By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Website Topics - Nation Threads and Their Role in the Forums: A Critique

TheSting on 22 February 2015
Blob said:
Teeqoz said:


I believe the exact opposite will happen. Take away XBE (I'm saying XBE because it's by far the largest nation thread), and everywhere on VGC will become "safer" for xbox fans. Right now we have the situation that a lot of xbox fans don't post in the rest of VGC. That only makes matters worse. It'll make the already in minority xbox fans in an even smaller minority because most of them are only posting in XBE.


And there are reasons why many of them don't post outside the nation thread. Im not saying xbox fans are magically better than others like classicgamingwizz is saying, there are definately a few out there with a bone to grind.

The resolution threads last year were painfully obvious attempts to put down microsoft and there are plenty out there who like to jump in on a good anti microsoft gang bang. 


Yep and I see that it's best we don't give in to that type of shit. Some stay in that thread so to not be baited. We ignore most attempts at trolling and undercover trolling that way. I don't see a huge problem but do see it taking something away from the overall forum. The moderation has gotten better as far as troll attempts though. I partly see where Smeags is coming from. 



Around the Network
TheGoldenBoy on 22 February 2015
binary solo said:
You maybe right about some of the information redundancy and lack of sub-forum activity. But I don't think schism is something that can raise any particular concern here. Essentially schism along "party" lines is an intractable inevitability. You might as well tell the worldwide Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities to get along better. There are certainly people in all the communities who would like to see less animosity, but there are those who's sole motivation regarding "outsiders" is utter annihilation. Unless you weed out the fanatic and permanently debar them from the community then fracturing of the community is inevitable. And retreating to safe havens is also a natural outcome.

One interesting thing to note about the company/platform sub-forums relative to level of activity is that the MS forum seems to me to have the most threads created by people who would not generally be called MS/Xb fans, or at least XB is not their preferred platform. The Sony sub-forum has somewhat fewer threads created by people who are lukewarm (at beast) towards Sony. The Nintendo seems to have fewer threads created by those who are lukewarm towards Nintendo. Though I think when the Nintendoom threads where at their peak that pattern may have been different.

For myself I don't really frequent the PSNation thread very often, and I feel like I get enough PS gaming information and get into as much discussion on topics of interest to me.

My main beef about the website is that sales data doesn't come out with enough frequency and regularity. If the web team wants to do something to increase broad based discussion it would be to bring out sales data more frequently and on set days of the week. And perhaps come up with creative ways of stimulating more analytical discussion on various aspects of sales data. This site has one unique point of difference and that providing the most comprehensive, freely available, worldwide video game sales data. The accuracy of that data notwithstanding, the way that information is packaged and released can significantly contribute to broad based discussion.

Completely agree with this.



AZWification on 22 February 2015

I barely even post in any of the Nation threads, so I wouldn't miss them if they would disappear!



                
       ---Member of the official Squeezol Fanclub---

shakarak on 22 February 2015

I have never been one for nation threads as I never really read them. I do feel like they take away a lot of the smaller news threads that I enjoyed reading and commenting on.



starcraft on 22 February 2015
Teeqoz said:
Blob said:
Take away the xbox nation thread and xbox fans won't have any safe places to post on these forums IMO.

I believe the exact opposite will happen. Take away XBE (I'm saying XBE because it's by far the largest nation thread), and everywhere on VGC will become "safer" for xbox fans. Right now we have the situation that a lot of xbox fans don't post in the rest of VGC. That only makes matters worse. It'll make the already in minority xbox fans in an even smaller minority because most of them are only posting in XBE.

I haven't fully determined what I think on this issue - Smeags may be right that the negatives outweigh the positives, I am not sure yet.

But on this, I disagree. I do not believe that all of the half dozen Xbox fans left on this site would be better served by disseminating themselves across the entirety of the forums.



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

Around the Network
Hedra42 on 22 February 2015

Tagged - still thinking.



Mr.Playstation on 22 February 2015

My thoughts:

While as stated by the OP, the nation threads do offer a safe and welcoming environment for those that share the views of posters, I overall agree with the OP that th e nation threads do have a lot of negative effects. I've got nothing to hide, I love Sony, my name is a tribute to PlayStation, my avatar is a tribute to PlayStation and so is the quote in my SIG. Alas I do not post in PlaystationNation regularly and actually I have never posted in the the PlaystationNation thread and therefore I feel cut out of the overall PlayStation fanbase. As a poster I tend to stick to threads about the Community and threads about general discussion. Overall I feel as if I am not part of the Sons of Darkness fan base and in fact during my time on the site I have probably had more Nintendo related discussions.

Should the Nation threads be removed/altered?

First of all I definitely think some nation threads serve more purpose than others. While I do agree that the threads should be removed ( as they are now, since they are quite closed off to a number of users ) I still think that maybe their idea can be altered and changed into a safe haven for fans of the system while also becoming easy accessible to newcomers and do not stop those fans who post in such threads to become invisible to fans of other consoles.



Send a Friend Request On PSN :P

man-bear-pig on 22 February 2015

I came into this thread with the view that nation threads are good for the community but after reading the OP and all the posts I kind of agree that they should be done away with. Back when they first started I despised them but over the past 6 months or so when I got my XB1 the community in XBE really helped me and I found a lot of value in having a community thread, but you're right there has been a decline in news threads being created due to these nation threads and therefore we're only ever really seeing one side of the argument...so yeah maybe you should do a trial period where the nation threads are locked for 2 weeks or so and see how it goes.



My prediction threads:

Wii U will sell under 40m units (made on 14th September 2012)

PS Vita will sell under 20m units (made on 30th September 2012)

Wii U will sell under 7m in 2013 - I was right

Halo 4 first 9 weeks sales prediction

PS4 to be down YOY in 2015

TheSting on 22 February 2015

No one stops or has the authority to tell someone to not post in the nation threads. Xbox in particular. That's where i usually post and it's always been welcome to everyone. Known troublemakers probably won't get the response they are seeking though



WhiteEaglePL on 22 February 2015
Blob said:
Take away the xbox nation thread and xbox fans won't have any safe places to post on these forums IMO.


But if so, then take away the PS and N Nation threads too.

Actually, take away the PS and N nation threads and let Xbox keep thiers. The site is way too unpropriatlnally dominated by PS andd closeby in second place by N.