State of the Forums

Moderator: Stomper

The following statements reflect in no way the position or opinion of GameSpy Industries or PlanetDiablo. They are only the opinion of the author.

Battle.net forum guidelines: Have they gone too far?

There has been concern in various communities surrounding Blizzard's and Battle.net's latest change in policy. They are now requiring all individuals who wish to post in the Battle.net forum to provide a valid CD-Key.

This poses a very tangible problem for a lot of individuals and also lightly steps into the "privacy" arena. The question is why are they subjecting us to CD-Key verification? What is the ultimate purpose? What are the ramifications?

As we have shown in GameSpy, an account can be moderated via IP addresses. Sure, there are instances whereby a user has access to more than one IP address; however, diligence on the part of the moderators can typically deal with these issues on an individual basis.

With Battle.net's forums requiring the CD-Key, the logical step is that they can not only ban you from the forum but also from accessing Battle.net to play the games. In effect, this renders your purchase of that game for anything other than single-player, inoperable. [The option for TCP/IP and/or network games is used far less often than Battle.net. -Ed.]

Personally, this appears to be a very draconian approach to their recent problems with complaints by the public about various deficiencies in their security measures to keep hackers under control. At least that appears to be the reason why they made this change.

However, this is just a personal take. I have had responses from many of our members that they support the CD-Key requirement. Their take is that this is a logical approach to moderating issues where IP addresses fluxuate or change. Furthermore, the idea that their forums are ONLY for game users is also valid. These two reasons alone provide a foundation to their newest policy/procedural change.

Now let's address the issue's of their guidelines:

You may not use the Battle.net forums to:

1. Transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content.
2. Post or transmit sexually explicit images or other content that is deemed by Blizzard to be offensive.
3. Advocate cheating during gameplay including, but not limited to, modification of the game program files.
4. Impersonate any person including, but not limited to, a representative of Blizzard or Battle.net.
5. Post or transmit chain letters, pyramid, or money schemes.
6. "Spam" by posting frequent and/or annoying messages in the forums.

These are all good forum guidelines and they provide a strict environment that should allow people to interact in a "clinical" way. The only issue I have here is with the sixth; specifically, the "or annoying messages in the forums" passage. This is the prime inhibitor. This is the indicator that this forum is not meant to be a "Community" and that should you post negative comments about our actions we can view them as "annoying" and remove your CD-Key from the authorized list of forum users.

This sends a message to their consumers that says, "We make the rules; you live by them. Don't question authority. Be an automaton."

Now, I don't usually get up on my soapbox and shout out the freedoms of the world, but this idea is what prompted me to write this editorial. I am against it. I will still buy Blizzard's products, but if I need answers to anything, I won't be going there. I much prefer places like PlanetDiablo.

Don't get me wrong: We do moderate (heh, heh) and have been known to ban people. But, we do tolerate opposing viewpoints. Time will tell to see how Battle.net's watchdogs enforce its guidelines. I truly hope that it turns out well.

There's no place like home.

PDF Scavenger Hunt, Item # 8: What is the only site supported by PlanetDiablo that can be considered a "cheat" site?

Moderator: Snikda Master

Last week a topic was created asking you, the members of PlanetDiablo's forums, what you perceived spam to be. Read the topic to see the feedback I received. Some notable quotes from this topic came from the following individuals:

The great Os said:

Spam in it's most common form is the result of someone who wants to speak but doesn't have anything to say.

We know what irks shockwav23, he wrote this:

This is kind of a pet peeve, but I don't like it when someone answers the question(s) at hand, and the next post (or maybe a couple down) is basically the exact same answer.

Big Time gave us his personal account of spam here:

Personally, the Spam on most boards is just flaming and boring ridiculous one word answers to questions nobody asked.

Cryptic Goten said:

I believe that spam is useless information about random things not relating toward the major point of the thread.

Rayner pulled out his dictionary and pointed out that:

Spam...I define this as posts that provide nothing constructive or informative.

Then, I asked the question, "What should we do about spam, here on the PlanetDiablo Forums, when it is clear that it is happening?"

Rayner had this to say:

As for punishment...I'm an advocate of ban them. Give them one warning, then if they fail to comply, ban them. Also, delete their ID.

Note: Rayner also feels that shoplifters should get the death penalty and that nine years of age should be old enough to charge somebody with adult standards and punishments for crimes they commit.

Cryptic Goten added:

Hm... I think spammers should be punished in a lighter way than what others are suggesting. First time, a warning. 2nd time, a private PM stating that s/he is pushing the limits of your authority. 3rd time, ban for a short time *2 wks* 4th time, ban for 2 months. 5th time, ban for a year. 6th time, ban forever.

He later added a second option for punishment:

Don't forget while jumping around in a Bunny Suit *of some color* and they have to videotape it ALL!!

Thanks everybody for the feedback this week. It was fun to see where everybody stood on the issue. It was also entertaining to watch a thread made to discuss spam degererate into a thread of spam for a while.

This week we will discuss what the duty of being a moderator means to you. How important is their role in the day to day activities on the forums? You can give us your opinion in the topic.

From the Sad News section of the paper: Our beloved friend and moderated Os has decided to take a break from his duties here at PlanetDiablo. He still plans to remain active in the community. He will be sorely missed by all of us behind the scenes and knows that he has a home here anytime he wants. Thanks for all of your hard work, leadership, and companionship Os!

From the Great News section: I would like to be the first to congratulate Rayner on being our latest moderator to the forum. Although this had nothing to do with Os' departure, the extra hand is welcomed! Rayner has been a dedicated contributor to these forums longer than I can remember. His fresh outlook and insight will be a valuable addition to the team. Drop Rayner a Private Message welcoming him to the team!