I think I see what you guys mean about InstallBase being the inevitable future for VGChartz users. Just got my account approved and I’m thoroughly enjoying what the community has to offer. (Plus, the layout of the site doesn’t feel so…dated?)

I'm not a fan of the design of InstallBase, feels like too much text on the screen.

Also its mostly sales talk so I'm likely not gonna be on there since I'm not really interested in sales talk but discussion about games.

However its affiliate site Famiboards looks great and seems simple enough - and by the looks caters to my taste more in terms of discussion.

Just so people are aware... We are users first, moderators second.
I personally engage with debate/discussion before I ever resort to moderating someone... And many others on the team do the same.
It's healthy.

That... And we don't tend to go on a tangent and ban someone without discussion between the other mods anyway, we always seek that extra opinion as other moderators may have additional information and/or context.

Secondly... The Charlie Kirk thread was locked because it was just plain toxic. - There was nothing positive or constructive about it... However threads CAN be unlocked after they are locked, but there would need to be a change for that to take place so that discussions don't continue down the same destructive and negative tangent. - If you feel a thread should be unlocked, just send someone on the mod team a message.

Thirdly... Politics is in everything, technology, gaming... It's all intertwined, forums like Toms Hardware you can't even mention "Trump" without being moderated, even when the article talks about Trump.
But, there is a line between productive discussion and just pitch-fork mentality, progressive or conservative, it really doesn't matter, we need to move beyond that.

We are all on vgchartz because we are gamers. We should not be split down the middle. We are one group...
This thread is the perfect opportunity for people to provide input in how things can change and improve... But rather than take that constructive approach... Surprise surprise, it's just that some old finger pointing garbage again. Lets do better.

The problem with Install Base is that it's pretty much sales and only sales, which has its place, but the lack of actual game discussion means I don't go there much any more.

Famiboards is better, but it inherited a lot of political BS from Resetera where you're not even allowed to talk about some games and if you say anything that doesn't adhere to extreme political correctness, you're a goner.

Neogaf is quite active still, but it goes hard in the opposite direction with a lot of right wing culture warring, plus it's kind of a time capsule from the 2000s in that there's a pervasive attitude of "lol Nintendo is trash for little kids, real men play on Playstation/PC".

For all its problems, VGChartz still offers a more balanced environment than any of the alternatives, which is why I still come here despite it having shrunk to a fraction of its former size.

Wait what?

He had "fascist catch" itched into a bullet.
He had the Antifa catch phrase/song slogan of theirs "Bella Ciao"
He had "Notices buldge" catfishing meme thingy.

That stuff is "Transgender, Antifascist Ideology" stuff... not far right.

He was messed up because his family is right leaning, but he himself was gay and in a relationship with a transgender partner.

its why he shot him, when he talked about transgender and violence as well. 
That moment was picked on purpose.

^ this is/was his romantic partner he was living with.
A transgender man.

https://nypost.com/2025/09/12/us-news/how-charlie-kirk-murder-bullet-casings-message-reveals-links-to-furry-subculture-and-online-trolls/
https://www.nysun.com/article/charlie-kirks-alleged-murderer-lived-with-transgender-partner-report


It sounds like KLXVER, turned out right afterall.
So if you banned him, because you thought the killer was right-wing.
You should unban and apologies to him imo.

And yes, it does feel like the mods are all very left leaning, and likely would shut down any debate that they didn't favor, while the opposite likely isn't true.

also I feel like I have voiced this before..
Mods are so darn quick to ban anyone and everyone.... in the pretense of a "safe space", but its kills decussions and opnions and turns the place into a echo chamber. Also, we have so few members as is, its killing the site.

Read why KLXVER was banned again because it wasn't due to that at all, Lol.

We've already agreed that the Charlie Kirk stuff isn't appropriate for this thread.

We don't ban people because of their claims.
Klxver was banned for being a jerk to a user for basically no reason.  

We didn't even ban him for calling the mods "fucking idiots", but because he was saying stuff like that to other users.  

I'm not really sure where the facts line up on this.

I saw someone else claim that he actually lived at home. 

I need to see better proof that he had a trans partner, because a lot of these stories are changing every other day.  

Bella ciao isn't particularly meaningful. It's not some common antifa catch phrase. It's also used by right wing groypers.  

Except we're really not.  

One of the two recent examples of us banning discussion, not even a person - was a thread from almost 3 years ago. 

And the discussion wasn't even banned, we were largely just being cautious about it generating conflict.  

And again, here are actual stats on our Moderation over the past 12 months.

I miss the days when I mildly didn’t like users because of their bad gaming takes.

Yeah KLXVER was a jerk and got two weeks.

Leynos called for the killing of all conservatives and got 1 week..

This place is a joke.