This popped up in an inbox of mine, so as a part of this mod team and a long time "shunner" of the Nation threads, Ill comment and give my overall thoughts.
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I think that the Nation threads came about because of inept, inconsistent and incompetent moderation on VGChartz as a whole over the years (Example; the nation threads should have been stopped before they even started). While the Vita was being bashed the team at the time did nothing to encourage actual positive discussion and rid the forums of the real trouble causers but instead, punishing the general Vita fanbase which reacted in a negative light towards the trouble causers. Eventually having enough of any and all discussion being overrun with negative, hit and run posts it was deemed necessary by certain users to create a thread for the fans/owners to actually discuss Vita without any real negativity being welcome.
On one hand, this is a good thing for Vita fans on the site. On the other, it completely cannibalises discussion on the forum in general (In terms of thread creation).
We saw the same things happen with the Microsoft forum/ Xbox thread. The Microsoft forum itself was trash, with the moderators/rule set protecting the stealth trolls, concern trolls and general trouble causers which vastly outnumbered the genuine Xbox enthusiasts. With every thread degenerating into a pointless back and forth between well known trash posters and well known Xbox guys, there was no good discussion to be had in the Microsoft forum. End of. Now, thats not to say that poor discussion was found exclusively in Xbox/Vita threads. Its important to remember here that VGChartz at heart is a site that breeds a more competitive, defensive user due to the very nature of it being a sales site. Every forum has its share of trouble causers, overly defensive users and shitposters... However, in Vita/Xbox discussions it came to a point where the actual "discussion" itself was non-existant and each thread was simply trashtalk, gloating and whining.
This is where the Nation threads are good. There is no real shitposting going on and the communities are free to talk about videogames without having to tell some gang of trolls to go away. Communities is the key word here, because these users have become good friends on and off the site. These users get along with eachother, talk to eachother and play games with eachother. These users are what this site needs to flourish.
Looking at each thread individually, and the impact that said thread has on the forum itslef? The XBE thread is the steel girdir that holds up the Microsoft Forum, while the NintenDomination thread is a small branch on the great Deku tree that is the Nintendo forum. To outright remove the XBE thread would be to completely gut the Xbox fanbase here, while if you did the same thing to the Nintendo thread then it wouldnt really be missed by anyone. The same could be said of the Vita thread in comparison to the general PS Nation thread. For certain fanbases, these threads have become a must have. A corner of the forum where they can go to talk about videogames without having to put up with console war nonsense.
To combat this "turtle" mentality where users will stick to a specific thread, we as a mod team need to be firm on trouble causers outright. Ive been making this point recently and Im serious about it, we as a mod team need to know our audience; we need to know details beyond the basic ruleset when making decisions and if we are unsure, those decisions need to be discussed in modchat with people who do know. We need to know who the trouble causers are, we need to know who will be posting innocent banter, we need to know who is being spiteful and we need to know relationships between posters. We need to know who has a long-term anti-Nintendo agenda and we need to know who the guy is who loves everything Gran Turismo. That way, as a team, we can really clamp down on the trouble causers. Beyond this, we could really do with additional tools that let us outright ban specific users from posting in specific forums. That would be great.
I could expand on this a bit more. I might do, but right now I feel like Im going over what I already said because Im being distracted by the football.
The Nation threads bring many positives to our forum, but at the same time they arent really needed. However, at this moment in time with communities, memories, friendships and time embedded into these threads, it would be egregious of us as a mod team to take that away from these users, when they have done nothing to deserve such a thing.
