I feel I should comment on this, given my history on this site.
I am a multi accounter. I have three accounts, but only one that I currently use. I was never caught, and if the mods see fit to ban me after I explain myself, that's fine. If they do so, however, I will take it as the final sign that this site isn't worth my time anymore, which is sad, as it was a place that I found many many hours of enjoyment, filled with intelligent discussions and enjoyable games.
My first account I created a few years ago back in the days of phpDiplomacy. (My username should be telling of the fact that I was familiar enough with this site to know that it would accept that as a valid character.) About a week later, I created a second account, because I was out of points and wanted to play more games. I didn't realize this was illegal at the time, since I wasn't playing any common games between the accounts. Once I read on the forums that it was (I was never caught) I finished my games and stopped using it.
Awhile ago, I made the decision to leave the site. This was motivated by a number of factors, primary amongst them, and the only currently relevant factor, being the fact that I felt the forum was no longer an arena for intelligent discourse, as it once was. But instead of making a production, I slipped quietly into the night, not trying to draw attention to myself, as you are want to do, Draugnar. But recently, with Christmas break, I've had much more time on my hands, and, largely out of boredom, I've found myself spending it perusing these forums, whereas I used to only peek in for a live game every now and then.
But even before Christmas, I found I missed diplomacy too much. I wanted to come back and play, but I didn't want people identifying me and contacting me. I decided to create a new account, and not participate in the forums, except under rare circumstances. I think this is only the second non-EOG topic I've discussed, the other being my issues with Obi's most recent Star Trek analogy. My username I picked specifically to typify my new mantra: Don't feed the trolls. Don't get angry in the forums. Just be happy.
I've long been an advocate for forum moderation (As I have username changes, for that matter). If you want unmoderated, unfiltered bile, there are other sites you can go to, first among them, 4chan. This site is not 4chan, nor should it try to be. There's no reason to tolerate pure unadulterated flaming, and I mean that *on both ends of the spectrum*. Everyone who responds to the trolls merely feeds them more. If there's one rule of the internet, it's *don't feed the trolls*.
That being said, I've been on the other end of the spectrum too. Another online game I used to play moderated their forums so much that you weren't allowed to do hardly anything. If you criticized the company running the game, you were censored. If you cursed, you were censored. If you did anything outside of a narrowly defined set of boundaries, you were censored. That's not what I want either.
But there's no need to go to extremes. We don't need to ban the trolls immediately for their comments. There are middle grounds. Give mods the ability to edit and delete posts. That would solve a lot. Warn, if there are persistent infractions, and if they continue, ban them. And do a real, IP ban, not a username ban. Hell, for me, loss of my preferred username would have been a gift. (I still wish I had chosen ♥ or ♫ as a name instead of the smiley face... I didn't realize how poorly the smiley face would show up.)
In regard to the suggested allowance of "ignoring" people, I would think that's fine. People would understand if things seemed confusing, because they would know that you can ignore people. This is a very common feature on the internet, and I use it all the time. And at the very least, I think it needs to be instituted for private messages.
And while we're on the topic of forum renovations, would it really be that difficult to create a tabbed forum? It could be just like the games screen. You could have a "Politics/Philosophy" tab, a "Diplomacy Talk" tab (Which would probably be the default), a "Game Advertisements" tab. I think it would be a huge improvement. The bottom line is this: We've outgrown the current forum system, both because the number of users has skyrocketed and the maturity of those users has plummeted.
I long for the days of phpDiplomacy where the old timers would discuss things intelligently and maturely, and the worst troll we had to worry about was hellalt. (Much love, bro) I'd go back to phpDiplomacy and pre-.90 in a heartbeat. Don't get me wrong, I love the new features. But the new features attracted the masses to this site. Kestas made it too good. And so maybe the mods will get a few more digits on their plura cheques because of the extra traffic, and maybe that's good. But for better or for worse, I don't think those days are ever coming back, and if we want the forum to be as enjoyable as it once was, moderation is a necessary evil.
Several of you may be able to guess who I am. In fact, the mods aught to be almost certain, since I sent them an e-mail not too long ago. And I think there are two or three of you I've revealed myself to in private messages. Most of you who would recognize me from clues like my obsession with Star Trek are probably the old timers to whom I wouldn't mind being identified anyway. If you must guess though, please send me a private message, and don't guess it here. I still don't want to "come out" as it were. If things start to pick up, (they seem to be better than when I left) I might make a semi-permanent return. But it's entirely plausible, with school starting again, that I won't have the time to hang out here, even if I want to.
So if I can sum this Obi-esque post with one thought, it's this: Don't feed the trolls, they're not worth it. There are smart, intelligent people on these forums, and talking with them is really enjoyable. But not when everyone sinks to the level of the trolls, and flames them back in response.
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JDip or similar simulation program
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