Board Game Arena

A trend seems to be happening in these forums that I feel needs to be discussed: Players who are upset at a particular other player are airing their grievances in the forums, calling them out by name. This has happened with players who are using inappropriate language, as well as players who are using questionable/inappropriate game tactics.

The forums are not the appropriate place to do this. Threads of this type are quickly deleted.

Every example of inappropriate language that I have seen has ultimately resulted in the offender's chat privileges (yes, privileges, not rights) being revoked. The forum rants normally happen when the offended doesn't think this happens quickly enough. No justice system ever works quickly enough for those that feel they've been wronged, but that doesn't mean that they should be circumvented.

As for game tactics, mechanisms already exist to deal with that issue as well: red thumbs and reporting "did something else inappropriate." While sometimes players will be able to do something that prevents them from being able to receive a red thumb, site administrators can always do something about them.

Additionally, there are mechanisms in place for other infractions. If PlayerA quits often, and PlayerB is upset with this behavior, there is no need for PlayerB to speak out in the forums. PlayerA will have a high leave:finish ratio, which several players take into consideration before choosing an opponent. There is no reason to come to the forums and complain, based on a couple of games, that they do this. If they really are doing it, it will be obvious.

Also, if you absolutely must call someone an idiot, please make sure that it doesn't seem like you are the idiot. This quote is from another thread, that probably will be deleted soon. Player names have been changed. However, it provides some useful examples:

SomeMadeUpPlayerName wrote:Can this player pleased be banned. He quits just before game's end so player's don't get there points. When i questioned it he said it was because the game was unfair and I was getting better roles. Please consider this as people like this ruin this very good site!!

Let's see:
Can this player please (polite addition to request, not "pleased," showing pleasure or satisfaction) be banned? (Question mark, not period)
She (player's profile states female) quits just before game's end so players (no apostrophe; this is plural, not possessive) don't get their (possessive of they, not a distant location) points.
When I (singular pronoun is capitalized) questioned it she (again, female pronoun) ... unfair and I [singular pronoun capitalized here correctly] was getting better rolls. (I'm assuming it was a game that chance with dice was involved, not that players had luck in getting parts to play.)

So, 4 sentences with 8 spelling/grammatical errors. I realize that this is an international site and English is not the native tongue of all players. However, SomeMadeUpPlayerName's profile states they are from the UK and English is their only language. Forums are also linked to Google Translate to allow writing in many common languages. Players have the ability to choose which one suits them the best.

Personally, when I see more errors than content, I discard all content that was attempted. If one chooses to rant on the forums, one has time to proofread. If what is to be said doesn't warrant that time from the author, it certainly doesn't warrant any time from readers.

Now, one note about the example: I am not calling out SomeMadeUpPlayerName specifically. This is just a trend I have noticed, but cannot quote any other sources because they have been deleted in accordance to the stated policies of these forums and common netiquette. I also apologize if there actually is a player with the name SomeMadeUpPlayerName.

Bottom line? If you were offended by another player, please use the mechanisms on the site designed to deal with offensive players rather than whine in the forums.

I basically agree with your post, whining on the forum when there are some other (and more efficient) ways to signal an unappropriate behaviour is useless and kinda annoying. And sometimes, maybe the majority of times, this kind of forum posts concern situations in which there are no provided penalties, such as the one you quoted, it is clearly written into the site policies that some situations can't be punished with penalties beside the existing one of quitting a game.

But IMHO there's an issue in the global site policy about penalties, they aren't so effective as they should be (and sometimes if there is a theorical penalty in such situations, it is not applied) considering that a player can amount a good bunch of penalties for nasty behaviours before being expelled by the site, and some of them like the temporary red thumbs will lasts only 60 days before vanishing... and also in this situation, he can open a new account, or maybe he can manage more account at the same time, and continue to provoke/harass other players.
It's not a matter with an easy solution, and I suppose that the staff has an HUGE amount of work on the site in addition to look the behaviour reports, so it's completely understandable (probably not by impatient users) that it may take a little bit of time to check all the reports.

Jest what is the most effective way to deal with/report a player who leaves intentionally and you are unable to provide a red thumb to? If I report "player left game early" the system prohibits a report. Is there another designation that will allow me to go into the reasons beyond "player left" that this player is a detriment to the site?

When reporting a player, there is an option "did something else inappropriate." This is probably the best option if you truly believe they have found a way to circumvent the penalty for leaving a game early.

Actually, I'm glad this was posted cause I had a situation like this (no penalty applied) and this game me the idea of how I could report it. Don't know what if anything will be done.

Anyway... the biggest problem I have with this issue is calling people out by name. I understand the frustration felt by those who feel cheated of their games. The one I had that was abandoned - I have never even been able to finish one game of it because someone always leaves, and finally had a good game going and was even doing pretty well, and then it went poof. And none of the other players has an abandon penalty. So yes, it's frustrating.

And I agree there isn't really enough done for this type of problem, and that is frustrating too.

However, calling people out by name on the forums is something I find completely inappropriate. First, they would need to know 100% for sure who was guilty and of what - and sometimes those things are just opinions anyway. So I don't think it's fair to accuse them in public. Second, the accused isn't here to defend themselves - sometimes maybe they are, but they'd have to find it by accident. I see this other places as well, and I just have serious issues with naming people in a forum when they'd (allegedly) done something inappropriate. For whatever reason, the internet makes people think everything should be public - no, it shouldn't. If this was off the internet, you probably wouldn't call a press conference, would you?

I do have to add, though, that most of the time I'm not judging someone by some not-great grammar. It seems no one writes properly these days, and I mean people whose native language is English. So minor errors I ignore and don't use to judge how sincere someone is, etc. Now, if someone's writing gets terrible enough, I'll probably ignore them.