The trolls have won
I know it's not strictly game related, but I didn't see anybody else talking about it and it needs to be said.
Taking away links, pictures, video embedding, in short, having to change the entire forum format because of the workings of some trolls says to me that they have effectively won - we're now changing our behavior, and limiting ourselves, because of them.
What bothers me the most about this (beside the fact in itself), is that it is to my knowledge that Telltale is not legally responsible for the content posted, especially since anything objectionable is flagged and taken down in hours. Exposing minors to pornographic material is illegal, but if anybody is liable it is the poster themself - Telltale has terms of use and a disclaimer and shows all due diligence in removing offending material.
I've only been here a few months, but to my knowledge sometime really bad like that has only happened twice and it was taken care of almost immediately. It's terrible that when that happens, but I don't think the forums need to be totally changed (no gifs? Don't tell me that's not a major loss). Moreover, I think those changes are ultimately more damaging than the trolls themselves - while certain people may avoid the forums because of that material, I feel like far more people will passively grow disinterested as they become to feel the limitations.
Telltale says the features will be added again later. I'm more than a little skeptical. If it's a matter of temporarily having to change the coding of the forums to install a filter that would be one thing (and if that's the case they should let us know). But somehow I have a feeling they'll probably do add the features back right after they fix the PM system: Soon.
Taking away links, pictures, video embedding, in short, having to change the entire forum format because of the workings of some trolls says to me that they have effectively won - we're now changing our behavior, and limiting ourselves, because of them.
What bothers me the most about this (beside the fact in itself), is that it is to my knowledge that Telltale is not legally responsible for the content posted, especially since anything objectionable is flagged and taken down in hours. Exposing minors to pornographic material is illegal, but if anybody is liable it is the poster themself - Telltale has terms of use and a disclaimer and shows all due diligence in removing offending material.
I've only been here a few months, but to my knowledge sometime really bad like that has only happened twice and it was taken care of almost immediately. It's terrible that when that happens, but I don't think the forums need to be totally changed (no gifs? Don't tell me that's not a major loss). Moreover, I think those changes are ultimately more damaging than the trolls themselves - while certain people may avoid the forums because of that material, I feel like far more people will passively grow disinterested as they become to feel the limitations.
Telltale says the features will be added again later. I'm more than a little skeptical. If it's a matter of temporarily having to change the coding of the forums to install a filter that would be one thing (and if that's the case they should let us know). But somehow I have a feeling they'll probably do add the features back right after they fix the PM system: Soon.
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The trolls have lost if anything.
Wow, this took all of three seconds to be moved... Which actually kind of goes to my point. If this can be moved so quickly, so quickly can offending content be removed.
Nonetheless, at present, I think the correct decision was made.
Certainly this is some kind of ultimate victory for the troll in question. But I don't care, I don't care at all. Essentially, he's one of the saddest sacks on earth. This guy is wasting his afternoons posting paedophiliac animated porn scenes on a random forum. For hours of his life. Just for the panic that ensues. You'd think it gets boring after two minutes, but he's had fun with that for months now. I'm not trying to insult him by saying I'd donate money here and now so that he might seek psychiatric help.
We've had a lot of trolls over the years, and I pitied many of them. A heavily OCD'd grown man who wreaked absolute havok by random postings until we could not bear him any more. The social misfit who troubled us to oblivion with simply inappropriate stories from his life. The teenage girl who is rejected time after time, just doesn't understand how she's found out again and again, and STILL desperately wants to be a part of the community which hates her, so she sneaks right back in. That sad Texan guy who isn't at all able to express himself in his own native language and just happens to take every single comment made by someone else as a massive insult. I think they do all deserve our pity somehow.
We're pulling through this inconvenience with our heads held high. Eventually, Telltale will absolutely want those pictures back. But I don't want them to just hit 'go' again here. Countermeasures first, then function back. You might think that these situations were under control pretty quickly, but the mod squad had a mouthful of work to do. We've seen every single one of those appaling pictures, many times. There's enough work with regular spam - just give us a breather here.
I believe such a blacklist site exists.
EDIT: Seriously, Internet? In a world where trolls are everywhere we can't even make one simple blacklist site?
EDIT2: Also, I have to sadly agree that the trolls DID win. Even tv tropes can manage trolls.
You know what would help more? It's a controversial system, but one that should work.
First, you are only allowed to post a few posts per day. This limitation persists throughout your first fifty posts or something, or maybe until you've gone through the month with at least 25 posts. However, you still don't get access to all boards. You only get access to the general discusssions of each game, but not the General Talk board. So, you can still discuss your favorite Telltale Games games, but you can't discuss anything else.
Except for the beginner board, which is only visible to those on probation.
After that though, you still aren't there. You still are limited to a certain amount of posts, but it's doubled this time, and this time the extended probation is 100 posts or 50 posts after two months since joining.
EDIT3: Maybe an extra thing after the extended probation.
If the user shows questionable behavior that are skirting what is allowed, they have to write a 500 word essay on why they should be allowed on the board. I pick 500 because I myself have a hard time to write 500 words of novel in one day.
EDIT4: You should also post references, so that they can vouch for your behavior. References could be stuff like NeoGAF, Penny Arcade or similar. Then a background check is done, and after that you only need to make an easy payment of $4.99 to receive your Telltale Games Good Behavior diploma in print. Of course, said payment can be skipped, but then you won't get a nice certificate you can hang on your wall.
Also, you need to provide at least one cat picture, and your avatar is that of Girl Stinky.
EDIT5: TV Tropes as well for the references. Also, TV tropes will ruin your life.
But once found out the pictures were worse then porn showing a graphic picture of a baby was ashamed of myself for questioning the decision that where I draw the line I truly believe Mods had no other choice then the one taken and was done swiftly and professionally great decision.
I have nieces and nephews around same age of some forum members under 14 and also my brother died at birth so find these images simply offensive,unacceptable and deeply disturbing if the mods made any other decision I would of quit the forum I luckily missed the images till a member informed me. I can in no way condone letting the trolls continue to post such images in such family friendly forum and contribute to a forum that allows it without proper security methods and precautions.
I agree with Vain
If you didn't know, you shouldn't feel ashamed for your thoughts.
Even now that I know, I am still (albeit far more reluctantly) standing by the idea that removing pics/embedding etc, was not the right decision. Then again, Youtube only allows text... Rather than a freedom of speech issue (since the pictures in question are illegal to begin with), it's more a question like freedom/security - it's very hard to find a balance, you want free speech, expression and association, but that can also lead to very adverse and tragic consequences. I generally tend to err on the side of taking those risks for the sake of freedom of expression.
What I don't understand is, especially in cases like pornography or things like that, posting those images is a criminal offence. I'm not sure why they can't be prosecuted. I'm not 100% what kind of picture you're referring to, if it's tragic or violent, but strangely and perhaps inappropriately, posting those images is less illegal [to my knowledge] than posting pornography. If you download illegal things the police can come after you, why wouldn't it be the same for uploading?
That said, I'm sympathetic to the moderators who are volunteers and I suppose as well, that has to go into the equation for Telltale as well - it's harder to find people who want to spend hours upon hours cleaning up pornography or torture images, rather than just the occasional spambot, for free.
It's far more complicated than I intially realized, and I understand a bit more why Telltale made the decision. I'm still not sure I would have made it though (depending on the possibility, a criminal prosecution and announcement of the proceedings so as to ward off other potential violations, all while maintaining the format of the forum, would be ideal).
I am sorry for your loss.
The latest attack, which was the straw that broke the camel's back, involved much worse pictures. I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't only porn - and this time - the pictures/gifs weren't just cartoons. There were other pictures/gifs that Mark did not mention as well.
That was why we took drastic measures.
I understand why the change was made, and I appreciate you and the other moderators for your hard work.
As sad as the decision is, I suppose it comes to looking at trolls and saying "this is why we can't have nice things..."
Seems like things really went downhill after the forum redesign. It's time to switch to better forum software.
Ban the screen name, ban the IP, move on. Repeat as necessary. If illegal content is involved, notify the poster's ISP. Why should everyone suffer because of a couple of idiots?
Allow image/videos/URLs only to accounts that have made at least one purchase with real money. Trolls are not going to do that with multiple accounts (and if they do, at least Telltale will be compensated for the trouble).
The complication is that Telltale can't always verify this. If you buy direct from Telltale, sure, but there's also Steam, Apple, Google, other third-party vendors, or even just buying a physical DVD in a store. There would need to be some method of verifying those who choose to buy in these ways.
If it were that simple, I would.
...interesting. ;)
I hope we can get the links, videos, pictures, gifs, etc. back to normal. "It can't stay like this."- Katjaa.
Or can it?
They were bad and broken before, now they are just utter junk. I am not having as much fun as I used to. Memes are gone, gifs are gone, videos are gone, even links in general are gone. With a price so high, you could say we tasted utter defeat. Or rather, Telltale did, since they obviously won't even try to make their forums safer and more comfortable for the users. They just took away the very few features we previously had. We went from mere commoners to filthy peasants.
Actually, we can't even say that Telltale took the features, since the mods did, who are not even working for them. Without the support of the company, they literally had no choice but to surrender to the trolls. After all, what good is a general without the support of the king he is fighting for? The mods in this forum were basically equipped with sticks and stones from the start. Sometimes it is hardly imaginable that this forum actually is the official one.
Soon we will lose Gravatar, too. Mark my words. The end is upon us.
Truly the end of times.
Worry not, though. It genuinely sounds like we get Markdown (in other words, images/links/text formatting) back sooner than later. The tools have been in the works prior to recent events, and it sounds like it could be shortly before we get them and images return. Disabling Markdown overall was not only a quick fix to a major problem, but prevented trolls from finding a work around.
No. Not that simple.
Heh... no. I've tired.