Suggestions

Support.
IMO, not only we need more mods in general, but this forum in particular would benefit from more comments from whoever is in charge of applying said suggestions.
As Gems said, there are many repeat threads, mainly because we have no idea of what has been proposed and denied and why. It would certainly cut down on the "omg not this again!!" type of comments.

[quote] I think part of it is that it seems perfectly acceptable to some to simply say "No support" without politely explaining their reason, or maybe because when they don't share support, people tend to shoot things down harshly, with things like "Takes too long to code." "Fix coli first." or things like that, as opposed to something like "I think that would be a bit difficult to code, but maybe if you did it this other way..." [/quote] I don't agree with eliminating "No support." It's not something really rude, it's just blunt. People often have trouble wording their responses, or haven't the time to do so, but want their opinions counted, but you know there's nothing saying they really HAVE to explain their reasoning. If they don't agree, they don't agree. Rather they explain it or not, it doesnt invalidate it. Also, its an interesting way to sort of keep a tally. Supports vs. No supports. That gets the general idea of the opinion across, then the people can explain further [i]if they wish to.[/i] [quote]Overall: Support for more mod presence and asking users to give ideas a chance.[/quote] Well, I don't agree with the "ask users to give ideas a chance". If they disagree, they disagree. That's it. They have no reason to be told to reconsider, or think it over, or whatever the case may be. They're just as entitled to their opinion as the OP. Being unnecessarily rude is what I'm hoping this type of thing will correct, but I can't agree with trying to change a user's perspective, because honestly, that's not right. And some things suggested in this forum, frankly, would be horrible to add to the game, either causing problems in other areas, making the game far too easy, or defeating the purpose of the lore, etc. In that case especially, I don't think it wise to ask people to give it a chance, especially when the majority know outright what backlash such a suggestion could cause. [b][quote]Lock repeat threads! [/quote][/b] Ugh, yes. Every time a thread falls off the front page a few minutes, its like a clone pops up in its place. Do people honestly not bother checking beyond the first page? That is quite a problem, because from time to time, you check the first few pages and you can find a bunch of the same. It's just clutter and it shoves other suggestions right out of the running.

Support.

I don't post much, but I do lurk a lot in the forums, particularly Suggestions and Dragon Sales. I won't name names, but I've seen a number of persons who pop in just to either insult the OP under some pretext, derail the discussion, or just troll outright. Worse, I've seen bullying on this very board that went unaddressed. This kind of interactions aren't good for anyone and I for one would like to see the mods take a firmer stance.

[quote name="Butzefrau" date="2014-08-09 19:34:12"]I deeply agree that this forum needs some better-enforced etiquette one way or another. I think part of it is that it seems perfectly acceptable to some to simply say "No support" without politely explaining their reason, or maybe because when they don't share support, people tend to shoot things down harshly, with things like "Takes too long to code." "Fix coli first." or things like that, as opposed to something like "I think that would be a bit difficult to code, but maybe if you did it this other way..." or suggesting "I'm not sure of a better way to do this, but I think it might make some problems with code because of XYZ reasons, but the idea itself isn't bad." or something along those lines. I'm not sure that it's something the mods need to take responsibility for, but I've noticed a lot of sharpness to the interactions on this forum, which I find kind of odd. This is a place for suggestions to make the site better, after all. Nothing has to be done immediately, but eventually some things might be nice, so why not suggest now for a feature in the future? I hope things lighten up in this particular forum, it's such an optimistic idea, it'd be nice to get back to optimistic socializing, too.[/quote] People are allowed to claim no support if they don't wish to share their reasons- have you seen how some topics blow up about exalting/gender scrolls? People may not wish to share reasons as it may be personal. If they're asked to explain their thoughts its one thing, but no one should be forced. Also it being difficult to code is a valid response. I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to code in things without causing new problems to arise- features can't poof out of nowhere! You seem to understand that though, which is good, but the coding issue is valid. As for things being 'sharp', I think that's mainly due to how 'game-breaking' many suggestions are on here. Then users who support it get upset and don't understand why people won't support something that makes the game super-easy. Challenge is still essential! People can be serious/optimistic, but you can't act flippant about everything that may change the game. Just my thoughts! EDIT: Also I think there should be more mods here!

There definitely need to be more mods in general, but I don't think being sharp and blunt with answers should be anything punishable :/ Unless it becomes personal (ie calling someone stupid and mocking them without adding anything to the discussion) I don't think any action needs to be taken. The issues come up mostly when the "no support" people add lols, or "no, just no" things in response to people without giving any reasons as to why they think it's a bad idea. This is supposed to be a discussion forum, but refusing to engage in discussion when asked for reasons is a common theme I see here.

It's not rude, in any way, to ask someone why they do or don't support something. Maybe the user just doesn't know about something that would change their mind. Maybe they're new. Maybe they're a casual player who doesn't frequent the forums. The fact is that entering a discussion with no intention of stating your reasons makes the discussion part pointless. Discussions might turn defensive and snappy, but at least they're talking about it and showing the points on either side, and as long as they don't devolve into trash talking with no additions to the issue being discussed, I don't think there need to be any disciplinary actions against anyone

I support this, and agree that there does need to be more moderation and watch present in this forum.

I also definitely agree that repeat threads should be locked. A part of the reason I see snark in some threads is because of issues that are brought up over and over in a new thread every time you turn around.

Support for locking or merging duplicate threads. [quote name="EnchantingCurse" date="2014-08-10 05:48:27"][quote]Overall: Support for more mod presence and asking users to give ideas a chance.[/quote] Well, I don't agree with the "ask users to give ideas a chance". If they disagree, they disagree. That's it. They have no reason to be told to reconsider, or think it over, or whatever the case may be. They're just as entitled to their opinion as the OP. Being unnecessarily rude is what I'm hoping this type of thing will correct, but I can't agree with trying to change a user's perspective, because honestly, that's not right. And some things suggested in this forum, frankly, would be horrible to add to the game, either causing problems in other areas, making the game far too easy, or defeating the purpose of the lore, etc. In that case especially, I don't think it wise to ask people to give it a chance, especially when the majority know outright what backlash such a suggestion could cause.[/quote]What I meant is, people derail the thread with: "Oh but they said years ago that they wouldn't do this. I have no proof though." (Admin opinions or user support could have changed. Also, the only one who should speak for the admins is the admins. Provide a screenshot, link to an old post, anything.) "This is too hard to code." (Even if they knew this, it doesn't make an idea inherently bad. Maybe the coders want to spend time on this and/or can find a more efficient way.) "I'd rather they spend their time on something else." (Uh...that's nice, but it doesn't add anything to the suggestion. I'd rather they spend time on fixing bugs, not implementing new features, but that doesn't affect whether I like the feature or not or whether it's a good idea.) This is what I mean by giving ideas a chance.

I don't frequent this subforum very much anymore because posting opinions is sometimes a little frightening because of how intense some people get, especially if you're in the minority opinion on something. This seems to be a relatively recent thing too. I don't remember it being like this at all when I first joined months ago (but we also had the "already suggested" thread still then too - so people weren't stuck seeing hundreds of repeats and getting frustrated).

I worry about new players in the next registration window suggesting something (that has been suggested many times before - but they don't know that) and getting laughed at and/or told that it's a stupid idea and never posting again. The same for the players who never visit the forums (there are lots of them and some of them are very involved in the game - not everyone likes forums), or who are very shy and may have a good idea but are too nervous to post in the forums.

But I don't think that this is something that is possible to be enforced or simply changed. It's more of an environment and attitude change of the majority of the people who are posting. Moderators may help, but they probably won't be able to make much of a difference with something like this - aside from stepping in when things are out of hand.

It seems that maybe it would get better with some sort of organization to the subforum and an easier way to find already posted ideas. People can get very irritated and frustrated when the same thing comes up again and again. There are countless threads that start with "I don't know if this has been suggested before but..." when the thread is in fact something that was suggested just a week or so before.

The other thing that might help is if admins very occasionally acknowledged posts - not necessarily saying anything in particular, but just showing that they value input and take the suggestions into consideration. That way users don't feel like suggestions are always falling on deaf ears.

One of the biggest things they could do to help with the situation is bring back the already suggested list and do not suggest list; both of those will help curb alot of the annoyance with the same idea being posted three to four times a week. (Single Scatters, Sex Change, Increase Stocking frequency, etc)

I agree with @DragonSage

We need a better system to keep track of what has been discussed previously so we don't have to keep starting over in the conversations again and again.

Aside from trolls, most people are not harsh just because they want to hurt feelings. People can get snippy when they are frustrated - so when people see the same threads day after day they get less and less patient. This is why there are so many threads where people will just post "Not this again." "No. Never. NONONO" "Absolutely not." etc. They are simply tired of explaining themselves.