Insufficient moderation on Steam: Discussing the current state of the Community

[Caramel]

I'm very sure that the regulars of the Steam forum have seen by now the plenty of discussions that surrounds moderation and moderators, a lot of people who preach a lot on freedom of speech and of moderation. Supposed report abuse, cliques that run the forum, etc.

Users that are angry about getting banned and also angry when they was told they should simply follow the rules. Well, today I wanted to offer a discussion from a different perspective, and here is mine. In fact, I'm actually quite curious and I'm open to a discussion. I will open now by saying I won't report anyone for expressing a different opinion here. First let me ask a question to anyone who says they feel current moderation is too strict and abusive: how long have you used the Steam forums for?

I ask this because quite honest I think the Steam forums and moderation in general is actually the most relaxed and lenient it ever was been. During the days of the volunteer moderators, they actually participated in the community and became familiar with the users posting. That meant they were also familiar with troublemakers and trolls, and they were able to ban them. And they gave appropriate bans and would also escalate them to permanent bans when they deemed necessary. Some users are critical of the volunteer moderators, feel they were nepotistic and that people who were friends with them were spared bans. Well even if that's true, at least they were quick to respond and it seemed that they gave escalating bans.

This is a different story now. Paid moderators do not interact with the community, do not really take notice of users who are repeat offenders. Do not escalate bans. If you break the rules, compared to volunteer mods, it's now a slap on the wrist most of the time. A few days, a week maybe at most. If you are blatantly insulting users or doing something like being racist, you may get a month. It's definitely not compared to what it used to be. I used to frequently post on the Off-Topic forum although I deleted nearly all of my oldest posts some time ago. Back then, you would see people receive permanent bans. Nowadays, I have not seen anyone receive a permanent one. Even if you think paid moderators are not good either, it seems that objectively speaking, the punishments are lighter now.

This isn't my only problem with the new moderators though. They are very slow to act, they cannot identify obvious flamebait, they only lock threads after they have received hundreds of replies with tons of mudslinging. This isn't conducive to having genuine discussions or civil conduct. I believe in free speech, but the anonymity of the internet and the fact that you can post on the forums without even spending money means there are a lot of bad actors and free speech means very little when trolls appear very often in threads to derail them. This is where I disagree with most "free speech" advocates on this forum, they are almost always absolutist. Well, I'm here to tell you, that moderation is not the only way free speech can be suppressed. Bad faith actors flooding and drowning out actual discussion is also a tool to suppress speech, and a lot of trolls and bot accounts do just that. If you want a forum with no moderation whatsoever, that means you're also opening the gates to propaganda and astroturfing, sorry to say...

I'm getting a bit off track though. Here's my last issue. Besides their slowness to act, it seems that enforcement of rules is overall random. I'm going to use the Off-Topic forum as my example here, because it's the most egregious example of how the new moderators are faltering. I used to be a regular on that forum, years ago back when there were volunteer mods. That place has seriously degenerated, it's practically 4chan-lite. It's rife with political flamebait and discriminatory content that's sometimes left up for days before a moderator locks it. Trans people are targeted very often by that forum, and any time there is a thread about women there are a lot of sexist comments that make me feel like I've opened up an incel forum. There are burner accounts that harass specific users and quite frankly there are a lot of people there who genuinely seem mentally disturbed. It almost feels like a containment board much like VAC Discussions is for cheaters who want to complain about VAC and say they haven't actually cheated.

This extends to profiles and groups to a lesser extent. As an example, I have seen a profile that states in its description: "There are two sexualities: Straight, and wrong." I don't need to explain the problem with this, right? I've reported it at least two months ago and to this day that description still remains. Don't tell me this doesn't break the community guidelines, I'm quite sure that it does. Valve just refuses to act on it, or have for some reason investigated it and decided that there is nothing wrong with it even though it's discriminatory content.

And speaking of reporting, please, no comments that say "You are advised to report and move on." I'm aware of what you are supposed to do with rule-breaking content and I don't need you to tell me. If I want a copy-paste response, I can just open up a Steam support ticket. Besides, it's not the point of the discussion. This is meant to be just that...a discussion about the current state of moderation on Steam and how it reflects in the community.

Please try to be respectful and civil in the responses. Thank you. If you think this is too long to read, then let me summarize for you: I think the current moderation we have now is insufficient and the paid moderators aren't doing a good enough job of curbing trolls.

[Caramel]

I'm sorry I haven't engaged much with the thread, I have just been busy but I have read all of the replies. I appreciate the discussion and most people remaining civil.

[Paratech2008]

The problem is people discuss issues that shouldn't be discussed on Steam that often has no relevance to Steam and when people disagree and get into flamewars, it's usually one side that gets punished and the other side has the ability to post their beliefs...

If sides are taken they why have discussions on those topics?

[76561199502155650]

the real problem is that people have opinions that differ, and that someone wants to get a user banned because they can't agree with an opinion, that is really all it is 99% of the bans going on in the forums are ban excessive and minior infractions.

it is really just steam moderation forcing its own opinion upon the forum by removing content, silencing people who want to help the steam community make better choices.

it ulitimatly comes down to greed , steam wanting to profit off users expensives.

if i tell you something is better then what steam has, is cheaper, or free somewhere else. moderation is quickly there to snub out the content.

if i disagree with steams policy or the way it handles itself they are also quick to snub out the content.

its not really a forum but a place to quietly promote for steam, like your support to market steam products to each other. talk up how great steam is and how bad all the competitor companies are.

in a perfect world i guess. but thats also a monoply and we have laws that prohibit monoply content such as what steam trys to promote with the price of games.

competition is good for the users. steam clearly doesn't like it when someone else gives you a game for free, it means they can't ever sell you that game. cause you already got it for free.

so the real problem is steams greed , how its greed effects users freedom of expression. and how that expression is suppose to only acceptable to promote steam.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

disagree.... its not the difference in opinions

its the negative disrespect towards others opinion that is the problem...

i dont like yellow.... i do like yellow... is no problem....
This is very different to telling someone
they are a really bad person if they dont like yellow...
or
you are a nasty yellow fan who should die a slow death..


its a games store selling games...

[76561199502155650]

i have yellow in my sheep wool , don't judge me on the rainbow colors of my unicorn in sheep skin disguise.

Judge me on my kindness and how it makes you laugh! can we both agree that we all have a better time when we can joke around, have a little fun and feel good about what ever it is we are doing!

clicky moderation is no good for communitys, it only promotes friends of the moderation or group bullying. it is hard to stand out in a ground of gary's when 20 people say its good and your the one that says, but really its not that good why do you even say its good???

and they all jump on you saying things like, "whats wrong with you? you don't think its good?"
personally i like to stand out and its just the pride in me that wants to flambioanty tell you that its hot garbage don't try an sell it to people!

new moderation is way better then the clicky vol.mods who even now still try an bully up on users they can't agree with.

a good part of the world and life is dealing with things you don't agree with, not trying to silence them or remove them, but copeing with them and over coming your own prejudas.

i would hope that moderators can agree that wether you like it or not, you need to deal with it and be an adult and find a way to let the apples and oranges just mingle

[Komarimaru]

There's no problem mingling, there's a problem casting insults and blaming others for your own doings.

[Stiletto]

Nonspecifically call people trolls? Nothing happens.
Nonspecifically call people narcissists?

Ban Reason:
This post contains content that appears to be intended to insult, harass, or abuse other Steam users. This type of content is not allowed on the Steam Community.

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

[Brian9824]

引用自 Stiletto：

Nonspecifically call people trolls? Nothing happens.
Nonspecifically call people narcissists?

Ban Reason:
This post contains content that appears to be intended to insult, harass, or abuse other Steam users. This type of content is not allowed on the Steam Community.

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

Both are wrong, and the resulting punishment if any depends on a multitude of factors such as wording, previous ban history, etc. Often you will see a user with multiple posts that break the rules get banned and they don't do a ban for each post, they will delete multiple posts and post the ban message applied to a single post.

So one post by itself might not be enough to warrant a ban, but 10-15 of them can push it to the threshold of a ban even if the person only gets a message linked to a single post.

Again, someone else breaking the rules is never an excuse to break the rules yourself. You should always avoid insulting others even if they did it first.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Stiletto：

Nonspecifically call people trolls? Nothing happens.
Nonspecifically call people narcissists?

Ban Reason:
This post contains content that appears to be intended to insult, harass, or abuse other Steam users. This type of content is not allowed on the Steam Community.

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

It wasn't as non-specific as you seem to think m8.
Might I suggest you either learn and conduct yourself in a civil aand productive manner on the forums, or at least follow through with nyour earlier declaration of beinvg 'done'.

Either way yields the same result.

[Komarimaru]

引用自 brian9824：

引用自 Stiletto：

Nonspecifically call people trolls? Nothing happens.
Nonspecifically call people narcissists?

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

Both are wrong, and the resulting punishment if any depends on a multitude of factors such as wording, previous ban history, etc. Often you will see a user with multiple posts that break the rules get banned and they don't do a ban for each post, they will delete multiple posts and post the ban message applied to a single post.

So one post by itself might not be enough to warrant a ban, but 10-15 of them can push it to the threshold of a ban even if the person only gets a message linked to a single post.

Again, someone else breaking the rules is never an excuse to break the rules yourself. You should always avoid insulting others even if they did it first.

Pretty much this. When multiple posts have to be removed, they just pick one and give the reason I'm sure.

Filing false reports also tends to be a strike against people as well.

[Tito Shivan]

引用自 Stiletto：

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

You realize the actual mods are a bunch of workers doing their 9-to-5 without interacting with the community, right?

The 'Tim doesn't get banned because he's friend of the mods' stopped being a straw to grasp at the moment moderation went fully professional.

[Brian9824]

引用自 Tito Shivan：

引用自 Stiletto：

Difference? The privilege bestowed by sucking up to mods. I did call it.

You realize the actual mods are a bunch of workers doing their 9-to-5 without interacting with the community, right?

The 'Tim doesn't get banned because he's friend of the mods' stopped being a straw to grasp at the moment moderation went fully professional.

I've only seen a single mod who even has his profile open for comments and have never seen him ever respond to anyone either. So not sure how people supposedly befriend these mods in the first place. Its one of the many holes in the whole conspiracy theory some people spin about moderation.

[Boblin the Goblin]

引用自 brian9824：

引用自 Tito Shivan：

You realize the actual mods are a bunch of workers doing their 9-to-5 without interacting with the community, right?

The 'Tim doesn't get banned because he's friend of the mods' stopped being a straw to grasp at the moment moderation went fully professional.

I've only seen a single mod who even has his profile open for comments and have never seen him ever respond to anyone either. So not sure how people supposedly befriend these mods in the first place. Its one of the many holes in the whole conspiracy theory some people spin about moderation.

The idea is that the mods probably use an alt account to befriend and chat with those people suspect are immune to moderation. This would allow them to have these friends and still be able to moderate around them but have no direct link to them.

But that's getting into very huge levels of conspiracy over a moderator on the forums.

[Start_Running]

引用自 SlowMango：

引用自 brian9824：

I've only seen a single mod who even has his profile open for comments and have never seen him ever respond to anyone either. So not sure how people supposedly befriend these mods in the first place. Its one of the many holes in the whole conspiracy theory some people spin about moderation.

The idea is that the mods probably use an alt account to befriend and chat with those people suspect are immune to moderation. This would allow them to have these friends and still be able to moderate around them but have no direct link to them.

But that's getting into very huge levels of conspiracy over a moderator on the forums.

Yet to some people.. allll that seems more likely than.. "I did a bad'.

[Stiletto]

And, as usual, a flurry of activity to justify the lack of action against they who threw the first punch. Some are more equal than others, but can't let that fact lie unchallenged. After all, we must keep up the pretense of objectivity and neutrality, mustn't we?