Originally posted by Habu
Virgil you don't get it and your ideas are not going to work.
Fighter Ace banned all posters from their forums unless they have an account and now that game is limping along on O2.
The O Club had a couple of problem posters. The best way to deal with that is not to ban them or limit the club membership to a few people with paid subscriptions and signed waivers (you should work for the government).
It is simply to delete the offending post. If someone cannot read what you posted then the excitment of pissing off the whole place is gone. After a person has had a number of posts deleted with no fanfair they begin to get the point.
I don't think you get it. The O' Club is NOT the game, and it is NOT the reason people play. I doubt more than a few who post in the O'Club fly, I see VERY few of them at all. And I DO post and I DO fly, often. I fly all hours of the day and night. If you think closing the O'Club is going to run off all the customers you are sadly mistaken. The vast majority of the people I know who DO fly don't even go into the O'Club, ever, some don't even go to the BBS in general that often. And remember, I DO go to the O'Club, and often. Or maybe that should read "I DID". Oh yeah, I get it, I've been here for years, I was at WWIIOL for a couple years as well, and I was at AW for years before that. I have been a member of the communities for years, this ain't my first rodeo.
People PAY for the GAME, the BBS is only part of it, but the O'Club is secondary at best. Hell, half the people who threaten to leave over the O'Club being closed ADMIT they don't play anymore. If you are here because you love to play, the O'Club will only be a small blip on your screen.
I don't need to work for the government, I own my own business, and know a little something about business in general, having run several. I know plenty about people and customer service.
The O'Club had more than one or two, or even a few problem posters. They've played "whack the mole" for years.
I've listened to Skuzzy, HiTech, and Pyro. I've seen the frustration, and I've seen what makes them angry. I've done it myself. Read carefully and you'll see they don't WANT the sort of thing that has been going on in the O'Club on their site.
It really is that simple. They don't want people trashing up their house, and they don't want to waste an absurd amount of time and resources (especially as limited as they are) trying to police a bunch of fools who can't behave (myself sometimes included).
The reason I say disclaimers and waivers don't work is because people still read what is posted, and associate it with the site and the game. They'd need to hire a full time moderator to stand over the place and keep it cleaned up. They closed it on a temporary basis because they WILL NOT do that. When ALL THREE people from HTC who DO moderate the boards say the same thing when they lock and delete in the O'Club, you have to think they really mean it.
Your idea that deleting offending posts will drive the offenders away simply doesn't hold water. SOMEBODY will see the offending posts, often WELL before they are deleted. Attention potatos get off on being deleted. They LOVE playing "dodge the moderator' while the moderator plays "whack the mole". Only the good members of the community behave on a regular basis and respond to "moderation". The bad ones crave the attention. From the company, and from the community. You can delete and lock with zero fanfair all you want. They still KNOW they got to someone, because it had to be deleted or locked. That's all they wanted. When that thrill wears off, they'll be back, new name, same name, the game is still the same. They get the point alright, and they LOVE IT. Who has the time to fool with it? HTC says they DO NOT.
I liked the O'Club as much as anyone, more than many. But I also see what went wrong. I generally behaved well, but was sometimes part of the problem. ESPECIALLY if the Aruba thread was part of the problem that became the straw that broke the camel's back.
