Nope I haven't heard of it since I don't go on gamespot at all... And if you say so then okies it's a bad idea. n_n'

NM. This is an effort for change I wont expose anyone. We do need to keep people out of threads who just want to point out negatives about certain products they dont like that have nothing to do with the topic.

For example:

Thread Name: MGS4 sells 1.4million week one.

Poster A: "Oooh oooh so what! The PS3 is still in last place and the hardware boost wasn't that high!"

That type of crap happens all the time (especially to the PS3 on this site.) Stems all the way from new posters to vet posters to mods.

A lot of small changes can have big effects.  We should start by getting rid of the obvious, the things that don't require any sort of interpretation.  No personal insults.  There's the line, right in the sand, and everyone knows it.

Couldn't agree more... but I suspect it will be tough to achieve.

There will always be disagreements on forums like these - weren't we disagreeing on whether you can compare RFOM2 and MGS4 at this time or not just recently? But neither of us needed to do anything other than post calmly and take things in good humour to get our views across.

But there's a big difference between sensible (even if heated) discussion and pure bile, aggression and just plain silly comments... and there does seem to be a rise in flame bait posts and comments recently.

While I don't like the idea of limiting new members perhaps accounts could have tiers of privileges allowing mods more freedom in control.

For example the ability to post new threads vs just post in existing ones. Limits to the number of posts. These could even be applied to different forums - so its a more lax affair in general discussions but sales discussions must be relevant, etc.

That would enable, for example, mods to remove say your ability to post new topics for a while, or limit you to say x number of posts a day rather than having outright bans.

Given the obvious fact that many posts are from fanboys for a particular console it would be handy to control posting by console as well - i.e. if a Sony fan is causing trouble in the Xbox & Wii forums prevent him posting in them, etc.

If nothing else there's always one good response... Ignore! Actually, perhaps we could have a status of 'on ignore' that accounts get set to that limits posting privileges for a while and also acts as a clear indication that the member has been trolling, etc. I suspect what would help mods would be the ability to simply implement the change and leave it to re-set automatically - so they can quickly dish out a 10 day new thread creation punishment and know that after ten days it will reset.

this could be good, i'll be watching this :D

anyway isn't it so when a rule is broken the violater will be banned?
( and sometimes even when a no harm is done )

I do agree. But this is no recent development. It's an age old problem. (Well, ok, internet old problem)

Pffft Squilliam has no Problem with "troll" posts that argue in favor of M$ or Nintento. Nor do 14/16 moderators. How can anyone say this site isn't bias? Let's be real.

 Your definition of a personal attack is so broad that it is essentially worthless. A personal attack would be me calling you a retard. If I were to say your definition of a personal attack is retarded though, it would not be a personal attack. I am insulting your arguement and not you directly. All but the first line of this is meerly an example and not meant to reflect my personal opinions in anyway.

 This is the biggest part of the problem, and it exists slightly on both ends. Well, it is a major problem because of the users, but the mod team can help in some ways. I have always been hestitant to report posts because I don't know if I am being overly annoyed by the person, or if it is honestly over the line. If there was a way to get a feedback system going for good/bad reports it could make the system work better for everyone. The easy first step would be to simply punish people for abusing the report system. If someone is reporting posts that in no way break the rules, the reporting user gets a warning. I can see where it might lead to fear of reporting a bad post, but so long as no serious action is taken over borderline cases then it should smooth out quickly. It would un-ham your queue, and punish the people for essentially harassing the moderators.

Talonman, Montana, Twesterm, Naznatips, Ssj12, Bohestava, and Roadkillers off the top of my head show little to no bias against the PS3. I am certain more of the moderators fit into that mold as well, but I have forgotten most of their names right now. Fishyjoe, and Mrstickball are the only ones who seem to ever rile up the PS3 fanboys for fun. Rocketpig is pretty brutal on MGS fans, but that is just incidentally related to PS3 fans.

All bolded = excellent points. Since its all bolded I give this post a 10/10 - Its better than MGS4 (higher VGcriticz rating)

@Leetgeek, I hate troll posts that support Microsoft or Nintendo, especially Microsoft. I perfer that Xbox360 fans keep a higher standard of personal conduct as that is the best way to act as an ambassador for the Xbox360. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.