Hi everyone, I wanted to make a thread to address a couple of current issues in the community.
First off, I'd like to start by talking about the positive. The site re-design is coming soon and we're going to see Vgchartz transform in the next year as many more great people enter the community and the Wii U kicks off the next generation of home consoles in 2012. I have greatly enjoyed seeing the many quality, creative threads that the community has come up with and the effort put forth to foster good discussion and intelligent discourse.
However, there have also been several issues which have become prevalent in the community and I'd like to address publicly.
A community is only as good as the quality of its discussion and the maturity of its members. Over the past couple of months, I have witnessed many threads with perfectly legitimate discussion topics be destroyed through a combination of baseless trolling and ignorant comments. This is unacceptable. If you do not like something and will respond negatively (in a disruptive way) towards it, just don't post in the thread. If you don't like rap music, for example, don't immediately enter a rap-related thread and say it sucks. If you create a post which is critical of it, try to do so in a way that is conducive to discussion. We've had several instances of Nintendo fans trolling Vita-related threads. And while I normally wouldn't name specific examples, I think it's important to demonstrate an example of this type of behavior which is fairly prevalent on the forums.
Since getting back, I've tried my best to create good discussion and create a friendly environment for people in the community to talk about topics that interest them. However, the kind of obstructive posting which is becoming increasingly prevalent on the site accomplishes the opposite of this. It drives off those who are passionate about the subject, hinders productive discussion, and creates fights which later result in warnings/bannings. I'd be much happier if I didn't have to log on to the site only to see half a dozen reports about disruptive behavior on the forums.
However, appropriate posting isn't just limited to abstention from trolling and flaming. There has also been an ever-increasing number of spam/low quality posts and threads which are a negative force in the community. Not every thread will be a gem, but when you have quote trees which go on for 15+ posts with little to nothing being discussed and every other thread devolving to pointless discourse, it detracts from the overall quality of discussion.
Quality discussion is integral to the excellence and overall health of any community. It is what represents us to the thousands of visitors who come to this site and it is what truly distinguishes us from every other site on the internet. Let's be mature and courteous. Let's be intelligent and thoughtful. Let's be exceptional.
Thank you.
