Disappointment with the GB Community Interaction.

My issue with the forums as of late is when someone shows some genuine excitement about something people like to come in and shit all over it.

@Video_Game_King said:

@ArbitraryWater:

Strange. I was there and I don't remember it at all. I remember @CL60 leaving for a week, but that was long after.

I remember it being pretty nasty. In particular, I remember that an ayane fan and a maximum nathan had these vaguely hilarious pissy blog posts talking about how no one respected their opinions and how they were totally going to leave... only for them to come back a week later Kinda like Endogene, but less of an entitlement complex and more of a "Y U ALL SO MEEN?" thing and unlike Endogene they at least had the balls to continue posting under their own usernames instead of making a proxy account.

@MikeGosot said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Sparklykiss said:

Someday, Giant Bomb, we will be able to talk about My Little Pony with absolutely no issues. Someday~ <3

That's assuming that the problem lies within Giant Bomb, and not the outside world that dictates it. (Although it probably doesn't help that I love posting clips like this.)

And that's assuming that Giant Bomb does not control the rest of the world.

We all know about the Gerstmann Corporate Conspiracy. We need to stop the Gerstmann Lobbyists and Gestmann Bankers from shaping public opinion and policy via the Gerstmann Hollywood Cabal.

Gerstmann, Gerstmann? Gerstmann!

I love you all.

I'm new to posting here (though I've seen a bunch of the community over the years), so take this with a grain of salt:

Giant Bomb lacks the troll-filled, grammar-devoid anarchy that you find in many other gaming communities, so there's a whole realm of stupidity that isn't really a problem here, but there are some more subtle problems I've seen here and in similar communities:

• Nitpicking: The tendency for debates to devolve into people picking out tiny parts of others' arguments (or worse, past arguments) instead of talking about the bigger picture.
• Confirmation biases: I don't really know how to solve this, but there's always going to be a certain subset of a forum's population that are primarily there to strengthen their belief that they're right. They're poisonous because, while they will always claim to be open-minded (giving that up would destroy their internal narrative), they're basically just there to shout down their own doubts.
• Elitist bullshit: There's a better word for this that's escaping me right now, but I'm just done dealing with people whose self-image is built around feeling like they're a better person for having unique, non-mainstream, but completely unnuanced opinions. This includes stuff like saying "Call of Duty is just for idiot bros", "JRPGs stopped being relevant after the SNES", and "Nintendo just keeps rehashing the same stuff over and over". That's not to say you're not allowed to believe those things, but being a non-conformist doesn't mean you get a free pass on actually backing them up.
• Mental illness/personal issues: There's really no better way of putting this than to say that there are people in most communities who clearly have serious problems that go way beyond the community. Nobody likes to throw this around, but when you see a post and think "what the hell is going with this guy?", there's a serious chance they aren't just an asshole, but have a form of mental illness. I'm not talking about garden-variety insanity, but moreso people who get disproportionately aggressive about minor stuff, or seem to hold grudges just a little too long.

Again, I haven't been around enough to know if I'm describing endemic problems at GB, but it's stuff I've seen before (and frankly, been guilty of myself).

@big_jon: Stop enjoying shit then.

@bwheeeler said:

Cool

@ArbitraryWater said:

@Guided_By_Tigers said:

And Rallier was Endogene's alt.

@TooWalrus: There you go.

...and he's a moderator on Tested now.

@Karkarov said:

Well dude it is an online gaming site used by thousands of people. Not to be dick towards gamers (i sort of am a gamer too...) but lots of people in this particular click tend to be self important egotistical tards who think they are a lot smarter than they actually are. Hence all the "clever" comments. Just stick with it and do your thing. You will eventually find people on the site you consider good posters, get involved in some specific game forums maybe, or even start following some of the blogs maybe make your own. There is a decent community here but you do have to sort of find your own slice of it before it pays off.

It is true, a lot of gamers are really butthurt about life.

At least we're not SomethingAwful

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3444416&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

(Although with threads like that I wish we were)

@dudeglove said:

At least we're not SomethingAwful

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3444416&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

(Although with threads like that I wish we were)

I looked at that. it's the guys fault for even being around her. Besides, some ppl. do have trouble growing up. So I am told. But yes, stories like that would rock here, though they are the filth of the internet. That is, while still being clean and decent filth that would be allowed here without moderation.

Maybe this would work...

@GrantHeaslip said:

I'm new to posting here (though I've seen a bunch of the community over the years), so take this with a grain of salt:

Giant Bomb lacks the troll-filled, grammar-devoid anarchy that you find in many other gaming communities, so there's a whole realm of stupidity that isn't really a problem here, but there are some more subtle problems I've seen here and in similar communities:

• Nitpicking: The tendency for debates to devolve into people picking out tiny parts of others' arguments (or worse, past arguments) instead of talking about the bigger picture.
• Confirmation biases: I don't really know how to solve this, but there's always going to be a certain subset of a forum's population that are primarily there to strengthen their belief that they're right. They're poisonous because, while they will always claim to be open-minded (giving that up would destroy their internal narrative), they're basically just there to shout down their own doubts.
• Elitist bullshit: There's a better word for this that's escaping me right now, but I'm just done dealing with people whose self-image is built around feeling like they're a better person for having unique, non-mainstream, but completely unnuanced opinions. This includes stuff like saying "Call of Duty is just for idiot bros", "JRPGs stopped being relevant after the SNES", and "Nintendo just keeps rehashing the same stuff over and over". That's not to say you're not allowed to believe those things, but being a non-conformist doesn't mean you get a free pass on actually backing them up.
• Mental illness/personal issues: There's really no better way of putting this than to say that there are people in most communities who clearly have serious problems that go way beyond the community. Nobody likes to throw this around, but when you see a post and think "what the hell is going with this guy?", there's a serious chance they aren't just an asshole, but have a form of mental illness. I'm not talking about garden-variety insanity, but moreso people who get disproportionately aggressive about minor stuff, or seem to hold grudges just a little too long.

Again, I haven't been around enough to know if I'm describing endemic problems at GB, but it's stuff I've seen before (and frankly, been guilty of myself).

This is mostly true.

Does anybody remember that thread where someone asked a question and then everybody started replacing words in titles of games with Bread? Like Bread Bread Breademption? Idk... thought it was relevant.

@Napalm said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

I'm new to posting here (though I've seen a bunch of the community over the years), so take this with a grain of salt:

Giant Bomb lacks the troll-filled, grammar-devoid anarchy that you find in many other gaming communities, so there's a whole realm of stupidity that isn't really a problem here, but there are some more subtle problems I've seen here and in similar communities:

• Nitpicking: The tendency for debates to devolve into people picking out tiny parts of others' arguments (or worse, past arguments) instead of talking about the bigger picture.
• Confirmation biases: I don't really know how to solve this, but there's always going to be a certain subset of a forum's population that are primarily there to strengthen their belief that they're right. They're poisonous because, while they will always claim to be open-minded (giving that up would destroy their internal narrative), they're basically just there to shout down their own doubts.
• Elitist bullshit: There's a better word for this that's escaping me right now, but I'm just done dealing with people whose self-image is built around feeling like they're a better person for having unique, non-mainstream, but completely unnuanced opinions. This includes stuff like saying "Call of Duty is just for idiot bros", "JRPGs stopped being relevant after the SNES", and "Nintendo just keeps rehashing the same stuff over and over". That's not to say you're not allowed to believe those things, but being a non-conformist doesn't mean you get a free pass on actually backing them up.
• Mental illness/personal issues: There's really no better way of putting this than to say that there are people in most communities who clearly have serious problems that go way beyond the community. Nobody likes to throw this around, but when you see a post and think "what the hell is going with this guy?", there's a serious chance they aren't just an asshole, but have a form of mental illness. I'm not talking about garden-variety insanity, but moreso people who get disproportionately aggressive about minor stuff, or seem to hold grudges just a little too long.

Again, I haven't been around enough to know if I'm describing endemic problems at GB, but it's stuff I've seen before (and frankly, been guilty of myself).

This is mostly true.

Pretty much.

I've probably fallen into the routine of trying to say something snarky and cool a lot more than I want to admit, it's pretty stupid really.

Having said that, while I think sometimes people can be dicks to each other on the internet and that's great, I would rather not see so much of it on here.

Also at least part of the problem has to be people posting when they really have nothing to contribute to the post, they just see a thread title that appeals to them, open it and scroll straight to the bottom and say something dumb.

Ummm.... I'm sorry we let you down?

Hey OP

*hugs*

Well Giantbomb is no different than any subset of society, inevitably it fractures off into separate sub-groups from the main sub-group and these groups will not always be agreeable. Best thing we can do is accept it and move forward, and keep on keepin' on.

@Video_Game_King I WAS MENTIONED!

@Vodun said:

@big_jon: Stop enjoying shit then.

See what I mean?This guy is a prime example of your typical internet douchebag.

Although I agree that GB has it's fair share of assholes, I still believe the majority of it's users are great people. Unfortunately for us, the assholes just spend a lot more time lurking on the forums. You're going to have to deal with these types of people where ever you go. It's the Internet.

@CL60 said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Even if it was by some dirty moon person.

You wanna go against me? Because I'm willing to throw down.

I agree that this is far from the worst community online (certain gamefaqs boards are downright savage) there are alot of asshats present on GB. As I'm sure you've heard but when you gather so many people in one place anonymously there will be more than a fair share of trolls, jerks, bigots,etc. It's human nature.

@big_jon said:

@Vodun said:

@big_jon: Stop enjoying shit then.

See what I mean?This guy is a prime example of your typical internet douchebag.

Sorry, it's just so easy to make you blow up. I'll stop.

I feel you, OP. Long-time lurker, here, who every time he says something gets barked at by trolls and cynics, and so goes back to lurking. It's a bummer the jerks here are among the swiftest to read everything and respond to it. I guess there's always going to be a correlation, there, though. (Not hating, just hypothesizing.)

I love Giant Bomb, and I know a lot of folks here do, too, even some of the jerks who only otherwise know pure hate. It's why I stick around. I sometimes believe this community could potentially be among the best on the web, gaming-wise, if we could just, like ... somehow put out a bulletin: GENERALLY GOOD-HEARTED, SMART PEOPLE WHO LIKE GAMES COME TO GIANT BOMB. PEOPLE WHO LIKE PEOPLE WHO LIKE JEFF GERSTMANN, COME HERE. I read y'all's blog posts and comments and stuff, and I feel like we're improving as the years go by (despite the intransigent trolls and numb-nuts). But we're not all the way there yet. The jerks still kind of have too much of a presence.

Well, I like it enough here.

@PillClinton said:

Well, I like it enough here.

Hey.

Me too.

I am a jerk. Hello.

@mrburger: Ya know, if every post I make is met with scorn and ridicule, I'd question my own posts rather than cast assumption on a diverse group doing it.

Just sayin'

I'm new here, so from what I've experienced so far the GB community seems alright. Kind of circle jerky but it's at least not filled with elitists assholes like the escapistmagazine's community.

@Zenogiasu said:

@Levio said:

these are people who take videogames seriously. people who take the fun-but-meaningless nonsense that constitutes the medium and try to find and a sense of accomplishment in their game playing. people who actually envy the "pro gamers" who play games eight hours a day to be able to win tournaments of absolutely no significance. people who keep playing a game for achievements long after the gameplay is no longer entertaining.

it should be no surprise that positive social interaction would only confuse and annoy most of them

Well that's a bit silly, don't you think? I was lucky enough to attend PAX last year, which is quite literally a massive group of nerds flocking together to play games. It was one of the warmest and most welcoming communities you could imagine. Serious gamers can have positive social interactions.

I don't think the people are the problem, it's just the anonymity the Internet provides. Though I complained earlier, I have to admit that GiantBomb is pretty damn good as far as online gaming communities go. The bar is pretty low, sure, but at least we're above it.

Sorry, I was in a bad mood when I wrote this. what I was trying to point out was that I find that the more seriously people take games, the less likely they are to see the forest for the trees. My experience with WoW, LoL, SC, etc. is that the people having the most fun are those that don't take the game seriously at all, while the serious gamers get frustrated by min/maxing, grinds, and mandatory teamplay. that trend seems to carryover into game forums which attract the more serious players as time passes.

@TeflonBilly

@mrburger: Ya know, if every post I make is met with scorn and ridicule, I'd question my own posts rather than cast assumption on a diverse group doing it.

Just sayin'

YOUR BEHAVIOR IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

[regains composure]

Sorry. It's just inexcusably ironic that it should occur just immediately after this exchange, too:

@big_jon said:

@Vodun said:

@big_jon: Stop enjoying shit then.

See what I mean?This guy is a prime example of your typical internet douchebag.

Calling people douchebags on the other hand is a totally sensible thing to do.

This is the problem! THIS IS THE PROBLEM. When everybody's a dick to everybody, then everybody hates everybody, and so everybody's a dick to everybody. We just have to stop being dicks, even--no, especially--to other dicks.

Trust me, this is nice compared to some.. other sites.

*Glares at IGN*

I love that this conversation is still going. =)
 
@mrburger: You sir, got a follow. Because, why not? You seem like a deserving fellow. 

@mrburger said:

@TeflonBilly

@mrburger: Ya know, if every post I make is met with scorn and ridicule, I'd question my own posts rather than cast assumption on a diverse group doing it.

Just sayin'

YOUR BEHAVIOR IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

[regains composure]

Sorry. It's just inexcusably ironic that it should occur just immediately after this exchange, too:

@big_jon said:

@Vodun said:

@big_jon: Stop enjoying shit then.

See what I mean?This guy is a prime example of your typical internet douchebag.

Calling people douchebags on the other hand is a totally sensible thing to do.

This is the problem! THIS IS THE PROBLEM. When everybody's a dick to everybody, then everybody hates everybody, and so everybody's a dick to everybody. We just have to stop being dicks, even--no, especially--to other dicks.

While that is a great idea, unfortunately the whole "do unto others" thing won't stop some people from continuing to be dicks. In these rare cases, those users will be shown the door.

There are very few moderators and a whole lot of users, so we really do rely on the community to point these problem users out to us so we can take care of the issue. You can either flag posts or preferably, send us a group PM via the link in my pinned FAQ document. We do read those things and take them seriously.

I know people don't want to be "rats", but help from users is an important part of the process. Often times, users who are being dicks respond well to a note asking them to tone down the dickish behavior. If not, then we suspend and ban them. Trust me, we don't want that kind of negativity and those types of internet dicks here either, so all we ask is a little help having them pointed out to us and we will take care of the rest.

Yeah, I was one of the first people here when the site started, but gradually left as the people here were generally just bad to be around. Not that everyone here is like that, but as great as the forum technology here is, the community is not worth my time.

One can only take so many rude and uncaring people across the years.

I CARE! I CARE!

Guide to the Steam Summer Sale 2012 | TNT Reanimated | E3 2012 Reanimated | Giant Bomb on turntable.fm | Skyrim PC Screenshot Thread | Giant Bomb Celebrity Deadpool 2012

Just don't hang around/listen to/interact with lameazoids.

Try these other great blogs and threads, from your friends here at CBS Interactive!

The Bomb Shelter

The Community Spotlight - 07/13/2012 (Blog post)

Your Summer Sale purchase list.

Introduce YOURSELF!

Show us your shirts!

The Giant Bomb steamgifts.com Giveaway Thread

Bombcast Watitng Room

[Community Project] PC Gaming Hub - Let's play games together!

Video_Game_King's blogs

@AssInAss said:

Come over to NeoGAF, we ban fools that do that.

unless your an admin, mod, long time user then you can be a secret troll neogaf is where you can call any one what you want as long as you write an essay doing it in a round about way.

per the topic at hand its one of the reasons I don't visit giantbomb anymore, I go to system wars for my fighting I thought giantbomb would be my low key place but most people here reply with snarky remarks.

@MB: http://incisive.nu/2012/how-to-kill-a-troll/

@Fattony12000 said:

I CARE! I CARE!

Guide to the Steam Summer Sale 2012 | TNT Reanimated | E3 2012 Reanimated | Giant Bomb on turntable.fm | Skyrim PC Screenshot Thread | Giant Bomb Celebrity Deadpool 2012

Just don't hang around/listen to/interact with lameazoids.

Try these other great blogs and threads, from your friends here at CBS Interactive!

The Bomb Shelter

The Community Spotlight - 07/13/2012 (Blog post)

Your Summer Sale purchase list.

Introduce YOURSELF!

Show us your shirts!

The Giant Bomb steamgifts.com Giveaway Thread

Bombcast Watitng Room

[Community Project] PC Gaming Hub - Let's play games together!

Video_Game_King's blogs

NO MENTO MS PAINT COMICS!? YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I HOPE YOU STEP ON A PIECE OF LEGO BAREFOOT!

;P

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Napalm said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

I'm new to posting here (though I've seen a bunch of the community over the years), so take this with a grain of salt:

Giant Bomb lacks the troll-filled, grammar-devoid anarchy that you find in many other gaming communities, so there's a whole realm of stupidity that isn't really a problem here, but there are some more subtle problems I've seen here and in similar communities:

• Nitpicking: The tendency for debates to devolve into people picking out tiny parts of others' arguments (or worse, past arguments) instead of talking about the bigger picture.
• Confirmation biases: I don't really know how to solve this, but there's always going to be a certain subset of a forum's population that are primarily there to strengthen their belief that they're right. They're poisonous because, while they will always claim to be open-minded (giving that up would destroy their internal narrative), they're basically just there to shout down their own doubts.
• Elitist bullshit: There's a better word for this that's escaping me right now, but I'm just done dealing with people whose self-image is built around feeling like they're a better person for having unique, non-mainstream, but completely unnuanced opinions. This includes stuff like saying "Call of Duty is just for idiot bros", "JRPGs stopped being relevant after the SNES", and "Nintendo just keeps rehashing the same stuff over and over". That's not to say you're not allowed to believe those things, but being a non-conformist doesn't mean you get a free pass on actually backing them up.
• Mental illness/personal issues: There's really no better way of putting this than to say that there are people in most communities who clearly have serious problems that go way beyond the community. Nobody likes to throw this around, but when you see a post and think "what the hell is going with this guy?", there's a serious chance they aren't just an asshole, but have a form of mental illness. I'm not talking about garden-variety insanity, but moreso people who get disproportionately aggressive about minor stuff, or seem to hold grudges just a little too long.

Again, I haven't been around enough to know if I'm describing endemic problems at GB, but it's stuff I've seen before (and frankly, been guilty of myself).

This is mostly true.

Pretty much.

There's some validity to this.

@TeflonBilly: Oh shit, you got me there bro. My bad...

@TeflonBilly said:

@Fattony12000 said:

I CARE! I CARE!

Guide to the Steam Summer Sale 2012 | TNT Reanimated | E3 2012 Reanimated | Giant Bomb on turntable.fm | Skyrim PC Screenshot Thread | Giant Bomb Celebrity Deadpool 2012

Just don't hang around/listen to/interact with lameazoids.

Try these other great blogs and threads, from your friends here at CBS Interactive!

The Bomb Shelter

The Community Spotlight - 07/13/2012 (Blog post)

Your Summer Sale purchase list.

Introduce YOURSELF!

Show us your shirts!

The Giant Bomb steamgifts.com Giveaway Thread

Bombcast Watitng Room

[Community Project] PC Gaming Hub - Let's play games together!

Video_Game_King's blogs

AND
MENTO MS PAINT COMICS

The same rules of the physical world also apply to the Internet: get tough or get out of the way.

This place is pretty civilised compared to the rest of the Internet.

@Slag said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Napalm said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

I'm new to posting here (though I've seen a bunch of the community over the years), so take this with a grain of salt:

Giant Bomb lacks the troll-filled, grammar-devoid anarchy that you find in many other gaming communities, so there's a whole realm of stupidity that isn't really a problem here, but there are some more subtle problems I've seen here and in similar communities:

• Nitpicking: The tendency for debates to devolve into people picking out tiny parts of others' arguments (or worse, past arguments) instead of talking about the bigger picture.
• Confirmation biases: I don't really know how to solve this, but there's always going to be a certain subset of a forum's population that are primarily there to strengthen their belief that they're right. They're poisonous because, while they will always claim to be open-minded (giving that up would destroy their internal narrative), they're basically just there to shout down their own doubts.
• Elitist bullshit: There's a better word for this that's escaping me right now, but I'm just done dealing with people whose self-image is built around feeling like they're a better person for having unique, non-mainstream, but completely unnuanced opinions. This includes stuff like saying "Call of Duty is just for idiot bros", "JRPGs stopped being relevant after the SNES", and "Nintendo just keeps rehashing the same stuff over and over". That's not to say you're not allowed to believe those things, but being a non-conformist doesn't mean you get a free pass on actually backing them up.
• Mental illness/personal issues: There's really no better way of putting this than to say that there are people in most communities who clearly have serious problems that go way beyond the community. Nobody likes to throw this around, but when you see a post and think "what the hell is going with this guy?", there's a serious chance they aren't just an asshole, but have a form of mental illness. I'm not talking about garden-variety insanity, but moreso people who get disproportionately aggressive about minor stuff, or seem to hold grudges just a little too long.

Again, I haven't been around enough to know if I'm describing endemic problems at GB, but it's stuff I've seen before (and frankly, been guilty of myself).

This is mostly true.

Pretty much.

There's some validity to this.

Additional comment regarding agreement with said statement.

@WilliamRLBaker said:

@AssInAss said:

Come over to NeoGAF, we ban fools that do that.

unless your an admin, mod, long time user then you can be a secret troll neogaf is where you can call any one what you want as long as you write an essay doing it in a round about way.

per the topic at hand its one of the reasons I don't visit giantbomb anymore, I go to system wars for my fighting I thought giantbomb would be my low key place but most people here reply with snarky remarks.

Snarky remark, snarky remark.

@MethodMan008 said:

I hear ya man.. Lot of assholes and strange people on here.. Lots of good people too though.

Well you will find that anywhere on the internet. Almost everyone is a dick on the internet, its almost a law.

As bad as we are, you could always do worse.