Moderation on a Different Level

 Let's start off by making it clear that every place has someone in charge. Regardless of how high the branch overall goes. Some places have higher-ups than its individual spots. Discord, for instance, has the specific owner of said server(the Admin), and its Moderation with varying levels as they see fit. And then there's people higher up than them(who can vary on how many levels).

However, when it comes to websites, a big important part is that while it's important to get community feedback, one cannot let the community outright control said site over the Moderation and Administration. While it's still respectable to allow feedback, there is a point when they create a lot of trouble. This can include a lot of things;

• Too much popcorning. When it comes to any Open Appeal Thread for any kind of Ban/Suspension system, it's not the community's job to decide if an apology is "good enough" or any kind of thing. That's a bad thing, because they are not qualified to discuss things properly. They were not trained, chosen, or given any kind of rules and don't have all the details either. This doesn't mean zero feedback is bad. If a Moderator does make an error, it's actually a good thing to point it out. But that's where it really ends.
• It's also important to note when making public reports that it's not the community's job to ever decide whether a person should be punished or whatnot. They are not a good judge of the situation. This is also why multiple times many Moderators won't weigh in(directly, outside of being asked) due to potential personal bias in a situation. This is part of the normal rules most of the time(though it is true sometimes this isn't a rule as fast as it should be).
• Ultimately, transparency can also lead to problems. It's not a good thing necessarily, but can be helpful. As long as it doesn't lead to popcorning/people who are not in charge trying to determine who should be allowed on the site or not.
• The community deciding the rules of how a Moderator operates. They don't actually understand exactly what the site needs to flow right either. It's completely understandable to ask for their experiences to help build a better ruleset, but the only people who should be making said rules are the Administration and the Moderation(the latter is less important to it).
• A big thing is that in order for any kind of authority to have meaning, it means that they cannot constantly be challenged to such a severe degree that it allows for people to be harsh and rude in their responses. This also means that in order to fix things, people need to go through private channels with proper reports. Trust is important, but if you cannot be bothered to report problems, then nothing ever gets solved. Evidence is required for reports, not personal feelings.
• Accountability is ultimately important too. However, this goes more ways than people like to admit. The Moderation has to be held accountable, hence why them reversing a decision based upon bad information is absolutely necessary to remaining trustworthy. Or generally fixing their mistakes. But there's one thing people really need to understand too.
• General users who weigh in on a situation or are involved are just as accountable. As I said before, you aren't some hero either. Reporting a bad person is important. But if you act like an asshole to said person, you do not deserve to magically get off the hook cause of some good deed. That's not how it works. If you choose to act like a bad person, you fall under the same issue; acting like a bad person is against the rules. I mean, it's common sense, right?
• To further add to that point, and something also heavily worth mentioning; there is no "worse" person in these situations. You're going to meet people you don't like or they do things that are against the rules. Obviously you only report the latter(reporting the former is a good way to lose your ability to report, as you're abusing it to get rid of people you dislike). But another thing that comes in is when people think baiting a bad person to get rid of them is a good idea. No, it isn't. You're trolling bad people. Stop being a dick and engage in good faith or just report them if you can't respond reasonable. By being a dick, you're making the job harder for everyone, as it ultimately leads to you breaking the rules while trying to pretend to be a hero who got rid of someone. This isn't a war. It's a site.
• Too much bias. Bias is understandable. Issues are understandable that come up. But once again, reporting them has more merit than expressing them in public. The fact any place has an open appeals thread that is visible is already a very strange case. That also means that's there to help build lessons on how to act and how not to act.
• No matter how you go about it, your experiences will cloud your judgment about a situation. When it comes to seeing an appeal, you aren't equipped to properly look at the full details. An important thing to remember is that if a key detail is missed by a Moderator. this is where the community is actually fruitful. If they make a mistake, any major decision has to be reversed(I.E. a full removal of the user) because it's based upon a false situation. Everybody makes mistakes. There is no excuse under any condition that they should ignore said mistake. This is highly important because it means they're actually doing their job correctly.
• By refusing to fix a mistake, you lose far more trust than any other situation. Yes, the reversal will be unpopular in many cases. But no matter what, that has to stand. You cannot trust them to actually change or realize an error if they ignore their errors for the sake of "doling out justice". A Moderation that actually instills trust by being accountable for their mistakes is far more important than justice in itself.
• Speaking of, the need for justice. It relates partially to bias, but too many only care about punishment and less about fixing an actual issue or even making a person better. This is exactly why the community doesn't work well for judging things. Mob mentality plays a near identical role, as they'll try to get rid of things based purely on their consensus, even when at no point were they allowed to participate in this.
• That's also key in remembering. The community even being allowed to weigh in on various appeals at all is a privilege, not a right. This is not a common thing and most places see it as a terrible way to run a site. Most things are kept private because the popcorning is beyond useless in dealing with any situation. In addition, this also means people get rude and unruly about other users, even ones who are obviously bad people. They actually think it's a new acceptable target for them to treat poorly.
• The basic point is, even a bad user is still a user. It is hard required to follow the rules when talking to or about said user, which includes basic common courtesy. Throwing around accusations and trying to push your weight into it is not as helpful as you think it is. You are not a hero.
• Something also minor. A post being removed isn't the Moderation "lashing out". You should know better than that. A post being removed is that it violates the rules. Intentionally combating them in order to whine is frankly ridiculous and you should actually be respecting their final ruling. The whole "my way or the highway" is a thing here, but more importantly, egging them on is not a smart move. You are intentionally trolling them because you dislike it. Simply saying displeasure may be fine(depending the circumstances), but don't intentionally whine in comparison. Again, you are not a hero.
• Note that places have different ways of handling posts or whatnot. This can be removal, hiding them outright with some kind of "warning message", or a public warning put on said message without certain things removed(if at all). Key thing is that by violating the rules, you aren't helping anyone. You may think that it's some peaceful protect, but it's not. Websites are not what you think they are. They're just a place that you have the privilege of being a part of, choosing to follow their rules.
• That's not saying you shouldn't be allowed to contest certain ones ever, but it does mean that there comes a time when a foot will be put down about it. Ignoring this to whine more about the situation only hurts your case. You are not required to like it. But combating it is ultimately doing it at your own peril. Why are users removed from a site for constantly combating it? It's because at the end of the day, the decision is final. There's nothing more to discuss. Just let it go or leave. You lost the argument, plain and simple. That's the end of it. Is it fair? Not necessarily, but it's not your site. It's theirs. They make the rules. There's nothing to "rally" for by that point. And yes, it gets redundant to drive home on how pointless these efforts can be. You don't win every battle, but refusing to stop is not a legitimately good look for your point. Changes, no matter how bad you may think they are, do happen and are not reversible. To put it simply; he's dead, Dave.
• Lastly, mob mentality is something I spoke on earlier. It's basically nothing more than an actual way to bully people you don't like. You are not justified no matter what. There is no excuse for it. It's why, generally, sites do not consider this a legitimate tactic and will start removing posts that violates the rules. You are not some special hero for trying to get rid of a bad person by teaming up with others.
• If you want to help, actually report stuff accurately. And respect that your opinion only has so much merit in this situation. Besides that, your opinion is also not as important in dealing with this. What they want are facts as well. These are what helps. Leave your bias at the door. 
• This isn't to say that people don't ultimately deal with lots of pain and trouble dealing with a bad person. This sucks to deal with. However, this is exactly why you cannot be trusted to deal with a user. Your facts are important because they help the Moderation deal with a problematic user based upon the rules, not bias or feelings. There's a difference between ignoring that people are hurt and actually allowing them to act out on their own.
• Let's also make it very clear that this doesn't downplay any horrible experiences they dealt with. It's not right either. But it's also not right to allow a clouded judgment to determine how to deal with a user. This only creates more trouble.
• Hence, this is why a biased Moderator cannot be involved with something that involves them directly when it comes to determining any kind of action. In fact, this is exactly the same situation that users deal with when reporting a bad member they dealt with. Neither case is fit to legitimately judge.

One last thing to end with is that a bad Moderation can absolutely exist. But it's not transparency that will help. It's that you should be reporting them properly based upon the rules of the site. As noted above, sites can get very unruly when the public is too involved. I've seen many kinds of mob mentality(which frankly is too nice of a word of how people act, but any other is also illogical to use) that basically prove time and time again allowing the community to have that much power is a godawful idea. (It's also important to note that trust is a crapshoot without transparency and accountability. On the other hand, it's not possible to fix everything without it).

The good ole NSFW Issues

 It's absolutely normal chat rooms etc. have their NSFW stuff. Hey, that's fine. But also keep in mind is that many are handled terribly. Some don't bother to be clear on what's allowed and what's not allowed. Beyond, you know, the rules of said normal website, respectively, where it's being hosted at.

And that's the problem. People can't be expected to clearly judge things the same way. Obviously this isn't about Fantasy VS Reality. They're fantasy. Regardless of what's allowed, everybody has their kinks. It doesn't matter, honestly. The most important thing is that some will not like certain things and that's okay. Know who you're talking to. And that's the easy part to deal with.

The real difficult part is enforcing a proper rule set. One of the biggest problems is something I touched on yesterday, the whole "you can PM us to ask if it's okay." This is bad enough with other rules, but why would you want to post something NSFW to someone you know nothing of. You don't. Now let's go further more into it;

• First and foremost; that kind of rule is bunk. There is no good reason to actually ask a person to Private Message/Direct Message you with a specific image to see if it's "okay" to post in said server. This is a major red flag. It's beyond unsafe. They clearly are not worth talking to in that regard. You should never have to ask like that. The only proper way to handle it is to let the image be posted, in spoilers, and if it's not okay, remove it and simply explain to the user in private why it breaks their rules. This way the Moderation properly handles it, you are not intimidated in the first place, and it's far safer. This means they go out of their way to enforce the rules that exist. Like any Moderation should be doing.
• This is for another reason. Relying on the Moderation's judgment only goes so far. You can't know what they're thinking. What happens if they're uncomfortable with a particular item? Oh, right, that means that one person you went out of the way to ask is the one who you unintentionally caused lots of trouble for. This is why it's important the Moderation in itself chooses someone who can discuss it maturely with the offending user.
• Likewise, by asking a single member in private, you give them fuel to use against you. You put yourself in a very vulnerable position in general. This is very difficult for people to deal with, as many are more than willing to create trouble for others by taking anything they do, no matter how innocent the purpose was(including asking if something is okay) and using it against them. This is why it's just not a safe practice. In other words? Never ever do it. Ignore said NSFW channels. They aren't legitimate if they can't properly keep a safe place for everyone.
• Now for another key point; if you think something is borderline, it likely doesn't count as "okay to post". Don't rely on the Moderation for this, especially if they expect you to talk to them in private, which as noted, is highly unsafe to do. That's a very good sign you'd be setting yourself up to fail and get in trouble even when you're actually doing nothing wrong.
• You could also say they're a big clique. Yes, they will assume bad will if you accidentally break a single rule. They will assume it even if you don't break a rule but it looks questionable. Rule of thumb; if you see a new rule pop up, and you can tell it's because of you? You already know for a fact they weren't interested in trying to explain to you the situation. They just wanted to see you fail and are trying to drive you out. Don't waste time asking questions of how you can improve. They made the situation pretty clear when they refused to communicate with you. See the next paragraph to understand how Moderation is for chats as well.
• One last way to put it; the Moderation are not there to be your friends. They're there because they want to enforce the rules, not to really keep the place safe(contrary to popular belief), but to make sure it goes exactly the way they want it to. You'll rarely find this in any kind of chat room. Forums are much safer in comparison, but chat rooms? Don't count on it. The reality is, chat rooms are still very draconian. This isn't necessarily bad, as they don't exactly have options or enough people to moderate(or even some big place) to really make a democratic-like ruleset. That's because it's just random people on the net. While some rules may be agreed upon through consensus, many are "doing their own thing".
• It is worth noting I have run servers with multiple moderators. I don't pretend for one second it's simply about being safe. All servers are supposed to work one way or the highway. Regardless of what it is. Safety is not the server's concern. Discord(etc.) are not legitimately safe at all. Don't fool yourselves into thinking it is. They can be comfortable for people to be in.
• Now as for the rules, obviously there's going to be many based upon the Moderation's own preferences, along with respective rules of the website. There's nothing wrong with this at all. But it's still up to them to be as clear as possible, and you are not at fault if it's poorly written. The worst thing you can do is be highly vague.
• We know that things like topless people are subjective if it's counts as NSFW. Especially when the idea that breasts are on display is an issue. That is going to vary entirely on the people running it, and considering it attempts to make the female body sounds like they shouldn't be allowed to be shirtless cause it's automatically lewd is also unfair. This is easy to make clear how it is counted.
• In addition, there is SFW and NSFW. Questionable doesn't cut it. That's not a real thing in these kind of services. This is related to the first sub-bullet. If said, as noted, breasts are allowed, that means that either they're in a NSFW channel by default or are considered SFW for the server. Some might call it "Ecchi"(A.K.A. softcore porn). Generally, Ecchi is treated as NSFW by default. In the case of Discord, they're quite picky on this and you can get in trouble. Be careful how you do so. If you think something might be NSFW, it probably is.
• To end this bit off, there is no denying that how porn should be posted and handled is always subjective. Just remember that within various services, they aren't going to really go out of their way to differentitate things in general. Much like the above sub-bullet, it's "assumed the worst possible", and that makes sense. If it's questionable enough that you need to "ask if it counts", well? That's a good sign it probably counts or doesn't count(depending the context of said item).
• That said, everybody knows that some people do stuff with others online that are NSFW. Or sometimes just intimidate. There's nothing wrong with this.
• It's very easy to make an error and go over the line. Just remember to apologize. Also remember that at best, you shouldn't even attempt again. It was never happening and you made an error. They ain't interested.
• Likewise, yes, people change their minds or their lives and lose interest in NSFW stuff. Whether it's talking about it, media stuff, or playing around(A.K.A. Cyber Sex). Sometimes even jokes are something they don't want to hear. It's okay. Sometimes you can't even know and make a joke by accident. Apologize and try to establish communication right away. This only however works in the case of non-Cyber Sex, though. That's a completely different kettle of fish.
• It's easy to mistake what someone may like too. You can't tell till it happens. You'll figure it out, but just be prepared to apologize if you make an error. It's not worrisome. You didn't mean to cause trouble. Anybody who severely overreacts should only be under the condition you basically did something like post an extremely poor taste thing or went way overboard(hitting on someone, attempted to play with them, etc). The key thing is that unless you're a repeat offender, which really is your issue, not theirs, they also should be willing to communicate on why they're uncomfortable. Keep in mind the reason for this is is that people can still remain friends if they attempt to. It doesn't always work out. And that's okay.
• This goes the other way. Know when to cut your ties. It's often best to say why you don't want to be around them anymore so they at least understand what's going on. Not all do. I spoke of how bad the silent treatment is, as it can create a lot of unnecessary turmoil. But regardless, it happens.

To end off with, these things are not easy to deal with. Ever. There is no "one size fits all" way of handling it. If you communicate well and respectively, that helps a lot, though. Do not expect most people to be willing to do so. Some are far more interested in treating you like dirt over a misunderstanding. Do not assume they're easily willing to try and handle things maturely. They're not. It's far rarer than you think. While it's great to try and be optimistic, this is not a realistic thing. Give them one reason, and they'll go down hard on you in some way. That's basically why it's very important to be careful.

Yes, not all of this was purely NSFW-related, but it's still important details.

The Intimidation That Is Moderation

This is mainly about Discord Servers, and how they are managed.

It's quite common for people to think "You can ask the Moderation for help" is a great idea. It kind of is... but not really. This is decent if it's in public, as you can quickly tag them. But expecting any user to suddenly go into a private message with them in some way? This doesn't work. This is because they already are highly intimidated by their existence. No friendly face works at any point and never will. That's not enough. The only person they will feel comfortable around is someone they already started talking to before joining said server. Oftentimes the Admin, anyway.

This is also why it's very important, if a user breaks a rule or causes issues that would require a new rule, it's fully up to the Moderation to take them aside and help explain why it's necessary. If a rule if blatantly made because of a user, they will take it badly, especially with how it's worded. Expecting them to suddenly take the initiative is overall bad for everyone. They already feel vastly uncomfortable. This is a great way to alienate people as it doesn't actually show enough caring about how they might feel. There's no excuse for being completely silent on the matter. See next paragraph to explain the other side of the issue a bit.

(As I said before in my last blog, a user leaving silently doesn't help, but you have to remember that they don't even feel comfortable enough to say anything in the first place. Why would they? They already feel horrible in the first place. They at best would expect to be talked to a bit, before or after. The worst thing you can do is ghost them instead of at least asking why they left. Maybe it'll help. Maybe said user who left was actually a troll in the first place. That's however pretty rare).

In the end, when enforcing rules, it's very important you communicate directly with said rule breaker. But don't be intimidating and at least try to hear their side of the story. They aren't trying to justify it, they're trying to explain their side so they can be helped to not make further mistakes/break more rules. Never ever assume it's in bad faith. This is a failure to actually listen. There's going to be obviously cases where there's nothing to listen to(blatantly violent threats, bigotry, those kind of things. Like, uh, yeah, no. There's no side of the story to tell. You want to see people hurt. End of story. Naturally there's tons of other cases where there was nothing remotely similar to that and it was taken the wrong way).

A new blog post. This is meant to cover tons of internet opinions on various etiquette. This is controversial, no doubt. Please read with care.

 First, let's start off by saying a very important thing. This is not calling out anyone in particular(in fact, it even applies to stuff I've made a mistake on).

Second, for various reasons I am not allowing Readers to comment on here because it's more about reading and learning.

Lastly, keep in mind this is still an opinion piece.

I will start off with something very notable; comfort zones. Let's be real. You've accidentally invaded one or was on the receiving of an inappropriate message. Do not fret. These things happen. It's important that you deal with this appropriately(the irony is apt here).

• Remember. You are entirely justified in being angry etc. at someone for telling you something they don't want to hear. That doesn't mean you should be actually mean towards another user.
• This also goes in hand with general rudeness and honesty. If somebody makes you feel uncomfortable, absolutely let them know! Just be honest about it. A common phrase is "I don't mean to be rude, but" has come up before on average. The thing is? Yes, you do you mean to be rude. Don't pretend to be nice. Either say it bluntly or just be honest on how it makes you feel.
• The next bit goes on the other way. Don't assume how someone else feels. At least try to ask first. People make mistakes, and that can include taking things too far, whether you meant to or not. Nobody is perfect. Learn from them.
• Finally, try to at least talk it out with honesty and respect towards each other.

The next thing to mention is the "Silent Treatment", as it were. We all know some people just... leave places. Or, they may talk about things in private about another user, due to issues that happen. For the former, sometimes they don't want to say anything. You shouldn't assume why, but 99% of the time it's in good faith overall. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have said something, but it's not meant to cause trouble. For the latter, everyone makes mistakes. As places grow, experience require new rules. But the most important thing, is that if a person is basically responsible for a new rule, at least talk to them about it.

• For more clarity, something to remember if a person leaves a server, removes you as a friend, or even stops following you. Whatever situation that is similar. Maybe they stop talking to you. You don't know the reason. If you aren't asking, then you should just assume they likely don't want to be around you anymore, but that doesn't actually say "malicious intent", but quite the opposite. The only time it's pretty clear they are tired of you in every plausible way is if they Block You. No matter where. That's the clear hint it's based around maliciousness. Just don't be silent.
• This also goes hand in hand with assumptions. Don't assume bad faith. It's not reasonable and only shows a case of basically a darker intent in general. It's not entirely malicious, but pretty close. Why would you assume bad faith? It's understandable to be unsure, and be uneasy around a person who caused issues. That's completely fair. But that's why you still have to talk.
• Lastly, as I noted above fairly well, it's not as simple as "making a new rule cause someone caused issues." By not talking to that person, you basically make them feel horrible if they weren't a troll to begin with. They don't even understand for sure what they did wrong. Or why it feels like they're being called out by without actually talking to them. It's very dishonest. That's not the way to go about it. Always communicate.

Next up is the classic "taking a Quote out of Context". Many do it. Like, come on, it's a fun joke sometimes, right? However, read the room too. If a user you misquoted for a joke tells you they don't like it, you went too far and should apologize. It doesn't matter if you thought it was funny. You made an error.

• However, also keep in mind that person being quoted can pretty easily tell the purpose behind it. It can often be a joke, but if it's a joke repeated, it's not as funny. In addition, the context matters too. These kind of things can absolutely be used as a soap box for someone's agenda. Whether it's to strength of a poor argument, or some other kind of intent. Using it as a soapbox at that point becomes outright malicious in intent. It stopped being a joke by that point.
• As noted a bit ago, not everyone is fond of this. This also means that there's an issue with how you're acting if you continue to do so. Out of Context stuff is not inherently funny. Often times it's quite the opposite and putting words into people's mouths for the sake of it. But yes, apologize, move on, and don't do it again towards said user. Others may absolutely find it funny. "It's a joke, bro." is not an excuse either.

And everyone's favorite, though covered slightly up above, emotions. The reality is, emotions aren't controllable. Do not police how someone feels. Help them, give a pat on the back(if they like that), or just listen. Sometimes people need to vent, etc. Likewise, there are times people are not going to want to listen to the contrary. This is a key point, as it means they made a decision and will stick with it.

• It's quite common to assume "they don't have a right to be angry" cause of some situation of where you're in the right under some moral condition. This is not an excuse. You don't have any right to police a person's thoughts or emotions. That doesn't mean that said emotions can be acceptable to say in public either, of course. There's a time and a place for everything.
• Rationality is another thing. If you're so angry you can't control yourself, take a step back and a break. It doesn't matter if you were wronged for any reason. Just drop it instead. Now I will say I've had anger issues too. I at most vent a bit... and realize it's better to drop it instead of attempting to discuss it in full. The reasoning being it's impossible sometimes to change someone's mind. That's okay. You can let it go. Nothing wrong with that.
• In addition, always remember what your anger leads to. If you're basically making stuff up about a person, you went too far. Do not ever justify it with anything. No. You screwed up. You are at fault for this. Basically? Conspiracy theories about people aren't justified at all. Your anger towards a person can be justified, but how you act doesn't work that way. Your specific actions are your own and can be policed, as they can easily break various rules. In addition, conspiracy theories about people have nothing behind it beyond malicious intent.
• The final notable bit here is an obsession with something. If an obsession leads to crazy talk(conspiracy theories, denying people emotions), you failed to bring up a legitimate point then. You failed miserably at creating an argument, but going so massively from emotions you lost your rationality and can't even provide evidence to these things. That's when you need to stop and not just take a break, but get some help.

This is a minor thing, but as we know, everyone has their OC's(Vtubers, etc.) and their own person. These do not overlap inherently. Technically speaking, it does mean you lead a double life and this can get confusing. But it's like with the comfort zone above. Do not assume things. Yes, some may say things as a fictional character that clearly does not apply to all in how they really feel in real life. That's okay. They aren't being dishonest. Never forget that there's two different opinions. This will not end with bullet points.

Now for a unique situation as well on how to properly display rules. We have rules for anything. Your chats, your servers, your commissions, etc. Always clarify properly. Do not rely on someone saying it out in the open. Specifically put it in said information display where everyone can read it. Likewise, don't be a hypocrite about it.

• The most common one is Self-Promotion rules. We get it. You don't want people randomly advertising. While there can be confusion between that and just having fun talking about a cool thing because they think someone will like it, make sure it's massively clear on how it works. Otherwise there's confusion and people will unintentionally break the rules. Clarity always matters, in visible format.
• Backseat Gaming is another one, though I'll cover that in a separate section later.
• How Questions and NSFW ones work. Be as specific as possible. We get it. Sometimes things get personal and you don't want to hear that. Likewise, people don't want NSFW content where they are. Jokes are completely subjective and it's best to let only the people in charge make them. They know the line better than you do. They made the line after all. If you're uncomfortable with what they said, just explain it kindly.

Now to fully get into Backseat Gaming. Let's first set it straight that there's a huge difference between an innocent tip and trying to directly tell people how they should play. Only the latter is always inappropriate, as it's basically an Elitist mindset and not reasonable.

• To start with, we've all said tips before. Your purpose is to help. No more, no less. Not everyone likes that and that's okay. Some don't want help nor need it. However, keep in mind how you specify this. If you're going to be a jerk about it, you shouldn't be gaming in the first place with other people around. That's on both ends too. Never be a jerk about a game discussion, regardless of the circumstances. Be kind and respect on all ends. If you don't want to read anything else, set your chat room to emotes only. That's fair. At least it's clear and respectful about it without ever being rude.
• This also goes with clear tagging. Make sure the tags are clear about what is acceptable. I've seen many think that it's some obvious thing. It's not. If it's not there, they have a right to ask how you feel about it because the area is unknown. Tons of people enjoy tips. Some might not use them but have no issue hearing them.
• In addition, and quite importantly, a key difference is that some people will tell you how you should play. As I said, it's an Elitist mindset. But it's not just that. Their intention is to act like you need to do what they say no matter what. These are not legitimate gameplay tips. They don't actually care about your feelings at all. Hint: Crowd Control is not an example of this.

Now for a more interesting one; poor management of your stream options. Every streamer loves to have really cool things, right? Well, there is a line to be drawn. A bit one is the ability to ban a user while you're not a Moderator or the Streamer themselves. This is just a no. Never ever allow this. You can absolutely allow someone to self-ban themselves for fun, because it's not abusable.

• This also goes hand in hand with how to handle bans. Be reasonable about the situation. If someone has a situation with a streamer, and says "Don't worry, I'll discuss it later." That means you at most say it's not appropriate to say in public. Leave it at that. Don't make drama out of it. Clearly it's not actually your business like you think it is. If an argument occurs where said user refuses to drop it, yes, they are clearly breaking rules and the one causing drama. But don't enable it by telling them something as poor as "It's over with. It was already resolved." It was not. It's fine to not allow talk on it, and completely reasonable. You don't decide when a user is done however with the situation. They do. They will end it when they feel it's properly handled. This happens a lot where users have an issue and want to bring it up, and at most, bring it up in the wrong avenue. It happens. Nobody's perfect. Don't be an abusive bully about it and try to silence others. Explain the situation and be respectful under all conditions.
• Another issue is clique behavior. You think you're funny, right? You think these jokes apply to all, right? They don't. This shows a severe sign of immaturity to even enable this kind of behavior. This is where the problem with allowing a random user to ban anyone with some "point cost" comes in too. This is abusable for bullies to create a completely hostile atmosphere and trying to drown out others for... simply thinking differently. This isn't some case where they said anything inappropriate, it's a ton of people grouping up on another person to cause them grief when it's beyond inappropriate. Any Moderator or Streamer who enables this kind of bullying behavior failed at their job hard. No, there is not an excuse.
• The final note of this is the whole "the streamer always wins" is not a legitimate thing. It never was and never will be. If people get into a debate, and you don't want to talk about it anymore. Just say so. They'll drop it. If they don't listen, they clearly aren't interested in actually following any rulers and that's the only legitimate time for action. Do not be a bully. Just be respectful about it. I've seen two similar situations happen, and only one handled it correctly by explaining the situation of what you shouldn't do and left it at that. You are rarely going to see the latter because people think it's okay to talk down to others or thinking their opinion is always winning cause they hold the most power. That's what bullying is. Hell, it's what elitism is.

Making an example out of someone. People have done it before. Like, a lot. It's absolutely inappropriate. That's not how you handle things. It's only to show power, not to actually fix things. It's done with the intent to maliciously humiliate someone.

• Never ever mention drama you had in private with another user in public. Just, no. Keep it private. You can be vague enough to say you made errors in general related to said subject. I shall note, even in this, this is not something about any particular user, even with some slightly more specific examples. Because nobody should be humiliated.
• This goes a bit with the last set of bullet points, as bullying a user and encouraging others to do the same is more or less the same thing, just with slight differences. It's so slight you can't generally tell them apart. Don't do that. It's not respectful to anyone. It's abusive behavior.
• You don't actually prove anything. It's basically just you being too insecure to to admit there's an issue and talk about it properly. You clearly want someone else to hurt because they are annoying about something. It doesn't really matter what said person did, either. You still don't make an example out of them. Let it speak for themselves. If said person does something wrong, their actions already tell the whole tale. It's fine to explain the issue, but not by using it as an example with another user. Don't compare users. Just specify what user did what and why it's bad. But a comparison? This serves no reasonable purpose.

A notable one goes back to anyy informational websites(academic or not). If you ban some kind of work, make sure a policy is in place first as to why. Talk it out properly. Do not ban stuff just because they're controversial. It has to be with consideration and for a very good reason otherwise. Likewise, a site has every right to decide a kind of work is not allowed. But it's always with discussion. At least for a new rule. Some may have already decided that as their design. Respect that.

• One of the biggest mistakes people make is assume information about any kind of work automatically means it's meant to advertise said work. This is false. It's meant to just give information. An advertising effect will happen naturally no matter what. That doesn't make it a legitimate argument in itself.
• Naturally some people will not be happy with some decisions. That's fair. You might've missed the discussion. If you want to make an argument, make it one time. Don't continue to bring it up. It stops being a legitimate counterpart you wanted to make but missed the boat and becomes a complete obsession. This is a bad thing and shows your inability to let a thing go.
• An even worse thing you can do is skirt around these issues with vandalization via bad editing to restore content that was removed. Here's the thing. It was removed for a reason. Throwing a temper tantrum is pointless. You only make things worse for everyone and yourself. It's okay to move on.

This is my longest blog, admittedly. I am aware some may not like this. Some may figure out any vague examples of what I mean. It is what it is. However, I say with great respect that everyone should be respected, assumptions should not be made, and it's always better to talk things out than try to ghost people in itself.

Even evil has standards

There's a thing about comparing two similar situations. There's another when it goes too far.

To clarify, this won't be a long post.

Let's start off with this situation: You are an anthromorphonic bird that loves to fly. Okay, sure. You just lose your ability to fly. You're not happy. Also fine. However, in this situation, you can still walk, swim, do every daily activity besides your favorite one. I don't expect you to be happy.

Now tell me, is this really comparable to being completely handicapped, or losing a limb? No, of course it isn't. It never is. You're comparing apples or oranges. If you think that losing a fun activity is the same as losing the ability to move in general, you're sorely mistaken. Normally I'd say this is just yet another opinion. But you're telling me that because you can't use a spell, you can't do anything... at all? Whining about the inability to fly as if you're a cripple is blowing it out of proportion. You're saying that because I can't play a game, I'm the same as a cripple. That's just pure bullshit. And you should actually feel bad for thinking they're on the same level.

And that's not even the full story. This is basically a god turning into a human. And then you're saying that being a human utterly sucks because you don't have some special power. You know what I would say to the god? Stop being a spoiled brat and deal with it with actual dignity. You're a pretty poor example of a god, if you think you're that special. That's far beyond egotistical. That's far beyond a god complex. It's just utterly pathetic.

Also, something to clarify: This is not the fact that the character is being a smug jerk who acts like they lost the ability to well, do anything. This is about the player who thinks that losing a favorite toy is the same as losing a leg. They're widely different.

Zelda Games ain't what they used to be

Yeah, don't get me wrong, games have heavily evolved in many ways. Music, Gameplay, Graphical output, Unique Designs. To say the newer Zelda games aren't better than the old ones isn't exactly true. But to say they're the ultimate improvement? Nope. Let's run down a history of the all the regular Zelda games, not counting CD-i ones in this equation.

The Legend of Zelda - This is one of the most unique Action/Adventure games that you can find. Not many games used the overhead view, although it did bring us a lot of similar games in the same genre. No, it wasn't the first kind of game to do this, but it sure was well-made. One of the things that made this game unique was the catchy music, secrets, and the items. You will use 90% of the items multiple times in multiple areas. About the only items that were rarely used were the Power Bracelets and the Raft. But that's okay. They had their uses, even if it was in the Overworld and not the Dungeons. The monster designs, despite being pretty simple because of what they had to work with, were pretty damn unique. Sure, they were based off of many classic ideas, but with new names. Mummies, Skeletons, Octupi, Orks, and so on. That was fine. The last most important thing is that while you needed to get some of the Dungeons items in one particular order, you could finish every bit of the game at your own pace. But let's move on.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - This is the only game that could be consider an rpg, because it had the makings of one specifically. Albeit, it was a side-scrolling Action RPG, but that was fine. Like the first game, the items were nearly all used multiple times. Plus, it was the only one to have unique spells. Sure, most Zelda games incomporated Magic in some way, but none had your own specific spell list, atleast till a slight variation in Ocarina of Time. What made this game even more interesting is that it was much more challenging. The enemies hit hard, the A.I. wasn't random, but good. That's something that doesn't happen often in games. At most, it had a few enemies that re-spawned in an annoying way. But other than that, a cult classic that will kick your ass. Also, this is the first appearnce of the Downthrust and Upthrust.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - This literally re-defined the series in a new way. While the gameplay was like the original, the graphics were improved, and it had far too many items that you may never need. The bosses were very challenging, and there were even more secrets to be found. Sure, the game had a bit of fake difficulty with invisible floors, and some semi-cheap monsters. But what's the fun of a game if it's too easy? It also kept magic, but made them into items, which is a very common thing in many of the games now.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - This is the first game to really start developing the characters. While the second and third game had a little, it never went indepth besides catering to the current storyline. It was exposition, not actual character development.(in my opinion) This game also introduced Marin and Tarin, who would later on become Malon and Talon in later series. Now, the gameplay itself is just like A Link to the Past, due to being based off of the same starting game. The key differences between the two were the number of dungeons, the lack of actual magic, and the less items available. On the other hand, you constantly re-used almost every item a huge ammount of times, making them all worthwhile. It can also kick your ass with its challenge. But none of it is badly done, save maybe the final main dungeon.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - This is the first 3D Action-Adventure Zelda game. Was it good? Of course. They did a very excellent job in trying 3D. However, it suffered from fairly flat characters, a somewhat cliche storyline, and many useless items. But it still kept the Zelda theme going strong, and was very fun to play. It also got remade into a GameCube game called Master Quest(Outside of Japan). This game also introduced your mighty steed, Epona, named after the Horse Goddess of Travel. Likewise, it started the trend of the Fire/Ice/Light Arrows that appeared in later games.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - While it continued off of ones of the storyline endings of Ocarina of Time, it re-used the character models. On the other hand, it gaves them tons of character development, and tried many new ideas. The major appeal is the Mask system, which allow you to Transform or have special powers. Some were very one-use, while others were overused as well. That's the problem with tons of items. Anyway, it brought back just about every item from Ocarina of Time, and gave the game a new plot dealing with Time Travel. You got 3 days to do stuff. The game is filled with Side Quests for hearts, helping people, and to gain cool items or abilities. The time frame may make it very difficult for some, however.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons - These are the first two(and only two) games that allowed you to connect to eachother(but not the same copy) for various secrets. Both game's plots were somewhat similar, but had a lot of unique ideas. Seasons was originally a remake of the first Zelda game and it shows. From the same first 8 bosses, to the items and similar Overworld. Your goal was to change the seasons themself to get to areas to save the day. Ages, on the other hand, used Time Travel once more to go back and forth to find areas, secrets, and to affect the actual areas themself. While that particular part is recycled from Ocarina of Time, it did it much better, by making it the focus, and much more important to the storyline than just being a simple Plot Device. Both games had recycled versions of classic enemies, and new items called Rings, which you could equip for various effects. You could make your Sword deal more damage, make an item last longer as well. The other items introduced were Seeds, which could affect gameplay is various ways. One could make you go faster, while another leads enemies away. And so on. While not every item in both games were useful, it really did try to be unique from the other series.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Let's start off with the first major change. It uses Cel-Shaded graphics, which gained a giant controversy over being called "kiddy". On the other hand, the game was far from it. It's storyline was more than dark enough, with a final boss that helped kidnapped characters, for starters. But to say the entire storyline would detract from my point, and would spoil it. Long story short, it's the same major bad guy throughout the series, but all new with many twists in his personality. The items were indeed recycled a bit, but tons of new items were used. For the first time, you didn't use an Instrument in the series. Instead, you had a Conducting Baton.(I may be incorrect on this term, feedback here please) Regardless, you still played lots of music in this game, as per the usual. Another item introduced was the all-mighty Deku Leaf, which not only gave you flight, but could create a gust of wind to slam enemies away, or work with puzzles. By far the greatest point to this game, is how extremely well-developed the characters were. Nobody was flat, not even the least important NPC. Everybody was useful and worth talking to.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Four Swords - First, it's a remake of the named game. Second, it had many changes, some harder enemies, and an all new side quest that you could play in multiplayer. This introduced true multiplayer to the Zelda series. There's not much more to say on it, other than improved gameplay and some new challenges. Likewise, the Four Swords part required multiplayer, however.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures - This is another unique game in the series. It introduced an item or two that would later on get re-used in a similar game. This is also the second game to use Cel-Shaded graphics, or atleast the titular Toon Link. Unlike most Zelda games, this allows you to have multiplayer with tons of players. However, this wasn't the rule either. You could play it alone, or with friends. Notably, this continued from "Four Swords" with a similar major enemy, and similar gameplay. You'll find that it is much more difficult, and the bosses and challenges are even greater than before.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - While this game was indeed good, and introduced many new items, it also is where the series started to go downhill overall. First, it was created as a GameCube game, and ported to the Wii. This denied us a true Wii Zelda game, but that's just nitpicky. Remember how I said up there that the items were really unique and used often? Not so much in this game. Most items will rarely be used outside of their original dungeon, and some are entirely useless as is. No matter how awesome they are, they're not going to be used much. The Ball & Chain is one of the coolest items in the game, but entirely slow and most enemies are much faster. Likewise, it doesn't affect anything easier to use items don't affect better. Another thing they did was make the Bow the most overused Item in the game. The problems is that you no longer had the Fire/Ice/Light Arrows. Sure, you could make the Bomb Arrow, which was introduced in Link's Awakening, but that was it. The mini-games weren't ultimately too interesting, or much harder than they should be because of control issues. Outside of a very specific set of NPCs, the characters were pretty damn flat. This was a far outcry considering the wonderful characters of past games. Likewise, the plot was extremely cliche, you had to so mini-quests during the main plot just to continue it, ones that were extremely tedious, and last but not least, the cutscenes were extremely specific, which means you had to do the dungeons in one exact order, cutting out the fun of what Zelda games were about. Exploration and doing stuff when you wanted to do them. It was overall linear.

Link's Crossbow Training - To clarify, this is a spinoff of Twilight Princess. It simply was a First Person Shooter variation on the Genre, but also the first true Wii Zelda game, and not a port. The gameplay is very simple, and nothing ultimately any more unique than any other FPS, but it still was a lot of fun and came with an add-on to your control that allowed you treat your Wii Remote and Nunchuck like a Crossbow. There's nothing more to say on it other than it's the cheapest game to buy out there.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - While it's a major improvement on the problems of Twilight Princess, it suffered from the same thing since A Link to the Past; a linear plot. Once again, you had to the dungeons completely out of order. However, this time, it was a lot of fun. All the areas were extremely fun to explore, even if you had to open up the game somewhat slowly. The problem with the plot is that you had to do mini-quests to unlock the next area. This is a problem that has yet to cease. On the other hand, this game introduced the Minish Cap, a remake of the Gnat Hat from the Four Swords series. It allowed you to shrink to a small size in particularly set up spots. While the game still has tons of freedom, and many cool items that were never used before, it still suffered from linearity in what you can do. It even closed off areas during the end of the game, potentionally screwing you out of the secondary appeal of the game; Fusing Kinstones for Secrets. However, the side quests are still more than high enough, and the gameplay was still fairly well done. Lastly, it introduced in-universe the titular Four Sword, a powerful item that allowed Link to become four forms of himself. The actual Manga gave each version different personalities as well. But let's move on again.

The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass: Remember what I said about freedom? This is where it started to lose it. One consistant thing about Link, outside of the first two games, is that he can swim. This has been erased. The problem is that there's tons of water, and you even have a Boat. Now, while this isn't terrible, and may not be too big of a deal for some, not everybody enjoys linearity and lacks of options. The next problem was the controls. You moved using the stylus, in a very fast-paced game. This was a poor design choice and only those with really good reflexes can beat the game. While it's true that it's not a hard game by any means, it was the fake difficulty from the Stylus controls that made it challenging. The silver lining is that you used them for items too, which was by far the best way to use them in a long time. The controls worked there. However, all the items were competeley recycled from previous games, meaning nothing new was majorly introduced. Even the enemies were just remakes of others. Although to say recycled items are bad isn't true, but every new game has introduced a new items so far. Likewise, this is the one and only games(outside of Four Swords) to not have Music used in anyway via an Instrument or relations.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - First, for the record, I have yet to play it. However, I have watched a full playthrough, and can atleast say some of the stuff fairly. The controls have not changed, however, you can control yourself much better than Phantom Hourglass. Likewise, the linearity is about the exact same. However, it got worse. Remember how I said that Phantom Hourglass somwhat restricted freedom? Now with this game, there is no Overworld to explore. You are completely on a Railroad, and are forced to follow a set ammount of paths that you unlock through the game. This is by far the major problem with it. However, new items were introduced, and it's still a lot of fun to go through and is much more challenging, albeit, sometimes too hard because of overly tough enemies, or struggles with the lackluster controls.

Now that that's over with, we noticed one thing that seemed to have happened. Freedom has gone downhill for the Zelda series for gameplay features, and by far the worst reason of all; Cutscenes. I love a Cutscenes every now and then, but when they're related to a forced plot that gives you one exact way to go, you know something's wrong. I can no longer explore the overworld? I can no longer swim? I have to use special controls when a D-Pad/Control Stick and a few face buttons could work better? C'mon, Nintendo, you forget what made them fun in the first place. Freedom, Good Controls, Puzzles, and unique Challenges. While not everybody will think it went "downhill", it's not hard to understand that the lack of an actual Overworld is going too far. I think I can be safe to say that atleast Spirit Tracks made a major mistake. Now, if I really wanted to be picky, I could go on about how graphics are more concentrated on than gameplay, or how the plots have dictated the gameplay. Okay, I mentioned the latter more than once. Here's hoping that Skyward Sword fixes this problem and keeps up the freedom of the old games, without reducing itself to a linear plot. While the plots were always somewhat linear, since you had to save the Princess(most of the time), you could do whatever the hell you want to get there. Let's bring back freedom, please.

Forum Flaming

Let's be honest here. How many of you have made fun of something while on a messageboard or chat room? How many have done this only because the person wasn't there? Nearly everyone's done it.

But that's where the problem is. Every Privacy Policy actually says to not flame other members, mostly because they can't protect people that's not from the same board. This is understandable, really. What's not is that people think it's okay to flame others if they're not there. Whether they're a member or not. Likewise, keep in a mind that an arguement is only bad when people start insulting one another. Even a brick wall can be tolerable.(I'm a brick wall, don't ya know)

It's these kind of people that are really sickening. They say if you got nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. But nobody follows that. What's worse is people who give off opinions of things, but... don't back up shit. "Yeah, that movie sucked." That's all they say. They don't explain its faults, they just say it sucks. It doesn't tell us anything, because honestly, everybody has preferences. Yes, there's people who enjoyed E.T. for the Atari, probably less than 1% of the world, but everybody's different. And that's perfectly fine.

But when you hate on something for an unexplained reason, it's about as pointless as a hate crime. I won't say it's an actual hate crime, since that's going a bit overboard. Likewise, any overreaction to something with flaming is just as bad.

Same with vitrolic opinions. You actually bring up good points, you explained the problem. But then you insult the guy, even stealthily. How does that help? It doesn't. It just gets hate towards you. Nobody likes a smart alec, or a flamer. Keep that in mind, people.

To close off, I know I probably offended someone here. Maybe someone I know? Not sure. And yeah, I apoligize for that. But this is something that needs to be said, and a wake-up call to flamers around the world. Oh, and by the way, just because someone flames you doesn't make it alright to flame back. Don't fuel the fire, boyo.