Topic: Honest Opinions VS Trolling

Ok guys let me start this off by saying this is not directed at one user or group of users but the community as a whole. While I do enjoy this community greatly there have been some things that have been bothering me mainly people getting upset at one another about certain truths and calling them out or going as far as reporting the post or comment as abusive, so I want to make it clear to all what is allowed and what isn't hopefully the community will better understand.

First off we are aware how bad the Vita is doing and lets face it it is doing pretty bad. I wont go into reasons or theories that's not what this topic is about, but it's just a fact a sad fact but a fact nevertheless. Which brings me to the topic of this thread.

Just because we are called Push Square and are a Sony fan site like all good journalism we report both the good and the bad. We don't turn a blind eye to the poor performance of a piece of hardware cause its Sony or the fact that its online infrastructure isn't the best honestly if we did we wouldn't be doing our job right.

With that said I have notice some of our users seem to have a problem with this and other users who are speaking the cold hard truth and putting it in a friendly manner for discussion. I have been getting everything from post reports to even users calling other users trolls just because the don't agree with their opinion and quite honestly it's starting to get on my nerves. So I am going to lay it out for everyone to see what is a troll post and what isn't so hopefully this will clear up some confusion.

Honest Opinion post:

Its sad really that Sony just gave up on the Vita maybe if they would put as much effort in the Vita that they do the PS4 it would succeed.

Troll post:

HAHAHA Sony is so stupid the Vita was a piece of junk from the beginning. Anyone who bought one is a moron.

Hopefully you all can tell the difference and if you can't then go ahead and look up Trolling or Troll (Computer) up in the dictionary.

Now I don't want to exclude anyone from our community but if you are a person who "hides their head in the sand" with Sony's problems and is looking for a place that only talks about Sony's successes and none of their failers and call out others who don't then I am afraid this place isn't for you. If you want to talk about the ups and downs of Sony with other users and such this is it.

Also let me make it clear that if you do call someone a troll due to not agree with their opinion this will be handled the same way as trolling and it can get you a warning and even earn you a little vacation from the site. Also keep in mind that I do check on all posts, comments etc that is reported on (sometimes I am not able to check them right away, I do have to sleep, work and spend time with my family from time to time) but I do check it often enough so there is no need to do multiple reports. Report it once and move on. If nothing is done to the post i.e. nothing edited or deleted it doesn't mean we didn't see the report it may mean that we don't see nothing wrong with it like someone reporting trolling on a post that isn't a troll post. Keep in mind that we welcome all people from all walks of life here and just cause someone has a different opinion then yours doesn't make them a troll, its all how they go about presenting that idea.

To end things on a high note. The growth of this community is growing at a rapid pace which makes us all here at Push Square very excited and we hope that alot of you will continue to stay with us while we grow and you enjoy it as much here as we do. As always any concerns or comments feel free to comment here or contact us with the contact form down below.

Thanks as always for reading and continue to have a great day

Tasuki

Thanks, I think this was needed. It's been getting a bit tiring to me too (and I don't even have to deal with all the stupid reports either). And this is kinda unrelated, but does reporting a random post from a user work for trying to report their avatar, or should I use the contact button for that since there isn't really an official tool for it?

@Tasuki

I have a little question. If a user's 90% or more of posts are of a negative nature, but keep civilized all around, is that user safe?

Oh, and thanks for all the effort you are putting on the site. You, Sammy, everyone here actually.

I would like to know that too!

Honestly I would use the contact form to report an avatar simply because when you report the post it just shows us a copy of the post and if there is nothing wrong with post we may just brush off the report as nothing wrong. Using the contact form you can better explain the situation. I honestly think we should have a report Avatar button cause there have been some questionable Avatars I have seen floating around. I will contact Sammy and Ant about that, but for now I would just use the contact form.

It depends. We can usually tell who is trolling and who isn't. If say they are always post stuff to riffle a few feathers we keep an eye on them. Usually if they do come around to do that either two things happen they either stop when they notice they aren't getting the attention or they get more abrasive and then we get them. The thing is we want to promote a friendly environment where users can discuss things and discussions happen when people have different views. Again as I stated it all depends on the deliverance.

When I make a complaint on the contact page, they never get back to me about a certain situation I hope I am not being ignored?...

Again just cause you make a complaint and don't see us take action doesn't mean we are ignoring you. Sometimes we take care of it behind the scenes for various reasons we can't discuss punishments between us and a user with other users it's just not kosher. When a user contact us with a complaint we look into it and then deem what action to take. The offending user might be given a warning if its a minor offense and from there they shape up. Also what a user might deem as offence and what we deem offence might not be the same thing. We have to look at the complaint and see if they are in fact breaking any rules as I said in my original post what one user might deem as being a troll post isn't actually a troll post for example. Also please keep in mind that we do not sit by our computers all day waiting for emails, reports etc and can not always answer them right away. I will admit personally I get reports and I handle them as soon as I get them but sometimes it might not be right away I do have a life outside of Push Square. I assure you when you use the contact form you are not being ignored.

I haven't been around since the beginning, but it's good to hear that Push Square is growing. Keeping the community open, welcoming, and friendly is a big part of growth, so kudos!

It's a forum, just behave like you would if you met someone in real life and be nice!!

Sadly people behave like this in real life too.

Too many people seem to think these days that 'if you don't agree with everything I say you're obviously a ****'. I've been named a troll on here several times, especially in the first few months, for (shock horror) not agreeing that everything Sony do is gold. Each time I explain why I think that and more often than not my thoughts have turned out to be accurate. Even when I've criticized a game (hello The Last Of Us) I say why and after being called all sorts - including getting death threats over PSN! - I've then soon seen other people agree with what I said, including the person who sent me all sorts of sick messages on PSN about hoping my soon-to-be baby was a stillborn! Sadly there's too many people who can't handle that their opinion isn't gospel. I get I may be annoying to diehard Sony fanboys and I'm opinionated but that's only because I'm a passionate gamer who calls a spade a spade.

Thought I'd write all that as I know part of the reason this thread is here is because someone complained about me (again, after creating a whole forum section about me previously) for them not understanding you're allowed to have your own opinion, whether others agree or disagree with it. Having a sulk about someone saying something on the internet, who you'll never meet in the real world? Life is too short.

Frankie Boyle summed it all up nicely, "Modern life is learning the bare minimum you need to know about a subject to have an argument."

Thanks for this thread, @Tasuki - totally agree. There will always be a difference of opinion at times on this site, and that's fine. Like Tasuki says, we want to promote discourse between users, and don't want to shut anyone down. At times, that will lead to disagreements. But I believe there is a way for people to disagree in a positive manner; the most important thing is to just appreciate that others have different viewpoints, and as long as they're being fair and respectful, that's okay.

The world would be a boring place if we all agreed on everything.

I just tend to avoid getting into that kind of debate online as even if you 'win' it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Rediculous you were getting that kind of abuse over PSN though but it just reaffirms why I don't get myself involved in strong debates online. (if I can help it!! Maybe it's happening right now?! Haha) I can be as opinionated as the next guy so it does take a bit of willpower sometimes!

I'll start a barny with you tomorrow. "You lookin' at me bird?" etc, haha.

OH NO YOU DI'UNT

Is there anyway we can be notified if we go to far? Some people dont realise they have, others cant help it. Away from the forum in a personal message or something?

This is the reason I have lost faith humanity because of things happening like this. I honestly believe this world won't last very long as we are here dwelling in it. People aren't going to be nice anymore...

Usually if you get a warning I will add a note to the offending post. I agree that doing so may cause a warning to be missed by someone so I will look into contacting via email if that's easier.

Cue people all checking through their recent messages to see if they were told off. Pleasing, and surprising, to see I haven't been. Must try harder...

Yeah, or even if we did something stupid which isn't trolling - like putting a topic in the wrong place, or putting a thread in which we cant really talk about (which I did on the vita forum a few days ago). And just delete the thread rather than locking it and notifying us on email. But that could be a lot of work for you tasuki.