Cultural Differences and Forum Moderation

Well I want to write a reasonable well written post on this subject, it is fairly late at night for me and between crunch time for Comic-Con and the Forum Migration I've worked a fairly obscene number of hours in the last two weeks so I'll try and make it concise.

Given that we're all getting to know one another, we all need to exert a special effort to understand the cultural differences that exist between what were formerly the NA and EU forums. In my experience interacting with members of the European CoH community I have generally found you folks to be well spoken and reasonable, but with certain understandable differences in perspective from the North American community that have occasionally caused the need for moderator action.

If we do need to have a discussion about some issue or another, rest assured we will attempt to reach a positive understanding with anyone about exactly where the lines are drawn in this brave new forum world and what is reasonable for all of us moving forward.

If you have any questions for me or any other member of our Community Team please feel free to ask. We all try to answer any reasonable question we receive although please understand that at times the volume of communication can cause a significant delay. We love talking with members of our community, but sometimes things can get a bit hectic.

Also if there is anything you think we need to be aware of (although we do have the lovely Avatea to help bridge any misunderstandings that occur) or any support you folks feel you need as a community please feel free to let us know. We can always offer our perspective and advice if not more concrete aid.

Anyways, I am glad to have all of our CoH family together finally and can't wait to interact with you folks on a more frequent basis.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Right on!

Hi TheOcho!

I think a good place to start would be with the word filter. We have many many words in use over here that are perfectly harmless, yet are filtered due to an alternate meaning in the US. It's often been a bone of contention in the past as we're unable to use our native tongue in the way we're accostomed.

Perhaps these words could be removed from the filter, with the proviso that anyone using them in an insulting manner be banned from the forums?

One example would be a 3 letter word beggining with N that we use in context like "I'm just going to n** to the store", meaning I'm going to the store very quickly and will be back soon; whereas in the US it's seen as a derogatory term for people of asian descent

Another would be the 3 letter word beginning with F that we use for a cigarette and you use for homosexual.

Or the 5 letter word beginning with F that you use for someone's bottom, and we use for a womans... aaah... For a womans... Ummm... you get what I mean, I think?

Testing testing

Wait, nip is banned? I haven't heard that used in a derogatory sense over here in a few decades! Isn't it a holdover from World War 2 or some such?

Well, the preview let's me say it, let's see what happens when I post....

This topic reminds me of this: A Cultural Misunderstanding

Caution: The above may contian words that may mislead you into thinking they are rude, which is kind of the point... just dont get upset, okay?

My sister, Fanny, said to our brother, ****, "Let's nip this thing in the bud, and not butt heads over it."

Ah, poor Richard.

Hmmmm - well I want to know on a couple of terms/phrases, so here goes:



If they come up in CoX related discussions:

• Can we still call a spade a spade?
• Are screws something to do with propellers, boring and DIY?
• Are various **** still reasonably common birds in Britain? Still common enough that I was watching a pair of them in the garden only a few days ago... (ok - there was 3, but a pair was a subset of the 3).
• Are ******* swords acceptable (or ******* files etc for that matter)?
• Can we be attacked by mutant beavers in an MA arc and discuss it here? Hopefully, as long as it's all done in the best possible taste.

Hmm.. The new word filter seems somewhat less draconian than the old one. This is a good thing!

if beaver is a banned word, im walking out the door now lol

stupid that on a superhero video game we can't even type the secret identity of Batman without it being censored.

What, Bruce Wayne ??

Or did you mean **** Grayson ?

My English is not that good so I don't understand the second meaning of the most of colloquialisms either in British or American variation of English language.

Anyway it's nice that forums are joined - cause now I can replay to funny treads I find on American side.

Above and beyond specific words (such as the ones FFM and others have mentioned), there can also be misunderstanding in the tone of posts.
I have noticed some cross cultural misunderstanding arise when sarcasm, Irony or revelling in a good ole Old World moan can be interpreted wrongly as being negative for negative's sake by West Coast American culture which is pretty upbeat and positive.

For an awful lot of the Doom-Posts™ there is a current and underlying concern for a game they love that they feel is going down the wrong path or Devs not taking advantage of Ideas put forward in 'Suggestions' section. This latter being felt quite strongly on the old EU suggestions section.

In short, we moan because we care™ - don't take it too personally y'all.

If any US. Mod is unsure of a tone of voice in a post or thread that they cannot understand, feel free to run it by any of us EU Veterans whom I'm sure will be able to offer some analysis and advice.

Us EU players have big plans for these boards Oh and i sooooo didnt realise i had so many messages! 140 pms!!!! I swear i deleted most of them :S