Blizzard explains hunter suspension
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 12th 2008 at 9:00AM
WoW Insider recently reported that Megatf, the highest ranked Arena Hunter and hunter community personality, was banned from the forums. Initially thought to be a permanent ban from playing World of Warcraft, Drysc explained that Megatf had violated the Forum Code of Conduct and was temporarily banned from the forums, with no impact on his ability to access WoW. The violation was also not because Megatf has posted keyloggers or gold selling sites, as earlier reported, only that the ban was erroneously categorized elsewhere. An unfortunate side effect of the ban was the subsequent deletion of all threads created by Megatf, some of which also happened to be stickied guides that the hunter community held in high regard. Drysc also explained that the deletion was part of the suspension and could not be undone, so those useful hunter guides were gone forever unless they were archived.Timbal explains Blizzard's actions in detail and in a rare display of verbosity, proceeds to rationalize the process by which Blizzard's moderators deal with errant threads and posters. He apologizes on behalf of the company for deleting the valuable threads but also cautions players against unwarranted and ill-worded protests against "perceived class balance issues" that might be in violation of the forum rules. He also explains that the scarcity of blue, or Blizzard, responses from the forums do not necessarily indicate that players are not being heard although it often feels that way for many. This only reinforces the fact that Blizzard is extremely vigilant about forum violations and spares no one from reprimand. As always, Blizzard encourages feedback as long as it is done in a constructive manner.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fizzed Mar 12th 2008 9:22AM
"Blizzard is extremely vigilant about forum violations and spares no one from reprimand..."
Except that they aren't. I'm a long time reader of Blizzard's WoW (and many other) forums. Their forums are barely moderated. How many of the multitude of folks who posted bragging threads on the druid forums after the lifebloom and arena set nerfs were banned? How many of the hate mongers and homophobes who frequent those forums are banned?
I don't know the answer to those questions, but that's the point. Blizzard doesn't respond to their customers. Let us know you are dealing with forum violators. Check out the WoW Europe forums. Spam and Grief threads get locked out all the time there - and not just in the general forums. You see Blue posts all over their class forums. Those CMs TALK to the customers. The US CMs don't. In the past the ones who did have been extremely abusive (ahem, Tseric).
Blizzard has these wonderful forums that they could use to communicate with us, but in large part they don't. We post constructive feedback and are ignored. We point out bugs that are ignored for years (ie, Feral Range Bug).
I don't know if Megatf deserved his forum ban and I won't speak on that. I think perhaps Blizzard made an example of him because of his high arena rating - they knew people would notice. Banning him seems inconsistent when they don't ban so many others...
Cynra Mar 12th 2008 10:55AM
You make a wonderful point. As someone who has staffed and/or moderated a number of popular forums before (including one with several hundred active members), it's very important to maintain an active and visible presence on the site you're overseeing. As demonstrated by the EU CMs, this means posting frequently and having disciplinary actions be visible - as opposed to deleting threads and having no trace remain.
This accomplishes two things. One, it demonstrates that staff is active on the forums and are probably reading everything you do. Lurking in the background and performing their duties without definite evidence leaves people with the impression that no one cares or is doing his job. Second, it establishes through repeated incidents a standard of what is acceptable content and what is not. This helps to not only allow people to learn what is likely to receive negative reactions by moderators, but it also ensures that staff maintains consistent standards because past examples can be easily, quickly, and clearly located for comparision.
vildand Mar 12th 2008 7:58PM
I find both these posts rather ironic, partly because Blizzard did infact respond but mainly because you seem to suggest that the forum CM's aren't acting fairly - when infact they would have been applying unfair favoritism if they had let crimsonlocks get away with abuse, that would have landed anyone else a ban, because he has contributed good in the past.
The whole tribute to the european CM's is neat, I'm an avid user of the european boards and I much like our CM's - but I also very much doubt they would have handled this differently. At least I can't think of a single time where our CM's have responded to a temporary simply because the community demanded it. And how can they?
There are forum rules and they apply to everyone, and crimsonlock left blizzard no choice when he broke them in such a verbal manner.
M Mar 12th 2008 9:33AM
He broke the forum rules plain and simple. What I don't like is that they did nothing in terms of opening a new post asking for the hunters to send in any information they had of Megatf's guides to make a new sticky of it. They acknowledge it was a honest mistake in deleting the constructive guides, but have done nothing to help out with getting the information back.
Netherscourge Mar 12th 2008 9:44AM
Blizzard are a bunch of zealots when it comes to moderation.
They act like they have to "protect" us from foul language, or some other stupid crap.
The GAME is rated "T" for teen, not the forums.
Get over yourselves Blizzard. Lift all these stupid bans.
Keirin Mar 12th 2008 12:41PM
It's their game and the forums are owned by Blizzard. I think we'll just have to suck it up and comply or post at unofficial forums.
Ahoni Mar 12th 2008 9:59AM
So someone broke the rules and got banned. Part of the banning process is deleting ALL of the threads created by the banned person. This particular person happened to write some of the stickied guides for hunters, so they got deleted as well. No biggie, it happens. Blizzard has already stated they didn't take this into account and are working on a solution so they don't delete stickied threads in the future. There is nothing to see here ... move along.
Brian Carnell Mar 12th 2008 10:39AM
"So someone broke the rules and got banned. Part of the banning process is deleting ALL of the threads created by the banned person."
Um, that is so idiotic I can't believe Blizz would admit to this or that you would defend it.
Especially since this was apparently a temporary ban. Wow. Blizz customer service FTL.
Aticus Mar 12th 2008 12:24PM
Well said Ahoni. He broke the rules, should have knew the rules, and I believe Blizzard did the right thing. Just because he made some great guides does not exclude him from the terms we all agree with.
IMO concerning the hunter guides, there's hundreds already across the internet. Just because a handful got deleted doesn't mean you can't find the same information elsewhere.
-Aticus, http://www.paladintales.blogspot.com
Ben Mar 12th 2008 10:00AM
Seconded, Fizzed.
This latest round of reply from Blizz is hogwash. Post deletion is part of the ban process? Sure, the offending post is often LOCKED when someone is banned, but all of their posts deleted?
What you are seeing is not part of Blizz-US's usual CM policy and operation. Note that Timbal is not a CM, but a moderator: the difference between PR and Policing. What you're seeing here is the brute force approach only used rarely, in percieved crisis, and invariably applied when there is a large body of players consistently and consensually objecting to something that relates to the state of the game. As I commented on the last post on this subject, this smacks of the Mage forum lockdowns. They're using a slightly lighter touch here, but the policies are the same: history wipe, bans, etc.
Wiping someone's post history is not part of the normal management of the forums, and points to the problem with the CM-US approach: ignore the forums until a crisis is well underway, then respond with the necessary retroactive force. Should someone post inflammatory and bannable material, they probably have a habit of doing so, probably have been doing so for a while, so wipe the history just to be safe. This is a questionable policy in the best of circumstances, but here it bit them right in the bum.
They're scrambling to take care of a PR catastrophe that, by virtue of how they went about it, can't be undone. Having an active presence {note who is and who is not talking here} participating in the larger threads concerned with this issue, etc are part of that response, but also take note of who they do and don't respond to. Pretending that a massive corporate entity with unparalleled market control and a distinct agenda for the direction of its flagship product is committed to even handedness and engagement in community interaction would be farcical, except...
....Except that the EU-CM's appear to do so. Offending threads are locked, not deleted, offending players recieve an explanation, game balance concerns are addressed in 3-page epic posts, speculations on dev direction are met with insight into what is currently on the design table, etc, etc. When I want to find useful information backed by blue, I hit the EU forums. Sometimes I have to wonder if we aren't staring in the face of US vs EU culture.
Blizz is tidying up a PR mess that surrounds the most popular class in the game being the least popular class in the aspect of the game that Blizzard is pushing as the future of the product: WoW is definitely going Arena E-sport, there are more hunters than anything else, Hunters suck at arenas, several hunters drawing attention to this get banned {for that reason or others, doesn't matter to the course of events}, everyone and their grandmother finds out, and all this going on while the Tournament looms and the TTR is still a mess. Of course they're going to respond, of course it's going to be damage control, and of course it is written more for the benefit of interested backers of upcoming E-sport plans than it is the customers.
Kieron Mar 12th 2008 10:03AM
I think they should just get over it. Maybe Bliz should have tired to keep the stickies but if its a side affect of the banning then there's the problem doesn't lie with the moderators but the hunter who got banned.
Moral: Don't break the rules.
nativebrown Mar 12th 2008 10:15AM
Blizzard is a private company.
They are under no obligation to explain who they banned, and why they banned them.
Get over it.
Makros Mar 12th 2008 10:52AM
You are correct. They are a private company, and they don't have to explain themselves. However, they ARE a corporation in a consumer industry and therefore must answer to the consumer in order to continue in this industry.
They could, as a private company, suddenly halt and delete EVERYTHING WoW related, destroy all the servers, and say tough luck. They won't however have the respect of any of the ten million people signed up to play this game which would make future endevors virtually impossible.
Consumer opinion is the only thing that keeps Blizzard in line. Everything they do is to keep as many people happy and paying as possible.
What they did here is ban someone for pointing out what he percieved to be flaws in the system. People have as much a right to be enraged by this as Blizzard does to do it.
guesswho? Mar 12th 2008 11:50AM
Blizzard is not a privately-held company they are a division of Vivendi games which is a publicly traded firm.
Rich Mar 12th 2008 3:06PM
Even though they are a publicy traded company (as being part of Vivendi) they still don't have to answer to anyone but Vivendi. They don't have to answer to the consumer.
The consumer can scream and holler and complain all they want, until it starts to hurt Vivendi, nothing will get done. One Huntard on the forum isn't going to hurt Vivendi. So get over it.
Sakerin Mar 12th 2008 10:18AM
It seems to me that bitching on the Blizzard forums is a bit like sending out an email to your entire company about how unhappy you are with a recent change. You will certainly be reprimanded and possibly lose your job (wow account). The simple solution to these issues are to simply stop using Blizzard's forums and instead start posting all information elsewhere and only linking to it (if even that) from Blizzard forums. I'm quite sure that will send a message to them about how we feel about their forum moderation, plus you wont be able to be banned for voicing your opinions/concerns.
myheaditches Mar 12th 2008 10:36AM
Stupidest. Analogy. Ever. When you're working FOR a company, they pay you. When you're playing WoW, you pay them.
crsh Mar 12th 2008 10:22AM
I find it a bit funny that got out of hand (err, totally misreported too) gets Blizzard to make an outting to explain its actions. Meanwhile, there are bigger issues with the game, still no tangible news about WotLK, some complete fuck-up decisions on the 2.4 PTR (most of which were reverted in a wiff) and that flies without so much as an official explaination.
WoW's official boards are terrible when it comes to effective moderation, their moderators are clueless gerbil. It's really no shocker.
Netherscourge Mar 12th 2008 10:41AM
QUESTION:
Can you have your forum access banned, buy a new WoW client and BC, create a new account, transfer your old characters to the new account and then post on the forums again with your old characters?
Or are your old characters banned from the forums forever?
Shrama Mar 12th 2008 10:54AM
I think you can't transfer characters between accounts.