you to knock it off, this means you have crossed the annoyance line and are likely pissing off the majority of the forum members. It does NOT mean that you can engage the mods in an open debate over whether or not you are out of line.

I've gotten to the point where I'm ready to ban someone as soon as they show up and either complain or try to vehemently defend a character. Because none of my attempts at stopping the wankery ever work and I always end up resorting to banning anyway. This is hopefully fair warning to anyone who is even THINKING about showing up and acting like an ass.

2) People arguing with the mods

I'd like to think that we don't run an evil dictatorship around here, but the truth is, we kind of do. See, it's this little thing called "Jeanne shells out X amount of money every month for this site and doesn't feel like negotiating with people half her age over what is and isn't acceptable forum behavior." If one of us tells you to stop doing something and you either a) keep doing it or b) argue about it, you will get banned. If you don't like the rules and want to be an assnozzle, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of video game sites out there where you can do so.

3) People posting off-topic in the Recap threads

Though we are all video game fans and like to discuss games, the bottom line is that the forums were originally intended to be a discussion place for the recaps. We are absolutely ecstatic that so many of you enjoy our work. But...and I think you knew a "but" was coming here (not like that), some people would rather wank about games than give feedback. We don't keep track of who does and doesn't comment on each recap, because that would be lame. However, it's kind of hard NOT to notice when certain people post anything BUT recap feedback in the recap thread.

The first two problems I've described are quite easy to solve -- just stop doing them. See, isn't that simple? As for the third problem, the other mods and I have discussed ways to keep the recap threads on topic, while still providing people a place to be super serious, or brag about their gaming abilities, or even to warn us all about upcoming plot points that we already know about. So we've decided upon a solution -- threads for the recapped games in the Video Game forum. So those of you who would like to give feedback or even discuss points raised in the recaps are welcome in the Recap Forum. For those of you who are aching to talk about everything else in FF7 or Suikoden II or whatever, please feel free to utilize the other game threads. If you have a question about where something belongs, just ask one of the mods.

As for the age issue thing that has come up numerous times on the boards -- we, for various legal and social reasons, would prefer that everyone on the forums be at least 18. However, since there is no way to ensure that without hunting you all down and looking at your birth certificates, we will handle this on a case-by-case basis. That means that we won't ban you outright if we find out you are under 18, but will definitely take posting behavior into account. And just for the record, arguing that you are mature just because you've seen naughty stuff on the internet is not going to sway us in the slightest. Seriously.

Since I'm not a total heartless jerk, I'd just like to thank everyone who has posted on these boards without a problem. Keep up the good work, guys!