candyrocket786

The Mods over at the HD Forum recently implemented a new set of sub-forum rules due to the recent banning of a certain member.

Apparently, my latest posting in the former “Free for Fall” thread violated one of these rules and I fail to see how.

My comment was posted as a joke to poke fun at the massive Dell and now Toshiba recall of Sony Laptop Batteries.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.ph...nt=256]My Post

Thread

I fail to see how this posting qualifies as “format bashing”,” thread crapping” or “personal attack”.

Please Advise.

namja

Joke or not, you are bashing Sony for their delays. As posted in that thread: "Blatant bashing of a format or bashing of the studios/manufacturers is strictly forbidden." I don't know what's not clear about that.

In the Video Games Talk Forum, we reprimand for comments like:
"One feature the Xbox core system doesn't have but the Wii does - appealing games. "
In comparison, we take it easy on the HD Talk Forum.

candyrocket786

So basically jokes are not allowed in the HD-forum or any forum of dvdtalk?

1. So if I call Blu-ray Dual Layered Discs (BD50s): The New Superbit Ultra Discs

- I'm bashing Sony by making this joke?

2. So if I call HD-DVD Triple Layered Discs (HD45s): The New Superbit Ultra-Lights

- I'm bashing Toshiba by making this joke?

3. If I call Michael Bay the "New George Lucas" (Movie Forum/My sig)

- I'm bashing both Bay and Lucas by making this joke?

4. If I call Lukas Rossi a total hack for winning the Supernova contest (TV Forum)

- I'm bashing both Rossi/Supernova and threadcrapping by making this joke?



...and according to your response. My comments might be ok in the Tech Forum, but not Vid or HD-Forum.

Where's the consistency in that?

Josh H

People in the Tech forum don't get in pissy fanboy fights like you see in HD and especially in Video Game talk.

That's why the rules aren't consistent.

kakihara1

Pissy? Fanboy Fights? Surely you jest

candyrocket786

I find that hard to believe.

I'm sure if I started a thread called the Sansa E200 Series vs. Nano, it would probably bring out the fanboys on either side.

bboisvert

I dunno.

Publically threatening suspension of a longtime member for making a mild winky joke about the Sony battery recall? That's 'easy'?

I think we need a clear definition of what is and isn't OK. If the various subforums are going to start having different rules, we need to make those rules clear.


As it stands, I'm honestly hesitant to even post in that BD vs. HD thread any more. I'm not sure where the lines between debate, jokes, sarcasm, and criticism lie... and if I choose wrong, I'm being told I'm taking a little forced vaca for a while.


If someone is out of control and posting nothing but flamebait nonsense, that's one thing. But if something like that is going to be considered "bashing a format"...

Josh H

Lets just say it hasn't been an issue in that forum yet and it has in VG Talk and HD.

digitalfreaknyc

HTF has done it.
AVS has done it.

Why don't you just split up the forum into BD and HD DVD and be done with it? It would probably solve a lot of the bickering and problems, everyone can go to their own corners and play nicely. If you want to have one forum for the VS. thread and other threads devoted to BOTH formats, heavily moderate that one as you have been doing as of late.

It may be the only solution at this point.

Adam Tyner

There isn't enough traffic here to warrant that.

If everyone's capable of playing nicely in separate forums, why couldn't they play nicely in a single forum?

digitalfreaknyc

Because then hopefully people who more/only interested in one format will tend to stay in that forum and not deal with the possible bashing or joking or whatever you guys like to call it these days.

Clearly the current way is not working. You're losing posters and not gaining them.

Adam Tyner

The complaints I get are primarily anchored around the same two or three people, one of whom is you, and if there were a common 'vs.' thread or a general HD forum, I'd imagine the same problems would still persist with or without format-specific forums.

Honestly, I'm so tired of modding the HD forum that I'm ready to hand the reins over to someone else. It doesn't seem to be a group of people passionate about high-definition so much as acolytes waiting gleefully and impatiently to pounce whenever there's disappointing news to report about one format or smugly gloat whenever there's good news about "their" format.

Forget the frequent comparisons to the video games forum. HD Talk has more in common with the Politics forum at its most partisan. If losing people means the forum starts looking more like it did in its early days and less like the bitchfests on AVS, that sounds spectacular to me.

namja

If everyone posted more objectively without being so obviously biased towards one side, then we wouldn't need these extra rules. Apparently, that's not possible in the VG Talk Forum or the HD Talk Forum. Even with these extra rules, we still have people posting bad news about the other formats/consoles at every opportunity.

Yes, we'd like balanced posting. And the only way to monitor that is to prevent all types of bashing, even if they are in forms of jokes. Jokes are fine (and welcome) as long as they are not at the expense of BD, HD DVD, or the manufacturers.

And BTW, if you think HD Talk or VG Talk is bad, then you should check out the Politics Forum. Post "Dubya is a moron" a few times, and you're banned.

bwvanh114

I hope you don't quit. I think you have an admirable goal in mind.

digitalfreaknyc

That's funny because I've been there since the "early days." And obviously I can't be all that bad if I haven't been banned as of yet. Passionate I am but I'm not about to insult anyone over this horseshit. If anyone doesn't like me, they can ignore me as I have them.

Josh-da-man

I'm not really partisan about either HD format, but all of the defensiveness just seems terribly extreme for, essentially two nascent formats that haven't really caught on with the general public.

Politics... I can understand. For the past fifteen or so years there's been this really obnoxious name-calling and straw-manning that what once passed for reasoned debate has turned into.

Video Games... I can also understand because there's a subset of hardcore gamers who live, breathe, eat, and drink games that are completely out of their minds.

But these are just HD formats, both of which seem to be making little impact in the "real world." And I've also noticed how discussion on the HTF has been reigned in by the mods, so it isn't unique to DVDTalk. (I don't even lurk the HTF anymore because their board crashes my browsers, even Firefox, so it's been a while since I've checked in there.)

digitalfreaknyc

I think a lot of the reason why I take it personally is because I spend thousands of dollars a year on movies and equipment and it chaps my ass when major companies are making snide and condescending remarks about their quality and the people that can't see it. I definitely WILL take offense to that and there's not a mod out there that can tell me I should be more "middle of the road" on this issue. If the HD DVD backers suddenly started insulting buyers, I'd feel the same way about them but fortunately, they have something the BD backers do not: tact.

And just FYI, i feel the same way about the president. There's absolutely no reason to support the prick, IMHO. And I'd agree that it does have a lot in common with the politics forum.

namja

That's how you CHOOSE to see it because you're on the HD DVD side. Neither the HD DVD backers nor the BD backers have any tact. They've been equally stubborn and arrogant, and that has hindered the progress of the new HD formats.

You don't like Sony? Fine. I don't like Sony either. But I'm gonna have to learn to live with the fact that BD will be at least as strong a force as HD DVD in the future of HD movies, and probably a bigger force. As such, there will be a huge BD/Sony following. So all we're asking is that people keep the bashing or jokes about Sony to themselves.

digitalfreaknyc

OK.

Show me ONE quote where any HD DVD backer has insulted the consumer. I can show you several condescending quotes from not only Sony but other BD backers.

I'm not on the HD DVD side because I hate BD. If you've been following the forum, you'd know that I was just as die-hard a BD supporter as I am HD DVD now until I saw how Sony was treating the consumer.

We're all consumers. We all have opinions. This isn't a blind hatred.
If BD turned around and fixed everything it has wrong with it PLUS lowered the price, a lot of us would be singing a different tune, I think.

You might be forgetting that.

wildcatlh

You still don't seem to be able to grasp the fact that there's a difference between bashing and expressing an opinion.

candyrocket786

I thought jokes expressed opinion?

digitalfreaknyc

YOU don't seem to grasp that, for some, there's a very fine line.

Again, if you think i'm bashing, please point out the threads where all I say is "sony sux."

I'm anxiously awaiting your response.

Shannon Nutt

Just my opinion (of course), but I think digitalfreaknyc is close to 100% right in his opinion. It's one thing to "bash" consumers or another forum member, it's quite another to take some "shots" at a large company (ooh...we might hurt their feelings!)...especially when they are deserving of it, and especially when many of those posts are in "good humor".

The anti George Lucas/anti Michael Moore/anti "fill in the blank" has been going on for YEARS in the other forums...and those are individuals. We're talking about corporations/studios with HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

For myself, "Blatant bashing" means that's all you ever do when you make a post. But if you've bought a player or watched a new release and think it sucks, or read something particularly stupid/incorrect in a company press release, I don't see how stating so on the forum targets you for banishment.

Just my two cents...hope I don't get banned for it.

But the bottom line is that DVD Talk is Geoff's website, so he can pretty much have it moderated any way he pleases.

Josh H

I think the problem was outlined perfectly by Adam.

The forum is full of a bunch of (insert whatever here) that just skim the net for bad news about the "other" format so they can post it and gloat.

There are far more of those posts, than actual informative posts offering advice, talking about enjoying whatever new HD-DVD release etc. It's just pathetic IMO.

They're fucking DVDs, that as already said above, most people don't give two shits about. And you have a small group of (insert whatever here) on the net defending "their" format like their life depended on it and taking every, single opportunity to make snide comments about the other when some negative news item comes up.

To lose my tact for a moment.....Get a fucking life people!

digitalfreaknyc

I post just as much good news as I do bad for BOTH formats. And for the new owners, I'm always ready to lend a hand.

I think Josh exaggerates.
Dvdtalk is nothing compared to HTF and AVS.

*ahem*

Actually, "they're" HD DVD's and Blu-Ray Discs. BD isn't a DVD.