I am happy that many seem to agree about keeping discussions civil on this forum, tells me I am in the right place. I don't expect you all to be little angels, but I do expect people to go for the ball (the topic being discussed) and not the person (me). The experience I had was that some people didn't care what I said, they just wanted to break my will to resist. Well, glad it is over, I think I did the right thing leaving the thread, and maybe I'll also leave the Steam forum alone altogether. Looking forward to chatting with you all on this forum about the game when the full release is here.
It's really hard to moderate any community, and you don't want to stifle discussion, but even one really toxic person can derail conversations and even cause other people to be afraid to speak up.
One thing I love about these forums, and keeps me coming back is that they try to train you to confront the argument and not the person. Personal attacks are right out as that one dude found out real quick yesterday. I think that mentality is typical of the steam forums where they really don't uphold a particularly high code of moderation and so it trains people to respond in an "over the top way" to even mild criticism.
Lack of moderation is a death sentence to any online community as Twitter has been finding out recently. It also forces the conversation down to the lowest common denominator mentally - preventing people from exploring thoughtful ideas.
Yeah, I avoid the steam forums like the plague. I have plenty of really good forums to be part of (including my own Guild forums) - that I don't have any need to dip my toe into THAT cesspool.
