So I've been spending some time, over at the Official SW:TOR forum. Let me tell you it feels as if you were being corralled within a concentration camp of some sort. Of course the basic cursing, and such are forbidden, but moderators seem to close peoples threads left and right based on control of topics. I've encountered numerous situations were people post thoughtful critiques of certain Sw:TOR concepts only to find threads deleted upon refresh. It seems like a very negative environment for a gaming community, people not being able to post anything of substance while allowing 14 year old's to type in " 1337 5p34k " about character model breast augmentation.  I see the intelligible community for this game migrating to unofficial forums, in the same manner the intelligible WoW community did. 
 
I'm starting to get this eery impression that SW:TOR moderators in game or on forum are going to be ban hammer happy. So if i decide to grief a fellow player on a pvp server, he'll open a ticket and I'll find myself banned, or if i curse in game even with language filters implemented I'll be banned. The current conversations on the forum feel as if every member has a gun held to their head as they type, it seems worse then any other game forum I've had the fortune of gracing. Seems unfortunate how this behavior will eventually fragment the community, and create the same divide elitist  jerks brought.
 
Opinions?
 

I'm fine with it, assuming all the banned guys don't end up here like that whining fool Shady.

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Quote:

The current conversations on the forum feel as if every member has a gun held to their head as they type

I'm not seeing this on the forums. I'm seeing actual trolling topics get deleted, but not actual complaints. When I am seeing actual complaints get deleted, it's only because they have too many posts. Usually the mod will repost the topic if that happens.

I'm not seeing this on the forums. I'm seeing actual trolling topics get deleted, but not actual complaints. When I am seeing actual complaints get deleted, it's only because they have too many posts. Usually the mod will repost the topic if that happens.

I'm all for banhammers, most of them deserve it.
 
Forums are not bad, could be way worse.
There's little to be really said except for 'what we know' topics concering flashpoints/classes/races etc, so most of the stuff there is pointless.

Have to admit I kinda liked the official WoW forums, always found a lot of useful info there.

Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. That's why going to official game forums never made any sense to me. I'm pretty sure the swtor forums have always been like that though-- I remember an ordeal from a few years ago about one of the mods locking topics about the discussion of homosexuality in the star wars universe.

I wouldn't get too worried about this thing seeping into the game itself though. Seems very unlikely.

For a primer on the official forums, please refer to the video below.
 
The Old Republic Forums "Walkthrough" Episode 1: The Phantom Dumbass 
 
There are other videos in the series - you should easily be able to find them after. Essentially, the forums are great for regurgitating ideas, thoughts, and concerns that have been spoken over ad nauseam. As Talicia pointed out, the Stickied "Information gathered on The Old Republic so far!" is one of the most useful things on the forums and arguably the only thing useful there. A user named GameWizX also did a great job of organizing the E3 information and will be doing so for San Diego Comic Con, so I will be staying in tuned the his "Unofficial San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Thread" during the appropriate time. The rest of the forums is a pointless time-sink where you can complain/bicker/hype/hate over speculation all you want.  
 
If you check BetaCake, subscribe to Steven Reid's twitter, and visit at least one FanSite (DarthHater, Ask a Jedi, TORWars, etc...) - you will know every thing about the game essentially as good as any body else outside of Beta - without the annoyance of rabidly pointless forum echoers.

Have to admit I kinda liked the official WoW forums, always found a lot of useful info there.

@Ygg: The info on the official forums was always old, and constructed from various borrowed segments from other forums. I just found it to be a mess, and a haven for complainers. 

@Ygg said:

Have to admit I kinda liked the official WoW forums, always found a lot of useful info there.

Agreed. A lot of the information you need to get into end-game content is usually easy to obtain. There's a lot of complainers and trolls obviously, but you learn to ignore them after a while.

The Moderators on the official forums are certainly over-zealous.  That said, I think the bigger issue with the official TOR Forums is that everyone just says "See you at launch" to any problem

shame the game isn't very good :P

Saga over deleted threads are more entertaining the game itself ;)

The community there also aint great. It's full of tools and idiots that are much happier flaming someone than providing constructive critisism. I avoid it at all costs.

Yeah the atmosphere on the official forum is very weird... The community is like a gang of Gollums all protecting their Precious, and the mods are easily the most overzealous control freaks I've encountered. 
  
They're obviously not thinking longterm, because if they did they'd realize they're doing an extremely poor job of building a good community.

I like the official boards, a lot of nice people. I just ignore the others. :) I probably wont be on it much when it launches though...

I've been through a few pre-release MMO forums and all were pretty rough. Too many people hyped for the game with too little information to talk about. Some of them have been there for YEARS and it becomes a fanboy breeding ground. Then I always, always see people who want the game to go in some weird direction and complain bitterly when it doesn't. For example, super hardcore PvPers who are always disgusted that the game won't let them reach through the internet and stab other players directly in the face. They talk about Ultima Online and say the word carebear a lot. I'm not talking about normal Pvpers but "This game will be shit if I can't gank level 1s, steal their gear, and delete their account before they zone in the first time!!!?! Damn carebears ruining everything!!!" types. :)

It always gets better once the game launches and people have real issues to talk about.

For example, super hardcore PvPers who are always disgusted that the game won't let them reach through the internet and stab other players directly in the face. They talk about Ultima Online and say the word carebear a lot. I'm not talking about normal Pvpers but "This game will be shit if I can't gank level 1s, steal their gear, and delete their account before they zone in the first time!!!?! Damn carebears ruining everything!!!" types. :)

It's a GD powder keg of disapointment & SPAM just waiting to go off.