FWIW... Samuraiko contacts GameTrailers' admins

In the end, this might not actually achieve anything, but we'll see. I submitted the following letter to David Muehl, as well as sending it to the GameTrailers' support team and the folks running the contest. I just could not let this go - I wish I were disdainful enough to just turn the other cheek, but I'm not.



"(Please forward this message to the appropriate individual(s).)

To whom it may concern:

While your site is certainly a useful one, and provides a venue for numerous media to come together and present various forms of creative expression, in the two or three weeks that I have been on your site, I have seen more negativity, crass behaviour, unprofessionalism, and downright immaturity than I have on any other similar site.

It may very well be that a small minority of your users are out to ruin the experience for everyone else involved. However, I do know that several other City of Heroes videographers who have participated in this contest have had experiences like mine - where we have been unfairly targeted with profanity, insults, and other negative behaviour that goes far beyond what could remotely be called "constructive criticism." These users have done nothing but belittle the videographers, their work, and their websites, and this does NOTHING for inviting us to stick around.

Also, the poor planning on the part of the server teams for making sure that our videos were compressed correctly and on time was extremely aggravating for all involved, as were the repeated needs for rules clarifications because of contradictory information, delays in response, and other delays that discouraged several others from even entering.

I find it rather saddening that you do not take greater steps in curbing the behaviour of the users on the site - stuff like this would result in people being banned on other forums or media-related sites.

To this end, once this contest is over, I will be closing my account with you, and I do not intend to use this site as a means of promoting my video work. The cons far outweigh the pros insofar as using your site as a venue. You are welcome to take the GTD that I have accrued so far and return it to some community pool (or simply ditch it altogether).

A response indicating that this message has been delivered to an administrator, supervisor, or other individual in charge (rather than just handed off to frontline support) would be appreciated, if for no other reason than for me to know that this email was delivered.

Yours sincerely,
Michelle Travis
aka
Samuraiko"



I just hope that no one else has had as lousy an experience with this as I have. While the contest itself was cool, hell will have a hockey team, a rink, and stadium seating before I use that site again. I cast my vote, and I'll stay long enough to make sure it counts. But that's it.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
I have seen more negativity, crass behaviour, unprofessionalism, and downright immaturity than I have on any other similar site.

[/ QUOTE ]

Michelle, don't let it get to you. The atmosphere in the COH forums where mostly everybody is helpful is the exception, not the rule. I think those two comics sum it up:

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comics/20080227.jpg
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/youtube.png

Remember that COH is 95% a cooperative game. Because of that, we're used to working together towards a goal, not against each other.

Most online games are purely competitive; and GameTrailers is targetted to gamers in general. People with a competitive mindset tend to be jerks towards their perceived "enemy".

Ask anyone who PVPs in this game how many times, after beating an opponent, they heard back: "you suck because you used inspirations", "you suck because you have power build up", "you suck because you had vengeance", "you suck because you AS'd me", "you suck because you stunned me", and so on and so forth, always with the idea "I AM better than you, you just got lucky to have X thing".

In this contest, we experienced a similar treatment: comment PVP. They can't "beat" us (most of them didn't make a video), so they just trash-talked. I did the one thing I thought was sensible: stopped reading the comments, just as if I had stepped out of a PVP zone in order to avoid the trash talk on Broadcast.

DR, thank you for sending in what 99% of this population is thinking.!!!

I've never seen worse stuff than the way that they treat people there! (I'm a member of several CS:S forums, and those get bad, but not this bad)

They need to learn the ways of the Giant Ban Stick, Ex can send them a video of how to use it!!

GameTrailers.com is owned by SpikeTV, so draw what sort of conclusions you want to from that...

It seemed to me it wasl like a glorified You Tube, with all the ad hominem attacks and crude stuff you see there some times.

I wonder if all the sponsors have ever looked there.

I'm actually having fun sparring with Tommy Boy over there on "that site". Of course, it's a little like he's brought a knife to a gunfight, but that's his decision...

Michelle, Thanks for putting it so eloquently.

Leo, Thanks for making me spew on my monitor. Those cartoons are beyond great.

[ QUOTE ]
GameTrailers.com is owned by SpikeTV, so draw what sort of conclusions you want to from that...

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why I also sent emails to Spike TV about the matter.

[ QUOTE ]
It seemed to me it wasl like a glorified You Tube, with all the ad hominem attacks and crude stuff you see there some times.

I wonder if all the sponsors have ever looked there.

[/ QUOTE ]

And yet in all the time I've been on YouTube, I've had only ONE negative commenter who was that obnoxious, and he's like that to everyone. And I got emails from folks thanking me when I publicly called him out on it the same way I've been doing to TomStrong on the GT site - if you don't have the guts, creativity, or talent to make your own stuff and post it, you have no business bashing on anyone else's work.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm actually having fun sparring with Tommy Boy over there on "that site". Of course, it's a little like he's brought a knife to a gunfight, but that's his decision...

Michelle, Thanks for putting it so eloquently.

Leo, Thanks for making me spew on my monitor. Those cartoons are beyond great.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a technical writer, before that I was a journalist. Although you'd not often guess it meeting me in real life, my command of written English across a number of genres is actually rather impressive. One of which is how to complain in a manner that gets what I want - acknowledgement.

Star_Dancer, by all means, have fun going after him. I just had to laugh when he said I don't know the difference between friends and fans. My reply to him via PM: "Yes, I know the difference. The CoX videographers are my friends. The CoX DEVELOPERS are my fans."

My only apology is to you guys if you feel that I've wrongfully included you in my diatribe against them, but after reading the comments of most of the folks on here, I do believe that most of you agree with me.

As for the PvPers... that's why I don't PvP.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Haha, I just got a negative comment from someone saying that it was funny that I thought my video is good which I never said.

Just remember Dark Ether undeniable truth #2: People are idiots.

Oh, and now a new voice has joined the chorus of fools over there.

I wonder if either of them were stupid enough to put their email addresses online someplace. Or if they have websites. It's not nice to honk off a techie...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Oi, no naughty stuff.

You guys can play with the children on the GT site all you want but, just in case it wasn't obivous yet, at this point they're just doing this to get a reaction out of you. They want to know how worked up they can get you.

After moderating messageboards for eight plus years I can tell you how to deal with this folks.

1. ignore them (if at all possible)
2. if they REALLY tick you off (like Tom), you have ONE SHOT at them. So make it good. Reply once and only once no matter HOW they come back.
3. ...and this is the hardest (make them break the rules of the site and get themselves banned). This is a pain to do most of the time, and risky since it's really out of your hands in the end.

Considering the number of people that hit that site, there's a very low percentage of loud obnoxious people. The ones they have are just VERY LOUD....hey it's kinda like New York....(just kidding/sarcasm/sorry I couldn't resist).

They're playing with you guys because you guys are playing back.

So take this for whatever it's worth.

I'm new to this forum, but I'm an old fart when it comes to online forums as a whole. I created moderated official boards for David Copperfield, Dragon Ball Z CCG, Buffy the Vampire Slayer CCG and others (so I've got a range of age/experience with folks).

Todd

p.s. Oh, and not to misunderstand. I think the core message of DR's email (I won't be returning because of your community) was very well handled...this rant is just about dealing with Tom and his new friend.

[ QUOTE ]
After moderating messageboards for eight plus years I can tell you how to deal with this folks.

2. if they REALLY tick you off (like Tom), you have ONE SHOT at them. So make it good. Reply once and only once no matter HOW they come back.

[/ QUOTE ]

In your professional opinion, how is this?

TomStrong> This is a silly little piffle. Won't win any prize. I showed it to my friends and they all thought it was idiotic. I wouldn't go that far, but why is this in the top 5? Someone please explain.

Fusionette> Thank you for showing it to your friends, even if none of them liked it. The exposure is appreciated.

LOL, that's not bad...not bad at all

and let that be the end of Tom, no matter what he pops up with next.

One other thing to note is that you earn GameTrailer dollars and GT experience for posting, the former which can be used to obtain real world items, the latter which does something to influcence the rate you earn. So posting a lot in a shotgun manner is actually encouraged.

At this point, I've just dusted my hands of that site. Far too much of an annoyance. I'm keeping my account long enough to make sure my vote still counts (and to see if their service desk actually responds to me), and then after the start of September, I'm closing it.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
Just remember Dark Ether undeniable truth #2: People are idiots.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, reminds me of something that never fails to make me laugh:

Think of a person of average intelligence.
Now think about the fact that half the world is dumber than that.

-Yeah, I haven't been back to the site since I voted. Not worth the mouscicks, really.

OK, ok... I'll stop poking the weasel with a stick. He's pretty much chewed off his own tail by now anyway.

I was so tempted to post one of my favorite sigs from this forum (paraphrased, 'cause I can't seem to find the original):

"You're wrong. You couldn't possibly be more wrong if you were captured by Doctor Wrong and his WrongBots and dipped in a vat of radioactive Wrongness until you developed the power of Permanent Aura of Wrongness."

[ QUOTE ]


"You're wrong. You couldn't possibly be more wrong if you were captured by Doctor Wrong and his WrongBots and dipped in a vat of radioactive Wrongness until you developed the power of Permanent Aura of Wrongness."

[/ QUOTE ]

That happened to me once, but due to a fortunate typo, I got the Permanent Aura of Awesomeness instead. (It's Purple)

As Vorac noted on the GT site - Tommy Boy has gotten his little butt banned.

Star_Dancer, the "cross-avataring-insecure-overweight-female-but-somehow-still-male-homosexual" will now perform the Happy Dance for your enjoyment.

Oh yeah...

/e happyDance

Oh, really? I wonder who finally managed to get him banned.

And it seems that the banned individual in question either came over here and read the letter, or else somehow found out about it (I'd emailed it to the GT Admins, to David Muehl, and sent in a support ticket about it). Because apparently my letter was motivated by me being a sore loser. Riiiiiight. Two guys I consider 'professional colleagues' (and, to be honest, frineds) made it to the finals. I am damned proud of them for getting that far. One of them has been a stanch cheerleader of mine for a good while, and the other does more for the videographers as a whole than almost anyone else I know. And I'm going to be ANGRY at them for making it when I didn't? Can I have whatever he's smoking?

Incidentally, the Support team at least got back to me about this with the following message through the GT site:

"Your message has been forwarded to one of the staff administrators. Thank you for voicing your concerns and we apologize that your experience here at GT has not been a pleasant one.

- Support"

Typical support reply, but it's a start. (I say that because I used to work in online support and that's very much how we had to answer stuff unless we were supervisors.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

The internet is a device by which you can become annoyed at individuals you otherwise never would have met. (Can't remember who said that, but it's an ooooold quote.)

Actually, I've been hanging around GameTrailers since before they even took comments. It's a GREAT place to view trailers! Good game reviews, too. The only thing that's really ticking me off about them now are the gold farmer advertisements that pop up in the little "sponsered links" sometimes. All the little kiddies scrawling dirty words on the internet wall don't bother me but those ads sure do.

I'm only going there now so that I can earn enough points to get a GameTrailers t-shirt...

LOL

You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both, and there you have the facts of life.

WARNING: I bold names.