We banned a bunch of the trolls like Kerotan, QuickRick, etc. Got told we were being too ban-happy and killing the site, lately I would say that our moderation in the gaming forums has been far more relaxed, that wasn't in response to any criticism Tbh. I think it's just a case of the site dying and we're all low-energy, even the StaffChat in Discord is dead, it feels futile when you have an absent owner and progressively outdated site.

But anyway, I do believe there has been less active moderation in gaming discussion, the focus has been more politics, but speaking for myself, even when I'm arguing with an obvious dickhead in politics, I tend to let it carry on longer than I perhaps should, because I don't like banning people who are in direct debates with myself, Lol. We got rid of the bigots and politics tends to get heated anyway so there tends to be more relaxed moderation there too. I know I'm a Mod so this won't mean much but I firmly believe anyway that of all the potential issues with the declining activity of the site, moderation is way down the bottom as a possible cause.

I don't regret and stand by the vast majority of permabans that the Mod team I've been under have made. We tried to clean up the forums for better discussion even if it's smaller discussion, toxic activity is shit activity, like Curl says, it kills engagement in the long-term even if it may provide a boost in the short term, quite frankly if the choice was for the site to die or it to be full with trolls just to save the site, then it would be better if the site just died. Activity for the sake of activity, no matter the form it is in, sounds awful to me.

It's not really the Mod teams core responsibility to keep the site alive, it is linked to our work but the issues with the site far exceed our reach. It is the Mod teams responsibility to nurture a welcoming community that fosters quality discussion, quantity is the owners problem, there are dozens of things that could be done to encourage new sign ups beyond the Mod teams capabilities. Us banning bigots/trolls, etc. Is simply us doing our role.

Nah, strongly disagree here, there's no point in having more activity if that activity is toxic and driven by trolling, that just kills engagement in the long run cos people get sick of discussion being poisoned and participate less.

Nah, strongly disagree here, there's no point in having more activity if that activity is toxic and driven by trolling, that just kills engagement in the long run cos people get sick of discussion being poisoned and participate less.

Antagonism is not trolling.

It is if one is just being needlessly rude or aggressive just to annoy/provoke others.

Disagreement or friendly rivalry is fine of course, but we don't need users just being dicks to each other, that just makes the forum experience unpleasant all around.

You just described trolling again.

Antagonism would be strong opposition. This strong opposition doesn't need to be friendly; If I spent money on X game that you love I hated, I'm not going to mince words because you may be annoyed/provoke. I believe that we need not over protect the easily annoyed and provoke. This is a forum where a mass amount of varying quality of opinions will be shared. Make the choice to avoid things that annoy/provoke you. Antagonism should be well articulated(All trolling is not and not intended to be). Its should stimulate. Stimulation is the missing ingredient here. 

Not to mention that this site has been moderated as suggested by Xxain for at least a couple of years by now. It's not helping, it's not working.

Like I say, disagreement is fine, it's when it crosses the line into being rude, aggressive, or purposefully trying to annoy others that it becomes a problem as it ruins the forum for others who just want to discuss things like adults.