First off, the story about my thread. I decided to write an unbiased review, because there have been a lot floating around lately and there's nothing like no bias (that's not to mock JayWood2010's reviews specifically, but the idea of unbias as a whole). I refrained from copying the title of JayWood2010's series to avoid making it look like it's part of his series. Hence no quotations and no "A RolStoppable review". The first game I could think of to write about was Mario Kart 7, because I had just played it against some other VGC members. I had a certain amount of text in mind (around five paragraphs) and quickly concluded that writing solely about MK7 would be dragging out things too long. So why not make it a combo review and compare it to ModNation Racers: Road Trip? This was the perfect fit for various reasons:

1. It became easy to hit the word count I had in mind.
2. It would work very well to make the thread even more biased than with just MK7 alone, because it was on a competing platform.
3. It's a game that is so insignificant that the chances to make people angry were incredibly low, so the thread wouldn't be taken in a dangerous direction. If people don't care enough about a game to defend it, then there won't be a flame war. MNR:RT is basically the PSV's Steel Diver.

The thing with troll threads is that the creator has quite a lot of power over the tone of the thread. I've done this stuff long enough to have a good idea what is going to happen, although on any given day you may have people who disrupt the thread and it turns into something completely unexpected. There's no guarantee that things will go according to plan, but there are ways to increase the chances for safety. Suppose I made a comparison thread between SSBB and PSABR with the same review scores I have given MK7 and MNR:RT. That would have turned into a mess in no time, because many people will defend PSABR. It would have completely undermined the point of my thread. Which wasn't to take a cheap shot at a Sony game like some people may believe, but poking fun at the notion of unbias.

As for the whole thing about new user vs. established user, I am well aware that I am holding a lot of power in my hands and I do my best to not abuse it. I think the mods can see this, so that's why I am not facing any moderations for my threads. I don't make threads to get people banned, I even ask the mods to unban people who insulted me. Unfortunately, lately the mods have refused to act on my requests, so for the two guys that got banned in MK7 vs. MNR:RT I didn't even ask to unban them. I had a lengthy discussion with axumblade last fall that led to the conclusion that the mods won't unban people for personal insults, even if I explicitly ask for it. I find this decision non-sensical, but it is what it is.

Are my threads fun or not? That's something that everyone has to decide for themselves. What I've noticed in all these years though is that the fun factor for quite a few people depends on which company or fanbase the joke is on. I saw people up in arms in one thread only to see the same people congratulate me in another, because I panned Nintendo instead of Sony, for example.

Lastly, are joke threads per se a problem on this site? No, only bad threads are a problem. A good joke thread might actually help some people who take the whole console wars thing too seriouly to wisen up. Once people realize how silly some of the issues that are being fought over are, they will be more open to discussions that don't degrade into us vs. them immediately.

May I ask why?

Picking on the unpopular just because people won't care about how that kid who is being bullied feels. In this case you pick on a game that virtually no one has any interest in and therefore they don't care if you bash it.

Picking on the unpopular just because people won't care about how that kid who is being bullied feels. In this case you pick on a game that virtually no one has any interest in and therefore they don't care if you bash it.

All I can say to that is that you should have continued to read the rest of my post.

You do realize "ModNation Racers: Road Trip" has no feelings right?

You do realize "ModNation Racers: Road Trip" has no feelings right?