The community is falling apart, what can we do to help?

[Darth Tigris]

kain_kusanagi said:

pezus said:

kain_kusanagi said:
You talk about fans, but fans aren't the problem. Fans respect each other and don't get upset when fans aren't interested in what they like and vice versa. The problem are the people who act like fanboys. They don't like it when someone isn't into what they like and they hate it when someone is into something they hate. That's the kind of behavior that ruins the fun. Two fans can discuss a topic they disagree about. Throw in someone acting like a fanboy and it turns into a battle.

I used "fans" because that's what some people use too, like (and now I'm being frank here) Jaywood does

I think it's a distinction that should be noted. Everyone if a fan of something. Everyone is bias. Everyone likes one thing more than another and everyone is looking forward to different things. Fans don't mind at all if the people they talk with don't share their tastes. Fans still enjoy discussing a topic with people who disagree. What ruins the fun is when fanboys get involved and turn a discussion into an agreement. Fans can disagree, fanboys fight. Instead of natural bias based on taste they are driven by some kind of malice that doesn't allow them to be civil to those that don't share their opinion. If someone says something negative about their favorite stuff they take it extremely personally as if they were insulted direction.

The best thing for it would just be to ignore it, but the problem is that fanboys don't want to be ignored and they make themselves un-ignorable. They feel personally attacked by differing opinion so they attack with personal insults. They don't see a difference. To them it's the same and they can't be made to reason with. They hold to tightly to that which they either love or hate. And they do love and hate. They don't just enjoy a game, they love it and identify with and will not stand for criticism because saying anything negative about what they love is to insult them too.

I don't know how it can be fought other than with hard working mods and everyone else willing to use the report button. I  think some people feel like reporting bad behavior is like tattle-telling. I don't, but it's very possible that some people get away with more because nobody is reporting them while others get moderated thanks to the report button. I don't think everyone should hit the report button every time someone starts an argument, but it should probably be clicked more often than it has.

Your two comments here are more than fact.  They are truth.

And, sadly, we haven't seen anything yet.  As we get closer to fall, this community may be downright intolerable because of the ones you mentioned.  They will be here more than they play games on the console and company that they've linked their own self esteem to.  They will continue to get a serotonin boost from (often stealth) trolling addiction and drown out meaningful conversations.  And, worst of all, if they are trolling competitors consoles, many won't do a thing against them (such as reporting).

This is the state of the forums here.  And it'll only get worst ...