Yes and to be honest I think that kills a site's forum activity more than anything else. People shouldn't be afraid to post because of the fear of getting banned due to not agreeing with the majority of that forum section's inhabitants.

I can not even begin to explain how many times I have seen people banned for thinking a console's library isn't up to snuff with another's or expressing their thought that one console is better than the other, even if sales do not agree, because to be honest not everyone thinks something is better because it sells more.

For example I would not agree that the Wii is the best console this generation, and for that should I be penalized? Should everyone need to agree that Wii is the best because it's sales far surpass the rest?

I play games, not sales and the PS3 library interests me more and opinion on library is subjective, not objective.

So let things stay the way they are because at least the forum is alive and kicking right now and not stone dead like it was months ago, back when everyone was too afraid to post anything and resorted to only reading and not posting.

I tend to avoid unreasonable threads.

Then again, I sometimes feel the need to enter.

VGChartz Breakdown:

30% Spam

50% Troll

10% Reasonable Discussion

10% Dtewi

I think you're just getting disgruntled because you may have been flamed for that in the past.

Though your suggestion of being banned just due to different opinions is downright irritating. Never before have I seen a person get banned simply for thinking: "Well, X>Y". That is, unless it was posted in a deliberately flaming manner. As in, a person only owning a 360 says: "Lol, Blur>Mario Kart." I've been here nearly 4 years and have never seen that type of ban stupidity. Well, Carl was one. Then again, it was immediately repealed, so that's not much of an issue.

I'd like to see an instance of one of the "countless times" a person has been banned for a simple difference of opinion.

I have only been flamed in the past for posting Kinect related news, whether it be positive or negative. Some users thought I shouldn't post anything Kinect related because I no longer owned a 360. It also did not bother as much you may think considering that I do no report people. I believe the last person I reported was myself, and that was for making a duplicate thread.

Carl was banned for saying something on the lines of "X console sold better than Y console. Like it should be."

Edit - You mentioned that one.

I am also not going to go lurking the forums to find instances. I know for certain I am not the only one here who for a time avoided giving an honest opinion due to the thought of being attacked and/or banned. You need to realize that this kind of thought process gets created for a reason.

We could also say you are only getting on me based on what is written on your profile about people thinking the moderators are biased.

I do not think they are biased, never said they were. I just think that there were many times where getting banned was too easy and some were not what I would consider bannable and many cases where I think cases of "trolling" were not really "trolling".

I made a thread about it months ago, even before people got on me about the Kinect threads, so this isn't anything new.

If anything I only thought that moderators were a bit too strict, which has nothing to do with console bias. This is a forum for discussion and shouldn't be overly policed.If you disagree that is fine, but my thought will not change.

I din't say you thought the mods were biased. Just irritated that you think a different opinion nets a ban.

And I'm sorry, but I've been here almost 4 years and I don't think I've ever seen that happen.

And yes, I do remember that thread. That is completely stupid. Though I elaborated my feelings further on a thread by MUGEN. Yes, they were wrong.

Personally I've even tried to dial back some of the cheerleading that slips out sometimes.  One of the most obnoxious stealth trolls I've seen here is when people create celebratory threads that demean other games or consoles.  Sometime multiple ones are created.  For example, how many thread do we need about Halo outselling other exclusive FPS games or Gran Turismo outselling other exclusive racing games?  There are things such as modest successes in the industry.  Its not just about the huge sellers.

And while I'm on that point, the need to create multiple threads SIMPLY to push the system of your choice is not constructive to the community.  Does every single accomplishment or sales milestone for your console of choice or a game on that console deserve its own thread?  "The Sega Genesis just got another 200k seller!!!"  REALLY???!!!

Maybe I'm just getting to old for this.  I need to make more money online instead of being here.  Yeah, I sometimes think I'm going to be chased away from here like I have with so many online communities over the years.  Its disappointing.

That hasn't been too bad lately (though i never tend to post in the Sales forum, so it might be worse there). Generally these kind of threads are only made for something notable from my perspective. Last time i saw that getting bad was when Wii was still in the hunt for 50% marketshare, then we celebrated every .1%, then when Wii started dropping someone tried the opposite tactic (celebrating every .1 it lost), then got nailed

I do not think that different opinions always net a ban, but there are instances in which they do. 

I just like posters to be as honest as possible, which is why I lurk on N4G, especially once they got rid of the Open Zone.  

I have also been here for over 3 years and I remember the likes of Gebx, who was obviously anti-sony, although almost everything he posted was actual news articles, yet he was banned many times for what was considered "flamebait" just because of his console preference.

You can't tell me you don't remember instances like that.

It is just like Pizzafacegamer now. He is so obviously anti-sony and posts tons of anti-sony threads, yet I don't really think they are always worthy of bans just because it is always negative.

Someone has to bring the negative news. Nobody would expect the pro sony guys to do it right?

I can't say I am innocent of this but the biggest issue I have with this site is thread derailment. If a thread is about Forza, the GT5 people take over, a Move thread, the Kinect people comes in. I believe there must be strict rules about these stuff. If we want to compare games, make a thread about it, but too many times threads are being derailed on purpose and it kills great disscussions.

This is, I agree, the biggest issue. I even derail my own threads.

Although in the GT5/Forza instance, if a thread is made titled "Forza is the best Sim racer" and someone comes in, mentions GT5 and gives valid reasons as to why, I see zero issue with it, just like I see no issue if someone like Shio comes in afterwards and argues how iRacing is superior to both Forza and GT5.

As long as the discussion stick to the topic, which in that case is "Best sim racer", I see no problem. As mentioned before, I don't agree that just because the topic is "Forza is the best sim racer" that everyone who enters the thread should automatically have to agree.

That would make for a very boring forum.