…Well, that didn’t take long
This blog is less than a week old, and already, we’ve got obnoxious fanbois trolling us. Just now, I had to delete my first comment. As far as trolling goes, this is mild, but as is always the case, it will get worse.
It was hard releasing the first obnoxious replies from the moderation queue, but I decided to do it anyway. I have no problems with people disagreeing with my posts, but I ask that they remain non-abusive. Similarly, I ask that there be at least some coherence to the postings, and not just ramblings about how awesome your favorite game character is and how I should write a post about her. I have not banned yet, but I’m getting ready to if this bullshit keeps up.
So let it be known, fanbois: This is not the forum for you. My threshhold is very low for one-handed typing because the topic of your favorite catgirl has been broached. This site is a site for Feminist Gamers. You don’t have to have a pair of tits to be welcome here, but you do have to be respectful. There are thousands of blogs for gamer fanbois where you can go and describe your Aeris/Masterchief slashfic to your heart’s content. But this blog does not serve as a sounding board for you to talk about what vg chick “turns you on.”
For my loyal readers: I appreciate your thoughtful comments, your participation in the threads, and your passing this blog on to others. Please keep up the good work! I promise I won’t let this place go to shit.
Update ….and, banned. Oh well. Watch how much sleep I lose over this.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
MP: I’m glad you posted the link to here- It’s good to see people thinking about games within a moral/social framework, as it’s a subject that I personally find really interesting.
I’ve already bookmarked the site. Keep up the great work. =D
March 20th, 2007 at 7:14 am
This site is great! I’m looking forward to seeing it grow into a nice community. Show the trolls no mercy, I say.
That said, may I make a posting request? (I know, I’m totally aware of the irony.)
I’d love to see an in-depth feminist examination of Super Princess Peach. People have mentioned how awesome it was to play her in Super Mario 2, but I just recently played through the game where she’s the star When I played it, my thoughts keep ping-ponging:
“Yeah! Peach kicks ass!”
“But she does it using her magical parasol and extreme emotions!”
“But the game takes place on Vibe Island; everybody’s got extreme emotions. See? That mushroom is crying, and that turtle is angry!”
“But why did Nintendo decide to design *Peach’s* game that way? Isn’t that sexist?”
“Eh, it’s better than what you’ll get in some games. Plus, it’s fun!”
Anyway, I’d love to see what other people think.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:14 am
It’s been my experience that the less airtime you give trolls, the less they come around. You may also want to consider putting up some discussion rules, as it will turn away some of the righteous trolls.
Kelly: If you want some feminist analysis of Super Princess Peach, check out Dr. B’s post on it and Lake Desire’s as well.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Thanks for stopping in — I tend to not feed the trolls too much (although sometimes you have to admit it’s fun). I figured these trolls were just bombing in from N4G, came in to shake their finger at me for daring to question the rightness of their favorite game, and then speed off. If they couldn’t be bothered to read the post, then they can’t be bothered to do any follow-up reading so I might as well defend myself.
My real qualm was “post or delete” — if I allow trolls to post on such a young blog, they could kill the community before it has a chance to grow. If I delete the posts, it could shut down real discussion, censorship, etc, etc. I’m trying to strike a balance between the two. Currently, my rule is that if a post is abusive, it isn’t posted, and my tendency is to be more lax with posts that are abusive towards me, but have zero tollerance towards abusive posts towards my posters. If a post adds zero value to a discussion, it’s deleted.
If anyone has any suggestions or modifications to this policy, definitely share. This blog’s ranking on Technorati is getting better every day, and I’m sure that the trollings will increase as the blog’s visibility improves, and I want to make sure that the community is comfortable with my policies.