Forum 'unrest' - part II

This is the point. Basically, too many of us now feel that this is "Big Brother watching" and not a nice, free game. Add in the many changes, like increasing the number of events exponentially (to the point that its difficult to impossible to complete them without spending money), etc. and many of us are just finding other things to occupy our time.

I said in another post, but believe it was removed (it was part of a broader post with problems), that I think a LOT of this happens when someone -- either a moderator or the "higher ups" don't speak our language completely fluently. It could also be they are just very, very linear thinkers -- folks who have a hard time seeing "grey areas" and understanding subtle distinctions, though lack of fluency/even regional language differences can have the same impact. BUT.. that just does not matter at this point. The community of a forum is rather a delicate thing and many of us feel that spirit has been broken. These actions have made us all stop and think about the time we are spending here in Farmerama... and deciding its just too much time. Too much time and not worth more money. So, there it is. BP made decisions, and so have we. My opinion is that this will result in the demise of Farmerama, perhaps not right away, but before too too long, but I am not the one in charge. Time will tell.

So... the choice is to just carry on, or leave. Though I appreciate the intent of this thread, I am not sure further discussion on this will amount to much. All of us have said how we feel. More words probably won't change the opinions at this point. Either folks like the game enough to stay or they don't. IF the Farmerama/BP team is correct, then new folks will keep coming, folks who have no knowledge of this situation. If we are correct, then more people will come, but likely won't stay all that long or spend all that much money. Time, not further discussion will tell.

I urge anyone staying, who still likes the game to offer new people the same kind of warm welcome many of us received. Perhaps help them to avoid the pitfalls we have experienced here. At this point, I am not sure I will be one.

At any rate, thank you all for providing a fun community for a time. and yes.. I do include the moderators in that thank you.

I think you hit the real point earlier in your post. The moderators, while volunteers, do work for BP. If they will stay moderators, they must abide by the rules set forth.

 

Not anywhere in the code of conduct have i read of going off topic in a thread ...as being a violation of the rules ...maybe i have missed something but do not think i have ? maybe someone else would like to read it to see... and put me straight on this
Maybe this is why we aren't getting any answer to this problem...because there was NO problem to start with...OR shouldn't have been one

Did anyone know we couldn't go off topic ? ...because i certainly didn't...have played this game since 2010

 

Howdy Farmers,

We would like to address the unease that has been voiced in this thread and the "show more leniency" thread.

I would like to bring to all of your attention the Guidelines that are posted in each section of the Forum. We have guidelines so that both Players and Moderators know which section of the Forum that topics belong in.

Whilst we have many lovely Farmers that take part on our Forum, we have many more thousands that do not take part and post on the Forum, but only come to read. If you are looking for the wonderful strategies that have been posted, you may not want to scroll through pages and pages of general chit chat. Whilst we love that you like to talk, we have to respect everyone's involvement within the Forum and keep the Strategy threads on topic and informative for everyone. We do allow you to go a little off topic, but in some instances, when a gentle reminder was posted, and ignored, We had to take further action. I hope you can see our point on that


We have many sections of the Forum that are solely for talk about the Game, or Nothing about anything and everything and we encourage you to use those sections. We also fought to get the Chat section changed to "Games" which few farmers have taken advantage on

Best Regards,
Your Farmerama Moderators



​

 

Wow shooger, just... wow.

So those that ONLY READ this forum get/deserve more respect and consideration than those members that actually start the strategy threads and post their own time consuming and well thought out helpful info and calculations? That's a flat out blatant insult! This absolutely infuriates me to no end, and you should be ashamed. It is no wonder members are leaving this forum left and right, and even closing down their farms.

You mods just keep digging your hole deeper and deeper with the (ex)-regs.

Pathetic.

 

I Complete agree with MSBtoo. I have Contributed to This Forum and Old Forum total of over 6 years. It makes me Angry that all Contributors are treated with Inferior that all non Contributors more Important

Where is Mods Response to All these Contributors using this Forum. I disagree with Shooger.Sweet Statement I have witness many thousands of Farmers have been put off posting in the Forum have quit the Game in Disgust in the years of me playing this game.

 

Thank you for posting here, Shooger. I realize that you are trying to do your job - however, for the most part, I must agree with the gist of the comments made here. It seems that one major point is being overlooked:

The Posters post for the information and enjoyment of everyone...whereas the readers read only for themselves.
​

'Readers Only' do not usually contribute, and - without the Posters, Readers would have nothing to read - no strategies *in detail and example* to follow, no humor to make them laugh or relieve life's stresses, etc.!!

A little scrolling now and then is a relatively small inconvenience-of-choice for ALL of us compared to the loss of most of the Life of the Forum.
If the information isn't valuable enough to do some scrolling, then we can choose not to.
It is a small thing in comparison. And even some of the readers do post.
Of course, please keep in mind that not all of the 'readers-only' object to a little extra scrolling if it gives them a little fun, or something interesting to read while they wait for their crops to grow!

This Forum is a major part of this Game, and without it....or if it becomes too dry and lackluster without the personalities behind the postings....many more than even now will simply become bored and leave just because of all the
negative/stressful changes that have/are being made.

Farming for one....(with no one to share the highs and lows and strategies and laughs and lives and beauties of life)....is NOT what made this game so popular, or what created FOCD. The Community...the Posters did. **They gave it Life.**

~We are all Customer$...don't you think it wise to seriously consider what the majority of this Forum are trying to say??~​

 

Well said Farmlily
Maybe we should have taken this to support...because now this is going around in circles ...for doing something very trivial as going off of Topic...which we have been doing for years and nothing has been said and nothing done about it ...why now has this all happened ???

I can see people getting so tired of getting no answers to this problem ... and a mass walkout of players..which is sad for something SO stupid as this >>>One has already gone

And as for looking for things in the forum ....it is such a muddle already (without these going off topics) ... some of these go back as far as 2013...why would we need these ?.....couldn't these be archived

Where are these rules of not going off topic? ...because i can not find any... maybe A Mod would enlighten me with a link to this please on this thread

OR maybe there isn't one? then in which case ...none of this is our fault.

 

Nellie_Noodles

In answer to your question where is it written - at the start of the forum section there is a post from the mods please read before posting.

In the strategy section (which is where most of this started) the rules of posting are :

Creating threads:

• Please check the existent threads to see if the topic you have in mind has been discussed before. (we will close/delete your thread if it is an old / repeated topic)
• Try making your thread as clear as possible and choose a relevant title;
• Remember to follow the general forum rules when opening a discussion;
• Moderators have to stay impartial so we will not "stick" any longer any threads in this area, to avoid some threads being seen more important than others.

Replying to existing threads:

• Please post in a polite manner;
• Repeated answers will be considered spam and deleted;
• Off topic discussions are not allowed and will be considered spam and deleted;
• Full quoting of posts is not necessary and will be removed.

Thank you for understanding!


as taken from
"Game Strategy Discussion section: Please read before posting!"

(sorry still crap at the quoting from another post process so I made it red.)

 

Shooger.sweet's response encapsulates the whole issue and neatly proves my point

. The belief that we are tolerated as long as we behave like good little children and allowed to play as long as we don't upset the adults. That demonstrates my previous point that they do not consider us equal to them and even if they are agents of BigPoint (as volunteers they aren't employed by BP), they are also our representatives and as such should act as go-betweens.

It also nearly demonstrates the inherent belief of the mods lately that they are there to police the forums and not allow anything that might mean some unknown reader doesn't immediately get some titbit of information. If these forums are only designed for those who read and prioritised accordin, then I'm agreeing with the others - they will end up with no forums except the FAQs.

Nellie points out that the forums are a muddle, however, the answer isn't to archive them, because unless you know how to find something, you're scuppered. All that does is shift them elsewhere. The FAQs aren't easy to use - there is no way to find anything without wading through them to look for a specific item or answer to something you didn't know and you came across by accident. The search function is limited and even the advanced tool only goes so far. Mostly it ends up with 'players' threads' not a FAQ. However, she also points out that rules are being applied that actually don't exist and she's right.

As for the 'thousands of farmers who only read and don't post' - how on earth can anyone know what they want if they are silent. To cater for them instead of those who take the time and trouble to post their thoughts, their hopes, their dreams and their wishes and who apparently are the reason why that silent majority come here, seems odd to say the least. Shouldn't that be encouraged, instead of being dismissed as a nuisance to be curtailed in case someone somewhere has to spend a few minutes looking through a thread? If the players who post don't bother, there won't be any threads to look through, but at least the forums will be quiet.

As for chat being changed to games - what exactly does that mean? I remember there being a dozen threads with games in them, but I also remember there being dozens of strategy, information and off-topic threads, none of which seem to have survived the new and updated forums. Maybe it's the games within the events, I don't know, I don't understand the reference, but I'm not sure how 'games' are a substitute for a chat room.

I do understand the mods at times have a difficult job to do, but no more so than at any time in the past - but as I've also said, I don't ever remember the forums being in such a downward spiral of long-time posters just leaving in disillusioned despair.

Maybe the team leader should get the mods together and decide a common strategy for threads - whatever their nature, then explain it clearly and succinctly to the players. Point out which 'rules' are being applied and stick to them rather than what seems to be happening where a decision is made and action taken which doesn't seem to be for the benefit of anyone.



Fiona Sky - in response to your 'can't quote' - if you block out the text, then click on the little icon at the top of the posting box, to the left of the save icon, you will get a drill down menu, which has 'quote' at the top. Click on that and you'll get two QUOTE boxes at each end. Hope it helps.

I do understand your post and your points, but for those of us - like Nellie - who've been around for a long, long time (over six years) and have been posting for almost that long do know the rules (some of us even helped devise them in those long-ago early days), it's just that they've not been applied so capriciously before. Define 'off-topic' before deciding whether it is or not. Is this 'game related 'chit-chat' or not?

There used to be many forums including one that positively encouraged us to go off-topic, at least one that seemed entirely comprised of games only, threads that gave detailed explanations of how to get the best from your farm. What is off-topic about a picture of cats in a thread about a cat event? Now the forums have been restricted so much, many players have to go where they can to interact.

 

@FionaSky
And that makes it impossible to communicate normally, and leads to exactly what happened now. Overmoderation, deletions, and people walking away.

There is such a thing as too much rules. In this case, the strict enforcing killed not only the thread, but the joy people felt in posting here. It just happened too many times.

The constant "thank you for understanding" and the ongoing "we're sorry but..." also didn't help as no change we requested happened.

 

Thank you FionaSky for showing me where it is

 

As I expressed my thoughts on this in Brookham's 'so sad' thread, I feel I have said my bit on this issue. The above post was just to address Nellie's question. And I included a cut and paste of the rules. This post was not a personal opinion on whether the rules are right or wrong or to question people's knowledge of them. I have been here 6 years also, so I too have been a part of the process through that time.

 

Speaking as someone who mostly just reads the Forum, my favorite part was hearing the arguments and analysis of game play intertwined with jokes and poems and photos. The current moderators choices and interfering with this seems like a misunderstanding of their role as moderators. Mediation should only be applied if it is needed. Players should be able to joke around with friends. Is this why Farmer Broke hasn't weighed in on Picture Perfect? If we ever needed to hear about the wastefulness of growing junks, it is for this one!

 

Well said, Aetheria14!! And - good one about farmer_broke....if we ever needed his posts, it's Now!!

 

Farmer_ Brokes threads will be missed ...they were helpful to all of us... new and older players ...he showed us another side to farming

 

One point, probably my final one.... as a business, BP is here to make money. That may not involve long term support of Farmerama. As soon as the game is costing more than it is adding, in their opinion, or even as soon as other endeavors yield a greater return, then the game will be left to slide. That is what happens when you move a small, fairly independent entity to a larger corporation.

As TB stated, forum users are only a small percentage of the total. Particularly when English is not the dominant, original game language, we are likely not even the largest forum group. Whether we are representative of the game community as a whole is another question.

In short... we can "bellyache" all we want. The only thing that matters is how many people leave. Even that... may not really matter to BP.

I said earlier that I thought the direction was to obtain short term gains rather than more steady, long term income. To their credit, some of the complaints we have addressed here HAVE been addressed.. higher level quests, for one. I thought a lot of the reasoning behind that decision was results from poor surveys, because of the timing and what was done, but that is only my opinion. It could just be that the trickle income was not enough for BP, that they want an increase even if it is a "boom and bust" income .. and it could be that I (and other posters here) are just wrong, that the game will continue.

Only time will tell.

 

Well, that's disheartening. If you are right - they will lose this player. I'm tired of being squeezed in a money machine.

 

I am sorry, but I think you are overestimating the import of our postings. The bitter truth is that allowing us to post strategies, anything at all is really a bonus. Many games do exist quite well without such, or with only very limited postings allowed (help, questions and FAQs typically). It greatly saddens me that BP seems to be moving in that direction, though not fully. However, as TB has said repeatedly, this is a business decision and it is their business decision.

Unfortunately, the forum is only a small percentage of the game. Never mind that the structure has made forum use nearly imperative for playing, it still is considered an adjunct, not the "real game". Posters are still a heavy minority.

And, among the readers who do come to the forums, there is a real question of how many come to the strategy forums.

 

Heres what gets my dander up:
A poster said this in show more lienancy thread
I understand people being upset about posts being deleted and how we should be able to chat about whatever we want to. However during some events I have had to scroll past posts (sometimes many) which had absolutely nothing to do with the event. I am not trying to upset anyone further by saying that but it is true.

Then in strategy thread yesterday said this:
Ouch!! That has to really hurt in hindsight (speaking of another player kicking herself in the butt)

This post has nothing to do with strategy but was it deleted? NOPE! Hypocritical at best but The RULES must be the same for ALL players.
They can not be so subjective. especially if the mods see no gray for some players and let others do what they want.

 

woody, The import of our postings is not how few we are - but that we post at all.

In any public endeavor, statistics show that a very small minority are actually vocal about any issue. Which is why it is said "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"....never mind that there are more wheels there that don't. The 'silent majority' - while they may support those 'squeaky wheels' - remain silent, and eventually 'speak' by their actions...which in the case of being squeezed by a dictatorial money machine...many who are silent have already, and will - just leave. And that is bad for any business. Good business practices require customers. How smart is it to drive away customers with bad policies?
All change must begin somewhere. Here, it is in the Forum.
A good point that someone has already posted (as a Chinese Proverb) is that every Journey begins with the first step.
And that first step has been taken.


Lea, those three posts (one of which had only 8 words!) were referring to having Howie's, which were being talked about in the thread as strategies. They were brief topical asides, which is what most have been asking to have allowed, just as before all the deletions.
Sorry you feel imposed upon, but they were allowed because they were topical, albeit humorously.
Would you really prefer to have all the humor and good will sterilized from all our posts?
Sorry again, but that seems kind of cold.

Enjoyment in this game appears to be a trade-off, as you can't "satisfy all of the people all of the time".