This is not a message to the mods, nor is it a criticism of the rules. I understand that as a mod it can be difficult to please everyone. It can be especially difficult to do what’s “right” when the overwhelming majority of the community wants to do what’s wrong. This is a message to the community.

If we ever want to be a warm and welcoming community, we need to make some drastic changes. There are a lot of core problems with the community here, but the one I’d like to bring up, but today I want to talk about accepting of all types of opinions, as long as the expression of those opinions is civil and reasonable, and does not offend anyone. Unfortunately, we are far from an accepting community. We can be more accurately described as community who accepts opinions that satisfy the most people, rather than whether or not the opinions should be accepted.

I would like to use my thread “Why I hate Sony” as an example. I do not wish to have the moderation overturned, because I understand the fury or reports the mods had to go through. The problem was not the moderation or the rules; rather, the problem was the fact that so many people who were offended and felt the need to report the thread. Too those people, I would like to ask: Why? Why do you feel offended by someone else’s opinion? I was respectful with my execution, so why do people take offense to the thread?

These people are the ones who take this stuff too seriously. These are the people who are too entrenched in the “console war.” I would never feel offended by someone’s opinion, as long as they are respectful. There is nothing wrong with me expressing my hatred of something, as long as I support it. Yeah, I may hate something, but at least I can accept other people’s opinion. Hating something is not offensive, flaming, or trolling. It’s a genuine opinion that I feel. And it’s very upsetting that a great site like VGChartz discriminates against people like me.

My thread was just the most recent example of the intolerance of VGChartz. Whenever someone gives a strong and unpopular opinion of something, instead of welcoming the opinion and discussing its merits, the community decides to ridicule and report the poster. This same cycle occurs to this person over and over again until the poster leaves because of the hostile environment, or is permabanned by a moderator who is simply overwhelmed with reports. This happened already to good-hearted users like Selnor and lilborex left. They had unpopular and strong opinions and were exiled by the community, even though they were fairly respectful.

This results in a site-wide discrimination against the smallest group of users here – Microsoft fans. If you are a strong Microsoft fan, you basically have to deal with Sony guys ganging up on you everywhere you go. This needs to change guys. We need to change. I may have a strong dislike of a product and company, but at least I don’t try to be respectful of other people’s feelings. We cannot simply ridicule and report people solely by virtue of the fact that we don’t agree with them.

Rudisha, promoter of acceptance.

JayWood2010 approves of this message.

Online forums are more like groups of friends chatting and less like actual real world communities. If you say an opinion that pisses off your friends, they will make fun of you and turn their backs on you.

Welcome to internet forums!

Sure, Hit and Run threads are the perfect way to improve the community...(the last one, not this one)

Why are you doing all of this really, be sincere. Something is deeply troubling you right ? What happened in the last days ?

wfz said: Online forums are more like groups of friends chatting and less like actual real world communities. If you say an opinion that pisses off your friends, they will make fun of you and turn their backs on you. Welcome to internet forums!

Disagree. I believe very few people know each other on this site.  People see a poster and immediately put them with one of the three companies.  If a Sony user sees an Xbox user a lot of times they often dislike them even if they don't know them personally.  This goes vice versa too.

EDIT:  I also want to say i did not read his last thread even though basil sent it to me.  But i do agree with this thread.  That we all need to be a little more lenient on peoples opinions.  Although bashing should never be allowed.

BasilZero said: The difference was that you didnt state any opinions or facts - you just wrote up contradictions one after another. You say there's a wide discrimination against Microsoft fans yet you discriminated the Sony fans. If you want to promote acceptance, dont stoop down to the levels of the ones who are being aggressive - there's a word for people like that but I'll refrain from using it for respect of the forum rules.   Edit: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=5369487   ^ Way too many holes in your "arguments" - but it was funny to read though.

No. I may disagree with a lot of people and enjoy arguments, and I can be a tad aggressive. But I accept and respect what people have to say. I never insult people solely because I don't agree with them. This has happens to me and it hurts.

Well.. We all know that many of us are here more on this site then actually gaming.. For many defending the company you love is more important then actually playing games.. People should reflect on that while i'm going to shag my gf..

Also, I don't deny that my arguments aren't perfect. They may have some flaws but that doesn't make me a bad person. Maybe I am still learning to form good arguments but that doesn't mean I should be reported. The most important thing is that I don't insult, intentionally offend, or flame anyone. So why do people dislike me so much?

KHlover said: Sure, Hit and Run threads are the perfect way to improve the community...(the last one, not this one)

I did not "hit" anyone, if by "hit", you mean offending or insulting someone. Why would someone feel insulted by my opinion. Is it the case on VGChartz that you can't give an opinion if to unpopular. And the only reason I "run" is because most people either raged the thread or just ridiculed it altogether. They weren't worth responding to. There were a few people with valid counter arguments but by the time I tried to reply to them, my thread was locked.