Overly Positive

One of the best things about being a forum moderator is that you get the most delicious and awesome love notes. Sure, more often than not they usually say “assface” when they really mean “great mod”, and maybe when they’re saying that thing about your mom being great in the sack it isn’t quite a compliment, but hey, you take what you get, especially here at Overly Positive.

Today I had to help administer some sad justice on two guilds who’ve been fighitng on the forums since what appears to be the beginning of time. I don’t even know how it started anymore, and frankly, it’s probably just some innocent misunderstanding. It was probably some guy, who, awed by some incredible post, wanted to say “you’re a capital fellow, that was a scholarly pont and you are intelligent beyond measure”, but it just came out only looking like they typed “ur a stupid nub, gtfo, diaf, go suck a cock”. Ah, text on the internet is really hard to interpret.

Anyway, I really had to step in after someone just a little too far, and I got this little note forwarded from someone:

I’d like to appeal this infraction. That guy was in our guild thread. So…I think this without merit.

Well, I just had to stop and think about that for a moment. I mean, why shouldn’t you treat that little corner of the internet like it was your turf in some online version of a gang war? Why shouldn’t you decide to waste time making sure you got in the last word on an argument even though someone can always type something back? Heck, a guild recruitment thread, that’s just sacred territory. You don’t go rolling up in someone’s grill like that, yo. I mean, why bother with actually posting something unimportant, like participating in a great discussion over game mechanics, or making suggestions about how to make the site better, or posting news items? You’ve got a house to protect, holmes, and yeah, while it’s more like a cardboard box in someone else’s mansion, it’s your damn box and no one’s going to piss on it.

I’m sure these rival guilds who fight all the time have got an image to uphold, too. Seriously – keeping up the love, and sometimes, fear, of those adoring anonymous internet masses is a lot of work. How dare I step in and ruin a guild’s need to whore themselves to the closest captive audience by gangbanging some person from “the other side” with flames and trolls! And what’s worse, I’m screwing with their teambuilding and synergy. There’s nothing better to build your sense of unity by all posting a link to some photoshopped RL picture of your enemy in a bondage suit getting it from a horse.

So really, I have to thank this random guy (or girl) for this epiphany. Continue on, 150 page guild threads – because you really need someone to step on to make yourselves feel better.

That’s guild thug life, youknow what I’m sayin’?