1433 réponses à ce sujet

[billy the squid]

Ninja Stan wrote...

Heretic_Hanar wrote...

Morocco Mole wrote...

I believe the "mods" are probably just random EA employees that take control of the accounts to dish out their punishments. So its probably not the same person every time.

That sounds like a reasonable and quite possibly true explanation.

Maybe these BioWareMods are regular users who have acces to these BioWareMod accounts to help BioWare out? I know a few users who I suspect of having acces to those BioWareMod accounts...

The new BioWareMods are not technically EA employees, and as far as I know, they are not accessible to anyone outside of the organization the BioWareMods work for. That means they are not used by random BSN community members, named Moderators, or BioWarians.

They are also not robots, but generic account names that can be logged into when it's someone's shift. Having a standard format for informing people of bans means less work for them when banning. Heck, i use the same format when informing people of bans, but I take the long way and type it all out manually each time.

What was that, I couldn't hear you over the sound of the BioWareMod terminating my posts. 

Modifié par billy the squid, 22 juillet 2013 - 10:53 .

[GriM_AoD]

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...


There was a former policy for the mods, that required them to message any individuals who were banned.

That message was to contain the length of the ban, and the reason for it.

That policy is no longer in effect, and I feel it is very important that it is restored, especially now that it is no longer possible to send PMs to mods without that message.

Banning individuals without explanation, and not providing them with a way to respond is sending a negative message to users. Without a method to PM mods who have banned us, we are left with no options, no information, and no method of acquiring that information.

Removing the policy was not in the spirit of a "social network," and does not encourage discussion or mutual respect.

He'd have posted this himself, but is on the receiving end of said problem.

Modifié par GriM_AoD, 28 juillet 2013 - 09:26 .

[Angrywolves]

I think they work for ubisoft, eidos and other canadian gaming companies. Maybe they get free t shirts from Bioware for being mods.
rotfl.
Was Priestly's position eliminated or will someone be hired or promoted to fill it?

[Ohnenick]

GriM_AoD wrote...

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...


There was a former policy for the mods, that required them to message any individuals who were banned.

That message was to contain the length of the ban, and the reason for it.

That policy is no longer in effect, and I feel it is very important that it is restored, especially now that it is no longer possible to send PMs to mods without that message.

Banning individuals without explanation, and not providing them with a way to respond is sending a negative message to users. Without a method to PM mods who have banned us, we are left with no options, no information, and no method of acquiring that information.

Removing the policy was not in the spirit of a "social network," and does not encourage discussion or mutual respect.

He'd have posted this himself, but is on the receiving end of said problem.

Quoting this for emphasis.

This is becoming a SERIOUS problem! I have read about a dozend posts in the last two weeks by different users in group discussions about them getting a ban but no notice whatsoever as to the duration and the reason for it.

I really wonder what message is Bioware trying to send the forum users with this policy?

Because all I can see right now is the equivalent of a flipped finger to potential customers of future Bioware games and that does not make me happy.

Modifié par Ohnenick, 30 juillet 2013 - 06:04 .

[Zjarcal]

User Jeremiah12LGeek is currently banned and asked for someone to post this in his name.

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...

The mods are continuing to ban people without offering any explanation, or information on the length of the ban.

There is no oversight for this, and no system for people to address the problem. It doesn't respect the concept of a dialogue to engage in the frequent banning of regular users without allowing them to respond.

An oversight system needs to be put in place that allows users to address their concerns. This used to be the case, and it needs to be restored.

Users need to be informed of their bans and why. They also need a portal to write to the mod that banned them and dialogue with them. Lacking that, there is no way for the ban to have any positive impact.

It also leaves room for people to be banned in error (which happens) with no way for the problem to be addressed or corrected. The mod doing the banning would likely never even know if they clicked on the wrong profile.

There are many, many reasons why the current system is a negative one. It fosters hostility, and is doing significant damage to the relationship between BSN users and BioWare. That damage is unnecessary, as well as harmful.

This problem needs to be addressed.

Modifié par Zjarcal, 02 août 2013 - 06:32 .

[Ohnenick]

Zjarcal wrote...

User Jeremiah12LGeek is currently banned and asked for someone to post this in his name.

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...

The mods are continuing to ban people without offering any explanation, or information on the length of the ban.

There is no oversight for this, and no system for people to address the problem. It doesn't respect the concept of a dialogue to engage in the frequent banning of regular users without allowing them to respond.

An oversight system needs to be put in place that allows users to address their concerns. This used to be the case, and it needs to be restored.

Users need to be informed of their bans and why. They also need a portal to write to the mod that banned them and dialogue with them. Lacking that, there is no way for the ban to have any positive impact.

It also leaves room for people to be banned in error (which happens) with no way for the problem to be addressed or corrected. The mod doing the banning would likely never even know if they clicked on the wrong profile.

There are many, many reasons why the current system is a negative one. It fosters hostility, and is doing significant damage to the relationship between BSN users and BioWare. That damage is unnecessary, as well as harmful.

This problem needs to be addressed.

This is so true it actually almost made me cry a little. But I don´t see anyone at Bioware or EA really caring about it at this point, tbh.

[Ziegrif]

Zjarcal wrote...

User Jeremiah12LGeek is currently banned and asked for someone to post this in his name.

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...

The mods are continuing to ban people without offering any explanation, or information on the length of the ban.

There is no oversight for this, and no system for people to address the problem. It doesn't respect the concept of a dialogue to engage in the frequent banning of regular users without allowing them to respond.

An oversight system needs to be put in place that allows users to address their concerns. This used to be the case, and it needs to be restored.

Users need to be informed of their bans and why. They also need a portal to write to the mod that banned them and dialogue with them. Lacking that, there is no way for the ban to have any positive impact.

It also leaves room for people to be banned in error (which happens) with no way for the problem to be addressed or corrected. The mod doing the banning would likely never even know if they clicked on the wrong profile.

There are many, many reasons why the current system is a negative one. It fosters hostility, and is doing significant damage to the relationship between BSN users and BioWare. That damage is unnecessary, as well as harmful.

This problem needs to be addressed.

A good friend o mine called Scarred Jackalope recently got Perma banned for posting a picture of a badly drawn gag penis on a whiteboard in a thread.

Twas crude and understandable why he got banned... but he had never gotten a ban while being a poster on BSN and immediately gets a Perma Ban.

For one picture.

I am not happy with this style of moderation. If a user that has never done anything ban worthy can be perma banned with no chance to redeem himself... It just feels wrong. The pic wasn't even seriously pornographic.

And now I fear I'll be banned for this comment. It's starting to feel like any sort of light hearted humor on the forums is discouraged and only the toxic trolls and arguments are allowed to blossom at least on the Me3 multiplayer forums.

I'm starting to be afraid of posting anything at all anymore.

Modifié par Ziegrif, 02 août 2013 - 07:14 .

[Grinch57]

Jessica Merizan wrote...
Hello everyone! 

As you can see from our recent updates on the Report link, the PM system, and additional moderators, we are actively working on changes to BSN. Sometimes, we might not get it right (we are definitely continuing to work on PMs based on feedback from you guys), and all I ask is that when we do implement something you don't like or you want changed, that you let us know politely and rationally (e.g. "I strongly dislike this because XYZ" instead of "I hate everyone, this is dumb!"). 

That being said, what would you like to see changed on BSN? I can't promise what we will and will not due, but I've definitely heard your concerns here, at conventions, on social media etc. And I want to make this site the best one it can be. 

So again, what do you want to see changed on BSN?
I should go. 

I quoted your post, because in it, you said BioWare/EA was working on the PM issue.  It's been a while, doesn't seem like a difficult thing to do.  Yet, nothing.

More importantly, the recent behavior of the various folks who sign in as generic moderators is out of hand.  It appears from the various temporary and permanent bans that virtually nothing other than bland words about some inane, oft repeated topic is acceptable.  It would be easy to say that BSN should be renamed BUN (BioWare Unsocial Network) or BAN (BioWare Antisocial Network), but there are legitimate gripes that cheap puns won't adequately address.

Ulitimately, it's your (BioWare/EA) website.  But if you wish to dumb it down until nothing but banal posts are allowed in MP, then why have the forum at all?  Seems far easier just to put DragonRacer's resource library thread on the first page of ME3 forum and call it a day.  All those interested in gleaning information on "how to" MP can be satisfied. 

Those who actually want to have a social interaction won't be trickf*cked by the name BSN and the implications of that name.  Nor will they be frustrated by what was allowed in the past, within the same rules that govern the site today, that seem so egregious and banable today.  For me, personally, bans were previously never an issue, because my humor tends to not cross certain lines.  In today's environment in the MP forum, that would no longer be true.

I find all this rather strange.  ME -- the trilogy -- was a riotous "mass" of inside jokes, bawdy humor, sarcasm ... in short, a whole lot of fun.  The MP forum used to be that way.  The folks who are attracted to the ME franchise are now being punished for using the same type of humor exibited in the games themselves.  That is hypocritical.

You may do as you wish.  BioWare, I honesty and sincerely think you are doing it wrong and are alienating some of your most loyal and faithful fans.  Ultimately, you are alientating your customer base.  If nothing else motivates you, that should be a concern.

Just sayin'

Modifié par Grinch57, 02 août 2013 - 08:00 .

[wolfhowwl]

Please STOP DELETING entire threads that have pages and pages of productive discussion just because a few people throw a hissyfit.

[Hyperglide]

I want the ability to embed YouTube and Vimeo Videos. Add those tags and I'll be happy.

[NuclearTech76]

Just wondering what is up with the recent changes to the ME3MP moderation. Are the mods trying to run off every member of that community? Did Jessica M just draw the short straw and get chosen to deal with the unwashed masses of the "bioware fandom"?

How bout actually looking at what's going on with the current moderation of "Bioware Fandom" instead of treating customers of EA and BW that have a long history with the companies and their products like pieces of garbage?

[Dunvi]

The recent preference for deleting over locking is sort of out of hand. A number of truly productive or significant posts and conversations have been entirely lost because of the actions of a few. There is almost no reason to delete threads entirely, especially if the thread was originally started in good faith as an on topic discussion - that it might have spiraled out of control means it should be locked while allowing the original, meaningful discussion to exist, not deleted entirely.

But more significant is the inconsistency between the mods. It seems there is little to no common ruleset for the mods - a third of them seem to be willing to lock threads, a third seem to prefer deleting individual posts, and the last third seem to prefer to delete threads entirely. Nine times out of ten, a member gets no PM from the moderators saying they were banned or what for. In the rare cases where they do, the "line of conversation", the option to appeal, is almost completely gone since the vast majority of PMs never get a response - almost every single person has only been able to get a response by turning to one of the old-hands, the named moderators who seem to understand our complaints but have no authority to help.

I think the most frustrating thing, though, is that we are offered absolutely no real option for discussion. Any question for a way to submit complaints gets a canned response of "post in this thread". I highly doubt you are actually reading this thread, though I have been assured that you are (if you show otherwise I will happily edit this out). I don't believe we necessarily have any right to complain - but if the administrators of the BSN don't actually have any intention of listening to our frustration, would it be so hard to not give us false hope with threads such as this?

Modifié par Dunvi, 08 août 2013 - 07:42 .

[Ninja Stan]

NuclearTech76 wrote...

Just wondering what is up with the recent changes to the ME3MP moderation. Are the mods trying to run off every member of that community? Did Jessica M just draw the short straw and get chosen to deal with the unwashed masses of the "bioware fandom"?

The ME3 MP forum appears to be as healthy and active as ever. The users in that forum continue to be passionate, excitable, and occasionally unruly. Hasn't changed.

How bout actually looking at what's going on with the current moderation of "Bioware Fandom" instead of treating customers of EA and BW that have a long history with the companies and their products like pieces of garbage?

Those who violate the Site Rules may be warned, banned, or have their posts edited or removed. Any of those results are covered in the Site Rules document, which contain the rules a user explicitly agrees to follow and be governed by when they sign up to participate in the BSN. Participation in the BSN is voluntary; it is not a right.

[Ziegrif]

*Edit. Nevermind.*

Modifié par Ziegrif, 06 août 2013 - 10:43 .

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

Ninja Stan wrote...

The ME3 MP forum appears to be as healthy and active as ever. The users in that forum continue to be passionate, excitable, and occasionally unruly. Hasn't changed.

{NT Snip}

Those who violate the Site Rules may be warned, banned, or have their posts edited or removed. Any of those results are covered in the Site Rules document, which contain the rules a user explicitly agrees to follow and be governed by when they sign up to participate in the BSN. Participation in the BSN is voluntary; it is not a right.

With regards to your first point, I came here secifically to address the closure of helpful threads for new players in the MP forum, most recently: This one.

In all honestly, it is not fair to suggest  that nothing has changed. The changes are real, significant, and palpable. The MP forum is nowhere near as active as it used to be. On average, posts on front page are as old as 2 - 3 hours, and that wasn't true as little as two months ago. Many of the Forums more helpful members are now afraid to post freely in the forums, even on-topic, for fear of severe recriminations for minor or nonexistent offences.

People are banned for "off topic" posts that are on topic. Threads that are helpful are deleted or locked - which was avoided in the past, and no longer is. Bans are handed out much more frequently, and reasons for those bans are no longer provided.

Repeated efforts have been made to communicate these problems to BioWare and the new moderators, and those requests and concerns have all but been ignored, at least, publicly. There are no official channels to address concerns with how moderation is handled.

We are passionate because we care, but we are not being listened to, and no one will give as a way to try and address the problem. That's what we are asking for.

[GreyLycanTrope]

"The users in that forum continue to be passionate, excitable, and occasionally unruly." That seemed enough the get the character forum closed...

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

Actually, I will add to what I said.

The long-time Volunteer moderators have often made decisions that I disagree with, that's only natural. But - if I disagree strongly enough, I can discuss it with them, and they will explain the decision to me. They have always been open and direct in their communication.

If they ban me in error, I can talk to them and correct the problem.

If I have an issue with what they are doing, we can communicate and work through to an understanding. This has been done many times, and has been an important element of BSN's relationship with the members here.

Those options no longer exist with the new moderation and PM rules. PMs that are successfully sent to moderators are ignored.

[NuclearTech76]

Ninja Stan wrote...

NuclearTech76 wrote...

Just wondering what is up with the recent changes to the ME3MP moderation. Are the mods trying to run off every member of that community? Did Jessica M just draw the short straw and get chosen to deal with the unwashed masses of the "bioware fandom"?

The ME3 MP forum appears to be as healthy and active as ever. The users in that forum continue to be passionate, excitable, and occasionally unruly. Hasn't changed.

How bout actually looking at what's going on with the current moderation of "Bioware Fandom" instead of treating customers of EA and BW that have a long history with the companies and their products like pieces of garbage?

Those who violate the Site Rules may be warned, banned, or have their posts edited or removed. Any of those results are covered in the Site Rules document, which contain the rules a user explicitly agrees to follow and be governed by when they sign up to participate in the BSN. Participation in the BSN is voluntary; it is not a right.

New mods are locking build guides that don't have any arguments in them. They have locked threads searching for players to play with on a social site. Some of the new mods, specifically Mod04, do not have one single idea about the culture of BSN nor how to moderate it. BW is alienating some of the most passionate fans and the community leadership, if any exists, seems to be either clueless about what is going on or seems to not really be overly concerned about it.

social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/16672239/5

Do you think excessive moderation is going to solve your problems or just create more of them? I guess you can permaban the 200 most active members of the BSN community when they finally have enough of this garbage and go full bore anarachy worse than they did with the PM changes?

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

During the first year of ME 3 MP, there was a cooperative venture happening.

Many BSN members spent hundreds of hours of their own time voluntarily breaking down the game's mechanics, and code, to elobrate and understand how the game worked.

Balance changes were often a direct result of their efforts.

Bugs and glitches in the game were identified by the users, located in the code, and in some cases, the fixes for these bugs were user-generated. In other cases, the Developers were able to fix those bugs in patches as a direct consequence of the efforts of the BSN members.

The current ME 3 MP game, with the balance changes, was created by the efforts of many members and developers working in concert, and it is something beautiful. That happened because those developers immersed with the community, interacted with them, knew them. And, in some cases, they played with them. Their game grew and improved as a result of that relationship.

ME 3 MP is the most communally-created game BioWare has ever made.

The ME 3 MP Resource Library is a massive resource that was created by the cooperative nature of the relationship BioWare has deliberately cultivated with BSN.

That information is now broken, in places. Numerous user-generated fixes have been deleted. Many guides have been deleted. Hundreds of hours of code-breaking, math, testing, and re-testing is being gradually destroyed without any consideration to the effect that is having on the community that continues to try to encourage growth.

In spite of how it has been characterized on occasion, the MP forum is extremely fast to flock to a new players, and provide information, links, and resources to improve and get more out of the game.

We want this community to survive, and we helped create it.

It is being unnecessarily torn apart. So much is being lost. BioWare is gradually eliminating one of its assets, and losing value in the process. This doesn't have to happen. There are many ways a reasonable compromise can be reached, and this crisis averted. There is still time to rebuild what is being lost, but not if nothing is done about it.

If things continue as they are, the damage will become irreparable. As it stands, the remaining community is still willing to put in the time to replace some of the lost information, but the number of remaining members still putting in the time to do that is dwindling. It will truly be a shame nothing is done about it before it is to late.

Modifié par Jeremiah12LGeek, 06 août 2013 - 03:45 .

[Ninja Stan]

While I agree that the ME3 MP forum is a virbant and vital part of the BSN and the BioWare online community, I disagree that this allows users in that forum to flout the rules and expect their threads to remain open.

Moderators, even named Moderators, have always had to choose between locking a thread, removing it, and removing the off-topic posts if a thread goes downhill. And threads in the BSN will pop up time and again with the same discussion. I disagree that "so much is being lost" from that forum, nor do I believe that the "damage will become irreparable." The forum has decreased in popularity primarily because BioWare stopped supporting ME3 MP with new content and frequent updates, and as the game ages, that forum will decrease in popularity still. Yes, some BSN-ers might be unhappy with the enforcement efforts of the new batch of Moderators, but suggesting that the forumites are the good guys and the Moderators are the bad guys in this situation are, in my opinion, incorrect.

I have always encouraged those users who are concerned about their forum environment being intruded upon by Moderators to step up themselves and encourage their friends and associates to take more responsibility for the state of that environment. If you're not going to work at keeping threads on-topic or exercise self-discipline when engaging in discussion, you can't then blame Moderators for stepping in to enforce the rules.

You say "We want this community to survive." I do as well, but the more chaos and rules violations that persist in the forums, the more strictly we will have to enforce the rules. Some of y'all consider our Moderating to be a joke, in one case even creating a game where one gains points for causing trouble and getting banned. Some invite bans by deliberately causing trouble in the forums and conspiring to violate the rules. Some actively post pornography in the forum. I'm not suggesting this is the behaviour of many or even a significant portion of the online community, but it is prevalent enough, particularly in the ME3 MP forum's tight-knit community, that certain names and groups crop up time and again when we are making our rounds.

It will truly be a shame nothing is done about it before it is to late.

Note that Moderators can't clamp down on rules violations if no rules are violated. I'm not saying y'all have to be perfect little angels, but some of your number are making it difficult to give the ME3 MP forum as a whole the benefit of the doubt. Don't believe me? Check out some of the forums for older games. Very little moderation needed, because the very passionate and dedicated community in those forums is policing itself.

NuclearTech76 said
Do you think excessive moderation is going to solve your problems or just create more of them? I guess you can permaban the 200 most active members of the BSN community when they finally have enough of this garbage and go full bore anarachy worse than they did with the PM changes?

I think it will and has cut down on the amount of forum shenanigans that some people have been getting away with for too long. The extra Moderators are able to see more and do more to clamp down on rules violations. And if the "200 most active members of the BSN community" wish to "go full bore anarchy worse than they did with the PM changes," we will act accordingly. Threatening to blatantly violate the rules if we don't stop strictly enforcing the rules is counterproductive, because it indicates that what we are doing is working to remove rule-breakers from the forum.

Don't get me wrong. I love that we have such passionate community members who love the community and want it to stick around, but I'm not so keen on members of the community abdicating personal responsibility on a forum they claim to love and cherish.

[Kel Riever]

 End of Line



I don't think things are exactly always as they used to be.  Not even close, as far as rules go and what the reaction is.  To your credit, Stan, sorry to the others, but the new mods have a lot to learn.

A LOT.

If they were acting like you Stan, honestly, things WOULD be as they used to be, which was generally good.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

Ninja Stan wrote...

I think it will and has cut down on the amount of forum shenanigans that some people have been getting away with for too long. The extra Moderators are able to see more and do more to clamp down on rules violations. And if the "200 most active members of the BSN community" wish to "go full bore anarchy worse than they did with the PM changes," we will act accordingly. Threatening to blatantly violate the rules if we don't stop strictly enforcing the rules is counterproductive, because it indicates that what we are doing is working to remove rule-breakers from the forum.

Don't get me wrong. I love that we have such passionate community members who love the community and want it to stick around, but I'm not so keen on members of the community abdicating personal responsibility on a forum they claim to love and cherish.

I don't agree that it is cutting down on shenanigans. If anything, I see the problem getting worse. Particularly as a factor of the remaining members. As the community has shrunk, shenanigans have not decreased in a comparable measure.

Yes, the end of support was the most significant factor in decreased usage, but the pace in the last 6 weeks has increased noticeably, and it has been repeated uncountable times that the community feels it is being driven out of the forum, by the people tasked with caring for it.

I feel personal responsibility is a huge and important part of the problem, but I feel it is both ways. With no system of oversight for moderation, and no way to communicate with those who are doing the moderation, how are we supposed to address the issues? We are trying to do that, right now, and we are having considerable difficulty in even having the problem acknowledged.

If you don't see how much of the information is being deleted, it is because it does not impact your communications, but it does impact ours. When we go to link information for other users, and the information isn't there, it makes it more difficult for us, and we have to do our best to recreate it.

It impacts us significantly on a week in, week out basis.

And when we are unable to allow users to communicate requests for help, or other players to play with, it impacts our community, as well. If we create a thread asking for something like that, it is open to being deleted or locked, because asking for players to play with is "off topic."

If a thread is created with useful information, and is then derailed by a vindictive or angry user, it is we, the community that is punished when the information is deleted.

And I really do not believe it is realistic to ask us to police ourselves, when we aren't even permitted to communicate with each other, or with those that are tasked with our moderation. We aren't allowed to discuss it in the MP forums, and without any other avenues of communication, what do we have left?

Given that at every turn, our every option and effort to address the problem is stymied but the lack of a policy or system to address it, we are helpless before what is happening.

If this has become "good guys vs bad guys" it is because the only ones speaking or acting on behalf of the community's concerns, at the moment, are our fellow users. Some of them are doing it well, and others are doing it badly. However, none of their efforts, via any channels, are having any effect. Whether done respectfully or not makes no difference.

We want to discuss it, but our efforts are not being acknowledged. Without someone to "take responsibility," blaming one side for the entire problem is not fair. Those of us who try to take responsibilty through effecting positive change are not permitted to. One side has all the cards, and we are left holding the bag.

At least some of the responsibility must be borne by those with the actual power to effect change, because we are not being given that power.

[TheRealJayDee]

Jeremiah12LGeek wrote...

At least some of the responsibility must be borne by those with the actual power to effect change, because we are not being given that power.

[Ohnenick]

While Stan has many a point speaking for his point of few when it comes to irresponsible forum users, there have now been many incidents of moderation that are in no way adequate or even consistent in their interpretation of the rules.

We are asked to avoid spam, ok. But then people get warned off because of empty quotes, totally disregarding the fact that this is often nothing other then an 'I agree completely'. People have been banned because they made a joke! Not an attack, not a tasteless jibe but a simple joke! And it wasn't one of the 'usual suspects' either. How do we avoid spam, when apparently almost everything can be considered spam now on a single persons whim?

And lots of people have been banned without the tiniest hint as to why and how long - yes I know the standard excuse for that is that the new mods don't know the tool, but this has been going on for weeks now. How long does it take to communicate to new staff the fact that No, they don't get send your report automatically?

But the biggest problem overshadowing it all, imo, is the total lack of any kind of appeal system for the botmods. PM's get ignored, threads putting their decisions to question get deleted and the users banned. Hey, those guys are human (at least I think so;-)) and humans make mistakes. So there should be a way to address those potential mistakes. The lack of that is in my opinion the cause for approx. 90% of all the grievances in the MP forums atm. Because if they make 10 right decisions and 1 wrong one that isn't corrected, people will always remember and count the 1, not the 10. A lot of 1s will pile up to one huge amount of perceived injustices. And injustices, perceived or not, make for quite an effective banner to rally behind. Because why should I follow the rules if I think the other side doesn't or even changes the rules all the time to their daily whim?

If Bioware would at least address this problem, things would get a lot more relaxed imo. But to be honest, I'm not optimistic about Bioware doing anything at this point. Best example is this thread. Didn't Jessica say something about 'rephrasing the popup' and 'working at a solution to the PM thing'? Maybe I didn't get the memo, but from were I'm sitting, nothing has changed.

So I see mods being often pretty wanton and inconsequent with their decisions (and I'm not talking about the named mods), no way to appeal if said decisions seem wrong, no way to submit possible ideas for making things better and generally Bioware not giving a damn.

And while I appreciate you, Stan, taking the time and answering us here, as a voluntary mod you can unfortantely neither speak for Bioware nor give us the feeling, that by talking to you we are addressing our problems with a person able to come up with a solution for them (other than 'be quiet and follow the rules').

But thank you for your time nonetheless. I appreciate you at least giving us your take on things.